av Mr Chase » fre mar 19, 2004 4:54
Mr Chase is a hoot and a half, and doesn't believe in leprechauns:
37. Faith, Hope and Trick
All right, after a shaky season start, "Buffy" is back on track. Three new characters, and an old one, appears to rock the foundations of our little gang. First of all, Faith just rocks! It is absolutely impossible not to dig this girl. Just the thing they need to introduce and mess up the intra-personal dynamics between the Scoobies. The sassy and sexy "bad" slayer with an attitude is a nice contrast to both the gloom-and-doom that is now Buffy and the by-the-book slayer Kendra, who she replaced. I never liked Kendra but I just love Faith. And between Kendra and Faith, Buffy seems quite normal.
The second name of the title refers to Scott Hope, a potential new boy interest for Buffy. But as much as I took Faith to my heart, I really disliked Scott. He's just too damn *normal* and that's a bad thing in the Buffyverse. For crying out loud, there is just *no way* that he and Buffy ever could have a normal relationship. "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" showed us that much. So why on earth does the Slayerettes want to nudge Buffy in that direction? Scott would become demon fodder faster than you could say "Buster Keaton" if they were to pursue this. Someone please put him out of his misery! Besides, Angel's returned and that's bound to get ugly one way or the other.
Thirdly, the appearance of the suave Mr Trick as a new villain is much better. He's no Spike, but he's better than the Master. And his "boss", the cloven Kakistos, was just a convenient plot device to explain his and Faith's arrival. But you got to admire his down-to-earth attitude ("There's a reason these vengeance crusades are out of style. It's the modern vampire who sees the big picture.") when he abandons Kakistos. And the scene with the pizza delivery guy and the protective glove was ROTFL.
By the way, the title is a play on the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
We also learn for the first time that there is a Watchers' Council with a seat on the British Isles. Their mission is to find and train potential slayers. Of them Joss Whedon says: "There are Watchers all over the world because although there are potential Slayers all over the world, it is never known until the last one dies which one will be called. Sometimes a Watcher can find a potential and train her, sometimes they cannot interfere in her life sometimes they don't find them (like Buffy) until after the other has died."
Interestingly enough, they ruling body of ayatollahs in Iran is called The Watchers' Council (sometimes translated from Farsi as Guardians' Council). Hopefully no relation!
Kakistos was a big disappointment. This old and supposedly extremely scary vamp was wasted way too easily and you couldn't really understand why the otherwise so self-assured kick-ass Faith would get paralysed around him. Granted she gave us hints but those didn't deliver in the end. Regarding his cloves Joss Whedon says: "Kakistos was old, that causes the clovenness. Remember the Master? He looked a lot like a bat (with fruitpunch mouth). The idea is that the older they get, the more animalistic but not necessarily the same animal. They devolve. That's my theory."
This episode also marks the end of they totally redundant, but contractually obligated, dream sequences featuring Angel. His return was no big surprise since David Boreanaz had been in the credits from the beginning of the season. And of course there is a spin-off show called "Angel" on. For dramatic purposes I’m not very comfortable with it, the return I mean. When a character dies, he should stay dead. Otherwise the audience will feel cheated and the impact of a character dying lessens. Hell, I very much liked Ms Calendar, can I (not to mention Giles) please have her back, Joss? If this resurrection thing is going to become a Whedon trademark I will never ever take a death seriously again in the Buffyverse, since chances are that they're going to pull a deus ex machina on us. And I don't care how well the causes for the restorations are being presented. As it is here, there is no explanation whatsoever as to what brought Angel back. I saw the Claddagh ring, yeah, but so what! Did it mean anything to the hell from which Angel supposedly came? Maybe I'm rambling but these things kind of bugs me.
The way Giles finally lures the truth about how Angel died from Buffy is outstanding in its trickiness but we all know that he did it because he cares so much about her. And he really knows her way better than I think anybody suspects. Buffy hadn't until that time told anyone that Angel's soul was returned just before she had to kill him, and Giles was the only one that suspected that there was more behind the story. "There is no spell." Priceless.
Cordelia is still the jealous type (despite her good looks) but I guess that around Xander the Hormone Boy you have to be. He's a bit too interested in picturing a nude Slut-o-Rama slayer wrestling with alligators or some such thing (Cordelia to Xander: "Find a new theme!"). But she might have a solution ;-)
Cordelia: "What is it with you and Slayers? Maybe I should dress up as one and put a stake to your throat."
Xander: "Please, God, don't let that be sarcasm."
As always there is a lot of funny dialogue in this episode. Cordelia being her tactless self:
Willow: "Maybe we shouldn't be too couply around Buffy."
Cordelia: "Oh, you mean 'cause of how the only guy that ever liked her turned into a vicious killer and had to be put down like a dog?"
Xander: "Can she cram complex issues into a nutshell, or what?"
And this little thing slipped right by the network censors:
Willow: (to Buffy) "But I think you're ready now, or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation, or-or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like... Oh! I didn't mean the *bad* thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing that you... (to Oz) You're supposed to stop me when I do that."
Oz: "I like when you do that."
Now I have to get a certain mental image out of my head. Not that it's a bad image or anything, but I have to concentrate. Maybe this will help:
Faith: "Isn't it crazy how slayin' just always makes you hungry and horny?"
Buffy: "Well, sometimes I crave a non-fat yoghurt afterwards.
Nah, but how about this one, when Willow hears some noise:
Willow: "That's not what making out sounds like, unless I'm doing it wrong."
Okay, it is getting tough to stay focused now. Last try:
Faith: "Well, when I'm fighting, it's like the whole world goes away and I only know one thing: that I'm gonna win and they're gonna lose. I like that feelin'."
Buffy: "Well, sure. Beats that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose."
Right, now I'm back. Phew... that was a close call!
Willow: "Oz is a werewolf."
Buffy: "It's a long story."
Oz: "I got bit."
Buffy: "Apparently not that long."
Faith: "Hey, as long as you don't go scratchin' at me or humpin' my leg, we're five-by-five, you know?"
Oz: "Fair enough."
Faith: "The vamps, though, they better get their asses to DefCon One, 'cause you and I are gonna have fun, you know, Watcherless and fancy-free."
The term five-by-five is military comm lingo meaning the best volume and clarity a radio signal can give, essentially saying "loud and clear". DefCon refers to the Defence Condition of the United States, of which there are five, ranging from peace (five) to all out war (one).
Oh, I almost forgot. Buffy's back in school. Principal Snyder and the Mayor seems to lack some influence over the school board. But then again, American public school boards are actually independent of other local authorities.
Rupert Giles: "I'll be back in the Middle Ages."
Miss Calendar: "Did you ever leave?"