Gingerbread
Written and Directed by
Original Airdate: January 12, 1998
Plot: Wanting to be a bit more involved in Buffy's life as
Slayer, Joyce joins her on a patrol, where she witnesses two children who are victims of a brutal murder.
Outraged, Joyce rallies the rest of the residents of Sunnydale around to find and stop the killers. But all
the signs point to Amy, Willow and witchcraft involvement....
Review
Warning: If seeing you want to avoid SPOILERS for the latest episode of
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, "Gingerbread" please turn back now....
In short: Good concept, shaky execution.
In terms of air dates, "Gingerbread" is a huge, pivotal episode
for Buffy. After being named to numerous top ten lists for the best shows
of 1998 and coming off two weeks of solid repeats, the first new episode
of 1999 needed to be something that would not only please the long time
fans that most of us are but also one that would snag new viewers who
might be tuning in to see what all the hype is about.
So, "Gingerbread" has some really huge shoes to fill. Needless to
say I had high hopes for it, despite the concept summary I read on-line a
few weeks back.
And while "Gingerbread" did fairly well in bringing up some
interesting issues, as a whole it didn't much for me. Part of this is an
initial predjuice against one of the authors who came up with the concept
of the episode--namely one Thania St. John. If she's the person I'm
thinking of, she wrote several early episodes of Lois and Clark that I
left me cold and so that predjuice carried over here. My biggest overall
complaint with her writing wsa that she took what were dynamic,
interesting characters and made them one-dimensional in her scripts in
order to advance the plotlines or get a good laugh. Her biggest sin was
taking Lois from being a strong, agrresive but likeable woman and turning
her into a more witch like character who was the butt of a lot of jokes.
And I could easily see her doing the same thing with Buffy....
Because, let's face it, outside of Babylon Five, Buffy has some of
the strongest female characters in the sci-fi genre. (I am reminded of
just how strong the B5 women are since I recnetly rewatched the fourth
season opener, Hour of the Wolf).
And while St. John's script didn't exactly turn Buffy into a
simpering idiot, it did do a grave injustice to her character. Buffy
seemd totally out of character for the entire run of the story. Instead
of the three-dimensioanl character she has been in, say the Becoming, Lie
To Me, or most of the show for that matter, she seemd rather one note. No
where is this more apparent to me than in the scene with Joyce in which
she talks about if she's doing any good in Sunnydale and the final
sequence killing the ugly monster of the week.
First up, the scene with Joyce.
While I felt this scene raised some issues that were interesting,
such as has Buffy really done good in the overall picture and does she
just react to the evil rather than really combatting it, the injustice
done to her character was too much. It called to mind the scene from the
Becoming when Buffy is forced to choose between her relationship with her
mom and saving the world. That worked well for the dramatic moment it
created as well as the consequences that we are still seeing played out.
This one seemed like a scene they came up with to put on there and have
Buffy act like a spoiled teenager about it.
Of course, the greater injustice is that Buffy has to have Angel
come and tell her that she makes a difference. Yes, the scene was nice,
but it was completely wasted. It reminds me again of what St. John did to
Lois in several of her episodes--taking her from being self-realiant to
someone who NEEDED Superman to rescue her. It diminished the character a
bit. And while it was nice to see Angel being a bit supportive, the whole
scene didn't mesh well with what we saw in Revelations a few weeks back.
Next up, the final scene with Buffy tied to the stake. OK, first
of all, why didn't she rip the stake out and try to esacpe earlier.
Secondly, her comments, "Did I kill him? Did I kill him?" seemd a bit
contrived. It made the entire final act seem like a set-up for a bad
punch-line.
As for the monster, I guess I can buy the angle they're taking
here. Though the idea of it being Hansel and Gretel seems obvious looking
back at the title....:-)
The other thing is the red herring didn't work out well enough.
If the symbol on the children's hands is a harmless one used to tell
fortunes as Willow professes and the epiosde later seems to confirm, then
why did most of Giles books seem to corborate that the symbol was some
kind of ritual evil? It seemed like the brought this up just to put
suspicion on Willow and Amy (who was really under-used and wasted in the
overall story!) rather than as an actual way to advance the plot. If we'd
had an inkling the symbol might not be evil before Giles books were taken,
I wouldn't have a problem with it.
The other part of the problem is how quickly the town turns
against Buffy and the other girls. I guess you can chalk it up to the
evil influence of the demon, but it seems a bit odd. After all, this is
Sunnydale where they accept that vampire attacks are kids on LSD. It felt
almost like the parallel universe episode in a way. Like we'd fallen into
the bizarro universe where Sunndydaleites care about the town and want to
take it back.
My other major problem with this episode was the unrealized
potential. Namely in the plot-line that saw Joyce trying to integrate
herself a bit more into Buffy's world. I liked the idea of Joyce coming
out to see what Buffy does on patrol a great deal. But again, the
execution hampered it a great deal. Part of it is that Joyce's
characterization has been all over the map this year--from really witchy
in Anne to supportive, overprotective Mom here. I want to see a bit more
consistency to her from week to week.
But, for all the parts I didn't like, there wer a few I did.
I really, really enjoyed the continued fall-out from the
Willow/Xander kiss a few weeks ago. Seeing Xander's obvious guilt playe
dotu was really fun and the scene in which he talks about Oz's silences
being filled with meaning was a real hoot. These scenes alone almost
redeemed the episode for me.
Overall, though, I have to admit this one was really a big hit
and miss affair for me with far more misses than hit. I don't think I've
been this disappointed in an episode all year, with the exception of Band
Candy....
So, that about wraps it except a few small things....
--Seeing Willow's mom...jury's still out. Part of me thinks it
should have been like Vera on Cheers or Maris on Frasier. More fun to
hear about them, but not seem them.
--I loved Willow's litany of crimes..."I'm dating a musician."
That was well done.
--I am glad that we are seeing some growth and consequences of
Willow's search into the study of witchcraft. Overall, that worked well
enough to be believable. I also like that she's not doing major spells
just yet.
--Amy was totally wasted here. The few scenes she was in were a
totaly waste of time. It seemed they included her only because she was a
witch for the witchhunt which is a disservice to an interesting character.
(This is the seocnd time I've been none too pleased with the return of an
old face this year, the other being Ethan in Band Candy....)
--As I said before, Angel's scene while nice wasn't overly
effective. I hope he's gonna do more than brood around finding his place
in the world now....
Well, that's about it for now. Overall, a disappointment.
My rating: 4.0 (out of 10.0)
Next up: Buffy's 18th b'day.....the preview looked good! :-)
"What are you going to do--levitate a pencil at them?"
--Buffy.
Review Copyright 1998 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.
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