Overall Rating: 6.6
I would say that this episode is a much more enjoyable season opener than what we got in "When She Was Bad" at the beginning of season two...but I think Whedon and company were way...way too uncreative in their story telling. The direct parallel between Buffy's voluntary denial of self and the forced denial of individuality in Ken's demon dimension was obvious without Ken needing to give a really lame speech on the topic, and some of the needless expository montages and goofy dream sequences were...um...quite amateurish.
Plot Synopsis:
A full synopsis may be found here. Thanks again to BuffyGuide.com The short comment here would be that there were essentially two stories lumped together by the common theme: "things really suck when Buffy isn't around." :)
Writing: 5.0
Buffy's unwilling sidekick in this episode - a runaway named Lily - was painfully poorly written and downright annoying for most of the episode. I really wish they'd have tried harder to make us care about the kids Buffy charged herself with protecting even as she tried to hide from her own identity. But then...as I mentioned above...I feel like this episode was a jumble of needed plot points smashed together into a rushed, cardboard-cutout episode full of very heavy-handed speechifying by the bad guy and heavy-handed direction by Joss Whedon. The rebirth of Buffy's source of inner strength and power...that's a story that needs to be told with less brass and electric guitar (metaphorically) and more subtlety and care for true human nature. Why Joss felt the need to have so many obligatory cornball montage sequences and really big, show-stopping camera shots (which will go on to be used in the show's theme for years to come, unfortunately) is beyond me. What was needed here was a gentle touch. One demon shouldn't be all it takes to rouse Buffy's inner bad-ass. Show...don't tell, Joss. We don't need so much hand-holding to "get it"...either with the camera or in the dialogue.
The script is not without its charming moments...some good witty conversation between Willow and Oz, for example...but there's a lot of shoehorning good partial ideas into the running storyline too quickly (for example, why did we suddenly go back to awkward Xander/Cordelia? She goes away for the summer and suddenly, she is back to not being comfortable around her geek anymore? We were making good headway in maturing Cordy without losing her uniquely oblivious and quirky humor...why take that away without an explanation?)...I consider this an opportunity lost.
Acting: 7.2
SMG does a credible job with the script she's given here...we needed to go from totally defeated, frightening teenage girl to superhero in one episode (because the script demanded it...Joss rushed this transition entirely too much...not SMG's fault) and we did get both modes with as much of a gradual transition as humanly possible. Seth Green's arrival as a regular on BtVS went well and he and Alyson Hannigan showed off their great chemistry quite nicely. I rather detested both Julia Lee (Lily) and Carlos Jacott (Ken), though...so althoguh the regulars are right back to their usual high standards, the guest cast is rather painful. Jacott in particular was so unserious in his presentation that there were moments when watching this episode for the first time where I actually burst out laughing when I should have been watching intently.
Message: 7.5
As poor as the execution was, there's no doubt in my mind that the story Joss was trying to tell was one that very much needed to be told to get us back into the show after he worked so hard to utterly destroy his hero. And once again, without even realizing it, Joss has been channeling his Judeo-Christian societal lineage when he makes a point of showing in no uncertain terms that if we deny the divine gift God has given us - our very identity (soul) - in response to the burdens that come with that identity, we may think we're avoiding pain, but all we're doing is making things worse (even suicide is not an end...it's simply a giant step backwards on the path to enlightenment for our eternal soul). After being crushed with the pain of her destiny as the slayer, Buffy tries to hide from God...and all that does is cost her her freedom and her individuality and make things worse for a lot of other people close to her. We are not all of us heroes on Buffy's level with an obvious gift/mission written into our future in indelible ink - but we will all face problems of all shapes and sizes that come directly from the kind of person God made us to be, and we won't solve those problems by trying to deny who we are or hide from God.
Highlights:
XANDER: I can't wait to see Cordelia. I can't believe I can't wait to see Cordelia.
WILLOW: I wonder what our first homework assignment's gonna be. Hey, you're excited over Cordelia, okay? We've all got issues. (LOL)
OZ: I don't know. I think we're kinda getting a rhythm down.
XANDER: We're losing half the vamps.
OZ: Yeah, but... rhythmically. (better to be stylish than good, right Oz? :) )
WILLOW: I'm trying to get to 'cute,' really, but I'm still sorta stuck on 'strange.'
OZ: Well, I'd be willing to bargain down to 'eccentric' with an option on 'cool.'
XANDER: You don't hide. You're bait. Go act baity.
CORDELIA: What's the plan?
XANDER: The vampire attacks you.
CORDELIA: And then what?
XANDER: The vampire kills you. We watch, we rejoice. (heh)
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