"Reptile Boy"

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Episode 5 Season 2

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"When you kiss me, I want to die."

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Original US airdate: October 13th, 1997

Re-watched: May 15th, 2021

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• Writer: David Greenwalt             

• Writer: David Greenwalt            

• Guests: Grey Vaughan, Todd Babcock, Jordan Spiro

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The dangers of lying and drinking, and going to fraternity parties, are a heavy focus of this episode and one reason I have mixed feelings about this one. The central story that a fraternity at Crestwood College is kidnapping young women every year to feed to the snake demon Machida in exchange for success, wealth and prestige is really just a supernatural version of many old boys' clubs and the scandals (including allegations of harassment and rape) that seem to crop up with some frequency. Even the (recent to this writing) college admissions scandal seems to be in line with this type of metaphor. Finally, the #MeToo movement has also included many stories of men in power getting away with atrocities somewhat akin to feeding people to a big demon snake. So, there is definitely some validity to the episode's warnings about drinking at a fraternity party. 

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On the other hand, too often this warning is only given to women. Don't drink, or don't drink too much, always watch your drink being made/opened and never let it out of your sight, have a party buddy, watch what you wear, don't lead men on, etc. The central story does have a certain whiff of victim blaming, even though Buffy is ultimately successful in freeing herself and chopping the demon in half. If she hadn't come to the party and had a drink, she wouldn't have been chained up in the first place. 

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So where does that leave us? We need to tailor a message to all young people about safe alcohol behavior, and not just girls and young women. We need to make it not about the evils of alcohol, but the evils of being drop-down drunk and not watching your drink, and we need to phrase it to not blame women who fall victim, as being drunk does not excuse any sexual assault ever. But we do need to let young men and women know about some dangers of drinking, and young men need to understand that it's not just women for whom drinking can be dangerous. From my own experience, two men in my life have fallen victim. One had never been told the cardinal rule of always watching your drink, was drugged via his drink and robbed. Another was very drunk and fell walking home. Unfortunately, he fell in a creek and drowned, which is really quite a tragic end. So, despite what a lot of media would have us believe, we need to figure out how to reach all young people and avoid victim blaming, something I'm not quite sure this episode managed. 

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While this aspect is not ideal, the stronger part of the episode focuses on Buffy's responsibilities and her relationship with Angel. Buffy is frustrated by her responsibilities as a Slayer and the pressure Giles puts on her. They have an interesting exchange towards the beginning of the episode:

Giles: Buffy, you think I don't know what it's like to be 16?

Buffy: No, I think you don't know what it's like to be 16 and a girl and the Slayer.

Giles: Fair enough. No, I don't.

Buffy: Or what's it's like to stake vampires when you're having fuzzy feelings towards one.

Giles: Ah...

Buffy: Taking on the undead doesn't exactly do wonders for your social life.

Giles: That's exactly where being different comes in handy.

Buffy: Right. Who needs a social life when you've got your own Hellmouth?

Giles: Yes. You have a duty, a purpose, you have a commitment in life. Now, how many people your age can say that?

Buffy: How 'bout none?

Giles: Well, here's a hard fact of life. We all have to do things we don't like. 

This really shows how Buffy still struggles with being the Slayer and accepting the responsibilities, which is, as mentioned before, of course a metaphor for growing up. Buffy still can't fully face the responsibility adulthood brings. 

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On the Angel front, their relationship still has not taken off. Angel isn't quite sure he wants to date Buffy. He's worried that it could get out of control and underlines that it's not a fairy tale and when he kisses her, she won't wake up. Buffy replies to this with the iconic line "When you kiss me I want to die." Of course, this exchange foreshadows what will later happen. It does get out of control and Buffy will end up sending Angel to hell. So maybe coffee was a bad idea (Angel will ask her out for coffee at the end of this episode). Angel is also correct that their relationship is not a fairy tale. But I would argue this is valuable advice for all young women. Too often we are sold the story of love being the solution and relationships being the ultimate goal (I'm looking at you, Twilight), and this is rarely the case. Your relationship won't save you, only you can save yourself. To be honest, I've never really understood Buffy's response to Angel. If she wants to die, then something is deeply wrong with this relationship. Ultimately, I think it needs to be seen very metaphorically. Buffy knows Angel won't save her, she knows their relationship will not be easy, so when they kiss, she is not full of optimism for a long and happy life together, but does understand their relationship will come with hard decisions. At least I hope this is what she means.

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Ultimately, it is the pressure from Giles and the lack of commitment from Angel that drive Buffy to rebel against her responsibilities and go the fraternity party, which may be a way for Buffy to try to gain agency where she feels she has none. As Willow says to Giles and Angel before they go to help Buffy, "I know she's the chosen one, but you're killing her with the pressure. I mean she's 16 going on 40. And you, I mean you're gonna live forever, you don't have time for a cup of coffee?" As becoming an adult means not only responsibility but also agency, Buffy taking the chance to be her own agent is short of a sign of maturity, but it is ignoring her responsibilities that shows a lack of maturity. But Buffy is only 16 and learning to balance agency and responsibility is part of growing up. Later seasons will show that she gets much better at this.

