FEATURE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Real Me

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy has a sister. What?!

Dawn, Buffy's sister, is causing a few problems for the Slayer as she needs taking care of, seemingly full time given her habit of getting into mischief. When the gang head to the Magic Shop for supplies, Willow quite literally falls over the dead body of the owner. It's a vamp attack, announcing a new squad in town who are researching the Slayer and have a fondness for ceramic unicorns. Yes, Harmony's back in town and she wants a showdown with Buffy, but is thwarted when the Slayer happens to be on a date when Harmony calls for her. Dawn, being Dawn, inadvertently invites her in and the vamp returns later to kidnap the sister and lure Buffy into a trap.

So, Dawn's arrived. I'm going to get the negative stuff out of the way first because, Dawn aside, this episode is a joy. The new little sister? Not so much. God, Dawn's narration is horrible. Just gratingly irritating. And I think it jars so much because, at this stage, it feels like such a caricature of how a teen girl speaks, which is something the show has never done. The teenage characters of Buffy, Willow and Xander never fell into that trap of feeling cliched or sketched. Even Cordelia had layers. Real Me is not the best first impression of the character we could have had, though I know it's the sibling relationship that they clearly needed to set up. It just feels clumsy given how much of a mystery Dawn still is.

Which brings me nicely on to the positive aspect about Dawn; the writers have just dropped her in there. She got a few seconds in the last episode and now everyone in the show is acting like she's always been there. It's a clever, brave move and instantly gets the audience speculating about where this annoying, diary-writing teen has come from. There's not much of a hint to what she is here, just that she will become something, but the encounter with the mad, homeless man offers up a neat callback to Faith's prophecy of Dawn's arrival back in Graduation Day. He calls her "Curds and whey," referencing "Little Miss Muffet, counting down from 7-3-0."

Positives for the rest of the episode are numerous and mainly revolve around how hilarious it is. From Giles' brand new, shiny red penis car to Buffy's reaction to finding out that Harmony has minions. And then there's Harmony herself. I love that Harmony's plans seem to be taken from the ideas whiteboard of a crappy Bond villain, that she's got the management skills of Michael Scott and the villainous presence of a poodle. Mercedes McNab's comic timing is spectacular here and her sparring with Sarah Michelle Gellar ranks amongst the funniest of Buffy's exchanges with villains.

We also have the second big plot development of the fifth season as Giles decides to buy the Magic Shop, despite Buffy's understandable concern that Magic Shop owners have a very limited shelf life. The fourth season did suffer from having a particular location that the Scoobies could be based out of; Giles' place is lovely, but I always got the impression that everything was a bit cramped in there. Now, we'll have the Magic Shop, a nice training room for Buffy and plenty of magical items for hijinks.

Thankfully, there is enough about Real Me to love in the face of the annoyingly whiny teenager plonked into the middle of it. I understand why they drop Dawn into the midst of everything so equally, and why they do make her so irritating, but boy is it a culture shock.

Quote of the Week:

Harmony: So Slayer! At last we meet.
Buffy: We've met, Harmony, you halfwit.

Inventive Kill: Buffy slays Mort with a unicorn horn. Cabin in the Woods, eat your heart out. Um, not literally.

Let's Get Trivial: Michelle Trachtenberg's updated status from her first appearance in the show to series regular is the fastest in the series' history, appearing in just one episode before promotion. The show will now set the record for highest number of main cast members (8) until Riley leaves in Into The Woods.

Sunnydale Who's Who: Tom Lenk, who plays a Harmony minion, will return next season to play Tucker's brother... I mean, Andrew.

- Becky

You can read Becky's look at previous episode, Buffy vs. Dracula, here.

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FEATURE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Buffy vs. Dracula

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles combined magically to defeat Adam and take down the Initiative, but it wasn't without cost as the vengeful spirit of the First Slayer rose up to kill them in their dreams. Buffy's dream came with a lot of dark warnings.

