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tori_reviewsThis one is a bit more scattered than I might like, but I had a lot to say.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x06 – Halloween
Not only was I not let down by my memory’s assumption of this being a good episode, I’d forgotten just how good it is. It’s got some problems, most fall under the fact that the rules of this spell don’t hold together very well. But it’s got moments for just about everyone.
Let’s get the bad out of the way; this spell doesn’t make a lot of sense. It isn’t very clear what parts of a costume can carry the effect by the spell. In the case of Buffy and Xander, I think they turn into who they think they’re playing. So Xander is a generic soldier; he doesn’t have his own backstory or character, he’s just a soldier; I don’t think he’s even GI Joe, which might have worked if they had inserted it. Buffy’s persona coincidentally comes from exactly the year she was going for, but doesn’t seem to have much character beyond that. Which means the most good-faith reading of her Halloween personality is that that’s how Buffy views ladies of the 18th century and/or she didn’t construct a -character- that she was going as, just an idea of this lady, so there was no more to her.
They aren’t LARPing Halloween. Which makes sense, that’s not what Halloween is for. But it means their personas are pretty thin when they turn into them. What is less clear in this, is how it might have affected people with costumes that were characters; either in the person’s own mind or in general (if I had specifically been going as one of my RPG characters or if Buffy had gone as Xena for example).
I can’t decide if this works with Willow’s switch too. If Xander fully transforms even though he only bought a gun from Ethan, then one would think Willow would be a ghost of whatever her base costume was supposed to be (although…I’m not sure what she would have said it was if she’d stuck with it). But, maybe in my generous reading that I seem to be giving it, once Willow changed back into the ghost costume, she basically saw herself as ‘herself but a ghost’ with the costume not being a costume but just unusual clothes, and so not figuring into it.
Considering that kids did seem to turn into all matter of demons, I would have to assume that people could turn into cats or other animals. I’m debating on whether my current reading makes sense for all the kids turning into literal demons, but maybe it stretches
Okay, mechanics out of the way, now onto better things.
I actually don’t have a lot to say about Buffy in this one that didn’t fall under mechanics. She’s…understandable but being kind of vapid even before she transforms. And pretty cavalier when talking about work stuff in public. She talks about beheadings at the Bronze with another guy standing about a foot and a half away. And it continues at school, especially notably when Snyder walks up behind her half a second after she’s been talking about vampires. Now, we know that Snyder knows these kinds of things exist, but does he know what Buffy is in the supernatural realm?
This is a kind of interesting look at Xander, especially if my above reading of the spell holds water. It basically means that the toxic masculinity that we see him displaying in the early part of the episode, aren’t things he thinks are universal to men. To him; solders, men, or maybe just adults, wouldn’t have to get hung up the juvenile ways he thinks he has to behave now. I wouldn’t be surprised but that holds true as he does grow up on the show.
That said, the scene with Larry is a little…not just awkward, nor entirely forced, but maybe it insists upon itself. There are two basic options, either this is the kind of altercation that comes up semi-regularly, in which case Xander’s reaction doesn’t work; or I have to question how this hasn’t come up before. That the rumor out there would be that Buffy is ‘fast’ doesn’t exactly shock me even though it wouldn’t be built on much of anything in reality if people stopped to think about it; the point of rumors is that people don’t really think about them. But she is an attractive girl with a lot of rumors around her, so people would probably believe one more. My point is that because the Scoobies are largely outsiders but Buffy draws a lot of attention anyway, I don’t really buy this is the first time the rumors are wide enough to get to one of the Scoobies; but Xander’s reaction isn’t that of getting tired of turning the other cheek or anything.
This is a good episode for Willow, having to step in and be able to keep everyone together. The way her character progresses through the episode is really well handled actually. Unlike the Xander scene, the part where Willow is reluctant to get in on Buffy’s sneaky plan (and bad girl shenanigans) does come fairly naturally into the story (it’s a forced scene, but it’s forced for Buffy’s plot not Willow’s arc) while also serving as a point to contrast her in the later parts of the episode. When she is ready to put herself out there a little more and show that when she needs to be, she is capable of more than she quite realizes.
In contrast to last episode, this feels like s2 Cordy, who is kind of loosely in the gang but no one (including here) is quite sure whether they like that she is yet. And while Angel comes off a little less skeevy this episode, he still doesn’t come off well; or very interesting. He seems considerably less creepy with Cordelia though, not exactly in a way that I ship them right now (acorns, and only because I know I likely will ship it down the line), but he seems happier hanging out with Cordy, more comfortable even when he’s being awkward. His and Buffy’s relationship just doesn’t work for me.
And then there’s Giles. This is such a stealth Giles episode that I completely forgot that he found out about Ethan in this episode instead of their history being brought in in Ethan’s next episode. Everything up until Giles realizes Ethan is involved is very typical Giles stuff, but the last few scenes get interesting.
