Then comes the inevitable moment when you find out that not only have they done some pretty stupid things in their life and that if they don’t have the answers for their own lives they’re certainly not going to have them for you. And these are the people running the world!
Buffy’s momentary disillusionment with Giles, his shame over what he’s done, and his remorse over the sense he’s been lessened in Buffy’s eyes, is a scenario that plays out in real life on a daily basis. The ramifications of such a fall from grace can range from mild recrimination to a permanent rift. But usually people accept such revelations first with disappointment, followed by a period of awkwardness, then, finally, reluctant acceptance of the fact that even those we look up to most, can be just as unsure and imperfect as we are.
BLOOPERS: It’s amazing Cordelia was able to tell the others that the police were talking to Giles about a homicide, since that fact was never mentioned in Cordelia’s presence. She entered the library after Detective Winslow told Giles about the death.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: We now know Giles is forty-one. He has said several times he’s known Ethan for twenty years, and told the police he knew the dead guy twenty years ago. Confessing his past to Buffy, he told her he was twenty-one when he encountered Eyghon.
21. “What’s My Line? (Part I)”
(NOVEMBER 17, 1997)
Director: David Solomon
Teleplay: Howard Gordon and Marti Noxon
Recurring cast: Seth Green (Oz); Juliet Landau (Drusilla); James Marsters (Spike); Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder)
Guest cast: Kelly Connell (Norman Pfister); Saverio Guerra (Willy); Bianca Lawson (Kendra); Eric Saiet (Dalton);
Plot: Tired of Buffy’s meddling, Spike contacts a sect of bounty hunters to kill her once and for all. But in addition to the Slayer hit men, there’s also a new girl in town, who claims that she, too, is a Slayer.
THIS WEEK’S EVIL CLAN: Three members of the Order of Taraka, a group of human and nonhuman bounty hunters who continue to send members until their quarry is dead. Apparently these killers are so fearsome, even vampires fear them.
INTRODUCING: Kendra, the other vampire Slayer.
Oz finally gets introduced to his “mystery girl” when they are the only two students at Sunnydale High interviewed by the world’s largest software company as part of Career Week.
ANALYSIS: For the most part, Buffy’s angst over her lot in life, and the occasional broody or self-pitying anger it ignites, has fit in the given context in which it was displayed. However, in this episode, it seems as if the petulance is being forced, which results in Buffy coming across as if in the throes of a particularly bad case of PMS. “Moody and broody” is more in keeping with Buffy’s character as developed than bitchiness is, which is exactly why her ’tude in “When She Was Bad” (Episode 13) is so effective.
Using the plot point of the school’s Career Week as the reason for her churlish behavior seems incongruous, especially since, last we saw Buffy and Giles together, she was comforting him over his Eyghon experience. The unevenness of the characterization seems more related to direction than the actual written dialogue.
This episode features a Kodak “Beauty and the Beast” moment for star-crossed lovers Buffy and Angel. After he is injured helping stave off the first bounty hunter, Angel tells Buffy he’s uncomfortable having her touch him when he’s vamped out. She says she didn’t even notice, leading to a passionate Slayer-vampire kissfest.
Watching this intimate moment is a mystery girl, who later announces she’s Kendra the vampire Slayer and the stage is set for Buffy to have a full-blown identity crisis.
THE REAL HORROR: Realizing you’re not just paranoid—everybody really is out to get you. In Slayerdom, that means bounty hunters and terminal consequences; but in the heightened reality that is high school, with its insular social community, the effect can sometimes feel just as deadly. Like that numbing moment when you realize a former friend is spreading vicious stories about you—especially if they’re true—or when you fall out of favor with a certain clique and become the object of their contempt.
Adults can also readily empathize with Buffy’s feeling of isolation and persecution. Ex-spouses sometimes discover that once the marriage is over, people they had thought were friends, have taken sides in the breakup and turned against them. And in the back-stabbing corporate world, workers who steal credit for others’ work in hopes of leapfrogging past them on the promotion ladder are as plentiful as members of Sunnydale’s vampire community.
