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Season 2, Ep 19 (Patreon)

Published:
2021-10-05 14:22:19
Edited:
2023-07-01 15:39:26
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

well a double whammy for me with creatures in this one... 

but SUPER interesting episode! 

Files

Buffy Season 2, Ep 19 - I Only Have Eyes For You

Vidyard video

Comments

Jessica Roth

Yes! (I'll actually be slightly sad when you return to Alberta, since we'll have to wait two hours longer. [/incredibly selfish]) Contrarian Alert: this is a much-beloved episode and has many good qualities. But I disagree with it on a fundamental level, and so it's on the bad list. Remember how "School Hard" was #20 out of 22 this season for me, and "What's My Line, Part 1" was #22? This is the missing #21, IMO. And I only wish my issues with it were merely technical, like the "Marti Noxon's new on the job and struggling to find her feet" deal with WML1. Okay, don't want to be too ominous. It's still fun Off to enjoy.

Tim Pierce

Ever since you mentioned your dislike for ghosts and snakes in season one I've been waiting for this episode.

Steven Winthrop

This is one of my personal favorite episodes. And for fairies I definitely recommend Charmed!

Chas Summers

Spike has been laying low and healing from his injuries.

Bud Haven

I loved this episode it’s one of my favorites from season 2. I really liked how when Buffy was talking to the boy about the Sadie Hawkins dance the music emphasizes the sadness Buffy was feeling. Poor Buffy. :C The music of season 2 is one of the things that improved from season 1.

L R

No Bumblebees with swords , but Wasps kind of do have swords technically . Love the feel of this episode , for being a non arc episode it's pretty cool and also very memorable . One thing I took for granted when I watched this show for the first time was the music , On rewatches I'm convinced this show has best score of any TV show .

Jordan Haddow

Okay, sorry to say, but he whole hatred of ghosts and snakes thing, kinda funny. I know, it's sick, but what can I say? For as little storyline this episode really brought to the table, I really like this one. It touches on many things. Gile's real state of mind with regards to Jenny. Snyder's actual knowledge of what's going on and the mention of the Mayor being in on things along with what ever cop that was. Everyone's trust in Willow with regards to the mystical elements. Heck, even Cordy. She lived through the ghost disfiguring her face and still stuck around to help complete the ritual. Before, we could probably have felt safe betting she would've abandoned them all under similar circumstances. Heck, she stuck around after the snake bit her right in her face. In fact. I don't remember her even complaining. More than that, it's main purpose was to touch on something you mentioned before the episode. At least in my mind it does. Would we even want Angel back after what Angelus did? Here we have this kid who killed the woman he loved instead of letting her go. The parallels are direct, but they are there. Angelus killed Jenny. We all would like to see him fry for that. The thing is, just as the kid shooting his love was an accident, Angelus, not Angel killed Jenny. So, if Angel got his soul back, could we forgive him? That's the question I think we touch on here. This can especially be seen in the final part when the ghost leaves. Buffy goes through the whole episode so angry at the ghost, kind of like how she feels towards Angelus. When the ghost leaves though, her mind clears, and for a moment she thinks she's looking into Angel's eyes, you can see she wants him back. Whether she would actually be able to forgive him is another question. Still, it's an interesting manipulation to focus on forgiveness and then to have them put together for that big romantic scene. When I first watched it, I kind of thought back to right after Passion and how I felt about Angelus then. It's hard to claim you feel the same way about him now after this one. And then there's Spike. What sort of fun can we expect from him? I love the end of this season. So much fun.

