It had been 28 years since Newcastle United last lost a Tyne-Wear derby at Sunderland, now it's been an hour and a half.

For those of you who don't know Sunderland is right next to Newcastle and the derby matches between the two are always very exciting fixtures. The atmosphere is fantastic and the teams go all out for it making great matches. Of course I enjoy them mainly because Newcastle tend to win, not today unfortunately.

Sunderland had most of the play for the first 20 minutes leading to Cisse scoring unmarked at the back post. After that Newcastle started to play a bit and equalised through Ameobi to make it 1-1 at half time. Second half was pretty even for the most part until Richardson scored from a free kick. For the last 15 minutes or so it was mainly Newcastle on the attack but other than Ameobi fluffing a couple of good chances the Mackems kept us out to hold on for their first home victory against us in 28 years.

Considering the shambles that is Newcastle United Football Club at the moment loosing wasn't completely unexpected, but still a huge setback, especially coming off the back of two fantastic results. Hopefully the team doesn't implode after this and despite being in the relegation zone we're only a point from safety. Of course depending on how other results go that gap could be pretty worrying by the end of the weekend.

Well sorry that my first update in a while isn't a particularly happy one. I'll be back on before long with hopefully a happier post about my opinions on some of this season's shows so far. Hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend and I'll speak to you later.

Hey all!

Thanks again for those who followed the Buffy countdown, I really appreciated it. Well now the new TV season is well underway I'm going to try to get on here a bit more often. Sorry if I've missed your blogs lately, I don't even know what Barrybgb selected as his fave Buffy ep!

So like I said the new TV season has started and here's what I think so far:

Prison Break should've ended after season 2 and this year is proving that! Heroes is ok, but far from great so far this season. House is as funny as ever but it might be good to mix up the dynamic it Wilson actually does leave the show. Supernatural is awesome and surprisingly so is Smallville. I didn't have time to review the Smallville premiere but have a review up for this week's ep here.

The other thing the title of this blog refers to is the situation at Newcastle United. The club is in a complete shambles at the minute with no real manager and the owners being forced to sell up. We've just been appointed an interim manager whose job is to prevent us from completely imploding for about for about a month before a permanent one can be found. In short it's a complete bloody nightmare situation.

Well that's it, hope you all have a good one and I'll speak to you later.

Here it is, the last part of my list. I've enjoyed doing it and would like to thank everyone who's commented on it. I hope you've all enjoyed it and found it interesting and that it's allowed you to reminisce about the fantastic show that is Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

So enjoy the last four and can't wait to here what you think of them.

1. Lover's Walk

Season 3 Episode 8

Spike is my personal favourite character of all time and this episode is pretty much the reason why. So after being dumped by Drusilla, a distraught Spike returns to Sunnydale. It was great to see him like this as it was a side of him that'd never been shown. James Marsters was on the top of his game throughout this episode and he made Spike just a joy to watch. The other major storylines in this episode were Xander and Willow's affair and Buffy and Angel trying to be friends. Both stories came to a head here and Spike calling out Buffy and Angel about never being able to be friends was fantastic. The episode was perfectly paced and everything about it was fantastic. There was some of the funniest dialogue in the show in this episode and great moments from everyone. There was also the great fight scene towards the end and Spike taking out Lenny was a great combination of brutality and hilarity. By the end of the episode each character was decimated which was perfectly contrasted by the end shot of Spike driving off into the distance listening to "My Way". Genius!

2. Graduation Day - Part 2

Season 3 Finale

Some of the best episodes of Buffy are the sad emotional ones with bittersweet endings. Although this episode does have a somewhat sad ending with Angel leaving for the most part it doesn't follow that trend by being a lot more upbeat than most finales. As Faith had been dealt with at the end of the previous episode this one's tone wasn't as dark as it would've been had she been involved in the fight. The episode still began in quite a dark place with Angel dying and Buffy thinking she'd killed Faith. These were resolved fairly quickly, and awesomely in Angel's case, allowing for the episode to concentrate on the final battle against the Mayor. The whole graduating year joining in the fight was pretty cheesy, but who cares because it was fantastically awesome! The battle was brilliantly done and was appropriately epic. All the major characters getting involved was a brilliant way to culminate the end of the High School period of the show, along with blowing it up.

