I have listened to quite a few Joanna Robinson podcasts so I “knew” Kristin Russo from when she has appeared as a guest on them, and also had heard Joanna talk abut Jenny Owen Youngs, the podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer and the songs Jenny made for the each episode (I’m in this weird category of people that enjoys Broadway musical theater but don’t actually enjoy live music I don’t know or find a new original song gimmick enticing so it was not a selling point for me). As much as I loved BtVS in my teens and 20s, I haven’t watched it in ages and for a long time, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do a rewatch, with the Whedon of it all. But between the upcoming reboot and this book, it seemed like maybe it was time to go back to Sunnydale after all.
And even better, turns out that Kristin and Jenny are doing a new rewatch podcast, this time with spoilers, so I actually wasn’t too late to the party and will be able to participate in the discussion after I catch up on a few more podcast episodes (that was the worst part about listening to the Lost rewatch podcast The Storm a few years after it had wrapped) … show-wise, I am already far ahead of the current podcast’s run at this point, because damn, seasons 2 and 3 of Buffy are so damn watchable and I miss those “hour long” network shows that clock in at 42 minutes so you can actually watch 3 in 2 hours (on the other hand, my reading so far this month is way behind previous months). Now, I’m taking a short detour and am a few episodes into Angel before I’ll jump back into Buffy. Season 4 is just a tough start after the highs of 2 & 3, plus I was always Team Angel (even if I appreciated the Spike-Buffy interactions of Season 6). Season 2 and 3 hold up but season 2 is definitely my favorite – to quote one of their recent pod episodes, you can argue for either being the best season but Season 2 has the emotional highs, Season 3 is technically perfect, and, personally, I’ll take the emotional highs. It’s why I loved the Lost series finale from the first airing, why I considered Legends of the Fall one of my favorite movies in high school etc.
Anyway about the book … the book is broken down into 7 parts to reflect the 7 seasons of the show, and how Kristin and Jenny’s lives (and the world at large) seemed to be mirroring the show as they went through their rewatch. There is a short summary discussion of the show at the beginning of each part, and then the rest is more focused on Kristen and Jenny’s lives, with portions told from each individual perspective and a joint perspective, discussing their careers, their relationship, the community and the podcast. So … if you want deep analysis of Buffy, you’ll likely be disappointed by the book and should listen to the podcast.
Given I only had a passing knowledge of the authors, basically everything was new to me (though I was looking for the Joanna Robinson name drops). I ended up feeling more sympathetic towards Kristen’s position, for likely obvious reasons, although you have to admire both authors’ willingness to go all the way there in discussing their marriage, divorce and evolving working relationship to reforged friendship. (Also, reading about their new relationships and wives, it all felt very incestuous/small world as Jenny married someone they had already known, Kristen’s new wife was a friend of Jenny and her new wife’s etc. – I would make a joke about stereotypes straight out of original run of The L Word but I am straight so don’t think I am allowed to make those types of jokes.)
I’m not always a huge memoir person so definitely need a hook or angle, and this one happened to have one that worked for me. I will say there were points where their relationship just sounded very exhausting. If you haven’t already listened to their podcast or aren’t planning on listening to it, not sure how much enjoyment someone would get out of it but for me, I think it was kind of a nice primer to some of their in-jokes and history that makes it easier to dive into the rewatch podcast without feeling like I am missing too much from the original run.