ghostofdurruti

Another very good episode (probably one of the best “creature” episodes we’ve seen so far, IMO, though it’s too bad that the creature in question had to be a ghost :D). I particularly like how well the monster-of-the-week story ties into the ongoing arc. What’s most impressive is that the big “twist”, resolution, and climactic moment of the monster-of-the-week story is *also* the moment at which the connection to the main arc comes together: the (amazing) closing scene between Buffy as James and Angel(us) as Grace. (It’s also fun how the Sadie Hawkins dance theme foreshadows the gender flip at the end of the episode!) Marti Noxon really hit this one out of the park. Some people miss this on their first viewing, but from your reaction it seemed like you got it: the reason Buffy is so harsh on James is not primarily because she sees parallels between James’ actions and Angel’s, as might seem to be the case at first, but rather because she sees parallels between James’ actions and *her own* (though maybe there’s a bit of both, to be fair). “James destroyed the one person he loved the most in a moment of blind passion. And that's not something you forgive. No matter why he did what he did. And no matter if he knows now that it was wrong and selfish and stupid, it is just something he's gonna have to live with.” As Cordy says: “Overidentify much?” Since she can’t forgive herself, she certainly can’t forgive James. All that said, I don’t think Buffy is being particularly fair to herself here (though when is she ever? Poor Buff…). There’s no way she could have known that Angel would lose his soul and be “destroyed” as a result of their “moment of blind passion”. James, by contrast, should damn well have known what the consequences of *pointing a gun at his girlfriend* could have been. Still, Grace was not entirely blameless either--she was, after all, a *teacher* who got romantically involved with her *student*--and I think that her own feelings of guilt play a role in why she is ultimately able to forgive James. Buffy doesn’t understand why she would forgive him because she only blames herself for Angel losing his soul; she doesn’t see that Angel himself bears at least as much responsibility. (Side note, but the parallels between this immensely inappropriate teacher/student relationship and the Buffy/Angel relationship really hammer home the fact that Angel should have known better than to get involved with Buffy in the first place…) Neither James nor Grace was a particularly good person, and maybe neither really deserves forgiveness. Still, “to forgive is an act of compassion… it’s not done because people deserve it”, and they’ve both paid for their actions many times over. All in all, this is a solid “creature” episode that also manages to be a worthy continuation of the season arc, if not through plot development, then through character development (as Giles, Willow, and Buffy continue to deal with the emotional fallout of Jenny’s death). Plus, how can I not mention that final scene! It’s a testament to this show’s strength that it can make you cheer for a villain’s recovery. Or maybe it’s just a testament to how compelling Spike himself is. Song trivia: “My love must be a kind of blind love..." This song that plays in the music room during the climactic scene is called “I Only Have Eyes for You" by the Flamingos. It was actually recorded 1958, even though James and Grace supposedly died in 1955. So that’s a slight historical inaccuracy haha. (The song itself is actually older than that, but the version being played is very clearly the Flamingos version.)

Allan

EVIL FAIRIES!!! I guess you've never seen the beautiful chaos that was True Blood!! PLEASE let that be your next series to react on!!!

Darrell Palmer

This episode is on my list of all time favorites.

Melissa

Not much else to say that other people haven't said much better than me. But I love this episode. It's so lyrical and poetic. And Angel in Grace's role works so well here. 3 more episodes of season 2! Next week and then the 2-parter after that. Can't wait for your wrap up when it's all over.

Svetlana Grabar

Woo loved your reaction! The ending of this episode is so good! I love spike. And having Giles talk about Jenny was the sort of acknowledgment you were looking for last episode, I think? Anyways that was well done and a bit heartbreaking. Willow running the computer science class is super cute and well deserved but I also get the feeling that Snyder doesn’t want to pay up for a real teacher lol. Also sorry for not always responding to your comments back. I always love reading them but then get distracted :)

Sika6061

Loved your reaction as always, and it was great meeting your nephew as well. It's so cute that he wanted to say hi to all of us! Please tell him "hi" back. I hope he's excited about the new baby. I can tell he'll make a great big brother. :)

Callumbo Heath

Something I realised with this episode is that Joyce really should have made an appearance. Like, where is she when the gang are all chilling in the house in the early hours of the morning? Sleeping, sure. But she didn't pop in to be like wtf