Buffy's on the prowl for vampires, turning to hunting rather than simple patrolling. On one such hunt, she meets a tall, dark and handsome vampire that isn't Angel. He's got a lilty accent, mysterious ways of speaking and a big ole cape. He's freakin' Dracula. That's right. The Count himself is in town and desires Buffy, preying on her and intent on turning her into a bride. Not only is Buffy enthralled, so too is Xander as one of his minions. It's up to the rest of the gang to disrupt Dracula's plans before it's too late, but all of them underestimate his power and Buffy's own strength.

I do love this episode. As both a Dracula and a Buffy fan, it ticks a lot of boxes for me from the schlocky tone to the Stoker references to Marti Noxon in writing duties. It's a very funny episode, with each character getting a little moment to shine within it; Riley busting out the "you're under the thrall of the Dark Prince!", Anya's fangirl fawning over the undead superstar, Giles tangling with the three sisters and Spike's grudge all spark brilliantly. It's Xander though who steals the show here as Nicholas Brendon gets to do his finest Renfield impression, right down to the sychophantic epithets and bug eating (I couldn't pick a best Xander quote for Quote of the Week so you get three).

Buffy was always one of the most self-aware shows around, but Noxon clearly relishes the opportunity to play with that in this episode. Bringing in Dracula is no mean feat, but she's aware of her genre savvy audience and rather than using it to fill the episode with foreboding, she messes about with the familiar for comedic effect. One of my favourite moments is Riley commenting on the fact that he's never noticed "a great honking castle" in Sunnydale, a nod to the fact that it starts off in the pilot as a one-Starbucks town, but is slowly revealed to have an entire university campus just tucked away somewhere. And now a castle, because obviously.

Cleverly, the episode is used to keep laying the foundations of Buffy's self-discovery, the one that sort of began back in Restless. Dracula echoes Tara's line "you think you know what you are... what's to come... you haven't even begun" hinting at the deep dark mystery at the heart of being a Slayer. Though it will be explored considerably throughout the fifth season, it will also continue into the seventh with the Potentials and Buffy's ultimate battle tactic in defeating The First. Here, it's merely suggestion, confirmed by her heartwarming scene with Giles at the end in which she asks him to become her unofficial Watcher again.

There's a couple more key moments in the episode and I'll get to the 'big' one shortly, but first of all, Riley's continuing downward spiral into Jealous, Masculinity-So-Fragile Douchebag. I think I glossed over much of it in this episode because I was still a fan of the fourth season version of his character. I'm a lot less kind now. He's just a dick. An important one in terms of the various themes that the show explores in relation to masculinity and feminism, but a dick nonetheless. Then, of course, there's the big Dawn reveal. I remember this absolutely flooring me the first time I saw it. It doesn't pack quite the same punch now, but you've got to admire the balls of a show who can pull off the kind of history retcon that we'll soon see.

Buffy vs. Dracula might not rank highly in many people's lists of greatest Buffy episodes. As a regular standalone, it's a solid affair, but as a season opener, it's probably the best of the bunch. It's a "wouldn't it be cool if..." premise that pays off in spades and also sets a lot up for the season to come. 

Quote[s] of the Week:

Willow: I think we have Dracula factoids.

Xander: Like any of that's enough to fight the Dark Master...bater.

[Later]

Xander: I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about the Unholy Prince...bater.

Xander: Master, I deliver the Slayer, she who you most desire... Sorry, whom.

Xander: You know what? I'm sick of this crap. I'm sick of being the guy who eats insects and gets the funny syphilis. As of this moment, it's over. I'm finished being everybody's butt monkey.

Buffy: Check. No more butt monkey.

Inventive Kill: Buffy stakes Dracula not once, but twice. Not really effective as he'll later appear in the Drew Goddard story, Antique, but she does get to say that she "eurotrashed" him.

Let's Get Trivial: Dracula wasn't originally set to appear in this episode, according to writer Marti Noxon, who had written in just another cool vampire for the role and comparing him to Dracula a lot. Joss Whedon then asked "why not Dracula?" pointing out that Stoker's legendary character was publc domain and therefore available.

