Bad Girls
Bad Girls
Season 3, Episode 14 (Episode 48 of entire series)
Born to Run? Don't ask, I don't know. This episode features the arrival of Buffy's new watcher -- which begs the question, if they can send a new Watcher, stat, for Buffy..why didn't they send one for Faith? Anyway, this episode sets up an arc that involves: the slaying of a regular person; the Mayor's becoming...something or other, and the distancing of Willow from Buffy. Some great lines from Giles, too.
I fear I am going to run off at the hand again...
Show opens with Faith and Buffy in the cemetery doing that thing they do. The vamps are super big and super armed. They kinda reminded me of The Three a little. I don't know, but Faith can chew bubblegum and walk, I bet. Here she's killing vamps and fighting yet she still bugs Buffy by asking her if she's slept with Xander. Anyhoo, they beat the vamps, but when Buffy wants to take a weapon to Giles so he can do some research on it, the weapons are..gone.
Cut to the Mayor's office. Mr. Trick delivers the goods, and the Mayor, Allan, and Trick engage in a lively discussion about comic strips. Okay, I know I haven't made the page for the Mayor yet, but can I just say..anyone who was wavering about his being evil...get over it! He's evil. He likes The Family Circus. That's just..like, beyond evil. Anyhoo, the Mayor talks about some dedication thing that's going to happen that will mark his ascension. It made me think of Heaven's Gate.
At school the next day, the gang's talking about college and stuff. Willow's getting into the acceptance thing while Xander bemoans his future at Corn Dog Emporium. They must be in competition with Corn-Dog-on-a-Stick, as referenced by Principal Snyder earlier this season. Anyhoo, Cordy comes by to dis -- or, is it diss -- Xander about his dad's not having a job. Yee.
Anyhoo, Buffy heads to the library and meets her new Watcher. Think she takes kindly to him? Yeah, right. Basically we learn that he's a bit stuffy, into giving orders, and fancies himself able to do some field work..in controlled situations. No tweed, unless it's somewhere we can't see...
Turns out that the vamp camp Buffy and Faith saw are these acolytes of some fat supposedly dead demon named Balthazar. I wonder if they named him after that actor Balthazar Getty, who is supposedly number one in fan websites on the net, but I have to admit, I don't think I've seen him in any movies at all. Maybe Lord of the Flies...was he in Lord of the Flies? Oops. Digression. Revelation! It's Christian Bale who's supposedly no. 1 in fansites. I just remembered. And deja vu..I feel like I've written this before. Weird.
So anyway, Wesley the Watcher tells Buffy that the vamps are in town to get an amulet that supposedly would give Balthazar great power. New guy thinks they want it for sentimental value, because yeah, he thinks the demon is dead.
Faith walks into the library, sees Wesley, and bails. Because like, she does her own thing. Faith is to Rules as I am to mayonnaise. Ugh.
Anyway, Buffy gets this assignment to go get the amulet, which is in a crypt. She has to hide when a legion of vamps arrives, though; Faith comes onto the scene when the vamps leave, and she suggests following them down this manhole. Why? It's just not good slaying technique. Like, sure, the rush, but come on...
Down in the manhole area, the chicks fight the demons. The demons have the sword advantage, sort of. One demon grabs Buffy and sticks her head underwater, holding it there. Freakalicious! Seriously. Shades of Prophecy Girl. I think they did it for a reason...This whole thing reminded me of season one and Buffy's first meeting with Giles. But it's not the same thing, here, exactly.
Anyway, I just got logged off and lost my train of thought....what ends up happening is, Buffy starts to take on Faith's energies a little too much. During a chem test, she tries to keep yakking about it to Willow and Xander; still during the chem test, she also sneaks out the window to do a little Vamp-Alarm-Clock thing with Faith. Later they go to a club and they're dancing. Stuff like that. I mean, at one point in the 'sode, Willow was going to go slaying with Buffy, but Buffy tells Willow not to because it's not safe. Then Faith arrives, and Buffy leaves Willow...So like, it's odd.
Anyhoo, we learn that Balthazar is indeed not dead. He's sitting in a tub of water, looking disgusting, having people wash him. It's all very ancient Rome. Only, not. He gives orders about how or where to wash him and can make people come to him by kind of doing some weird thing...it looks like they just get sucked right over to him. If their head hits his fat, it's like they die. Ugh.
