The Bitch Is Back with Charisma Carpenter

This is a heavy one. Buffy gives Angel everything and wakes up to a man who is no longer home, and I could not stop thinking about how fast she assumes it's her fault. Because that's what we do.

That cigarette smoke shot might be the most cinematic thing this show has ever pulled off. The morning after the scene had me yelling at my screen. Jenny Calendar finally admits she's been a double agent this entire time, and believe me, I have thoughts about that. Then Willow tells Oz to make out with her and I fell in love with him right alongside her. And when Buffy shoulders a rocket launcher in the middle of a mall? Honestly, good.

I also get into the night we shot the military base in the pouring rain, Cordelia's inexplicable silver jacket, and the elevator shot that ended up in the opening credits.

I cried, I laughed, I'm not okay. The B*tch is Back!

New segment: Rewind in Time. The team dug up old footage of me promoting Buffy back in the day, and now I have to sit here and comment on all of it. First up is a five-minute KTLA interview with Sam Rubin from the set of the Halloween episode. I get into: Meeting the cast back when nobody knew if this show was even going to be a thing, stalking Michelle Pfeiffer at the Emmy party, and, decades later, still being genuinely furious that Buffy got snubbed for everything but a makeup nomination. It's surreal, it's a little cringe, and it's very me.

The B*tch is Back.

Charisma breaks down the will they won't they tension of Buffy and Angel's first night together and refuses to look away from the age gap that flew under the radar in 1997 and reads as a red flag on fire in 2026. She dissects the fever dream cold open, the infamous towel scene and the door left ajar that wrecked her nerves, and the gut punch reveal that sweet Jenny Calendar is actually Jana of the Kalderash. She cheers Cordelia owning her sexuality at the lockers, offers a rare and honest critique of her own ambiguous "happy birthday" read, and full on cries over the Claddagh ring goodbye at the docks. Then there's the thing she already knows is coming. Angel loses his soul.

Full future episodes on Patreon:
www.patreon.com/CharismaCarpenter

TT: / www.tiktok.com/@charisma_carpenter
IG: / www.instagram.com/charismacarpenter

The Bitch is Back! is my first ever watch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and this channel is now your one-stop shop for everything Buffyverse. I'm bringing the full interviews out from behind the paywall and onto YouTube, alongside new segments covering Buffy and Angel news, reboot and non-reboot talk, the new Angel comic, and the pop culture moments worth weighing in on. I'll be vlogging too, giving you a look at my process and how the podcast actually comes together. Subscribe, stick around, and tell a friend! And if you want the deeper experience, weekly content, monthly Zoom hangs, early drops, and merch discounts, that all lives on my Patreon at patreon.com/charismacarpenter. Tell everyone you've ever met right now, cause people, The Bitch is Back!

The Bitch is Back, and the vault is still open. More of our favorite Patreon interviews are making their way to YouTube for the first time, and this one is a fan favorite.

Charisma Carpenter sits down with culture critic and TV writer Ira Madison III for a deep dive into Season 2, Episode 2, Some Assembly Required, Buffy's Frankenstein episode, and one of the most unexpectedly rich hours of the series. They get into the circle of pining, Angel's 241 years of emotional stunting, grief as the real horror of the Hellmouth, and what a Buffy reboot actually needs to get right. Ira makes his case for being one of the few Angel Season 4 defenders on earth, Charisma pushes back, and somewhere in the middle Ira confesses to writing Buffy fan fiction.

More from the vault. The B*tch is Back.

Full future episodes on Patreon:
www.patreon.com/CharismaCarpenter

TT: / www.tiktok.com/@charisma_carpenter
IG: / www.instagram.com/charismacarpenter