3.17 Enemies

[Clare]

3.17 Enemies - Episode #051
The Mayor enlists the help of a shaman to remove Angel's soul.

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

[cyclica]

Back to the arc episodes, this one doesn't drag too much though. I gave it a 5.

The whole fake out with angelus was great, especially the moment when its all revealed. Although (here comes my nitpick) I can't really picture giles introducing the scary demon guy to his wife.

This is the first episode with a good (or in this case, neutral I guess) demon. I never understood why the demon risked his life just to get plane tickets out of town, when he had plenty of time to leave by car or bus or whatever. And did he really expect the teenage girls to have five thousand dollars?

[partcynic]

3x17 “Enemies”

Episode Rating = 7

Like “The Zeppo” or “Amends”, “Enemies” isn’t an episode I usually think of when it comes to S3, but it’s the type of well-done arc story that helps build a strong year. Despite not working that well when divorced from its overarching narrative, it’s still surprisingly effective, at first feeling like a S2 retread before its final act and the reveal that Angel’s reversion was all a ruse. Besides its entertaining double-cross, the episode also has good development for Faith, Willow, and both the Buffy/Angel and Wesley/Cordelia relationships, and its scenes are consistently well-written. On top of that, its pacing and humour are excellent; making it writer Douglas Petrie’s strongest offering so far.

What I Liked about “Enemies”:

- Following endless presentations of demons as one-dimensional monsters, it was fun to see one who was more ambiguous. The book-seller was a respectable minor character with good dialogue; and it was interesting to see Faith’s freaked-out reaction to killing him (the only question is, how much of it was genuine?)

- Eliza Dushku looks especially attractive/sexy here, and it’s actually important to the narrative. The wardrobe and make-up departments have finally gotten Faith’s look just right, and she’s consequently hot in every one of her scenes.

- Besides her sex appeal, Faith contributes a lot of interesting stuff to this episode, clearly serving as its lynchpin. The character manages to cycle through a full range of emotions (friendly; aggressive; remorseful; seductive; spiteful; furious) without any of them feeling forced, and everything works within the context of her character. While I do have misgivings about the writers choosing to have her reveal her motivations now (see the ‘mixed bag’ section), it’s gripping to watch her attempts at harming Buffy both psychologically and physically, and the chat the characters have while Buffy’s ‘chained’ is the most engrossing one in the story. It’s also excellent in progressing the Mayor’s plot, with the interesting titbits about the Ascension helping the seasonal arc gain momentum as it draws to a close.

- Speaking of the Mayor, he’s his usual wonderful self here. At the risk of being a broken record, I loved every one of his scenes – his dialogue is constantly funny, and his fatherly bond with Faith is a useful spring of both humour and emotion, giving him depth beyond just being a bad guy. In particular, I enjoyed his lines about milk and how “there’s nothing uncool about healthy teeth and bones”, as well as his briefing with Angelus and urging him not to keep Faith out too late. On top of that, I also smiled at his meeting with the shaman (low-calorie mints!), and his quip about there being multiple ways to skin a cat.

- The double-cross plot is just cool. The first time I watched this episode, I was concerned that Angelus‘ return would lead to a gratuitous S2 rehash, so it was a huge plus to discover that it was all a ploy to trick Faith. The big reveal has remained satisfying over the years, and knowing the plot, you can look for the cool little things that give the characters away, like how David Boreanaz plays Angelus ever so slightly ‘off’ from his usual self. There’s also neat stuff like how Buffy’s cue that something is wrong comes from Angelus calling her ‘Buff’ – and while the audience knows that’s meaningless (he’s never called her by that name in any significant way), Faith doesn’t, and that’s a smart touch.

- For the most part, I liked the Buffy/Angel development presented here (though, as with Faith’s stuff, I have a few issues too). The opening trip to the movies was amusing (the idea of the two of them sitting uncomfortably through an adult film is very funny), and their early dynamic had an appropriate awkwardness to it. It’s good that you can see cracks (of sorts) appearing; and the characters seem to be increasingly cogent of the fact that there’s nowhere left for them to go as a couple. The last scene was a strong closer, being appropriately bittersweet without feeling like too much of a downer.

- The brief Willow/Buffy chat about Angel and Faith was excellent, and I’m enjoying seeing their friendship bounce back from the hit it took in “Bad Girls”.

- The Wesley/Cordelia material is responsible for much of the episode’s humour, and it was all entertaining. Her early attempt at asking him to dinner was funny (both for her flimsy excuse and Xander’s commentary), as were her enamoured statement that he should record books on tape and insistence that she be “in [his] group”.

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

- The development of Buffy/Angel was good, but I can’t say I’m fond of the never-ending perpetuation of their obviously doomed relationship. It’s been the one persistent flaw in an otherwise high-quality season, and smacks of appealing to rabid shippers rather than doing what truly serves the characters and plot. However, given the bind the writers were ostensibly in, what happened here was fine, and it’s novel to see Buffy deal with romantic jealousy (something she’s never really been confronted with before). It made sense that she was flustered by seeing Faith and Angel together, and I understood her wanting to avoid him for a while afterwards.

- The double-cross is smart, but it’s too clever for its own good. I think it would have been beneficial to use a bit of foreshadowing, as the plot feels like it was carried through on inertia more than sense. Both Buffy and Angel seem to have memorised a script of specific events that doesn’t gel with the unpredictability of reality, and their sense of timing is too good to be true. In addition, the revelation that Giles knew the shaman came from nowhere, and wasn’t that plausible (how many inter-dimensional magic masters does one encounter as a Watcher?) Simple things like having Giles receive a phone call earlier in the episode (which could then be revealed to have been from the shaman alerting him to the Mayor’s request) would have helped smooth things out without giving the twist away.

