The Yoko Factor

Pivotal episode, in the "things that can't be unsaid" realm. The basic premise is simple: Adam will take care of Spike's chip if Spike helps deal with the Slayer. Getting her friends out of the way--and her distracted by the drama--is Spike's idea. In an insightful explanation, Spike explains that Yoko Ono didn't break up the Beatles, but they broke themselves up under the pressure of fame and time; that's his plan--plant a few seeds, and let them do the dirty work themselves.

It's been clear since season 2 that Spike understands psychology much more intuitively than the Scoobies realize; they discredit him because of his chosen image. But in the process of supplying them info about the Initiative--info which I think does turn out to be important, next episode, making him a double agent--he drops side comments to Giles, Xander and Willow that feed their basic insecurities and lead to a huge argument at the end of the episode, with Buffy walking out, implying that she can't count on Willow and Xander. Who is left? well...Riley--who ends the episode at Adam's lair, for purposes unclear (although avenging his friend Forrest's death seems likely).

Spike tweaks Giles by commenting on his uselessness and lack of control of Buffy--and, appropriately, Giles is singing Freebird when Spike finds him, foreshadowing not just what Spike talks about, but the season 6 song Standing and his ultimate leaving as Buffy's watcher. Giles spends the rest of the episode drunk, even giggling uproariously at the words "Fort Dix." Season four has been rough for Giles--no job, no standing, less than Batman's Alfred, he implies during the argument scene. Spike capitalizes on that.

In a masterful bit of triple-entrendre, Spike hints to Willow that her computer skills are weakening, that being a witch is laughable, and that being with Tara just a phase--because. like Faith, Spike realizes with only small hints that Willow and Tara are involved; something Buffy barely believes even when Willow told her, and Xander and Giles don't realize til the argument at the end of the episode. Willow falls for every one of the lines Spike throws, showing how vunerable to needing Buffy's approval she is. Again, the dialogue where Spike casually throws out those issues is intermixed with other content, making this just throw-away banter that hits home--amazing dialogue writing.

And Xander, who has been as much adrift as Giles this season, quickly believes that his friends think he should enlist. It's curious that no one asks why Spike was in conversations like that with other people--since when does Spike sit and chat? But he is integrated enough with the gang that they do all accept without question that Spike would know; his plan only works because they trust him. Again, they've forgotten that he's "evil." a point he's made repeatedly this season.

There's the whole Angel comes back, and Riley freaks because he thinks Buffy's leaving him for Angel subplot--important in the Riley/Buffy arc, maybe, because he now knows everything about Buffy and Angel (tying in well with Yoko, Xander spilled that by accident, thinking Buffy explained why Angel turned evil). That's as much finishing an arc from Angel as impacting this show, though--Buffy fans who also watched Angel had to see a semi-reconciliation after the serious break that happened on Angel when Angel gave Faith a second chance.

So what's it all about? Simple: in high school, they were without question a gang, committed to each other. Are they going to recommit, or are they going to float apart without regret as they grow up? Thus far in season 4, it seems that they are on a floating apart track--Riley doesn't really become a Scooby, Willow and Buffy don't like Anya, Xander feels like the others don't respect what he'd doing...which, in fairness, is nothing except hanging with Anya., and Willow is hiding her new relationship. Yep, they are going separate ways, to all appearances. All Spike did was tear the band-aid off the wounds.

And....to be continued....

Who Are You?

This is one of THOSE episodes...lots going on, setting up lots more that's going to happen. It's a continuation of the previous episode, and clarifies a couple points from that. For Willow, Faith, and Buffy, it's a character-defining (or re-defining) episode, at least introducing some shifts.

Buffy is in Faith's body, and she's being held by the Watchers, who are taking "Faith" back to England to be dealt with. The assumption is that it's possible the Council will execute "Faith." Buffy, true to her history, does not kill the Watcher-hit-squad goons when she has a chance. Clearly, Buffy is still "good," even under threat of death.

That's important, but it's more important in light of Faith's attitude about Buffy. In a somewhat funny scene, but a very uncharacteristically shot one, Faith (getting used to looking like Buffy) plays in front of a mirror, saying "Don't do that--it's wrong," in a variety of ways. She's trying to understand Buffy while mocking her. (Watching SMG be Faith as Buffy is interesting; SMG obviously worked at getting some of Dushku's body language incorporated into her version of "Buffy") The theme of "that's wrong," shows up again in the bar scene where she sexually taunts Spike, calling Buffy "joyless" and other similar things, ending by telling Spike that there's one reason she wouldn't have sex with him--it's wrong. She's more Faith than Buffy in this scene, but oddly, Spike--who usually has a finely tuned radar in all things Buffy--doesn't realize something's seriously askew. Perhaps that's because he's so tuned in to the sexual vibe she's generating, but even that should be a signal, I would think.

