Author Archives: Laura Merrill

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Columns
Buffyversity: What Makes a Good Next Gen?

By | Aug 31, 2021 | Columns

What happens after all of Sunnydale is sucked into the Hellmouth in the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? (Uh, sorry, spoiler alert, I guess, for that very special venn diagram of people who read this column and haven’t seen the whole series multiple times). This question was answered in the Dark Horse comic […]

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Columns
Buffyversity: Wolfram & Hart, The Watcher’s Council, and Other Dubious Institutions

By | Jul 27, 2021 | Columns

The Buffyverse as a whole holds a deeply cynical view towards institutions. If they’re not entirely evil, they are somewhat corrupt, or well meaning yet incompetent. The principal of Buffy’s high school does nothing to protect the students from supernatural forces, but attempts to hide those forces for the benefit of Mayor Wilkins, who himself […]

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Columns
Buffyversity: The Real Monster All Along

By | Apr 6, 2021 | Columns

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, and whoever each of them happen to be dating at the time, affectionately call themselves “The Scoobies” referencing the beloved children’s cartoon, Scooby-Doo, in which a team of friendos solve mysteries and unmask villains. In each episode of Scooby-Doo, it seems like the villain is some kind of supernatural entity, but […]

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Columns
Buffyversity: Charisma Carpenter Slays

By | Feb 23, 2021 | Columns

In season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cordelia is introduced to us as a villain. She seems like a typical mean girl trope. She bullies Willow. She’s self-obsessed, and materialistic. But as we get to know her better throughout the next three seasons and in Angel, we get to know her as a layered, […]

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Columns
Buffyversity: Willow’s Style Evolution

By | Jan 26, 2021 | Columns

One of the many things we love about Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the way the characters evolve over time. Buffy, Willow, and Xander in particular, each grow and change drastically from teenagers in season one to young adults in season seven. Their inner growth is expressed outwardly through their fashion. While Buffy’s style has […]

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Columns
Buffyversity: Buffy One of the Vampire Slayers

By | Jan 11, 2021 | Columns

It’s no coincidence that the rise of fascism in the United States coincides with the rising ubiquity of superhero movies. One doesn’t cause the other, but a singular feeling contributes to both of them: a desperate desire for one strong person to solve all of our problems. It’s easy to understand where that desire comes […]

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Television
Five Thoughts on Westworld’s “Decoherence”

By | Nov 30, 2020 | Television

Beep boop hello, fellow humans who are definitely not robots who just think you’re humans, and welcome to our review of HBO’s science fiction series, Westworld. This episode emphasizes Westworld’s Marxist view of religion, explores Halores’ complicated sense of identity, and features the number one worst group therapy session ever. There will be spoilers for […]

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Television
Five Thoughts on Westworld’s “Genre”

By | Nov 23, 2020 | Television

Beep boop hello, fellow humans who are definitely not robots who just think you’re humans, and welcome to our review of HBO’s science fiction series, Westworld. This episode is all about the failures of capitalism, how it picks winners and losers, how it harms them all to varying degrees, and how revolution is possible through […]

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