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Episode 2.07: Lie to Me | Episode 2.09: What's My Line? Pt. 1
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
Overall (4/10)
Buffy:
Buffy appears to have forgiven everybody for their actions in Lie to Me. I'll assume that the reconciliations occurred sometime off-screen. I do recognize that such minute continuity isn't as essential this early on in the series, so I'll let it slide.
Buffy ends up having to take on a leadership role in this here episode. Giles is, effectively, out of commission. So Buffy has to pick up the slack. This is the first time we see her really take charge. And she does an admirable job of it, considering her age and experience. She goes to Miss Calendar for help with Giles, and she sets the others onto research mode. We see the confident, take-charge Buffy that comes out fully later in the series.
Angel:
Angel doesn't have much to do in this episode. We do see where he gets his blood from (though why is the bagged blood so popular among other vamps? Surely they'd prefer killing people to get their blood).
Then he comes in at the end to save the day. We see Angel's demon put to good use. All in all, not much character stuff.
However, his participation at the end does bring up an interesting point concerning vampires. He speaks about his "demon" as if it were a separate entity. This leads some people to think of him as some sort of split-personality with the souled portion and the demon warring each other. Like the subject of the humanity of vampires that's hinted at in the last episode, this topic never really gets explored and, thus, is left for debate among the fan community. Much discussion has been made as to what, exactly, vampires are. How much monster are they? And how much control do they have over the demon inside them?
Xander:
And, for once, we get a non-jealous Xander! Course, this probably has to do with the fact that Angel isn't in this episode very much. But it's still a relief.
Instead, we get funny!Xander (who actually does make me laugh). We also get hints at the upcoming Xander/Cordy romance. Note the two of them clinging to each other in the library.
Like in Halloween, we get to see Willow in a leadership role. Buffy delegates the task of research to her, and Willow eagerly gets Xander and Cordy to help her. She even has a Reptile Boy-like outburst in which she takes them to task for playing around. While funny this early on, these are ominous signs of what's to come for our Willow.
Nevertheless, she does save the day at the end with her plan, which is quite brilliant.
This episode is All About Giles! Finally, we get to see some backstory on him.
First, I'd like to get the Watcher issue out of the way. This episode brings up more questions about being a Watcher, and then these questions are never answered. At all. Giles mentions his "destiny". Was he called to be a Watcher as Buffy was called to be a Slayer? We know that his grandmother was a Watcher, so perhaps it's passed through families. Or maybe, Giles' family, in particular, goes into the Watcher's Council, and he was simply referring to the fact that he was expected to do likewise.
Unfortunately, this is never cleared up.
But, anyway. Giles went through a little rebellious phase that involved summoning demons in a drug-like ritual. Someone died. Giles repressed. And now his past comes back to haunt him. We see that Giles doesn't want to bring anybody else into this. He feels a great deal of responsibility, and wants to take care of it all himself. Ironically, Giles gets next to nothing done. It's only when Buffy forces her help on him that they actually make progress.
We also see the first sign of Giles drinking (get used to it. We see it a lot more in S4). Given the state that Giles is in when this trouble arrives, it's easy to wonder exactly how much of the stuffy Giles is truly him. It seems likely that he's naturally more laid-back, but he puts on the mask of uptightedness to keep himself from losing control again.
Indeed, we see in later seasons that Giles does loosen up a lot. Once he's accepted and respected by his group of "children", he can allow himself to get out of the stuffy image he made for himself and be more natural.
But in this episode, he gets major karmic retribution for his indiscretions in the past, and ends up having Jenny putting their relationship on hold. Poor Giles.
Cordelia is finally given some stuff to do. She eagerly helps out with Giles in a surprising move. Well, not too surprising if we've been watching carefully. Cordelia, despite her protests, does seem to enjoy the Scooby work. We're never given much explanation as to why this is, though. Perhaps she enjoys the excitement, or she might actually enjoy being around people that are genuine. She usually surrounds herself with superficial girls. It might be nice for her, on some level, to be around people who are comfortable being themselves.
But she'd never admit it, of course.
Okay, the plot doesn't make much sense. 20 years ago, Giles helped summon this demon, Ehygon. Then, the demon goes away and randomly reappears now? Why? What initiated these events? This is never truly explained, and it hurts the episode.
Also, a minor point, but surely there are other students that should be in that class on Saturday? It's a little too coincidental that it's just the Scoobies.
Ehygon, the demon. Very boring.
Not an arc episode.
I wanted to like this episode. Truly, I did. Cause I love Giles, and this is a Giles-episode. But the issues with the plot, and the completely dull villain detract too much from this episode for me to score it highly. Special performance award goes to Robin Sachs for his role as Ethan Rayne. Cause who doesn't love Ethan?
4 out of 10. I'm feeling generous.
Again, the final scene between Giles and Buffy. Yes, I am a sucker for the Giles/Buffy relationship (not romantically or anything. I enjoy the paternal relationship he has with Buffy).
Another Giles/Jenny wallpaper. Happiness before the angst sets in.
Credits:
Caps: Screencap Paradise
Textures: Shattered
Fonts: Luna Bar (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 2.07: Lie to Me | Episode 2.09: What's My Line? Pt. 1
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