Jessica Roth

And the lesson is…never set out your Contrarians’R’Us stall and tell people what you’re going to do if the task ultimately deters you and sends you into a shame spiral. Now that I look at it, my other exercises in Contrarianism either occurred on YouTube, where I just opened a vein and went at it, or in the safety of a friendly message board. (And even with the YT postings, I became worn down by some season-long issues, so even as I would praise individual episodes, it became a grind to deal with the larger trends. And so I ran back to the innocent joys of S2. Oops.) Okay, deep breaths. Pacing myself. (And doing it all in Text Edit so Patreon can’t make trouble.) I. The Great (aka “Darcie”!) The pre-show rant was so much fun, because sometimes you would be close to guessing stuff…and sometimes you wouldn’t. It was like watching somebody in a maze (“that way…that way…ooh, you missed it! So close!”), lol. DARCIE: If you know a show with evil faeries, let me know. ME: Well, the fairy on “Charmed” wasn’t evil…but the fandom really didn’t like her. Does that count? DARCIE: I don’t love when we start [the episode at the Bronze], because…I feel it never ends well. ME: Okay, obviously “Passion” makes that argument quite strongly. But other than that, we’ve only started at the Bronze twice (“Teacher’s Pet” and “Surprise” were dreams), in “Angel” and “Prophecy Girl”. And yes, those are the “Angel’s a VAMPIRE?” and “Buffy DIES” episodes. But I think they both end as well as they could have, given the circumstances. DARCIE (in denial about ghosts): [Chad Kroeger] was kind of ghosty…in the way that we couldn’t see him, right? ME: Nope. Invisible ≠ ghost. Marcie was no ghost, ma’am. (And the bit with the checklist was hilarious, lol.) DARCIE: This AND ghosts? Snakes? Really? ME (chuckles): Just wait until we get the wasps… DARCIE: Come on our side, Spike. We’ll get you a soul. ME: Presumably it’s not so easy, or Angel would be “fixed” already. (And Jenny would have died for nothing, but that’s another story…)

Jessica Roth

II. The Cool (aka “neat stuff I never noticed before”) • There’s a list of “Detentions” in the lower right hand corner of Willow’s blackboard. (Apparently “Tara” [x2!], “Erick”, “David” and “Lisa D” have misbehaved.) Aww, Willow got the power she asked Jenny about in “Passion”! Does she get to make them run laps, too? • I’d noticed Giles struggling when Jenny’s name is mentioned, of course, but this is the first time I saw how he stares sadly down when Willow merely talks about the Paganism sites on Cal’s computer. Aww. • The girl extra in the plaid skirt is one we’ve seen before. (Hey, it’s not only Dan who needs regular work.) In “BB&B”, she’s the one who gives Xander the wink in the slo-mo sequence. I wonder what she thinks of him now that the spell is over? Does she see him getting grabbed by the Locker Monster and think “I can’t believe I thought he was hot”, lol? • I never noticed this before, but Willow never DOES tell Giles why she’s in the school. And Rupe never follows up, even though he notices her scapula. (What, does he think she’s just wearing the scapula for that lovely sulfur scent?) He really IS off of his game. Poor Rupe. :( • Once the spell is cast and the effects of the ghosts fade, not only does Cordelia’s “Harvey Dent” face go away”, but so do the initial two bite marks. Which I guess makes sense; the snakes weren’t truly snakes, just an effect of the magic. Break the spirits’ hold and the marks vanish. (Likewise, people wonder why there are still snakes in the cafeteria even after Animal Control was there. But if they’re Mystical Snakes, you can always make more of them.) • During the scene at Buffy’s house, when Cordelia eats her chip, she gets some of it on her skirt and has to brush it off. Somewhat disappointing (I would have thought CC was raised to always use a napkin, in order to prevent this), but Charisma does do the brushing with a natural elegance, so that’s cool.

