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Post by Techno-bot on Jun 12, 2004 23:00:58 GMT -5
Written by David Fury and Jane Espenson
Directed by Nick Marck
Air date: 10/23/01
It's a case of bad timing as Buffy goes out searching for a job just as Andrew, Jonathan and Warren decide to 'test her' in search of a weakness they can exploit.
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Post by Queen E on May 19, 2009 20:36:56 GMT -5
I find it fascinating how this episode works on a metaphorical level.
First, you have the common Buffy thing of using the classroom to flag up the major points of the episode; in Earshot, it was a discussion of Othello and one's "inner Iago," in Crush it was a little more obvious with a class devoted to whether or not one could sympathize with Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In "Life" you've got a discussion about the social construction of reality and the various viewpoints on how it is constructed (do you constuct it yourself, or is it constructed by the things and people around you) in an episode with insubstantial demons that melt when killed, time going wonky, and Buffy stuck in a loop...basically, in an episode in which, as Mike asks the class, Buffy is faced with "multiple realities."
It's those three tests that work so well as metaphors.
First, time speeding up on campus. Buffy goes to a sociology class and finds herself unable to get into the "rhythm" of the discussion; she thinks everyone is smarter and more together than she is...they know more and understand more. She is getting left behind and run over by her fellow students who have goals and plans and more knowledge.
Second, melty demons at the construction site. Clearly, Buffy is dealing with outright misogyny: The guys on the site assume she can't do the job because she's female, are defensively male when she claims she saved them, and say she freaked out on them and it must be her "time of the month." But misogyny and misperceptions are hard to pin down; they are the intangible demons that are often not acknowledged and are difficult to prove.
Finally, the loop. This one was an easy one for anyone whose worked retail of any stripe. The same thing day after day with little variation with little discernable way to break out of it. This one probably hits the closest to home for Buffy as well, especially since in "Once More With Feeling" her very first song is about the loop she's stuck in: "Every single night, the same arrangement."
And of course, each job represents what Buffy will have to deal with for the rest of the season: feeling out of step and left behind, fighting intangible "demons," and stuck in a place she feels she can't break out of.
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Post by Lola m on May 19, 2009 22:05:05 GMT -5
I find the opening scene interesting in that it highlights both how the gang are looking to Buffy to figure things out (which, she is trying to do more than I remember, actually), while also underscoring how they had started to build a life without her. And as far as the class that Buffy is auditing? It is all over my head too! Go me, being all slayer-like!  **headdesks** Hey, it's rude-o boy and the evil lint! I wonder what Tara saw when things sped up around Buffy. Did Buffy seem to be just standing still? Yay! Hard-hat Buffy! I've always thought that the construction job is really the very best fit for her. She just needs to be working with a group who either know about her and/or don't have a problem with her super-powers and wacky demon-fighting lifestyle. I mean, relatively high pay, somewhat flexible schedule, puts her physical strength and coordination to good use, opportunity to build a lifelong skilled career if you want or just take on basic projects as they come if you don't want to commit that much. "Okay, first tip of the day. When I introduce you to Tony the foreman? You might wanna leave out stuff about blackin' out and evil lint."  I so love the funny bits in this ep. ;D Heh! I like how Xander finds a way to nicely fire her, but also he recognizes that there is something going on. Go, Xander! You know, Anya doesn't actually tell Buffy that there's supposed to be a charge for delivery. Just sayin'! "Stop touching my magic bone!" OK, that just never stops being funny.  