A New Man

This seems like another monster-of-the-week shows with a twist: Giles is the monster, transformed by Ethan Raines (of course). But even though it is essentially a stand-alone, not an integral part of the Big Bad plot this season, this episode more clearly introduces the philosophical question at the core of this season, and, in ways, the series.

What does it mean to be a man? Put in a less (potentially) sexist manner, what does it take to be human? Even though he looks like a Fyarl demon (note how close the word is to "feral"--it's pronounced Furr-ral; as Jung said, there are no coincidences), Giles retains his intellect, his human emotions, and his soul. Ultimately, Buffy doesn't kill him because she recognizes him when she looks into his eyes as she's about to stake him--the saying "the eyes are the windows to the soul" seem especially appropriate.

Spike, who just happens to speak Fyarl, agrees to help Giles...for a price, of course--which comes into play in the next episode. Spike is an interesting counterpart to Giles in this episode. Is Spike a man? That question may be unvoiced, but it resonants loudly from this season until the end of the series. He has no soul, hence the Scoobies and the Initiative quickly deem Spike as "other"--"Hostile 17," in fact. Spike's insight, emotions, and intellect are not in question; he's only one soul (and one beating heart) away from being a real boy--in the Buffy spin-off Angel, that issue is explicitly addressed as it applies to both Spike and Angel (who, because he has a soul, is closer to human and worthy of Buffy's affection). In this episode, also, Spike declares himself off-limits for the Slayer and her "Slayerettes." Giles, who was obviously assuming Spike would want to work with them since he can fight demons, was taken aback by Spike's strident insistance that he is evil, that he's a Big Bad they should beware of. (Point of Fact: Spike is never the Big Bad. Season Two, when it looks as if he will be, Angel emerges as the threat--and Spike partners with Buffy to quell him.) Spike looks like a human, thinks and acts like a human in most ways...and in this episode, he again protects and helps humans.

It's worth noting that Giles starts off the episode feeling lost and out of place, at a birthday party for Buffy at the college. He discovers that Buffy has a boyfriend--which everyone else obviously knew--and Riley inadvertantly rubs in Giles' displacement when making small talk. Giles is a man, no question about that...but old, worn, out of place. This episode is the first clear marker that eventually, he will have to leave--that Buffy is outgrowing her need for him, and that he is becoming redundant.

Then....Maggie makes it worse, telling Giles that Buffy needs a stronger father figure, more discipline and focus. Those are Giles' jobs, ones that he defined himself by, yet both the Watcher's Council and now Maggie (unknowingly) question his ability to do this job. Giles is ripe for a crisis, for a re-definition of himself--thanks to Ethan, his crisis is a doozy, blatantly leading to question who he is, how he fits in, and if he is, in fact, human. Giles' totally out-of-character terrorizing of Maggie while he is Fyarl is an interesting peek both at his latent "Ripper" persona, and at the emotion he swallows when Maggie insulted him; as a soulless demon, he was free to react. As a reasonable man, he wasn't.

That Buffy and the gang do not question Giles' humanity once they realize he the "demon," magicked by Ethan, is interesting. Their definition of "human" is fluid; it will be tested by the creation of Adam, the person/demon/cyborg Maggie has created that will be unveiled in the next episode--and the question will echo next season as Buffy refuses to kill "Ben" because he is human, even thought he's a conduit for the evil Goddess Glory. But I'll talk more about that later, I'm sure!

Something Blue

Time for a fan fav because it's just so fun--as Willow tries to magically zap the pain of Oz leaving, she causes mayhem for everyone around her...which ends up comic, no harm done. BUT...this is far more than just a detour from the season's Big Bad. In significant ways, this episode foreshadows huge shifts in the characters and the series as a whole, especially later seasons when the whole vibe is much darker.

Here's a question: who's journey is the focus of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer?" Based on the title, it's reasonable to say that Buffy's evolution and actions are the crux of the show, but...not so fast. Because she's "the chosen," because her prime directive can't change and her course is predestined, there are some pretty clear parameters. Yes, they play with "Buffy should go away to college" and "When Buffy gets married and has kids...." but really? Those violate the universe that Buffy exists in--and yea, I know at the end of the series, we can discuss if Buffy has found a way to beat the system, pulling a Kobayashi Maru. We're several seasons away from that discussion, though, so the question stands: who is the series really tracking?

Willow. I can make a serious argument that Willow's journey and evolution are in significant ways what gives the series depth and momentum. The clearest images of the episode may be Spike and Buffy getting engaged, making out non-stop as magically blinded Giles tells them that he can hear the smacking of their lips. But why is Buffy sitting on Spike's lap? Willow felt jealous and rejected, and---oops--magic happened. Xander, Amy, Anya, Spike, Giles, Buffy--they all feel the ricochet of Willow's inability to deal with negative emotions and reliance on magic as a mystical band aid.