Jessica Roth

III. The Good (Things I have always loved about this episode) • Buffy’s gold pants. Okay, that’s Cynthia Bergstrom getting NEAR to going over the edge, but she pulls it off. • The whole initial tracking shot across the Bronze, to Willow, and then angling up and rising to catch Buffy on the balcony. Well done by James Whitmore Jr. (son of the famous actor), who does a good job the whole episode. Okay, maybe Whitmore is just showing off in the hope of getting more work, but I don’t mind. Beats James Contner’s shoe-cam in BB&B, lol. • “‘Impulsive’? Do you remember my ex-boyfriend, the vampire? I slept with him, he lost his soul; now my boyfriend’s gone forever and the demon that wears his face is killing my friends. My next impulsive decision will involve my choice of dentures.” Damn, Marti Noxon, that’s SO good. Remember, this is the first episode after a *two-month* break. And Marti quickly and clearly restates the general issue (Angel, you bastard!) and Buffy’s issue for the episode (she’s so emotionally scarred she’s scared to make any decisions). Good stuff. There’s a reason i can quote it from memory. • Gotta love Snyder (“You stink of lies”); I’ve missed him so. Apart from one useless scene in episode 9, this is his first appearance since “Halloween”. They’ve been keeping Armin busy on “Star Trek: Deep Space 9”, apparently. • I’ve always loved Christopher Gorham. I mean, I watched “Harper’s Island” for him. But I have a hard time sympathizing with James. • “’Something Weird is Going On’…isn’t that our school motto?” It would look cool on the yearbook, I admit. • “The quality of mercy is not Buffy.” And that’s Xander keeping up with the references again, as he’s quoting “The Merchant of Venice” by Shakespeare. But he had help with this one; we saw him studying it in Mrs. Miller’s class last year. And given the…issues with Jewish people in the play, Xander probably got an earful from Willow, even without Cordelia being all #TeamPortia. • Sad you talked over this by Cordelia: Are you crazy? I saw that movie! Even the priest died! Lol. • And of course, Spike’s standing up is totally awesome. Did you notice that James gets his foot caught in the wheelchair, for just a second. He saves the take by kicking it free (Spike was always supposed to kick the chair, it’s in the script) but it’s amusing to think how close that came to blooper-reel status.

