The Girl's Got Bite: The Original Unauthorized Guide to Buffy's World

by Kathleen Tracy

  Finally, Ampata sneaks up on Giles and grabs the seal before he’s had a chance to glue the last piece of the seal back. But in the next shot, as Ampata raises the seal then throws it to the ground, it’s quite clearly in one whole piece.

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: Seth Green, who plays the recurring character Oz, has been acting since he was ten years old. Green’s highest-profile role, to date, is as Scott Evil, the son of Austin Powers’ nemesis, Dr. Evil. By the way, Seth Green is not related to director Bruce Seth Green.

  The band that Oz and Devon belong to—Dingoes Ate My Baby—is fictional. The music they play is actually by the group Four Star Mary.

  Xander apparently got his license over the summer because, for the first time, he offers to drive the gang to the Bronze.

  17. “Reptile Boy”

  (OCTOBER 13, 1997)

  Director: David Greenwalt

  Teleplay: David Greenwalt

  Recurring cast: David Boreanaz (Angel)

  Guest cast: Todd Babcock (Tom); Greg Vaughan (Richard); Jordana Spiro (Callie)

  Music: “Bring Me On,” by Act of Faith; “She,” by Louie Says

  Plot: Angry that Giles has become a relentless taskmaster, and hurt over Angel’s reluctance to give in to his feelings for her, Buffy rebels by going to a fraternity party with Cordelia. But her attempt at retaliation backfires when she and Cordelia are drugged so they can be sacrificed to a reptile-like demon.

  THIS WEEK’S RITUAL: For fifty years, a demon-worshiping fraternity annually sacrifices three girls, on the tenth day of the tenth month, to a lizard-skinned creature—in exchange for power, wealth, and professional success.

  INTRODUCING: “Cordy.” In the first season, Cordelia was only ever referred to as “Cordelia,” but in the second season she has picked up the diminutive “Cordy,” which serves two purposes: The first is to give her character more familiarity, and the other is to show her acceptance by and for Buffy and the gang. Although she is still fighting it, Cordelia now shares a bond with them, and in her own way has come to recognize their value as people and—though not exactly as friends—at least as partners in horror.

  ANALYSIS: In the past, Buffy has pouted. She’s been snappish and moody and whiny about having to go trolling for vampires instead of going out with her friends, and she’s had irrational temper tantrums as a result of the post-traumatic stress of her up-close and personal encounter with the Master. But she’s never pulled a bona-fide teenage rebellion before. Her insubordination provides the catalyst for growth in her relationship with Giles. The scene in which Buffy admits her deception to Giles emphasizes how their relationship has taken on a parent-child aspect: her unhappiness at disappointing him, and his admission that he pushes her because, in essence, she’s so important to him and he dreads the thought of something happening to her. The episode ends with Giles protectively holding her arm as they walk up the stairs from the frat-house dungeon/basement—one of the first times they make any sustained physical contact that isn’t fight-related.

  “Reptile Boy” also unveils the evolution of Angel’s character. When he joins forces with Giles, Willow, and Xander to save Buffy, Angel’s full acceptance by the others is confirmed. But he’s still keeping his emotional distance. When Buffy finally confronts him about it, he tells her he’s afraid to lose control. Her line about wanting to die when he kisses her has been interpreted to mean: (1) she wants to die from ecstasy; (2) she wants to die from sadness, knowing they can’t ever be together; (3) she wants to literally die and join him as his eternal mate; or (4) a combination of all of the above. Whatever the correct answer, the bottom line is, she’s got it bad and that ain’t good.

  THE REAL HORROR: Getting caught in a really big lie. There are few things more mortifying than having a carefully crafted lie blow up in your face. There is nowhere to hide, and anything you say just makes matters worse, because it is indefensible. Most teenagers lie to go somewhere, see someone, or do something they know—because it’s either dangerous, or has been, or would be—is forbidden. So, when caught, the crime isn’t just the lie, but the irresponsibility of putting oneself in an unwarranted situation. In the real world, that might end with a girl being drugged and getting date-raped. But in Sunnydale, the consequences can be decidedly more fatal.

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: Greg Vaughan, who plays creepy frat-boy Richard, co-starred with Charisma Carpenter on the series Malibu Shores, as her romantic interest on the show.

