Is this love? ‘Cause maybe on you it doesn’t look all that different…

 

Today, we’re talking about Xander, who—despite his total idiocy and wrongheadedness—kinda inspires my sympathy in this one.

Thankfully, I didn’t deal with a whole bunch of teen love drama when I was in high school. I wasn’t so thankful at the time, especially since I was at my best weight in high school, though my boobs weren’t as big as they—you know what? Forget I even took that detour…

(Source Whee, a DW gif on a Buffy blog! It’s like a delicious fandom sandwich!)

So, yeah… This episode sort of kind of picks up where Phases left off, in a way, because Xander is still trying to define his relationship, only now the problems arise because Cordelia might not be—strike that, is not comfortable with that yet.

Part of it, of course, is that Cordy is very much a girl defined by her social circle, which is to say she defines herself by her social circle. I’m sure we can all agree that’s a normal thing in adolescence—actually, that’s a normal thing, period. People care what other people think. It’s a thing.

Unfortunately, other people are dicks a lot of the time. A lot. Of the. Time.

Teenagers especially. It’s like their job or something.

So… we have a problem. Cordy’s insecurities mean she panics and dumps Xander (actually, considering what an ass he becomes, I kinda wish the breakup had stuck, but… hindsight and all that) in order to regain her status as Queen C. Xander, in turn, having learned nothing at all from the motherfucking HELLMOUTH, ropes Amy (who has also not learned a goddamn thing from the folly of her mother) into casting a love spell that predictably backfires and turns Xander into some sort of teenage girl catnip.

Yup. That guy.

Actually, it’s all-woman catnip…

…but that way lies psychological trauma, so we’re not even going there.

As the jilted, Xander even has a parallel in Spike, who’s rapidly losing Drusilla’s affection to Angelus.

Spike, however, has to deal with his issues elsewhere because it is late, and I can’t think of a way to relate “not feeling vampire-y enough to compete with your vamp grandfather for your vamp mother/girlfriend’s affections” to the “normal teen rites of passage” theme. I’m gonna have to get back to you on that. Although it’s great for in-universe character-building, so… there’s that.

In this episode, both Xander and Cordy get to do some growing up.

Through his and Amy’s spell, Xander finds out that real, actual love is not a compulsion or a punishment, but a freely given gift. As Giles points out, the “love” that these women feel is not about Xander, Xander is an object to them. Real love should be more about the loved rather than the lover. Xander cast the spell because he was more concerned about how Cordy embarrassed and hurt him, and he never thought about why she would feel like she needed to break up in the first place. It was more about how he felt than what was really wrong.

Hopefully, the experience also taught him how to deal with being hurt in a mature manner, but you’ll understand if I don’t hold my breath on that one…

As for Cordy, she realizes (with a really awesome speech) that her coolness isn’t derived from who she hangs out with, but who she is, and as such, she can date whomever the fuck she decides to date, thankyouverymuch, and the haters can familiarize themselves with the left-hand evacuation procedure.

Of course, seeing as she’s revised her entire worldview, she has a little moment of panic when she realizes what she’s done, but in the end, she’ll be okay.

Xander, you so don’t deserve her.

For now, though, live Hellmouthily ever after.

 

Stray observations:

