Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Myth, Metaphor & Morality

by Field, Mark

  Thus, when Angel’s put in danger, first by Kendra and then by Spike, Buffy reacts with her melodramatic proclamation that “nobody messes with my boyfriend” (a word she resisted when Ford asked her in Lie to Me). She also, in a scene Joss added, accepts Angel’s vampire side by kissing him in vampface. This is their first on-screen kiss since Halloween and only their second since Angel. I like this scene because WML gives us 2 ways to interpret it: Buffy has seen past the demon to Angel’s true heart; or she is overlooking the demon, as Kendra thinks. In reaching your own view of the scene, I’ll suggest that it makes sense to consider the parallel kiss of Buffy’s metaphorical heart and her metaphorical shadow self. Also consider the possible metaphor involved in where that first X/C kiss takes place – the basement.

  Then there’s Kendra. Any time a new character gets introduced, especially one who seems to play a significant role, we should be asking whether that character plays a metaphorical role as well. I think Kendra does and I’ll discuss that 3 posts from now.

  Some additional thoughts:

  In the end, of course, Buffy rescues Angel (with no small assist from Kendra). But Angel, the one who created Dru, is the one who brings her, involuntarily of course, to full strength. This is metaphorically essential for the events to come.

  At the end of School Hard, Spike complains about “A Slayer with family and friends. That sure as hell wasn't in the brochure.” In Kendra we see what he means.

  Kendra’s decision to help rescue Angel is an interesting one. She takes the same view of Angel that Xander does. Some questions this raises: Did Kendra act only because her goal of stopping Spike happened to mesh with Buffy’s goal of rescuing Angel? Whose goal is the correct one, Kendra’s or Buffy’s? Are Kendra and Xander right or wrong about Angel?

  Note the parallel between Drusilla’s forecast of the future using Tarot and the school’s use of standardized tests. Also take note of the sexually charged scenes in which Dru tortures Angel and Angel nearly gets Spike to dust him. Spike’s comment that he’s “not one for the pre-show” clearly has a double meaning. The restoration spell also can be read sexually.

  In the DVD commentary, Marti Noxon states that scene in which Buffy and Kendra argue about returning to the Watcher was staged for Willy’s benefit. They wanted Willy, and therefore Spike, to believe that Buffy would be coming to the church alone. As a reminder for those watching for the first time, the commentaries after S1 do contain spoilers, sometimes major ones.

  Trivia notes: (1) “What’s My Line” was the name of a popular game show from the 50s and 60s. The contestants tried to guess the line of work of the guest using only “yes” or “no” questions. The title obviously applies to Buffy, but it can be read as applying to Angel as well: is he essentially human or is he, as Kendra says, a “monster”? (2) Bianca Lawson (Kendra) auditioned for the role of Buffy. (3) Don’t blame her for the Jamaican accent. They decided at the last minute that Kendra should have one so Bianca didn’t have enough chance to practice it even though they did get her a coach. (4) One reason for the popularity of S2 is the introduction of 6 very popular secondary characters: Spike, Dru, Jonathan, Oz, Ethan, and now Willy. (5) Buffy kisses Angel while he’s in vamp face, thereby answering Darla’s question to him in Angel: “Did you think she would understand? That she would look at your face... your true face... and give you a kiss?” (6) Spike’s “By George, I think he’s got it” is a line from My Fair Lady and presumably ironic given the nature of Dru. (7) Buffy called Kendra “Pink Ranger”. The Pink Ranger was one of the Power Rangers. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s stunt double at this time was also the stunt double for Amy Jo Johnson, who played the Pink Ranger. (8) Spike referred to Buffy as “Rebecca of Sunnyhell Farm”. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was a classic children’s novel. Wikipedia summarizes the novel as one in which Rebecca “faces many trials in her young life, gaining wisdom and understanding.” (9) After Xander spread the glue on the ground, he said “Welcome my little pretties”, which is a line from the Wizard of Oz. (10) Seth Green and Alyson Hannigan adlibbed the whole animal crackers scene after the point where Oz compliments her on her smile. (11) Sarah Michelle Gellar loves ice skating. (12) No worms were harmed in the filming of these episodes.

