4.17 - Superstar

Jonathan is a superstar!

***

Poor Danny Strong. For every appearance he's been on the show, he's been a pathetic dork. The way he dresses, the way he talks, does his hair...he's pathetic. But in real life, Danny Strong is as cool as he is in this episode. He's confident and self assured, he's got a major in theater, and he's a successful screen writer and producer, most notably for the HBO movie Recount, which stars Kevin Spacey and a plethora of other Oscar caliber actors.

When I see the guy in this episode or on any of the special features on the DVDs, he's always pretty cool, and I'd just as soon hang out with him as someone like Xander. But to be fated to constantly have to play the dork is kind of sad. He's hilarious, and as I found out in this episode, he's a good singer, too.

So score two for Jane Espenson now. I loved this episode, even if it did have her trademark preachy moral at the end (you can't rush some things and you can't force things to happen...some things have to develop on their own. I got it from the story, I didn't need it to actually be broken down for me like that). If she could just get the art of the subtle moral, giving it to us without saying "you just learned something" at the end, like a very special episode of "Blossom," she'd be on par with everyone else.

Look for all the Jonathan posters throughout the episode. They're hilarious. My favorite is the Basketball one on Riley's door, although I also think the Jonathon.com one is funny.

Also, at this point, I skip through the opening credits, but they need to be seen on this episode, because Jonathan is in them.

Rating: 9/10

Edit: In listening to Jane Espenson's commentary for this episode, she points out that it was Joss who wrote the moral at the end of the episode, where everything is back to normal and Buffy has a heart to heart with Jonathan. Jane, I owe you an apology.

I also found out that this is not Danny Strong singing, but an actor, who I think did the singing voice for Alladin.