Sunnydale Who's Who: Apparently, it was Sarah Michelle Gellar's husband, Freddie Prinze Jr, lined up to play Dracula, but the role went to Rudolf Martin who had previously played SMG's love interest on All My Children.

- Becky

You can read Becky's look at previous episode, Restless, here.

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FEATURE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Restless

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles magically combined to take down Adam and the Initiative, invoking the power of the First Slayer to do so. 

Usually this is the point of the review where I give you all a little plot breakdown to remind you of what goes on in the episode. It might not be all the details, but just enough to jog your memory. For Restless, there's not really a whole lot of plot to sum up; Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles settle in for a night of movies after they take down the Initiative, still feeling wired. Alas, they upset the First Slayer with their spell and she tries to kill them in their dreams. That's pretty much it, but the meat of Restless does not lie within its plot, but rather in everything else.

It would be absolutely impossible for me to talk about all the things I love or that are of note in Restless because it's so densely packed with thematic content, character exploration and that all important Buffy hallmark of foreshadowing. Dreams in this world have always functioned as a form of prophecy, particularly for Buffy herself, so it's fitting that we have one such narrative entirely constructed around what has been and what is coming takes place within a dreamscape. It's an episode that only gets richer on repeat viewings as a result, something which many instalments can boast, but not to quite the same levels. Later watches tend to be reference spotting, but my first watch was mainly revelling in how surreal and comical everything felt. A prime example is Buffy offering Xander popcorn:

"Butter flavour?"
"New car smell."

It's also an episode that gets a lot funnier when you've seen Death of a Salesman. Many dream sequences in television often feel a little too well crafted to really embody the random twists and turns dreams can take. Restless manages to keep that sense of unpredictability for the most part; it's tautly wound chaos, capable of spinning off in different directions as required. Whilst it's very amusing to hear these exchanges and to witness the kind of bonkers delights Whedon comes up with, there's also a lot of deeper work going on when it comes to exploring the characters and their relationships with the world around them. 

Willow's dream is positively brimming over with her various neuroses, but also foreshadowing for the character. There's even a nod back to her disastrous performance in Madame Butterfly from the first season episode, Nightmares. The big theme across her dream is the idea of her true self and people (including a cameo-ing Oz) make references to others finding out who she really is. The end of her dream indicates she still feels like the high school geek that everyone makes fun of behind her back. However, in hindsight, it's easy to see those comments as nods towards her future as a powerful, and briefly evil, witch and her addiction to magic that she works hard to keep hidden from everyone. Tara also notes that we don't know everything about her yet, something which will crop up again in the episode Family.

The erotic element to Xander's dream speaks a lot to how he's always treated the women around him, mainly that they're sex objects, even, perhaps disturbingly, Buffy's mom. Additionally, it also demonstrates his own feeling of inadequacy in the face of them, how he feels stuck in his basement and that he's of no help to his friends. The military aspect of his dream builds out from the history of the character as well as becoming another system in which he feels trapped. As if to really make the point that his journey is dark and aimless, there's Snyder at the end of it to confirm how pointless he is in the scheme of things. But he's the 'comfortador', a role that will become increasingly important in the show's later seasons.

Giles' dream is perhaps the clearest, simply because his role in the show is relatively straight-forward. He's the father figure for Buffy and their fairground night out in the cemetery reiterates that for everyone. Even his antagonistic relationships have an element of the paternal in them, such as his scene with Spike on the swings (Spike's wearing the suit he'd later wear in Tabula Rasa as well as Giles commenting that he's like a son to him). His big moment of the episode though is the classic Exposition Song (look out for composer Christophe Beck on the piano - also a quick shout-out to his awesome score), possibly Giles' greatest scene not involving a sombrero. He does his usual role of getting the audience up to speed on the episode bad guy and giving out instructions to the others, but via the medium of song (see Quote of the Week for some lyrics, obviously).