3. The Zeppo

Season 3 Episode 13

As I've already mentioned, Xander is one of my favourite characters and one of the main reasons for this is that he's the everyman character. With no powers or real abilities to speak of he's the most identifiable for us regular blokes which is something that this episode highlights perfectly. After being advised to stay out of danger for a while Xander ends up getting on the radar of the school psycho, Jack O'Toole. Eventually Xander ends up falling in with him and his zombie friends. The story's about him falling in with the wrong crowd, but instead of dwelling on that too much the episode just uses it as a way to drive the story forward. The other impressive thing is that this episode has its own apocalypse, but uses that as the B-Story. This might sound annoying at first but it works perfectly to see it from an outside perspective for the most part. The heavy drama from that story never outweighs the more light tone of Xander's story which was very impressive to pull off. This is a very important episode for Xander as he proves to himself that he's a vital part of Buffy's team and gives a fantastic and hilarious episode doing it.

4. Becoming - Part 1

Season 2 Episode 21

Throughout season 2 pretty much every aspect of Angel and Angelus' personality had been addressed but there was still much from his past we hadn't seen. Therefore this episode gave the show's first proper flashback episode and also the best. With the exception of how Angel found out about Buffy, every scene from his past had been mentioned before. However to actually see these events was fantastic. Considering how long Angel had lived for there was plenty to draw from and this episode showed the most interesting parts which answered a lot of questions while still leaving plenty open to be explored in later episodes. The flashbacks were weighted perfectly with the present day stuff which was also amazing. Up until this point Angel's main focus was Buffy, but here he took a new and perfectly acceptable interest in destroying the world. Seeing his frustration at not being able to awaken Acathla was great and gave a logical explanation for why he'd risk taking Giles hostage as he had no where else to turn. The resultant scene where Kendra was killed was sad, but more for Buffy's sake than Kendra's. Although we got a superb glimpse of Buffy's origin story too this was definitely an Angel episode which gave even more depth to an already fantastic character.

We're almost there now with the penultimate part of my countdown.

5. Passion

Season 2 Episode 17

Having had a couple of episodes since Angel turned evil without him really doing anything it was about time we got to see how terrible Angelus can be. His fixation with Buffy was brilliantly played and the drawings he made of her while he was sleeping were genuinely creepy. The idea of a protection spell was a great idea as well as a necessity if Angel was going to continue to be evil throughout the season. Buffy's mum appeared to be Angel's main target and although he didn't kill her he did tell her that he and Buffy had slept together. Giles and Jenny's relationship seemed to be on the mend here which was needed to make what eventually happened to her as decimating as it was. Although not a main cast member she had still been on the show since season 1 and so her death at the hands of Angel was both unexpected and brilliantly heartbreaking. The way he'd left the body for Giles to find was beyond cruel and finally we saw what Angelus was capable of. Giles' revenge attack on Angel was perfectly reasonable and a part of me really wanted him to actually kill Angel. This was a superb episode that showed Buffy wasn't a show afraid of being incredibly dark when it served the storyline.

6. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Season 2 Episode 16

Xander's one of my favourite characters on the show and when given a great episode like this one to be the focus of he made it absolutely amazing! The setup for the episode and Xander's wanting Cordy to fall in love with him just so he could break up with her was great. However the truly genius stuff was after Amy's spell went wrong and every woman in Sunnydale fell in love with him. The different approaches each character used to try to seduce him were brilliantly executed, particularly Buffy wearing only a coat. With Angel still at large he ended up attacking Xander and Dru rescuing him was a great combination of humour and horror. Eventually Giles managed to get through to Amy enough so that she'd reverse the spell which worked well enough as a resolution. With everything back to normal Cordelia and Xander then got back together which restored the status quo. This episode may not have been a hugely epic one in relation to the whole series, but it was a fantastic one to watch and what more do you want than that?