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I have one final aside. While Xander will eventually become a man to reckon with, an interesting aspect of his personality appears in the first scene of this episode. The Scoobies are at Buffy's watching a Bollywood film, and Xander and Buffy are braiding Willow's hair. Xander's side is much better than Buffy's braid, indicating men can do hair? Men can be complex? Something like that. 

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Fun facts: Again, despite Sunnydale's size, it is home to Crestwood College and Kent Preparatory School (just outside of town), and Grant and St. Michael's (which also seem to be high schools) are also mentioned. A lot of school for a one-Starbucks town...

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"Halloween"

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Episode 6 Season 2

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"Halloween is the night that not you is you, but not you. Y'know?" 

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Original US airdate: October 27th, 1997

Re-watched: May 22nd, 2021

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• Writer: Carl Ellsworth   

• Director: Bruce Seth Green           

• Guests: Seth Green, James Marsters, Robin Sachs, Juliet Landau, Armin Shimerman

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There are only three Halloween Buffy episodes and along with the season 4 one, this is my favorite. We start to learn about Giles's past as Ripper, we meet two characters for the first time: Ethan Rayne, a sometime nemesis and former friend of Giles's, and Larry, a classmate who is a bully and a later ally. Cordelia still doesn't know Angel is a vampire and is still trying to get him to fall in love with her. We learn that Halloween is quiet as a rule (although three of six Buffy Halloweens won't be) and we learn about the Watcher's Diaries, although why the diaries would contain information relevant to human Angel remains a mystery to me. Oz notices Willow for the 2nd time as she is walking down the street in her "sexy" Halloween costume. Finally, Xander gains his army knowledge which he will use to help the Scoobies in the next few seasons. In a nutshell, a lot happens in this episode that is relevant to future events.

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The central theme in this episode is masculinity and femininity. In the subplot with Xander, he nearly gets into a fight with Larry, only to be saved by Buffy, thus losing face. Losing the fight would not have lost Xander as much face as getting saved by Buffy. Later, Xander, like nearly everyone else (except Giles, Angel and Cordelia), turns into his costume and as "army guy", he becomes the stereotypical man. In this guise, he even faces off with Larry, who has turned into a pirate, and wins the fight, finding closure for the previous events. This is part of a recurring theme of Xander trying to find himself. Throughout the series, he needs to find his place in the Scoobies, a group where masculinity does not equate strength, and he needs to negotiate a form of manhood outside of the stereotype. In some ways, this episode seems to move counter to this. Xander gets to be the man in this episode, while Buffy is weak and helpless. Viewed as part of the whole, however, it seems to serve the purpose of underlining that Xander has strengths and capabilities, and he can be an asset to the group in different ways than Buffy. In fact, even as "army guy", Xander takes direction from Willow, clearly recognizing that she understands the situation better than he does. Xander needs to find his way to his version of masculinity, and this episode is just one facet. 

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The theme of femininity is more problematic. The good message in this episode is what Buffy learns. At the beginning, she shows up for a date with Angel late and a bit unkempt due to unplanned slaying. Buffy sees Cordelia talking to Angel and turns around to leave, thinking Angel has found someone better. Angel goes after her, and assures her he still wants to hang out with her, but Buffy leaves anyways. Later, she and Willow steal the Watcher's Diaries to get an idea of what kind of woman Angel used to like. The conclusion is "coiffed", which Buffy feels she can't be due to slaying. She then finds the perfect Halloween costume, one that makes her look like an 18th century lady. When Buffy turns into her costume, she is helpless and afraid, although she does turn back into herself just in time to save the day by kicking Spike's ass. At the end of the episode, Angel assures her he didn't like the women back then. He always wished to meet someone exciting and interesting. The key message here is that Buffy can be herself without losing Angel. 

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Willow's message is somewhat more fraught. Willow wants to go as a ghost, but Buffy convinces her to wear a sexy outfit so she can get noticed, claiming that Willow has it in her to be wild and sexy. While Willow wears this outfit, she covers it with the ghost costume. Once she really becomes a ghost, however, she is stuck walking around in the original costume. She slowly gains confidence in this costume and once she is no longer a ghost, chooses not to cover herself and proudly walks home (this is when Oz notices her). While it is definitely fine for women to wear sexy clothes if they choose, and while much of the dialogue focuses on Willow's lack of confidence in herself and that she can be confident, the message does seem to boil down to women needing to dress sexy, which is problematic because women can be self-assured people without wearing short skirts and baring their midriffs. Especially because Buffy seems to place so much pressure on Willow to do this, it seems to be pressure to be the object of male fantasy. I'm grateful for the message that girls should be confident in themselves, and forever grateful that Oz first noticed Willow when she was dressed like an Eskimo, but Willow's journey in this episode could have been a less stereotypical sexy Halloween costume journey. 

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So, it's a mixed bag. Buffy learns she can be herself. Willow learns she needs to dress sexy. Xander gets to be a macho man, sort of. 

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"Lie to Me"

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Episode 7 Season 2

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"Does it ever get any easier?"

