(Season 3, Episodes 12-14)
We’ll call this “The New Watcher Arc.” And by arc I mean two episodes with a bizarrely unrelated one stuck in the middle. Still, though, while “The Zeppo” took some time for me to get used to, I’m still enjoying the season so far.
“The Zeppo” was structured almost like a vaudeville comedy. We had overly dramatic music playing over Angel and Buffy, Xander running around frantically in every direction and shenanigans galore. The music, quick camera cuts and structure made for a very different viewing experience.
3.12 – “Helpless”
(Original Air Date: January 19, 1999) This episode solely existed to fire Giles. And to show just how much Buffy relies on her Slayer-strength and abilities, not only in her slaying but in her every day life.
Buffy’s a take-no-shit kind of girl, and it helps that she’s stronger than anyone who tries to bully her. Stripped of her powers, she became a helpless girl, victimized by guys coming onto her, or throwing her around. It was difficult to watch on such a “girl power” show.
Even more difficult was the obvious struggle Giles was going through in giving her the injections, blowing off her concerns about her fading strength. All so the Council could give her a test as she turned 18. A test that seems completely irrelevant.
Haven’t we already seen how resourceful and clever she is? Of course, the Council doesn’t seem to be paying that close of attention to what’s going on in Sunnydale. And considering both Slayers are there, you’d think they would be. Who’s managing the other supernatural hotspots? What else does the council do?
3.13 – “The Zeppo”
(Original Air Date: January 26, 1999) Well, that was certainly a unique way to present a major event. I’m not sure how I feel about it. At first, I was bothered that we were only getting snippets of the major hellmouth opening everyone was facing except for Xander.
But as we were getting toward the end, I understood what they were going after. By telling the story in such a way, they were able to emphasize how isolated Xander felt from the group.
The whole thing felt kind of unnatural, though. It was abrupt that the gang suddenly decided Xander couldn’t handle the slayage, despite his involvement up to this point in virtually everything? I don’t like it when plot devices are so transparent.
Plus, the gang was absolutely dismissive of him to the point of rudeness, and they wouldn’t do that. Giles has no questions about Xander suddenly hanging out with a bunch of weird dudes in his new car? Willow doesn’t have time to talk to him, and nobody would tell him anything about what was going on. All of these things were out of character.
I did like the growth in Xander’s character throughout the episode while he was on his own undead adventure. By the end, he was cool in the face of death and ultimately saved the day. Who knows how an explosion might have impacted the battle above. He may have saved the whole world!
This kind of felt like a filler episode. After Giles getting fired last week, there was only a passing mention of it, but the rest was status quo as if that brief line was added later to make it fit continuity.
3.14 – “Bad Girls”
(Original Air Date: February 9, 1999) We finally get to see the mayor evolving into something more than human. To this point, it’s been inferred that it was due to making a deal with a demon or something, but we’d seen nothing concrete.
What an interesting character he’s turning out to be. I like Mr. Trick hanging around and I like that he’s not quick to kill his underlings, like so many maniacal leaders. For example, the fat demon. He kills his underlings. And he’s disgusting. I liked him.
In other news, just like that, all that growth Xander had last episode was gone. He was right back to sparring with Cordelia over every little thing. But this episode wasn’t about Xander not being the man he had become. It was about Buffy being the young woman she’s not.
And just like Xander was uncharacteristically “forced” to hang out with the undead street gang last week, Buffy was incredibly susceptible to the allure of slaying with the cavalier attitude Faith has. She even skipped out on an important chemistry test to slay.
These things don’t ring true to her persona. Maybe it’s the trauma of their new Watcher showing up. He’s a bit of a tool, isn’t he? And incredibly inept in a real combat situation. Giles can at least handle himself. Is hand-to-hand not a part of Watcher training at all?
Things felt a little forced with Buffy going so far into Faith’s world, and I felt myself again feeling like a plot device was being thrown at me. Make Buffy almost look up to Faith and want to emulate her to show how much peer pressure can push us into doing bad things.
Then take it to the ultimate extreme by having Faith kill a not-so-innocent human and reveal that she doesn’t care. As a character arc for Faith, it’s great. The way Buffy was pulled into it was a bit much for me. You can make the same point without Buffy committing crimes and ditching school.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Aug 18, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
,%20in%20with%20the%20new){kind=link}