Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Dead Man's Party - S03E02 Review

DEAD MAN'S PARTY
SEASON 3 EPISODE 2

After the off-beat season opener, one might expect a more traditional Buffy episode to get us back in the swing of things. But no, that doesn't come until the next episode; this is another really strange one. The episode as a whole feels a bit off in both pacing and execution, and although it's not bad, it does start the season in a rather unconventional way.

This one starts with Buffy unpacking, having moved back into her house. She accidentally scares her mother, who still isn't used to Buffy being back in the house. Joyce is busy hanging up a Nigerian mask that is clearly evil and directly connected to the plot of the episode. The two are both obviously feeling awkward but not really wanting to say anything about Buffy upping and leaving. Buffy heads off to find Xander and Willow and finds Xander skulking in an alley. She sneaks up on him and he turns around and almost stakes her. Then there's an actual vamp for Buff to take care of, although she does get a glimpse of the gang's new walkie talkie system (as well as Xander's codename of Nighthawk). She takes out the vampire and is reunited with the rest of the gang, who take her to Giles's house. Of course Xander gets in a few jabs about how she totally left him high and dry.

The reunion between she and Giles is probably the best; there's an obvious air of disappointment but also relief. Anthony Stewart Head always plays things so subtly, but there's a lot of expression there. Xander makes a joke about Buffy going to Belgium over the summer...I don't really get it. The group offers to take over slaying until she adjusts back to her normal life but she declines and says that she's going to talk with Snyder to get un-expelled from school. Snyder says no, naturally, while also making some pretty mean quips at her expense. Joyce gets pissed and says she'll take it to the Mayor if she has to. Snyder seems pretty smug about the whole affair. Buffy goes to meet Willow at this new place called the Espresso Pump but Willow stands her up so she heads back home. The Espresso Pump is sort of an alternate for the Bronze for a couple seasons, although they still use the Bronze a lot more.

Upon arriving home she meets one of Joyce's friends from her book club named Pat. Pat is very annoying, although it's certainly intentional. She's written to be the most irritating "nosy neighbor" type of character ever. After Pat leaves, Buff goes inside and her mom has the idea of throwing a welcome home party for Buffy, to which Buffy reluctantly agrees. She heads to the seldom-used basement to get some plates and runs across that old photo of her with Xander and Willow. Then she finds a dead cat and she and Joyce bury it. That night, the evil mask on the wall glows it's evil red eyes and raises an evil cat from the grave. Then the Buffster has another cryptic dream about wandering around her empty school and finding Angel.

After an argument about what school she's going to go to, Buffy and Joyce find the zombie cat and immediately call Giles. Giles takes the kitty to the library but not before noticing the evil mask on the wall. He somehow knows it's Nigerian too; he's like the Rainman of ancient artifacts. The gang sans Buffy looks for a reason for the cat to rise from the dead, and Oz actually likes the dead thing. Kind of a weird character thing for him to have. They talk about the welcome home party and Oz gets a funny speech about the different kinds of parties. This is the most he's talked in like...ever. They misguidedly decide to throw a huge party for her despite Giles's protests.

Pat shows back up that night for the party, clearly aggravating Buffy. Then Dingos Ate My Baby show up and the party gets pretty huge from there. And what is up with the drummer for Dingos? He's like 40; come on, his hair is gray! Is he Devin's dad or something? Buffy finds Willow and tells her she'd rather just the small group hang out, but Willow is pretty shifty, and a little more apprehensive than usual. Xander tries to comfort Buff but is pretty distracted by Cordy opening molesting his neck to be helpful. All of this leaves Buffy feeling pretty lonely. Then the evil mask starts to do its evil thing and it starts bringing various people in town from the dead. Interesting thing I noticed: the sort of "wom" sound effect that the mask does when it's active sort of sounds like the effect from the demons in Evil Dead. Probably not intentional, but sort of cool. All the zombies head towards Buffy's house because that's where the mask is just as Giles is starting to figure things out. He tries calling Buffy's house but it's intercepted by an incompetent stoner guy so he drives over there as fast as he can. He gets a great line though that he says to himself on the ride over, mocking Joyce: "Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty, it raises the dead!" ...It's funnier with the accent.

Buff walks in on Pat and Joyce talking about her and...well Joyce is pretty mean about how she goes about it. It's not like Buffy just misunderstands, Joyce was actually being sort of rude. This pushes Buffy to her breaking point and she goes to her room to pack and leave again. Willow shows up and freaks out on her; it really goes to show how much of a backbone Willow has developed since Season 1. She finally explains her side of things and how she's had no one to really confide in, and she also lets it drop that she's been practicing witchcraft since that spell from Season 2. Then Joyce walks in and really flips her lid. And so begins a pretty painful scene of everyone attacking Buffy. The two basically have it out in the middle of the party with everybody looking on. I pretty much side with Buffy on this one; they pretty much pummel her. Even Xander I think is in the wrong this time, and I almost always side with him. Ooh and another Jonathan cameo! He will become more relevant soon enough...

Giles gets attacked by zombies on the way over and has to hot wire his car, for some reason. I like the zombies; they're not super threatening but the scenes with them are shot with a decent amount of tension. Back at the party, Cordy's the only one who tries to stick up Buffy, while Oz acts as a mediator to defuse the fight between Buffy and Xander. The zombies break into the house and ruin what's left of the party; hey, at least that stupid stoner guy is the first to die. And I like that as soon as the zombies show up, Xander and Buffy start working together like they always do; it shows that no matter how petty they can be, they have each others' backs. As the fight off the zombies, Pat gets captured by one. After failing to barricade the door, the group retreats upstairs to Joyce's bedroom, grabbing Pat along the way. She's dead, but not for long, as she soon raises as a zombies and puts on the evil mask.

Meanwhile, Giles shows up downstairs, meeting up with Cordy and Oz, who somehow didn't make it upstairs. So he gives the exposition about the mask and its power. Cordy has a couple delightfully ignorant lines here; really playing up her dumb side in this episode. Upstairs, evil Pat has this weird hypnotic stare that freezes people for a few seconds, but Buffy tackles her out of the window and they have a little scuffle. Then she stabs Pat in the eyes with a shovel and the demon dies. It's a bit anticlimactic, but as long as Pat is dead, I'm all for it. Then Buff and Xander/Willow have a little moment of reconciliation. The next day, Giles confronts Snyder about letting her back into school. Snyder stays pretty "snide" (HA!) until Giles threatens him in that awesome way that only Ripper could. Giles can be such a badass sometimes. Later Buff and Willow talk about Willow's new magical tendencies and they come to a mutual understanding...sort of. The episode ends with them calling each other names playfully.

Overall it's a pretty disjointed episode, but by no means a bad one. Still, the season really hasn't started yet. That comes next episode, when the main plot of the season finally starts to kick in. These first two have felt more like just wraps ups to Season 2 than anything else, but they're not bad.

***