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Original US airdate: November 3rd, 1997

Re-watched: May 29th, 2021

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• Writer: Joss Whedon    

• Director: Joss Whedon    

• Guests: Robia LaMorte, James Marsters, Jason Behr, Jarrad Paul, Juliet Landau

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Growing up means accepting the ambiguity and gray areas of life, which is something this episode is able to showcase well. Billy (Ford) Fordham from Buffy's high school in LA shows up in Sunnydale claiming to be a transfer student, but in fact he plans to trade Buffy to Spike in exchange for being turned into a vampire, as he sees this fate as better than dying from a brain tumor. Buffy is able to thwart this plot and the episode ends with Buffy slaying Ford at his grave. Growing up means learning that our decisions have ramifications, sometimes large ones, and that sometimes there is no good answer. The supernatural is a metaphor for this process of learning we are responsible for more than just ourselves. As Buffy says to Ford, "You have a choice. You don't have a good choice, but you have a choice. You're opting for mass murder here and nothing you say is gonna make that okay." In this episode, Buffy is able to step up and make the hard choice. She sacrifices Ford to save the people he would have fed to vampires to save his own life. This shows how much Buffy has grown and accepted her responsibilities as a Slayer. She can make the hard choices when she needs to.

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The second (related) theme is lies. Ford lies, Angel lies, and the question is which lies are good and which are bad. Ford's lies are clearly in the bad category. Angel's situation is more complicated. Angel lies to Buffy about running into Drusilla, but he does come clean when he realizes Buffy knows something. He claims that "some lies are necessary... sometimes the truth is worse. You live long enough, you find that out." Because the truth is that Drusilla is what Angel turned her into- a crazy vampire- and she is proof of a past he would rather forget. While I don't agree that Angel should have kept his past with Drusilla and Spike a secret (and his knowledge can help Buffy fight them...), I do understand wanting to protect those you love, and at least Angel is able to come clean when he is called on it. 

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Overall, this episode is a fairly straightforward, but always enjoyable, treatment of the gray areas in life. The final dialogue between Buffy and Giles at the cemetery really drives home the main point, with Buffy claiming life is no longer simple and Giles confirming that this is what growing up entails and Buffy asking Giles to lie to her about life getting easier. I have to admit, the episode is right, life doesn't ever get simpler. 

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Fun facts: Dru sees Angel again for the first time, Angel goes to Willow's for the first time, and this is the first appearance of Chanterelle, later known as Lilly and then Anne (she will appear in a later episode of Buffy and then several episodes of Angel). 

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"The Dark Age"

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Episode 8 Season 2

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"I never wanted you to see that side of me."

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Original US airdate: November 10th, 1997

Re-watched: June 5th, 2021

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• Writer: Dean Batali & Rob des Hotel         

• Director: Bruce Seth Green           

• Guests: Robia LaMorte, Robin Sachs, Stuart McLean

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You can't run from your past is the theme of this episode. As many other episodes of Buffy will deal with redemption, and as the Scoobies are able to forgive Giles by the end of the episode, this clearly doesn't mean that your past has to be held against you but it does indicate that a certain amount of honesty with yourself and the people around you is good. Trying to hide the past and not acknowledging it will come back to bite you. In this episode, Giles's wild years of black magic and channeling the demon Eyghon come back to haunt him when Eyghon sets out to kill the five remaining members of Giles's group. After the opening scene, only Giles (Ripper) and Ethan Rayne remain. 

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Because Giles attempts to hide the issue from those around him, Jenny ends up possessed by Eyghon and Ethan Rayne is able to tattoo Buffy with the Mark of Eyghon (and burn his own mark off with acid), meaning Eyghon comes after Buffy and not Ethan. While everyone is able to survive the day, with Angel saving Jenny and exorcising Eyghon, Jenny no longer trusts Giles, putting their budding relationship on ice, and Buffy and the Scoobies learn that Giles was once young and reckless, much like them (or perhaps more so). 

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The secondary theme of this episode is that you are never done growing up. While young people often see adults as fully formed, the truth is that all of us are growing up every day, even a staid Watcher like Giles. 

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A couple of plot holes in this episode include how Deidre (a dead, demon-possessed woman) manages to get to Southern California to kill Philip Henry, who has come to find Giles. Also, after Buffy is tattooed, she complains of having to pay for removal. This is an issue with many series, but tattoo removal is not particularly easy nor effective. It's too bad TV is trying to tell us something different. Finally, in episode 3 of season 1, "The Witch", Giles claims to have never cast a spell before, which was either a big lie or a continuity error. 

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This episode also has several firsts. We see Giles's apartment and tattoo, Xander mentions his Uncle Rory, the taxidermist, and Buffy researches behind Giles's back. 

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Finally, in the realm of parallels, Angel saves Jenny from Eyghon by strangling her, forcing Eyghon to feel threatened and to jump to the next dead/unconscious body, in this case Angel's, where his vampire demon then finally vanquishes/banishes Eyghon. This is ironic, as Angel will end up killing Jenny, and when he does, he will snap her neck, which this scene seems to foreshadow. 

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This episode has pieces of larger arcs, but the focus on not being able to escape your past is also one that will come up again and is one of many central themes of the series.