BtVS - 3.16: Doppelgängland

[wearing_tearing]

Original Air Date: February 23, 1999
Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Joss Whedon

Buffy and the real Willow must save the day when from the bleak alternate universe in which vampires rule Sunnydale, Willow's blood-sucking doppelganger is brought forth into this world and wreaks havoc and confusion on Sunnydale. Meanwhile, Buffy goes into full training mode so she can ace out Faith on the Watchers Council tests, while Faith's unholy new alliance is already paying handsome dividends.

I do miss when shows did relevant “previously on” cuts at the start of a new episode. It gives so many hints about what’s to come while still, obviously, making sure to remind the audience about some plot bits.

Anya! I feel for her re her being stuck at Sunnydale High. Her threatening to find someone who will restore her powers and the episode cutting right to Willow as she performs MAGIC right in front of SEVERAL HUMAN PEOPLE at SCHOOL is telling.

Does Willow ever use the pencil trick to kill vampires? Because that’d be really useful.

Can principals bully students into tutoring? Do students get anything for tutoring? Like extra credit or money or???

Why would the Council evaluate Slayers when there’s only one chosen one per generation, with the great exception of right this minute because Buffy died at the end of season 1… It’s not like they can hire someone else to be the Slayer? Unless they then scheme to have that Slayer killed if she fails and then hope the next one does better… Yikes.

“Thanks, sugar daddy.” Gross. Gross, gross, gross. Glad the Mayor (can’t believe I’m saying this) told her he doesn’t appreciate that sort of stuff. Yuck.

DON’T DO IT, WILLOW. LET HIM FAIL.

Being reliable does have its downsides. It means some people will not do what they need to do because they think you’ll take care of it, just as we see. And then Willow doesn’t even question Anya’s well of information about a spell…

AND VAMPIRE WILLOW IS IN THE WRONG UNIVERSE \o/

Shoutout to this episode’s band: K’s Choice!

I looooove how shocking it is for Xander and Buffy to come across Willow at The Bronze and not realize it’s not their Willow until Wishverse Willow shows them her fangs. The DEVASTATION of thinking your best friend in the entire world has fallen victim to the evil you try to fight and you weren’t there to protect and save her.

The hug when they see human Willow again!!! It’s so damn sweet. I love friendships <3

Anya getting carded despite being ancient is the kind of humor I’m here for. Just let the vengeance demon drink some alcohol! She’s around teenagers all day, she deserves it.

At least she finds a partner in Vampire Willow to try and get herself back together. I’m glad it happens with Oz around there to hear Anya mention this Willow is from a different universe.

THE WILLOWS MEET. Also very interesting that Wishverse Willow was previously all about the dudes and now we have her obviously favoring women! Willow being able to catch that right away instead of just dismissing it as some weird vampire thing is also very !!!!! to me.

Oz’s little smile as Willow pretending to be Wishverse Willow talks about her tendency not to stand up for herself? So cute.

Aaaahhh, Cordelia. She saw an opportunity and she took it! I love the thought of Wishverse Willow being forced to listening to Cordelia talk about the ethics of boyfriend stealing lol

Willow throwing a punch at Anya is also amazing <3 We love to see her not kicking ass <3

Willow asking Buffy not to kill her Wishverse self is sweet and speaks a lot about Willow as a person. She understands that Wishverse Willow still represents a part of her—someone who didn’t have Buffy as a best friend—and so the decision to send her back to her world makes sense. Too bad she dies 2 seconds later.

All in all, I do like this episode quite a bit! Alyson Hannigan does a wonderful job of playing two Willows as two very distinct and complex characters—from the way she holds herself to her tone of voice and facial expressions. It’s always so fun when the show lets the actors play around like that :D

Vampires Slayed: 4(?).
Series Total: 79.

Giles Taking Off/Putting On Glasses: 2.
Series Total: 77.

Episode Quote:
Willow: And I think I’m kinda gay.

Comments

[apachefirecat]

The episode starts off, for me at least, rather strangely. We've suddenly gone straight back to Buffy and Faith training together and Wesley allowing Faith to be free?? It's clear that it is still known she is a killer, as Willow references Faith's willingness, perhaps even eagerness, to kill. Yet neither Watcher makes any comment on it; the closest we get of that is Giles being unwilling to allow her to patrol where civilians are near.

Clearly there is something missing here. Did the Watcher's Council, which, in all fairness, we already know doesn't care about the Slayers OR civilians approve Faith returning to slaying? Did they decide that perhaps, since they had obviously failed at imprisoning her, to just let her go free but try to keep control of her through the traditional methods? Surely there should have been SOME mention of this?? It feels like a big jump, and I'm wondering if perhaps there were a few weeks, such as for holidays and/or sweepstakes, without episodes? Even so, one would think they'd make SOME mention of why Faith is free and just training with Wes -- and also clearly not appearing to hold a vendetta against him...

