Warning: If SPOILERS for the latest episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, "Living Conditions" will bug you, I suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the current episode...

In short: Good in parts.

Let me get this out of the way first--I just love Marti Noxon. The woman can write. Over the course of the show, Noxon has consistently delivered some of the more memorable, emotionally moving scripts that Buffy has seen. She also has this uncanny ear for dialogue that I just love. So, when I heard that she was writing the second episode of the season, I have to admit I was looking foward to it.

And, on one hand, sort of dreading it.

OK, I've said I love Marti and her work. But I've found that at times her scripts can be hampered by an annoyingly tacked on monster of the week plotline that serves only to distract us from the real meat and potatoes of the episode (such as "The Prom" or "Dead Man's Party"). But, I'll admit that last year, she was able to get away from this a bit and really deliver some powerhouse, cracking good scripts. I only hoped the roll would continue into season four...

And for the most part, it did with "Living Conditions."

I can honestly say that on the whole "Living Conditions" was a very balanced script. It had the moments with the monsters and, this time, that plotline worked well into the main emotional plotline of Buffy hating her roommate, Kathy. There was a lot of that plotline that really worked for me. (Part if may have been that I once roomed with the male equivalent of Kathy and know EXACTLY what Buffy was going through...if only it had occured to me back then that he was a soul sucking demon...:-) )

I think a lot of steps were taken to make Kathy as annoyingly cute, perky and loathsome as possible. Noxon certainly had a lot of sequences in there designed to make us dislike Kathy. Seeing her trying to get in good with Buffy's new guy as well as shoving her way into the Scooby gang at lunch were enough to make us feel as though something was quite wrong with the girl. But, on the other hand, Noxon provided us with a few moments in which you honestly had to feel some sympathy for Kathy--such as explaining that she was from Nebraska and probably didn't have any friends at UC Sunnydale.

Looking back, while I'm glad that we had an entire episode that focused on this conflict between Kathy and Buffy, part of me wishes that it had gone on longer. Yes, we met her last week and found out that she liked Celene Dion (which should have been the first clue she was an evil soul-sucker!), but I wish that Buffy's irritation with Kathy had built up a little more each week until it reached a culmniation point. Seeing Buffy slowly begin to realize who and what Kathy was might have worked better over a long-term arc for the show.

I just know from personal experience that it takes a good while to really loathe a roommate. :-)

As for Kathy turning out to be a demon, I've got to admit that while I wasn't shocked that she was the target of the demons, I was suprised that she was one of them looking to escape. That part worked out pretty well, even though the ending really reminded me of the ending of the classic Star Trek episode, "The Squire of Gothos." (If you haven't seen it, it's the one with Trellaine, who torments the Enterprise crew and turns out to be a child that is just having fun with them and is then punished by his parents at the end. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching!) The idea that Kathy was trying to escape from the demon dimension or to make herself better seemed to work and lended a bit more sympathy to the character in the end. And, I've got to admit that I liked that.

What I didn't always buy was the character arc for Buffy.

Last week, we had her adjusting to life at UC Sunnydale. So, to see her acting out of character was understandable. This week, it seemed a bit disconcerting at times.

I can understand the path that she went down, but it just didn't seem right. Buffy seemed more unforgiving that usual. I'm not sure if parts of this are reasons that Kathy chalked up--her being an only child and used to having it her own way all the time--or how much of it was done to heighten the sense of conflict between Buffy and Kathy. I've got to admit that the process that Buffy went through to determine (at least in her own mind at that point in the story) that Kathy was a demon seemed a bit odd overall. I only hope that next week we see a return of the Buffy we've come to known and love. I'm not against character development by any means, but I do like to see it actually go in a positive direction.

As for the demon plotline, I've got to admit I enjoyed that pretty much. Mainly it was because of the little things that made it work so well. For one, Noxon gave the demons their own language and that's a nice touch. Also, the misdirection worked well of Noxon setting us up to assume the demons were targeting Buffy when they were, in fact, hunting Kathy. I like the way she played with our expectations there and I feel the script, as a whole, was much better for it.

The only part that didn't add up was just why they felt the need to summon up the female demon. She was summoned and then summarily dropped. I suppose you can say that once Giles reversed the soul-sucking spell, the demon was no longer needed, but it's never really addressed in the script. I wish it had been as it would have given the storyline a bit more closure that it needed.

Beyond that, the script was pretty nicely done. It had some great character moments, which as I've stated before are Noxon's strength IMHO. The scene between Giles and Buffy in the beginning and Oz and Buffy while patrolling were things of beauty. They evoked laughs but they also rang completely true and that's a very, very good thing in my book. Also, the scenes with the Scooby gang worked pretty well, though I feel that Xander got the short end of the stick in terms of characters. He seemed pretty much tacked on--especially in the lunch room scene. I only hope that not having Xander at UC Sunnydale this year won't cut down on his usefulness to show or make him become like Angel was at times--having an obligatory scene or two, irregardless of what it adds to the plot, just because he's in the opening credits.

Well, I guess that's about it for now, except for a few small things...

--Who was that girl Oz glanced back at and then stared back at him?!?

--The mercanary crew running in the background was interesting. I can only assume we'll see more of them as the season progresses..

--The new guy for Buffy. Based on what I've heard rumored, it might be best if Kathy had got her claws (no pun intended) into him. On the other hand, it's nice to see Buffy moving on past Angel.... (Oh, I'm gonna take a lot of heat for that one...)

--Why show scenes of the psych class and Riley if they aren't going to have any impact on the plot?

Well, that's about it for now. Overall, "Living Conditions" is an enjoyable episode, with only one or two really glaring things standing out in it to keep me from giving it a perfect rating. It's a good offering by Noxon, but not quite on par with her best episodes such as "The Wish" or "Consequences."

My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Spike is back....(Let the rejoicing begin!)