Overall Rating: 8.0
Two new characters - and oh what characters they are! - arrive in Sunnydale and we finally have bad guys worth caring about. Hooray! More importantly, this episode is actually a riotous good time on several fronts.
Plot Synopsis:
It's every teenager's worst nightmare. Nothing any of us can fathom is as horrifying as parent teacher night for a student on the edge of failure. That is...unless you're the slayer. Then you can conjure up that horrifying encounter while you're battling a horde of rampaging vampires and your mother's in the cross-hairs! I've jumped ahead a tad, so let's backtrack. Snyder gleefully taunts Buffy about her impending doom - parent-tecaher night has arrived and she's failing half of her classes and barely passing the others. If her grades don't improve and soon, she'll be expelled. Knowing how painful it was for her mother the last time she "fell in with the wrong crowd" (ehem), Buffy is panic-stricken, trying to find a way to keep her mother away from Principal Snyder, who intends to blow her dirty little secret.
The storm clouds surrounding the school begin gather the night before the big shin-dig when a newcomer stages a ploy at the Bronze to get Buffy to reveal herself as the Slayer. It seems Spike - the British chap with a penchant for ramming railroad spikes through his victims and two dead slayers on his scorecard - has big ambitions. He intends to kill the new Slayer before he's made a formal introduction. He convinces the flock of flunkies still following The Anointed One that they can trap the Slayer and that he and his completely nutso girlfriend Drusilla can entrap the slayer at the school.
Buffy, barely aware of Spike's arrival, let alone his big plans for conquest (despite Giles' warnings about the time of St. Vigeous - the night when vampires the world over reach their greatest strength), has her own problems, of course. Not only is her mother about the hear the horror story that is Buffy's academic performance and disciplinary record under Commandant Snyder, but she's been ordered to help set up the decorations for the big night. Before Spike arrives with his goons to ransack the school, she spends all her time attempting to make Snyder believe she's doing her part to help the school on this occasion while simultaneously keeping Joyce away from her nemesis.
She barely seems to be managing for a time, but just as Joyce encounters Snyder and their meeting seems not to go well, Spike arrives and his army traps Buffy and her mother (and Snyder). He and Buffy duke it out in a rather spectacular hand to hand sequence and Spike gains the upper hand, nearly feeding on Buffy before Joyce sneaks up behind him and clocks him on the back of the head with an axe! You go girl! Unfortunately, all of the festivities do nothing to convince Snyder to go easy on Buffy and Joyce has already gotten an earful from him anyway, so even after the bad guys disperse, Buffy fears the worst. However, having seen how capable Buffy is, Joyce doesn't take the news too hard and a mild grounding is the worst of her fate.
Writing: 7.5
Pretty much from now on, every time Drusilla appears, the writing score is going to go up. Spike is a well conceived, well acted, well written character, especially later on as he gains depth, but Drusilla in these early seasons is just plain awesome from a literary perspective. Thankfully, the writers finally managed to do away with all lingering stench from the maudlin, poorly written villains of the first season with the death of the Anointed One. And, although this episode was primarily an actioner and thus not SUPER-heavy on the thrilling dialog, it flowed nicely and is a very enjoyable hour.
Acting: 10.0
James Marsters (Spike - who will soon become a regular, he's so good), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers, of course), Juliet Landau (who's got a long career on the legitimate stage for good reason as she shows playing Drusilla), Robia LaMorte (Jenny Calendar) and Armin Shimerman (Snyder) - that's like a who's who of the show's best guest character actors! Everyone is on their game this week...even David Boreanez (with whom I am generally not impressed), who did a pretty good job playing a guy playing evil (and not convincingly enough to sell Spike on it). This episode falls short of feature status for lack of spine-tingling script and for lack of a ringing message I can fully back - but hey...the acting certainly isn't standing in the way.
Message: 6.5
It's wonderful to be selfless, capable, and intelligent in a fight. It's a very important skill to have in this day in age, especially if you're a woman. And Buffy's natural leadership capabilities and strong moral compass show every time she gets into it with vamps in the presence of innocent bystanders. We'll get to see a stark contrast in the third season when Faith arrives, and that will make us appreciate Buffy's better qualities all the more. But, you know...I think it goes a little too farto give Buffy a pass on her academic shortcomings and her lack of scholarly discipline...even given her calling. I don't mean to sound...well...mean...but is it really a good idea to send the message to parents that as long as their kids are basically good people and street-wise in their own defense, the rest doesn't matter? It's not a major negative note...I just find it...mildly disconcerting...it seems to be a part of the general dumbing down of America. Our expectations for our children get lower every passing year...a regrettable trend to say the least.
Highlights:
SNYDER: Well, it is quite a match between you two. On the one hand, Buffy hasn't stabbed a horticulture teacher with a trowel.
SHEILA: I didn't stab anyone with a trowel. They were pruning shears.
SNYDER: On the other hand, Sheila has never burned down a school building.