"Come on, put your back into it. A Watcher scoffs at gravity!"

Buffy's dream is the most important one when it comes to foreshadowing and as such, definitely didn't make very much sense upon first viewing. Her conversations with Tara, representing herself and the First Slayer, hint to Buffy's path for the fifth season. She's referred to as 'killer' several times by Riley, who goes on to leave her on her own. A lot of the fourth season has been exploring the successes and weaknesses inherent in being a Slayer with friends. Despite the magical joining spell that saw them all make up and take down evil last week, the message here is that Buffy, at the end, will be on her own. Tara cryptically states: "You think you know... What's to come... What you are. You haven't even begun" hinting towards Buffy's exploration of her Slayer heritage in the coming season.

The source of Buffy's power will become increasingly important now as the seasons develop and of course, there's a new character on the horizon: "Be back before Dawn..." Not only that, but we also have another nod to Buffy's impending demise, something which might not be apparent to any first time viewers of the episode. The focus on the incorrect clock in Buffy's room is a deliberate reference to her death. Back in her Graduation Day dream, Faith warns of something "counting down to 7-3-0." Buffy would die approximately 730 days after that initial warning. When Tara states that the clock is wrong, she is indicating that Buffy no longer has 730 days.

Hush was probably the moment when Buffy the Vampire Slayer truly started to embrace the more experimental aspect, but it's Restless that really runs with it, producing a season finale that is both wholly unconventional and entirely fantastic. It's a bold move to put something like this as a finale and it's a complete oddball of an episode, but it's an experiment that pays dividends for fans returning to the show. And so we come to the end of this season, which is the most consistently inconsistent of Buffy's entire run. When the story has focused on the Initiative, the interest waned, but episodes like Hush, Something Blue and Pangs keep the show going and Restless is the surrealist icing on the cake.

So after saying it would be impossible to talk about everything in this episode, I managed to give it a damn good go. It's hard to do it justice really, so layered is it as a piece of work. But what's this? I didn't mention the Cheese Man. He wears the cheese. It does not wear him.

Quote of the Week:

Giles: "I've got to warn Buffy / there's every chance she might be next / And Xander and Willow / Try not to bleed on my couch / I've just had it steam-cleaned..."

Let's Get Trivial: This is the show's only episode to begin straight away with the opening titles and not with a cold open.

Demonology 101: This is only the first appearance of the First Slayer. She will return later when Buffy embarks on her vision quest to learn more about her origins.

Sunnydale Who's Who: Originally this episode was to feature far more cameos than it eventually ended up with (just Oz, Olivia, Harmony and Snyder). Those supposed to appear were Jenny Calendar, Larry, Faith and Amy, with Angel and Cordelia having been written into the episode only to be taken out again once scheduling with Angel became too difficult.

- Becky

You can read Becky's look at previous episode, Primeval, here.

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FEATURE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - New Moon Rising

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Oz departed Sunnydale after realising that he wasn't as in control over the werewolf as he thought, leaving a heartbroken Willow in his wake. She developed a relationship with Tara, a fellow witch, instead which is now a romantic one.

The Scooby Gang meet to discuss Buffy's recent lack of demonic activity and the Initiative's sudden rise in inmates with Tara joining them in an official capacity for the first time. However, at the end of the meeting, Oz returns, throwing the wolf amongst the pigeons. His return not only causes problems for Willow, but also for Buffy as the revelation that he's a werewolf prompts Riley to exhibit some extreme anti-demon sentiments, naturally getting Buffy's back up. When Oz runs into Tara on campus, he realises that she's involved with Willow and the resultant reaction causes him to wolf out. When he's captured by the Initiative, Riley is finally forced to choose between Buffy and his career in order to get Oz out before he gets hurt.