7. Anne

Season 3 Premiere

The opening scene in this episode was hilarious, with the initial mislead of who was standing over the vampire's grave to his escape and Oz's poor attempt to stop him. Again the humour was perfectly balanced with the drama which mostly came from Buffy. Her life in LA was very well executed making it very believable and so able to empathise with her. Of course bad guys always somehow manage to find Buffy and in this case it was a demon using runaways as slaves. The despair the demons were talking about was clearly an analogy for Buffy's own troubles, but that didn't stop it from working. Her response when asked her name was a brilliant moment that didn't come off as cheesy mainly because of the awesome action scene that followed. Each character was appropriately reintroduced for the new season and all had their fair share of screen time. Back in Sunnydale the gang were attempting to take out the vampire that had escaped them in what worked as a superbly entertaining scene complete with a great reconciliation between Xander and Cordelia. After the shock ending from season 2 this episode gives a successful resolution while still leaving enough to be addressed in the next few episodes.

8. Helpless

Season 3 Episode 12

The original idea behind Buffy was to turn the cliché of the hot blond girl running from monsters on its head. However after two and a half seasons of a fully developed character this episode gave its own take on that cliché. The father daughter relationship between Buffy and Giles was made perfectly clear by Buffy essentially replacing her dad with Giles when he couldn't take her to the ice show. Establishing that made it even more emotional when it was revealed that he had betrayed her. With Buffy powerless she needed to take out the demented vampire that had her mother captured. Kralik was only needed as a tool to drive the story forward, so that they made him an interesting character when it wasn't really necessary was a great touch. Despite not having her abilities Buffy still managed to kill Kralik (the only vampire to be killed by Holy water on Buffy or Angel) thus proving that there's more to her than her powers which was great to show. The episode was then able to end on a relatively happy note with Buffy regaining her trust for Giles mainly because he sabotaged his career for her which was a excellent moment to end an excellent episode.

9. Becoming - Part 2

Season 2 Finale

As usual on Buffy at the start of the season finale things were pretty much at their worst with Buffy at gunpoint after her friends had been killed, injured or abducted and Angel almost ready to awaken Acathla. Of course just when everything seemed hopeless Buffy found herself an unlikely ally in Spike. He was fantastic and his interaction with Joyce was superb. The other big thing here was that Buffy's mum finally found out that she was the slayer which brilliantly addressed several issues and was an excellent scene. This episode was great, but it was all building up to the final confrontation between Buffy and Angel. The end action sequence had to pay off and it did brilliantly. The whole thing was a top notch action sequence complete with Spike joining in the action and taking out his built up frustration for Angel. Buffy and Angel's sword fight was fantastically choreographed and interspersed with Willow doing the restoration spell was great. Then there was the heart wrenching emotional ending when just as Buffy was about to decapitate Angel his soul was restored but it was too late. The best Buffy endings are the ones that come with a price and Buffy having to kill the man she loved was one of the most amazing ones.

10. The Gift

Season 5 Finale

The little montage "Previously" sequence at the start was pointless but cool and a great way to acknowledge the hundredth episode. The last few episodes of season 5 had taken an appropriately dark turn and so the season finale starts the same way. However whilst everyone is depressed it's actually Anya who starts throwing out ideas which was great as the items she suggests act like a recap of season 5. As it's Dawn who's the centre of the apocalypse it gave a higher emotional tension and upped the excitement of the episode. The huge battle at the end was superb and had everything. Despite trading blows several times throughout the season this last fight had that bit more to make it more intense. Willow restoring Tara's mind was brilliant as I really didn't see it happening and gave a ray of light in an otherwise very dark episode. Another rare mention of vampiric vision led to Spike realising Doc was up on the tower with Dawn although it did noting to stop him opening the portal. When it opened the effects were awesome and gave a truly epic feel. This of course led to the heartbreaking ending with Buffy sacrificing herself for the world and mainly Dawn. Her speech to Dawn playing over the final few moments as the sun rose was a perfect bittersweet ending to this fantastic episode.

