The Prom
The Prom
Season 3, Episode 20 (Episode 54 of entire series)
"I've got to stop a crazy from pulling a Carrie at the prom." -- Buffy to Angel. I have to say, this is one fab episode. I didn't think so as much the first time I watched it, but the second time...it's like everything just kinda came together from season one..especially the characters' development. Anyhoo, here we have Buffy still somewhat trying to get that one perfect high school moment in her not-so-normal life; the reappearance of Anya, a visit to Angel by Joyce, and a sort of reconciliation between Xander and Cordy. Wesley takes the plunge (by asking Cordy to dance), and Buffy's recognized by her classmates. Many quotes/quips/events reminiscent of seasons one and two. Read on, Macduff.
Show opens with a bedroom scene. Kinda sorta. Basically it's Angel giving Buffy the eye as she's sleeping. This is the couple that naps together, post-slayage, according to Buffy. Anyhoo, Buffy wants to check her hair out, but alas, no mirrors. It really does make one wonder how Angel might shave. (See Reptile Boy). Buffy then goes on to talk about couplage, and the prom, and Angel's pretty quiet about it all...so you know he's having his vamp-broody-misgivings about it all. And who can blame him? When Buffy opens the curtain to gauge how long they might have before sunrise..she's miscalculated, the sunlight fills the room and Angel recoils. Yow.
At school, Anya catches up to Xander and the two exchange some words. She's still powerless, but since she's trapped in the persona of a high school student, she's dying to go to the prom and asks Xander to go with her. Interestingly enough, she finds him to be one of the least obnoxious of the Alpha males who go to Sunnydale High. This should be an interesting date, no?
The next big thing to happen is Joyce's vamp-visit to Angel's place. She basically impresses upon him that she's worried, Buffy's just a girl, and pretty much wants him to be the one to see what their relationship is, or rather, can never be. I kind of wonder if she'd have given the same speech had it been Spike instead of Angel...heh.
In the library, the gang's still high on going to the prom, and Giles and Wesley kind of want them to get back to the topic at hand..mainly, the Ascension problem. Giles makes with the funny, and Cordy tries to steer the gals away from April Fools, the dress shop on Main Street, by saying that's where she shops. Buffy tries to say that if they're all gonna be getting the vapors (okay, vaporized), at graduation, they may as well have some fun at their prom. (Hey, didn't anyone tell her that no one has fun at the prom??) We also learn that Wesley's going to help Giles chaperone the dance. It kind of surprises and bugs Giles. Heh.
Meanwhile, we get to see some funky looking white shanty thing, inside of which is a cage and a hellbeastie. This one looks like a variation on one of the weresuits they make Oz wear. The thing must have had some caffeine, it's all wired, and it's looking at videos or something. After I saw the papers on the floor, I wondered about the whole "how do you papertrain a hell hound?" thing.
Commercial break. Could I just interject here that the absolute worst commercial is that one for Bubble Yum? It's disgusting! If you haven't had the (mis)fortune of seeing it, it's got some terrible disco-funk music, and these ugly ducks on it. The duck is chewing Bubble Yum. I am cutting my rant about this way short...it took up like 7 lines.
Sorry. The Jetta volkswagon commercial, on the other hand, is just fine.
Cut to a scene in which Angel and Buffy are getting married. In a church. In daylight. When they go outside, it's Buffy doing her immolation trick. Freaked out, Angel wakes up, man with a plan.
What's the plan? Why, to do what's best for Buffy, namely, dumping her in the sewers. No, literally! They're like, in the sewers, when Buffy calls Angel out for always getting grouchy or going non-verbal when the subject of the prom comes up. It's here that more allusions occur...she tells Angel that he has "something face" -- that came up in What's My Line part I -- and then she tells him to "drop the cryptic". Basically he throws her over, saying that this "freak show" (their relationship) isn't fair to her, that she deserves more. This scene might have had some impact if oh..I don't know, say we hadn't heard about the spinoff LAST YEAR! But whatever. Buffy's upset. Big surprise. Angel's upset. Big surprise.
