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Episode 3.05: Homecoming | Episode 3.07: Revelations
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Oz |
Overall (7/10)
Buffy:
I'll tell you right now that there's not much for me to write about on most of the characters here. But here goes.
Buffy is prepping for the SATs. In addition, she's feeling a little hemmed in between Giles and her mom. Her mom's still concerned about the whole running away thing, and Giles is, of course, wanting her to train and do school. Between the two of them, she's feeling out of control of her life.
This all gets turned around, though, when band candy turns the adults into teenagers. Suddenly, Buffy is without the structured adult support that she was complaining about, and she realizes how difficult it is for her to manage without it. She also sees how difficult it can be to handle a teenager as she's having to play parent to Giles, Joyce, and Snyder (ironically, enough).
Just a brief note on her meeting with Angel. She hasn't told Angel about her being dumped by Scott. It looks like Buffy's still hesitant to resume her romantic relationship with Angel. You can't blame her considering all the baggage they have. By the same token, she does look disappointed when Angel comments that it'll be better when he can take care of himself. She may know that staying away from him is the smart thing to do, but it's not necessarily what she wants to do.
Angel:
Looks like Angel took Tai Chi lessons while in hell (or it could be some other martial art. I'm not an expert, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).
Anyway, he's healing up nicely. Like Buffy, he realizes the wisdom in keeping their relationship from becoming romantic again. But, like Buffy, it seems obvious that that's not what he truly desires.
Angel seems to have a confidence that was lacking in S2. Perhaps being in hell instilled some self-esteem in him. Perhaps it's the fact that Joss is gearing him up for his own series at this point, so they have to make some character changes. What can be said, though, is that S3 Angel is very different from S2 Angel. I'll point out other examples as they come up.
Xander:
Xander and Willow play footsie. And then Xander plays research-guy. As I mentioned in the Buffy section, most of our characters don't have much to do in this episode.
Like Xander, Willow's relegated to the research role here.
In some ways, it's easy to see Giles and Joyce as separated parents of Buffy. Both are vying for her attention, and both are upset with her when she plays them against each other. Giles is firmly entrenched in his paternal role as far as Buffy is concerned.
The opening scene where he's helping her study for the SATs is wonderfully hilarious. Giles realizes by now that Buffy needs more than just Slaying.
And when Giles starts eating the chocolate, he reverts to his teenage self. This pretty much equals juvenile delinquent as Giles starts smoking and stealing. Not to mention the whole sleeping with Joyce thing. He's horribly irresponsible, always ready for a tussle, and takes great pride in being able to tell Buffy what to do as her Watcher.
It's fun.
See Xander and Willows' sections? Repeat.
And again, Oz doesn't have very much to do. We find out that he did well on the SATs (even though he didn't graduate).
The Mayor has Trick call in Ethan Rayne to provide a distraction so that he may sacrifice some babies to a demon. The plot is secondary to the antics of our adult characters.
Well, Ethan Rayne is the direct bad guy.
This episode does have the Mayor in it. We get hints that he has done some things in the past that require him to pay tribute to certain demons (though what those favors are for, we're not told). We also get to see that the Mayor has some sense of fair-play. He's upset at the end when Trick tells him that the demon was killed. To the Mayor, that's not acceptable, as he's wanting to keep his promise to the demon.
Okay, this episode is just plain fun. It's not incredibly deep. And we don't get to see too much of our young cast. But it's absolutely hilarious to watch the adults in this one, and, as such, it's one of my favorites.
I had some trouble with the special performance award for this episode. I loved Armin Shimerman's performance as he tags along with the group ("Whoa, Summers! You drive like a spaz!"). I also adored Kristine Sutherland as the teenage Joyce.
But, in the end, I have to give the award to Anthony Stewart Head. His little cheer when Buffy finally hits Ethan is just priceless. Good job, Tony.
7 out of 10.
The entire scene at the Bronze is wonderfully funny.
I spent forever on a wallpaper for this episode. First, I was going to do a wallpaper with a "Ripper" theme, but that turned out crap.
Then I decided to play off Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright" and feature Joyce, Snyder, Giles, and Ethan...but that turned out crap.
Finally, I decided to focus on this scene as I was thinking about Giles' scene in S5's Forever. The lyrics are from the song that's played during that particular scene. I made it yellow which gives it a nice feel.
Credits:
Caps: Screencap Paradise
Textures: Misplaced Moments, Shattered
Fonts: Hansa (Link), Heather (Link)
Brushes: None
Episode 3.05: Homecoming | Episode 3.07: Revelations
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