  18. “Halloween”

  (OCTOBER 28, 1997)

  Director: Bruce Seth Green

  Teleplay: Carl Ellsworth

  Recurring cast: Seth Green (Oz); Juliet Landau (Drusilla); James Marsters (Spike)

  Guest cast: Robin Sachs (Ethan Rayne); Larry (Larry Bagby III)

  Music: “Shy,” by Epperley; “How She Died,” Treble Charger

  Plot: Halloween takes a terrifying new twist when make-believe becomes reality. This is particularly bad news for Buffy, who is suddenly a defenseless eighteenth-century noblewoman: an opportunistic event not lost on Spike, who sets out to kill the powerless—not to mention clueless—Slayer.

  THIS WEEK’S SPELL: A black-magic incantation made to the spirit of Janus turns everyone into the real-life incarnation of their Halloween costume. Janus is the two-faced Roman deity that represents opposites such as good and evil.

  INTRODUCING: Ethan Rayne, a shopkeeper who shares a mysterious connection to Giles that dates back to his pre-Sunnydale days.

  ANALYSIS: This episode inventively incorporates a holiday into a story line that actually maintains the character and context of the series. When Ethan casts a spell through the two-faced deity Janus, he’s releasing the inner fantasies of those who bought costumes in his shop. Xander, who feels emasculated after Buffy saves him from being punched out by a bully, dresses up as a commando. Buffy, on the other hand, dreams of being someone whose biggest worries are cosmetic and not supernatural, so she pretends to be a noblewoman from the 1700s.

  Buffy’s tendency to use brute force over diplomacy is highlighted when she smashes Larry, the bully bothering Xander, into the soda machine. Buffy tends not to be conflicted about the use of force; in fact it’s become second nature to her, which is good when patrolling for vampires in the dead of night, but not always appropriate for social situations.

  The biggest surprise of the episode comes courtesy of the “B” story line, when Giles confronts Ethan and it’s revealed they know each other from the past. The final shot of Giles in the now-empty costume shop, reading a note left by Ethan that indicates he’ll be back, is the precursor for a future revelation about Giles’s past.

  THE REAL HORROR: Getting what you wish for. It’s better to play the hand you’re dealt, because along with granted wishes usually come unexpected consequences. Beyond that, it’s depressing to discover that living out a situation we’ve fantasized about for a long time seldom lives up to our expectations.

  For Buffy, the irony is that her wish—to be an eighteenth-century girl whose sole job is to be dainty and pretty—actually turns out to be a turnoff for Angel because that’s exactly the kind of girl Angel isn’t attracted to.

  BLOOPERS: When they are reading the Watcher’s diary, Willow mentions that the excerpt is from when Angel is eighteen years old. Since we know he is now 241, that means he was born in 1756. So he would have been eighteen in 1774. However, when she becomes the noblewoman, Buffy says the year is 1775. Since one must assume that in her fantasy she was the noblewoman from the diary, she’s off by a year—but who’s counting?

  And, if vampires can only enter a home when invited, why was a vampire able to sneak into Buffy’s house through the kitchen door?

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: Robin Sachs, who plays the up-to-no-good Ethan, is known to Babylon 5 fans for two separate roles—Hedron and Na’Kal. And who can forget his performance in the movie Vampire Circus?

  This episode set the stage for a future romantic liaison between Cordy and Xander. Creator Whedon admits that the idea of pairi
ng up Xander and Cordy as a Sunnydale “odd couple” had been discussed for this episode but, since the potential plot twist was leaked by TV Guide, it was delayed.

  19. “Lie to Me”

  (NOVEMBER 3, 1997)

  Director: Joss Whedon

  Teleplay: Joss Whedon

  Recurring cast: Robia La Morte (Jenny Calendar); Juliet Landau (Drusilla); James Marsters (Spike)

  Guest cast: Jason Behr (Billy “Ford” Fordham); Julia Lee (Chantarelle); Jarrad Paul (Marvin); Will Rothhaar (James)

  Plot: A onetime classmate—and object of Buffy’s fifth-grade desire—shows up unexpectedly in Sunnydale. But it turns out his visit is neither social nor neighborly. Instead he’s in town to trade Buffy’s life for vampirish immortality.