  Ted

  Ted is an episode which seems to generate radically different views among fans. Some rate it near the bottom, others like it. I’m in the latter category. I thought John Ritter was terrific as Ted, and I liked the way the episode explored the limits a Slayer needs to observe (though, admittedly, this will be done much better in S3). I agree with the way Myles McNutt summarized the episode in his review:

  ““Ted” is just a sharp little episode: it doesn’t try to fundamentally change the series, or explicitly create any sort of patterns, but it works hard to make us question the show’s central premise and delivers some powerful emotional moments that may eventually be undone but which linger on with characters in a way that Whedon is very fond of, and which makes for a compelling hour of television.”

  The episode is also important for a key scene in the season finale of S2 and for the turning point moment of S3. And yes, I do believe Joss had things planned that far ahead, at least in outline. Ted will have more immediate importance too. There’s a clue to what I mean in the scene with Buffy and Giles in the graveyard.

  Since I can’t discuss those points yet, let’s go back and consider Buffy’s mindset when Ted attacked her and see how we should judge her behavior. I think part of the reason she felt so guilty is that she knew she was spoiling for a fight with Ted: “I was *so* hoping you'd do that.” Admittedly, we’re talking about an adult man (to all appearances) in the room of a 16 year old girl, where he had no right to be, and he physically assaulted her after invading her privacy. He started the violence and she surely had the right to respond in some way, but she had to think that reacting as the Slayer rather than as a person led her to kill someone.

  It could also be argued that she should have backed off once she had the upper hand and that her anger at Ted led her to continue. Joyce pleaded with her to stop and Buffy herself said later that she “lost control”. Plus, we have her behavior with the vampire earlier in the episode. Slaying demons in metaphor is fine, but taking out her emotions on a real person would be highly dangerous.

  On the other hand, Ted wasn’t human after all. She sensed something was wrong with Ted, as she said even before they went miniature golfing, and her instincts are very good. Those instincts may have guided her reaction. Then too, his behavior at the golf course confirmed her suspicion that something was wrong with him. There’s another reason I could mention along these lines but it involves a spoiler for S6.

  It’s also quite possible that Buffy used Slayer strength because Ted didn’t react to anything less. She certainly didn’t try to kill him, but his blows were obviously more than human judging by their impact on her (confirmed by what we later saw in the second fight); she must have sensed that and it does appear that she escalated the violence in response as she felt threatened. Her hardest blows, remember, came after he knocked her to the floor (not an easy thing to do to a Slayer) and began choking her. The blow might well have killed an ordinary human being and the chokehold showed a possible intent to do so.

  Ultimately, in my view, Buffy’s own issues did affect her reaction, as Giles told her earlier when he noted that the subtext was becoming text. Buffy’s at risk of demonizing someone who’s not actually a demon simply because she’s upset by the situation. That’s dangerous in a person, much more so in a Slayer; in a way, this is the flip side of the coin from WML where Buffy encouraged Kendra to use her anger as a weapon.

  What really vindicates Buffy is her willingness to take full responsibility for what she’d done. When Buffy accepted her destiny as The Slayer in Prophecy Girl, that meant she had to accept the consequences of her actions as the Slayer. This is the first time we see Buffy arguably misuse her power, but she passes an important test when she takes full responsibility
for her actions.

  Trivia notes: (1) Captain & Tennille, the subject of Willow’s and Xander’s conversation in the teaser, were a pop music duo from the ‘70s. The more interesting question, though, is just why the episode opens with this whimsical and seemingly random dialogue about which of the two was in control. I saw it as a reference to the end of WML, with the rise of Drusilla. (2) Ted’s ability as a cook is probably a joke based on John Ritter’s role in Three’s Company, where he was a cooking school student. (3) Buffy described her mother as “like Stepford” when Ted was around. The Stepford Wives was a book and movie about robotically happy wives who were kept that way by their husbands as a form of control. (4) Buffy decided that she and her mother would watch the movie Thelma and Louise. That would be the perfect movie after a day of dealing with abusive men.