• As I said up there, it’s late, so I’m sorry if all that was a little rambly and incoherent.
• I don’t know, even if Cordy’s stock has plummeted, it’s a little risky to challenge her. I mean, there’s no way Harmony can fill those Manolos.
• Both Spike and Xander give their girlfriends necklaces. Aw!
• …And then Angelus makes everything icky with an actual human heart. What a prince.
• Although… “I found it in a quaint little shopgirl” was kinda funny.
• Angelus: Dear Buffy. Hm. I'm still trying to decide the best way to send my regards.
  Spike: Why don't you rip her lungs out? That might make an impression.
  Angelus: Lacks... poetry.
  Spike: Doesn't have to. What rhymes with lungs?
• WHAT IS THAT SHIRT, DEVON?!
• Amy is a pretty crap witch, judging by the evidence. For one thing, Diana is not a goddess of love, but goddess of the hunt and the moon. In fact, she once asked her father, Zeus, to be allowed to live without love or marriage, and is well-known as a virgin goddess. No wonder the spell didn’t work.
• Okay, besides the previous bullet point, other theories why the spell didn’t work: (1) the locket protected Cordelia, (2) Cordelia already loved Xander properly, so she was immune, (3) Xander’s failure at life somehow infected the spell. Number 2 is far-fetched, though… not ‘cause Cordelia couldn’t possibly love Xander, but because the spell worked on Willow and Willow’s loved Xander since childhood, apparently.
• Rupert Giles: I cannot believe that you are fool enough to do something like this.
  Xander: Oh, no, I'm twice the fool it takes to do somethin' like this.
• Wait. Every woman in Sunnydale… So does that mean Xander’s mom is…? Oh. Oh, god. I’m sorry for that, really.
• I have to give Xander credit for not taking advantage of Buffy even though he’s not over her. Maybe he isn’t a complete waste of space. :)
• “Would you quit with the Hecate?!”
• Oz punch!
• “Who died and made you Elvis?”
• “…And keep your mom-aged mitts off my boyfriend! Former!” Cordy, I love you.
• “I guess I really did drive you crazy…”
• Hey, look at that, Xander and Cordy, back in Buffy’s basement!
• Uh, Xander intending to put a love spell on you is not romantic, Cordy.
•                             “I seem to be having a slight case of nudity here.”
• Xander: How much groveling are we talking here?
  Buffy: Oh, a month, at least. Xander, come on, I mean... this is worse for [Willow] than anyone. She loved you before you invoked the Great Roofie Spirit.
• Cordelia: Do you know what you are, Harmony? You're a sheep.
  Harmony: I'm not a sheep!
  Cordelia: You're a sheep. All you ever do is what everyone else does just so you can say you did it first. And here I am, scrambling for your approval, when I'm way cooler than you are ‘cause I'm not a sheep. I do what I wanna do, and I wear what I wanna wear. And you know what? I'll date whoever the hell I wanna date! No matter how lame he is!

Oh, what, so now you’re special?

 

I once referred to this episode as the “Mixed Signals” episode. And I think it still holds, in some respects.

Willow’s radar is off in relation to Oz, as is Buffy’s in relation to Angel, and Xander’s, in relation to… Larry.

This episode deals a lot with themes of sex and sexual identity, not to mention repression, and it has the added bonus of making the metaphor visual in Oz’s case:

Okay, not the best werewolf I’ve ever seen, but like Giles says, it’s one of the classics!

Lycanthropy lends itself so well to this theme, because it seems so obvious: man literally becomes an animal when he represses his urges. It just so happens that Phases only deals with the guys being asses, but this is an equal opportunity metaphor, since women are just as likely as men to be unable to handle their animalistic side.

Since we have to deal with the guys, however, let’s take ‘em one by one.

Larry:

To say that I wanted to face-punch Larry repeatedly  in the first half of this episode is an understatement. He was just such a pig.

But then, of course, we find out he was dealing with some pretty big issues. I’ll admit, I have no idea what it’s like to be a gay man in such an image-conscious setting as a typical high school (obviously), so I have no idea how delicately Buffy dealt with this issue. I am sure, however, that there are those who overcompensate so much that there is no way someone would think they’re gay—like Larry. And that other guy from Glee.

What does make me sad is that there are apparently no other out gay students in Sunnydale High so that I can see how in-denial Larry deals with them. I would wish that it wouldn’t be as disgusting as how he dealt with women, but now there’s just no way of knowing.

What I love most about Larry’s realization is that all he really needed was a chance to say it out loud. His silver bullet is just a sympathetic ear. And while Xander was completely clueless about what it was Larry needed to confess, he still served as such. I also love that it’s Xander, who’s so concerned with his masculinity (much like it seemed Larry was), who finds out that Larry’s gay. I daresay it challenges a couple of his preconceptions, just like it does Larry. Or it should.

Which brings us to…

Xander:

I bet Xander never thought he’d have relationship issues, but hey, there they are!

Now, I don’t wanna get too deeply into this yet, since Xander’s issues aren’t resolved as neatly as Larry’s and Oz’s in this episode (and the episode directly following this will also explore Xander’s character), but I just wanted to point an aspect of his that keeps popping up—he tends to be way overprotective of both Buffy and Willow… but only when there’s another guy involved.

