Buffy the Vampire Slayer: When She Was Bad (2x01)

[fajrdrako]

Seems like a long time since I watched this episode, but it was only Tuesday. It's been a busy week.

Now, I liked this one, but didn't find it as memorable or gripping as "Prophecy Girl". Still: the show had a lot more of a smooth flow and comfortable pacing than even a few episodes ago in season 1.

1. The opening scene with Xander, Willow and the ice cream cone was really nice. So Buffy's been away with her Dad, Willow and Xander have been bored, and they're playing guess-the-movie-quote. They're better at it than I am. I'm much better at guess-the-Dunnett-quote.

2. Xander re Buffy: "Please, I'm so over her. Did she, uh, mention when she might be
gettin' back? About which I do not care." So unconvincing.

3. So Xander does the ice-cream-on-the-nose scene from "Witness", which just happens to be one of my favourite movies ever. The scene also reminds me of the paint-on-the-nose scene in the Highlander episode "Chivalry", in which Duncan MacLeod does it to Methos. My favourite Highlander episode. This moment has good resonances for me.

4. Doesn't work out so well for Willow, though. Buffy turns up, with a vampire in tow. So much for the romantic interlude.

5. Buffy: "Hi guys. Miss me?" Again like Captain Jack Harkness in "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" - "Hi, kids, ya miss me?" Captain Jack watches the right sort of television. Obviously. How else would he know his cultural references?

6. Xander: Well, it's been a slow summer. I mean, that's the first vampire we've seen since you killed the Master.
Buffy: It's like they knew I was coming back.

Did they? I found this a little... ambiguous, if not confusing. If the vampires knew when Buffy was coming back, wouldn't they have tried to have their fun earlier, while she was away? While the cat's away the mice will play? Or is Buffy just being paranoid, and it's coincidence? Or did it take this long for the vampires to reorganize themselves after their loss of the Master?

7. I liked this passage:

Buffy: So, how did you guys fare? Did you have any fun without me?
Xander: No.
Willow: Yes!

8. So Buffy was distant with her father. Is she depressed?

9. Cordelia didn't like Tuscany? Cordelia is nuts! Even if shopping is all you're into, the shopping in Florence is terrific.

10. Good Cordelia line, though: "No one has suffered like I have. Of course I think that that kind of adversity builds character. Well, then I thought, I already have a lot of character. Is it possible to have too much character?" There's some interestingly ironic extratextual nuances there.

11. Wonderful exchange:

Snyder: It's incredible. One day the campus is completely bare. Empty. The next, there are children everywhere. Like locusts. Crawling around, mindlessly bent on feeding and mating. Destroying everything in sight in their relentless, pointless desire to exist.
Giles: I do enjoy these pep talks.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Giles?

12. The overlap of Snyder's diatribe about adolescent hormones and Giles going all hormonal over Jenny Calendar is funny. Including his "Might as well be talking to myself" after Giles has gone. I wonder if Calendar is using magic on Giles. I don't much like them together but I like the last bit of conversation:

Jenny: You probably spent all summer with your nose in a book.
Giles: Yes. I suppose you'd consider that frightfully dull.
Jenny: Depends on the book.

13. Giles re the Hellmouth: "Well, it's, it's closed, but not gone. The mystical energy that emanates from it is still concentrated in this area." This reminds me of the sort of confusing double-message we get about the Rift in "Torchwood" - 'we closed it up but it's more unstable than ever' - right! Have it both ways, why don't you?

14. Xander puts it more clearly: "we're still the undead's favorite party town."

15. So Buffy is all sort of tense and crabby and still freaked by the Master. I guess she's earned her mood, but she's more fun when she's her normal self.

16. As vampires go, I like Absolom. He's worth twenty Masters and then some. Too bad the Anointed Kid is still around. Why doesn't someone get rid of him, and soon?

17. So Giles attacks Buffy, tries to kill her, and turns into the Master. Dream. Right. More nightmares. Buffy needs a shrink or pills or something. Is this PTSS?

18. Buffy is snarky to Angel. She really *is* in a bad mood. Get a grip, girl.

19. Buffy tells the others about Angel's visit.

Willow: Angel stopped by? Wow. Was there... Well, I mean, was it having to do with kissing?
Buffy: Willow, grow up. Not everything is about kissing.
Xander: Yeah. Some stuff's about groping.

