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Episode 2.03: School Hard | Episode 2.05: Reptile Boy
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Oz |
Overall (5/10)
Buffy:
This is all-work and no-play Buffy. She spends the episode training, researching, and fighting. She doesn't even get to go to the party, thanks to Giles. I think that this episode's OD on work directly leads to her OD on play in the next episode, Reptile Boy.
Interesting parallels are drawn between the Inca princess and the Slayer. Some have even suggested that Ampata was a Slayer, but I doubt it. In either case, both girls were chosen to save their people. The Inca princess was sacrificed. And Buffy, while not formally killed, is expected to die within a couple years.
Angel:
Angel does not appear in this episode. I would like to think he's being all productive and hunting down Spike and Dru to deal with his family. But it's more likely that he's sitting in the dark brooding about the fact that said family is in town.
Xander:
Xander is, at the end of the day, your typical teenage boy. I think Xander's general rule is that he likes every girl. That way, when one likes him back, he automatically goes for it. This certainly explains his instant attraction to Ampata. Once he sees that she's actually responding to him (a rarity), he goes for it with gusto. It's actually quite sweet, and would be nice to watch if we didn't know the truth about Ampata.
It's annoying in the beginning as Xander is very patronizing with her. He speaks slowly and simply as if she couldn't grasp what he's saying. Fortunately, he stops that once he realizes she's more than a pretty face. Xander gets the opportunity to get to know her and genuinely begins to like her.
Of course, Xander's blind spot is Willow. He's placed her in the "best friend" category, and it seems impossible for him to think of her in any other way. In fact, he remains oblivious to her feelings for him. In doing so, he ends up hurting her with his remarks, unintentionally.
He still shows immense jealousy towards any guy in Buffy's life. At the beginning when he learns that Buffy's exchange student is male, he flips out. Xander's crush on Buffy plays a large part on his actions at the beginning, and even throughout the series.
At the end, though, it is Xander who saves the day. In a scene somewhat reminiscent of S6's Grave, Xander confronts Ampata and offers himself up in exchange for Willow. Xander may be ruled by his hormones, but he's still intensely loyal to his friends.
This episode is noteworthy in that Willow at least thinks about getting over Xander. She's still pining for him, though. It must be difficult for her to spend so much time with him without making any progress. Given Willow's shy and insecure nature, it seems likely that her little crush developed because he's around all the time. Having been childhood friends, he's in her comfort zone, unlike most guys. So she feels safe in her feelings for him.
Fortunately for her, another guy has noticed the Willow. Yay!
I find her costume to be amusing. It's something that's replayed in Halloween. Willow thinks of the cultural dance as a way to put together an authentic costume representing another region. Most kids think of it as a way to dress up as something cool. Of course, Willow shows the more scholarly approach. Likewise, in Halloween, she thinks of dressing up as something scary, whereas Buffy tries to explain that she should just dress up to have fun.
Giles is, like Buffy, all-work and no-play. Again, we see him reminding her of her calling and keeping her from social activities.
Cordelia doesn't do any Scooby-work this week. Instead, she spends her time with Sven, her exchange student. She's primarily there for comic relief.
And Oz appears! We see him contrasted with Devon from the start. Oz is definitely a substance over style guy. He's not impressed with Cordelia, as he wants more than just a shallow girl. He immediately notices Willow at the dance. He's impressed with the girl wearing an Eskimo costume as, to him, it signals that she has brains and knowledge. He even makes an attempt to approach her, but that, unfortunately, doesn't go anywhere in this episode.
A mummy's seal is broken. The mummy starts going around sucking people's life force. Eventually, she goes back to her mummy-state. It's nothing extraordinary. In fact, this episode seems almost like a throw-back to S1 (especially since Angel doesn't make an appearance).
Ampata, the mummy girl, is the ambiguous evil in this episode. She states multiple times that she just wants to live a normal life. As pointed out by the guard, though, she's already dead. I very much liked Ampata, truthfully.
Not an arc episode.
A decent episode. As stated before, there's nothing extraordinary about it. Special performance award goes to Joey Crawford who played Rodney. His priceless expression after Willow informs him of how many natural elements there are is one of the high points of the episode for me.
I give it a 5. Average. Frighteningly average.
The twinkie scene. Xander is quite sweet and sincere with Ampata, and the two work well together.
It's Willow and Oz. Cause everybody likes Willow and Oz. I did a bit of a sneak. The image of Willow is a separate image and I used a generic screenshot of the crowd in the Bronze for the backdrop. If you look closely, you can tell. However, I was trying to depict that Oz, up there on stage, everybody on the floor in strange costumes. Who does he notice? Willow, the girl who, till this point, has been very unnoticeable. It's sweet and cute. Plus, Willow's in an Eskimo costume.
I did some masking and layering to make Willow glow. Kinda what I imagine Oz saw as he looked over at her.
Credits:
Caps: Screencap Paradise
Textures: Misplaced Moments, Shattered
Fonts: Effloresce Antique (Link)
Brushes: Unknown
*Some resources were used that I can't identify. All resources are generally linked to on the links page, but if you recognize an uncredited resource let me know so I can note it with the actual wallpaper.
Episode 2.03: School Hard | Episode 2.05: Reptile Boy
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