Classics: BtVS 3:16 - Dopplegangland

Overall Rating: 8.5

All in all, though this episode is quite hilarious, it is a bit of a break from the slew of feature-worthy episodes that conclude third season and revisits an alternate reality that probably shouldn't have been revisited.

Plot Synopsis:

A full recap can be found here thanks to BuffyGuide.com.

The Skinny:

Everyone take a deep breath...we just had four hours of feature-quality Buffy goodness in a row and now we're getting a week off before we dive right back into a huge streak of awesomeness. Unfortunately, the fact that I can say that probably indicates there are problems with this particular bit of filler. And yes...I would consider this a filler episode, which is surprising...usually Joss Whedon doesn't write the fillers (he wrote this one himself). It's got the usual assortment of witty banter and it's got Alyson Hannigan playing both sultry evil vamp-Willow and cute and innocent Willow (I have fond memories of watching this one with my family and my parents EXPLODING with laughter when Willow sees herself in vamp-Willow's chest-heaving corset and utters "oooh...look at THOSE!" in total amazement...LOL) with equal skill. But...the plot is well-worn in sci-fi/fantasy and...well...not all that interesting when compared with what just happened with Faith and what's about to happen to end the season.

OK...the dialogue is in fact very...very funny in many places. It's certainly an entertaining episode, don't get me wrong. I just don't think I see much of a message to get excited about (the best Buffy scripts feature the monstervision version of some important life lesson, IMHO) and I don't really get into mirror-verse repeats in any genre. Even the great writers on the crew of Deep Space Nine managed to kill the Crossover Universe they had going with too much love. Thankfully, Buffy never goes there again...so this can be viewed as the light romp through the wish-verse as opposed to the serious and frightening look we got before. In that vein, I've got no problem scoring this well highly.

Writing: 9.0

The plot may be old hat, but Willow's many...many one-liners in this one really are uproariously funny. And I'm a sucker for Willow being awesome...so...take this nine and shove it in your pipe...I ain't objective and I like it that way! :)

Acting: 9.5

Actually, more credit should actually go to the acting than the writing...even SMG pulled off some great reaction takes in the presence of Willow being awesome. The star, of course, was Alyson Hannigan, and you can't go wrong with that.

Message: 7.0

There is a tiny little message hidden in the comedy...Willow sometimes worries that she's not as edgy and spontaneous as even her rather predictable friends, and has spent her life hiding in the background for fear of not fitting in with the cool kids. This episode raises a big thumbs up to being dependable, modest and moral over being hypersexual and edgy. Willow gets to see what happens (in the extreme) when you stop being boring...it's not always a good thing.

Highlights:

D'Hoffryn: (sternly interrupts) Your powers were a gift of the lower beings. You have proved unworthy of them.
Anya: I was robbed of them.
D'Hoffryn: By your carelessness.
Anya: (dramatically) For a thousand years I wielded the powers of The Wish. I brought ruin to the heads of unfaithful men. I brought forth destruction and chaos for the pleasure of the lower beings. I was feared and worshipped across the mortal globe. (disgustedly) And now I'm stuck at Sunnydale High. Mortal. Child. And I'm flunking math. (LOL!)
D'Hoffryn: This is no concern of ours. You will live out your mortal life and die.
Anya: Give me another chance. You can fold the fabric of time. Send me back to that place and I'll change it. I won't fail again.
D'Hoffryn: Your time is passed.
Anya: (desperately) Do you have any idea how boring twelfth graders are? (LOL...indeed) I'm getting my power center back. (defiantly) And if you won't help me, then, by the pestilent gods, I will find someone who will!