Why am I not surprised that Giles used to pretend the store was his old library?  (Also? Nice bit of meta with Buffy saying she'll just have to find her own way.) Mummy hand!! (Mummy hand + Thing from Addams Family = True Romance 4evah!) Heeee! Just playing dead. ;D Heeee! Just picture yourself naked. ;D ;D Fingers sold separately. ;D ;D ;D Go with slug! She's not going to sleep with you anyway! ;D ;D ;D ;D Yay! Now it's time to go drinkin' with Spike. Mmmmm, he so pretty! Look at those arms . . . Go for the fun, Buffy, go for the fun. Hee! Buffy drunk face is just adorable. Kitten poker! Clem! Drunken goofy Buffy and trying to be cool Spike! "Which one do I kill for information?" Heeee! ;D "You're short and you're insane." "I like Timothy Dalton." **head slap** ;D ;D ;D Rebel Buffy! Not playin' by anyone's rules. Ah, and then amidst the funny, those aha moments - Spike was supposed to "fix her life" and is the "only person she can stand to be around". In vino veritas. Heeee! The little look that the demonified Jonathan gives the van as it drives away? Heee! ;D "I let the demon set the rules." Another little moment there, eh? Ah, Buffy, it's the "always" in that last line that concerns Giles. |
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Post by luvmyfirefly on May 28, 2009 21:10:57 GMT -5
Am I the only one who gets cranky with the Scoobies when they all gaze at Buffy with the big, dumb eyes and say "What are you gonna doooooo?" No, I'm not - Spike gets more than cranky with them. And why are they all living there but leaving all the bills to Buffy? Tara and Willow can't kick in for rent? Also, when I was in college you had to pay to audit classes and got no credit for them. Why would that be a good idea? Already I'm bitching and I'm not even to the opening credits yet. But it's so funny to me to watch the pained look on Giles face when Willow says she's a breast girl. He was the Ripper! How'd he get so starchy?  |
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Post by luvmyfirefly on May 28, 2009 21:20:26 GMT -5
There's something very striking in the fact that the Troika is the most vulnerable, least competent Big Bad ever, and yet they cause the most lasting damage to Buffy and the Scoobies.
Still watching this. I can't wait for Buffy's drinky face! I think I love it almost as much as Spike does.
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Post by luvmyfirefly on May 28, 2009 21:25:20 GMT -5
I must say our girls are rockin' the slutty tops in this episode! I was missing Tara's lines when her bra was showing under the lace neckline of her top. And I'm a girl.
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Post by luvmyfirefly on May 28, 2009 21:48:02 GMT -5
Demons courtesy of Zamfir. ;D Buffy is just so damn lovable in this episode. I need to remember to watch it later in the season when I want to slap her silly. Anya. Crazy hair and "Picture yourself naked." Too funny. Mummy Hand lady is scarier than Glory was. Tongs. TONGS.  Dead Parrot sketch reference! How did I miss that?? OOOOOO. MMMMMMM. GGGGGGGG. Look. At. Him. She is crazy to not jump him right now. She should take a roadtrip to Mexico with him and shag herself senseless and then come back to face all this bullshit. It will all seem so much more manageable if she's boneless from Spike-gasms. |
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Post by luvmyfirefly on May 28, 2009 22:07:35 GMT -5
The look he gives at her drinky face makes me dissolve into a puddle. I am 48 years old. This should not be happening to me.
Even Spike isn't too helpful at tracking down these guys. This season they were their own worst enemy.
Timothy Dalton was the only Bond I paid to see until Daniel Craig. But then, I'm not a Bond fan.
How short is Jonathon? He can't even see in the van window.
"This makes me feel safe. Knowing you're always going to be here." And Giles gets all thinky-faced and comes up with the genius idea of leaving her when her world is crumbling. Was this how they planned the story or did ASH ask to be absent for part of the season?
