3.07 Revelations

[Clare]

3.07 Revelations - Episode #041
Faith's new Watcher arrives but she hides a dangerous secret.

Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.

[cyclica]

I'm giving a 6 to this one, its was a pretty good episode. I liked the evil watcher, especially her first scene in the library where she took every oppertunity to put poor giles down. And it was interesting to see xander and faith team up to take angel on, the depth of xander's hatred towards angel really shows itself here.

The gang seemed not to be making any discinction between angel and angelous, giles in particular blamed the innocent man for what the demon did to him. It was understandable given he'd recently been tortured, but still it seemed a little out of character.

[jennf10]

I didn't really care for this episode. Another one I rarely watch. I did like seeing Angel being brought back into the show's dynamic.

My score: 3/10.

[partcynic]

3x07 “Revelations”

Episode Rating = 4

S3 continues to develop its arc with “Revelations”, a decent episode that features some interesting plotting and reasonable attempts at establishing internal Scooby conflict. Like much of its parent year, it’s blessed with perfect pacing and memorable dialogue, but it pales in comparison to many of its siblings by relying on character stupidity or uncalled-for nastiness in order to progress its narrative. In particular, Xander is very bad here, and the perpetuation of the spiteful, obnoxious traits he displayed in “Becoming” and “Dead Man’s Party” doesn’t do anything to slow his rapid descent into being unlikable. Still, most other aspects of the story are good, and the episode at least tries to keep everyone in character as it attempts to drive them apart.

What I Liked about “Revelations”:

- Ignoring the wholesale IQ drop she caused in the Scoobs, Ms Post was a decent one-ep character, and I liked how the demon Lagos served as a minor antagonist to her true foe (the big reveal when she bashed Giles with the statue was a gripping development on first viewing). It was also interesting to see how the gang adjusted to the presence of a more critical, detached individual, with special praise going to Giles’ disoriented response, which was both funny and real.

- The theme of secrets and deception is good (if lacking the depth of “Lie To Me”), and the numerous plots (Ms Post; Buffy/Faith; Xander/Willow) all feed into it nicely. I always enjoy it when an episode is able to juggle multiple threads without dropping the ball, and this one does so admirably – being especially applause-worthy given than it was writer Douglas Petrie’s debut entry in the series.

- By some distance, the most important and interesting part of the story was Faith’s character progression. I don’t think that her development was handled as elegantly as it usually is for the principle characters, but it was acceptable considering her status as a supporting player. Over the course of the episode, we were believably shown the strain in her friendship with Buffy, and how the arrival of mother figure Ms Post served to aggravate existing differences caused by their personalities. Buffy’s decision to hide the news of Angel’s return acted effectively to cause Faith to doubt her judgement, and the end scene was a nice way of showing that while Faith wanted to reach out to her, she was ultimately ambivalent about doing so.

- The Buffy/Faith fights are easily amongst the most dynamic and exhilarating the show ever did, and the one at the climax of this episode is a great introduction to them. The stunt department deserved definite props here, and it was clever how Buffy and Faith’s crashing through the window played a role in defeating Ms Post.

- Besides the fight, the last ten-or-so minutes have some very enjoyable action scenes. The show’s special effects are benefitting from its budget increase, and the pretty lightning bolts and big explosions added some welcome, additional wow-factor.

What I found to be a mixed bag about “Revelations”:

- As I said when reviewing “Homecoming”, the Xander/Willow storyline doesn’t really work for me. I don’t find their brief romantic scenes poor, but I have real trouble believing Xander’s side of the attraction (since we’ve been shown no real reason for his sudden change in feelings, violating the crucial ‘show, don’t tell’ rule), and find their hook-up to be an unnecessary character regression. However, despite my misgivings, I’m happy to tolerate this stuff knowing its fantastic payoff.

- Most of the big argument misfired. It was okay, but it felt like a lukewarm rehash of the talk in “Becoming”, and the whole-group fallout concept is becoming an over-exploited tool for drama. Thankfully, the story avoided messing up totally by having Buffy present her view with equal conviction, though that quality was counteracted by the stuff with Giles. While I definitely understood where he was coming from, it’s very hard to side with his lame statements about Buffy not respecting him when he’ll be drugging and lying to her in a few episodes’ time, simply because the Watcher’s Council told him to. I guess he has no respect for her or the job she performs either – and that means he can’t pull out the moral card without looking like a huge hypocrite.