Next day, Willow's at Buffy's house, doing the comfort thing. This scene was way more emotional. I mean, anytime you have the two chicks together and one starts crying (or, okay, both of them are crying), forget about it, you're toast. It kinda reminded me of the scene in Prophecy Girl when Buffy goes to Will's house after the A/V massacre, and Willow is crying. It also reminded me of their scene in Buffy's bedroom in Dead Man's Party. Buffy tells Willow that she thinks Angel's probably right, in the long run.
Meanwhile, on his hunt for a tux, Xander spies Cordy at April Fools, holding up another dress. He goes in to bug her some more, and when co-worker Rhonda comes by and sort of outs Cordy as working there, Xander's wigged. I guess it would be a shock to find out that Queen C is now penniless, dressless, carless, phoneless, etc., because of some tax problems her father had..for the past twelve years. Cordy believes that Xander is going to go run to tell the gang, and she wants to make sure he doesn't leave out that she's now a "name-tag person." Time for a distraction, yeah? "Release the hounds!"
Enter one hell hound, who crashes through the window. Xander runs up to try to take it down and it's on top of him, but then it spies a guy in a tux, and goes to shred him instead. Later at the library, the gang's watching the store's videotape of it. I kind of wondered how they got it from the owner. But hey. Cordy mentions that the hell thing had good taste, it dropped Xander and went right for the smooth lines of the formalwear. Too bad no one really gets where she's going with that.
I'm yammering more this time 'cause someone said I needed more detail. So, there you have it. (Like my disclaimer?)
Wesley identifies the beast as a hell hound, and Giles says that a hell hound is like a demon foot soldier. The species was bred during the Mahkash Wars -- who the heck comes up with these names?? And more importantly, what do they mean?? -- and that they're trained solely to kill. They feed off the brains of foes. Sure, it sounds nasty, but some folks think brains are a delicacy....Bleah. Anyhoo, when it's asked why Cordy was in there, Xander covers for her. He semi-snidely remarks that she was burning a hole in her daddy's wallet. Aw.
Okay, so they notice some kid on the videotape, and they look him up in the Yearbook. Oz recognizes him as Tucker Wells, who was in his chem lab. Why is it always about science when there's a messed-up kid in this show? Usually. I mean, we've had Pete, Eric and Chris, for starters.... Anyhoo, Willow hacks into his e-mail account and they learn from a message he sent to Dave Metz, that he plans to exact some kind of revenge by letting his pooches loose on the prom. The gang realizes the beastie was trained to attack formalwear, and Cordy rubs in the fact that duh, that's what she said all along.
The gang goes off on their Scooby assignments...Buffy checks out this meat plant or butchery place or whatever. She learns that Tucker's been ordering cow brains a couple times a week, and she gets an address for him. She also spies Angel getting some "nutritional supplies." The two have some awkward chat, Angel offers his help, and Buffy says she'll take care of it. This is when she tells him the Carrie quote used above.
Meanwhile, Cordy's at the store, and Rhonda reminds her not to forget her dress. Cordy says she couldn't finish paying for it, but Rhonda helps her (sorry!) by telling her that someone did...Cordy glances at the ticket and a big fat surprised look of realization covers her face.
Back at Slayer Central -- yeah you know it's just going by the library now -- the gang tells Buffy they couldn't get any info., but she tells them not to worry, she's got the goods and will take care of it. She forces them to go have a good time and says she'll catch them later.
Giles comes by to see what's up with Buffy, and he finally guesses that Angel's not taking her to the dance. Buffy tells him that Angel's leaving town after the Ascension. It kind of made me think of how Giles lost Jenny...okay she's dead and..well, hey, Angel's dead too. Or undead. Never mind, I'm sure you know what I mean. Giles offers up the ice cream thing. You have to like that. I mean, I should probably mention this on his character page, but hey...would the man have offered her ice cream in the first half of season one? Doubtful. Buffy tells him that kicking ass is slayer comfort food. Hm...
Remind me not to do detail again. Buffy goes to Tucker's, and discovers that he trained the hell hounds by making them watch Prom-themed movies over and over. She ties him up, and when she's going to stick him in a room, she sees that he had more than one beastie...he tells her that his top 3 are on their way to the dance right now.