11. Surprise

Season 2 Episode 13

Buffy and Angel's relationship had been building throughout the second season to the point where the next logical step was for them to sleep together. There's the obvious argument that Angel was sleeping with a minor, but then again Buffy was sleeping with a corpse so both were breaking the law! Although only 17, Buffy was still very mature and able to carry her own show so it didn't seem out of place (plus the legal age of consent in the UK is 16 so I never really thought twice about it). Of course before that could happen there was the issue of Spike and Dru's plan to raise an ancient demon that could destroy a person simply by looking at them. Jenny's reveal at being a descendent of the Romanians who cursed Angel was done well and didn't just feel shoehorned in. Her attempts to keep Buffy weren't hugely subtle and inevitably in vain anyway. There were other big events in this episode like Oz discovering Buffy was the slayer and seeing Spike in his wheelchair for the first time, all of which was handled perfectly. Add to that some great action and excellent dialog and this was one superb episode with a great cliff-hanger.

12. Innocence

Season 2 Episode 14

After the cliff-hanger at the end of the previous episode we find out why Angel was yelling in pain. It was an absolutely genius idea to have Angel become Angelus again. It allowed us to see first hand these terrible things he did as opposed to just hear about them. The analogy of the repercussions of sleeping with someone were subtle enough here that it didn't affect the story and Giles reiterated this by fully empathising with Buffy rather than accusing her of anything at the end. This gave a maturity to the episode that would have hurt it otherwise. As for the episode itself evil Angel was fantastic and played perfectly. The Judge was still terrifying and a great villain and Buffy taking him out with a rocket launcher was just fantastic! After being understandably distraught throughout the episode Buffy had to fight Angel and despite beating him couldn't bring herself to kill him, although did kick him i a very painful place. This episode pretty much had it all. The emotional impact was fantastic and played brilliantly but we still had the superb ending action sequence too.

13. When She Was Bad

Season 2 Premiere

After a hit and miss first season the opening episode of season 2 showed exactly what Buffy could do. After spending summer with her father Buffy returns to Sunnydale acting a bit different. As her first major battle, combined with the fact she died, it was great that her experience with the Master affected her beyond a single episode. The way she acted out was brilliantly handled, in particular that awesome slow dance, and it was great that Cordelia of all people called her out on it. The ritual to revive the Master was a great idea and made believable due to the amount of effort that needed for it to be complete. Another element that significantly helped this episode was that they'd clearly been given significantly more money to work with. The fight scenes were more impressive and the dusting effects had been updated too, in particular when Absalom was incinerated. A great story, acting and production values made for an overall amazing episode to open the season with.

14. Amends

Season 3 Episode 10

When Angel started seeing victims from his past it gave an interesting mystery as it was possible that he was just going mad. Giles' reaction when Angel came to see him was great and perfectly justifiable. That it was then when he saw Jenny Calendar further added to the possibility that he was going mad. This episode also had Buffy and Faith make up which was very touching, if a bit pointless considering what happened later in season 3. One of the many excellent touches in this episode was how they incorporated Christmas so well without it seeming shoehorned in. The episode didn't really rely on it being Christmas, but at the same time it wouldn't have worked without it which is something few shows manage to great right. On top of that there were some very impressive effects with the First changing form and Buffy and Angel's joint dream where he turned evil was perfectly done. Although it doesn't give a definitive answer for how Angel got back to Earth, it doesn't really matter and the First's comment "it'll do" about Angel killing himself was a great foreshadowing of him becoming the hero on his own show.

I hope everyone had a good weekend; mine was pretty good with the usual combination of relaxing, beer and football. Also is everyone ready for the end when the "Large Hadron Collider" is powered up in Switzerland to smash particles together and possibly create a black hole that'll destroy the universe? Should be a fun time! So before that happens I'll post the next part of my Buffy list.

15. Spiral

Season 5 Episode 20

With Glory knowing that Dawn was the Key the entire gang found themselves in a completely different situation than they'd ever been in before. Going on the run was clearly a last resort, but worked perfectly and fit in brilliantly with the overall story. This meant for a pretty depressing tone, but that's where Spike shone by adding some much needed comedy where no other character logically could've. The camper van being chased by the Knights of Byzantium was a bit cheesy but still awesome! The whole sequence was done superbly with great moments throughout. Seeing Spike hit one of them and fall to the ground in pain due to his chip was fantastic and underlined the fact that there'd never been human enemies like this before on the show. Also seeing the extent of Willow's power yet again was awesome when she created a giant forcefield. That Buffy would really have believed Ben would except everything that was going on if he was a normal guy was maybe pushing it a little bit, but worked to drive the plot forward and allowed for some brilliant moments of jealously from Spike. This was a superb action packed episode that had a great ending to take us into the final two episodes of the season.

