3.16 Dopplegangland

[Clare]

3.16 Dopplegangland - Episode #050
A spell gone awry pulls Willow's vampire double into our reality.

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

[cyclica]

Anya's back!

It was very funny and a very welcome break in the arc. This ep is good enough for me to give it a 9. I loved giles saying 'Something very strange is happening', and xander saying 'Can you beleive the watchers council let this guy go?'. Also when angel goes to tell buffy about willow- 'Willows dead. Hey willow. Wait a second?'. And then there was the moment when cordelia tapped wesley on the back and he squealed in fear.

And that's just a few of the many great moments, which goes to show how entertaining this ep was. The only nitpick was that really, the vampires should have realised willow in the bronze was not evil willow, and killed her. But I'm glad they didn't. And emma caulfield really over acted with the 'gimme a frickin beer' line.

[partcynic]

3x16 “Doppelgangland”

Episode Rating = 9

If “Amends” was Joss Whedon in one of his more uninspired moods, then “Doppelgangland” shows him bouncing back and cementing his place as the best “Buffy” writer. As is eerily common for episodes in 16th position, “Doppelgangland” is among the best in its parent season (the only exception to the rule being “Hell’s Bells”), and proves the single most important Willow ep in the show’s run. Permitting Alyson Hannigan to show her skills in a comedic context, it’s a consistently hilarious story that develops not only the Willow character, but many of the ongoing subplots and the seasonal arc itself. That’s a lot of progression in the space of forty minutes, and the way the episode does it with such wit and flair makes it a classic.

What I Liked about “Doppelgangland”:

- On first viewing, it was a pleasant surprise to see Anya again, and I’m glad that she was brought back as a recurring character. Her story picked up believably where “The Wish” left off, and her desperation to regain her powers made sense. I also liked the sly introduction of D’Hoffryn and his inference regarding the true origin of Anya’s abilities, and the characterisation was excellent. I love seeing Anya shown as intelligent, cynical and frustrated with the idiocy of everyday human life; a portrayal that’s far more interesting than the ‘clueless dunce’ angle the writers inexplicably went for during S4 and beyond.

- Buffy and Willow’s first chat is a good one. It’s nice to see some quality interaction between them, and it established the Willow-centric nature of the story. It also continued the neat Buffy/Faith comparisons, and it’s fitting that just as Faith is Buffy’s ‘shadow self’, Willow meets her own during the course of the episode.

- Although she’s been entertaining throughout her run, Faith is now entering her best era. Her relationship with the Mayor is fantastic in every way, and you can see the roots of the twisted but loving daughter/father relationship they’ll develop (another awesome parallel, this time with Buffy/Giles). This interaction adds depth to both characters, and we get to see an atypically happy Faith as well as a charmingly doting Mayor. The dialogue is superb, and Faith tattling about Willow’s attempt to hack the computers tied the arc development to the single-ep narrative effectively.

- Principal Snyder is a real treat in small doses, and his brief scene was another worthy entry in his long list of wonderfully nasty appearances. Forcing Willow to tutor Percy was a good catalyst for making her examine how people see her, and it flowed well from his attempts to get her to raise the swim teams’ grades in “Go Fish”.

- This was obviously a Willow episode, and it allowed her to go to many new places. It’s easy to feel her unhappiness at being perceived as a perennially dependable doormat, and how she was growing fed up with being treated as such. Anya’s spell provided a believable mechanism for Vampire Willow to make a return visit, and the comparisons and contrasts between a pillar of virtue (human Willow) and a pillar of vice (her vampire self) showed the character that the solution to her problems was not radical change, but in being more assertive and willing to stand up for herself. It’s a simple but highly applicable development, and the imminent payoff in “Choices” is all the better for it.