  THIS WEEK’S ANTAGONIST: The past. Buffy lets her affection for an old school crush blind her to his sinister motives. And one of Angel’s cruelest deeds is finally coming back to haunt him—and puts Buffy at risk.

  INTRODUCING: The darkest side of Angel’s dark days as a vampire. It turns out that Angel isn’t only personally acquainted with Spike, but he also has a history with the childlike Drusilla. Well, “childlike” if it’s the child from The Bad Seed.

  ANALYSIS: Everybody seems to be having trust issues in this episode. When Billy “Ford” Fordham shows up unexpectedly in Sunnydale, Xander finds someone else to be threatened by, while Angel instinctively doesn’t trust him. Of course Buffy is too busy catching up with her old friend Ford, and using him to make Angel jealous, to notice something isn’t quite right.

  When Buffy discovers Ford’s murderous motives, her moral indignation is briefly tempered by his reason for doing it: Rather than die an excruciating death from brain cancer, he would rather sell his soul and stay alive. But Ford still brings Buffy up short. Up until the moment Ford told her he was dying, she had gone around killing vampires without a moment of internal conflict. But Ford is no demon—at least not yet. He is scared and angry and desperate; not too dissimilar from Buffy when she thought she was going to die at the hands of the Master. Even though she’s right that we always have a choice, sometimes both options suck.

  The final scene between Buffy and Giles—where he tells her that life only ever gets more complicated and less uncertain—establishes that the Watcher is now as much a confidant as he is Slayer coach. He’s the one adult Buffy can turn to for guidance, a role her parents simply can’t fill.

  THE REAL HORROR: Discovery of the gray zone. At some point we are all introduced to the reality that most of life plays itself out in shades of gray, and not absolutes, and that situations don’t always have a happy ending. Children who grow up in poverty or in deteriorating inner cities tend to lose their innocence at such a tender age, that permanent hopelessness settles into the gaping void left by premature disillusionment. But for others, the jolting realization that life is a lot more complex and ambiguous than was previously thought, usually occurs during the teen years.

  Teenagers tend to think that once they become adults, most of the troubles they face will automatically be solved. The law says adults can drive, drink, smoke, have sex, stay out all night, wear what they want, eat what they want—all without parental permission. But what never seems to be explained, or perhaps understood, is that passing through childhood into adulthood simply means exchanging one set of problems and obstacles for another, and the adult version is a much harder game to play. While there’s nobody telling us what to do, there’s also nobody to really fall back on. We’re stuck with the consequences of our own choices, which are made all the harder because—the more life we experience, the more we realize that right and wrong, honestly and deceit, moral certitude and ambivalence, love and infidelity, good and evil, can co-exist and often do—it all comes down to a matter of degree.

  Charting our individual moral grounds, and establishing our requirements of others, is part of life. But the disturbing part is knowing that no choice comes with a guarantee that what we’re doing is absolutely the right thing.

  BLOOPERS: When Buffy is fighting the vampire in the alley, the length of her hair changes noticeably from one shot to the next. Perhaps this isn’t exactly a blooper, but it wasn’t fine filmmaking, either. While it’s a given that Buffy possesses supernatural physical agility and strength, she’s never been able to defy gravity before so noticeably. At the Sunset Club, as the vampires are beginning their feast, Buffy jumps from the ground floor to the balcony like a chop-socky Michael Jordan. The feat is so implausible, and the wire-work so obvious, that it detracts from the drama of the moment.

  * * *

  LESSER-KNOWN EVIL CREATURES

  When you live on a Hellmouth, all sorts of uninvited guests tend to pop into town. Below are some of the less commonly known monsters who may show up someday in Sunnydale.

  An Alp is a German demon that can take the form of cats, dogs, birds, and even pigs. Whatever its appearance, it always wears a hat and drinks blood from a person’s nipples.

  Ashtaroth is usually depicted as an ugly demon riding a dragon and carrying a viper in his left hand. In addition to being the treasurer of Hell, he was also the Grand Duke of its western regions. He encouraged sloth and idleness.

  Asmodeus kept very busy as the demon of lust. He has three heads—a bull’s, a ram’s, and a man’s. Not coincidentally, these three creatures were considered to be the most sexually lecherous creatures in the animal kingdom. Using the same line of thinking, he had the feet of a rooster.

