Kick the Spike: Fangs for the Memories Episode 47, “The Heart of the Cards”

by J †Johnson

We could hardly hope to capture the full glory of Fangs for the Memories, which humbly describes itself as “A Buffy rewatch podcast from a vaguely anarchist perspective.” This is both accurate and admirably concise, though we’d add that the program is clearly queer in its interpretation of the classic ’90s series. Fangs is wonderfully attentive to evolving social dynamics and the arcs-within-arcs structure of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which ran for seven seasons and followed a cast of characters fighting dark forces from their teenage years into young adulthood. Meanwhile, it traced complex and satisfying narrative arcs for several monsters who were allowed to be monsters even as they showed their depth, passion, and soul. This story about growing up and hunting monsters challenges our ideas about what it means to be human and how it feels to be a monster.

Buffy was a huge part of my 20s and 30s in its initial televised run (the first episode I watched was the season three standout “Band Candy”) and its DVD era. I videotaped every episode, had watch parties with friends, and ran through the series start to finish almost every year through my 30s. 

Eventually serial TV began to catch up with what Buffy had done for longform ensemble storytelling, and other shows provided contemporary pleasures that made me return less often to my all-time favorite show. And then we learned Joss Whedon was not the righteous, forward-thinking feminist he pretended to be, and the show was not the family cast party it appeared to be. 

Were we over it? How could that special show be the product of a gross, petty, abusive tyrant? For the past several years, we let Buffy go, even our fond memories tainted in retrospect.

Then we heard about this sharp Buffy podcast with a queer perspective, where the hosts, Leslie and Kayte, unabashedly indulge their love for the show while dunking on Joss and his onscreen avatar Xander Harris. As we got into Fangs for the Memories this past year, Xander slander was the real key to getting back into Buffy. (It’s only slander if it isn’t true, CDSOB’s Gina points out, but we can’t resist the phrase.) We’d always liked Xander, even if most of the things he did and said were pretty cringey. He seemed to, like, try or something. And in the days that we admired Joss, reading interviews where he said he identified most with Xander seemed like a good thing. What a pleasure it has been to reconnect with the show and see Xander for the insufferable creep that he is.

Retrospect is not so bad, see? Neither are new information and shifting contexts. We see Buffy different in a different world, but we also read its motifs differently knowing what we know about its production dynamics. Though the show had a notable primetime lesbian romance, and presented queer character dynamics, it wasn’t necessarily written from a gay or queer perspective. But it sure does open itself to queer readings and trans poetics. It’s a fantastic example of how queer and trans theory are effectively applied to rather than inherent in most mainstream texts, and are no less revealing for that.

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How delighted was I to be invited as a guest on Fangs for the Memories to discuss season five? Oh, and which pair of episodes would I choose? They had to be Glory (the glamorous, quippy baddie) episodes, and there needed to be some good Spike (the feckless romantic punk vamp) stuff. After days of immersing myself in the Buffyverse Wiki and cross referencing it with memories of all the times we watched these episodes, disqualifying potential pairings for various ugh factors, there it was: the sweet spot mid-season where the stakes are raised and the Big Bad looms, even as a thousand little dramas continue to unfold. Episode 13 (originally aired February 6, 2001) is “Blood Ties,” which dares to ask the question: What do you do when you find out you’re the key? Episode 14 (February 13, 2001) is “Crush,” which presents a bizarre love quadrangle and dares to suggest that electricity is a lie! I’ll leave you to listen to the episode if you’re curious about what we discussed. Were there notes? Oh yes, including diagrams and alternate titles. In the days of VHS recording the initial broadcast, it wasn’t always clear what each episode was called. So we made up our own titles to write on the label sticker. In that spirit, here are some liner notes extras with alt-titles for these eps (without all the pesky quotation marks):

Blood Ties: When Dawn Was Bad, Kick the Spike, GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT, To Key or Not to Key, Blood Sisters

Crush: Bizarre Love Quadrangle, Is This a Date?, Third Base, I Wanna Be Your Dog, Do You Like the Ramones?

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OK, one more note. We did a three-card tarot spread for the pod, and revealed them one at a time as we talked. The first was for general vibes (a tradition on the program), the second was for “Blood Ties,” and the third was for “Crush.” We used the fantastic Insight Editions Buffy the Vampire Slayer deck, and would have been shocked by the prescience of the draw if we didn’t read cards first thing every day. We’re used to being read by tarot.

And that makes the misreading of an astrological correspondence an oops we’d like to correct. Again we’ll mostly leave you to the recording to hear the interpretations, but here’s a little clarification and a couple additional points—retrospect is good! (If you aren’t a tarot nerd you might want to peek at the spread—and admire the doily my Grandma crocheted—and skip to the episode link below.)

For vibes we drew 2 of Scythes reversed. In this deck, Scythes represent Air, which is Swords in conventional decks. The generally agreed upon astrological correspondence is Moon in Libra, often said to indicate Choice. On the podcast I got my wires crossed and gave the planetary correspondence for 2 of Pentacles (Earth), which is Jupiter, rather than the typical Moon correspondence for 2 of Scythes/Swords (Air). I also gave the traditional interpretation for 2 of Pentacles, which is Change. Hey, that works too! Tarot is good like that, when you use it for insight rather than divination. The card shows Ben (under a crescent Moon!), a season five character with both choice and change issues.

The other thing to point out here is that when we interpret the astrological correspondence for 2 of Scythes as Moon in Libra, a new theme reveals itself in the three-card spread, particularly in relation to the “Crush” card at position three. 4 of Pentacles is Sun in Capricorn (did I get that right on the pod?). This card also came up reversed, and in this reading suggests clinginess. The pairing with 2 of Scythes (Moon in Libra reversed) indicates a Sun and Moon conjunction, which we have in the New Moon, when the overlap of these bodies makes the Moon go dark. The reversal of the pair further suggests that shadow phase. We recorded two days after the New Moon in Sagittarius (and the day Mercury went retro in Capricorn, which prepared us for some funky wiring and miscommunication). In this deck, 4 of Pentacles depicts the Magic Box storefront. Though the Magic Box is not in “Crush,” it is a crucial location in “Blood Ties,” which prominently features Ben (who also makes a quick appearance in “Crush”)—so the astrological themes of these cards, along with their tarot correspondences, illuminate both the spread and our conversation about the episodes, and align with the then-current phase of the moon. The vibes are decidedly lunar.

Listen: Fangs for the Memories Episode 47, “The Heart of the Cards”