- Like the similarly exemplary “Lover’s Walk”, this episode was stuffed to the brim with humour. “Buffy”’s wit has always been one of its strongest points, and just about every scene in this episode was funny. What’s more is that every laugh came from well-written and observant commentary on the characters (as opposed to slapstick or abstract wackiness), and frequently said a lot about them. Going through every moment would take forever, so I’ll list some of my favourites instead. These would be Buffy and Xander’s futile attempts at cheering Willow up; Willow’s “sofa in HELL” and taking her chicken feet from Anya; Vampire Willow’s interactions with Percy and Xander; the brilliant set of reactions from Buffy, Xander and Giles to Willow’s death (and then when she comes strolling in); Vamp Willow hitting on her human self and getting tranquillised; “I think I’m kinda gay”; the entirety of the clothes exchange scene and its aftermath; and Vamp Willow’s chats with Cordelia. Let’s just say that when Joss makes the effort, very few can touch him in this department.

- I don’t think I complement the actors on the show enough, and while they’re not necessarily the best performers in the world, each one is perfect for their character. I thought Alyson Hannigan did a lovely job here – she ended up portraying what amounted to four different individuals (Willow as both human and vampire, and then the two pretending to be each other after the clothes swap), and she made each one seem distinct and real.

- The big fight at the Bronze is fun, and I liked Buffy and Angel’s creative use of items from the pool table when dispatching of the vampire gang.

- There’s some nice movement on the Cordelia/Wesley front, however minor it may be. I smiled at Cordy having dropped by the library in full formal dress and make-up for “a book”, and the twosome’s post-attack chat is humorous, from Wes’ attempts at seeming manly to Cordy dismissing Willow’s apparent death in favour of asking him if he’s available.

What I Disliked about “Doppelgangland”:

- While it’s a minor spell that would be hard to see from a distance, should Willow really be floating a pencil while most of Sunnydale High’s study body is walking about nearby?

- I know “Gingerbread” pushed the Sunnydale populace’s ignorance of demons through the roof, but should we really be having another blatant supernatural reveal occurring in public? The Bronze patrons all get to see vamps in their game face, as well as Vamp Willow killing (and presumably siring, according to S5) a girl, and lots of discussions about vampires, alternate realities, and Anya’s powers. At this point, it’s nigh-on impossible to suspend disbelief, and the show needs to stop rubbing salt in the wound.

- Willow’s attempt at impersonating her vampire counterpart is funny, but she should have been able to do better than that. Given what was at stake, the way she consistently dropped her guard was too much – I’m surprised it took Anya and the vamps even a couple of minutes to realise she wasn’t who she claimed to be, when anyone with half a brain could have sussed her out instantly.

- Wesley’s rescue of Cordelia is contrived. He hears her scream and runs in the direction of the sound, and then somehow magically teleports into the girls’ bathroom in time to save her. I get that he could make a guess as to where she was from the scream, but Sunnydale High is a large school, and pinpointing the exact room would be very difficult.

- If Vamp Willow truly wanted to kill human Willow, why would she take the time to strangle her when she could just bite her, snap her neck or rip her throat out?

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

I’ve always held this episode in high regard, and I still think it’s excellent now. It may not hit me in the visceral manner that my very favourite eps do, but it’s still a tour de force of humour and character development that ranks among the series’ best offerings. As such, I have no problems scoring it nine points out of ten, and putting in my top five episodes of S3.

[cyclica]

This is definitely one of the better episodes of season three. Looking back on this ep, there were some neat ideas, like the evil twin story (which will be recycled countless times later on), the return of an old villain-of-the-week (anya's back! yay!), the fact that the faith story arc is touched upon without making it the focus, and the little progression on the cordy-likes-wesley miniarc.

It's also nice to see some progression for willow, who's been neglected a little recently. She goes from being practically a doormat at the start of the ep, to seeing what a more confident version of herself would be like, to gaining some confidence herself at the end, after realising the benefits of being more confident, and finding a balance between her two 'extreme' selves.

