video: "Scare U" - Charly Bliss
words: Matt Latham
Season Six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an odd one. It’s more mature in its themes and a little bit depressing. It’s also perhaps a little too dark for its own good. Doublemeat Palace is an episode that’s not high on my list if I was to rank every episode - but it’s nowhere near the bottom. In hindsight, it’s an episode that feels like a season one episode in season six’s clothing. An extended metaphor or low-level retail jobs that you’re convinced are for evil corporations. Whilst the outcome of the episode isn’t quite as severe as Charly Bliss’s loving homage - the assumption behind Buffy’s fast-food restaurant is there. It brings a self-aware story of fun into the dead-end jobs and manages to poke fun at fast-food.
With the exception of the old lady penis monster (don’t ask), Charly Bliss’s Halloween offering "Scare U" faithfully recreates the episode with its own brand of humor. It places lead vocalist Eva Hendricks in the Buffy role, with the rest of the band as creepy cannibalistic fast food servers. Everyone is having an absolute whale of a time, and the Buffy-obsessive within will enjoy all the the little throwbacks. The color of the uniforms, the layout of the staff-area and the VHS induction videos all help the experience.
I can only assume that every other Charly Bliss video will systematically go through all the other Buffy episodes. School Hard next, please. Or Prophecy Girl. I’m not fussy.