What I Disliked about “Revelations”:

- For me, the absolute killer flaw in this plot is the monumental naiveté and idiocy the gang responds with when presented with Ms Post. If Buffy/the Slayer’s work is so crucial to the fate of the world (as Giles says here), it’s ludicrous that the Council has no internal system of Watcher ID, and that Giles didn’t think to verify Post’s credentials. This thus means that our heroes are so dense that they would take anyone with an English accent who claimed to be a Watcher into their inner circle, without question – and that’s stupid beyond belief. It’s worse when even characters like Angel are buying her story, and it really hurts an episode when its plot’s fundamental tenet relies upon so many characters being handed the Idiot Ball.

- Can David Boreanaz please put a shirt on? This is the fifth ep in a row where he’s had gratuitous nudity, and it’s giving me unwelcome flashbacks to the painful Spuffy sex scenes in S6. It doesn’t help that the Buffy/Angel angst story is hardly the most gripping one in the world – it’s mainly there to placate diehard shippers before the unavoidable (and much-needed) break-up.

- So, an incredibly powerful artefact with no protection has been lying around in Sunnydale for all this time, and no-one’s tried to obtain it before?

- It’s too coincidental that Xander just happens to be going through the correct Sunnydale graveyard (did Giles really approve of him patrolling solo?) to spot Angel (who is usually sneaky and well-camouflaged) emerge from the crypt – and is then able to follow him without being spotted.

- Speaking of Xander, he’s a grade-A ass here, in keeping with the tradition of “Dead Man’s Party”. It’s 100% fine for the writers to want to acknowledge that Buffy’s behaviour is questionable, but they go too far in using him as a mouthpiece. It’s noteworthy that despite spotting Angel with the Glove, he chooses to focus entirely on the kissing, and explicitly blaming Buffy for Jenny’s murder was a truly scummy thing to do. It’s also annoying later when he lets his jealousy cloud his judgement and has no qualms about setting Faith on Angel (an innocent man who isn’t responsible for Angelus’ actions), making his arguments ring entirely hollow.

- How many times has Giles been knocked unconscious now? Like the Angel shirtlessness, it’s getting tiring seeing it episode after episode. I love that the writers acknowledge this silliness in “Gingerbread”, but one excellent joke doesn’t counterbalance the persistent annoyance.

- Act four is sloppy when it comes to plotting, being entirely reliant on coincidences for its progression. First, Faith arrives at the mansion at just the right moment to see Angel attack Post (and thus to think he’s evil), and goes to attack him. Despite her supposedly having a ten-minute lead, she’s unable to stake him as Buffy teleports in at the perfect time to block the killing blow. Xander and Willow then make a fortuitous entrance so that Willow can get knocked out, and then rise at the right instant for Post to attack her, and Angel regains consciousness just in time to save her. There’s a word for this type of storytelling, and it’s ‘contrived’.

- Ms Post’s death was anticlimactic after the action that preceded it, and her incineration was a bit arbitrary (I think it would have worked better if she’d gone to blast Buffy, had her arm chopped off, and the energy she summoned then killed her instead of being channelled through the glove). In addition, is it now okay to kill human beings, provided they’re trying to kill you?

Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?

I don’t feel any different. As a S3 episode, “Revelations” isn’t too hot (being dragged down by its big narrative problems and focus on sub-plots I’m largely ambivalent about), but it’s still an enjoyable and fast-moving story with some meaningful character development for Faith. Consequently, I’m keeping my prior score of four out of ten, indicating that it’s a good edition, but one that simply lacks the spark that characterises the show’s best efforts.

[cyclica]

Yay! Another faith-heavy episode!

The episode starts off with buffy telling the gang she is going out with faith, and insists that "we're just good friends." Sure you are, whatever you say.

After the fuffy scene we get more angel topless (bah) and another xillow scene. We also get new watcher gwendolyn post, who is very amusing throughout the episode, especially when making poor giles suffer.

The main plot is about some demon wanting some powerful glove. It's not an especially interesting story, but that's ok because the focus is on the characters.

The first big revelation comes when xander noticed angel is back, and making out with buffy. This leads to the confrontation in the library, which is an intense and gripping scene worth the few episodes of built-up, though I'm getting a bit tired of xander always coming down hard on buffy. There's another awesome moment a little later when giles reminds buffy that he'd been tortured by the guy she's now making out with.

Like I said in my earlier review, everyone is treating angel like he's angelus, which is understandable, but I would have like the issue of angel being innocent to have been raised.

The second big revelation is that gwendolyn post is evil, and after the glove. After she caught angel trying to destroy the glove with living flame (somehow knowing how to destroy it even though giles hadn't told him how, though since we know angel's been around and knows a lot, it's not a problem) she starts a fight with him, and gets hit just as faith enters. And this leads to the first of what will be many slayer vs slayer fights, as faith is lead to believe that angel is bad and buffy is blinded by love. While they are fighting, gwendolyn gets the glove, and delivers a hilarious line- "Faith, a word of advice- you're an idiot!" Then buffy chops off her hand and she get killed by... her own power, I guess.