I think it’s tied into his assumptions as to what being a guy means, but I also think it’s his streak of possessiveness. It’ll appear again, so I’ll try to address it then, but I just wanted to mention it now, since it’s brought up in this episode.

In the meantime, let’s turn our focus to…

Oz:

It could be the benefit of hindsight, but it seems to me that it’s more obvious that Oz should be the werewolf than anyone else.

Of all the guys we’ve seen, he’s the most reserved, the least likely to show overblown emotion.

And in the same way that Larry repressing his true self brought out a monster, Oz being so reserved brings out a real one.  We already know from Willow that they’ve barely rounded first base, and we know that wolf is attracted to sexual energy.

It’s also worth noting that when he tries hardest to hide from Willow, the wolf emerges:

I love that his dismay at discovering he’s a werewolf can be read as mixed signals, too. How often have mixed signals been sent because someone’s trying to figure out their own shit, or worse, tried to hide something? Well, here you got both.

Given the implication, I’m not sure how crazy I am with the solution being to lock Oz up for three days every month, but considering the alternative:

I’ll take it.

At least Oz is being honest with and about himself. And that’s totally a grown-up thing to do.

 

Stray observations:

• Hey, look, you guys, it’s a The Witch callback!
• “That’s great, Larry. You’ve really mastered the single entendre.”
• So side-eyeing Willow for that “skanky ho” comment. Catty and unproductive.
• Okay… Half of Sunnydale has personally seen Buffy kick ass and take names. Explain again why she has to pretend to be a “meek little girly girl”?
• Giles laughed at a Xander joke!
• “In other words, your typical male.” NO NO NONONO. I love you, Buffy, but I’ll kick you in the shin if you say something so stupid again.
• Werewolves revert to human form when they die, so they would have normal teeth and a human hide. Cain is a liar and a stupid-face.
• Cordelia and Willow commiserating over Xander and Oz is a thing of beauty.
• (Source)
• “Aunt Maureen? Hey, it’s me. Um, what? Oh. It’s, uh... actually, it’s healing okay. That’s pretty much the reason I called. Um, I wanted to ask you something… Is Jordy a werewolf? Uh-huh. And how long has that been going on? Uh-huh. What? No, no reason. Um... Thanks. Yeah, love to Uncle Ken.” How crap do you have to be at parenting to have your toddler bitten by a werewolf?!
• Omg, that The Pack callback made me see red for a minute.
• Haha, Buffy fits the profile.
• “He—he said he was going through all these changes, then he went through all these… changes.”
• “Three days out of the month, I’m not much fun to be around, either.”

I’ll just… let it burn.

 

I’ve mentioned before that Buffy’s relationship with Angel seems to be driven purely by her fantasies.

(Source)

That’s not to condemn or mock her, it’s just a statement of fact. Buffy’s still a young girl, and it’s not like society doesn’t tell young girls that Princes Charming exist, and that we’re all entitled to “happily ever after.” It’s something she can be forgiven for doing, is what I’m saying. Unfortunately,

(You guessed it)

I mentioned in the review for Surprise that there is a brilliant strategy in this being the episode named Innocence, and now I get to elaborate.

In addition to pushing fairy tale romances, this culture has a habit of linking virginity to innocence and naïveté, and maybe that’s right in some cases, but… not this one. Buffy loses her virginity in Surprise, but she loses her rose-colored glasses here, in one of the most brutal scenes ever (which was flawlessly executed, in my opinion).

Due to a clause in Angel’s curse (which totally makes sense, you guys, really!), his one night with Buffy turns him into King of the Douchebaskets, and Buffy is forced to deal with the monster she’s inadvertently created.

Let’s be clear here: this is not saying that Buffy is to blame. As Giles says, while she may have acted rashly, her decisions were understandable, given the information she had at the time. She wasn’t stupid, she wasn’t tricked, she’s not a slut. She’s a girl in love.

By the way, fuck you, Joss Whedon, for making that scene so goddamn believable. Just—the “I thought you were a pro” line kills, you sadistic bastard.