Finally, though--Faith understands. She could make a get away, be free of the Scoobies and the Watchers alike, but she sees the news: vampires have invaded a church. She believes Buffy is on her way to England and can't respond; it's not her problem--she's leaving on a jet plane, too.

But as she's lived in Buffy's skin, she is channeling Buffy too, and ultimately shows up to deal with the vamps and tells them, with conviction worthy of Buffy, that what they are doing is wrong. Originally, way back, Faith had a sense of mission and right and wrong, just different than Buffy's. She's found it again, and during the fight between her and Buffy (who has shown up in Faith's body to save the church as well), Faith (as Buffy) pummels her own face, yelling "You're nothing! Disgusting! Murderous bitch! You're nothing! You're disgusting!" She's not yelling at Buffy; it's not Buffy she hates. She wouldn't call Buffy "murderous." The fight is really between Faith and herself--and, symbolically--Buffy finds Faith in a church, and Faith faces herself in the church.

Faith heads to LA, where she ultimately gets in a similar fight with Angel, who she was going to let kill her. He refuses, causing a major breach between himself and Buffy--Buffy wants Faith dead, or at least not near any males she claims as hers. Angel is betraying Buffy by helping Faith...which echos the whole season 3 dysfunction where Buffy's jealousy of Angel and Faith causes all kinds of havoc.

That leads to Buffy--in a sense, this episode is about fear. Adam (who is the reason the vamps show up at church) asks what vampires are afraid of. He's trying to learn about fear. Through season 3, we know that one of Buffy's fears is Faith taking her place with her boyfriend, with Giles, and with the Scoobies. In this episode, Faith does all those things--even sleeping with Riiley, which is further than she went with Angel--which lead to Buffy freaking pretty seriously in season 3. Buffy is being forced to confront her fears and deal. The fact that everyone thought it was her makes it easier to deal, but being Buffy, she questions both Giles and Riley about how they couldn't realize it was not really Buffy. They deflect well enough--I don't remember if it comes up again or not in this season, so I'll have to watch for that issue.

Ironically--the person who knows is Tara--who hasn't met Buffy. When she meets Faith (in Buffy bod), Tara realizes right away something's off, and she tells Willow, who believes her and does a spell. (Note--last episode I thought Tara sabotaged a spell because she thought it was too powerful; I found an analysis pointing out that Tara believed she was part-demon, and the spell identified demons--that may explain undercutting the earlier spell. This one is powerful, and she does it.) And ironically, Faith is the first to know that Willow and Tara are a couple. Her comment "So Willow isn't driving stick anymore," was one of the Faith-like moments that SMG convincingly pulls off--she veers between Buffy moments and Faith subtext throughout the episode in an amazing performance.

As well as confronting fears--this episode is about sex. The spell Willow and Tara do gives some of the most sexually graphic imagery on Buffy thus far--clearly hinting at their relationship for any viewers that didn't understand what Faith meant; Faith's seduction of Riley is very blatant and un-Buffy-esque, enough so that Riley stops her and asks "What are we playing at," clearly uncomfortable with what "Buffy" was doing. When he says he loves her, Faith freaks. She's good at sex, but love--that's when Faith has a moment of facing her fear. And whether that could be a trigger for her decision to go back a save the church....hmmmm.....gotta think about it. And even though we know Spike has an interest in Buffy (Drusilla leaves him because of it), this episode is the most blatant at establishing the degree of his sexual attraction to her.

There's one component missing here--Xander. I have a theory about why he is so absent in this episode, and the one time he's in a scene with Faith, Anya is literally draped over him. With fear and sex as the major themes in this episode, there's only one direction a Xander-centered scene could go: Faith would seduce Xander, who would believe he'd finally gotten Buffy. He didn't realize "Buffy" was Faith in the scene in Giles' apartment. He's spent four seasons wanting Buffy--a dynamic that arguably never changes over the life of the show. (yes, he turns her down in the episode where he cast the love spell--he knew that would be his fault and he'd be taking advantage of her. In this case, he wouldn't know).

Faith is well aware of Xander's obsession; she's a student of male reactions, so she must know. She couldn't interact with him in any way but the most superficial without having it turn sexual, in the context of the episode. In fact, the one comment she makes to him is taunting him--Anya says they have plans for the evening, they are going to have sex. Faith says something like, "well, what are you doing after that seven minutes is done?" The ramifications to the season if Faith slept with Xander are much more disruptive than Faith sleeping with Riley; that's why Xander isn't in this episode very much.

The next episode is one I remember not liking. I'm interested now to see if there are tie-ins or foreshadowing I didn't catch the one time I've seen it before.

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....

Prophecy Girl: Entre Act

Quick note about something I forgot to mention earlier: In the very last episode, as Buffy is sending Xander away to keep Dawn safe (which doesn't work), Xander says something like, "I always thought I'd be there for you (with you?) at the very end." There's an implication, if I remember correctly, that he expected to have her back, to be able to pick up the flag, in a sense.