Jessica Roth

IV. The Bad (BUT…) Look, we have some basic technical issues at play. “I’m gonna stop by the Library and see if Giles wants me to patrol”. Erm, Marti, learn the geography. The school is NOT near the Bronze (Jenny and Willow were going to *drive* there in “Prophecy Girl”), but Buffy’s house is. (Buffy and Angel run there in “Angel”.) It makes no sense for Buffy to walk all across town just to ask Giles a question. (The Bronze has pay phones; there’s one in a cut scene in the Owen episode.) This is what happens when you don’t watch Season 1, New Girl. Sloppy writing. (Yes, Marti WANTS Buffy at the school so she can break up the attempted shooting, but that doesn’t excuse bad writing. And what were the kids doing at the school so late, anyhow?) And then there’s the timeline issue: despite the two-month break in airdates between “Killed by Death” and this, the episode seems to follow on quite closely from “Passion” and its after-effects. Willow is new to teaching, so Giles stops by to see how she’s doing. Giles is severely and obviously in pain from losing Jenny. The vampires have found a new home, so presumably it’s reasonably soon after the factory burnt down. (I can’t see Angel spending MONTHS hiding in the sewers, can you?) …but then, how did Spike heal so quickly? He’s been burnt and scarred for months (you can still see that he’s “a wreck” in “Passion”), but all of a sudden he’s fine? Makes for a surprise at the end, but a bit tough, logically. And then there’s the “cheap shock” issue, where the ghosts attack the gang for no real reason, even though the only way it makes sense that the ghosts “just suddenly” got perky after *43 years* is that they sensed Buffy could solve their problem. That’s why they knocked the yearbook off of Snyder’s wall for BUFFY, rather than Pathetic No-Life Vegan Billy Crandall, say. That’s why BUFFY got the psychic trip back to 1955, rather than the rest of the class. That’s why BUFFY’s friend got attacked by his locker, rather than some random kid. And that tracks: she is One Girl in All the World after all. Can ghosts sense this? Sure, why not? So then, why do the ghosts try to chase the gang away? Why does Maggot!James literally tell Buffy “get out”? I mean, personally, this crap destroys my sympathy for James and Grace; as I once wrote, “James the Hissy-Fit Ghost loses my interest once he tries to kill Willow.” I’m sorry, that’s my line in the sand; try to kill Willow and I no longer care about your unresolved iss-yews. So why does Marti put this in? Because she needs some cheap shocks, otherwise she’s worried we’ll get bored. Hack writing. Grrr. Worse than this is the pacing issue. We end Act II on a mediocre note (the school doors slam shut, which is the START of a confrontation with the ghosts, not a climax) and end Act III, our big set up for the finale, on a TERRIBLE one, with Buffy just walking back into the school. (Where we don’t even see any danger, since we don’t know that Angel’s inside at this point.) Meanwhile, Marti throws away a great mini-climax (the gang runs out of the school, chased by the wasps; Xander proclaims “Check it…I’d say school’s out for good” as the music swells and the wasps form a forbidding swarm) in the middle of Act III, not going to black as the moment merits, but cutting to a sulky Buffy at home. (Which, again, is NOT walking distance from the school. *Willow and Xander* live near the school; they walk back and forth in “Prophecy Girl” and “Innocence”, they walk to Xander’s house in the Marcie episode, Xander “commutes” by skateboard in the pilot, etc. But Buffy gets driven to school all the time [the pilot, “Nightmares”, “Inca Mummy Girl”, “Bad Eggs”, “Innocence”] and Xander needs a ride to get to Buffy’s [‘What’s My Line”]. In “BB&B”, it took Xander and Cordelia so long to get from the school to Buffy’s that the sun went down. Now CORDELIA is just trotting back and forth to Buffy’s, on foot, with no complaints? I don’t think so.) But instead of using this natural climax, we get to see hypnotized Buffy wander back to the school, while her “friends’ don’t even notice that she’s gone for a significant period of time, and Marti proves she hasn’t lost her “skill” at writing pointless scenes: WILLOW: What’s going to happen next? GILES: I don’t know. Gee, thanks, Marti. That was SO helpful, really advanced the plot. Sheesh. And, of course, we get to see Marti “writing for the climax” again, where she has the final moment in mind and shapes the story to get there. Joss had been putting up with Buffy/Angel fans calling the network and begging to “bring Angel back”, to “fix him”, since the night “Innocence” aired. He didn’t want to interfere with his longer story, but he needed to throw a crumb, so Marti’s job was “write a story where David and Sarah have a big romantic kiss at the end”. Ulp. Now Angel being evil makes it tough, but there’s ways around it. And you can practically see the steps Marti takes in her mind… “What if they were possessed? Hey, ghosts possess people, right? But ghosts are all about unresolved issues (Hamlet’s father, etc), so the ghosts’ problems should reflect Buffy and Angel’s for extra relevance…and Buffy solves the problem because Angel is already dead so what killed the ghosts can’t kill him and…” It’s actually a pretty well-constructed puzzle-box mystery. And Marti throws in a few tricks, like the gender-swap and the use of neutral pronouns (“A PERSON doesn’t wake up and…”) to hide the switch, and the final “it was an accident” twist. But how a story is constructed pales next to what it’s about, and that’s where we run into SERIOUS trouble…as you might have guessed would happen when they try to do a plot where Buffy makes out with “the demon…that’s killing my friends”. Oy.

