av Mr Chase » fre apr 02, 2004 3:42
Mr Chase didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition:
45. Gingerbread
I'm not particularly fond of this episode. I find it to be too preachy for that. Sometimes the themes in some episodes are, and I think that's a shame. I like a moral story as much as the next bloke but I don't enjoy being hit over the head with it. Ever heard about a little thing called subtlety?
This is about the dangers of fear. Fear of what you don't know and cannot control. The adults of Sunnydale, normally not the most clear-sighted of persons, suddenly rise up against the perceived evil. But it's not demons and vampires but the all too human witches. Naturally Willow, who's been delving into that, and Amy (a nice continuity return for her, even to the point of turning into a rat in the end) gets caught and along with Buffy are almost burned at the stake.
However, since this is a show about the supernatural, the impact of the actions from the scared adults are lessened when we learn that they've only been influenced by a demon impersonating, of all things, *Hansel and Gretel*. I'm mean, come on for chrissake! There are perfectly good examples when mob rule and mass hysteria has lead to tragic consequences without a demonic presence.
There is an interesting difference in perceived threats here. Buffy and her young friends see evil as something done by monsters. She has difficulties to see that people with a soul could really be heinous. Soulless monsters you can kill and the problem is solved. But humans? The fact that she's right in this instance doesn't negate that she, and I suppose a lot of others, has a terrible blind spot here.
But others, mostly adults, don't believe in monsters and knows that evil is a part of man, and that in a civilized world, it must be controlled. The risk is of course that you get carried away with too much control, as the locker searches in school and the vigilantes of MOO (yeah, a stupid acronym indeed) shows.
Still, the message here was way too blunt for it to be engaging. And there where bits that was too ambiguous, as exactly when Joyce went from a rightfully concerned mother to a demon-possessed Spanish Inquisitor. And how much did the other adults remember of this incident afterwards? I know selective memory is widespread in Sunnydale but it has gotten beyond ridiculous.
There is a little philosophy of slaying that partly makes up for the episode's many shortcomings. Joyce tells her daughter that the slaying doesn't accomplish anything since the vampire infestation problem is never solved. There's no plan -- just a succession of slayers doing their duty more or less in perpetuity. Buffy takes this to Angel who is the one who puts it all in the right perspective.
Angel: "We never win."
Buffy: "Not completely."
Angel: "We never will. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there's things worth fighting for."
A surprising thing is the creepiness that is Sheila Rosenberg. Is every Scooby parent neglecting their offspring? Xander, Cordelia, probably Oz and now Willow. Mrs Rosenberg's sudden "caring" about her daughter's extra-curricular activities goes overboard to the point of lynching the same daughter, even if it was under demonic influence.
Cordelia is trying to keep her distance from the Slayerettes, most certainly to avoid being near Xander. Which is too bad, in my not so humble opinion.
Cordelia: "If you're gonna hang with them, expect badness. 'Cause that's what you get when you hang with freaks and losers. Believe me, I know... That was a pointed comment about me hanging with you guys."
But when push comes to shove it is actually Cordelia who saves the day. When things goes awry it is she that awakens Giles.
Cordelia: "How many times have you been knocked out, anyway? I swear, one of these times, you're gonna wake up in a coma."
Giles: "Wake up in a... Oh, never mind! We need to save Buffy from Hansel and Gretel."
Cordelia: "Now, let's be clear. The brain damage happened *before* I hit you."
And with his help, and a distracting manoeuvre from Xander and Oz (who seems comfortable around each other despite what's happened), she puts out the fire by the stakes, which allows Giles to reveal the demon. That's my Cordy! But why didn't anyone think of enlisting the help of Faith?
Fun lines includes Giles yelling to the computer: "Session interrupted? Who said you could interrupt, you stupid, useless fad! No, I said fad and I'll say it again!" I can *so* relate to that.
Principal Snyder's: "I love the smell of desperate librarian in the morning" shows he's been watching Apocalypse Now one time too many ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning").
And we all do doodle, don't we?
Buffy: "What is this?"
Willow: "A doodle. I do doodle. You, too. You do doodle, too."
Rupert Giles: "I'll be back in the Middle Ages."
Miss Calendar: "Did you ever leave?"