Also, how awesome is it that the sex scene is shown in this episode rather than last, after we know that Angel’s changed? We’re not meant to be titillated or swoony, Whedon just wants to kill all that is left of joy. Thanks, guy.

Fuck, I need a drink.

 

Stray observations:

• This one’s not so stray, but it seemed not to fit with the bulk of the review… The Drusilla in Buffy’s dreams is… well, it’s Buffy. Specifically, it’s Buffy’s shadow self. Which means, that in her unconscious, Buffy knew that she would “kill” Angel. Or that she was afraid to.
• Spike wants to destroy the world?
• Buffy worrying that her mom can tell she’s had sex is just fucking perfect.
• “You can’t see the stars, love, that’s the ceiling. Also, it’s day.”
• Okay, he’s an asshole, but… Angelus is way more fun than Angel.
• “Gee, maybe he’s broken.”
• Buffy:  I—I don’t understand. Was it m-me? (meekly) Was I not good?
  Angelus:  (laughs) You were great. Really. (snidely) I thought you were a pro.
  Buffy:  How can you say this to me?
  Angelus:  Lighten up. It was a good time. It doesn't mean like we have to make a big deal.
  Buffy:  It is a big deal!
  Angelus:  It's—what? Bells ringing, fireworks, a dulcet choir of pretty little birdies? (laughs) Come on, Buffy…It's not like I've never been there before.
  Owowowowowowowowowowow… JOSS WHEDON, WHAT IS YOUR BRAIN?!
• Seriously, this curse makes no sense. Like, at all.
• “I am Angel… at last.” Hmm…
• THAT OUTFIT IS NOT TRASHY, XANDER, FUCK YOU.
• … Sunnydale has an army base?
• “Well, we don’t have cable, so we have to make our own fun.”
• “Oh, I’m not gonna kiss you.” Oz. Why are you not real, Oz?
• Giles rejecting Jenny for Buffy’s sake. :(
• MOTHERFUCKING ROCKET LAUNCHER. I hereby decree that whenever I’m feeling down someone has to give me a rocket launcher as a gift.
• “Best present ever.” “Knew you’d like it.”
• By the way, don’t think it’s a coincidence that Buffy and Angelus’ fight takes place under a sprinkler shower.
• “Come on, Buffy. You know you want it, huh?” Jesus, Angel.
• (Source) Yes, good.
• "Do you want me to wag my finger at you and tell you that you acted rashly? You did. A-and I can. I know that you loved him. And... he... has proven more than once that he loved you. You couldn't have known what would happen. The coming months a-are gonna - are gonna be hard... I-I suspect on all of us, but... if it's guilt you're looking for, Buffy, I'm-I'm not your man. All you will get from me is-is my support. And my respect." Oh, Giles…
• Dear god, when will I ever stop crying?!

Surprise me.

 

Well, I’ll give it to them: they certainly did that.

Here you have it, folks: The episode that launched a thousand Claddagh rings. I’m not even ashamed—I had one myself. Two, actually. My mom gave me one once she resigned herself to the fact that I was hopelessly in love with a fictional vampire. The pandering worked, okay?!

If you spend any kind of time with me, you wouldn’t take me for the sigh-y, romance-loving, love conquers all kind of girl, and for the most part, you’d be right. But that’s now, after Joss Whedon ripped my heart out, hollowed it out, did some kind of paso doble on it and then shoved it haphazardly back in my chest. Because that’s what he does. The writing thing’s just a hobby, really.

After living on the Hellmouth for a year (?), Buffy should really be careful what she wishes for, because clearly, the Hellmouth has a warped idea of “birthday gifts.”

Behold. Killy Smurf.

She also gets a Drusilla that’s alive, and a deceiving, deceitful deceiver of a computer teacher.

I knew something was up when she got our national pastime wrong. It’s baseball, FYI.

Anyway, since this is a two-parter, a lot of what goes on in this episode is really just drawing up the plans for the building that will be Innocence. Not to say that the setup isn’t important, because it is!

If we’re looking at show mythology (always a good time), the Judge gives us a great clue: Drusilla and Spike stink of humanity. Soulless beings can “stink of humanity”?! I thought all that shit fucked off when the demon set up shop. I mean, that’s certainly what Angel and Giles said. What is a soul if it’s not a marker of humanity?