While the problem sometimes resolves itself, more often than not it requires confrontation, which is an entirely different horror.
IT’S A MYSTERY: How did Kendra know where Angel lives? And how was Willow able to stay out all night, if her parents are so strict that she’s not even allowed to have male friends in her bedroom?
BLOOPERS: When the door of the bus carrying one of the bounty hunters opens, the camera zooms in on the steps, which are initially white but then suddenly turn maroon as the bounty hunter’s foot comes into frame.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: Bianca Lawson, who plays Slayer number two, has co-starred on two series—Goode Behavior with Sherman Hemsley, and as Megan Jones on Saved by the Bell: The New Class.
22. “What’s My Line? (Part II)”
(NOVEMBER 24, 1997)
Director: David Semel
Teleplay: Marti Noxon
Recurring cast: Seth Green (Oz); Juliet Landau (Drusilla); James Marsters (Spike)
Guest cast: Kelly Connell (Norman Pfister); Saverio Guerra (Willy); Bianca Lawson (Kendra); Danny Strong (Jonathan, student held hostage by assassin)
Plot: Buffy must save herself from the Order of Taraka assassins, and save Angel from Spike, who is planning to kill Angel during a ceremony that will give back Drusilla her strength. Complicating matters is the second Slayer, who goes strictly by the rules, which includes killing vampires, not saving—or dating—them.
THIS WEEK’S EVIL CEREMONY: An ailing vampire can be restored to health by performing the ritual the night of the first moon which requires killing the sick vamp’s sire.
INTRODUCING: Xander and Cordelia’s first kiss; Willow’s and Giles’s first kills; Drusilla’s first moment back at full vampire strength; the Slayer’s Handbook.
ANALYSIS: This episode took a giant leap in character development, beginning with Buffy’s new appreciation for her role as the Slayer. Ever since she arrived in Sunnydale, Buffy has moaned and groaned how being a Slayer has put a crimp in her other life. But when the prospect of not being the Slayer arises, Buffy suddenly realizes it’s not a job she can just walk away from—it’s part of who she is, for better or worse.
Kendra, the Slayer-in-waiting, makes Buffy realize that her calling is an honor, not a sentence of drudgery. Compared to Kendra—who was given up by her parents as a young child so she could train full-time to be a Slayer, without the distractions of family or school—Buffy has a well-rounded life. Through Kendra’s eyes, Buffy finally sees the glass as half full: She’s got devoted friends who offer her companionship and support—and who have saved her life on many occasions.
While Kendra and Buffy were coming to terms, Xander and Cordelia were going through some changes of their own. After a close encounter of the “yuck” kind with a gruesome grub monster, Cordy and Xander’s customary bickering leads to an unexpected but very passionate kiss. Believing they were just carried away by the stress and terror of the moment, they sweep the incident aside—although it’s apparent this love connection will be continued in future episodes.
During the final confrontation in the church with Spike and the assassins, the killing isn’t left only to Buffy this time. Although Xander accidentally killed a vampire in the past (his friend Jesse in the second half of Episode 1, “Welcome to the Hellmouth”), most of the killing has been at the hands of Buffy. But in the church, Xander, Cordelia, Giles, and Willow all participate in the Slayage.
THE REAL HORROR: Being replaced. Nobody lik
es feeling dispensable. For adults, the most glaring example is in the workplace, where employees who suddenly lose their jobs often fall into deep depressions spurred by feelings of worthlessness.
In high school, emotions are much more fragile and the slightest slight can result in a traumatic crisis. Kids who suddenly fall out of a group’s favor slink around, social pariahs, their confidence and self-worth dramatically shaken. And nearly everybody has experienced the nauseating pain of being dumped by a boyfriend or girlfriend in favor of someone else. When we are replaced, whether it be in a job, as a friend, as a lover, or even as teacher’s pet, the message is clear: We don’t matter enough; we’re not worth the care.
In Buffy’s case, the prospect of being replaced as the Slayer goes to her fundamental, care being. It’s not just what she does, it’s a integral part of what makes her Buffy. Without that center, her purpose and direction in life would suddenly be uprooted.