  Bad Eggs

  Ted may generate widely divided opinions, but Bad Eggs doesn’t suffer from that problem. No, it consistently appears on lists of “worst Buffy episodes”, so I might as well admit up front that I really like it. I think it’s hilarious, but it also plays an important role in the seasonal arc and there’s a very good reason why it appears at this point in the season.

  Thematically, it’s an episode about SEX. It screams sex; well, it screams sex and talks softly but insistently about responsibility: “Xander: Well, you know, it's the whole 'sex leads to responsibility' thing, which I personally don't get.” Irony duly noted.

  Speaking of sex and (ir)responsibility, we see Xander (Buffy’s heart) and Cordelia (Buffy’s shadow self, her shallow aspect) obsessed with sex in the biology class. Since in my view it’s All About Buffy, I see this as telling us, in metaphor, that Buffy’s thinking about it too. And, obviously, if she’s thinking about sex there’s only one person she’s thinking about it with, and that’s Angel: “Angel, when I look into the future, a-a... all I see is you! All I want is you.”

  She’s gone back and forth on this for several episodes, as we saw most obviously in Reptile Boy, an episode which certainly discouraged the idea. In Lie to Me she told Angel that she loved him but wasn’t sure she could trust him. The events of The Dark Age and WML seem to have encouraged her trust. Bad Eggs, though, delivers the same message as Reptile Boy albeit more subtly (admittedly a rather low bar).

  Her heart is thinking about it, as is her selfish aspect; that latter point alone should give her pause. Nor does the immature behavior of Xander and Cordy in the closet, in class, or elsewhere suggest that it’s a good idea. We also know that the X/C relationship is wrong. Xander and Cordy know it; they talk about it the whole time they’re kissing in the closet:

  “Xander: You know what? This would work a lot better for me if you didn't talk.

  Cordelia: Well, it'd work a lot better for me with the lights off.

  Xander: Are you saying that you can't look at me when we do... whatever it is we do?

  Cordelia: No, it's not that I can't, it's just more... I don't want to.

  Xander: That's great! That's just dandy! We're repulsed by each other, we, (indicates the door) we hide from our friends...

  Cordelia: Well, I should hope so! Please!

  Xander: (nods) All in all this is not what I'd call a big self-esteem booster.

  Cordelia: Tell me about it! (looks him over) Just look at you! And those clothes. Where did you get those shoes?!

  Xander: Okay, you know what? I don't need this.

  Cordelia: Ditto! Like a hole in the head!”

  Sex requires both maturity and responsibility. In fact responsibility is the surface point of the episode (see trivia note 6), what with the eggs themselves a lesson in responsibility and Joyce constantly referring to Buffy not being responsible:

  “Joyce: A little responsibility is all I ask. Honestly, don't you ever think about anything besides boys and clothes?”

  “Joyce: Oh, they're [kids] just so irresponsible.”

  “Joyce: Young lady, you have to learn some responsibility, okay? Once and for all.”

  Buffy’s own behavior of blowing off her search for the Gorches to snog with Angel – a scene very like X/C in the closet – suggests that it’s diverting her from her destiny. The ending scene probably isn’t what Joyce had in mind when she grounded Buffy for not being responsible. And if we’re talking about maturity, note that Buffy’s stuffed animals are plainly visible while she’s kissing Angel.

  It’s a bit more of a stretch, but I think it’s also possible to see the Bezoar as a metaphorical vagina dentata. It’s a mother figure, it lives in the school basement, and it swallows Tector whole. If I’m right about this, there’s a message here. And we’re about to see it.

  Trivia notes: (1) Lyle and Tector Gorch were 2 of the characters in the movie The Wild Bunch. Another character in the movie is named Angel. (2) Buffy told her egg “good night Eggbert.” Speedy Eggbert was a computer game modestly popular at the time Bad Eggs aired. (3) Xander’s “cruel to be kind” phrase is yet another one from Hamlet, Act III, sc. iv. (4) A bezoar – the type of demon – is an indigestible object trapped in the digestive tract. Yeah, it’s a real word. (5) The plot for the episode could be based on either Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters, the movie based on his book, or the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (6) I never know if stuff like this is obvious or not, but a “bad egg” is somewhat dated slang for an irresponsible person, a rogue. The title, like most in the show, therefore has multiple meanings: the eggs (duh); the Gorches (rogues); Buffy, Xander and Cordy (irresponsible, a word Joyce specifically applies to Buffy).

