Out of My Mind

Transition episode, but at first glance, it looks like one of the "slice of life" metaplot episodes. And it is, beginning the Ben/Glory plot by introducing Ben and setting up the whole Mom has a brain problem--the Big Bad for this season is introduced, but we don't know it yet.

And last season hasn't quite ended: Spike is still dealing with the chip in his head, and Riley is still dealing with the complications caused late doctor's experiments and Riley's relationship with the Initiative. The link between all the slices is physical well-being: Joyce's trip to the hospital, Riley's and Spike's surgeries. At first glance, this episode seems overtly dealing with the physical conditions of life.

But underneath it, a different theme is being explored: love. Riley, who admitted earlier that he knows Buffy doesn't love him like he wishes she does, now admits that he would rather die than lose his superpowers--Buffy is getting stronger all the time, Buffy's history suggests that if he isn't unique, he's going to be history too. Buffy argues this, insisting that she's opened up to him like no one ever before, defining love in terms of emotional connection and trust...which in the next couple episodes we'll see isn't accurate; she tells Spike things she doesn't tell Riley, implying that the emotional connection she has is not as strong with Riley as she claims. Riley knows Buffy well, better than she knows herself. She is not deep and insightful; she de-stresses by killing things. She's an action figure, not a fashion Barbie or a Buddha statue. She may not realize it, but Riley is probably right. She wants to be challenged and tested by her partner; without his augmentation, he is Clark Kent, not Superman. Even though Buffy would hate to admit it, Riley at that point becomes someone she protects, not an equal--he's right that her definition of love includes dynamic that will be missing after he becomes "normal."

Camera to Spike. He wants to become "normal," which for a vampire means able to kill. As long as he can't, Buffy's code of honor won't let her kill him. He's "safe." But he's not, really. Fighting beside Buffy, he's her equal--and the opening tag, where both Spike and Riley interrupt her as she is patrolling, comically makes the point that at the beginning, there is an equality between the three; all are capable warriors, and grudgingly accept that.

The end of the opening tag, just like the end of the closing tag, focus on the counterpoint to Riley's love for Buffy. Riley is the white milk, picket fences Iowa boyfriend. There's passion, but that's not the defining quality of Buffy/Riley. Spike, however--he's all passion. At the beginning, his hate for Buffy, his desire to make her neck his chalice--passion, but negative.

The ending, though--a dream, foreshadowing the next couple seasons--has her coming to kill him (or threatening to, again...), when they kiss as passionately as they are capable of, then Spike declares his love for her. Note, not that he wants her, or any other passion/sex/emotional word. He baldly states he loves her, in the dream, which shocks him awake. The closing image is not that ambiguous: the emotion in the dream was true, and Spike is reeling from admitting it to himself.

Logically, Riley is everything Angel couldn't be--he's the man Buffy could grow old with and have a normal life with, and there could be just enough passion to make life bearable. They have shared values, shared dreams--love, as many people would define it. BUT Spike, he's the passion. Well, so far he's the only one who recognizes it as romantic, but this is the turning point for both Riley's and Spike's relationships with Buffy, even though Buffy never quite figures that out.

OH--and the title? I think it's Spike saying that. He wants the chip out of his head, but he also knows he's out of his mind for loving Buffy. However, it could be taken other ways....still thinking about that.

New Moon Rising

I can imagine the meeting the writers had before sketching out this script: "Well, here's the list of things that we need to have happen. First, we need Riley to break with the Initiative, and to accept a little bit of grey in his black and white worldview. Also, we need to set up Spike with Adam so we can mix up a little chaos there in an episode or two. And it's probably time that we make it clear to the slower members of our audience--and Buffy--that Willow is playing for another team. Suggestions?" Then someone remembered that Seth Green's contract called for another episode this season, and--abracadabra! Oz shows up, wolfie under control thanks to what must be the world's shortest trip to all sorts of places in Europe and studying with Tibetan monks. Really? He's been gone how many weeks?

It's a good episode, and the character development is important. I laughed hard as Riley declared himself an "anarchist" as he broke out of military jail. Big words from someone who's world-view only required two colors until this episode. Because he knew about Oz as a human, because he knew Oz as Willow's boyfriend, he saved Oz from the Initiative, even knowing that Oz could still turn werewolf. Considering the context of his character thus far, that's big.

But right this minute, I don't think there's much more to say about the episode. It builds bridges to coming episodes, and closes the door on Oz, but that's it.

Note, though: When Willow goes mondo-bad in season 6, I thought Oz was going to come back--not to replace Tara, but to help her heal. Maybe replacing the yellow crayon speech--but that's rightfully Xander's moment. Just sayin'.

Where the Wild Things Are

What does it mean to be human? This episode, a road bump on the path to the end of season 4, asks that in a sense...maybe. Adam--who isn't in this episode (or if he is, it's so brief that I've forgotten)--isn't human. He lacks passion. He can't love. And instead of having an Adam-centric episode now, there's one about passion. Simply: Buffy and Riley, because of the intense sexual energy they're conjured up, raise dormant spirits of orphans who lived in that house and were strictly punished for sexually-related behavior.

So, a party raises more Cain, and Buffy and Riley are hot-n-heavy for who knows how long, unaware that killer vines are surrounding them, that there's been an earthquake, that their friends are yelling for them. We get hints that Willow and Tara are involved, and Xander and Anya argue about sex--it's a theme.