I’m still not sure this backstory really makes sense with how Giles has been portrayed up until now, and it’s going to get more iffy before it just becomes the new normal. As late as a couple of episodes ago, Giles was only portrayed as moderately capable of anything beyond his books. Even this episode he calls cross-referencing a hobby, and it’s very incongruous with his dangerous, street fighting persona later.
Which I guess is in keeping with the costume switching/revealing going on this episode. But the parallel seems a little…unfinished. Which is the mask in that case? The librarian or the Ripper? And whichever it is, what does that say about Giles? Does the episode have the answer?
If Ripper is the mask, then it’s one that he seems to shun to the detriment of his own capabilities. I guess there is a reading there, that he hasn’t made peace with the person he was in his youth so he has to shun all aspects of it, including some skills that would probably come in handy at times. But if he’s that committed to not putting the Ripper persona back on, he dives in pretty quickly once he runs into Ethan.
So if the librarian is the mask, there are some unfortunate implications to that. Because, while I always understood why people could ship Giles/Ethan, I didn’t remember quite how much Ethan totally comes off as an angry ex here. He goes a little camp in his scene with Buffy (which is connected to a small quibble with the episode, does Ethan know who Buffy is when he pushes the dress on her, and why would he be so into the idea?); and with Giles, the ex-boyfriend energy is strong.
And if Ripper is a real aspect of Giles that he’s been forcing to be contained, then…wouldn’t that suggest something about Giles’ sexuality? And the idea that when he locked the Ripper away, he also closeted his queer sexuality…well, it’s an idea that don’t think the show had any plans for it to go somewhere, even if I didn’t know that it doesn’t go that way.
I may have a better take on this after (checks list) 2x08 when we see how this plot thread blossoms. But right now I’m finding it intriguing (as if I don’t know how much of a gift this is to fanfic writers), which is clearly what it’s meant to do so far, so it succeeded at that. I just went a little farther with it than I had expected to.
Also, a small note, but Cordy was dating Devin in 2x04 and here, but she was also dating the college guy in 2x05. This took a bit for me to put in order, because it’s a minor point, but seemed worth commenting on…at least a little.
What am I shipping?
The buildup to Willow/Oz is still charming. My Angel/Cordy senses are perked up. Buffy/Cordy still has some appeal, there was a fair amount of clinging.
And I think I’m back to the Scoobie thruple. Though if I had to pick that option apart, then it would probably be Buffy/Willow; with the caveat that I think Buffy is more into Willow than the reverse. They have a lot of scenes together this episode, and most of them are easy to see as just friendly (not that that stops me from shipping a little), but some of them are pretty easy to read as Buffy trying not to have a crush on her friend, but also wanting to get Willow into sexy clothes for once.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2x06 – Halloween
Not only was I not let down by my memory’s assumption of this being a good episode, I’d forgotten just how good it is. It’s got some problems, most fall under the fact that the rules of this spell don’t hold together very well. But it’s got moments for just about everyone.
Let’s get the bad out of the way; this spell doesn’t make a lot of sense. It isn’t very clear what parts of a costume can carry the effect by the spell. In the case of Buffy and Xander, I think they turn into who they think they’re playing. So Xander is a generic soldier; he doesn’t have his own backstory or character, he’s just a soldier; I don’t think he’s even GI Joe, which might have worked if they had inserted it. Buffy’s persona coincidentally comes from exactly the year she was going for, but doesn’t seem to have much character beyond that. Which means the most good-faith reading of her Halloween personality is that that’s how Buffy views ladies of the 18th century and/or she didn’t construct a -character- that she was going as, just an idea of this lady, so there was no more to her.
They aren’t LARPing Halloween. Which makes sense, that’s not what Halloween is for. But it means their personas are pretty thin when they turn into them. What is less clear in this, is how it might have affected people with costumes that were characters; either in the person’s own mind or in general (if I had specifically been going as one of my RPG characters or if Buffy had gone as Xena for example).
I can’t decide if this works with Willow’s switch too. If Xander fully transforms even though he only bought a gun from Ethan, then one would think Willow would be a ghost of whatever her base costume was supposed to be (although…I’m not sure what she would have said it was if she’d stuck with it). But, maybe in my generous reading that I seem to be giving it, once Willow changed back into the ghost costume, she basically saw herself as ‘herself but a ghost’ with the costume not being a costume but just unusual clothes, and so not figuring into it.
Considering that kids did seem to turn into all matter of demons, I would have to assume that people could turn into cats or other animals. I’m debating on whether my current reading makes sense for all the kids turning into literal demons, but maybe it stretches
Okay, mechanics out of the way, now onto better things.
I actually don’t have a lot to say about Buffy in this one that didn’t fall under mechanics. She’s…understandable but being kind of vapid even before she transforms. And pretty cavalier when talking about work stuff in public. She talks about beheadings at the Bronze with another guy standing about a foot and a half away. And it continues at school, especially notably when Snyder walks up behind her half a second after she’s been talking about vampires. Now, we know that Snyder knows these kinds of things exist, but does he know what Buffy is in the supernatural realm?