Oh Oz. You continue to break my heart with your wolfy soul-searching. It may be an episode heavy on the Initiative (though thankfully points out they're all dicks in the process), but it's also one heavy on the emotion, particularly for Willow. We all know how badly the break-up with Oz affected her so seeing him back tugs on the heartstrings almost instantly. It's a lovely little goodbye episode for the two of them after the abrupt end to their relationship back in Wild at Heart, whilst also marking a new beginning for Willow. She finally reveals her relationship with Tara to Buffy and confirms it to Tara too. It's all a bit heartwarming.

New Moon Rising itself deals with the unconventionality of love in a variety of ways, largely seen through the metaphorical prism of humans in love with demons in order to. Buffy reacts the way she does to Riley's black-and-white view of the world because she's no stranger to an unconventional relationship, as we all know, and ends the episode telling Riley about her past with Angel. His belief that Willow's relationship with Oz is somehow lesser because he happens to be a werewolf doesn't quite function entirely as a metaphorical homophobic reaction to a lesbian relationship, but the recognisable attitudes are there. Buffy flying off the handle at him in defence of her friends is a wonderful moment, built on beautifully by the scene in which she finds out that Willow and Tara are dating.

That scene is one of the best conversations in the Buffy-Willow friendship, a testament to how strong their connection is, but also to how the show functions as an examination of human experiences. There's no demonic parallel here; it's just simply two best friends having a heart to heart in which one happens to reveal she's in a lesbian relationship now. Buffy's reaction, momentary wiggins followed by complete and utter acceptance, feels so human as does the trust that Willow immediately places in her best friend. It takes a hell of a lot to shake that relationship, let's face it. Buffy gets the opportunity to practice the acceptance that she preaches to Riley and for Willow, it allows her to properly begin her relationship with Tara.

The episode itself, aside from having it as the source of conflict for Oz and Willow, doesn't make a huge deal out of it when it so easily could have done for effect. Oz's problem with Tara is just that she has replaced him in Willow's affections and he didn't expect that to have happened with anyone. But there's no soaring, dramatic music, no tearful revelations or torturous monologuing. It just happens that two people have fallen in love. The show has a few faults over the years, but the Tara and Willow relationship still feels like one of their most quietly revolutionary moments, particularly at a time in which gay relationships on TV weren't as commonplace as they perhaps are now.

Watching it all these years later, New Moon Rising feels as if it's another step in the show's maturity with its deft handling of social issues that it has always had, but with perhaps more confidence in itself. The fourth season is a tricksy one, as I've mentioned a few times before, but it does form an effective bridge between the high school years of seasons 1-3 and the more adult years of 5-7. It's not surprising it feels a little muddled after it has to refind its feet, but this episode is a good demonstration of how it's getting there.

Quote of the Week:

Giles: How did you get in?
Spike: The door was unlocked. You might want to watch that, Rupert, someone dangerous could get in.
Buffy: Or someone formerly dangerous and currently annoying.

Let's Get Trivial: Although she would go on to become one of the show's most beloved characters, there was an initially negative reaction to Tara following this episode because she was seen to be breaking up Willow and Oz all over again.

Demonology 101: This episode proves that the werewolf condition is something that can be controlled. It doesn't necessarily impact the television side of the series, but Oz's continuing story in Season 8 explores it further.

- Becky

You can read Becky's look at previous episode, Where the Wild Things Are, here.

Don't forget, Becky's also doing an Angel rewatch alongside the Buffy one. Check out her look at Five by Five here.

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FEATURE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Where the Wild Things Are

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Riley and Buffy have got things back on track after he accidentally slept with Faith in Buffy's body. Willow's in a relationship with Tara now and Xander's been with Anya for a while, who is still rather insecure in their relationship.

Ah. The sex house episode. There are some episodes you return to and wonder what on earth the writers' room had been imbibing the week they came up with this one. Buffy and Riley spend the entire episode having sex, pretty much, because of some weird curse that has been placed on Lowell House by the residents that haunt it. When a frat party is held, the sort-of-ghosts come out to play; there's all kinds of other weird sex things going on and it's up to the rest of the Scoobies to solve the mystery of the house and rescue Riley and Buffy before they're consumed by the building. It turns out the not-really-spirits that haunt the building were once ruled by a strict, conservative disciplinarian who would violently punish them for any transgressions.