D'Hoffern, the boss of vengence demons, tries to recruit Willow--that's not a wake up call to Willow that she has issues dealing with negative emotion, but it foreshadows to the audience that Willow's issues are not solved by the handing out of fresh chocolate chip cookies, which she's sweetly and humbly doing as penance at the end: "Eat a cookie, ease my pain" with the wistful little-girl, how-can-you-be-mad smile. Buffy's comment about possibly wanting a forgetting spell to erase her feelings for Spike is especially pointed; Willow loses Tara, then turns completely dark, because of the sequence of events from using forgetting spells. For every Scoobie character, this episode is a template of what happens in some significant ways in the next few seasons.

Giles is blind--yep, his solo in "Once More With Feeling" echos that sentiment; because he loves Buffy, he's blinded to what he needs to do to let her grow up. And, more immediately, he's not seeing clearly about his role since he left the high school.

Xander is a demon magnet--again, significant points are made about he and Anya's relationship, which is still in a fledgling stage. And although the yellow crayon is not referenced (the touching speech he gave to Willow when she went evil, ultimately saving her...and the world, of course), Xander is the one who tries to reach out to Willow in her pain, before anyone realized that she was inadvertently casting spells.

Spike and Buffy, well--they are crazy in love, planning their wedding--and arguing, not really liking each other, but still incredibly connected...sound familiar? When they do start a "relationship," Buffy doesn't like him, they argue constantly, she admits she's using him, yet the connection is strong. Pretty much a mirror image of the show, down to the intensity of the physical relationship.

And the short bit where Buffy talks to Riley about being engaged, then later explains it away? We see her with a "nice, normal guy" and get to imagine what if that would work...the idea of Buffy settling down in a suburb with a mini-van and a hunky husband is appealing, and this episode juxtaposes life as a Slayer--and a vamp boyfriend--with the "what if" image we get from Riley...so far.

The title is interesting. Obviously, the wedding is referenced: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. But...D'Hoffern is blue--the underlying point of the episode could be that connection between Willow and the potential she has for evil as symbolized by D'Hoffern. And blue can be shadowy, dark--this episode seems innocuous, but really, it's also shadowy and dark, simmering beneath the surface.

I like this episode. The dialogue is snappy and fun, the out-of-character actions work thanks to both strong writing and good acting, and overall, the structure is tight. But the more I think about it, the deeper it is, and even little lines have a great deal of significance in the context of the series as a whole. I suspect I'll reference this one again.

Becoming, pt 1

Obviously, part one isn't the big finish, and I'm just going to ramble about a few things here then see if there's a big point after I watch part 2.

First, the flashbacks are interesting. We want to like Angel and root for he and Buffy, yet the writers have gone out of their way to make him reprehensible: casually killing unnamed people, killing Jenny and setting up the tableau for Giles; taunting Willow and Buffy; telling Joyce about he and Buffy--it's clear that we're not supposed to like him. But the flashbacks--Angel as Liam, meeting Darla. It's hard to not be a bit appalled and confused. Is Angel the Big Bad or not? Well, yes, and he's trying to reanimate the demon--but wait, he can't. He's not bad enough. We'll see.

And Xander, who has been Buffy's top leutenant thus far, yells at her and Willow, insisting that Angel should be killed, soul or no soul. Willow is trying to restore Angel's soul, Giles and Buffy are doing a hurry-up-happy-dance, and Xander is incensed. Xander doesn't seem to believe in redemption.

Kendra shows to help; that's going to be an important point, but not right now.

Season 2 is the big intro Spike season, but it's striking how little he's really on screen. He's not even quite on the radar as a problem. He's evil, yadayada--but an afterthought. He's not a main player, except in a couple episodes.

Ok, that's all off the top of my head. On to part 2!

Passions

Interesting framing. Dark, sultry, voice overs of Angel talking about passion. I can't think of too many times (like anyother) that voice overs are used in the show. Passion "rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have?" In a corellary, Willow points out to Buffy that in one way, Angel and Angelus are the same: Buffy is still all he thinks about. Angel is taunting Buffy through her friends and family, talking to Joyce, in killing Willow's fish--showing that he's got power, that he can toy with them.

As a counterpoint to the Passion-theme, Giles counsels Buffy that she needs to push passion aside, that control is how she will triumph over Angel, that protecting her mom is in a sense counterproductive; Joyce doesn't need to know details about the danger Angel poses (of course, she gets details from Angel when he reveals that he can't sleep since he slept with Buffy).

Notice that passion wins, though. First, Buffy herself goaded Kendra into being angry, insisting that emotions made her a better slayer. But even in Gile's worldview, passion trumps patience. When Jenny is killed, he goes after Angel himself. No "let's make a plan." No "the time will be right." His girlfriend was killed; his home invaded--Angel is going to be held accountable. No one seriously believes Giles can take Angel. Giles lets passion win, and it would have probably killed him. When it comes down to it, Giles lets passion trump logic. Later in the series, when there are hard decisions to make and Giles prefers the "logical but difficult" choices, I have to wonder if that's a sign that he doesn't care about the people in question enough for his passion to kick in (seriously suggesting that Buffy kill Dawn before Glory can) or that he is using logic to justify passion (working with Robin to insure Spike's death). Buffy and Giles crying and hugging after she fights Angel to save Giles is also passion, but the "ectasy of grief" type. (Was it raining in that scene? Why do I think it was? I'm goint to check that) Buffy is now ready to kill Angel.

