Reception
Reviewer Mikelangelo Marinaro, giving the episode a B- (7.5 out of 10), praised the "sound effects used throughout the episode" and called the episode "a stand-alone which doesn't do much for character or plot development, but remains very fun nonetheless." Unlike other reviewers, Marinaro spends time talking about Giles: "Giles almost immediately gets the truth out of Buffy while at the same time illustrating the point that he is really at loose ends... We'll see even more of this as he begins to hang out with Xander a lot in upcoming episodes."
Another reviewer made an interesting point: "Not many episodes of Buffy have had the kind of focus this story got. The story remained mostly in the surface world (with only the dreams to hint at the supernatural) and explored every facet of the disintegrating roommate relationship."
A BBC reviewer praised actress "Dagney Kerr's nicely paced performance as Kathy" and added, "it's encouraging to find the regular cast so casually back together again after the worrying indications in the last episode that it would be difficult for the writers to find reasonable excuses for them to continue working as a team. This episode generally dispenses with explanations, and flows better because of it."
Read more about this topic: Living Conditions
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)