Fool For Love
Written by Doug Petrie
Directed by Nick Marck
Original Airdate: November 14, 2000
Plot: After sustaining a severe injury in what should have been a routine
slaying, Buffy becomes obsessed with finding out how the other Slayers
before her fell. In order to do that, she confronts Spike about his killing
of two previous Slayers and how he bested them. Meanwhile, Riley leads the
Scooby gang on patrol to stop the vamps that hurt Buffy. (This episode is
part of a 2-part Buffy/Angel crossover).
Review
Warning: If SPOILERS are beneath you, then I strongly suggest that you turn
back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the latest episode of
Buffy, "Fool For Love."
In short: Strong, powerful, amazing...just a few of the words I'd use to
describe not only this episode but the crossover as a whole.
It was a little over four years ago at about this time, that Joss
forever hooked me on Buffy. I came a bit late to the Buffy party, staring
my Buffy viewing with season two's "When She Was Bad" and I'd been a
faithful watcher (no pun intended) since that point. But one November
evening, Joss took a show that I merely watched every week because I enjoyed
it and turned it into an absolute must-see program (and an obsession if
we're being totally honest here) all with one little episode. That
episode--"Lie to Me" an episode that still ranks up there as one of my top
five episodes of Buffy to date.
"Lie to Me" had it all--witty dialogue, a superb set-up, a villain of
the week painted in shades of gray and probably one of the most effective
codas I'd ever seen. Simply put--it was Buffy at it's best.
I got the same feeling watching "Fool For Love."
In every aspect of the show from writing to acting to directing, "Fool
for Love" hit the right notes.
Starting off with the writing, I've got to admit that I've never really
been overly impressed with many of Doug Petrie's offerings in the past.
Sure, they've been satisfying enough, but they've never really been what I'd
call a home run. At most, I'd have to say they were doubles or maybe even a
sliding triple. But this time, Petrie stepped up and delivered a home run
that not only cleared the fence but probably carried well out into the
parking lot.
Which is amazing, considering the fact that the script had such
potential to be such a disaster. Honestly, any story that deals with the
backstory to a character--and one that fans like as much as Spike--has the
potential to be a total bust if not done correctly. Petrie had a great
burden placed upon him because not only did he have to get Spike's history
correct (down to the details of when he'd taken out the Slayers) but also
because he had to show us the development of this character from his early
roots to the bad-ass vampire he's become today. That's not an easy thing
to do. If you don't get the character's origins right, you run the risk of
turning off viewers. (Also, I can only imagine that Petrie faced some
challenges considering that a new hardcover book based on the history of
Spike and Dru was released a few weeks ago.) Couple that with the
long-awaited return of Dru to the Buffy-verse (yes, I know she saw some
screen time a few weeks back in "Dear Boy", but this was the first time we'd
seen her on Buffy since she left at the end of season two) and you had huge
expectations.
Thankfully, at every turn, Petrie delivered. The plot moved nicely from
one scene on another. He managed to get a large portion of the Spike
backstory set against the storyline as we know it. (Honestly, if there were
any glaring errors, I missed them. Any errors that were there are probably
of the nitpicking variety, unless I'm proven wrong by others out there). I
also liked the way that everything between Spike's past and his present
situation so neatly tied together, linking the episode and making the final
scene so poignant.
From Spike's early days when he was a struggling poet (and earning the
name William the Bloody because his poetry is so bad) and his insecurities
after being rejected by the girl he longs for to his becoming a full fledged
vampire and the leader of the pack as it were, it all worked. I liked the
glimpses we caught of Spike not only before he was vamped by Dru but also
those afterwards. What I liked most about these glimpses into the past was
that little parts of the character that is Spike are revealed. And we come
to understand why he's become the way he is today.
