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Episode 3.02: Dead Man's Party | Episode 3.04: Beauty and the Beasts
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Oz |
Overall (7/10)
Buffy:
So far, Buffy has regained almost everything she lost at the end of S2. She's back in school. Her friends have accepted her back. She's back with her mom. There's just one thing that she's still missing.
That would be Angel, of course. However, unlike the other things, she can't get him back as he's gone (well, until he drops back in at the episode's end. But she doesn't know this).
So we get a Buffy struggling to figure out how to move on without Angel. We get an opportunity for her in the form of Scott Hope. Let me say that I like Scott. He's witty and charming. And he's also amazingly normal, which never bodes well for Buffy.
At the beginning of this episode, Buffy isn't very open to Scott's advances. She's still trying to get over the loss of Angel. However, by episode's end, she's gotten to a place where she can try to move on. So she approaches Scott and sets up a date with him.
How does she get to this point? Well, the main influence is Faith, the new Slayer.
Faith is vivacious, outgoing, and carefree. Everything Buffy is not right now. Buffy's friends latch onto Faith as they're attracted to her personality. They're obviously not quite used to the new, more subdued Buffy (Unfortunately, Buffy never quite reverts to carefree S2 Buffy as the events at the end of the season forever change her).
Buffy is, at first, resentful of Faith encroaching on her life in so many ways. This is further exacerbated when Faith berates her for being uptight and urges her to just get over her Angel problem.
The start of a beautiful relationship, this is not. Many references are made of Faith being like Buffy's little sister. This sister-relationship is a constant back-and-forth throughout the season. It goes from closeness, to rivalry, to out-and-out hatred.
But for now, it ends on a high note. Upon finding out what happened to Faith's Watcher, Buffy realizes that Faith is also having some issues of her own. In fact, Faith's outgoing nature is her way of dealing with those issues, much like Buffy's currently subdued nature is her way of dealing with hers. Buffy recognizes this in a scene where Buffy sees Faith planning to run away. Ironically, this is what Buffy did last season, and what she almost did again in the previous episode.
However, she gets Faith to open up to her and confide in her. In doing so, Faith is able to, for now, move on.
Once she sees Faith confront her problems, she decides to finally tell Giles and Willow what happened last year. It's a heartbreaking scene where she relates to them that Angel had his soul when she killed him. But after she has said this, she can try to move on with her life and approach Scott.
Angel:
Frustrated by the lack of a postal system in hell, Angel decides to drop back to Earth. Unfortunately, he forgot his clothes.
Xander:
Xander does seem to have a thing for Slayers, as Cordelia notices. Xander actually just seems to have a thing for powerful, outspoken women (Look at the girls he goes out with. Cordy and then Anya).
He's fascinated by Faith and eagerly listens to her tall tales (Okay, she's only been a Slayer for 3 months. Anyone else doubt the veracity of the stories she was telling?).
And we see, again, Willow's interest in witchcraft. However, like Giles points out, she sees it as something fun to be played with. She definitely doesn't seem to be regarding the powers with the respect that's needed to handle them properly.
This irresponsible attitude towards magic will, of course, get her in trouble much later on.
Other than that, she gets to play sidekick to Buffy. Again, she urges her to get back into the dating thing (Something I commented on in I Only Have Eyes for You).
And Giles shows, again, how very in tune he is with Buffy's needs. From the moment she arrived back in the previous episode, he knows that there's something she needs to talk about.
He doesn't prod, though. Instead, he gives her an opening to tell him. He leaves that decision completely up to her, though. And when she does tell him, he doesn't rush to console her or anything. There's no point, and he knows it. He just listens.
Truly, Giles has already developed so much from the stuffy librarian who barely paid an interest in Buffy's personal life to this caring father figure who knows instinctively the best way to help his charge.
Also, it's interesting that Giles wasn't invited to the Watcher's retreat. This brings up a lot of questions. If Giles isn't highly regarded among his peers, then why is he the Watcher of the current Slayer (And, actually, now he has both Slayers in his charge)? Also, what do the other Watchers do? It can be assumed that the majority of them train potential Slayers. But we find out later in the series that there's more.
Cordelia gets very little screentime in this episode. She scolds Xander for his Faith-focus. And she doesn't seem to enamored of Faith, either, actually. Other than that, she's not there much.
Oz, likewise, gets very little to do. More Oz, please.
There's actually a lot going on in this episode, but it somehow manages to work it all together. The actual plot is this old vamp, Kakistos, and how he has this past with Faith, who's the new Slayer.
Kakistos is the immediate Baddie. We also get the introduction of Trick, who will soon become the Mayor's right-hand vamp. Trick is something of a nonentity this season.
Buffy's almost finished dealing with her S2 issues.
And we finally get the introduction of the S3 arc. The S3 arc is, at its core, about the Mayor's quest for Ascension. While this episode doesn't further that particular story, it does introduce Faith and Trick, who will become key players in the arc.
At first glance, this episode doesn't seem very impressive. However, when looking back at it as a vehicle for Buffy to deal with her Angel issues, I gained a new appreciation for it. No, it's still not the greatest of episodes. The Kakistos story is largely uninteresting (And unimportant as its primary purpose is to draw a parallel between Buffy and Faith's respective issues). But it's still an entertaining episode that does introduce Faith, who I love to watch.
Special performance award goes to David Boreanaz for the naked fall. I was just glad he didn't have to belly-flop cause...ouch...
7 out of 10.
Obviously, the scene where Buffy finally tells Giles and Willow about the events of last year. It's a very satisfying scene.
Of course I would do a Faith wallpaper for her introduction episode. I thought about featuring her first fight where she meets Buffy and the Scoobies. But I decided to make use of her "hungry and horny" line, instead, as there were some lovely reaction shots from the others.
Credits:
Caps: Screencap Paradise
Textures: Misplaced Moments, Shattered, OOTM
Fonts: Unknown
Brushes: None
*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 3.02: Dead Man's Party | Episode 3.04: Beauty and the Beasts
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