  Surprise/Innocence

  And so, at last, we reach the end of Innocence. In his DVD commentary, Joss describes Innocence as the “mission statement episode” of the show and says, with the benefit of 3 years hindsight, “This episode in a sense is and probably always will be the most important episode of Buffy that we did.” He has rated it his favorite episode of the whole series. It’s certainly a transcendent episode, one regularly appearing on fans’ Top 10 lists. Buffy’s life will never be the same again, and neither will the show.

  All of S2 after WSWB has been building to this point. (In case you’re wondering, WSWB sets up different themes which we’ll see later on in S2.) I’ll start by summarizing how Innocence weaves together the various strands of those episodes.

  Sex has been an important theme of most episodes: Daryl’s need for a mate in SAR; Spike and Dru’s sexual charge in School Hard; Ampata ready to suck the life out of Xander; the anvilicious metaphor of Reptile Boy; the sexual overtones of Halloween; Giles’ and Jenny’s budding relationship, including Eyghon’s sexual insults to Giles; Xander and Cordy’s relationship; and pretty much all of Bad Eggs.

  There’s a reason why sex has been emphasized so often. I’ve been holding off discussing the metaphor of Spike and Dru until this point, so now I’ll make it clear: I suggested in my post on SAR that Chris, Daryl and their mother formed a trio representing ego, id, and superego, and that the whole theme of S2 was that an out-of-control id would lead to disaster. School Hard, the very next episode, introduced us to what I interpret as Buffy’s metaphorical id (Dru) and ego (Spike).

  The id is the source of our desires and the ego is what the id uses to find ways to satisfy those desires. Buffy desires Angel. That’s the story which the early episodes have developed in metaphor, and it’s why there’s been so much emphasis on sex. Let’s see just how this played out.

  Spike is nothing if not egotistical. He brags, he’s arrogant, he believes he’s in charge (like Captain, only to find that the real power was Tennille). In fact that dialogue from Ted pretty accurately describes the Freudian understanding of ego and id, in which the ego thinks it’s in charge but is actually just the method used by the id to obtain its desires:

  “Willow: Xander, he was obviously in charge.

  Xander: He was a puppet! She was using him!

  Willow: He didn't seem like the type of guy who would let himself be used.

  Xander: Well, that was her genius! He di
dn't even know he was playing second fiddle.”

  Spike’s also obsessed with Buffy and her sexual side. Spike was the one to destroy the Anointed One because the ego believes that it has put childhood behind even when Buffy’s still in the transitional stage of being a teenager, a fact emphasized in School Hard itself when Xander went through Buffy's purse.

  Dru serves as the metaphor for Buffy’s desire, her id. We see this in part by noticing her similarities to Buffy which are emphasized in Surprise: Buffy’s birthday is Dru’s “coming out” party, meaning Dru is reborn; Dru is wearing Buffy’s dress from Prophecy Girl in Buffy’s second dream, the same dress Buffy is wearing in that dream, the dress which represented Buffy’s virginal innocence in Prophecy Girl; they have prophetic dreams. Buffy’s dream to open Surprise is one such prophetic dream, though in metaphor: Dru is the one to kill Angel because, by allowing her id to take control, Buffy will destroy the human being she loves most.

  Dru, we learned in Lie to Me, was created by Angelus, which makes perfect sense because it’s Angel who is the object of Buffy’s desires. It’s more than that, though – Dru will die if Angel does, just as Buffy’s desire would die without Angel: “Spike: Oh! Right. Right, you almost got me! Aren't you a 'throw himself to the lions' sort of sap these days. Well, the lions are on to you, baby. See, if I kill you now you go quick, and Dru hasn't got a chance. And if Dru dies your little Rebecca of Sunnyhell Farm and all her mates are spared her coming-out party.”