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Episode 3.12: Helpless | Episode 3.14: Bad Girls
Characters:
| Xander | Angel | Buffy |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Oz |
Overall (6/10)
Plot:
I know that this episode review is a little out of order, but this is an unusual episode in how it's set up, so I felt it best to do it this way.
Oftentimes, an episode of TV will have two plots. Plot A is the primary plot that gets the synopsis made about it. And Plot B is the filler plot used to give another character something to do or fill in time, and it's usually not very important. (Sometimes, you even have C and D plots, but not often).
Buffy doesn't often have A and B plots, as the A plots usually encompass the entire episode. However, this episode does have Plot A and Plot B. However, in a twist of the format, the focus of the episode is not on Plot A, but on Plot B, the secondary, less-important plot.
Plot A is another apocalypse. Some demons are gonna open the Hellmouth. It's a big bad thing.
Plot B encompasses the antics of some resurrected juvenile delinquents and their attempt to blow up the school.
This episode is All About Xander! Xander's feeling useless. He's surrounded by super-friends. A Slayer, a witch, a werewolf, a vampire, and a super-librarian (Who speaks Latin quite well). And what does he have to contribute? Doughnuts.
It's fitting, then, that Xander should have the secondary plot of this episode. He doesn't have the superpowers necessary to be useful in Plot A (The End of the World Plot). But he is able to contribute to Plot B, which is still pretty darn important.
We see the first part of the episode dealing with Xander's insecurities as to who he is and his place among the Scoobies. Between his own fears and his own doubts, he's rendered pretty much useless when caught up with Jack and his gang. He even tries to go to his friends for help, but they are all caught up in Plot A too much to give him any attention.
Xander is pretty much forced to handle it on his own. Once he comes to that realization, we get him coming into his own as a hero. No, he's not the world-saving hero who averts the apocalypse. But he saves the school from blowing up and saves his friends as well.
At the end, the rest of the group is basking in their victory, blissfully unaware of who came out as the true hero last night. And Xander knows that he doesn't need to tell them about it as he's secure in the knowledge that there are some things he can be useful at.
This would be a wonderful moment of character development for Xander, except that it doesn't stick. Once we get past this episode, Xander reverts back to his same old pre-Zeppo self, which is very disappointing considering how well-done this episode is.
Another noteworthy point is that Xander loses his virginity to Faith in this episode. At the time, Xander is finding himself swept up in events beyond his control, the Faith!sex being one of them. This will be important later on in the season as Xander feels they have a connection now. Unfortunately, it turns out that for Faith, it was very much a "Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mister" (To coin a phrase from Red Dwarf).
The other characters in this episode are very, very secondary. They get very little screentime and are really only important insofar as how they relate to Xander.
We do get a wonderfully hilarious moment with Xander interrupting one of those overly-sobby Buffy/Angel scenes. This show is never afraid to make fun of itself.
Oh, another sidenote, but Buffy has horrible hair again. I don't know what's up this season.
Angel:
Angel appears to be firmly back in the group. He approaches Xander without any hesitation, and he fights side-by-side with everybody. Looks like the events of Amends have left a lasting impression.
Willow:
Willow gets to shoot Oz again. Poor Oz. Poor Willow.
And we do see some nervousness of Giles around Buffy, most likely because of the events of the last episode. We don't get too much focus on it because, of course, this is Xander's episode.
Props to Cordelia for actually knowing enough about the Marx Brothers to make the Zeppo comparison. I was duly impressed.
She acts as a catalyst in this episode for Xander to find his confidence. She's still bitter over their break-up, and she never misses an opportunity to sling insults at him.
Oz is a werewolf. Really, how often can I write about how unimportant everybody except Xander is in this episode?
Well, there are some resurrected guys and some Hellmouthy demons. But the main baddie is Xander's insecurities that he faces down by the end.
Not an arc episode.
A very creatively done episode and a much-needed look at the Xander character. It has some wonderfully funny moments in it, as well.
Special performance award goes to the guy who played Bob. Cause he amused me.
6 out of 10. Would be higher, but I gotta knock it down because the wonderful development Xander gets falls by the wayside after this episode.
Xander's face-off with Jack at the end where Xander finally becomes a hero. Yay.
Episode 3.12: Helpless | Episode 3.14: Bad Girls
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