Also, Spike is the voice of reason here? He points out that Angel is not supposed to leave gag gifts in her friend's bed; he's supposed to kill her. He further observes: "If you ask me, I find myself preferring the old Buffy-whipped Angelus. This new improved one is not playing with a full sack." Whether we agree with Spike's mission, he at least has a clear view of the outcome. Spike isn't a sadist; Angelus is. The passion is in the torture and lead in--and neither Spike nor Buffy value that. It's worth noting that Dru sides with Angel on this. She likes playing with her food, one of them say in a different episode. (and note that they strongly hint in a couple different lines that Angel and Dru are also sexually involved, which would make sense. Spike and Dru's break up next season is foreshadowed in little ways)

The dialog in this episode is good, quirky and ironic. The character's syntactical voices are fully developed by now, and that's one of the most appealing aspects of this show for me.

The metaplot is picking up steam now. So onward!

What's My Line Pt 2

The second part focuses more: the Spike/Dru/Angel plot, and the Kendra is the seemingly perfect slayer plot. The other parts are there--Xander and Cordy kiss, Willow and Oz nerd-flirt ("I mock you with my monkey pants," is an awesome line. Oz is great)--but saving Angel and working with Kendra are prime.

Buffy was ambivalent about being the slayer; the backdrop of Career Week is to underscore Buffy's lack of choice. Kendra is trained, dedicated, able to laugh with Giles about the watcher journal because--unlike Buffy--Kendra has been raised to be a slayer. No family, no friends, calling Xander "sir"...if she's what a slayer is supposed to be, it's no wonder Giles is often frustrated. Buffy's jealous of Kendra (whining to Willow that Giles and Kendra "were vibing" and many snarky comments about The Slayers Handbook, which Buffy didn't get because....well, because.....Giles never did quite explain why Buffy was "a different case.")

Buffy tells Willow that maybe she should hand it over to Kendra, retire, quit. "Maybe I could lead a normal life," but when you're programmed to be a slayer, what would be normal? She claims to want that, yet is slightly jealous of the person who could make that possible. This topic will come up again, and again. In a sense, the resolution of it is what ends the series.

Here's the other thing I suspect this episode does: it gives us a framework for understanding that despite all the broodingly handsome angst Angel's famous for, the legacy of Angelus' badness is still around; we get a shadow of what he might have been like before he got his soul. Yea, we've gotten that with Jenny, too--but that's just the facts. And it's easy to decide that he's redeemed, that he has suffered enough. BUT...Angel liked "the preshow." He liked to torture, to torment. He created Drusilla's craziness and taught her to relish torturing her victims, playing with her food. After Dru torures Angel, he turns the tables on Spike, mentally instead of physically. Angelus seems to love mental games. We can excuse him because if he can provoke Spike into killing him before the ritual to heal Dru, he saves Buffy and Sunnydale, but in fact, Angel shows that even souled, he's adept at mind games. He doesn't mind hurting others for a good cause. With a soul, the good cause is to save people; without a soul, the good cause is to amuse himself. Same dynamic, though.

Emotion takes center stage in this episode. Kendra tells Buffy "emotions are weakness." Buffy argues that "emotions give me power," then demonstrates by insulting Kendra until Kendra's heated response leads Buffy to observe, "That's anger you're feeling." She continues: "Anger gives me fire; a slayer needs that." When Buffy and Spike start their relationship, I need to revisit that quote. It ties in to with "Walk through the Fire," the big centerpiece of the musical--And it explains in part why Buffy's not feeling things the end of season 5 and through 6 seems to be such a huge problem for her...maybe?

Then we go right from Buffy and Kendra's emotion talk to the scene where Spike is nearly overcome with anger, nearly staking Angel. Adding to the emo-cauldron is Xander and Cordelia, arguing fiercly, then kissing...and kissing. It's a full moon, and emotions are running wild (note: I think it's probably the last full moon before Oz goes wolfie, too)

Again, Willow is research-girl, but not much more. Xander gets a fairly big plot, the Bug guy going after he & Cordy, but Willow's in the library. She does get some byplay with Oz, but in screen time, not much; in plot terms, she's not even a subplot, just a recurring transitional blip. Watching to see when/if that really changes. Whendon et al have more of a sense of her as a character, but are pretty slow about developing her in plot/subplots. They still seem to know Xander a lot better.

And note to self: If I decide to do something about religion, the big battle takes place in a church after Spike has done a ritual with a cross.

And it ends without a group hug--Kendra doesn't hug--but she has started to redefine slayer a bit, and Buffy has started to accept her calling a bit, and we've got a bit more background for understanding this season's Big Bad--not Spike and Dru, as it may seem, but Angel. Very soon, now in fact...I think.