I know, I know!

A plot device. Badly defined. An amorphous concept roughly analogous to a conscience.

But hey, we’ll get to that. Probably in a soonish time frame.

Based on the show’s theme, however, this episode gives us another important rite of passage: Buffy’s first sexy tiems.

It’s undeniably brilliant that this episode is not the one titled Innocence, because Whedon—clever ginger that he is—knows that virginity =/= innocence. And that’s something we get to explore in the next review. I can’t fucking wait! Haha, get it? “Fucking” wait?

…Yeah, it’s late, sorry.

Stray observations:

• Shirtless Angel:
  

  Exact reaction.
• “What if Drusilla is alive? We never saw her body!” Uh… there wouldn’t be a body, Buff.
• Actually, Willow, it’d be closer to a “Freudian slip” than it would be “moxie.”
• I love you, Oz. I love you so much.
• Drusilla kinda annoys me. Am I the only one?
• “Vampires are real. A lot of them live in Sunnydale, Willow will fill you in.”
• “I know it’s hard to accept, at first.” “Actually, it explains a lot.” I LOVE YOU OZ.
• Xander’s future-Buffy fantasy is creeptastic.
• “This one is full of feeling; he reads.” Fuck you, Luk—er, Judge Guy.
• …Angel has a window across from his bed? Death wish much?
• First episode Angel says “I love you.” Took him long enough.
• Okay, this last scene, I… I have a couple of questions. I mean… When did Angel put on clothes? Is it like cramps, because sometimes I can’t even move when I have cramps, much less put on layers of clothes and stumble out into a rainy alley…

 

Innocence review will be posted sometime tomorrow, since I don’t like to leave two-parters hanging. See you then!

As far as punishments go, this is fairly abstract.

 

So, yeah, this episode isn’t on a lot of “favorites” list, and I can totally see why.

I mean, there is the overall ookiness of the body snatching scorpion things, and then there are cowboy vampires and it’s just really hard to enjoy the subtext because the text is kinda boring? Or maybe I mean lazy? I don’t know. It’s one of those.

Still, the episode is a pretty good setup for the ones that come immediately after it because it deals primarily with responsibility in general, and sexual responsibility in particular.

Side note: I don’t know how an egg is supposed to in any way help you understand the responsibilities being a parent would bring, but it’s the metaphor I’m given. Seriously, if taking care of a baby is as easy as taking care of an egg (put it in the fridge; don’t put anything on top of it; take it out when needed), then my mother seriously overstated her role in my development.

Since I know that is not true, I’m just gonna chalk this up to “we were too lazy/broke to spring for the creepy robot babies.”

Unfortunately for Buffy, she doesn’t do very well on the responsibility front in this episode. She doesn’t do what her mother asks because her Slayer duties get in the way, she ends up shirking her Slayer duties in order to make out with Angel, and she ends up killing her egg because it was full of creepy scorpion-y evil.

… Bad mum?

Still, while Buffy necessarily fails at satisfying her mother (Joyce can parent! Who knew?), she does manage to save the day again.

She’s also prodded into thinking about the future. Not just by the incomprehensible egg experiment, but by Angel himself.

Angel and Buffy’s relationship is so very much a young relationship. It’s almost like it’s driven purely by Buffy’s fantasies (and, if Angel keeps taking his shirt off, my own… Hubba).

As such, real world concerns aren’t really a part of it. It’s mostly just “make out and damn the consequences.”

However, there are problems with this line of thinking—not least of which is… How the heck is this relationship supposed to last?!

This isn’t even my aversion to happy endings (unless they’re Disney) talking, this is just practical thinking; Buffy hasn’t even told her mother she’s with Angel, problem one. Angel can’t afford her a “normal” future, problem two. Angel has a disturbing habit of infantilizing Buffy, problem three. Oh, and they’re natural enemies, problem four.

Buffy’s most pressing problem is doing things without thinking of the consequences, which in this world? Pretty much means you’re asking for trouble. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Plus, it’s something that kids do, and well… This is a series about growing up. I’ll give you a second to do the math. Remember to carry the two.