In "Prophecy Girl," this attitude surfaces but is not made explicit by Xander's insistence that he is following her to the Master, and his forcing Angel to go also (would Angel have gone anyway? Probably--if he had known. He doesn't know until Xander shows up at his door, and Angel insists that neither Buffy nor Xander know how overmatched they are).

NOt sure what I'm going to make of that, or if that's going to fit in definition of manhood, or Xander's infatutation with Buffy, but I wanted to mention it. Buffy is only alive because Xander followed; does he think he can be her savior again, or is it just needing to know she wouldn't die alone? Gotta see as this all transpires.

Episode 10: Nightmares

Interesting episode, and an idea the writers repeat with variations (The episode "Restless," when all the characters are really asleep and dreaming, and the Halloween episode in season 4, when their fears come to life in the frat house, for instance.) This is the first overtly Jungian episode, even though a devoted Jungian would be having fun from the very beginning!

First, the episode looks as if it's part of the meta-plot, with the Master lecturing the Anointed about fear. That's setting the stage--and implies that the Master set the situation up, maybe? I can't imagine that he has that power, but...it's at least a handy coincidence. Fear is more powerful than any other emotion, the Master teaches. What a person fears tells you about what that person is.

First, the episode isn't dealing with the unconscious. It's clear that the characters know their fears, and they are awake (except Buffy in the opening scene when she dreams about being killed by the Master) The first few fears that come to life are somewhat universal: spiders, for instance. A bit of detective work, however, and Buffy et al discover that spiders have a very specific meaning to the boy who the spiders swarmed.

From there, the fears attack, and no one is exempt. In the deft blending of humor and drama that Whedon excels at, the audience sees Cordy's worst fear: bad hair, bad clothes, and being dragged to be part of the Chess Club. No surprise to the audience there. Cordy is the status queen, and Chess Club...right.

Likewise, Willow's fear of appearing in public transforms her into an opera singer dressed in geisha garb and full makeup--visually humorous, which is how she is dressed through most of the epiosode. (Ironically, Hannigan begged to not have to sing in the Buffy musical in season 6, and in fact has only a couple sung lines, never solo. The fear of singing in public isn't just Willow's!) Willow doesn't want to be noticed, doesn't want to be stared at or talked about. Importantly, she doesn't want to fail, especially publicly--she knows her strengths and doesn't go far outside her zone of competency. Even in "Restless,"a few seasons later, a public performance figures in her nightmare--as Dark Willow, she seeks the spotlight, holding hostages in the Bronze; in "real life" answering in class is the extent of her ability to command attention. In Willow's mind, then, is it evil or bad to be the center of attention? It's an obvious manifestation of her low-self-steem, at least in any non-academic arena.

Xander walks in a classroom unclothed, except for plain colored boxers (which is interesting; considering the shirts he routinely wears, who would have thought he'd wear boring boxers??) It's an Everyman fear, which may just simply be indicative of Xander's essential typicalness as the Everyman of the series. As an attractive, well built male, appearing in boxers wouldn't seem to be that fear-inducing to the character personally, who is willing to play the fool and call attention to himself as shown by his "crazy dancing" at the Bronze. Also, considering that he joins the swim team and wanders around in a little, tight Speedo in anther episode, Xander must not be incredibly physically self-conscious. However, as the series progresses, we find that underlying Xander's happy-go-lucky, goofy extrovert exterior he is embarrassed by his home life and fears turning into his father; later, when Cordelia wants to hurt and embarrass him, she mentions things he's apparently told her about his family. He makes joking references to them, but then he controls the info and frames the emtions; Cordy's public snarkiness exposes him. So perhaps symbolically, the exposure Xander fears isn't physical, but emotional.

Buffy has several fears revealed, with her first being a typical one for children of a divorce. Buffy had already alluded to this fear to Willow, in fact. In this scene, her dad tells her that she caused her parents break up. Typical fear, and neatly resolved at the end of the show when her dad comes to pick her up for a weekend. (However, he does disappear before too long, and Giles becomes a more overt father figure--the scene where Giles and Hank meet is in a sense the changing of the guard)

Another of Buffy's fears is strikingly mirrored in season 6. Being alive while buried and having to fight her way out comes true, although the turning into a vampire part doesn't. Interestingly, when she vamps out, Giles is caught off guard and asks why she never told him she feared being turned. No answer to that, either. But significantly, her fears and Giles intertwine. He sees her tombstone and ruminates about how it means he didn't teach her well enough, guide her well enough, and she paid for it. Their fears foreshadow the emeshed nature of their relationship and his role as her father-figure, and even lead directly to Giles' solo in the musical and his decision to go back to England.

So have I said anything insightful? No, not really. If I were to take the time to research fear and symbolism in more detail, I suspect there's a layer (or two) I haven't seen yet--and I know that as the series progresses, the multi-layer plot development intensifies. Maybe it's time for some Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung as bedtime reading!