16. Chosen

Series Finale

The final episode of Buffy needed to pull out all the stops and thankfully it did. The most important thing a series finale really needs to do is give a satisfying ending. Chosen was more than up to that challenge by appropriately ending season 7's story arc as well as addressing the most major points from the entire season. The hope for Buffy and Angel's relationship, Spike getting to be a hero, Willow managing to fully control her power and a gigantic battle sequence were all just some of the fantastic things that happened here. The huge battle in Hell was awesome with some mind-blowing effects. That they could still have character moments during that huge onslaught was amazing and it was pretty much the perfect end to the show. The other major thing this episode needed to do was to do something that simply couldn't allow the show to continue therefore giving a reason for ending it. Destroying Sunnydale and the Hellmouth with it was obviously part of that, but the fantastic thing was that due to all of the potentials becoming full slayers Buffy could go and live her own, ordinary life and do whatever she wanted. A superb and deserving final moment for the show to go out on.

17. Consequences

Season 3 Episode 15

The huge character changing moment for Faith may have happened in the previous episode but a great payoff is far harder to do than a great setup. Thankfully this episode manages to be incredibly satisfying while still leaving an incredibly intriguing cliff-hanger. Buffy completely freaking out about the Mayor's assistant's death was brilliantly handled and, obviously, superbly performed by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Eliza Dushku was also at the top of her game fantastically portraying Faith as she tried to pass off what she had done as nothing. Both characters' actions all made sense and when the gang did eventually find out they did their best to help too, in particular Angel. His heart to heart with Faith was great and you could see he was getting through to her. That is until Wesley came along and ruined everything in a very fitting fashion. Fortunately he was able to admit to his mistake thus preventing his character from being hated. A great redemptive action scene for Faith and the end of Mr. Trick's story then rounded off a superb episode.

18. The Wish

Season 3 Episode 9

After Cordelia found Xander cheating on her with Willow in the previous episode she ends up accidentally wishing for a world in which Buffy never came to Sunnydale in this one. The logic for why Buffy not being about would've saved Cordelia heartache made sense and was a great way to get us into the alternate reality. The amount of effort and thought that was put into the alternate reality was incredible and all worked perfectly. This was a very dark episode and everything from vampire Willow and Xander to the more rough Buffy was superb. Each character being able to show areas of themselves we normally wouldn't see was great to watch. The end battle scene was excellent and seeing half of the main cast killed (along with Blade-esque skeletal dusting effects) was fantastic and helped even more by the amazing musical score. This episode was superb throughout but my only complaint is that it could've been even better if they'd had a bit more money to spend on it. The scope was that of a season finale, but unfortunately the budget was only for a mid season episode. Of course that's not really the creators' fault and so doesn't really impinge on this fantastic episode.

19. Primeval

Season 4 Episode 21

Although not the true season 4 finale it felt more like it to me than Restless did. After all falling out in the previous episode the gang quickly make up in this one. Although the heated comments at the end of The Yoko Factor didn't have much lasting affect it still worked as the main plot needed to get back on track. The gang quickly point out Spike as the one stirring things up and so link him to Adam. Spike was his usual awesome self here from blaming Adam for letting him come up with the plan when it went wrong to his incredibly insincere help at the end. It's the intertwining of emotion and action that makes the best episodes and here it worked as Riley was being controlled while the Initiative was being overrun by demons. Him cutting the chip out of his own chest to save Buffy was a fantastic moment for him as was his battle against Forrest. Buffy's fight with Adam was also very cool, and they went to great lengths explaining how difficult and dangerous the spell was that it worked. While season 4 may not have been the best the end of the Initiative was a truly great way to finish that story with a bang.