  A bajang takes the appearance of a cat and threatens children. However, a bajang can be captured and turned into a demon-servant and kept in the family for generation after generation.

  The Baobhan Sith is an evil Scottish fairy, who appears as a beautiful woman and dances with men until they are totally exhausted, and then eats them.

  Beelzebub is one of the powerful seraphim—the highest order of angels—first recruited by Satan. Once he switched sides, his specialty was tempting people with pride. He became associated with flies because he sent a plague of them to Canaan.

  Belial is the demon of lies and is also immortalized in Milton’s Paradise Lost.

  Bruxsas are Portuguese demons that have characteristics of both a vampire and a werewolf.

  Cambions are the offspring of incubi and succubi.

  An incubus is the male version of a succubus.

  Mephistopheles is famous as the demon summoned by Faust, who wanted to be granted immense power. Mephistopheles fulfilled all of Faust’s desires on the condition that at some point, Faust would owe him one. When payback time came, all that was left of Faust was his torn and bloodied corpse, his soul having gone to Mephistopheles in Hell.

  A rakshasa is an Indian vampire, which appears human with animal features, usually those of a tiger. In addition to drinking the blood of their victims, they also eat the flesh.

  Strigoiuls are a kind of vampire that likes to hunt in groups.

  Succubi are interesting vampirelike creatures. Female, the succubus usually subsists by having sex with the victim until he’s exhausted, then feeding on the energy released during the erotic encounter. They can enter homes uninvited and can take on the appearance of other persons. And they will often visit the same victim repeatedly with the victim experiencing the visits as dreams, like an alien abduction.

  * * *

  OF SPECIAL NOTE: Juliet Landau, who plays Drusilla, is the daughter of Mission Impossible star Martin Landau, who won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi, the original Dracula, in Tim Burton’s film, Ed Wood.

  The actor portraying Dracula in the movie playing at the Sunset Club is Jack Palance, who would go on to win an Oscar for City Slickers.

  20. “The Dark Age”

  (NOVEMBER 10, 1997)

  Director: Bruce Seth Green

  Teleplay: Dean Batali and Rob Des Hotel

  Recurring cast: Robia La Morte (Jenny Calendar)

  Guest cast: Carlease Burke (Detective Winslow); Stuart McLean (Philip Henry); Robin Sachs (Ethan Rayne);
Wendy Way (Dierdre)

  Plot: As a rebellious youth in London, Giles and a group of friends dabbled in black magic. Now their old demon playmate is in Sunnydale looking to kill the last two survivors of the group—and is using Ms. Calendar’s body to do it.

  THIS WEEK’S DEMON: Eyghon—a demon of Estruscan origin, it is also called “the sleepwalker” because it can only exist on Earth by possessing someone who is unconscious or dead.

  INTRODUCING: Giles’s demons—inner and outer.

  ANALYSIS: Up to now, the only inner demons Buffy has fought have been her own. But in order to defeat Eyghon, she also has to battle Giles’s guilt and self-recrimination over bringing the demon into Earth’s realm, through his experimentation with black magic twenty years earlier.

  Their conversation at the end brings a momentary role reversal—Buffy acting as Giles’s confidante and offering understanding solace, while Giles bares his soul and acknowledges his regret over not being able to live up to Buffy’s expectations. Of all the consequences of Giles’s youthful stupidity—his friends’ deaths; Ms. Calendar being possessed by a pointy-eared demon; Ethan endowing Buffy with the lethal mark of Eyghon and the complete trashing of his apartment—the thing that seems to weigh on him most heavily is the overall sense of letting Buffy down, both as a Watcher and in a parental sense.

  Buffy, however, has learned a few lessons of her own. She hasn’t always made the best choices, or been the standard-bearer of model behavior, and in the process has put those closest to her at mortal risk. But just as Xander and Willow forgave her at the end of “When She Was Bad” (Episode 13), tacitly letting her know that real friends allow room for error, Buffy reassures Giles that the lowering of his pedestal a notch has actually strengthened their bond and made her feel that much closer to him.

  THE REAL HORROR: Realizing adults don’t have a clue, either. When you’re little, the adults you hold in the greatest esteem seem to have all the answers. And if there’s something they don’t know—like how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly—they can go look up the answer in a book.