Beer Bad

This is not one I like well, but it may just be because Buffy acts against type so drastically--which is in ways the point. Even this early in the show, relatively, she's having problems dealing with her losses and her position, but in this episode, lots of beer with frat boys is the "cure." Of course, the beer is cursed and we get the theme of the show: Primal. Buffy and Oz, in particular, go primal.

Buffy fantasizes about saving Parker, her way of then being able to make him appreciate her. Before the end of the episode, CaveGirl Buffy gets to do just that. Is he purged from her system? Symbolically, probably--and much mention of Parker in the series ends fairly soon as Riley takes the helm. This episode pretty much wraps up the Parker arc, while beginning the Oz leaving arc as he reacts on a level he doesn't understand to the lead singer of a band at the Bronze.

Notably, Xander is nearby to help Buffy. He's watching, seeing what she can't see. It's interesting that early in the episode, he makes a comment (that I forget now) that displays deep, well-rounded knowledge, but when faced with the college kids mocking him, he can barely form a sentence. Through the series, Xander claims to be dumb, but his vocabulary and allusions prove it's not true. The choice to have his character not go to college is an interesting one.

Willow's discussion with Parker is interesting, but right now, I'm not sure I can articulate why. Maybe later...

Fear, Itself

I've been procrastinating about writing this one. Even had to watch the show again because I wasn't sure I remembered it well. On the surface, it's a fairly light show, doing a bit of relationship and character-building. Underneath, it's foreshadowing character traits that will ultimately threaten their relationships and all of Sunnydale.

The Anya/Xander relationship becomes an ongoing feature, and based on how it begins, Buffy's reaction early in season 5 when she accuses Xander of just letting Anya hang around so he's not alone seems true. Even though the relationship rarely takes front stage and Anya is often merely a plot device, the genesis and evolution is fun to watch.

More importantly, though, we see what each character fears most, and we see what happens to their friendships when they are under stress. Willow turns petulant and uses magic indiscriminately, just to prove she can--and she can't control it. The slight jealousy she feels about Buffy's importance overtly surfaces. Oz fights for control of his werewolf side, and abandons Willow as he deals with that. Buffy decides to take charge, alone, and closes her heart and ears to others' input. And Xander, who is totally marginalized by his non-college status (which is emphasized a couple times early in the episode), becomes invisible.

If the major foreshadowing department, when the demon is revealed in a trickster-twist, he tells Buffy as she kills him, "They're all going to abandon you, you know." She says, "yea, yea," as she stomps him. He wins, though. All their fears come true, even though it's the very end of the series when Buffy is abandoned and it's season 6 before Willow completely loses herself in her magic. The seeds are planted this early for us to know that those are possibilities.

As for Oz...it's not long before the wolf wins, and Xander is dealing with his metaphorical invisibility even in the last season as he tells Dawn about the challenge of not being special.

Giles rescues them, but throughout this episode and much of season 4, he's clearly at a loss as a character. He's comic relief in this episode, wearing a huge sombero and wielding a chainsaw. Getting his credibility back is his struggle this season, and this episode clearly shows his current lost-puppy status.

SEASON FOUR: The Freshman

From the first shot, we know everything's different. Willow, with a new, perky haircut, is in the cemetery as Buffy wants for a newly-risen vamp to show. They are so busy discusses college that Buffy completely misses the vamp. This is not high school Buffy.

After last season, where Buffy pulled away then ending with a strong statement about the importance of her friends as the whole class battled the Mayor, starting this season with a group hug and singing KumBaYa might seem obvious. But no, the transition to college requires that the lesson about needing friends be repeated in a different context. The tension between Buffy as solitary slayer and Buffy as leader of a community is constant in the series, intensifying as the seasons progress until that's one of the fundamental issues driving the 7th season. It seems so clear that Buffy needs her friends, that she is a captain of a team, but she doesn't seem to ever really embrace that. The solitary slayer identity is too deeply embedded.

As part of the transition, we find that Oz is in his element at college, more outgoing and popular there than in high school, and while Buffy is tongue-tied and awkward, Willow is right at home. Giles has become a "man of leisure" (unemployed), and--very oddly--seems to have a young, sexy, black girlfriend, which makes Buffy even more uncomfortable. Most importantly, Giles refuses to help Buffy with a vampire nest she needs to clear out. She reaches out, looking for the familiar ties, but Giles believes that she's leaning on him and the old ways instead of growing. So...she's on her own. When he sings "Standing" in the musical in season 6, he's completing the journey that he didn't succeed in making in this episode. He believes she can do it without him, and needs to, but as the episode ends, he comes running with an armful of weapons, unable to leave her to fate.

Even her mom has "borrowed" her bedroom, emphasizing that every aspect of life has changed, Buffy doesn't have Giles or her mom the same way she did before. Interestingly, Buffy makes a random comment about her mom "having an aneurysm"--

Xander doesn't show up until half way (or more) through, when he runs into Buffy at the Bronze. She's alone, and sad, and Xander sits her down and talks her out of her funk and back into action Barbie mode. The Xander problem is acute this season: he's not in college, and he goes between a goofy extra and wise, insightful exposition device---I think. I'm going to be watching for this. Even though he's funny in this scene, implying he worked for a night as a male stripper and telling Buffy that she's his hero--that he often asks "What Would Buffy Do" (an obvious play on the popular What Would Jesus Do), but concedes that sometimes alone, late at night he does ask "what is Buffy wearing."

This episode ends by showing how much the same things really are: Giles didn't abandon her; Willow was very upset when she thought Buffy left/died, and dropped everything to help; Oz and Xander fought by her side--it's all good. She's mourning Angel slightly--thinks she sees him at the Bronze--but it's subtle. And we're ready to start the season....