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4.1 The Freshman

Xander: "The point is, you're Buffy."
Buffy: "Yeah, maybe in high school I was Buffy."
Xander: "And now in college, you're Betty Louise?"
Buffy: "Betty Louise Plotnick of East Cupcake, Illinois."

The beginning was kind of depressing, but in a way, that was appropriate. Angel is gone, Xander is away, Willow and Oz are in their element and ignoring Buffy, Giles is getting laid and enjoying his leisure instead of waiting around to be helpful, and Joyce has already taken over Buffy's bedroom -- and even worse, Buffy gets ignored by a cute guy ("Oh yeah, you're Willow's friend") and yelled at by a shithead professor. The setting has changed, the supporting cast is changing, Buffy's life has changed, too, and it makes perfect sense that she would be overwhelmed and depressed. It felt strange to me, too; I was really missing the library, the 90210 school, the extras we've gotten to know.

Starting college is horrendously confusing and stressful and I think this episode mentioned nearly every common experience: not signing up in time, not getting what you signed up for, not being able to find buildings (and wandering around with a campus map), adjusting to the roommate from Hell (and on BtVS, her roommate actually might be), the fliers, the Jesus freaks, and so on. That exchange about waiting in line for your ID brought back flashes of a few years ago, when I had to wait for mine in a monster line and in hundred degree heat; my ID photo had my hair plastered to my head and sweat beads on my brow.

I loved that scene with Giles and that cool Black Brit Babe. It wasn't ambiguous; it was clearly obvious that they'd just been in bed together. Giles' character has definitely gotten cooler. He used to be so prissy -- and then Wesley sort of took on that aspect of Giles' personality and that allowed Giles to become cool, hmm?

It's too bad that Sunday got killed. But then again, she was kind of a female Spike, wasn't she, and we don't need two of them. I enjoyed the stereotypical college student vamps, the Klimt/Monet poster competition, that comment about Slayer's blood being like Thai stick. "We have to kill some cooler people... somebody remind me."

In the end I could see that The Buffy Powers That Be are definitely capable of meeting the college experience and making it their own.

Bits and pieces:

-- They definitely need a substitute for the library. I miss the library.

-- How did Buffy get home and to the Bronze if it's five miles and she doesn't have a car? And how did Xander know where Buffy's room was?

-- Did they ever explain what "the tunnels" were? Did I miss it?

-- And here's an elementary one. Buffy has to hide her powers from her new roommate. Why isn't she rooming with Willow?

-- I liked the scene in the Bronze where Buffy saw a man that looked like Angel. And I liked the crossover scene where Angel called Buffy, she answered, and he hung up. (This was also in the "Angel" premiere episode that aired directly afterward.)

-- I hope the professor that yelled at Buffy ends up being lunch for Spike in a later episode.

-- Commandos with stun guns? Hmmm.

-- Xander doing Yoda. And stripping. I'm picturing that.

-- Willow has new hair. I think Oz's is another color again, too.

Quotes:

Buffy: "How do you get to be renowned? I mean, like, do you have to be 'nowned' first?"
Willow: "Yes, first there's the painful 'nowning' process."

Girl: "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"
Buffy: "Uh, you know, I meant to and then I just got really busy."

Buffy: "Gentleman of leisure? Isn't that just British for unemployed?"
Willow: "Uh-huh, he's a slacker now."
Buffy: "Speaking of slack, have you heard anything from Xander?"
Willow: "Not for awhile, he's still on his cross-country-see-America thing. He said he wasn't coming back until he had driven to all fifty states."
Buffy: "Did you explain about Hawaii?"

Sunday: "Freshmen. Man, they're so predictable."
Vamp: "And you can never eat just one."

Sunday: "I'm Sunday. I'll be killing you here in a minute or so."
Buffy: "You know that threat gets more frightening every time I hear it."
Vamp: "Uhh... are we gonna fight? Or is there just gonna be a monster sarcasm rally?"

Vamp: "Okay, but you gotta share the eating. 'Cause I'm thinkin' slayer's blood's gotta be, whoa, like Thai stick."

Xander: "Buffy, this is all about fear. It's understandable, but you can't let it control you. 'Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to anger.' No wait, hold on. 'Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side.' Hold on, no, umm, 'First you get the women, then you get the money, then you...' okay, can we forget that?"
Buffy: "Thanks for the Dadaist pep talk, I feel much more abstract now."

Willow: "How can you be so calm?"
Oz: "Long, arduous hours of practice."

Xander: "Do we hug?"
Oz: "I think we're too manly."

Let's give this episode two out of four stakes. It definitely improved as it went along and I liked it better when I saw it the second time,

Billie





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