The Bitch Is Back with Charisma Carpenter

In this episode of The B*tch Is Back, I watch Becoming Part 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2 Episode 22, the Season 2 finale, for the first time. Buffy finally tells Joyce the truth, Willow fights to finish the spell, and Buffy faces the hardest choice of the entire season. I cried, I am so invested now, and I need to know how we get Angel back. Tell me your favorite Season 2 finale moments in...

In this episode of The B*tch Is Back, I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2 Episode 21, Becoming Part 1 for the first time. Angel’s origin story, Kendra’s fate, Willow’s spell, and a connection to this show I never knew existed until now. Now I understand why this episode is so beloved! This one left me speechless. Tell everyone you've ever met. The B*tch is Back! New Videos Every Tuesday Join...

In this episode of The B*tch Is Back, I rank every Buffy the Vampire Slayer monster from Seasons 1 and 2. I was in 147 episodes and had to film with some of these creatures. These are my honest rankings after watching for the first time and I have opinions, especially about the ones that actually scared me. Tell me your rankings in the comments, do you agree? Tell everyone you've ever met. The B*t...

In this episode of The B*tch Is Back, I watch Go Fish, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2, Episode 20, for the first time. The swim team is turning into fish creatures, the coach is hiding something, and watching this one brought back memories from set I hadn’t thought about in years. Plus why this episode is more relevant today than you might think. Tell everyone you've ever met. The B*tch is Back...

In this episode of The B*tch Is Back I answer the questions I get asked most. Why I named the podcast The Bitch Is Back and what Cordelia's most iconic line has to do with it. Whether I have really never watched Buffy or Angel all the way through. And why watching this show with you felt like something I had to do for myself, for the fandom, and for everyone who felt conflicted loving a show with...

In this episode of The B*tch Is Back, I watched I Only Have Eyes for You, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2, Episode 19, for the first time. This one hit different. A ghost reliving a murder. A love that couldn't be. And the cafeteria snake scene that I was absolutely not prepared for. I share what really happened on set that day and why this episode left me with more questions than answers. Inclu...

In this episode of The B*tch Is Back, I rank every Buffy the Vampire Slayer character from Seasons 1 and 2. I was in 147 episodes and never watched a single one until now. These are my honest rankings after watching for the first time and I have opinions, especially about my own character. Tell me your rankings in the comments, do you agree? Tell everyone you've ever met. The B*tch is Back! New Vi...

In this episode of The Bitch Is Back, I watch Killed by Death, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2, Episode 18, for the first time. This is my least favorite episode of the season and I'll tell you exactly why. A demon that only sick children can see, an abandoned hospital that was genuinely creepy to film in, and Buffy making herself sicker to protect the kids she came to save. Plus I share what it...

In this episode of The Bitch Is Back, I watch "Passion," Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2, Episode 17, for the first time. I knew Jenny Calendar dies in this one, but I didn't know how, and it left me stunned. I break down the olive branch scene between Jenny and Buffy, Joyce finding out about Buffy and Angel in the worst possible way and my thoughts as a mom on how she handled it, Giles going fu...

I threw out the playbook this week. No 20-page document, no teleprompter, no prep. For the first time ever, I'm watching an episode in real time with you, and of course it's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, the Valentine's Day love spell disaster. Season 2, Episode 16 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, written by Marti Noxon. Xander gets rejected, goes full scorned warlock, and accidentally makes eve...

I turned another year older in Manchester, surrounded by my Buffy family and a sea of fans. So this week is a full show and tell the cards that made me cry a little (Meg and her mom Catherine, I'm looking at you), the homemade ones that got me the most, Swedish gummies I've already half-eaten, ruby jewelry, friendship bracelets, a random duck, and a Taylor Swift Showgirl CD. Plus why Patreon membe...

This week I'm first-watching Buffy Season 2, Episode 15, "Phases," the one where Oz finds out he's a werewolf, Larry finds out it's easier to just be honest, and everyone learns that hiding who you are is a full-time job. But you know where my head really went: that car scene. Xander drags Cordelia out to do things she can't tell her father about, then spends the whole time obsessing over Willow,...

The team pulled up two decades of my old red carpet photos and made me sit here and look at every single one. Here's what I learned: I've had some genuinely great looks, that Italian silk blouse, my hair, and my makeup combined, and I'd wear it again tomorrow. Some things I'd style differently now, I'm owning my crimes against pantyhose, the shoe choices that should've been slingbacks. There's a G...

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 t...

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 lat...

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...

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...

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 se...

The B*tch is Back, and we're still opening the vault. More of our favorite Patreon interviews are making their way to YouTube for the first time, and this one was the first to go viral. Charisma Carpenter sits down with James Marsters, Spike himself, to revisit Season 1, Episode 3, School Hard, the episode that introduced one of the most beloved characters in the Buffyverse. James reveals that Spi...

The Bitch is Back, and we're opening the vault. A few of our favorite interviews are leaving Patreon for YouTube for the first time, and this is the one we wanted to lead with. Charisma Carpenter interviews Eric Balfour, who played Jesse McNally, Xander's best friend and the first Scooby to get turned, more than two decades after they last spoke. Eric gets into auditioning for Xander and landing J...

In this week's episode of The Bitch is Back, Charisma Carpenter closes out the podcast's first season, a run that carried her through 24 episodes across Seasons 1 and the first half of Season 2, culminating in a Vacation Edition best-of special where she revisits the Pod’s sharpest hot takes. It's a first watch, so every reaction lands fresh: the dream sequence sucker punch that genuinely shocked...

The Bitch is Back, and this week Charisma Carpenter takes on Buffy Season 2, Episode 12 "Bad Eggs" a Marty Noxon sex-ed cautionary tale featuring two vampire cowboys, parasitic alien hatchlings, and a prehistoric mama demon nesting under Sunnydale High. Charisma unpacks the episode's patriarchal reading of motherhood and connects it directly to being branded the "maternal monster" herself years la...

Charisma interviews comedian Iliza Shlesinger and her right hand Emily Higgins, host and producer of Ask Iliza, pull up for "Bad Eggs," the Season 2 episode where the Scoobies babysit sentient parasites and Buffy fights a subterranean Mama Bezoar with baby fever. Emily is the Buffy expert (she came armed with DVDs). Iliza is the first-watch newcomer who immediately clocks Sarah Michelle Gellar's i...

The Bitch is Back, and this week, Charisma is taking on Episode 11, "Ted," features the late John Ritter as Joyce's too-perfect new boyfriend, and Charisma's first-watch reaction is everything: equal parts horrified, pissed off, and weirdly relevant to 2026. Charisma breaks down Ted's slow slide from charming to menacing, the moment he threatens to slap Buffy at mini golf, and Joyce's gut-wrenchin...

In the conclusion of the "What is My Line" two-parter, Charisma Carpenter breaks down the arrival of Kendra, the strict new Vampire Slayer , and the relentless onslaught of the Order of Taraka assassins. While analyzing Buffy's desire for a normal teenage life and Spike and Drusilla's dark ritual , Charisma shares vivid behind-the-scenes memories of the fiery church showdown that took days to film...