4.09 Something Blue

[Clare]

4.09 Something Blue - Episode #065
Grieving after Oz's departure, Willow casts a spell that makes her every word become reality.

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

[cyclica]

Another humorous eisode. I'm not a huge fan of this one, but its better than average I guess. I give it a 6.

I enjoyed seeing spuffy portrayed as the joke that it is, and the other spells-affecting-people miniplots are fun too (stop whatever you are doing, you smell like fruit roll ups!).

On the other hand, the idea of willow's will being done doesn't really work for me. So the spell only works if its an accident, she can't get it to work if she wants it to.... nah I'm not buying it.

We did get some nice background on anya, but hey why is d'hoffryn's crypt in sunnydale? In america? Since anya lead the gang to it, you can assume its the same crypt he had 1120 years ago when she was first turned into a demon. So anya is a native american? I'm glad selfless came along and wrote over this bit of nonsensical backstory.

[partcynic]

4x09 “Something Blue”

Episode Rating = 6

Of all the “Buffy” episodes, this is the one I’ve always had the oddest reaction to. Despite liking “Something Blue”, every time I see it I’m left with an ambivalent impression, because it feels more like a cut from a reasonable sitcom than a proper “Buffy” edition. It’s also interesting to note that the ‘low plot, high comedy’ framework has been omnipresent this season, having now been used in four of nine episodes. That doesn’t have to be a problem, but many of these stories don’t have enough substance to justify being more than sub-plots, and you end up feeling as though less has happened in this season compared to at the same juncture in its predecessors. However, there’s still plenty to enjoy here, and it’s at least a well-written example of what is becoming an overused template.

What I Liked about “Something Blue”:

- Like in the last episode, the dialogue was generally strong. Characters said consistently witty things, and the jokes came from believable responses to an increasingly absurd situation. I can’t say like anything here provoked laughs akin to those I got from “Band Candy” or “Doppelgangland”, but the humour was agreeable, and I smiled quite a few times while watching.

- Boyfriend-Riley is infinitely superior to commando-Riley, and I enjoyed his interactions with Buffy. There was a good amount of humour in their chats (the lesbian joke; Riley being so nervous he plans conversations with her beforehand; the driving conversation that quickly changed into something else), and I quite like that Buffy appears to be the first woman Riley has had real feelings for – a nice role inversion of the prior Buffy/Angel material.

- The best bit of character development in this ep came from its examinations of Buffy’s approach to relationships. Her comments about believing love must be associated with pain fit with both her prior experiences and her role as the Slayer, and it was neat that she came to realise the fallacy of falling only for ‘bad boys’.

- I felt for Willow in her initial scenes, and I liked that she was having trouble dealing with Oz’s departure but trying to hide it from the others. Her heading to Oz’s old place and finding that he’d summoned his things away (without her having had any notice or contact) was a believable way of pushing her over the edge; showing that their relationship‘s now truly over. I felt for her as she cried and sat with Buffy, and I could understand her later frustration at being handed empty platitudes from her friends when she’d always taken the time to be there for them.

- It’s interesting to hear a little more of Anya’s backstory, and D’Hoffryn was both creepy and funny (letting Willow go amicably, handing her his talisman and asking her to “give us a chant” if she changed her mind was the funniest moment for me). I also liked that it seemed as though D’Hoffryn could only be summoned from a specific crypt, which sort of linked back to Anya’s chat with him at the start of “Doppelgangland”.

- I like the new dynamic that neutered-Spike has bought to the show, and his chip gives him a plausible reason for being around the Scoobs without stripping him of his most interesting traits. I enjoyed his verbal sparring with Buffy and Giles, and bits like Giles’ “lick me to death” and Buffy’s teasing with her exposed neck seem like prime shipper material.

- Though Giles’ blindness and Xander’s demon magnetism were good, they were like the entrees to a main course, with was obviously the Buffy/Spike romance. While words can’t express how much I disliked it when it became a reality and was treated seriously, I appreciate it as a joke, and the characters’ mutual hatred makes their sudden transition to loved-up couple very funny. I liked every single interaction between them, and things like wondering what names to put on their invitations (extra points for acknowledging the unusualness of Buffy’s name); ‘Mr and Mrs pile-of-dust’; the Angel/Drusilla comparisons; Giles’ repulsion at the smacking sounds as they kissed; the Buffy/Riley chat about weddings outside the bridal shop; and the surprisingly emotional moment where Buffy asked Giles to give her away were all entertaining.

What I Disliked about “Something Blue”:

- As mentioned, Willow was sympathetic in her first couple of scenes, but her over-the-top whining rapidly became an irritant, and she acted more childishly here than she’d done at any point before. It felt really inconsistent after she handled the Oz situation realistically and maturely in “The Initiative”, and her relentless self-pity and spitefulness were contrived for the plot.

- The gang makes too much of a fuss about Willow drinking. I know that the show doesn’t want to appear to promote alcohol to a teen audience, but Willow having half a small bottle of beer because she wants to take her mind off her problems is hardly worth the comments she gets.

- I absolutely hated the exchange between Buffy and Xander when they commented about how they were sick of Willow and her “grief-y poor me mood swings”. Ignoring the fact that Willow has been deliberately mischaracterised in order to facilitate the narrative, just what kind of friends are they? Willow is perfectly entitled to be down after having her long-term boyfriend and first love cheat on her before suddenly departing, leaving her in the air as to whether their relationship is truly over. It’s especially bad coming from Buffy, when we’ve only recently had Willow being a supportive ally through both her break-up with Angel and the Parker incident.

- Giles comes across as unfeeling when he moans at Willow for not doing the truth spell, especially when he’s perfectly capable of doing it himself (you’d think he’d leap at the chance to do something besides sit around and watch TV all day). I’d understand his concern if Willow had repeatedly shirked her responsibilities, but neglecting them once due to genuine extenuating circumstances should have been acceptable.

- Spike’s ‘break-out’ was pretty stupid, and I didn’t think it related well to the character’s motivations. He was taken in on the condition that he would tell the Scoobs about the commandos, so of course they’d be frustrated if he refused to spill. Even if Spike was concerned that they might kill him after getting his inside information, they’re still a better choice than blindly going after the guaranteed-to-be-hostile Initiative.

- Anya seems remarkably sure that D’Hoffryn took Willow, considering that the only evidence is a burn on the dorm room’s carpet. Couldn’t quite a few things have caused that?

- What exactly was it that went wrong with the spell? If things were truly following Willow’s will, why did only certain metaphors/comments she made cause problems, and not all of them?

- I wasn’t too impressed with a lot of the minor demons. They were okay, but it seems as though the costuming/prosthetics department is having a hard time coming up with fresh ideas.

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

I feel identical in my positive-edged ambivalence. As it stands, I do enjoy “Something Blue”, but its fluffy style and lack of significant plot make it the kind of episode I would hate to see multiples of – and I wanted something more substantial after the preponderance of similar eps like “Living Conditions”, “Beer Bad” and “Pangs”. Still, I don’t intently dislike anything here beyond a couple of iffy lines and some dodgy Willow characterisation, and the high quotient of well-written comedic lines makes “Something Blue” good for a six out of ten.