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.

Amends

What can I say about this episode that hasn't been said better by someone? It's almost fairy-tale like in its ending, a sudden, unexplained snow storm, hiding the sun so Angel doesn't commit suicide. Buffy had told him that they were done, finito--yet she was the one beside him as the miracle occurred, tearfully admitting that she loves him. Snow--white, pure, miraculous--all the things Angel isn't, yet apparently the Powers that Be decide to use super-symbolic-mojo to insure that Angel is around to get his own series.

Angel is trying to make amends for the evil he's done, but he's not the only one. Buffy reluctantly makes overtures to Faith, and Oz decides that he and Willow belong together. Xander and Cordy are still not civil, and we see Xander sleeping outside in the sudden snow as he avoids his family's dysfunctional Christmas eve celebration. White, fluffy snow baptizes the sleeping xander, symbolically exonerating him even though Cordy won't.

In the plot line and symbolically, the destruction wrought be Spike is washed away, but it's worth noting that unlike many television shows, the characters retain the memories of their flaws and failures, and grow--or at least change--from the experiences.

Worth noting: Joss uses very overtly religious symbolism in this one--and it does take place Christmas Eve/Morning--and Willow mentions several times that she is Jewish, although her last name (Rosenberg) is the main evidence of that. In the episode about forgiveness and redemption, even avowed atheist Joss heads to religious, probably because those are the archetypes we understand....I think.

In the Buffy-verse, the last several episodes are crucial to the myth-making and character development. Soon, season 3 will kick up a notch--but for now, we've had a respite from the Mayor as we explore and build the characters more.

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.

What's My Line Pt 1

Lots going on--guess that's why it's a two-parter! First, the plot lines that create the two part story arc: healing Drusilla, which includes stealing a "super duper decoder ring;" and the threat from the Order of Tarokis, assassins that Spike has hired ("Isn't that overkill," a minion asks Spike; "No, it's just the right amount of kill")

Tied in with that, though, are all sorts of things. Most obviously, Kendra the Vampire Slayer appears, and the Career Fair is the backdrop for the episode. Those two things are intertwined, too. Buffy has no future, no reason to participate in the career fair (except the Principal is forcing her). She has a "gig," and she invites Giles to "fire her," then comments on the fact he'd have to kill her, chosen one, blah blah blah. She's got an attitude about not having a future, and the running joke about her going into law enforcement is too true, in a mythic big picture sense. She's not amused.

Then, abracabra--Kendra, a culturally ambiguous Bratz doll slayer. More on her next episode, but she is Buffy's foil, the traditional Slayer. And she emphasizes that Buffy is just one in a series, that her life expectancy is zip. (We could argue about whether Buffy could walk away since Kendra--then Faith--are the "official" slayers following the straight slayer line, but no reason to go there; neither Buffy nor Giles define her as inactive, and she still has the power and skills.)

After the last bit, where Giles has been reframed as a character, he's back in tweed-clad Watcher librarian mode and asserting his position. He's research-driven, bonding with Willow (who at this point really seems to be closer to Giles in many ways than either Buffy or Xander--he understands her best and values her abilities) He's grumpy at Buffy, demanding. That sets up the juxtaposition we'll see next episode with Kendra and the traditional Slayer/watcher paradigm.

What else....hmm...as important as names are to Whedon, I haven't figured out why the cross and book that are needed to heal Dru are by a man named duLac. Of the lake? Like Lancelot--there are few ties with Arthurian legend in the Buffyverse; if this is a reference, I haven't gotten it yet. Also, Spike and his nerd vamp handle duLac's cross without as much as a cringe. Curious--espeically since Xander used a smaller cross to bully Angel the end of last reason, and a cross necklace burned Angel when he and Buffy kissed.

Brief references to religion a couple times. Buffy says, "Note to self: Religion freaky" as she's in the tomb with Giles looking at duLac's relics. The way religion (Judeo-Christian) is treated in the show is interesting; that's one of the themes I'm watching.

This is a relationship-building episode, too. We actually meet Oz finally, and Xander comments on Cordy wanting to be a Scooby (is that the first use of the term in the show?? Maybe) Buffy gets to ice skate because Angel takes her on a "date" to the skating rink (that means she skates and he lurks).

Worth noting: Joyce still has no clue Buffy is the slayer, and she is frequently out of town on business trips, giving Buffy far more freedom than most teens. At this point, she's windowdressing to pull out as needed.