Jessica Roth

V. The Horrible “To forgive is an act of compassion, Buffy. It’s not done because people deserve it; it’s done because they need it.” First off, this line sucks on its own. To agree with the thesis here, you have to believe that Angel’s or Buffy’s or whomever’s NEED for “compassion” automatically trumps all other concerns, such as justice or even self-preservation. A lot of the time, “forgiveness” can wait until the more immediate issues (such as “Angel’s killing a boatload of people; how can we stop him?”) are addressed. Secondly, it sucks because it’s an attempt to slant the audience’s response by using a particular character as the messenger. Giles is Mr. Wisdom Guy, so we’re just supposed to accept his word as Truth. No, thank you. Giles can screw up, too. And thirdly, it’s just a pivot point for Marti’s Big Revelation…Buffy doesn’t blame Angel, she blames HERSELF! Well, gee, if even BUFFY doesn’t blame Angel (and if Giles was all about “compassion”), then it’s all settled, right? Just get Angel his soul back, and everything will be fine! It wasn’t his fault, you can’t blame him! Jenny who? Bull and spit, to use two clean versions of the word I WANT to use. Buffy hasn’t been acting like someone who blames herself for “what happened to Angel”. She’s accepted the RESPONSIBILITY for dealing with the CONSEQUENCES of his rampage (“Give me time”, “But this is all my fault”, “I live with that every day”, “As long as I’m the Slayer, Angel’s not going to kill anybody else”), but she doesn’t think she “made this happen”. She knew Angel was a vampire, she knew what vampires do. They thought they could control the demon inside of Angel, they gambled, they lost. But Buffy always knew the demon was there, inside. It’s escape isn’t BUFFY’s fault, specifically. It’s an ill-defined curse and their blithe assumption that the status quo would remain in place. (Slightly abetted by Jenny’s keeping her secret, although Uncle Enyos didn’t give HER the relevant data until too late, either.) But now Buffy is all weepy because she “destroyed [Angel] in one moment of blind passion”? Yeah, if Angel didn’t want the Bad Evil Sex, I don’t think he could have achieved orgasm, never mind “true happiness”. Buffy acts like she was a rapist, and that’s ridiculous. Angel wasn’t an innocent bystander. But it’s clear Marti wants to treat him as one, to pander to the Buffy/Angel fanbase. Which, considering that this is essentially a story about violent relationships, is kind of gross. It’s Angel who’s been violent towards Buffy, not vice versa. It’s James who killed Grace, not vice versa. But the message here is basically “Girls, forgive your abuser”. Which is really gross. (In fact, Marti actually got in trouble with the network over this episode. The network had been told this was an episode about abusive relationships; they even had SMG record a “don’t blame yourself, tell somebody” PSA that aired with it. But here is Buffy claiming it’s HER fault and identifying with James, and Grace forgiving the boy who KILLED her and telling him “I loved you with my last breath”. Not what the network had in mind. Not even if the “abused woman” is being played by David Boreanaz.) And then Buffy says she doesn’t understand how Grace forgave him and Giles asks “Does it matter?” and YES, Giles, it DOES matter. Abuse doesn’t happen in a vacuum. And forgetting the wider context, Mrs. Frank is still dead. George the Janitor is still going to prison for a very long time. James did this, too. I’m really not inclined to forgive him. And of course, Jenny is still dead, too. And so is Uncle Enyos, and the woman in the alley, and Theresa, and the quaint little shopgirl, and the woman Angel ate at the Bronze, and who knows how many others? But it’s looking as if Marti wants to sweep that all under the rug, tell us it’s not Angel’s fault, of course we HAVE to forgive him, it’s “compassion”. Well, forget that. I mean, the last thing Angel does in the episode is go looking for a toddler to eat. A TODDLER. You’re gonna give THAT guy a do-over, is that it, Marti? Not me. (Although I guess you could argue that if Angel could find a toddler outside at 4.30 A.M. or whenever, he deserves some sort of prize. But even still.)

Jessica Roth

VI. The trivial • per the shooting script, Ben’s last name is “Straley” and Cordelia thinks Buffy made a mistake in rejecting him, because his family owns the local department store. Sigh. Cordy, you’re better than that now. Character-regressive writing from Marti, so I’m rather glad that got cut, even if it means we don’t see Cordelia until mid-Act II. • Xander looks so sad checking out his shredded shirt as the others discuss the ghost. And we’ve been thinking his family isn’t so well off… …but in the next Library scene, he’s got another excellent sweater. Did they “fall off the truck”? Is Cynthia Bergstrom his cousin? What’s up? • Surely, Cordelia already knows about the Sadie Hawkins Dance? I mean, she’s a junior and they have it every year. More sloppy writing from Marti. (CC could just say “I’m so tired of this Sadie Hawkins thing. This year, I’m organizing a boycott” or something.) In fact, the idea that Cordelia apparently just found out about a school dance that’s happening THAT NIGHT is utterly ridiculous. Miss Social Status doesn’t keep up with school events? She can’t read a poster? Buffy knew about the Dance and Math Class Ben knew…but Cordelia just found out? Please. Forget trying to figure out if Oz is off touring with his band or making visits to colleges (he’s a senior, remember) or tracking down UFOs in the desert or picking up side money by acting in gay porn or whatever…I think we need to find out if Cordelia’s been locked in a closet or is suffering from amnesia or something. Honestly, Marti, *you’re* better than this. (Usually.) (Isn’t it too late to organize a boycott, anyhow? I mean, the girls already paid for their tickets. That’s what you get for slacking, Cordy…)