I don't think this episode would be quite so odd if there was something concrete you could get your hands on as an audience. It's a weird jumble of ideas, each one able to fuel an entire episode, but smashing them all into a haunted house narrative doesn't work. Especially because the house itself isn't technically haunted and the explanation doesn't make a whole lot of sense; so, there are these kids, right, who get abused by their wacko Christian nutjob house director and it makes them really angry, obviously, so they manifest themselves in Lowell House, but only because Buffy and Riley start having sex a lot and their release of sexual energy turns them into human poltergeist batteries. Or something...

See what I mean?

At the heart of Where the Wild Things Are is a discussion about sex that the episode never seems to want to have. If ever there was a story crying out for some kind of sex positive message then this was it. The abuse of the kids happens because Genevieve Holt thinks they're all at it like rabbits behind closed doors. Riley and Buffy activate it because they are literally going at it like rabbits behind a closed door. 

Xander and Anya are going through relationship issues because Anya fears that all they have is sex and once that stops, so does the relationship. Their fight to make it through the house becomes a metaphor for their relationship as they get tangled up in other things, but ultimately make it through together. It's about the only real coherent thread running throughout the episode, but it never makes anything of it. It could have been used to demonstrate that sex is a healthy part of a relationship, something to be discussed sure, but nothing to hide away from. Instead, we get an orgasm wall.

In a sense, it feels like a Beer Bad style episode in that it's pulling towards having a moral message, but never goes as far as that previous terrible example because it doesn't commit to that message. Beer Bad even had a relatively solid concept at the heart of it. Where the Wild Things Are never quite sinks to those same depths (perhaps because it does stay so woolly), but it's not far off. 

The humour redeems it. Spike coming with Anya to an Initiative party and having to spend most of the night hiding from them is great, so too is the Scooby rallying moment in which he looks as if he's about to help but then, nope. Off he goes.Then there's the whole discovery that Willow used to have a crush on Giles and the fact that he's singing is made out to be the real horror of the episode. He's pretty good, you guys.

Quote of the Week:

Buffy: Ok, you get Fang, I'll get Horny! I mean-

Let's Get Trivial: GILES SINGS. It's the first time we see the musical talents of Anthony Head in the series and Behind Blue Eyes is great... It's no Exposition Song though. Bring on Restless.

Sunnydale Who's Who: Kathryn Jooston plays the horrible Genevieve Holt, but she's much more famous as cookie-wielding Mrs Landingham from The West Wing or battleaxe Mrs McCluskey from Desperate Housewives.

- Becky

You can read Becky's look at previous episode, Superstar, here.

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FEATURE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Goodbye Iowa

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy joined the Initiative, asked too many questions and then Maggie Walsh tried to have her killed. It didn't work. Instead, the creature that Walsh has been working on kills Walsh in a nicely Oedipal penetrative way. Riley takes the news that his surrogate mom has tried to kill his girlfriend badly and leaves the Initiative. Sort of. He's back this week. Oh, and Spike's still bechipped and in hiding from the Initiative.

Last episode, The I in Team, rattled through the big Initiative break-up build-up at quite the speed, leaving poor Goodbye Iowa to pick up the pieces. Reeling from Maggie trying to kill her, Buffy realises the Scoobies probably aren't so safe now and decides to take them into hiding in Xander's basement. Riley's not coping very well with the idea that his world is falling apart somewhat and looks to blame it on just about everyone else, including Buffy. When he goes a bit mad in Willy's Place (it's upmarket now, you see), she drags him back to Xander's and realises that the Initiative have been doing a little more to him than any of them realise. They confront Walsh's colleague, Angleman about the 314 project, dubbed Adam, who conveniently shows up and reveals himself to the world, explaining that he's not the only experiment in the Initiative, but that Riley is too.