I hate to admit it, but one of the reasons why I never really liked Willow is she reminded me too much of, well, ME. I've always been a people pleaser too, and was worse about it growing up than I am today -- not that, honestly, that says much of anything. I'm still terrible about it. :/ But gotta love everybody's reaction to Willow being Vamped, from Buffy's shock and "being unable to feel anything" to everybody's quick and desperate hugs, especially Giles', to Cordelia later on just shrugging the whole ordeal off and wanting to know if Wes has plans for the night. :) Speaking of, their moment together in this episode very much reminded me of Angel season 2, and I just had to smile. :)

Ash's expressions throughout are also again priceless, and I love that he's the first to catch on when Willow is referring to the kinky stuff that she and Oz do NOT do. Love Oz throughout too, from the way he just watches her with first concern and then pride to the way he handles the situation and promptly sends Angel for help! It's hard to believe what he left Buffy for... but to each their own. I always felt like we couldn't have him back on BtVS because of the angle they took with Willow's lovelife -- which, don't get me wrong, is cool and wonderful that the show was such a First in many ways but I'll always have a soft spot for Oz/Willow -- but he would have been my PICK for another cast addition over on Angel. Seth/Oz always could say so much with a simple look, not unlike Ash/Giles! LOL :)

One thing that I definitely caught on to this time around were the two girls evil!Willow decides to prey on in the Bronze. One seems shy and withdrawn and is dressed not unlike Tara, with the blouse and long skirt, and the other has hair that kind of reminds of Tara's. I wonder if the writers revisited this episode when Seth decided he was leaving and they were looking to sculpt a female love interest for Willow? Maybe even then they had an idea of the type of woman Willow would want? Although Kennedy (I know she gets plenty of hate, but she WAS Willow's second choice in women) is definitely completely against that "stereotype". Gotta love Percy there at the end -- he could've been another contender for Willow's interests, if she hadn't gone gay!

I know Xander's little eager remark there towards the end about his alternate version being a scary Vampire will probably get a giggle out of most fans, but for me, it was the earlier moments where he shone in this episode. Everybody wants to hate on him now because of how Nicholas has turned out, but I've never believed in blaming a character for their actor's action, or vice versa. I personally did enjoy his character during this time and was still proud to see how quickly he comes to Willow's defense at the Bronze and how, despite everything and despite the fact that he's only a normal, mortal human, he continues to be right there in the mix of things and do all he can to protect his friends, even if one doesn't need protecting. He was never cowardly to me. He was very brave instead, and can we also take notice please of how he handles his other best friend (after Jesse) being turned? He's the first to jump into action when Willow appears again, brandishing the cross and standing between her and Buffy and Giles. The boy had guts and even more heart.

Perhaps does Cordy does have a type, and it's Loser? :) First Xander, now clearly going man-hunting after Wesley, showing up in that evening gown of all things at the library. And poor Wes! He's already fighting his attraction to her and then he's got that nubile, young flesh all up against him. LOL Any man would have trouble resisting that!

Speaking of resistance and the opposite sex, I have to agree with what others have said: The Mayor clearly has NO sexual interest whatsoever in Faith, and she clearly again does not understand or know how to react to that. She's clearly had to become accustomed to men wanting her and either being a toy for them or making them her toys, another defensive behavior. She's also such a kid in that moment, from jumping on the bed to getting all excited about the PlayStation, once again showing that she had a horrible homelife growing up. Her calling was what freed her from that, and so again I end up feeling like she really got a raw deal here. Yes, she did wrong, but the guy was still evil even if human, and she'd already been treated wrong. Nobody had shown her how to be or do better, and all remain so eager to judge and condemn.

But then that's the world we live in, isn't it? :( As the Willows said -- "no fun".

[apachefirecat]

Principals, and teachers too, aren't supposed to be able to force students to tutor other students -- but then that's like saying your boss at work can't expect you to pick up the slack from the other employees without repercussions. It shouldn't be allowed. Technically, it isn't allowed. But it DOES happen. I'm afraid I, for one, do find the show pretty realistic when it comes to Willow's treatment here both by the Principal and her classmates. :( Especially the bloody jock...

My guess with the Watchers' Council evaluating the Slayers is to compare them to past Slayers and see where they need to improve/what areas their Watcher needs to focus on with them. But of course, in this case, there could be multiple reasons why. I do, however, seem to recall them saying that it was the expected time for the evaluations, so I'm leaning more towards my first answer. :)

Again, with Faith and the sugar daddy thing -- I think it just really goes to show what kind of upbringing this poor child had, and the kind of interactions she'd been forced to become accustomed to. I remember her seeming rather shocked at his reaction, and then like yeah, okay, I'll let you play the card but I know we'll come back to this was the kind of feel I got from her after. She's never really never had a kind adult to help her, I'm thinking, except for maybe her first Watcher until she/he was killed. Which also probably terrified her and was the bigger reason she high-tailed it for Sunnydale, where the other Slayer was.

I think Willow wasn't too surprised when Anya knew more than she did in the magic realm, because Willow's still very much just beginning to learn at this point. She's excited to see what all magic can do, and if Anya/the vision of the other realm hadn't spooked her, she likely would have continued to be impressed by Anya -- and I don't think we really would've wanted to see where that could have led at this point in time.

You really could feel Oz's pride in Willow in this episode, and it was SUPER sweet!! <3 Reminded me why I used to LOVE them so much and was a late supporter of Willow's change. I kept hoping they'd bring Oz back and just let Willow be bi and bring in a different gay character! I was thrilled at the idea of the first Lesbian kiss on TV being on Buffy, but I was just SUCH an Oz/Willow shipper!

And yes, this episode DEFINITELY showed off Alyson's acting chops! And Ash's too, I think! :)