Meanwhile, Angel goes to find Buffy and tell her the latest; Buffy's new watcher shows up and he's got the amulet on him. Angel takes it for safe-keeping. Buffy and Faith end up going on a weapons run. Basically this means, under Faith's instruction...bashing windows and stealing stuff. It's a plan.
But the cops come and cuff 'em and they're put in the car to go..downtown or somewhere. Faith convinces Buffy that they need to get out of there so they can go save the world, so they kick in the backseat of the car, which sends the cops into the dash and the car just like, careens into another parked car. Buffy notices that the cops are hurt and says they should call for help, but Faith's already running, saying they'll be okay.
Next morning, Buffy's freaked, looking in the paper to see if it's there. She had some guilt, and why not.
Time for me to wrap up here..so anyway, Balthazar tells his followers to bring him the Watchers and the Slayers...he wants his amulet, man. He sets that plan into motion, and the Watchers are taken from the library, unbeknownst to anyone except for vamp Angel. At the same time, Buffy and Faith are trying to track their way to the vamps and Balthazar etc., and they're walking down an alley. One vamp appears, it goes down. Something else crosses their path and when Buffy realizes it's just a man, she yells to Faith not to stake him. But it's too late. Buffy asks her to go call 911 while she tries to stop the bleeding, but...no joy. The guy, Allan, dies. It's bad. Faith takes off, Buffy takes off, and she runs into Angel, who tells her that Giles and Wesley have been captured and that they're at the Hutt's place.
Back on the Death Star, Wesley is about to spill to Balthazar about who has the amulet. How'd he ever get that gig? As watcher? Buffy and Angel show up to do their thing, and once he's loose, Giles is impressive with a sword. He's also insanely funny in this episode, but this is not the page to read about that.
Buffy kills Balthazar, who, as he dies, leaves a cryptic warning about how when so-and-so ascends, they'll wish that he (Hutt guy) had killed them.
Later Buffy goes to see Faith, who's doing some sink laundry. She tells Buffy that she doesn't want to talk about what happened, but that she took care of the body..dumped it. Yikes. So not the thing to do. After watching this episode, I wondered why it wasn't outrightly called a Two-Part Buffy Event.
And oh yeah, the Mayor's invincible now. He can have his head split open, and nothing will happen. This explains the politics angle so much better for me now. So he's like, invincible for the 100 days between now and his ascension. This plot may be amended later, 'cause I forgot to say that Buffy noticed Xander's eye twitches whenever Faith's name is mentioned.
1. Buffy cut a cord, which dropped the light fixture thing stuff into Balthazar's bath. Electrocution happens.
2. Buffy and Faith took out some vamps earlier as per usual; staking and such, letting some sun shine in.
1. Being impetuous is not good.
2. Buffy loves Xander, but she doesn't love Xander.
3. Willow and lavendar...the winning combination in wicca.
4. Apparently, Faith doesn't care that she killed someone. And we all thought she was Lady MacBeth.
5. I have no idea, but my neighbors are cooking something...and oddly, I have no idea what they're cooking, either.
6. Making waffles for your daughter gives you a zero calorie count. And eating them while standing makes it go to your feet.
7. Stealing weapons from the army is okay; stealing weapons from a store is not. (I just love to reference Innocence.)
Buffy: "I hate it when they drown me." -- after she emerges from um, being drowned.
Balthazar: "You know what I want."
Giles: "If it's for me to scrub those hard-to-reach areas, I'd like to request you kill me now." -- the end looks near for Giles?
1. Sunnydale High School
2. The cemetery & some crypts
3. Store
4. Underground
5. Vamp nest
6. A Club..Didn't look like the Bronze, but it probably was.
7. Balthazar's warehousey place.
8. The Mayor's office & wherever he did the incantation.
9. Some streets/alleys
1. Buffy
2. Willow
3. Xander
4. Giles
5. Cordelia
6. Angel
7. Oz
8. Faith
9. Joyce Summers
10. The Mayor
11. Mr. Trick
12. Allan
13. Cops
14. Mrs. Taggart (Chemistry teacher)
15. Balthazar (aka Jabba the Hutt)
16. Wesley Wyndam-Price, The New Watcher
17. The Eliminati (vamps)
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