Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series) Living Conditions (1999) User Reviews

Buffy gets a roommate

[katierose295 · 8/10 · 4 August 2006]

If you missed out on having a college roommate, this episode will have you counting your blessings. "Living Conditions" is a monster-of-the-week where Buffy tries to adapt to life with her new roommate, Kathy. Buffy is convinced that Kathy's perky, flossing, cleanliness hides a sinister secret. This isn't the most important episode of the season and you could probably skip it and not miss much story wise. It does introduce the character of Parker, a guy the show seems to have specifically designed for us to hate. I recommend missing as many of his scenes as you can.

The episode is all about Buffy and Kathy. Buffy is having some trouble adjusting to her new roommate. Kathy is a neat freak and terminally chipper. She follows Buffy around, borrows Buffy's clothes and clips her toenails in bed. Buffy is getting more and more frustrated with her. The Scoobies become concerned when Buffy starts having terrible dreams and ranting about Kathy constantly. Soon she plotting to kill Kathy. The gang locks Buffy up at Giles' house, but Buffy escapes and heads back to the dorm to face Kathy. Who might not be all that she seems...

I like a lot about this episode. Kathy is really good at being annoying. From labeling her milk and eggs with her name, to spinning the divas all day long, to ironing her jeans. No wonder Buffy goes insane bunking with her. And it's even funnier when you see how much worse Willow's roommate is, even though Buffy is the one complaining. And its nice to see Oz and Buffy sharing a scene together. They don't have a lot of chances to interact one on one.

On the downside, have I mentioned that I hate Parker? I think that he's a sacrificial goat. Buffy and Angel's relationship was so important and powerful that any other guy she dated would automatically take a lot of heat. So, they introduced Parker to get all the hatred out of the way. He adds another stop between Angel and Riley, so we don't automatically hate Buffy's REAL boyfriend this season. Of course, I don't like Riley either... But that's mainly because he's so dull. Parker's just a jerk.

My favorite part of the episode: Buffy's reaction to Kathy dripping ketchup on her sweater. Music swells... Camera zooms... Eyes narrow.

An Annoying Roommate

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 10 July 2006]

Buffy has frictions with her roommate, the selfish Kathy Newman (Dagney Kerr), who has opposite tastes and costumes, and has also nightmares with weird monsters. When Buffy sees that the fingernails of Kathy restores every morning, she tells to Giles and her friends that Kathy might be a monster, but they do not believe on her.

In this show, the annoying character of Kathy was irritating me with her behavior. The relationship of Buffy and Kathy has some funny moments, but in the end, "Living Conditions" is only another reasonable episode of this season. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Condições de Vida" ("Life Conditions")

One bad room mate

[caffeine_freak8 · 8/10 · 4 February 2007]

It's an OK episode. Watching it on the DVD it just puts off the arrival of Spike and Harmony. Buffy's room mate Kathy is extremely peppy. She has rules for every thing. All phone calls must be logged and if a little milk is missing from her fridge she is traumatized. She labels her entire food stash. Even the eggs in the fridge. The drama starts when Buffy tells her roomy that she is going for some coffee when she is really going patrolling. Kathy decides that she wants coffee too and a demon comes after her. Over the course of the episode Buffy's attitude becomes more and more negative. She becomes a bit of a b**ch. Buffy has dreams in which blood is being poured down her throat. Throughout the episode the scene cuts to the demons talking about "The one" My favorite part of this episode is when Kathy is sucked into the portal it sounds like she is a normal human child looking for respect from her parents.

Kathy go Home

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 7 March 2019]

Buffy is finding her college roommate increasingly irritating; she constantly plays music Buffy doesn't like; tries to set rules for their room; flosses her teeth in bed and borrows Buffy's clothes. Things aren't helped after the two of them are attacked by a demon while out on the campus at night even though Buffy manages to push Kathy away so she thinks it was just a mugger. After that they share a strange dream and Buffy gets more and more irritated by Kathy and decides she has to go... even if that means slaying her! Naturally her friends are concerned at her extreme behaviour.

This was a solid standalone episode even though most of it had nothing obviously more threatening than an annoying roommate. We do see demons who state that Buffy, or possibly Kathy, is the one they are looking for but they don't do much that is menacing. The more Buffy and Kathy snipe at each other the more obvious it becomes that something must be affecting them. The way Buffy's friends; Willow, Xander, Oz and Giles, help her was good after she had been effectively alone for much of the episode. The revelation at the end of the episode wasn't a total surprise nor was it too obvious... the method of exposure was a shock though! The acting was solid throughout as were the special effects in the aforementioned exposure scene. Overall a fine episode.

The One Where Buffy's Roommate Tries To Steal Her Soul...

[taylorkingston · 9/10 · 2 October 2014]

I love this episode. It's a perfect second episode of the season.

In this episode, Buffy's roommate, Kathy is getting on her last nerve. Stealing her clothes and then ruining them. Always clipping her toenails. Ew. Go do that in the bathroom, not on your bed. Eating six raw eggs in one sitting. Hanging around Buffy's friends all the time. Playing the same song over and over. No offense to Cher, but I can only hear Do You Believe In Life After Love a few times in a row. I wonder how Buffy could stand it. Well, she couldn't. So she retaliated by drinking her roommates milk. And then Buffy gets really paranoid saying to Willow, Xander and Giles, that Kathy is a demon. But, sadly, no one believes her. Which they should have. Because it turns out that Kathy is a weird demon from another dimension, performing a ritual to steal Buffy's soul, so her people won't be able to recognize her. Eventually, Buffy stops her and Kathy is sent back to her own world.