As with last week's mythology-full, but truncated episode, Goodbye Iowa has a huge amount going on in it (to the point where I even considered running the lengthy plot summary gag from last week again - there is that much). And like its immediate predecessor, it's trying to do too much from the word go. The two main thematic threads, Riley's world falling apart and Adam's Frankenstein's monster-like discovery of the world, that they could have easily had an episode each, but the parallels between the two were clearly too juicy to not place together. Riley, so certain in his black and white cornfed view of the world is forced to learn things anew, just as Adam is doing with his newfound life.

The Frankenstein connections have been obvious since Adam was revealed and boy does this episode run with them. Playing out like a loving reference to the original tale and Whale's adaptation, Adam wanders around Sunnydale, killing children and generally causing a bit of damage whilst he tries to learn more about the world. The creator/creation relationship that should be explored here, as with Shelley's novel, ended with Maggie on the end of a skewer so there's not much depth to Adam as a villain other than he's seemingly invincinble, but hey, Buffy blew up a giant snake at the end of last season so I'm sure they'll find a way, guys.

Similarly, Riley finds out that Maggie has been doctoring him, turning him into another of her maternal creations. But Maggie's gone and thus, no real catharsis for Riley's character can be reached by having him confront her. Not to mention that emotional fallout of that doesn't really land, mostly because the series hasn't really given us any reason to root for Riley other than him being Buffy's beau (how refreshing for this to happen to a male character though, am I right?!). 

The thing is though, despite the episode packing so much into its runtime, I run out of things to say about it pretty quickly. Long-time readers of this rewatch will know this is rarely a case with a Buffy episode, but everything is operating on a really surface level interpretation of the themes its examining. Even Willow's burgeoning relationship is little more than euphemism at this stage, though it is fun to spot all of those nods to their romance that my little 12 year old mind innocently skipped over before. 

I always maintain that the Initiative was probably a better idea on paper than what happened when it was translated to the screen. There's all sorts of potentially interesting things going on here thematically (primal vs technology, Slayer vs humans, birth vs artificial creation) that never really go anywhere, even in the final stages of the season. With the potential of those ideas and the soaring high points of the season so far (and to come), the show has never felt more frustrating. Thankfully though, Whedon returns to a lot of these themes in The Cabin in the Woods which we can all agree is awesome.

I might just go and watch that instead.

Quote of the Week:

Buffy: I'm going to the crime scene to see what I can find out. You guys research the Polgara demon. I want to know where it is. When I find it, I'm going to make it pay for taking that kid's life. I'll make him die in ways he can't even imagine... That probably would've sounded more commanding if I wasn't wearing my Yummy Sushi pyjamas...

Inventive Kill: Adam meets an innocent little boy. And kills him. Adam sucks.

Sunnydale Who's Who: This is the last episode in which we see Buffy's weaselly informant, Willy the Snitch. He's mentioned later on in the series so we know he lives to weasel another day.

- Becky

You can find Becky's look at previous episode, The I in Team, here.

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FEATURE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The I in Team

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy's big secret is out and she's now working with the Initiative of which Riley is a part, as is Psychology professor Maggie Walsh. She's involved in something called 314 which has got the demon world a'rumbling. Elsewhere, Spike has discovered he can hit demons whilst Willow is embarking on a new friendship with fellow witch, Tara.

Right. Deep breath. 

Buffy has been spending a lot of time with the Initiative, training and basically beating them to a pulp within 28 seconds. Maggie Walsh is impressed, Riley's in love and the Scoobies are disappointed, especially Willow who feels disconnected from her best friend. Behind the door of 314, we find that Walsh is working on an impressive Frankendemon's monster, composed of tech and demon body parts. When Buffy starts asking a few too many questions about what's going on in the tin foil set below the ground, Walsh concludes she's a bit too dangerous and decides to have her killed off. There's also this weird bit where she watches Riley and Buffy have sex, thus sparking all kinds of odd Oedipal associations that the episode doesn't really need.

