Covering
from “Band Candy” to “Lovers Walk,” in which stability is an illusion.
What’s
coming back to me now, is that season 3 is where Buffy and the Scoobs are most
profoundly set against institutions and authority. The show has always been
critical of authority figures, mostly in the form of a succession of
administrators, teachers, and coaches who are indifferent, unhelpful, or
nefarious, but in making the chief antagonist of the season Sunnydale’s Mayor,
it puts our heroes up against the power structure and history of the town
itself—a much more worthy target than a bunch of harried educators. As we learn
more and more about Richard Wilkins III, we’d learn just how deeply rooted and
rotten the power structure is, but for now, in his second appearance, the Mayor
uses an upending of the social order to hide the means by which his power is
maintained.
That’s not what everyone remembers
about “Band Candy,” though. I bet there are only a few who can name the demon
to whom the Mayor intends to offer up the babies of Sunnydale. But everyone
remembers how Ethan Rayne hatched another chaos-sewing plan that would have the
town’s populace adopting new personas again, this time with cursed chocolate
that reverts all the adults to teenagers. And why wouldn’t everyone remember
that? It’s hilarious. The show would return to some variation of the characters
getting forced into some new persona because it was so often so fun, but there
was also something of a benefit to making Giles’ alluded-to misspent youth
something concrete, or showing from whence Buffy got her dippier tendencies.
As frustrated as Buffy is by Giles
and Joyce limiting her, the truism gleaned is that the engine of society runs
on adults limiting themselves and doing things they don’t particularly want to
do. When they stop, things are immediately great, but quickly get
disconcerting, uncomfortable, inconvenient, and finally scary when things
really start breaking down (“a sobering mirror,” as Oz puts it). I mean, police
officers, terrifyingly immature, waving their guns in over-inflated adolescent
displays of power? Can you imagine how frightening that would be? I mean, if we
weren’t dealing with such fanciful fiction.
To the adults, there is another
obvious truism: Why would you want to be these pieces of shit again?
Quick note on Ethan: while he’s a
roach as always, he gets some fun characterization here as a guy who is very
uncomfortable with his demonic employers, flinching when Mr. Trick kills a guy
for the helluvit, and divulging the entire scheme after the most minimal of
beatings. In the end, with a bit of time and the fiery death of the finest CG
work a late 90’s TV show on the WB could provide, tenuous order is restored.
But that skepticism with authority
factors into “Revelations” as well, though we only learn that at the end, when
Giles says the Watchers Council swears they sent a memo re: the evil of Mrs.
Gwendolyn Post. This revelation comes a bit late, though, as it comes after
Mrs. Post cloaked herself in false authority to infiltrate the Scoobs, exploit
some mistrust, and nearly kill everyone with a lightning glove. The real
fissure, however, is caused by Buffy, as this is the episode wherein everyone
learns she’s been hiding Angel’s return. While Xander is justified, though over
the line a few times, and Willow is ineptly peace-making (and probably too
forgiving), the harshest reproach comes, as it must, from Giles, who reminds
Buffy (and anyone really excited to have Angel back) of the torture he endured
at Angel’s hands. While, again, I’m not big on transitive blame, the case
remains: if Buffy doesn’t keep Angel’s return from everyone, there isn’t a
secret meeting for Faith to feel excluded from, and Post’s schemes get a little
harder.
More than Giles’ stinging rebuke, or
the varying levels of betrayal Buffy’s friends feel, Faith is the saddest part
of “Revelations.” It’s so obvious she’s desperate to fit in, and desperate for guidance
and coaching—though she’s presented as the edgy rebel with a rough upbringing,
she’s almost exactly opposite of oppositional-defiant, eager to learn, eager to
do, and eager to receive praise. She wants to contribute, and she wants to be
guided in that, so it feels particularly cruel for Post to exploit those
impulses leaving Faith feeling even more isolated and mistrustful than before.
While Buffy is able to mend things with the core gang, the schism with Faith
runs deeper. But surely someone will notice before that becomes a big problem.
In “Lovers Walk,” the Mayor rallies
troops in defense of the thing corrupt authority loves the most—the status quo.
And he has to do it because the show’s prime status quo upender comes crashing
into town.
Yes, Spike is back, but he ends up
not causing so much trouble for the Mayor, the status quo he upends is the
delicate balance struck by Willow and Xander and Oz and Cordelia, as the
long-simmering attraction between the former two is inadvertently dragged into
the light. Oh, and he forces Buffy and Angel to confront the fact their love is
doomed in his inimitable profane eloquence.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about
“Lovers Walk” past that in relation to its placement in season 3 (it does have
more significance on events much further down the road), but it’s my favorite
of these, and one of my favorites of the season (though “Band Candy” runs
close), and, yeah, that’s because of Spike. He’s just such a delight! When he’s
not terrifyingly menacing Willow, that is. He gets drunk and burns himself! He
gets Willow to tenth-heartedly console him! He commiserates with Joyce and
wonders if she has marshmallows for his hot chocolate! He’s gleefully violent
and forces Buffy and Angel to fight alongside him (the “Baby like his supper?
Baby like his supper? Why doesn’t baby take a nap?” bit may be one of my favorite
moments for the character)! He snaps out of his depression due to that gleeful
violence, instantly dismisses his scheme, and departs town again with a skip in
his step, singing along to Sid Vicious! But most of all, he is perceptive
enough to highlight exactly how Buffy and Angel are fooling themselves. Things
have changed, and some stability, some status quos, cannot be restored.
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