The prom is hysterical...the music mostly blows, and Xander's face is hysterical as he listens to Anya drone on and on about wishes she's granted before. I'm gonna add that stuff to the ABC pages...(forcing you to go look through them. Just kidding.) Wesley's eyes bug out of his head when he sees Cordy. He also chokes on the food he's eating. He tells Giles that it's the dip. Okay. How funny is that? Remember what Cordy said in Dead Man's Party? "I'm the dip.."
Outside school, Buffy takes out a hound with her crossbow. She gets the others to chase her, but when they hear "Celebrate" by Kool and the Gang, they head back inside towards the gym. Buffy says that song sucks. I really agree. She gets one of them impaled on a stake or knife or something, and then she snaps the neck of another one. It reminded me of how she snapped the neck of Der Kinderstod in Killed by Death. She does all this in front of a guy who's looking for the bathroom.
Buffy finally changes into her dress and joins the prom, already in progress. The class is giving out the popular/most awards and then Jonathan says they have a special award for Buffy. It turns out that the class has noticed that everytime something scary or weird goes on, Buffy's been around to stop it, or save them. They name her Class Protector, and thank her for letting them have the lowest class mortality rate in school history. Okay, some folks think it was way cheesy. And I admit, I don't get the significance of the umbrella thingie. But hey. I kind of liked how she sort of got her perfect high school memory thing. I mean, she missed class pictures and all (see Homecoming) and it's what she's been jonesin' for for three years. So..hey. It could happen. Although I did wonder why no one asked her to dance after all that...
Giles tells her he's surprised by the graciousness en masse, and it's here when you think that maybe he'll ask her to dance. But..Angel drops by instead to finish giving Buffy what she deserves..a decent time at the prom, even if it's only for one night. Hey. They should have played "If You Leave" at the end instead of that crappy Wild Horses song. But...heh. Maybe that wouldn't have worked...Anyhoo, nice shots of everyone dancing at the end...Cordy/Wesley; Willow/Oz; Xander/Anya; Buffy/Angel, and even Jonathan and some chick! Hey, it beats having to watch Andrew McCarthy dance with anyone...
1. Buffy staked a vamp in the sewers.
2. Buffy tied Tucker's hands behind his back after he broke a lamp or something over her head.
3. Buffy used a crossbow, a neck snapping, and an object to impale the three hell beasts.
1. Wesley has the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone, according to Giles.
2. Jack Mayhew was voted Class Clown, much to Xander's dismay.
3. Buffy remembered that dropping a curtain over a foe is a good way to settle it down. (She did this in Invisible Girl with Marcie.)
4. Chenille doesn't go with Giles's complexion.
5. Cordy's boss Mrs. Finkel has it in for her.
6. "We Are Family" can make Oz misty.
7. Angel might like Benny Goodman...he told Buffy, "Don't Be That Way." (Not a bad song.)
8. Angel, like Willow, has a problem with caffeine. (It makes him jittery.)
9. Angel doesn't get his blood from McPlasma's.
Buffy: "Whatever. Every maladjust has his reasons." -- to Tucker, when she wonders why he'd want to spoil the prom.
Cordelia: "That thing had good taste." -- to the gang, about the hell hound's choice in victims.
Anya: "Look, I know you find me attractive. I've seen you looking at my breasts."
Xander: "Nothing personal, but when a guy does that, it just means his eyes are open." -- Anya pleads her case on why Xander should take her to the prom.
1. Sunnydale High School
2. The sewers
3. Angel's place
4. Buffy's house
5. April Fools, the dress shop where Cordy works.
6. Meat Plant/Factory place
7. A church (in Angel's dream)
8. Tucker's shack o' hell hounds
1. Buffy
2. Willow
3. Xander
4. Giles
5. Cordelia
6. Angel
7. Joyce Summers
8. Wesley Wyndam-Price
9. Oz
10. Mrs. Finkel, Cordy's Dress Shop Boss
11. Rhonda, Cordy's coworker
12. Anya
13. Sewer Vamp
14. Tucker Wells
15. Dream Priest/Minister guy
16. Meat Packing Plant Guy -- (this phrase could refer to many things..the fun! the modifiers!)
17. Jonathan
18. Jack Mayhew
19. Prom Committee Student Emcee Guy
20. "No" Girl (who dissed Tucker..may not create page for her)
21. Bathroom Guy (may not create page for)
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