S03.E20: The Prom

[lembergwatcher]

Strange thing. Xander is not at all bad-looking. And obviously not dumb. And yet his place on the SHS social ladder is apparently much lower than Jonathan's. Jonathan does have a prom date, With Xander it's "either [fucking] Anya or the sock puppet of love for this boy".

Damn, why couldn't Xander pretend going all Charles Whitman-y on his fellow students the way Jonathan did? What if he met someone decent during one of those therapy courses? At least he could've tried to stage a suicide attempt Angel-style... Maybe it would have helped to win, say, Willow's heart last Christmas?..  

[illdoc]

4 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Jonathan does have a prom date,

How do you know that's not his sister/cousin/etc?

[Halting Hex]

19 minutes ago, illdoc said:

How do you know that's not his sister/cousin/etc?

How do we know that it's not

Spoiler

an early attempt at that Superstar spell he just had dumped in his lap in therapy?  He might not have gone full-global-"I starred in The Matrix" yet, but perhaps his date has a bit of local stardust in her eyes, even now.

Or maybe it is just a pity date, such as Giles tried to pressure Buffy into giving Jonathan.  Not that Anya doesn't come with 1100 years' worth of her own baggage, but at least she appreciates Xander for Xander.  There's a certain value in that, IMO.

[lembergwatcher]

5 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Or maybe it is just a pity date

Even if it is, still much better than Anya.

5 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Not that Anya doesn't come with 1100 years' worth of her own baggage, but at least she appreciates Xander for Xander.

You mean, misandrist mass murderer who spent centuries "punishing men" suddenly starts appreciating one of her potential victims (or former victim to be precise)? I think Anya's decision to approach Xander has very little to do with actual appreciation or any feelings. Because, you know, beggars can't be choosers. Besides, she probably knows Xander is the guy whose post-Fluke mental state makes him quite spineless (unfortunately).   

[Joe Hellandback]

17 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Even if it is, still much better than Anya.

You mean, misandrist mass murderer who spent centuries "punishing men" suddenly starts appreciating one of her potential victims (or former victim to be precise)? I think Anya's decision to approach Xander has very little to do with actual appreciation or any feelings. Because, you know, beggars can't be choosers. Besides, she probably knows Xander is the guy whose post-Fluke mental state makes him quite spineless (unfortunately).   

My attitude is that Anya the girl and Anyanka the demon are 2 separate entities,  

[lembergwatcher]

12 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Anya the girl and Anyanka the demon are 2 separate entities

Right. Just like Angel and Angelus. Quiet convenient if you wanna turn a blind eye on what both Anya and Angel really are. Yet for some reason Anya the Girl always recalls Anyanka the Demon's actions in the first person, as something she did. Thus I see lots of big holes in the "two separate entities" theory.

[Halting Hex]

On 12/3/2019 at 5:38 AM, lembergwatcher said:

Numerous cliches are among the series' weaknesses, I must say. Be it "librarians know nothing about sex" (S.02E.17 Passion), "girls like guys with cars" (S.03E.13 The Zeppo) or "prom is the happiest night of every high schooler's life" expressed in this particular episode.

To be fair, the first two citations are examples of clichés being subverted.

In Passion, it is Willow who is being rather naïve about Giles's knowledge of the Buffy/Angel tryst, given that it's been rather a while since the Big Mistake, and it's logical that Buffy would have told him.  Just because Willow got the "seizing is pretty inevitable" memo ahead of the actual event (BFF privilege and all), that hardly means that Buffy (or Angel) hasn't had the opportunity to bring others up to date.

(Although, in Innocence, Angel does conceal the reason for his reversion to soullessness ["You wouldn't believe me if I told you"], so it's possible that Spike and Drusilla are still in the dark, just as it's possible that Xander and Cordelia are.  Still, even though Willow, Jenny, Giles and Joyce are the only people we see  explicitly being told of the tryst [or, in Willow‘s case, the plans for the tryst…while we don't see Buffy tell Willow "I slept with [Angel]" in so many words until I Only Have Eyes for You, it's clearly not news to the redhead], it's hard to believe that others haven't put it together by now.)

And if Willow thinks that Giles is simply ignorant of the entire topic of sex (on account of his profession), she's really being blind.  Never mind that Ethan's buckets of subtext might have passed her by (Ethan does only tell Buffy that he and Giles "used to be close.  Very close" when they're alone, I grant you), but you would think that Willow might have tuned in to all the "squirming" that Giles/Jenny did between Ted and Surprise.

Although it is amusing to imagine Giles having to deal with Willow's thinking he's a 42-year-old virgin even as he's raring to finish up at Buffy's house so he can get back to his flat, where (for all he knows) Jenny might be in his bed this very minute!

(Never let it be said that Angel isn't considerate.  Giles was expecting Jenny in his bed, Giles gets Jenny in his bed.)

As for Lysette being impressed by Xander's Uncle Rory's Bel Air, the remainder of Whitney Dylan's screentime in that episode rather plainly clarifies that girls who like cars that much aren't worth the cost of the gasoline you put in the tank. (Even at 1999 prices.)

So, yeah, this episode is Prom being wonderful in all its Prom-my glory.  But I think it's the exception, rather than the rule.