IT’S A MYSTERY: How did Kendra’s parents know their daughter was a Slayer-in-waiting? Are there other Slayer schools elsewhere in the world? And why did Kendra’s accent, presumed to be Caribbean, occasionally sound Irish?
BLOOPERS: Early in the episode, Spike talks about how the ceremony has to take place the night of the full moon. But later Giles says the ceremony takes places on the night of the new moon. A new moon and full moon are not the same thing—and happen on different days of the month.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: Buffy’s crack to Kendra about making sure not to watch the in-air movie if it stars Chevy Chase is amusing, considering Sarah made a brief appearance in Chase’s dreadful 1988 film Funny Farm, playing one of many students in a classroom.
23. “Ted”
(DECEMBER 8, 1997)
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Teleplay: David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon
Recurring cast: Robia La Morte (Jenny Calendar); Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)
Guest cast: Jeff Langton (vampire #2); Jeff Pruitt (vampire #1); James G. MacDonald (Detective Stein) John Ritter (Ted Buchanan) Ken Thorley (Neal)
Plot: Buffy’s mother has a new beau, Ted. Although to everyone else he’s Mr. Wonderful, Buffy’s Slayer sense tells her there’s something very wrong about Ted—but nobody will believe her. So when an altercation with Ted leads to tragedy, Buffy becomes an outcast even among her family and friends.
THIS WEEK’S ANTAGONIST: The perfect man. He’s a gourmet cook, he washes dishes, he’s attentive, he’s romantic, he’s gainfully employed, he’s committed … In other words, he’s just way too good to be true. And because he’s everything to everyone, he’s a far more insidious adversary than any of the monsters or undead creatures Buffy has previously encountered.
INTRODUCING: Joyce Summers as a sexual being. Up until now, Buffy’s mom has been presented as a harried, mostly absent single parent whose chief function is to remind Buffy that if she screws up in Sunnydale, there won’t be another chance. But with the introduction of a love interest, Joyce’s character becomes more complex as she is torn between the desire for a relationship with Ted, and love and loyalty to her daughter.
ANALYSIS: Although they don’t realize it, Joyce and Buffy have a lot more in common than is first apparent. Both of them are lonely and yearn for romance in their life. Buffy doesn’t think she’ll ever get it because of her life as the Slayer, and because the only guy she’s interested in happens to be a vampire. Joyce worries that she may never experience love again because of age, work obligations, and being a single parent.
The final scene between Buffy and her mom reveals a new understanding between them, as if Joyce suddenly sees her daughter as an insightful person whose intuition shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed. And Buffy appreciates the fact that her mother is also a woman who can make bad decisions out of a desire to have some romance in her life—something Buffy can relate to.
The rekindling of the romance between Giles and Jenny is a nice counterpoint to Joyce’s bad choice in androids. Unlike the perfect Ted, Giles often falls short, but it’s his genuineness that ultimately brings Ms. Calendar back around.
THE REAL HORROR: The prospect of stepparents. Even in the most stable households, family dynamics are a tricky and fragile thing. But when a single parent introduces a new person into the equation in the form of a lover or spouse, it can turn into an explosive situation as everybody tries to figure out the new parameters such an arrangement brings.
In Buffy’s case, it’s not just that the unspoken desire to see her parents back together is made less likely by the appearance of her mother’s new boyfriend; it’s that the whole hierarchy of her home life is being turned upside down. Instead of being answerable to just her mother and father, she’s being put in the position of having to be accountable to a virtual stranger. It’s an invasion and a threat. By usurping Joyce’s parental authority, Ted is also creating a wedge between mother and daughter as part of a divide-and-conquer strategy.
While younger children may adjust more easily to a new authority figure in the house, teenagers, who are in the midst of striving for independence as it is, are more likely to resist a situation where they suddenly have one more person telling them what to do. Their predicament is often made worse by the natural parent being reluctant to cause any tension in the new relationship, just as Joyce defers to Ted when it comes to Buffy.