This is a kind of interesting look at Xander, especially if my above reading of the spell holds water. It basically means that the toxic masculinity that we see him displaying in the early part of the episode, aren’t things he thinks are universal to men. To him; solders, men, or maybe just adults, wouldn’t have to get hung up the juvenile ways he thinks he has to behave now. I wouldn’t be surprised but that holds true as he does grow up on the show.
That said, the scene with Larry is a little…not just awkward, nor entirely forced, but maybe it insists upon itself. There are two basic options, either this is the kind of altercation that comes up semi-regularly, in which case Xander’s reaction doesn’t work; or I have to question how this hasn’t come up before. That the rumor out there would be that Buffy is ‘fast’ doesn’t exactly shock me even though it wouldn’t be built on much of anything in reality if people stopped to think about it; the point of rumors is that people don’t really think about them. But she is an attractive girl with a lot of rumors around her, so people would probably believe one more. My point is that because the Scoobies are largely outsiders but Buffy draws a lot of attention anyway, I don’t really buy this is the first time the rumors are wide enough to get to one of the Scoobies; but Xander’s reaction isn’t that of getting tired of turning the other cheek or anything.
This is a good episode for Willow, having to step in and be able to keep everyone together. The way her character progresses through the episode is really well handled actually. Unlike the Xander scene, the part where Willow is reluctant to get in on Buffy’s sneaky plan (and bad girl shenanigans) does come fairly naturally into the story (it’s a forced scene, but it’s forced for Buffy’s plot not Willow’s arc) while also serving as a point to contrast her in the later parts of the episode. When she is ready to put herself out there a little more and show that when she needs to be, she is capable of more than she quite realizes.
In contrast to last episode, this feels like s2 Cordy, who is kind of loosely in the gang but no one (including here) is quite sure whether they like that she is yet. And while Angel comes off a little less skeevy this episode, he still doesn’t come off well; or very interesting. He seems considerably less creepy with Cordelia though, not exactly in a way that I ship them right now (acorns, and only because I know I likely will ship it down the line), but he seems happier hanging out with Cordy, more comfortable even when he’s being awkward. His and Buffy’s relationship just doesn’t work for me.
And then there’s Giles. This is such a stealth Giles episode that I completely forgot that he found out about Ethan in this episode instead of their history being brought in in Ethan’s next episode. Everything up until Giles realizes Ethan is involved is very typical Giles stuff, but the last few scenes get interesting.
I’m still not sure this backstory really makes sense with how Giles has been portrayed up until now, and it’s going to get more iffy before it just becomes the new normal. As late as a couple of episodes ago, Giles was only portrayed as moderately capable of anything beyond his books. Even this episode he calls cross-referencing a hobby, and it’s very incongruous with his dangerous, street fighting persona later.
Which I guess is in keeping with the costume switching/revealing going on this episode. But the parallel seems a little…unfinished. Which is the mask in that case? The librarian or the Ripper? And whichever it is, what does that say about Giles? Does the episode have the answer?
If Ripper is the mask, then it’s one that he seems to shun to the detriment of his own capabilities. I guess there is a reading there, that he hasn’t made peace with the person he was in his youth so he has to shun all aspects of it, including some skills that would probably come in handy at times. But if he’s that committed to not putting the Ripper persona back on, he dives in pretty quickly once he runs into Ethan.
So if the librarian is the mask, there are some unfortunate implications to that. Because, while I always understood why people could ship Giles/Ethan, I didn’t remember quite how much Ethan totally comes off as an angry ex here. He goes a little camp in his scene with Buffy (which is connected to a small quibble with the episode, does Ethan know who Buffy is when he pushes the dress on her, and why would he be so into the idea?); and with Giles, the ex-boyfriend energy is strong.
And if Ripper is a real aspect of Giles that he’s been forcing to be contained, then…wouldn’t that suggest something about Giles’ sexuality? And the idea that when he locked the Ripper away, he also closeted his queer sexuality…well, it’s an idea that don’t think the show had any plans for it to go somewhere, even if I didn’t know that it doesn’t go that way.
I may have a better take on this after (checks list) 2x08 when we see how this plot thread blossoms. But right now I’m finding it intriguing (as if I don’t know how much of a gift this is to fanfic writers), which is clearly what it’s meant to do so far, so it succeeded at that. I just went a little farther with it than I had expected to.
Also, a small note, but Cordy was dating Devin in 2x04 and here, but she was also dating the college guy in 2x05. This took a bit for me to put in order, because it’s a minor point, but seemed worth commenting on…at least a little.
What am I shipping?
The buildup to Willow/Oz is still charming. My Angel/Cordy senses are perked up. Buffy/Cordy still has some appeal, there was a fair amount of clinging.
And I think I’m back to the Scoobie thruple. Though if I had to pick that option apart, then it would probably be Buffy/Willow; with the caveat that I think Buffy is more into Willow than the reverse. They have a lot of scenes together this episode, and most of them are easy to see as just friendly (not that that stops me from shipping a little), but some of them are pretty easy to read as Buffy trying not to have a crush on her friend, but also wanting to get Willow into sexy clothes for once.