But wait, I'm not done with this plot summary - it continues! During one of their patrols, an Initiative team, led by Riley pals Graham and Forest, run across Spike. They fail to capture him, but do manage to shoot him with a tracer. Having recently spurned Giles' friendship following the demon incident, Spike is forced to return to the Scoobies for help and they flush the tracer down the loo. As part of Walsh's cunning plan to rid herself of the Buffster, she sends her down to the sewers, chasing two escaped demons, falsely described as pushovers and has her take a prototype combat camera. Rookie mistake! 

I'm still not done. Riley returns to the Initiative tin foil base under the ground to report a lack of Hostile 17 only to be confronted with a falsely tearful Maggie Walsh saying that Buffy has been killed. But what's this? Buffy's alive! And she's the conveniently placed combat cam to relay a message to Walsh stating that now you've pissed off a Slayer and that's a bad thing yada yada yada. Riley's angry and walks away to go be nice to Buffy. Walsh is all upset with that Oedipal thing, yelling after Riley and generally losing her cool a bit. Then she goes into 314 and gets skewered by the now awakened Frankendemon's monster, Adam. 

And breathe.

The big problem with this episode is, if you hadn't guessed from the above plot summary and my textual hypventilation, is that there is way too much going on. The season has mostly focused on individual episodes with a little ongoing arc thrown in, but The I in Team is all arc, all the time to get the season to the point where it needed to be and the Initiative acting as the enemies once again. As a consequence, everything is too rushed for the impact these things should have had to land properly and by the time Riley's dramatically storming away, we still don't really care that he is.

It does form a quasi-two parter with the next episode, Goodbye Iowa, but we needed even more threaded in. Buffy working with the Initiative, much like her relationship with Parker, is over in about five minutes, but the show wants it to have more of a consequence than the allotted screentime deserves. For it to truly work, we'd need Buffy working well within the Initiative as a reworked status quo, further fracturing her away from her gang and for a more permanent damage to be done.

However, there are some positives to take away from it, mainly in the clever way the title is used to explore the ongoing fracturing working throughout the series. Mostly, it has been on the Scoobies' inability to adapt to having more separate lives since the end of high school. Willow's feeling it particularly keenly, but Giles, Buffy and Xander have all had their own time in the isolation spotlight too. They're all working as that "I" in the team, operating individually unless forced by circumstances beyond their control to work together, but even then, it's often been as a split force.

The Scooby Gang aren't the only team fracturing under the pressure of Buffy and the Initiative. We've had grumblings from Forest before about the importance that Buffy has in Riley's life over his own as a best friend, but that's crossing into the professional line too when Riley picks his girlfriend as his number two and not Forest. Likewise, Walsh's individual ambitions are responsible for Riley breaking off from his work and disobeying a direct order for what appears to be the first time in his life.

So, much like Hush, it's a big episode, both on an individual basis and for the longer, ongoing arcs but, unlike Hush, it's not very good at doing it. The earlier episode also had the great narrative hook of taking place mostly in silence, but even had you replaced all the dialogue, the episode is excellent at spinning the complex plates that the writers have in the air at that point in the season. In The I in Team, it feels like they suddenly realised they needed to start wrapping the season up, but a bunch of stuff needed to happen in order for them to do that. 

As a consequence, those plates spin off all over the place, whirling way too fast for us to really catch them as an audience (I started well with that allegory and promptly lost it by the end - I'm sure you all know me well enough by now to know what I mean).

Quote of the Week:

Buffy: You said it was big. You told me... but you never said it was huge!
Riley: I don't like to brag.
[They're talking about the Initiative tin foil base underground. Minds out of the gutter, guys.]

Inventive Kill: Adam uses the arm skewers, recently taken from the Polgara demons that Buffy helped to capture, to mercilessly murder Maggie Walsh.

Demonology 101: The episode marks the first appearance of Adam, who goes on to be the season's Big Bad. And we all thought it was gonna be our Maggie.

- Becky

You can read Becky's look at previous episode, A New Man, here.

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