In many ways, I expected Spike to have always been the same convention
defying person that we've come to know and love. I like the fact that
Petrie took the chance of making Spike a bit of a loser before he becomes a
vampire. I really enjoyed that we got to see Spike being full of
insecurities, pain and bitterness before he meets Druscilla and becomes her
"toy" (as he is later referred to in "Angel"). Then, to slowly see Spike
change from the weak-willed, but still impulsive character that he was (I
refer to Spike's impulsive confession to the Victorian girl of his love for
her even when he knows that rejection is at hand) to no-holds-barred vampire
that he's become today was superbly done. I also loved the bit of symmetry
between the two halves of the episode--past and present. In both of them,
Spike only wants to win the attention of the girl that he loves but in both
cases he fails miserably. Of course, his rejection by the Victorian girl
isn't nearly as out-and-out a slap in the face as Buffy's revelation that
Spike is "beneath her" but there is still the overwhelming sense of
rejection is Spike's past and present. (Also, tying in Dru's rejection of
Spike in South America late in the episode was a nice touch. I'm glad that
we got to see this little exchange and that it filled in part of the history
of Buffy-verse so well.) Indeed, all of the women Spike has loved reject
him because in some way they consider him not "good enough" for them--with
the exception of Harmony.
We have enough history of two of the three women in the storyline to
know that Spike is attracted to strong women who aren't necessarily the
right woman for him. I get the feeling the Spike is like a lot of people
out there--he's insecure when alone. Which is the only reason I can think
of that he keeps Harmony around and hasn't slayed her yet. (Which is a day
that I am fast hoping approaches as I'm really tired of the character).
With an episode that is so heavily dependent on one character to pull it
off, you again have the potential for disaster. That is, of course, unless
you have an actor like James Marsters who is able to give his best with any
material that you give him. And when you give him superb material like we
saw here, he just looks that much better. Marsters deserves an Emmy
nomination at the very least for his performance here. Marsters did an
amazing job with Spike here. From Spike's humble beginnings to his eventual
bad-ass self, Marsters hit every note perfectly. I loved seeing Spike as
William in the Victorian era, struggling with his self-confidence. Marsters
did all the little things right there--from his body language to his
delivery of lines to the movement of his eyes. But somewhere deep inside, we
saw the potential for the bad-ass vampire we've come to know and love today.
And then to see that slowly brought out as Spike established himself as a
vampire, stood up to Angelus and then killed two Slayers was superbly done.
But I have to admit that Marsters was at his best in the give and take
between himself and Buffy. And the best example of this was the scene in
the alley where we cut between the alley and subway battle with the Slayer.
Marsters brought a dark, chilling air to Spike that has, quite frankly, not
been a part of the show since Spike got a chip in his head. And to see Spike
have determined just how far he can go to hurt someone with the chip in his
head was superbly done.
I have to admit that the scene that really caught my attention was the
superbly done one in the alley. I loved the cutting between the subway
battle with the 1977 Slayer and the elaborate dance Spike engaged in with
Buffy in the present day. I loved the verbal interplay between the two and
I liked the fact that past Spike was able to talk to modern day Buffy in his
scenes about how he took down the two Slayers.
I also liked the reasoning behind why Spike was able to take down the
Slayers--namely that the Slayers walk on the dark side and while they deal
out death on a daily basis, they often lose hope and give in to death. I
also like the fact that Spike's reason that Buffy has stuck around so long
is that she has things in the world worth living for. (It reminded me of
some dialogue from Babylon Five when Sheridan is dead and told, "It's easy
to find something worth dying for...do you have anything worth living for?")
Again, the things that were named were Joyce, Dawn and the Scoobies.
(Interesting that Riley isn't mentioned...I wonder if it's jealousy by Spike
or perhaps that he realizes Buffy doesn't love Riley as she did Angel). I
think this is foreshadowing of some dark events to come--namely that Buffy
will potentially lose one or more of these elements and want to give and die
and not fight the good fight anymore. (I know there are some SPOILERS out
there that point to this and I've heard rumors. If you know more, please let
me stay in the dark.)
But it just didn't stop there. To see Buffy begin to realize that one
of the things that keeps her fighting might be taken away--her mother, was
nicely done. Sarah Michelle Gellar delivered her usual knock-out
performance here as Buffy. To see her go from confident with her mom when
Joyce revealed she needed some tests to her crying on the porch to her
arrogant statement that Spike was beneath her, Gellar hit all the right
notes. Her fury at Spike and then her crying on the porch because she was
so scared for her mom was nicely done. And also her sisterly concern for
Dawn and Dawn's not being ever allowed to go on patrol was nicely done. I
like the walk on the dark side that Joss is letting Buffy take this year.