Buffy: (watches Willow levitate and spin a pencil with her mind) Neat.
Willow: Thanks. It's all about emotional control. Plus, obviously, magic. (looks at Buffy, giddily) Hey, you wanna go to the Espresso Pump and get sugared up on mochas?
Buffy: I'm gonna pass. Hit the pool and do some laps.
Willow: (bewildered) How come the sudden calisthenics? Aren't you sort of naturally buff, Buff? (smiles and giggles) Buff buff. (Willow is sooooo cute!!)
Buffy: Well, they've got us running around on the physical side, too. A lot of reflex evaluation and precision training, you know. I-I just... Well, I-I wanna do...
Willow: Better than Faith?
Buffy: (embarrassed) So very shallow.
Willow: (sits up) Competition is natural and healthy. Plus, you'll definitely ace her on the psych tests. Just don't mark the box that says, 'I sometimes like to kill people.'
Buffy: (ruefully) I know Faith's not gonna be on the cover of Sanity Fair, but... she had it rough. Different circumstances, that could be me.
Willow: (shakes her head) No way. Some people just don't have that in them.
Buffy: Look, I'm sorry. I-I know how you hate talking about Faith.
Willow: No, it's okay.
Buffy: No, really, we should just... (glances at the pencil)
Willow: No. I-it doesn't bother me. I mean it...
Buffy: (notices the pencil) Uh, Will?
Willow: (looks at it) Oh. (The pencil is spinning wildly. An instant later it darts off and buries itself deeply into a tree. - LOL)
Buffy: Emotional control? (heh)

Mayor Wilkins: (musingly) That's very interesting. (regarding Faith tattling on Willow)
Faith: Yeah, I thought so, too. (looks around) Are you serious about this place? (continues exploring)
Mayor Wilkins: Of course I am. No Slayer of *mine* is gonna live in a fleabag hotel. That place has a very unsavory reputation. There are immoral liaisons going on there. (wow...he's so wholesome...and yet so evil...)
Faith: (checks out the kitchen) Yeah, plus all the screwing. (LOL!!) This place is the kick!
Mayor Wilkins: We'll keep your old place, in case you need to see your
friends there, but from now on...(Faith jumps up on the bed and bounces.) Oh, hey, hey, hey! Shoes! Shoes! (Faith hops off of the bed and goes up to the Mayor.)
Faith: (smiling sultrily) Thanks, Sugar Daddy.
Mayor Wilkins: (admonishingly) Now, Faith, I don't find that sort of thing amusing. I'm a family man.
Mayor Wilkins: (briskly) Now, let's kill your little friend. (ROTFL!!!!)

Willow: Me tutoring you. Your, your history paper?
Percy: Oh, yeah, yeah. Snyder said *you* were gonna do it.
Willow: (surprised) He never said that.
Percy: (gives her an obnoxious look) What meeting were *you* at?
Willow: Look, I-I'll get the books you need. Just meet me at lunch and...
Percy: (interrupts) No, no, no. I don't have any time at lunch. I gotta hang out.
Willow: Well...
Percy: What, what, you got something better to do? Just type it up and put my name on it. Oh, and don't type too good. Dead giveaway. (Willow can't believe his attitude and sinks down on one of the benches dejectedly. She takes off her pack, reaches in and pulls out a banana.)
Willow: (with resolve) I'm eating this now. (daringly) It's not lunchtime, I don't even care. (awww...LOL)

Buffy: See, I told you. Old Reliable.
Willow: (sourly) Oh, thanks.
Buffy: What?
Willow: 'Old Reliable'? Yeah, great. (reprovingly) *There's* a sexy nickname.
Buffy: Well, I-I didn't mean it as...
Willow: No, it's fine. I'm 'Old Reliable'.
Xander: She just means, you know, the geyser. You're like a geyser of fun that goes off at regular intervals.
Willow: (disgustedly) That's Old Faithful.
Xander: Isn't that the dog that, that the guy had to shoot...
Willow: (incensed) That's Old Yeller.
Buffy: Xander, I beg you not to help me. Will, I-I didn't mean it as a bad thing. I-I think it's good to be reliable.
Willow: (stands up, annoyed) Well, maybe I don't *wanna* be reliable all the time. Maybe I'm not just some doormat person. Homework Gal.
Xander: I'm thinking nerve strike. (Willow huffs at him and starts to go, but turns back.)
Willow: Maybe I'll change my look! Or cut class. You don't know. (holds up her banana defiantly) And I'm eating this banana. Lunchtime be damned!(I just want to hug and squeeze her until she's no bigger than a grape...wow...LOL)