- This ep begins to pull out some of Faith’s issues as a character, and the fact that she hasn’t been developed as much as her prominent position requires. The writing snafu in “Consequences” unbelievably lurched her into unrepentant murderer territory, and at the climax of this episode, we’re privy as to an explanation of her motives... none of which have been appropriately detailed before. There are a lot of unfilled holes here (like how in “Faith, Hope and Trick” she was friendlier with Willow and Xander than she was with Buffy, yet that camaraderie disappeared totally after “Homecoming”; or how Faith supposedly feels lonely and left-out, but has made almost no effort to actively make friends or endear herself to the others), and while I like Faith and enjoy watching her, these gaps compromise the story’s power.

What I Disliked about “Enemies”:

Most of the more questionable elements I noted have been covered in the ‘mixed bag’ section, so this one will be very brief.

- If the Mayor went to the extent of deleting all of his computer files and shredding his deputy’s paperwork, why did he leave incriminating evidence at the public’s access in the Hall of Records?

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

I like this episode a touch less, but not enough to change my score. Taken as a whole, it’s a strong piece with significant progression for the seasonal arc, multiple characters and an important romantic relationship, and has all of its developments occur during a fast-paced, complex plot that has one fantastic surprise. As such, I’m scoring “Enemies” a seven out of ten, and adding it to S3’s list of ambitious and well-executed episodes.

[cyclica]

Upon rewatching this episode, I liked it more than before. It's an interesting idea to bring back angelus (sort of), and this ep is full of humour, charatcer insights and plot advancement, and mostly free of problems.

The real highlights are the fake-outs. First faith kills a demon, and in a 'mini fake out' she tries to seduce angel with blood on her hands, by pretending to feel bad about what she's done so he'd connect with her. When she's unable to make him lose his soul through perfect happiness, the mayor hired a ninja demon to extract it through magic. It seems to work, until the big reveal that buffy and angel were just playing faith, and the ninja demon was really working for giles. The scene where buffy is tied up and angel pretends to be angelus is easily the best scene of the episode, as its the one where it's revealed why faith hates buffy so much, and the reveal that faith had been tricked was exciting as it was as much of a surprise to the audience as it was to her.

Aside from that scene, however, this episode does get a little dull at times. There were a few good lines and funny moments, but it's almost routine. The scoobies had some good lines, cordy still likes wesley, the mayor was amusing as ever (I liked his offering faith milk, and trying to cheer her up with miniature golf at the end). But it's nothing special. Though there was a laugh-out-loud moment at the start, when angel and buffy come out of a cinema and complain about how racy modern movies are, and she worries about 'frustrating' angel. She says she doesn't want to 'rub his nose in it'... then wonders how that phrase got it's meaning.

As for problematic scenes, well I've already mentioned the demon, expecting teenagers to have $5,000 to spend on books, so he can afford a plane ticket out of town, though he can easily just get a bus or whatever. I also found it odd that the mayor mispronounces angelus's name, and that wesley claims the mayor was not human, even though he is. And I didn't much like xander blaming wesley for faith turning bad, just because as her watcher, faith is 'his responsibility'.

But these are just minor nitpicks. And even though this episode is for the most part nothing special, the big reveal scene was one of the most memorable scenes on the show, and it's enough for me to bump this episode up a point.

I give enemies a 6.

[cyclica]

Feb 14, 2010 8:21:13 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- The double-cross is smart, but it’s too clever for its own good. I think it would have been beneficial to use a bit of foreshadowing, as the plot feels like it was carried through on inertia more than sense. Both Buffy and Angel seem to have memorised a script of specific events that doesn’t gel with the unpredictability of reality, and their sense of timing is too good to be true. In addition, the revelation that Giles knew the shaman came from nowhere, and wasn’t that plausible (how many inter-dimensional magic masters does one encounter as a Watcher?) Simple things like having Giles receive a phone call earlier in the episode (which could then be revealed to have been from the shaman alerting him to the Mayor’s request) would have helped smooth things out without giving the twist away.

Agreed.

They seemed to cut out important scenes, just so the audience could be tricked along with faith. Like when buffy is going to talk to angel because she's jealous, and in the next scene angel is getting his soul removed by faith and the demon. We didn't get to see buffy & angel discuss the plan, or giles telling the demon what to do.

And like you I don't really buy giles introducing the ninja demon to his wife, especially since this demon seems like someone who wouldn't socialize with humans.

Feb 14, 2010 8:21:13 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- This ep begins to pull out some of Faith’s issues as a character, and the fact that she hasn’t been developed as much as her prominent position requires. The writing snafu in “Consequences” unbelievably lurched her into unrepentant murderer territory, and at the climax of this episode, we’re privy as to an explanation of her motives... none of which have been appropriately detailed before. There are a lot of unfilled holes here (like how in “Faith, Hope and Trick” she was friendlier with Willow and Xander than she was with Buffy, yet that camaraderie disappeared totally after “Homecoming”; or how Faith supposedly feels lonely and left-out, but has made almost no effort to actively make friends or endear herself to the others), and while I like Faith and enjoy watching her, these gaps compromise the story’s power.

Again I think some important scenes have been left out, in order to advance the story.

I beleive faith stopped hanging out with the scoobies because they realised she was a rule-breaker (remember the scene where she got buffy to skip class by sneaking out a window), and she didn't want to hang out with people she wouldn't consider 'fun'.

It would have been nice to have this made clear in the show, but it's not essential and it doesn't feel like too much of a plot hole for this information to be missing.