The episode also touches, very lightly, on the reality of abuse by stepparents or live-in lovers. Again, out of a desire not to lose the relationship, some parents—especially women who need the financial support of their partners—may turn a blind eye to physical or emotional abuse against their children, rationalizing it as “discipline.” However, in Buffy’s case, she was able to turn the tables on Ted, and turn him into a pile of short-circuitry.
IT’S A MYSTERY: When did Sunnydale build a miniature golf course? During Season Two’s first episode, “When She Was Bad” (Episode 13), Willow comments that there’s not even a miniature golf course in town.
BLOOPERS: During the first confrontation in Buffy’s bedroom with Ted, after she smacks him back, her diary is laying on the floor in the middle of the doorway in one shot, but disappears in the next.
OF SPECIAL NOTE: After Buffy first meets Ted, she vents her anger on the next vampire she encounters in the cemetery by beating him senseless before staking him. This vampire was played by Jeff Pruitt, who suffered an injured hand after Sarah whacked him with the lid the of the garbage can.
24. “Bad Eggs”
(JANUARY 12, 1998)
Director: David Greenwalt
Teleplay: Marti Noxon
Recurring cast: Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Jonathan (Danny Strong)
Guest cast: Brie McCaddin (girl at mall); James Parks (Tector Gorch); Jeremy Ratchford (Lyle Gorch); Eric Whitmore (school security guy); Rick Zieff (Mr. Whitmore)
Plot: As if it’s not bad enough that there’s two new cowboy vampires in town, Buffy has to play single mother to an egg as part of an class assignment on responsibility. But when the eggs turn out to be from a Hellmouth creature, Buffy suddenly finds herself facing an opponent even scarier than vampires—and a lot more gross.
THIS WEEK’S ADVERSARIES: In addition to the Gorch brothers, Lyle and Tector, two low-rent cowboy vampires who were into massacring Mexican villagers even before they were undead, the Hellmouth has belched up the bazor, a prehistoric demon parasite that uses its larva to possess its human host.
INTRODUCING: The brighter side of Angel. Compared to his somber mood of the past, Angel is positively giddy in this episode. Ah, young love … relatively speaking. The only moment Angel turns somber is when the topic of Buffy one day wanting children is brought up. But other than that, he’s like a 241-year-old teenager in love.
ANALYSIS: “Bad Eggs” is mostly a poor man’s homage to the classic science-fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In that film, a man discovers that something from inside what looks like giant pea pods is taking over people’s bodies and minds. The possessed perso
n becomes devoid of emotion and follows the command of an unseen force.
This episode is merely a Hellmouth version of the same story, but has a much happier ending than any of the film versions. In those films, it appears there’s no way to stop the loss of our humanity, whereas in this episode Buffy manages to kill the bazor and restore everyone’s personalities and selves.
In a way, this episode may have been much stronger had it concentrated on the loss-of-self aspect, with those closest to Buffy turning into deadly strangers, rather than diluting it with the rather weak story line involving the Gorches, who appeared to be there mostly for comic relief. For a series that has horror at its core, neither element was developed for enough to generate any real sense of threat or danger and all the characters seemed to be merely going through the motions.
THE REAL HORROR: Responsibility, and all it entails. The irony of Buffy being saddled with an egg-baby is that she’s already assuming the ultimate responsibility for keeping the world safe from vampires, specifically, and evil in general. However, the eggs are used as a metaphor for all the types of responsibilities teenagers must assume as they make the transition into adults. For Buffy, it means juggling her mother’s expectations with her secret life as the Slayer, as well as not completely losing her head over Angel.
IT’S A MYSTERY: When Buffy and Angel are talking about children, he tells her he can’t have kids. She responds by noting there are probably lots of things a vampire can’t do. However, as noted previously in this book (see Chapter 3), according to vampire mythology, vampires can indeed have children. The offspring of a vampire and a human is called a dhampir. Traditionally, the father is a vampire and the mother human and the child is usually male. So either the writer made a glaring vampire-lore error, or it was intended to mean that Angel in particular can’t have children, or that he doesn’t think he can. He finds out later he can, after he sires a child with Darla on the spin-off series Angel.
The Girl's Got Bite: The Original Unauthorized Guide to Buffy's World Page 19