What's My Line, Part One

What's My Line, Part One
Written by Martin Noxon and Howard Gordon. Directed by David Solomon

Original Airdate: November 17, 1997

Plot: It's Career Week at Sunnydale and the Scooby gang is finding out what their future might me. Buffy feels a bit left out since her future has already been determined for her. Meanwhile, a mysterious presense arrives in town and Spike unlocks the secret to restoring Dru to full health.

Review

Warning: If reading SPOILERS for Buffy the Vampire Slayer is going to make you so upset that you call on the order of Tanakra to kill me, please turn back now. There are major, SPOILERS just ahead for the first part of What's My Line.

In short: A solid first part

I love my local WB station. They've been repeating the original series of Star Trek at 10 p.m. so that means all summer long that right after Buffy, I get to move into another one of my all time favorite shows and enjoy it as well. And I don't know if this was planning or a happy coincidence last night, but right after the third showing of What's My Line, Part One we moved into the original series episode, "Elaan of Troius." Now, for those of you who haven't memorized every episode of the original series like I have, "Elaan" is the one where Kirk must train the young Dohlamn of Elaas on the social nicities before she is married to another man to stop a war. One problem--her tears have a biochemial reaction in men that if they touch a man, he falls instantly in love with her. Guess who has a teach touch him? Before you can say, "Space, the final frontier..." Kirk is putting the moves on the Dohlman. I found myself grinning last night as this episode rolled up on screen right after the first part of What's My Line. Namely because my station could have called it women with annoying accents nights. Yes, the Dohlman of Elaas has a similar accent to Kendra, who we meet for the first time last night in the first installment of What's My Line. :-)

But, on to the real reason we're here--What's My Line, Part One. I will admit this is probably one of the more difficult reviews I've done all summer. Namely because I know who part two turns out. I'm trying to deny that I know what happens in part two or at least shove those details to a dark corner of my mind. That way I am a bit less biased, I hope. Namely because I think that while What's My Line, Part One is a solid, enjoyable episode, I was overall disappointed by part two. But that's another review.

So, you might ask, why not just review them both at once? You did, after all, lump the two parts of the Becoming as one in your season ending review. I could do that because they were both written by the same person and thus are separate parts of a whole. It's harder to do that with What's My Line because it's got two different writers for both parts.

So, with all that long introduction out of the way, let's move into the episode that was What's My Line, Part One.

As the first half a two part story, it did what it needed to do--and that was set up the events that will hopefully play out in part two. Indeed, the episode was able to slow down a bit from the usual frentic pace that is Buffy and allow us to develop not only a larger number of stories to examine, but also to allow us to have some nice, quiet character moments that really enhance Buffy. Buffy's scenes with Angel at the ice skating rink were really quite nice, especially when she told him she didn't mind him having his "game face" on. Also, the scenes with Willow and career day worked out rather well. After several short scenes of saying, "Who's that girl?" Oz finally gets to become a bit more defined as a character. I liked that and am glad to see that he's taking a bigger role in the day-to-day action of the show.

What didn't really work for me was the forced pairing of Xander and Cordy. I get the feeling that the powers that be have something more in mind for this duo. I have a feeling where it's going, especially based on the first installment of this episode. I'm just not sure if I'm for or against it just yet. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens in part two before I pass any major judgement on it.

But, while the episode did have some good subplots, it also had a rather interesting main plot. Namely, Spike's preparing to take Buffy out and heal Dru. I liked the scenes with Buffy scared of just who the members of the order might be. The scene with her walking through the halls of Sunnydale and seeing danger at every turn was nicely realized. I liked the slow-motion shots, especially. It added a surreal tinge to the entire sequence and made it even more unnerving that it might have been.

As for the whole Spike and the ritual plot, it was fairly well realized. One thing I have to keep reminding myself is that it's only half done and so I can't really make any major judgements about it just yet. We've seen that Spike needs certain things in order to insure the plot goes down well. And I like the fact that the book that the vampire stole in Lie to Me played an important role here. I'd like to find out exactly what happened to Dru to make her weak like this. I also wonder if she was always this nutso or if this is a side affect of whatever ails her. I think an episode that examines her convertion by Angel in greater detail might be in order. Or even Spike's turn to vampire would be great to see.

Until then, though, I guess we'll have to be satisfied with the hints that we are given. :-)

But any Buffy episode that is serious to an extreme would be a bad thing. And while we had all these serious plots, we had some fun stuff going on with career day. I like the fact that Buffy was having issues with the day because of her fate as the chosen one. I also loved how everyone suggested she go into law enforcement. And Xander as a prison guard was a riot.

So, overall, the episode was a fun one. It did what the first part of multi-part story should do--set up the events for part two. I am holding off reserving too much judgement of the story until I see part two, but I do have high hopes for a good conclusion. After all, with this many interesting plot threads, it can only get better, I hope.

So, that about wraps it up for now.

My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: There's a new Slayer in town named Kendra.....and her accent is annoying as all get out.

"It's like 'what's my line' but I don't get to play."

--Buffy

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