Oh--Buffy's clothing is worth noting. It's hard to think of Buffy as dowdy, and through most of this episode, she's as fashionista as usual--but when she gets upset and scared, after both Angel and Giles say she needs to hide from the Order of Tarokis because she can't win against them, she's wandering around in this huge plaid shirt--looks as if it could be flannel, in fact. I think she goes through several other episodes with this shirt. Gotta watch that. She is sometimes casual, but dowdy? It's not even quirky or odd (a la Willow and Xander's clothes) Almost never.

Also, the dialog is snappy in this. It usually is, but for some reason it hits me as slightly quirkier than the last few. I need to check who is the credited writer.

On to Part 2!

"School Hard"

Spike's here--and there's going to be a little less ritual and a lot more partying.

The "Buffyverse," a storyline with a rich history to draw from and a berth of characters and incarnations, is finally becoming evident. The characters are starting to jell, and (I think) the major themes explored throughout the rest of the series have been introduced, at least briefly. There are still more characters to come--even important characters--but the structure of the Buffyverse is fairly well established even though people, relationships, and storylines still mature.

With that said, here's my quick list of important stuff

• If your name involves time, for instance, Calendar, it's a hint that you can count the number of days (or episodes) you'll last.
  
• This episode has one of the first overt mentions of religion, I think, when Willow tells Cordelia to pray as they are hiding in the closet from the vamp attack. Even though religious imagery abounds, like when Xander used the cross to make Angel listen and cooperate last season, religious references are worthing noting when they happen. In this case, when nothing else seems possible, prayer is last resort--and then, Cordy's prayer is humorous and ironic.
• Spike claims to feel more "manly" when he uses weapons, but what this means is subject to interpretation. She knows he's not a man, he knows she knows--it could be meant ironically humorous, or to underline that as a non-man, he doesn't need a weapon (his speech to her in "Fool for Love" about how a vamp always has his weapon, but she has to reach for hers is an interesting contrast.). Note that he's lying/manipulating the truth in that scene--the last slayer didn't beg for her life (we see flashback in a later season), Angel is his grandsire (although in another show he clarifies: Dru made me a vampire, you made me a monster, he tells Angel)
• Joyce stops Spike. After hitting him on the head with the axe, she says something about not hurting her daughter. Irony/foreshadowing: we know Spike has a weakness for mothers and had a loving relationship with his. And Joyce and Spike end up getting along well, even though she knows he's a vamp. (Contrast that with Angel, who she didn't especially like even when she didn't know he was a vamp; knowing it didn't improve the situation any either)
• "A slayer with friends and family...never heard of that before," or something close. Spike makes that point two times, underlining how unusual that is. It keeps her alive, he says later--and it throws his plans for a loop; Xander gets Angel as reinforcments to help, and Joyce bops Spike and stops the crisis du jour.
  
• Foreshadowing: When Spike sets up the vamp attack at the Bronze, it's so he can see Buffy's fighting style. Buffy doesn't have a stake--a spike--on her person (and how often does that happen in 7 years?? Once, I think) so Xander dashes to her purse, grabs her stake, and throws it to her. Buffy then dusts the vamp, and Spike appludes the show. Notice that Spike gets to see how emeshed Buffy is with her friends--and symbolically, Xander has handed her (or thrown her) to another man, the one who ultimately is a bigger threat to his relationship with Buffy than Angel is.
• Spike's image is all emotion, red hot. Where Angel is dressed in black, or black and white, blood red is spike's color--in this season, I think he's always got some red on somewhere. His speech in season 5 about blood--of course it's blood, that's the color of life...etc--underlines how important blood is to him, and of course to all vampires. The color of life, of passion--that's Spike's trademark color, at least for now.
• Despite how strongly Spike is identified with emotion, impatience, and the Id, notice the strategizing and planning. He wants to see Buffy fight before fighting her, he approaches the Annointed to gain an "in" there before incinerating the Anointed. His talk with Angel isn't about bonding, but digging for info--but Spike is as much about deliberation and power as about emotion.
• Spike is as tied into pop culture as the Scoobies. He calls Angel his "yoda," and he makes another few references just in the time between Angel and the fight with Buffy. He lives in the human world in many ways.
• Spike is gentle and caring towards Drusilla, his ill (mentally, primarily) partner. He's more overtly gentle than Angel is--at least towards their respectivie romantic interests--and that's even though Spike doesn't have a soul. Soul doesn't control empathy, at least totally.
  

That's the short version for now...