Overall, I give this episode a 9 out of 10.

Roommate

[Realrockerhalloween · 2 October 2016]

Buffy is adjusting to the college life but her roommate is getting on her nerves. Meanwhile Kathy has secrets of her own as she sucks out Buffy's soul so she can stay on earth. This episode is a treat for anyone who's ever been away from home along time and can't make friends with other attendants either they want good labeled, forget to wrote down messages and play the same song over till it drives you crazy. It even devolves into humor in this aspect as Buffy slowly loses her sanity from her facial expression to her friends worried looks and needing to retain her.

Kathy's story is interesting as she's a young demon away from home and being followed by her father to take her back. I wish they go more into detail as many demons visit our reality without trouble, usually causing it, unless they are suggesting demons have family units they actually care about.

Funny and interesting

[Joxerlives · 6/10 · 3 March 2012]

The Good; Kathy is a wonderful character and I wish we'd seen her again (the actress later turns up as recurring character in Desperate Housewives, the nurse who accidentally kills Carlos' mother). I was genuinely surprised that she was a demon, I thought Buffy was going nuts (great performance from SMG, amazing what a little eye-shadow can do). The fight between the 2 at the end and the argument between Kathy and her dad is terrific. The final gag is excellent too although Buffy's scarf makes her look a lot like Joyce when she's had her operation.

The Bad; Exactly how long would it have taken the demons to work out that Buffy wasn't Kathy?

Best line; Kathy; "I just wanted to make sure we didn't have a thief or something?" Buffy; "Like who? Sid the wiley dairy gnome?" but I also like Oz; "On the plus side you killed the bench which was looking shifty" and "No one deserves mime"

Character death; none

Tied up; Buffy is netted and tied up by Xander, Oz and Giles. They need to work on their Boy Scout skills though (Buffy's been tied up and escaped countless times and I'm sure escapology must be part of Slayer training?)

Knocked out; Yep, Oz and Xander by Buffy

Women good/men bad; Patriarchical demons not letting their daughters go to college. On the other hand it seems that Hank still helps out with Buffy's tuition.

Jeez!; Kathy slamming the phone into Buffy's face is gruesome yet oddly funny

Kinky dinky; Xander wonders why Giles doesn't have any manacles like any self-respecting bachelor? Both Oz and Xander admire Parker's 'driveby' hitting on Buffy.

Calling Captain Subtext; Kathy puts the moves on Parker much to Buffy chagrin. Buffy and Willow end up in the end being roommates. And here is Veruca for the first time, the little scene between her and Oz subtle but incredibly significant. Willow refers to Parker as the cutie-patootie once again casting her as Bi rather than gay. Willow refers to Giles as their 'grown up friend' but not in a creepy way.

Scoobies to the ER; Buffy isn't hurt despite the no-holds barred thrashing she and Kathy give each other

Where's Dawn? Kathy comments that Buffy has always been an only child, well not always. She also says she and Buffy are like sisters, well Dawn and Buff fight too and Dawn turns out not to be what she seems

Questions and observations; Giles reads Scooter and Motorbike magazine, did he sell Wes his? A funny but pretty slight ep with some good performances from the leads. I think season 4 is just taking a little time to find it's feet.

Marks out of 10; 6/10, a slight ep but a cracker, funny and interesting.

The very best episode of the show ?

[nicofreezer · 9/10 · 18 May 2022]

Might be the best episode of Buffy, its up there with the very best one, and my new favorite This episode is everything that makes Buffy great, not the boring Angel Buffy moments, but the comedy, the mystery, the fun, Buffy, Willow, Xander, and a great nemesis. "Living conditions" is the first episode that make me considare giving a 10/10 The 7.5/10 rating is a huge surprise and you should not pay attention to it. Trust me i know TV, this is a fantastic episode.

So annoying that it annoyed me.

[GraXXoR · 6/10 · 9 September 2019]

I managed to get through this forgettable episode in about 20 minutes.

I am allergic to corny dialogue and 2D characters and this episode was full of predictability.

Oz wanders past a group of obvious werewolves and the goon squad taser gang follow.

And did I mention how annoyingly rancid Kathy was.

Not a fan of detached MOTW episodes.

And besides the introduction of walking Men Bad Women Good cliche that is Parker, nothing new was introduced.

Thus I have given it a totally mediocre, forgettable score of 6.

Odd Couple Buffy Style

[ossie85 · 7/10 · 14 August 2022]

Buffy has a personality clash with her new rommate Kathy, and the gang think Buffy is being unreasonable. Oz notices a girl and she notices him back.

Why It's So Good - At times, this episode is Buffy at its funniest. Sarah Michelle Gellar has underrated comic timing and she plays Buffy's silliness and increasing desperation brilliantly. This episode amplifies the problems of living with people. People. Urgh. The worst.

Watch Out For - Buffy's eyes at the end killed me.

Quote - "And jump. And bend. And, occasionally, frolic." - Giles on exercising.