Sunnydale Nation: A Buffy Rewatch Podcast

This week we are pausing to look back at Season 1 as a whole! We share our thoughts on the unaired pilot, special features, rank some episodes, read listener emails, take a personality quiz, and play a classic game of Joyce Summers Quote or Tax Document? We discover that Dingoes Ate My Baby is not actually a real band, consider changing our name to Snyder Nation, get excited about Grumpy Steve’s appearance, and take a serious bet o...

This week we are having our climactic encounter with the Master while we discuss “Prophecy Girl”! We’re talking whether the Slayer gets overtime pay, that Joyce is really going to have to work harder to move up in the Giles love-interest rankings, adding another letter to the Scooby Gang, the three-headed worm being the Master’s fur baby, and Cyber Giles' role in Season 2. We waste some time by going on the Bones Wiki, get exc...

This week we are bullying students into invisibility while we discuss “Out of Mind, Out of Sight”! We’re talking secret agent Buffy, Ghost Clea DuVall’s heavy breathing, “Have a Nice Summer” horror movie reveal, Buffy’s new turn as Columbo, #xanderfamfacts, and Giles giggling and batting his eyelashes at Angel now that he knows he can get him dusty old tomes. We wonder whether the men in black ever come back, propose starting a pro...

This week we are suffering our worst fears brought to life while we discuss “Nightmares”! We’re talking The Master and Joyce swapping self-help tapes, whether the Scooby Gang are better investigators than Mulder and Scully, how funny it is to tell your kid that the divorce actually is their fault, Xander following a candy trail, and Willow’s jaundice tights. We debate whether the boy is Joseph Gordon-Levitt or not, boo a lot at Buf...

This week we are trying to avoid joining the school talent show while we discuss “The Puppet Show”! We’re talking the cavernous catacombs under this school, that Joyce only thinks of bills and taxes, Principal Quark’s weird psychosexual obsession with Flutie, damsel in distress Giles, and how heartwarming it is that Cordelia has embraced self-love. We rolls our eyes as they really try to wring some pathos out of the horny puppet dy...

This week we are getting catfished by online demons while we discuss “I, Robot… You, Jane”! We’re talking how monks hate to see a bisexual demon winning, Boomer Queen Willow and her love of ellipses, how they can’t shut down the school every time someone dies or nothing would get done, and join the technopagan Jenny Calendar fan club. We wonder whether Giles has the Better Call Saul electricity ailment, get excited that scrunchies ...

This week we are discovering upsetting truths about our new crush while we discuss “Angel”! We’re talking The Master locking into his House Hunters marathon, getting Joyce-blocked, our surprise that Angel has decorated his apartment, the Giles/Joyce agenda taking flight, how the 45-second rule messed up Angel’s tattoo, and Darla becoming an absolute icon in the span of two seconds. We debate what the sexiest wound is, wonder if Dav...

This week we are joining a hyena pack of mean kids and being rude to our friends while we discuss “The Pack”! We’re talking whether we’re into the weird zookeeper’s vibe or not, yet another mention of this mysterious ice cream place, really intense dodgeball games, why on earth there’s a holding cell in the library, and what hyenas did when they were kicked off Noah’s Ark. We retcon the fact that we definitely loved Principal Fluti...

This week we are trying to balance dating and slaying while we discuss “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date”! We’re talking how much Giles does not care about cute boys or cute boy drama, Xander somehow getting an invite to Girl’s Night, how sadly The Master's air jiggling now has an explanation, and that performatively reading at lunch doesn’t do as much for him as Owen seems to think. We wonder if planes have accordions, keep...

This week we are salivating over a hot bug teacher while we discuss “Teacher’s Pet”! We’re talking whether Bruce Seth Green is just Seth Green in a mustache, Angel pulling the age-old “lending a girl your leather jacket” move, Ella’s delight over the name Blaine Mall, panflutes being used for not racism for once, and what in the hell is going on with this fork vampire guy. We discuss whether Giles and Mulder knew each other at Oxfo...

 This week we are getting a little too invested in cheerleader tryouts while we discuss “Witch”! We advocate for Black Philip joining the gang, wonder where the accursed mascot from the movie went and how long until he strikes again, debate whether or not cool kids are on yearbook, and ask whether Buffy realizes she’s friends with nerds. We’re talking Cordelia spending too much time on the Skyrim character creation screen, too many...

This week we are attempting to avoid this low-stakes apocalypse while we discuss “The Harvest”! We’re talking Xander and Willow getting The (vampire) Talk, whether The Master is a Star Trek villain, the need for a Slayer onboarding checklist, if this is the first time Giles is ever seeing a computer, and Joyce’s valiant effort to be stern and ground Buffy. We wonder what the point of The Master jiggling the air all the time is, try...

 This week we are firing up the TV show proper while we discuss “Welcome to the Hellmouth”! We’re talking Sunnydale’s one creepy alley and its sign-up sheet, how gymnasts hate Buffy, the surprising appearance of the Alien Bounty Hunter, and discover what Bovril is. We would like to shield you from this knowledge, but we can’t. We wonder if teen clubs are real, try to figure out if Luke is wearing a pooka shell necklace, Amanda trie...

This week we are kicking off our Buffy coverage with the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer! We’re talking our history with Buffy and what we know going in, how crucial to the plot this yellow leather jacket is, the practicality of eating popcorn while making out, our love for the basketball coach, and struggle to call her Buffy and not Scully. It’s a big change! We debate whether or not we enjoy Donald Sutherland’s vibe, log onto...

This week we are wrapping up the entire show as a whole and bidding a fond farewell to The X-Files! We’re talking our favorite Mulder episode, favorite Scully episode, favorite Skinner episode, favorite Lone Gunmen episode, favorite Doggett/Reyes-era episode, best comedy episode, best human monster, best creature, best practical effects, favorite MSR moment, favorite underrated episode, favorite writer, favorite director, 10 best (...

This week we are discussing Evolution (2001) with special guests Courtney and Hannah from That Nostalgia Show! We’re talking the dubious educational value of the movie, the strangely stacked cast, the painful 2001-ness of it all, and debate the relatability of Julianne Moore’s character. We wonder when we as a society stopped mooning, second-guess David Duchovny’s career decisions, laugh at the US-centrism, and desperately try to f...

This week we are taking a look back at seasons 10 and 11 (whether we want to or not) for our revival series wrap-up episode! We rank the episodes, read some emails, and cast our own reboot series. We’re talking the surprising relevance of War of the Worlds (2025), when and where to deploy the Darin Morgan missile, keeping up with the Fluke Man, trading card ASMR, that it’s impossible to kidnap Doggett, whether or not we have to rea...

This week we are talking about the X-Files series finale as we jump into “My Struggle IV”! We’re talking half-good half-evil William, how impotent the threat to shut down the X-Files is by now, Mulder massacring a bunch of people, when it’s appropriate to Ghouli out, Scully’s sudden and inexplicable change of heart about her son, and Skinner’s exciting turn as the Wicked Witch of the East in Wicked 2. We celebrate the ride-or-die s...

This week we are tracking down our sister in her organ-licking cult while we discuss “Nothing Lasts Forever”! We’re talking how much we don’t care for Juliet and her discount-Daredevil energy, how we want more of the random mountainous Swedish agent who got one minute of screen time, GOUT, that it would be better if Tara were leading this blender cult, and that church would be improved by some pepperoni communion. We debate whether...