Reptile Boy
Written and Directed by David Greenwalt
Original Airdate:
Plot: Frustrated by her responsibilities as Slayer and the
lack of any development with her relationship with Angel, Buffy reluctantly agrees to attend a frat
party with Cordelia. Little does she know the brothers harbor a deadly secret in the basement...
Review
Warning: If you're depending on a snake-like demon as your guardian
against SPOILERS, I recommend you turn back now. There are major, major
SPOILERS just head for Reptile Boy.
In short: Good ideas, not so so good execution.
One thing that I have come to love about Buffy is the sense of
there being so much more in an episode if you watch it two or three or
fifty times. I am always picking up on little things I missed before that
overall make the storyline make a lot more sense.
Reptile Boy is a fine example. I watched it last night for the
third time and it finally sank into me just exactly what Reptile Boy did
for the frat guys--he made them unusaully successful. There's a quick
line at the end by Xander about former frat members falling on hard
financial times and several of them taking their own lives that for some
odd reason really just eluded me the first couple of times. It provideded
some sense of closure to the episode that was lacking the first couple of
times I saw it.
Not that it really made me step back and say, "You know, I think I
was too harsh or unfair to the story," because despite the greater
explanation the overall story isn't really much to write home about.
Not that that weren't flashes of brilliance.
What I really liked the most about Reptile Boy was the fact that
it continued the early season subplot of Buffy's dissatisfication with her
assigned role as Slayer. Her frustration at a lack of a life, Giles's
insistence that she train and patrol, and the lack of any movement with
her relationship with Angel was nicely realized. And it all played out
well in the first few minutes of the story, leading up to the time when
Buffy agrees to go the frat party with Cordy.
Indeed, this subplot delivering some of the biggest laugh out loud
lines of the evening coming from Willow. Her confrontation with Angel
about coffee being more than just a drink and with Giles about his being
overbearing (which was really well played in this episode. I loved
Anthony Stewart Head's delivery of "I'm going to attack you and I won't
hold back." Utterly hysterical.) And I also loved how she was in on the
cover up with Buffy and watching her squirm when confronted with the exact
nature of where Buffy might be.
However, while the subplot was really, really well realized, the
main plot was a bit underwhelming. OK, I will preface my next remark by
saying I was never in a frat, but I've known a lot of nice people who are
members of frats and sororities, so please don't be offended by what I'm
about to say.
OK....
I liked the idea that the frat brothers had a demon helping them
out because I'll be honest, the thought has crossed my mind from time to
time. But, it's an idea that can be really good, if you take the next two
or three steps and help it be realized. Yes, girls are disappearing to be
sacrificed to it. But why does the monster feed on the women? Also, in
keeping with standard monster cliches, does the monster want to feed on
virgins? These are just a few things I wondered about.
But the major disappointment of this plot is when Reptile Boy
appears on screen. It's interesting that this week's repeats are differng
ends of the spectrum when it comes to how to effectively use guys in
rubber monster suits as your monstes. Tonight's showing of Go Fish does a
better job becasue the monsters are kept in the shadows and seen only
quickly in the full light. It helps them be more effective and scary
because you don't have time for it to sink in just how cheezy the monster
is. Reptile Boy, our monster appears in the light and the shows suffers
for it. Basically, less is more and in this case, less would have been a
lot, lot more. If you've seen the X-Files movie, you know how scary quick
cutting and tight editing can be. And most times Buffy is really good at
this. I guess when the script calls for a huge ugly reptile to come up
and attempt to eat Buffy and Cordy you just bite the bullet and hope for
the best.
Anyway, I've got to admit that Reptile Boy isn't the strongest of
episodes the season has seen. It's not the worst though. It's just a
fair episode and for Buffy, that's a shame. Because I think they wasted
some really great opportunites here....
So, that about wraps it up for now, except a few small things.
--OK, I've got to wonder why Buffy was immune at first to the frat
guys' charms? If part of Reptile's Boy's power is to give the guys the
power to attract women to be his feast why didn't it work on Buffy? Part
of it could be her emotional turmoil with the whole Angel thing as well as
her anger about her life as Slayer. You could also think that maybe these
guys preyed on the more "airheaded" types of girls, but then that doesn't
explain why it works on Cordy since we've seen time and again that while
she plays an airhead at times, she really is extremely intelligent.
--I loved the training exercise. That really worked well and was
funny.
--Xander's being initiated by the frat guys for crashing was
funny.
--OK, I've got to admit that seeing Angel with his game face was a
nice touch. It makes you wonder if maybe testosterone makes his game face
come up...
Well, that's about it for now. All in all, a middle of the road
episode. Not great, but it had potential....
My rating: 5.5 (out of 10.0)
Next up: Something fishy this was comes....
"Angel, Angel, Angel. Does every conversation have to come back to this
freak? How you doing man?"
--Xander
Review Copyright 1998 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.
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