This is the first proper faith story since her introduction, and her character is basically cemented with this episode. We see how she lives and how she deals with threats- I found it noble, if misguided, that she would turn on her only friend when she though buffy had turned evil by concealing and working with a vampire, showing faith would put saving lives above friendships. Though there was probably a part of her that just wanted to vent some anger too, kicking buffy's ass for leaving her out of the meeting, and just generally having a better life/home than her. She's such a fascinating character, and I look forward to every scene she's in.

Overall I found this episode more enjoyable upon rewatching, and deserving of a higher rating, so I'm bumping it up to a 7.

Nitpicks-

- Stunt doubles. That's all I got.

[cyclica]

Dec 21, 2009 13:40:59 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- For me, the absolute killer flaw in this plot is the monumental naiveté and idiocy the gang responds with when presented with Ms Post. If Buffy/the Slayer’s work is so crucial to the fate of the world (as Giles says here), it’s ludicrous that the Council has no internal system of Watcher ID, and that Giles didn’t think to verify Post’s credentials. This thus means that our heroes are so dense that they would take anyone with an English accent who claimed to be a Watcher into their inner circle, without question – and that’s stupid beyond belief. It’s worse when even characters like Angel are buying her story, and it really hurts an episode when its plot’s fundamental tenet relies upon so many characters being handed the Idiot Ball.

I beleive giles is the only one at fault here. It should have been up to him to call the council and check that she's the real deal, the other characters would have thought that if giles sees no reason to doubt she's a watcher, they shouldn't either.

Dec 21, 2009 13:40:59 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Can David Boreanaz please put a shirt on?

Hear hear.

Dec 21, 2009 13:40:59 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Ms Post’s death was anticlimactic after the action that preceded it, and her incineration was a bit arbitrary (I think it would have worked better if she’d gone to blast Buffy, had her arm chopped off, and the energy she summoned then killed her instead of being channelled through the glove).

Anticlimactic? She was stuck by lightning and burnt to ashes, what more do you want?

Dec 21, 2009 13:40:59 GMT -5 partcynic said:

In addition, is it now okay to kill human beings, provided they’re trying to kill you?

Yep. That's been the case since season 2, when buffy killed one of the members of the order of taraka with an ice skate.

[partcynic]

This leads to the confrontation in the library, which is an intense and gripping scene worth the few episodes of built-up, though I'm getting a bit tired of xander always coming down hard on buffy. There's another awesome moment a little later when giles reminds buffy that he'd been tortured by the guy she's now making out with.

I was unimpressed by that scene. The gang jumping on Buffy is overplayed now, and since Xander clearly has issues with her, he should remove himself from the group. And the Giles stuff was just overblown. He has no right to attack her like that after his behaviour in "The Dark Age" (and actions to come in "Helpless").

We see how she lives and how she deals with threats- I found it noble, if misguided, that she would turn on her only friend when she though buffy had turned evil by concealing and working with a vampire, showing faith would put saving lives above friendships.

...or that she's ignorant and rather dense for dismissing everything she knew about Buffy based on one statement from Xander (who's known for being so rational, honest and objective). It's nice that she tried to act for the greater good, but she didn't even try to hear Buffy's side - she just assumed the worst. It's also a bit much that the show is playing up her loneliness and isolation from the gang when we've not really seen her actively try and endear herself to them (outside of doing Slayer stuff and one or two lines at the Homecoming party).

Nitpicks-

- Stunt doubles. That's all I got.

Look closer.

I beleive giles is the only one at fault here. It should have been up to him to call the council and check that she's the real deal, the other characters would have thought that if giles sees no reason to doubt she's a watcher, they shouldn't either.

You're right that Giles is the one most at fault here (given that he's so slavish to the Council he'd drug and lie to Buffy, it's insane that he didn't verify Post's credentials with them), but the other characters need some critique too. Given how important what they do is, you'd think that Buffy would at least want to know Post was legitimate, and would probably ask Giles about that instead of just assuming.

Anticlimactic? She was stuck by lightning and burnt to ashes, what more do you want?

Maybe anticlimactic was the wrong word. I would just liked her death to have more logical sense, as opposed to her being randomly incinerated. I think I mentioned a more plausible alternative in my review.

Yep. That's been the case since season 2, when buffy killed one of the members of the order of taraka with an ice skate.

I'd forgotten about that. But it makes all of the 'killing humans is wrong' nonsense we're subjected to look even more stupid, for its hypocrisy.