 

Stray observations:

• Was there a reason for cowboy vampires ever at all? Anyone? Bueller?
• “Let me guess. You were distracted by a boy.” “Technically.”
• “Honestly, don’t you ever think about anything besides boys and clothes?” “Saving the world from vampires?”
• You know, Joyce, I’d be more squarely in your corner about the whole “Buffy needs discipline” thing, except you never notice the strange things in her drawers, the random drops of blood that must be in her clothing now and then, her bruises, or strange robot men sneaking into your daughter’s room.
• Ha, Buffy’s afraid to be a single mother. I wonder if those issues will show up later in the series…
• “What’s the matter, your egg keep you up all night?”
• Is it an accident that Buffy and Willow are more protective of their eggs than Xander? It’s probably not, huh?
• Buffy and Angel make out against a headstone that says “In Loving Memory.” It’s probably just a coincidence, right?
• Hey, can we have more skittery creepy villains? I can never get enough of those, and it’s not like I need to sleep again ever. Thanks in advance.
• “It’s an egg, Buffy. It doesn’t emote.”
• This is a bezoar. You’re welcome.
• “This is all your fault!” “How?!”
• How does a gas leak explain anything?! Jesus, Sunnydale, a little logical thinking, please.

What does that really tell you about a person?

 

So, Ted. Ted, Ted, Ted.

I’ll be honest—not a fan of Ted. Oh, not ‘cause it’s a bad episode, or anything… I just think other episodes did some of what Ted was trying to do, but better.

What Ted does do well, sort of, is deal with real-world issues. Specifically, what it’s like to have an abusive step-parent. I assume, anyway… I thankfully have never had to deal with step-parents at all, much less abusive ones.

The genius of this episode is how slowly Ted’s true nature is revealed. I was totally on the “what the heck is up with Buffy?!” bandwagon up until Ted takes miniature golf way too seriously (sure sign of evil, by the way—taking mini-golf way too seriously). The way you notice that he’s making all the decisions; consistently interrupting Joyce in order to steer the conversation his way; the way he threatens physical violence.

I mean, coping with your parents dating when it’s taken most of your life to come to terms that they’ve had sex at least once is bad enough, but then this dickhead comes along and threatens to slap you?!

And I’m sorry, Joyce, but I have some issues I have to address with you.

First of all, I don’t give a fuck how many rohypnol cookies you ate, not telling your daughter you’re even dating is pretty remiss. Especially when you’ve mentioned before that you’d like to be closer to Buffy.

Oh, and letting Ted just wander around your house and let him sit creepily in your daughter’s room in the dark—that’s not weird to you at all? I’d chalk it up to the “happy” pastries, but I vaguely remember you letting Giles into Buffy’s room before (though granted, Giles isn’t evil), and not even checking to make sure that Angel was gone in Angel (ditto). You, madam, can on occasion be the worst. Mother. Ever.

It hurts, because given your previous behavior, I think you’d disbelieve Buffy even if you weren’t under the influence of baked goods.

I wanted to be on your side, Joyce. But you failed. You failed so hard.

I mean, when Angel points out to Buffy that you dating is not about her (brilliance), I was nodding sagely, agreeing in my soul.

I wanted you to be happy, Joyce.

But not at the expense of your relationship with your daughter. Fuck.

I’m glossing over the whole other half of the episode, because I just—I view it as a misfire.

Ted’s backstory was rushed and tacked-on, and just not very satisfying to me, and while I get why Ted had to turn out to be a robot, it kinda felt like the groundwork laid by the abusive stepfather storyline is overshadowed by it. That, and they tacked on the “what if Buffy murdered a person?” thing, which was not only overshadowed by the robot business, it was invalidated by it.

… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just still pissed about that “it doesn’t look like he hit you very hard” line.

Seriously, fuck that line.