Interestingly, Anya and Spike bond at the Bronze, having a conversation about how similar they are, both demons who can't hurt people. Spike is obviously ogling Anya, far more than previously, and Anya talks more freely and normally to him than she does usually. Their brief fling--10 minutes that changes their lives--in season 6 seems less random now; there's a backstory for it.

NOTE: season 4 must be where Joss has an itch to be an artist. As well as the ground-breaking Hush, this show features some artsy camera angles, pulling up on Riley and Buffy in bed until they are a little square of white floating in black. There was some other artsy thing, too, but I'm drawing a blank what it was.

And Giles sings, guitar in hand and earring in place, at a coffee shop. He's trying to find himself, and is still oddly misplaced. Appropriately, the following scene is in a library or something similar, researching; gotta reinforce the Giles image right after the crooning. The song he sings, Behind Blue Eyes by the Who, is symbolic too:

best-song-lyrics.com No one knows what it's like To be the bad man To be the sad man Behind blue eyes No one knows what it's like To be hated To be fated To telling only lies But my dreams They aren't as empty As my conscience seems to be I have hours, only lonely My love is vengeance That's never free No one knows what it's like To feel these feelings Like I do And I blame you No one bites back as hard On their anger None of my pain and woe Can show through But my dreams They aren't as empty As my conscience seems to be I have hours, only lonely My love is vengeance That's never free When my fist clenches, crack it open Before I use it and lose my cool When I smile, tell me some bad news Before I laugh and act like a fool If I swallow anything evil Put your finger down my throat If I shiver, please give me a blanket Keep me warm, let me wear your coat No one knows what it's like To be the bad man To be the sad man Behind blue eyes

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.

The Initiative

Season four picks up; metaplot ahoy! Although there are deeper ramifications and some interesting character development things, this episode is mainly plot. Spike is being held captive in the Initiative's lab; he escapes, but then nearly gets re-captured. Giles and Xander are more obviously feeling useless, a situation that continues through much of season four. And Willow, who is still obviously hurting over Oz leaving, has long talks with both Riley and Spike, both of whom are using Willow to get to Buffy.

Riley's All-American good guy-ness is played up. He defends Buffy's honor by punching Parker for making an insensitive comment about Buffy, and he uses the word "courting" to refer to what he wants to do to get to know Buffy. He's nervous and inarticulate when Buffy's around, then G.I Joe when we discover he's part of the para-military group Buffy is curious about. His intentions are honorable, and he's sweet. His conversation with Willow makes it clear that he may be a better match for the brainy Willow--they seem to connect well--but after a long monologue about how they'll fall in love but end up with someone leaving (a commentary not just on her relationship with Oz, but also foreshadowing Buffy and Riley's end)--Willow accepts that Riley is going to "court" Buffy, and offers the baffling info that she likes cheese (a curiously reoccuring joke--or symbolic theme, but what of...still considering!)

The parallel of Spike going to Willow to find Buffy is interesting. Spike and Riley have antipathy towards each other, but before Riley leaves (next season? Not sure), they have a talk that makes it apparent that they are very jealous of each other. The parallel conversations with Willow is the beginning of their parallel relationships with Buffy. Riley, sweet and romantic, the "perfect" boyfriend; Spike, all emotion and passion, the despised partner. Watching for parallel moments will be interesting.

Note that Marster and Hannigan (Spike and Willow) do a subtle job of going from terror to parody as Spike finds he's unable to perform as a vampire, not realizing that the Initiative has put the chip in his head that renders him unable to attack humans. The moments like that scene remind me that it's not just Whedon's writing; the actors excel in subtle ways, making even the most ludicrous situations ring emotionally true.

Wild At Heart

This is the big "Oz is leaving" episode...but it's not. Sure, Oz's fight between the wolf and the human sides of himself is important, but that is not the most significant part of the show. Willow's reactions to being hurt is what matters in the long run. Early in the episode, Willow's jealousy is a topic. It's somewhat humorous in the exchange about Buffy academically succeeding more than Willow, but the emotion expressed is definite jealousy. Then, Willow's reaction to Veruca is not subtle--she's aware that Oz is attracted to the musician even before Willow (and Oz) find out that Veruca is also a werewolf.

The attraction is explained as primal, animalistic--the wolf side of each character calling out to the other. Willow, who is usually the intellectual, represents the human, logical side--ironically, of course, since her reaction is entirely emotional. Continuing that thought, though, is the fact that we see (not for the first time, either) that intellectual Willow doesn't deal well with negative emotions. Finding Oz and Veruca together, naked, then having Oz chose to risk turning wolf while not locked up so that he can look for (and presumably neutralize) Veruca sends Willow over the edge emotionally: Willow is trying to use magic to hurt Veruca when the almost-changed werewolf comes into the science lab.

Oz kills Veruca. She's in wolf form and trying to hurt Willow; Oz is a wolf then too, but we know a line is crossed. If we are to view Oz as essentially human--except for 3 days a month--then the same logically should be true of Veruca. Oz killed, and being responsible for killing a human has repercussions--just ask Faith. (Yes, Xander escapes that clause in season 6. I'm not there yet.)

Other notes: Willow mentions the Wicca group, leading into meeting Tara, and Buffy finally decides that she's interested in the mysterious soldiers--who captured Spike before the opening credits. The metaplot is picking up....slowly.

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!