S02.E07: Lie to Me

[Halting Hex]

So, Lexi was intrigued by Angel's tales of his campaign against Drusilla, and pointed out that while most vampires have, essentially, simple motivations (the Master wanted his freedom and then power; Spike is possessive of Drusilla and takes pride in killing Slayers), Angel was apparently a really sadistic sick fuck (Lexi put it more politely), since he didn't kill Dru for food or revenge or whatever, he took pride in corrupting her.  And that "every physical and mental torture I could devise" bit doesn't sound so great, either.

So now she wants to see some flashbacks, to see the vampire whom the Master called "the most vicious creature I ever met".  "I wanna see Evil Angel!" she declared.

Spoiler

Hoo and boy.  To quote Ethan, "Be careful what you wish for."  And that's just a general statement; I'm not even counting the part where Giles is her favorite character and G/J her favorite ship and she's going to spend next episode terrified for Jenny and relieved when she doesn't die…

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On 6/18/2014 at 6:29 PM, Dianthus said:

Everyone lies in this ep - Ford, Angel, Buffy, Jenny - except Spike.

Wait, what?  How does Jenny lie?  Lying involves keeping a secret when you're asked (as when Angel says he stayed in and read) or if you know it's important to someone and you choose not to tell them (you could put that on Willow and Xander and  Drusilla and Julia [the blonde vampire]).  

But making plans to entertain somebody and keeping them under wraps until the event is not a "lie" by any stretch of the imagination. Drama is not a lie.  Jenny said they'd be going out for the evening and that Giles would find out what they were doing later.  Not a bit of mendacity involved.   If anything, Giles comes closer to lying when he says they couldn't have left before seeing the nitro-burning funny cars.  But even that could be true; he might have decided that it would be unfair to judge the event without seeing everything, the fact that the rest of the show did not in fact change his mind doesn't come into it.

And it isn't only Spike and Jenny who don't lie.  Cordelia was entirely sincere in her sympathy for Marie Antoinette.  (Yes, 90% of Cordy's part was cut, as mentioned above, but she didn't lie in those scenes either.). And while you might be able to ding Diego for a lie of omission when Ford says it's getting drafty and Marvin goes to close the door without telling Buffy "Actually, I'm doing this to trap you in here so the vampires can kill you", I can't see anything that indicates that Chanterelle knew any such details of the plan, not even that Buffy was a part of it.  AFAIK, Ford just told her he had a plan for the Lonely Ones to "bless" them, and she trusted in him.

Sorry, Spike.  You're not quite so special after all.

Spoiler

Yes, Jenny is keeping her "Angel killed a girl from my tribe" secret, but her ethnic heritage is nobody business but hers, so that's not a lie.  It's not as if she's endangering others by not filling them in; AFASK she's just supposed to monitor Angel's moods.  That whole "the Curse could make him lose his soul and then a whole lot of people might die" part is what Enyos didn't bother to tell her.

Now, if Jenny did think to seduce Buffy and let her think that she was doing it out of love whereas it was mostly to split up B/A and she'd actually rather be inducting Cordelia into The Sisterhood, that would be a different matter.  But Jenny's tongue is a long way from Buffy's virginity, both physically and metaphorically.  So the whole "it's ROMANY, not the G-word!" issue is something she's perfectly entitled to keep to herself.  JMO.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Halting Hex

[Halting Hex]

On 8/27/2018 at 5:59 PM, lembergwatcher said:

What still gets me is that a 240-plus-something-year-old ensouled vamp was the lucky guy to see braless (but with heavy makeup on) Willow in the sacred space of her room. Come on, this is so unfair...

To be fair, Xander had plenty of chances to see Buffy braless in history class, and in the corridor afterwards.  (Yes, she is, er, flying free under that mauve top.) So it's not as if he's completely deprived.  True, Buffy is not Willow, but one assumes there will be other opportunities; Angel's good fortune here doesn't preclude Xander being similarly diverted in the future.

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Darcie spotted "Asian Dan" (a recurring extra; name given by Joss Whedon on a commentary) in what may be his first appearance, in that same history class.  He's visible over Xander's shoulder, and looks even less interested in Cordelia's revisionist history than Xander is.

Spoiler

(Which accounts, I suppose, for why Cordelia never ends up dating Dan.)

[Halting Hex]

(It turns out that "Asian Dan" is also in Reptile Boy;  we see him pass by the water fountain as Xander meets up with Buffy and Willow after Cordelia insults him at the start of Act 1. Probably they just hired the recurring extras at the start of the season and we haven't spotted him [or the others] in all of their episodes as yet.)

