This week on Buffy and the Art of Story: Go Fish (Season 2 Episode 20 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

This podcast episode covers (1) how the episode undercuts its light tone by treating disturbing issues as a joke; (2) some of the most fun lines in Buffy to date – including "Oh forgive me your Swimteamliness"; (3) an unexpected Midpoint twist; and (4) major plot turns at unusual places.

As always, the discussion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is spoiler-free, except at the end (with plenty of warning).

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About Lisa M. Lilly

In addition to hosting the podcast Buffy and the Art of Story, Lisa M. Lilly is the author of the bestselling four-book Awakening supernatural thriller series and the Q.C. Davis mysteries, as well as numerous short stories. She also writes non-fiction, including books on writing craft, under L.M. Lilly. She is the founder of WritingAsASecondCareer.com.

Episode Transcript for Go Fish

Hello and welcome to the podcast Buffy and the Art of Story Season Two. If you love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you love creating stories – or just taking them apart to see how they work – you’re in the right place.

I am Lisa M Lilly, author of the Awakening supernatural thriller series and the Q.C. Davis mysteries and founder of WritingAsASecondCareer.com

Today were talking about Season Two Episode Twenty Go Fish.

What’s Included

In particular we’ll talk about:

how this episode treats disturbing issues as a joke, undercutting its lighthearted tone;

some of the most fun lines in Buffy to date (including Xander saying, “Oh forgive me your swimteamliness”;

a twist at the Midpoint that is especially fun and interesting; but

major plot turns out unusual places that rob the episode (in my view) of a bit of its momentum and make it feel uneven.

As always, there will be no Spoilers except at the end to talk about foreshadowing, but I’ll give you plenty of warning.

Okay, let's dive into the Hellmouth.

Is Go Fish Fun?

Go Fish was written by Elin Hampton and David Fury and directed by David Semel.

Before I go into the breakdown, when I said last Monday that we were coming up to Go Fish, a fun episode, I had forgotten the troubling aspects of it. Which are that both threatened and actual sexual assault and rape are treated lightly and played for jokes.

There's nothing graphic here in my breakdown or in the episode itself, but I am flagging these issues in case it's something that you don't want to encounter as you listen to this episode. Especially if perhaps, like me, you forgot that aspect of the episode.

A Peaceful Start, Then Opening Conflict

We start out, for a change, not with conflict but with a very peaceful scene. A shot of the ocean. It is rolling. We see lovely waves,