I could be said to be starting to really like Xander.

20. Wonderful dialogue, especially Buffy's punchline:

Cordelia: Oh, look, it's the Three Musketeers.
Buffy: Was that an insult?
Xander: Kinda lacked punch.
Willow: The Three Musketeers were cool.
Cordelia: I see your point.
Xander: I woulda gone with Stooges.
Cordelia: Well, I just meant that you guys always hang out together. So, did you guys fight any demons this summer?
Willow: Uh, yes! Our own personal demons.
Xander: Uh, such as, as, as lust and, uh, thrift!
Buffy: I would have to go with Stooges also.

21. Buffy calls Cordelia a moron to her face. Not cool. As Willow says: "She's never been mean." And Buffy says to Angel: "Could you contemplate getting over yourself for a second?"

Now, the interesting thing there is that Buffy in her out-of-character crabby/depressed state is defining the 'real' Buffy by giving us a sort of 'mirror universe' Buffy. It's as if Joss is exploring the character by showing us what she isn't.

22. And frankly, she has every reason to be less than thrilled to see Angel. Under the circumstances. But... we also know that she cares, and she doesn't normally vent her frustrations on the innocent and the well-meaning.

23. So Cordelia gives Buffy advice on making friends and influencing people. Everything is the opposite of what it seems. It would be more interesting if it had more significance. "Buffy's in a really bad mood today" just doesn't seem like much of a plot.

24. The best line of the whole episode is Giles':

Snyder: There are some things I can just smell. It's like a sixth sense.
Giles: No, actually that would be one of the five.

Oh how I love Giles! And then he really comes through:

Snyder: That Summers girl. I smell trouble. I smell expulsion, and just the faintest aroma of jail.
Giles: Well, before you throw away the key, you might consider giving her the benefit of the doubt. She may surprise you.
Snyder: You really have faith in those kids, don't you?
Giles: Yes, I do.

25. I was hoping no one would ever, ever, ever even mention the Master again. And now they're messing with his bones. Groan. Vampires have no taste. They can't even tell a bad cliche from a good one. Can't they go find someone more interesting to dig up? No, that would be too much to ask.

26. Good Willow line:

Buffy: I can't do it anymore. I can't look after the three of you guys while I'm fighting.
Willow: Well, what about the rest of the note?
Buffy: What rest of the note?
Willow: The part that says, 'P.S. This is a trap'?

27. Buffy to Angel: "I don't trust you. You're a vampire. Oh, I'm sorry, was that an offensive term? Should I say 'undead American'?" Somehow that isn't as funny as it ought to be.

28. So Buffy challenges Angel to a fight and he turns her down. I was thinking: "Uh, guys, you already played that game. You couldn't hurt each other. Remember? Been there, done that already?" It just goes to show: anger makes you stupid. But we know that already, no revelation.

29. I really liked the scene of Buffy putting her cross in the vampire's mouth. Powerful.

30. I really do like Absalom. "For the old one. For his pain. For the dark." The Master made that kind of line sound silly. Absalom makes it sound cool and creepy.

31. The fight is dull but Xander gets a good line:

Giles: Where's Buffy?
Xander: She's working out her issues.

32. Finally Buffy smashes up the Master's bones and cries. And Angel holds her. Very romantic. That *almost* made the story worthwhile.

33. Cute Giles-Buffy dialogue:

Giles: Punishing yourself like this is pointless.
Buffy: It's entirely pointy. [That is totally a Firefly line. It really is.] I was a moron. I put my best friends in mortal danger on the second day of school.
Giles: What are you gonna do? Crawl inside a cave for the rest of your life?
Buffy: Would it have cable?

I'm not sure whether the problem was in the idea or the execution: it's still a lightweight story. Buffy's in a bad mood, lashes out, then regrets it. Without much cause and effect, let alone resolution.

34. As usual, Giles has the best bit: "Believe me, that was hardly the worst mistake you'll ever make. Uh, that wasn't quite as comforting as it was meant to be."

35. So of course Xander and Willow aren't mad at Buffy, they're just glad to see she's herself again, and everyone has bad days. So.... that's it? That's the intro to the second season? Okay, it isn't terrible, it isn't as bad as most of the first season in terms of writing and pacing, but I'd had my hopes set up for something punchier. It's anticlimactic after "Prophecy Girl".