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Post by Michelle on May 29, 2009 9:13:18 GMT -5
The look he gives at her drinky face makes me dissolve into a puddle. I am 48 years old. This should not be happening to me. Even Spike isn't too helpful at tracking down these guys. This season they were their own worst enemy. Timothy Dalton was the only Bond I paid to see until Daniel Craig. But then, I'm not a Bond fan. How short is Jonathon? He can't even see in the van window. "This makes me feel safe. Knowing you're always going to be here." And Giles gets all thinky-faced and comes up with the genius idea of leaving her when her world is crumbling. Was this how they planned the story or did ASH ask to be absent for part of the season? It was at the request of ASH. He had/has a long term partner and children in England. I think he said in an interview that he never imagined Buffy would go on for as many seasons as it did, and he missed his family. |
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Post by KMInfinity on May 29, 2009 16:37:35 GMT -5
Am I the only one who gets cranky with the Scoobies when they all gaze at Buffy with the big, dumb eyes and say "What are you gonna doooooo?" No, I'm not - Spike gets more than cranky with them. And why are they all living there but leaving all the bills to Buffy? Tara and Willow can't kick in for rent? Good question! All these money woes seem like an artificial way to bring focus to the theme that Buffy is an adult and must deal with the real world. I kinda bought into it the first or second time around, but now I'm wondering.. Where's her dad? He really abandons both daughters? No economic support whatever? As you said, Tara and Willow are sponging off Buffy? How sweet. Spike hasn't robbed a bank and given her garbage bags full of cash? (Okay, she'd probably at least struggle with taking it....but that would be a decent story...lol) Giles really can't figure out that Buffy should be able to focus on slaying AND healing and deal with mundane money matters later? Like, when she's 27? And most annoy to me, the freakin' Wankers Council - er, I mean Watchers Council doesn't provide even a stipend for basic expenses? YGBKM right? |
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Post by KMInfinity on May 29, 2009 16:44:57 GMT -5
There's something very striking in the fact that the Troika is the most vulnerable, least competent Big Bad ever, and yet they cause the most lasting damage to Buffy and the Scoobies. I actually love this as a concept. Evil isn't "big and bad" all the time. Evil is banal and meaningless and shallow too. I think I drew a comparison with C.S. Lewis' Perelandra somewhere once. For those who haven't read it... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perelandrathe novel pits Satan against the "Eve" of the planet Venus. Satan is in the guise of a scientist named Weston. He uses subtle and sophisticated approaches when tempting "Eve" but the most mundane of childish attacks when trying to demoralize the good guy Ransom. Lewis makes the point that evil runs the gamut of all kinds of manifestations. |
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Post by Lola m on May 31, 2009 18:42:18 GMT -5
There's something very striking in the fact that the Troika is the most vulnerable, least competent Big Bad ever, and yet they cause the most lasting damage to Buffy and the Scoobies. Yes! It goes hand in hand with the fact that they are a real human threat, not supernatural. Yes, they employ supernatural tools and weapons, but they themselves are human and do their bad stuff for very human (and very stupid) motives. And Buffy is able to get back to herself when she is battling on the supernatural front again. Granted, she's battling one of her best friends, gone totally over the supernatural edge, but still. Heee! Because it is, frankly, adorable. |
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Post by Lola m on May 31, 2009 18:43:12 GMT -5
I must say our girls are rockin' the slutty tops in this episode! I was missing Tara's lines when her bra was showing under the lace neckline of her top. And I'm a girl. Well, Tara is hard to take one's eyes from, no matter who you are. |
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Post by Lola m on May 31, 2009 18:51:30 GMT -5
I find it fascinating how this episode works on a metaphorical level. First, you have the common Buffy thing of using the classroom to flag up the major points of the episode; in Earshot, it was a discussion of Othello and one's "inner Iago," in Crush it was a little more obvious with a class devoted to whether or not one could sympathize with Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In "Life" you've got a discussion about the social construction of reality and the various viewpoints on how it is constructed (do you constuct it yourself, or is it constructed by the things and people around you) in an episode with insubstantial demons that melt when killed, time going wonky, and Buffy stuck in a loop...basically, in an episode in which, as Mike asks the class, Buffy is faced with "multiple realities." Yes! I totally didn't think of the old high school thing of "what's discussed in the classroom is a microcosm of what's going on in the ep", but it really does play out here, doesn't it? Well put! Good metaphors for moving into the adult world . . . |
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**headdesks**
(Also? Nice bit of meta with Buffy saying she'll just have to find her own way.)