Which is all well and good. But the real appeal of this episode are the jokes. This episode is one of the funniest of the show, and even though I've watched it about a hundred times I'm still laughing out loud as I watch. Some of the more memorable moments include-

- Anya going into a big speech to d'hoffryn about how she is no longer a demon, just a child... and flunking math. Though I've never understood why she can't just leave school, I mean it's not like she wants to get a good job, all she wants is her powers back.
- The mayor telling faith to knock off the flirting because he's a 'family man', then in his very next line telling her he's gonna have willow killed.
- The old reliable/faithful/yeller exchange.
- Vamp willow throwing percy around, and the payoff later when he goes to extra effort with his homework, and is clearly still intimidated by willow.
- Bored now!
- Buffy, xander and giles beleiving willow was dead, only to discover she's alive. I loved giles hugging willow, xander shaking a crucifix to get it to work, and willow assuming her friends took 'a bunch of drugs'. ;D
- Giles trying to explain the situation with 'something very strange is happening', and xander's reply 'can you beleive the watchers council let this guy go?'
- Angel, shaken up, tells buffy willow is dead, only to turn around and see her standing right there.
- Every scene with cordy and wesley.
- Willow pretending to be vamp willow in the bronze... which is a funny scene but really, the vamps should have worked out she's human straight away.
- I don't know if this was intended as humerous or not, but at one point during the fight in the bronze, angel picks up a snooker ball and throws it at a vampire. For some reason it always makes me laugh.
- Faaaah! Willow gets dusted as she's trying to swear.

These funny moments aside, there are a few other nice scenes thrown in, such as oz explaining where he was last episode (explanations for character absences are always appreciated), faith training with wesley (possibly her final 'good faith' scene, even if she was faking it) and a little foreshadowing regarding willow's change in orientation later on.

All in all, a very amusing episode with a fairly original plot and some nice character progression. It deserves a 9.

Now to pick it apart!

- I've never really understood anya's line about being 'trapped in the body of a child'. It would imply she was originally a totally different person as a human (at least physically or in terms of age), which is shown as incorrect in selfless. But even before that ep aired, her line bothered me.
- "I'm eleven hundred and twenty years old! Just gimme a friggin' beer!" That line failed so much I'm counting it as a nitpick.
- After vamp willow turns sandy, we see her in later episodes as a vampire. It's nice continuity, but it doesn't make sense, since sandy clearly didn't drink from willow, which is what's needed to turn her. You could argue it's a flaw of the later episodes, but if the writers had her future appearances in mind, it's a flaw of this one.
- How did vamp willow know where regular willow was? And how did she sneak into the library so soon after the scoobies had left, surely they would have passed her?
- Why do the vamps in the bronze treat anya as an equal? Can't they smell how human she is?
- What was wesley doing in the school on his own when cordy found him? Just wandering around? He clearly wasn't coming from or going toward the library.
- Another sucky anya line- "When I get my powers back, you will all grovel before me." Who talks like that?

Now that I think about it, this has got to be one of the worst anya episodes. It was nice at the time seeing a past villain return, but almost all her lines clunked. If only the writers could do something about her character, like give her a totally new and different personality... oh wait... ;D

[cyclica]

Feb 14, 2010 8:14:17 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Like the similarly exemplary “Lover’s Walk”, this episode was stuffed to the brim with humour... the brilliant set of reactions from Buffy, Xander and Giles to Willow’s death (and then when she comes strolling in)

That was the highlight of the episode for me. One of the all-time best written comedic scenes of the show.

Feb 14, 2010 8:14:17 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- While it’s a minor spell that would be hard to see from a distance, should Willow really be floating a pencil while most of Sunnydale High’s study body is walking about nearby?

Good point.

I guess if someone saw the pencil floating, willow could always pretend it has nothing to do with her, and just act surprised that there's a pencil floating in front of her.

