Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Eggs (2x12)

[fajrdrako]

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This was reasonably silly: it's hard to think of eggs as scary. But. The episode had a certain charm. The 'egg' plot wasn't much of anything, but the dialogue and the characters were great. I liked it.

1. Delightful mother/daughter exhange:

   Joyce: You're just too young to wear that.
   Buffy: Yeah, and I'm gonna be too young to wear it until I'm too old to wear it.

   Yes, Buffy, that's exactly the way it works.
   
2. I liked Buffy's line to the vampire, Lyle: "But you promised you'd never cheat on me again, honey." Freaking out the girl. Heh. Question: why is "Lyle" often used as the name of a villain, and "Kyle" as the name of a hero? Or am I wrong in that impression?
   
3. This is brilliant:

   Joyce: Let me guess: you were distracted by a boy.
   Buffy: Technically.

   And it inspires Buffy to a moment of honesty:

   Joyce: A little responsibility is all I ask. Honestly, don't you ever think about anything besides boys and clothes?
   Buffy: Saving the world from vampires?
   Joyce: I swear, sometimes I don't know what goes on in your head.

   Moral of this story for Joyce: listen to what your daughter says. And then believe it.
   
4. More hilarious groping-in-closets with Xander in Cordelia. I love it. Question: Aren't the broom closets in schools usually kept locked? I must admit that in all my years in high school I never tried to open one. But I assumed. You know, just in case someone might try to steal a broom.
   
5. I liked Buffy's reaction to getting her egg: "As far as punishments go, this is fairly abstract."
   
6. I actually thought Lyle and Tector were very funny. More vamp-types with personality. Silly personality, but still. Are they based on specific characters in the media, or just stereotypes?
   
7. Buffy says, "Like Angel and I are just helpless slaves to passion." One of her better lines.
   
8. Buffy calls her egg Eggbert. I once had an egg-shaped wooden viking doll I called Eggfried. Brings back memories. He disappeared one day - I never figured out what happened to him. Probably ran away to sea.
   
9. Tector is disturbed: "Well, how come Angelus is gettin' all cuddly with her, Lyle? I mean, does the man have no code?" Vampires have a code? Like pirates? like Slayers?
   
10. Good dialogue:

    Buffy: You're killing me. Parenting's a pain!
    Joyce: Wait till it starts dating.

    And Joyce doesn't even know that Buffy is dating a 241 year old vampire. As far as she knows, Buffy isn't dating anyone.
    
11. A wonderful Gilesism: "I suppose there is a sort of... Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression."
    
12. Then Angel and Buffy stop kissing long enough to have a talk. Uh-oh.

    Angel: So you don't think about the future?
    Buffy: No.
    Angel: Never?
    Buffy: No.
    Angel: You really don't care what happens a year from now? Five years from now?
    Buffy: Angel, when I look into the future, a-a... all I see is you! All I want is you.

    What I like most about this - besides its doomed-romance angle - is that it translates so clearly in a different conversation in which Angel is saying, "Have you really considered the implications of having a vampire as a lover, rather then a normal life?" And she's saying, "I love you so much I don't care."
    
13. Once again, Buffy is the one with an instinct about the evil eggs and the others don't understand her worries.
    
14. Buffy says, "I always say that a day without an autopsy...is like a day without sunshine." What?
    
15. An interesting conversation between Joyce and Giles about having children:

    Joyce: 'Bristow's Demon Index', 'Hell's Offspring'?Giles: A hobby of mine, uh, but, uh, having nothing to do with Buffy in any way.

    Oooh, no, nothing at all.
    
16. Bezoar. Because I am a dictionary geek, I looked it up: "A concretion, usually of hair or undigested vegetable matter, found in an animal's intestines. From Persian pâdzahr پادزهر, meaning "to expel poison." (In ancient times, bezoars from animals were ground up and ingested as remedies for various maladies and as antidotes to poisons.)"
    
17. Digging out the cave with the mama egg-creature. Hmm. Why do I suddenly think this particular story has lost all coherence? But I do like Lyle and Tector still.
    
18. So Buffy finds a way to make out with Angel even though she's grounded. Smart girl.