20. Band Candy

Season 3 Episode 6

A fantastic episode which, like most of the best of Buffy, brilliantly combines several themes and genres to create an amazing piece of TV. When Buffy's mum and Giles first start eating the chocolate bars it's incredibly subtle how their changing which is handled brilliantly. Even so it's once they fully revert to their teenage selves that the episode becomes awesome. The major theme running through the episode is that of maturity and mainly how Buffy feels she's not being treated fairly enough in that respect. She makes some valid points in her defence and it plays out brilliantly against the immature adults. Another fantastic thing here is that this episode plays a lot on the previous season's The Dark Age. They don't bother with much exposition which is great as there isn't really a need for it and it would've slowed the pace of the episode. The villain behind the Band Candy could've easily been anyone but Ethan Rayne just gave it a more familiar touch. Add to that the real villains being the Mayor and Mr. Trick, a giant CGI snake demon (the first of several) and Giles and Joyce's scene on the police car and you have an absolutely fantastic and fun episode.

21. Choices

Season 3 Episode 19

This is the first episode with Faith in after Buffy and co found out that she was evil. Even so there's no real confrontation between Buffy and Faith, which is actually for the best so that they could save it for Graduation Day Part 1. Instead here the main confrontation is between Willow and Faith. This isn't really billed as a Willow episode but it works well as one anyway. After becoming a bit more assertive in Doppelgangland it was great to see her continue it here, and when she took out a vampire with a pencil it was awesome! There was also a lot about Buffy and Angel's doomed relationship here which helped to set up their eventual split. And of course there was some fantastic action. The whole gang's plan to get and destroy the Box of Gavrok was well put together and brilliantly executed. And then there was the exchange scene which as well as having them take on some pretty creepy looking spider demons also had one of the first mentions of enhanced vampire vision, which was nice.

22. Hush

Season 4 Episode 10

One of the first times Buffy tried something out with the usual formula and it made for a fantastic episode. An episode which, for the most part, had no dialogue was a very difficult one to pull off, but they did it brilliantly. The fact that you could still clearly tell what everyone was saying clearly helped but also the background music and other use of sound effects was pretty much perfect. It also again managed to balance a bit of humour with genuine fear and devastation. Seeing every shop closed except for the off license was a perfect way to show how this affected the whole town. Which is another great thing about this episode, that it would've been superb even without every having lost their voice. This episode was the first time really that the entire town was involved. Whenever Apocalypses had threatened before the town was always unaware, whereas here their fully involved. Add to that some great action, a superb script and a huge revelation at the end and you get one Hell of an episode.

23. Homecoming

Season 3 Episode 5

Despite going out with Xander, Cordelia still wasn't really part of the group. This episode addresses that and in particular her relationship to Buffy. So Buffy decides to run against Cordelia for Homecoming Queen giving the episode a very teen drama tone (more than usual anyway). This is balanced by the fact that Mr. Trick has arranged a competition to kill the slayers. These two storylines are about as different from each other as you could imagine so the fact that they work together so well is the main part of this episode's genius. Getting a rare glimpse of Cordelia in a combat heavy situation (up until this point at least) with only one other person with her was great. That she even kind of saved the day by squaring up to Lyle Gorch after his wife had knocked out Buffy was fantastic, albeit a bit cheesy. Of course considering the subject matter of essentially a buddy movie type episode as well as the High School Homecoming Queen election a bit of cheesiness was inevitable. But it still all worked and it never went too far and combined with the fantastic action made for a thoroughly entertaining episode.

24. The Dark Age

Season 2 Episode 8

Up until now Giles had been mostly the exposition and pretty much the stereotypical posh Brit. This episode successfully brings all of that down to show the character behind it all in a fantastic manner. Giles' back-story was great and the show's first real analogy for drugs or alcohol addiction. The demon was a pretty scary one and the way it could body jump was excellently done and very well thought out. The return of Ethan was great and that he'd been in Halloween where this storyline had been introduced gave more legitimacy to it and made it even more awesome. I loved that Giles nickname Ripper was addressed with only one line from Cordelia, because it was pretty self explanatory! The resolution at the end where Angel took out the demon due to his own vampirism was excellent. The idea that if two different demons try to take over a body the stronger one wins was brilliant and visualised superbly too. The other great thing was that the events of this episode had a big affect on Giles and particularly Jenny giving a brilliantly sad and appropriate ending to a fantastic episode.