Willow: That was... W-w-what was that? (slowly stands up)
Anya: (feels for her necklace in the sands) Oh, it's not here. (pounds the floor, frustrated) It's not here!
Willow: Okay, that's a little blacker than I like my arts.
Anya: Oh, don't be such a wimp.
Willow: That, that-that wasn't just some temporal fold, that was some weird Hell place. I-I don't think you're telling me everything.
Anya: I swear, I am just trying to find my necklace.
Willow: (indignantly) Well, did you try looking inside the sofa *in Hell*? (Bhahahahahahaaaa!!)
Anya: Look, (smiles sweetly) we'll just try it again, and...
Willow: (steps back) No! I-I think emphatically not!

Evil Willow: (thrilled) Xander!
Xander: Will, changing the look not an idle threat with you.
Evil Willow: (smiles widely) You're alive! (She hugs him, running her hands sensuously over his neck and back.)
Xander: Uh... Will, this is verging on naughty touching here. (her hands go further down) Don't wanna fall back on bad habits. (her hands reach his butt) (jumps, surprised) Hands! Hands in new places! (LOL! Xander avoiding sexual contact is always hilarious)
Evil Willow: (realizes, confused, revolted) You're alive.

Buffy: Aren't you gonna introduce me to your... (recognizes) Holy *God*, you're Willow. (LOL!!)
Evil Willow: You.
Buffy: You know what? (smiles supportively) I, I like the look. It's, um... it's, it's extreme, but it, it, it looks good, you know, it's a (breathes deeply) leather thing, and, uh... (to Xander) I said extreme already, right? (this is just hilarious)
Evil Willow: (steps up to Buffy, eyes narrowed with hatred) I don't like you.
Buffy: (taken aback) Will, I'm sorry about today. You know how my foot likes to live in my mouth. (puzzled) But you know... y-you really didn't have to prove anything.

Evil Willow: Who do you work for?
Alfonse: I'm not telling you a thing. (With a half-smile, she takes one of his fingers and bends it back sharply, breaking it. He screams in pain.)
Evil Willow: (still smiling) Who do you work for?
Alfonse: (gives in) Wilkins. The Mayor. (She takes another finger and breaks it, too. Again he cries out in pain.)
Evil Willow: *Who* do you work for? (bats her eyes suggestively)
Alfonse: (gets it) You.
Evil Willow: (commands) Get your friends. Bring them here. The world's no fun anymore. (smiles evilly) We're gonna make it the way it was. Starting with the Bronze. (awesomely evil...)

Xander: (takes a breath) This isn't real.
Buffy: (numbly) I can't feel anything. Arms, legs, anything.
Giles: She was truly the finest of all of us.
Xander: Way better than me.
Giles: (nods decisively) Much, much better. (ouch!)

Buffy: (breathlessly) Willow, you're alive?
Willow: (puzzled) Aren't I usually? (Without any further hesitation, Buffy hops to Willow and hugs her ferociously)
Buffy: Oh! (Willow is surprised, and lets out a little groan from the tightness of the embrace. An instant later Xander is also hugging her for all he's worth.)
Willow: (wonderingly) I love you guys, too? (long beat) Okay. Oxygen becoming an issue. (They both let go, smiling at her with tears in their eyes.)
Willow: Giles, what's going on with these... (Before she can finish she finds herself being warmly embraced again by the normally reserved Watcher.)
Willow: Oh!
Giles: Oh. Sorry. (backs away - aaaaaaaawwwww...we wub Giles)
Willow: (still wondering) It's really nice that you guys missed me. (wide-eyed) Say, you all didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs, did ya? (BWWWAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!)
Xander: (breathless) Will, we saw you at the Bronze. A vampire.
Willow: I'm not a *vampire*.
Buffy: You are. (gets a look from Willow) I-I mean, you, you were. (very confused) Giles, planning on jumping in with an explanation any time soon?
Giles: (very unsure) Well, uh... something... something, um, very strange is happening.
Xander: Can you believe the Watcher's Council let this guy go? (snerk)

