The Replacement
Written by Jane Esponson
Directed by
Original Airdate: October 10, 2000
Plot: Buffy and the Scooby gang confront a Hoth demon that is obsessed with killing the Slayer. In the attack, Xander is blasted by the demon's weapon, creating two Xanders....
Review
Warning: If your relentless, unyielding goal is to avoid SPOILERS for the
latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Replacement," I strongly
suggest you turn back now....
In short: An interesting hybrid.
One of the oldest television sci-fi stories is the idea of a
doppelganger. The idea of one person either split into two people (ala
Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek's "The Enemy Within") or the idea of
having virtually an exact duplicate of a main character (ala TNG's
"Datalore". The X-Files' "Small Potatoes" or even Buffy's "Dopplegangland")
is one that's been explored many times before.
In some cases, such as the original Star Trek's "The Enemy Within" the
idea of the doppelganger is meant to be a character study. By seeing Kirk
split into two halves, we see that it is the balance of both halves of his
personality that make him the person and the commander that he is. In the
case of The X-Files' "Small Potatoes" we see a person take over Mulder's
life to give us a bit of insight into not only the character who's taken
over but Mulder himself. I think the line that sums it up best (and this
won't be an exact quote) is when the character who took over Mulder's life
states, "We're both losers....but you're a loser by choice." The character
examination is in looking at the life of a character we've come to know over
the years and see how others might view them.
In the case of this week's episode of Buffy, "The Replacement" we got a
bit of a hybrid of both of those plots. In this case, we saw Xander split
in two. The main difference here is that Nicholas Brendon has a twin
brother, which is great from a technological standpoint, it makes the
episode flow a bit better and as a viewer I wasn't distracted by the
directorial "tricks" employed to have both Xanders appear on screen
together. (If you've ever seen, TNG's "Brothers" in which Brent Spiner plays
not two BUT three roles, you'll know that while the episode is enjoyable, it
can be distracting watching as director Rob Bowman creates the illusion of
their being three Spiners interacting.) It also led to some great scenes
that would be difficult, if almost impossible, to seamlessly create in an
episode such as Xander fighting and wrestling with himself.
And I've got to give both of the twins a great deal of credit. They
managed to pull off a sparkling performance as both parts of Xander.
Nicholas Brendon did a superb job of being the usual Xander as well as the
half that lacked the self-confidence and determination the other had. Also,
Kelly did a nice job of making his half of Xander familiar enough but also
unfamiliar enough to make you think something was wrong.
A few things that stood out from the script.
--Confident Xander's dark, more wry sense of humor. He was still
sarcastic but it was different enough to make you take notice.
--Confident Xander's self-confidence with women--whether it be Anya or
the woman he was attempting to rent the apartment from.
--Panic Xander's absolute certainty that Confident Xander was using some
kind of demon mind trick to get what he wanted from the job to the apartment
to Anya's love.
--Panic Xander's going to Willow for help after Confident Xander went to
Buffy. Also, his use of memories that Willow would know about--up to and
including the Snoopy dance, which was just as much of a riot on screen as it
was when it was referred to off-screen way back in season two.
--I liked the fact that separately, both Xanders functioned well, but
when you put them together it was a lethal combination. I liked the fact
that they degenerated into an almost Beavis and Butthead-like combination at
the magic shop as Giles attempts to restore them.
Each of these elements worked together to provide us with some
interesting insight into Xander's character. And I enjoyed the work that
we saw. I also enjoyed the fact that Xander got some significant
development for the first time really since "The Zeppo."
And while I liked where the journey took the character, I'm not sure
about the journey to get there. As I stated earlier, this episode was such a
hybrid of other doppelganger type of episodes, that I think it lost some
focus. At first it seemed that Confident Xander was taking over his life and
would show Xander what he was missing. Then it was almost like there was a
whole evil-clone taking over his life and alienating Xander. The script
kept bouncing back and forth between ideas and there were times I wish it
had picked a point of view and stuck with it.
Again, I liked where the journey took us. Just not how we got there.
I also liked some of the scenery on the journey. Namely, that Anya got
some character development. I liked seeing that she has fears of being
human and growing old. And certainly based on the fact that she was a
virtually immortal demon at one time, this really worked well. Also, I liked
the fact that she was concerned that Xander would leave her if she got "old
and wrinkly." I feel as though this relationship, which has a times, seemed
to be a bit on the shallow side, really got some depth here. We saw that
both sides care about each other and that it goes deeper. Indeed, one of
the common elements both sides of Xander had was concern for Anya and that
she not be hurt. And both sides wanted to do what it took to please here.
At least this was true until the end. A lot of the points the episode
scored early-on for Anya and her development quickly were negated by the
scene in which she wants to have a three-some with both halves of Xander.
In one scene, she quickly reverted back to the character we saw in the
second-half of last year--one that was only concerned with sex. Sorry, but
after the development we saw her go through, this felt a bit out of place
and like a betrayal of the character development.
And that hurt the overall momentum the story had.
Which is a real shame.
Maybe in some way this is meant to be some kind of counterpoint to Buffy
and Riley. OK, hands up by anyone who wasn't shocked by Riley's revelation
that Buffy doesn't love him last night? (Hands down all your Buffy and
Angel-shippers.)
Boy, that was one of those slam-bang moments that Joss likes to hide in
episodes. Honestly, my jaw dropped when I heard it. But as I thought about
it, it made a great deal of sense. If I remember correctly, Buffy has never
volunteered that she loves Riley first. She responds to his "I love you"s
but she never initiates them. Also, it makes Riley's usually smarmy
dialogue make a lot more sense. In hindsight, we can see that he's
overcompensating for her lack of emotional commitment to the relationship.
In many ways, the couple we thought was the most stable and in love on the
show turns out they aren't. Indeed, remember that in the opening scene as
they look at Xander's possible new place, Buffy and Riley head to his
bedroom to check it out. In many ways, if there is a couple that is based
purely on the physical side, at this point, it would be Buffy and Riley.
We've seen that while Xander and Anya do have a physical side, there is some
emotional connection there. With Buffy and Riley, there isn't as much. It
certainly makes things a bit more interesting and it certainly does open up
the door to Riley's departure.
And I have to admit that everyone played that scene perfectly. From
Riley's coming right out and saying it, to Xander's stunned silence (which
really reflected the audience's, I think). It all worked. I'll admit I've
been a bit of a detractor of Jane Esponsen's work in the past--namely for
her dialogue. But that one scene really, really hit home and worked well.
She deserves some huge thumbs up for it.
So, all that said, I've got to admit I'm a bit torn on the episode.
There were parts of it I loved and parts that struck me as odd. I liked
where we got character-wise, but again I'm not sure if I like how we got
there.
So, that's about it for now, except a few small things...
--Again, Riley gets to act like a pysch student this week--wanting to
study both halves of Xander. I liked that.
--Spike was good in his limited scene. I hope there is something coming
up for him to do that is significant. James Marster's is too good a talent
just to have in one or two scenes a week.
--Interesting that Willow didn't need Tara's help to undo the spell.
Well, that's about it for now. It will be interesting to see where they
go from here, especially with the revelation from Riley.
My rating: 6.5 (out of 10.0)
Next up: Riley's having heart problems. And not just because Buffy doesn't
love him...
Review Copyright 2000 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.
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