Feb 14, 2010 8:14:17 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- I know “Gingerbread” pushed the Sunnydale populace’s ignorance of demons through the roof, but should we really be having another blatant supernatural reveal occurring in public? The Bronze patrons all get to see vamps in their game face, as well as Vamp Willow killing (and presumably siring, according to S5) a girl, and lots of discussions about vampires, alternate realities, and Anya’s powers. At this point, it’s nigh-on impossible to suspend disbelief, and the show needs to stop rubbing salt in the wound.

Agreed, though by this point in the show the public has been exposed to the supernatural so many times, once more doesn't make much of a difference.

Feb 14, 2010 8:14:17 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Willow’s attempt at impersonating her vampire counterpart is funny, but she should have been able to do better than that. Given what was at stake, the way she consistently dropped her guard was too much – I’m surprised it took Anya and the vamps even a couple of minutes to realise she wasn’t who she claimed to be, when anyone with half a brain could have sussed her out instantly.

She really shouldn't have given that little wave to oz while in character. Presumable everyone in the room, and certainly every vamp would have been looking at her. It's amazing none of them noticed.

[partcynic]

This is definitely one of the better episodes of season three.

Yep - and probably of the series, too.

- I've never really understood anya's line about being 'trapped in the body of a child'. It would imply she was originally a totally different person as a human (at least physically or in terms of age), which is shown as incorrect in selfless. But even before that ep aired, her line bothered me.

In the original Anya concept, she was supposed to be able to change her form in order to 'seduce' women into making wishes. I can buy her making herself look younger in order to go after a high school student, without it implying her regular appearance was much different. She could have simply elected to have a 'normal' form (maybe herself during her early or mid-twenties) as well as alternates (a late teen version, or someone in their forties etc). If she was accustomed to usually resembling an twentysomething adult, being stuck as a teen again would be very frustrating.

And I wouldn't worry too much about "Selfless", since it basically contradicts everything we were ever told about her character.

- After vamp willow turns sandy, we see her in later episodes as a vampire. It's nice continuity, but it doesn't make sense, since sandy clearly didn't drink from willow, which is what's needed to turn her. You could argue it's a flaw of the later episodes, but if the writers had her future appearances in mind, it's a flaw of this one.

I think we can safely say that the writers didn't have siring Sandy in mind when this ep was written - that would require too much planning for no real payoff. However, Sandy could have plausibly been sired during this ep - after Willow drops her and asks if there are any questions, we go to a different scene, and Willow could have finished the blood-exhanging process during that period.

- Why do the vamps in the bronze treat anya as an equal? Can't they smell how human she is?

They're afraid of Willow, who is willing to listen to/respect Anya - so they'll consequently leave Anya alone, regardless of whether she's human or not.

- What was wesley doing in the school on his own when cordy found him? Just wandering around? He clearly wasn't coming from or going toward the library.

I've always thought he was clearly going to/coming from the library. ;D

- Another sucky anya line- "When I get my powers back, you will all grovel before me." Who talks like that?

Anya does! I don't see how this line is any different to her usual 'doesn't understand the basics of reality' material. Except that Anya being arrogant after having been a vengeance demon for 1000+ years makes more sense than her not comprehending simple economics or universal social mores.

[cyclica]

Mar 2, 2010 14:02:01 GMT -5 partcynic said:

I've always thought he was clearly going to/coming from the library. ;D

Well he clearly didn't come from the library because we just saw cordy and vampwillow there. And why would he be going to the library, at night? It's not like he was going to meet anyone, since no one was there, and I doubt he'd assume anyone would be there. And surely if he was just researching something, he wouldn't have left the school and returned later.

Mar 2, 2010 14:02:01 GMT -5 partcynic said:

Anya does! I don't see how this line is any different to her usual 'doesn't understand the basics of reality' material. Except that Anya being arrogant after having been a vengeance demon for 1000+ years makes more sense than her not comprehending simple economics or universal social mores.

I suppose it would make sense for her to say the line, given her lack of human social skills. But it just stuck out as such a cringe-worthy line, to me anyway.