 

Stray observations:

• I love that the Scoobies have conversations about the power dynamics of The Captain and Tennille.
• Also love that horror tropes are used to introduce Ted, and that it turns out we were right to fear and distrust his metal ass.
• Haha, Buffy works out her problems at work!
• “Vampires are creeps.” “Yes, that’s why one slays them.”
• “I believe the subtext here is rapidly becoming, uh, the text.”
• I also giggled at “clean clown.” I… should be shunned.
• Poor Giles. I hate Jenny just for making him feel worse about making puppy eyes.
• Angel knows about loneliness. It is right that it should be  so.
• Uh… why are Buffy’s grades a topic of conversation between Joyce and Ted?
• Ted B.? Hmm…
• The fight between Ted and Buffy before we even know Ted is a robot is uncomfortable for me. :(
• Buffy breaks out baggy clothes when she’s feeling vulnerable.
• Okay, Cordy brings up a question that gets answered later in the series: does Buffy, as a “superwoman,” get to skirt the rules?
• “I guess you should know, since you helped raise that demon that killed that guy that time?” “Yes. Do let’s bring that up as often as possible.” Cordy being part of the gang warms my heart.
• Yes, Jenny. Talk about your relationship in a park, at night, in Sunnydale.
• Giles, THAT IS NOT THE HEART!
• “Daddy’s here”? Ew. Soooo ew.
• “Don’t I always tell you what to do?” Yes, Ted, and it bothers me.
• “Uncle Teddy? This house is mine.”
• “I just wanna learn stuff.”
• (Source)

It’s a little more complicated than that, John Wayne.

 

I’ll admit it—I like this episode more than its first part. A lot of it’s due to the dynamic between Kendra and Buffy, and how the show’s own mythology is subverted AGAIN in just the second season!

I mean… Do shows usually do this? Like, establish something and then just completely throw it out of the window when you’re least expecting it?

I mean, first there was the whole secret identity thing, which got scrapped in the first episode (!), and then there was the whole “the Slayer dies early” thing which was done and done in Prophecy Girl, and now the Highlander clause of Slayerdom is kaput!

Fuck. I just—I just love this, okay?

I also like that Kendra’s and Buffy’s approach to Slaying is so different. Kendra’s very much Old Guard, and Buffy is… well, Buffy is Buffy Guard.

Kendra is quite clearly what the Council expects—she’s a tool for fighting evil. That is what she exists for and that is what she does. To the exclusion of everything else. Including family. That is the most horrifying thing ever. Why not just build a fucking robot?!

It’s tough to see Buffy jealous of this girl because she has so much in comparison to her. We’ve seen her complain about not having a life so much that when Kendra shows up, it’s like… huh.

Which is why I love so much that not only is Kendra influenced by Buffy at the end of the episode, but that Buffy is made to realize that being a Slayer is just as much a part of her as being a high school student, or being a daughter and friend. It’s what makes her so good at the gig.

I realize that this review is mythology-heavy, and it’s sorta necessary that it is, sorry. However, a comparison to the “real world” problem that is finding out you’re not as unique you thought can be made. Buffy is no longer unique, that’s true, in one respect. She shares a job title with someone. That’s it. It’s not a comment on how well either Slayer does their job, or who’s best suited, or how they affect each other’s futures.

And I like that Buffy deals with it realistically—she briefly wonders how it would be to just quit and be normal 24-7. But then she realizes that no one can really do what she does how she does it. She is still unique. That, and the whole part I mentioned above where Slaying is who she is. Insert any personality trait/identity issue into “Slaying,” and voilà, instant metaphor!

 

Stray observations:

• I don’t understand this sun sickness Angel suddenly has…
• AGAIN WITH THE WORMS. NO. NO!!
• “I swear on my mother’s grave—should something fatal happen to her, god forbid.”
• “I—I have to ask. Has either of you girls considered modeling? I have a friend with a camera. Strictly high-class nude work. You know, art photographs… But naked.”
• Hmm, Spike is jealous of Angel. How… intriguing.
• I love that there’s a handbook, and that it would be “of no use” in Buffy’s case.
• CORDY AND XANDER MAKE OUT WHAT (Source)
• “I sort of test well, which is cool—except then it leads to jobs.” Right  there with you, Oz.
• “Who sponsored career day today? The British Soccer Fan Association?”
• Oh, by the way, it is all kinds of awesome that something we find out in Lie to Me (Angel is Dru’s sire) is a major plot point in this episode.
• I LOVE EVERY BIT OF YOU OZ.
• (Same source as before)
• Yay, Spike lives!