BUFFY: W-well, that was never proven. The Fire Marshall said i-it coulda been mice.
SNYDER: Mice.
BUFFY: M-mice that were smoking? (LOL)
SNYDER: The two of you seem to be tied in the class-cutting and fight-starting events. You really are neck and neck here. It's quite exciting.
SHEILA: What does the winner get?
SNYDER: Expelled. (Buffy looks at him in shock) Thursday is Parent-Teacher night. Your parents, assuming you have any, will meet your teachers, assuming you have any left. (LOL)
XANDER: Well, Sheila's definitely intense. That guy with her? That's the guy she *can* bring home to mother.
WILLOW: She was already smoking in fifth grade. Once I was lookout for her.
XANDER: (to Willow) You're bad to the bone.
WILLOW: I'm a rebel.
BUFFY: It's not fair. I'm the Slayer. That requires a certain amount of cutting and fighting. What's Sheila's excuse?
XANDER: Homework. She won't do it. And most teachers respect that now. Oh, you might wanna keep away any sharp implements when you're working with her.
BUFFY: Do you think any other Slayers ever had to go to high school?
XANDER: It's no biggie. You'll have a nice soire'e. The parents will love it. As long as nothing really bad happens between now and then, you'll be fine.
BUFFY: Are you crazy? What did you say that for? Now something bad is gonna happen! (LOL - yep!)
XANDER: Whadaya mean? Nothing's gonna happen.
WILLOW: Not until some dummy says, 'as long as nothing bad happens.'
BUFFY: It's the ultimate jinx!
WILLOW: What were you thinking? Or were you even thinking at all?
XANDER: Well, you guys don't know. (hugs his satchel) Maybe this time it'll be different. (sorry, Xander...this is TV :) )
VAMP #1: When I kill her, it'll be the greatest event since the crucifixion. And I should know. I was there.
SPIKE: (appears behind them) *You* were *there*? (chuckles) Oh, please! If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock.
VAMP #1: I oughta rip your throat out.
SPIKE: (turns his back to him and strolls away) I was actually at Woodstock. That was a weird gig. I fed off a flowerperson, and I spent the next six hours watchin' my hand move. (LOL)
DRUSILLA: (to Collin) Do you like daisies? Hmm? I plant them, but they always die. Everything I put in the ground withers and dies. (looks up and off into space) Spike? I'm cold. (OK...I just love how Drusilla is written...it's some delightfully sweet and yet so completely insane and freaky...LOL)
SPIKE: (puts his jacket around her) I've got you.
DRUSILLA: I'm a princess.
SPIKE: That's what you are. (She pricks Spike on the cheek with her fingernail, and a bead of blood flows out. She reaches up and licks it off. They move close to kiss but don't, and instead look over at Collin.)
SPIKE: Me and Dru, we're movin' in. (they separate) Now. Any of you want to test who's got the biggest wrinklies 'round here... step on up. (to Collin) I'll do your Slayer for you. But you keep your flunkies from tryin' anything behind my back. Deal?
(Collin nods. Drusilla bows her head down and puts her hands to her temples.)
DRUSILLA: I can't see her. The Slayer. I can't see. (looks back up) It's dark where she is. Kill her. Kill her, Spike. Kill her for me?
SPIKE: It's done, baby.
DRUSILLA: Kill her for princess?
SPIKE: I'll chop her into messes.
BUFFY: La vache... doit me... touche... de la... jeudi. (looks at Willow) Was it wrong? Should I use the plural?
WILLOW: No. But you said, 'The cow should touch me from Thursday.' (hee)
BUFFY: Maybe that's what I was feeling. (LOL!!)
WILLOW: And you said it wrong.
BUFFY: Oh, je stink. (poor Buffy...I feel her pain)
SPIKE: Now, that hurt! (He pulls his arm out of the wall, ripping a stud out with it, and swings it into Buffy's face. She flies back and lands on the floor.) But not as much as this will. (He stands over her and wields back the stud to slam it into her, but he gets hit in the head with the ax. He goes sprawling to the floor and looks up at his attacker. Joyce stands above him with the ax in her hands, ready to swing again.)
JOYCE: You get the hell away from my daughter! (Spike holds the stud above himself to protect against any blows. Buffy gets to her feet.)
SPIKE: Women! (He gets up and runs through the lounge and out the broken window.)
JOYCE: (exhales and drops the ax) Nobody lays a hand on my little girl. (AWESOME!)
BUFFY: So, what did you and Principal Snyder talk about anyway?
JOYCE: Principal Snyder said you were a troublemaker. (Buffy looks down in shame.) And I could care less. (Buffy looks back up.) I have a daughter who can take care of herself. Who's brave and resourceful and thinks of others in a crisis. No matter who you hang out with or what dumb teenage stuff you think you need to do, I'm gonna sleep better knowing all that. (aww :) )
BUFFY: About how long till this wears off and you start ragging on me again?
JOYCE: Oh, at least a week and a half.
BUFFY: Very cool!
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