It's given Sarah Michelle Gellar yet another chance to shine and she's
proved to be more that up to the task.
As was the rest of the Scooby gang. I admit that I found the Riley
plotline a bit interesting. I liked seeing the interplay with the regular
members of the gang and Riley going in full-out Initiative mode. Also to
see his disgust at how un-seriously the Scooby gang was taking the patrol
was nicely done . I also liked seeing that he went back to take on the
vamps and is becoming obsessed with somehow showing his love for Buffy. You
almost get the feeling that he feels if he had convince her that he loves
her so much that she might love him in return. One thing about this
plotline that did sort of bug me--where exactly did Riley get the grenade?
And while the Scooby gang was only in there briefly, they made the most
of the scenes they got and did them well. I found the scenes in the
graveyard to be reminiscent in some ways of other times Buffy has
disappeared and the Scooby gang has been forced to take up the slack.
So, the entire episode worked from beginning to end on both the writing
and acting side. But there is still one third that I'm not mentioning--the
directing.
Man it really worked. Both the directing and the editing.
I've already highlighted the dance/fight scene with the cuts back and
forth between Spike in 1977 and Spike today. But another sequence that just
really stood out in the direction side was the scene as the four vamps
walked away from the Boxer Rebellion. I loved the slow motion in the shot.
And I loved the fact that Nick Marck not only got such a superb scene with
such sweeping music but that he got all of the characters in that scene
easily captured at that moment.
It's scenes like that that just sent chills through me.
But, the one thing that can take a good episode up to the level of a
great episode is the ending. In the case of "Lie to Me" the coda was what
really made the episode. And it was the coda that made the episode here. I
loved seeing the cuts between the shocking revelation Spike faced and the
shocking revelation Buffy faced. I liked the way that we saw Spike react
with fury and become hell-bent on killing Buffy, yet again. Also, to see
Buffy get the news and then break-down on the back porch was nicely done.
But I also liked the way the final scene played out. To see Spike stalk out
of the bushes, ready to kill Buffy was great. Because at that point, Spike
had her where he wanted her. She's lost some hope and part of what anchored
her wasn't as stable as she thought. Buffy might have not put up as much of
a fight to save herself and might have been willing to give into the
darkness that is within her. But to see her vulnerable to Spike at that
moment was nicely done. And to see his reaction was superb. James Marsters
did a great job as we saw the conflict within him briefly and then saw the
fury melt away and become something more Buffy. To see him awkwardly sit on
the porch and want to know if he can help was nice. And I admit a bit of a
lump came to my throat when he rubbed her back a bit.
I also admit that I liked that Buffy didn't start sobbing on Spike's
shoulder when he reached out to her but remained distant from him both
emotionally and physically.
The final coda is what threw the episode over the top for me--making it
easily one of the best Buffy episodes of the year...if not of the entire
series.
So, I guess you can say I liked the episode, huh?
Well, that's about it except for a few small things...
--Loved the fight between Spike and Dru in South America.
--Juliet Landeau, David Boreanaz and Julie Benz were all utterly amazing
in this episode. I intend to do a review later where I talk about the
crossover as a whole and what we saw character wise. So I won't spoil it
too much here.
--I liked Dawn's helping Buffy cover up her injury. I've said it before
and I'll say it again--the sibling rivalry/bond between these two is
amazingly well done.
--Chips on patrol? Love it.
Well, that's it for now. "Fool For Love" was as close to perfect as an
episode of Buffy can get. It not only revealed an essential back-story to a
superb character but it set the wheels in motion for some long-term plot
development. Definitely a keeper.
My rating: 10.0 (out of 10.0)
Next up: Glory founds out what really happened to the key....
"When do I get to go on patrol"
"When you're NEVER!"
--Dawn and Buffy.
Review Copyright 2000 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.
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