Willow: This is creepy. I don't like the thought that there's a vampire out there that looks like me.
Xander: Not looks like. Is.
Buffy: It was exactly you, Will, every detail. Except for your not being a dominatrix. (uneasily) As far as we know.
Willow: (rolls her eyes, grins sardonically) Oh, right. Me and Oz play 'Mistress of Pain' every night.(Giles furrows his brow. Buffy and Xander's eyes glaze over.)
Xander: Did anyone else just go to a scary visual place? (hehehehe...)
Buffy: Oh, yeah.

Evil Willow: Your little school friend Anya said that you're the one that brought me here. She said that you could get me back to my world.
Willow: Oh. (gets it) Oh! Oops!
Evil Willow: But I don't know... (smiles wickedly) I kinda *like* the idea of the two of us. (She turns Willow around again, caressing her shoulders.) We could be quite a team, (meaningfully) if you came around to *my* way of thinking.
Willow: Would that mean we have to snuggle?
Evil Willow: (What do you say? (She gives Willow's neck an eager, lengthy lick. Willow shudders with loathing and grimaces at the feeling.) Wanna be bad?
Willow: This just can't get more disturbing. (Evil Willow growls horribly with desire and bares her teeth behind Willow's neck. Willow freaks out and whirls around, stepping back and away from her.) Ack! Ew! No more! You're really starting to freak me out! (LOL!)

Giles: (dumbfounded) It's extraordinary.
Willow: It's horrible! That's me as a vampire? (Angel closes the door) I'm so evil and... skanky. (aside to Buffy, worried) And I think I'm kinda gay. (HA! Indeed)
Buffy: (reassuringly) Willow, just remember, a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was.
Angel: (without thinking) Well, actually... (gets a look from Buffy) That's a good point. (LOL)

Buffy: Are you okay in that? (referring to good Willow in Evil Willow's outfit)
Willow: It's a little binding. I guess vampires really don't have to breathe. (notices her cleavage) Gosh, look at those. (Just hilarious...LOL)
Giles: (stammers) Um, ahem, Willow, you, uh, you go in and defuse the situation as best you can. At least try and get some of them to come out and even up the odds a bit.
Buffy: First sign of trouble, you give us a signal. We come in hard and fast.
Xander: What *is* the signal?
Willow: Me screaming.

Anya: (incredulous) H-how could you kill her? She was our best shot at getting your world back.
Willow: I don't like that you dare question me.
Willow: (now enjoying herself) Maybe I'll have my minions take you out
back and kill you horribly. (She sneaks Oz a little smile and wave. He barely reacts, just raising an eyebrow a bit. Anya follows her onto the dance floor.)
Anya: (muttering) Vampires. Always thinking with your teeth.
Willow: (haughtily) She bothered me. She's so weak and accommodating. She's always letting people walk all over her, (turns to face her) and then she gets cranky with her friends for no reason. I just *couldn't* let her live. (heh)
Willow: (chummily to another idiot crony) You know, he's been gone for a while. Why don't you go check on him? (pats his shoulder approvingly and he heads out to die as well)

Buffy: You wanna go out tonight?
Willow: Strangely, I feel like staying at home... (sadly) and doing my homework... and flossing... and dying a virgin. (ROTFL!!!)
Buffy: (sagely) You know, you can O.D. on virtue.
Willow: Between me and my evil self, I've got double guilt coupons. I see now where the path of vice leads. I mean, she messed up everything she touched. I don't ever want to be like that. (good for you sweetie...stay who you are. :) )