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Was in a discussion elsewhere about this episode, and the thematic importance of Buffy's line to Ford ("You have a choice!  You don't have a good choice, but you have a choice.") was noted, and I decided to chime in.  May as well just copy-paste, I think

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Yes, there is a HUGE emphasis in the series so far on Making the Hard Choices and Doing the Right Thing. (Even if it kills you, as when Buffy was willing to sacrifice her life once she saw how Willow was traumatized.)

In the space of 9 episodes, we have had 4 "empathetic" villains, from Marcie the Invisible Girl to FrankenDaryl to "Ampata" to Ford, and all of them faced a horrible choice, but they also all made the wrong choice. Marcie became "a thundering loony" from the loneliness, instead of trying to do something productive. (Perhaps use her power to protect the girls' locker room, as Xander suggested, lol.) Daryl couldn't see that it was wrong to mutilate Cordelia just so he wouldn't be lonely. "Ampata" was draining a person every day, that's clearly not a moral choice. And Ford was willing to kill dozens of people, including his old friend Buffy.

But Buffy sacrificed herself to save the world, even if she had to punch Giles out to do it. Her conversation with Ms. Calendar after that ("You face the Master and you'll die." "Maybe. But maybe I'll take him with me.") is defining heroism to me, and gets me every time.

And thanks for pointing out that Morgan had the exact same medical condition, the same deadly brain tumor that Ford did. But Morgan didn't run around looking for magical solutions and not caring who died (even though once he met Sid, he was aware of the supernatural); he spent his last days fighting through the pain to try and help Sid find the demon, so innocent people (like poor Emily and possibly Marc's "missing" assistant and almost Giles) wouldn't be killed, that they would get to live the lives that a cruel fate was denying him.

Morgan was a hero. Ford is a selfish jerk. (No matter how beautiful a line "nest of tumors liquefying in my brain" might be.)

It's the comparison of Ford and Morgan that I hadn't thought about before.  Always something new to consider.

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That reactor also noted that when Spike is mustering up the troops, he tells the vampires that "first priority is the Slayer"…but once he actually has the All-You-Can-Eat Moron Bar tempting him, he just chomps down on Chantarelle and doesn't even look for Buffy!  (Which is how Buffy is able to take Drusilla hostage and rescue everybody.)

This is now two consecutive episodes where Buffy has been able to thwart Spike because he chose to play with his food, rather than just killing her.  (If he hadn't spent last episode gloating about how helpless Lady!Buffy was, Giles wouldn't have had time to break the spell.)

Y'know, Spike, if you would just slay the Slayer (as you've done twice before), you wouldn't need to worry about finding a restaurant that delivers.  Getting lazy in your old age, are you?

Edited September 11 by Halting Hex

[Halting Hex]

Advice for Spike (Continued):

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SPIKE:  The bird's dead, Dru!  You left it in a cage and you didn't feed it and now it's all dead.  Just like the last one.

(Drusilla whimpers.)
SPIKE (conciliatory):  Oh, I'm sorry, Pet.  I'm a bad, rude man.  Would you like a new bird?  One that's not dead?

You know, Spike, you've had a very long time to learn that Drusilla is mentally unstable and doesn't necessarily focus well on tasks.  Maybe it's time you had one of the minions start feeding the birds, so you don't have to be constantly replacing them?  Just a thought.

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WILLOW:  Okay, but do they really stick out?

XANDER:  What?

WILLOW:  Sore thumbs.  I mean, have you ever seen a thumb sticking out and gone "wow, that baby is sore"?

XANDER (not engaging):  You have too many thoughts.

REACTOR JAY (adoring):  She has the most incredible thoughts ever.

Attaboy, Jay!  Willow-appreciation is the sign of a top-tier reactor! [/understandable bias]

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It would have been darkly hilarious (albeit seriously anti-climactic) if Spike had decided that Ford was too much of a wanker to bother with, after all, and simply decided to go fetch Drusilla a "treat" outside the Bronze, leaving Buffy and Ford and the vampire wannabes stuck in that bunker for a few hours.  (Wonder what they would to pass the time?  "I Spy"?  Truth or Dare? Charades?)

Thankfully Angel/Willow/Xander apparently figured out that Buffy was missing and went by to check (I don't think she left word with anybody) but still.

Speaking of absences, I wonder where Giles and Jenny were on the climactic night.  Second go at the monster trucks, or did Jenny decide it just wasn't going to happen?

Edited November 13 by Halting Hex