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Episode 3.13: The Zeppo | Episode 3.15: Consequences
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
| Oz |
Overall (5/10)
Buffy:
I have some issues with this episode so far as Buffy's character is concerned. When I first viewed it, I was convinced that Buffy was under some type of spell because of her actions. Of course, turns out she's not, so I'm left to try to explain what I find to be somewhat OOC behavior on her part.
I think the reasoning here is threefold.
For one, she has a new Watcher. Perhaps not very earth-shattering to us, but it is to Buffy. In this season that focuses on authority, Buffy now has a new authority figure. Not only that, but he seems to be rather inept. She's torn between Giles, her father-figure and beloved mentor, and the new Watcher who just can't hold a candle. She's likely going to do what she can to make his job difficult for him.
Secondly, I think we're seeing a bit of Faith-envy. Notice Faith's reaction to Wesley. She turns and leaves the room. Buffy is left being the responsible one and trying to diplomatically (Well, as much as Buffy can) deal with things. At the same time, Faith is showing her the freedom of rebellion, and I think Buffy's tempted by Faith a bit.
And third, Buffy nearly drowns during a fight in this episode. As such, we go back to S2's When She Was Bad in that we see she starts acting very similar to the time she did drown in S1.
It is this last instance that puts her over the edge. After this, she brushes off her friends, skips out on a test, and pro-actively goes after a vamp nest during the day (Something we've never seen her do). She is also crawling all over Angel, who looks understandably uncomfortable.
This behavior culminates in the death of Allan Finch. Once this happens, Buffy almost immediately snaps out of whatever rebellious daze she was in and goes back to normal!Buffy mode.
The problem I have with all this is that it feels very set up and not very natural in terms of character development for Buffy. It feels like the writers were literally trying to get her to a place where a death occurs, instead of writing it so that it happens naturally. I wish there had been more lead up to Buffy's behavior in this episode (Specifically in her relationship with Faith).
As such, I just can't reconcile my image of the Buffy character at this point with the things she does in this episode.
Angel:
We do get a welcome contrast for Angel here. Whereas in S2's When She Was Bad he was horribly inept at dealing with Buffy's odd behavior, he actually does a decent job of it in this episode. Okay, yeah, he's focused on the plot...er...bad guy. But he knows something's wrong, and he takes action instead of skulking around and brooding. Go, Angel!
Xander:
Xander gets very little to do in this episode. We see that his wild night...er...30 minutes(10 minutes?) with Faith has left an impact on him, though.
And Willow gets to play the cast-aside best friend. Once again, I feel that this is very sudden, and I wish that there had been more build-up in previous episodes.
But there weren't, so oh well.
Willow is feeling left out because Buffy is spending all her time with Faith now doing the Slayer thing. This will be addressed directly in the following episode, Consequences.
And Giles has to deal with the new Watcher. As I mentioned before, Giles takes side with the kids in this season's fight against authority. He is openly hostile towards Wesley and is still continuing to act as Buffy's Watcher right under Wesley's nose.
It is interesting to see how much Giles has grown. Indeed, when we first saw him in S1, he wasn't too different from Wesley. Now, he quips, rolls his eyes, and just basically acts cool.
Cordelia gets one scene. And she gets one scene because she has a contract that says she has to get one scene.
See above for Cordelia? Repeat.
There's a demon guy that should be dead, but he isn't. And the Mayor's in there cause he wants the Slayers to snuff it. And some other stuff happens that just isn't that important because this episode is All About Buffy!
However, I can't help but feel a little gypped. Not by the plot, itself, but by some of the events in it that are never really explained. One of the big questions that's just left hanging is if Finch were looking for the Slayers to offer help against the Mayor. If that were the case, then it seems likely that he helped get the crazy, sword-wielding vamp into the Mayor's office. If not, then I have no clue how (or why) the vamp got there.
Balthazar, while amusing (And, for some reason, he reminds me of Davros from Doctor Who...I think it's the voice) isn't very important in the long run.
Officially, Balthazar is the baddie. However, the true baddie is Buffy's rebellion and the results from that.
The Ascension finally gets a mention as we see the Mayor make preparations for it. He's even counting down from 100 days. Additionally, he's made himself invincible.
Also, something interesting to consider, The Mayor is a fan of Family Circus, which is actually rather telling as to his personality. Family Circus is a wholesome, family comic strip. As the Mayor proclaims to Faith later in the season, he's a family man. More importantly, though, nobody ages in Family Circus. We'll find out that the Mayor's been around for quite some time without any sign of aging.
Let's not also overlook his comment that PJ is becoming a handful. PJ is the youngest of the children in the strip. An argument could be made for Faith being the youngest "child" so to speak in that she is the newest Slayer. And in this very episode, she becomes a handful...more than just a handful.
Due to some unexplained plot points (Finch's actions) and some very poor character work on Buffy, I can't rate this episode as highly as I would like. We do get the important point of our Slayers being responsible for the death of human. This will be explored fully in the following episode, though.
On the good side of the equation (What keeps the episode from getting a "below average" score) is the wonderful interaction of all our characters with Wesley, especially Buffy and Giles teaming up against him. Also, I always enjoy the Mayor, but I especially enjoy his scenes in this episode.
Special performance award goes to David Boreanaz for getting his head stuck in the demon fat. That must have been an odd day of filming.
5 out of 10. Unfortunately, this episode fails more than it succeeds, but it does have some worthy moments.
Buffy's first meeting of Wesley in the library with Giles. This is the perfect example of Giles and Buffy siding together against authority (As represented by Wesley in this case). Giles and Buffy work together so well. And let's not forget Faith's short entrance.
Episode 3.13: The Zeppo | Episode 3.15: Consequences
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