Buffy Blog

Episode 701: Lessons

Story:
Dawn starts high school and Buffy's worried she'll be killed or eaten or something. Indeed, there are deadly ghost zombies roaming around, the spirits of people killed in the school whom Buffy failed to protect. Dawn meets some new friends, a guy and girl terrorized by the ghouls into hiding in the basement. Dawn shows a lot of bravery and wits under pressure, but ultimately it's a good thing Buffy comes to save her. Buffy also gets a part-time job as a guidance counselor from the new, handsome young principal, and meets Spike, who is half out of his head after having his soul restored.

Meanwhile, Willow recovers in England from having gone mad. Giles assures her the magic powers she developed can never be removed or shut off; she's going to have to learn to live with them. Willow senses something very bad happening, or more nearly about to happen, as the Earth's teeth show themselves. She says the Hellmouth (located under the principal's office!) is going to open, and suck everything into it.

But the most powerful scene occurs at the very end, when Warren, the villain from Season Six, taunts Spike that he's like nothing Spike, or Buffy, will ever understand. During his speech, Warren says the next few months will be very interesting, as we go "back to the beginning", and as he speaks, he becomes Glory, Adam, the Mayor, Drusilla, and the Master, and finally Buffy herself.

Thoughts:
This episode presages a deliberate return to the very early Buffy shows: brightly lit high school sets, plucky but hapless teens, gloating villains and martial arts. The prospect of the Hellmouth opening was the big calamity in Season One, as you'll recall.

I am pleased they didn't decide to de-power Willow. One of the problems with superhero shows is as the hero gains in power and skill, whole genres of adventure stories get closed off. Trapped in the wilderness? Yeah, it's an ordeal for the Sopranos, but once young Clark Kent learns to fly, being lost isn't exactly an hour-episode problem any more. Gangsters rough up your sister? A serious matter for Xander Harris, not so much for the Highlander. Similarly, Willow-the-mega-witch can just poof away a lot of problems that would have given Season One Willow (here I go sliding into toy dialect again; Season One Willow With Nerdy Backpack Accessory, anyone?) fits. And Buffy's pretty well mastered her Slayer powers, too. What to do?

One solution is the Glory option: a BIG Big Bad who can crush Buffy and Willow despite their superpowers. Can't really do that all the time, just as you can't have Galactus in every issue of the Fantastic Four. The Mayor was one of these. Another is the Adam option: the villain, not being totally frickin' stupid, HIDES from Buffy until she smokes him out. Warren from Season Six did this too.

This villain, (if indeed the being speaking to Spike is a villain, and not just projection of Spike's madness; remember, no one else saw it. Although Spike never saw the Master, so that's a little odd) so far, might be another Glory-level over-the-top Big Badness. Bring it on, I say. Some of the best superhero stories don't try to deny Superman's powers, but challenge them. "Okay, you've got super-strength and super-speed, but my demons are dragging down the Moon from the sky and I'm driving every redhead in the world mad, both of which are just DIVERSIONS from my real purpose, which is to devour everyone's dreams! Stop THAT, Man of Steel!" Sure, he does, but you get the feeling he had to work for it, and with his mind, which is particularly entertaining because we have just as much information as Superman does, so in a sense, every clever twist we figure out in advance puts us right in Superman's shoes.

Xander and Anya are peripheral in this episode, but I'm sure they'll get some attention soon. Anya has lost her zeal for the vengeance-demon thing, and all the other demons know it. I expect one last "nightmare world" episode along the lines of "The Wish" before she turns away from demonic evil forever. Or not. I don't care; I just want another nightmare world episode, because "The Wish" was so much fun!

And Xander -- yeesh, is that a suit and tie? He's really come up in the world. And he probably did his first useful bit of research ever in determining that the Hellmouth now looms beneath the principal's office. Yes, he's all grown up, or would be if he weren't hiding from his fear of marriage. Although, really, what else is there for him to say? Perhaps he has to succeed so much that he can see, even in the mirror, he's not like his bitter alcoholic dad, before he can marry Anya. Which I'm still rooting for.

Dawn gets several solo scenes and a lot of face time in this episode. Good -- after Glory, she didn't have a lot to do in Season Six. And Michelle Trachtenberg is very good, able to be competent and whiny by turns, just like real teens. Which she probably is, so scratch that last. I doubt Fox uses fembots outside of Temptation Island.

Highlights:
The lame vampire trying to claw his way out of the grave in the teaser, but being "stuck on a root or something." Not just the good guys screw up.

Buffy's fight with the three ghouls, using a weighted bookbag and kung-fu kicks, was better martial arts action than we've seen in quite a while. Even her fight with the clumsy vampire in the teaser featured a lot of spins, reversals, twists and unexpected strikes. They're taking the karate seriously again.

Dawn gets her own Scooby gang -- the two worst discipline cases in school. The girl's named Kit, which is a baby fox, so maybe she's a werewolf. (I know ... slim chance. But it's been months without Buffy, so excuse me if I have to grasp at every straw.)

The new principal: "Here it is not even noon and I've already bullied one parent into helping out. I'm gonna be the best principal ever!" Xander points out that the previous two principals were eaten (by hyena people and a giant demon snake, respectively), so what kind of a nut would take this job?