7.14 First Date

[Clare]

7.14 First Date - Episode #136
Buffy goes out with Principal Wood, who reveals himself to be the son of a Slayer. Xander arranges a date with a beautiful woman, but to the surprise of no-one, she turns out to be a demon.

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

[partcynic]

7x14 “First Date”

Episode Rating = 4

Jane Espenson seems to be one of the only “Buffy” writers who still has ‘it’ now that the show’s in its seventh year (let’s pretend “Doublemeat Palace” and her roles in “Flooded” and “Sleeper” didn’t happen), and she’s certainly the only one who’s maintained a sense of humour. Going by basic plot structure, “First Date” is the kind of episode that could have been a waste of time, and while it’s true that nothing particularly consequential happens here, the consistently snappy dialogue made things work moment-by-moment and scene-by-scene. While that’s hardly enough to make this a classic, it is enough to make it good for S7, and it’s pleasant to be able to pick out some faint ties to “Buffy”’s roots.

What I Liked about “First Date”:

- At long last, the is-Giles-the-First plot has concluded, and it happened quickly and with humour. While it didn’t fit with what we were shown in “Sleeper” (due to the camera shots being cut differently), I liked the reveal that Giles’ escape was down to squeaky shoes instead of skill, and am grateful that its silliness was acknowledged.

- Xander’s first scene with Lissa was entertaining, and he came across as charming and likable. It was also a nice touch that her rope purchase linked to the ending (being used to suspend Xander above the Seal).

- Buffy and Willow’s discussion of Wood while doing the laundry was great, and I liked the follow-up moment with Xander arriving and announcing his own date. The whole sequence was gently funny; had a good mixture of wit and truth (“dress ambiguously”; “bidet of evil”); and portrayed the characters excellently (as they were actually behaving like old friends). I also liked how Jane Espenson took the opportunity to point out the implausibility of Buffy’s counsellor job, both in this scene and in Buffy’s date with Wood. Knowing that the role was just about manoeuvring her into the right place makes the plot more palatable, despite being a clear retcon.

- Anya’s frustration and uncertainty regarding Xander’s date felt real. I also liked the continuity evidenced by the reappearance of the pizza-stained shirt from “Conversations with Dead People”.

- Xander and Lissa’s date at the Espresso Pump was fun, and Xander was portrayed far more effectively than he had been in most of S7 (as well as in S6. Between this ep and “Potential”, it appears that he’s on a temporary upswing). There were some decent comedy moments (the Red-Eye); nice, relaxed flirting; and a bit of development with regard to the Xander/Anya relationship (though what type of person would mention that they’d betrayed their ex on a first date with someone new?)

- The running thread with everyone’s awareness of Xander’s murky dating history was good, as was his resigned acceptance when Lissa tried to kill him. His request that Willow “make [him] gay” was funny, as was Buffy’s response that being gay would probably make him attract male demons instead.

- For the very first time, Andrew did something to warrant being in the positives section. Although Tom Lenk still can’t act (and has no comic timing), this episode gave Andrew some decent development, and I liked his “Jonathon-slash-the-First” line. It was good that he opted to aid the greater good, and I actually respected his statement that he’d turn himself in once the battle was over (shame that didn’t actually happen). The subsequent wiring plan was a bit stupid, but that was smoothed over by Spike asking Willow et al exactly what they’d hoped to accomplish by doing so.

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

- The humour with Chao-Ahn produced some amusing moments (the flashcards, which hearkened back to “Hush”; “Like many in Asia, I’m lactose intolerant. I’m very uncomfortable right now”), but also had an unpleasant racist coating. Culture clash humour can be funny, but this veered too much towards laughing at a foreigner just for being foreign.

- Principal Wood is a respectable character, and all of his interactions with Buffy were good. It’s problematic that he’s taking up time that really needs to go to the principle cast, but if he’s going to be around, having him be the son of a Slayer is a really interesting plot point.

- Where are all of the other potentials? On one hand, it’s nice that we’re only focusing on Amanda (the most likeable) and Kennedy (who’s relevant to Willow’s story), but on the other, the Summers house must have Tardis-like properties for the other girls to just vanish.

- The Buffy/Spike material continues to be uninvolving. It’s not that it’s badly written, but it’s sad to see how Spike has become a weak, watery version of the vibrant and compelling character he was back in S2. His slow transformation from monster to romantic bad boy cliché has been one of the most tragic things in the series, and he’s lost so much in the softening process.

What I Disliked about “First Date”:

- The show really needs to explain what’s happening with the potentials. How are they convinced to abandon their old lives and come to Sunnydale? How do their parents respond? And if Giles can’t communicate with Chao-Ahn, however did he get her to fly from China to the US with him?

- Why did Spike think Giles was the First? He mentions Anya saying something about him, but she and the other minor Scoobs dealt with this last episode while Spike and Buffy were at the Initiative ruins. By the time they’d have met up again, Anya should have already known that Giles was the real deal.

- Giles used to be one of my favourite characters, but he’s quickly losing all that once made him so engaging – to the point that I’m hoping he’ll leave for good. His ranting about everyone’s dates was irritating and out of character, given that he even said in “Surprise” that you should take the time to have fun, as there’s always going to be something nasty around the corner. Part of this feeds into the season’s general problem with making the First scary/compelling – we get so much talk about how this is going to be the fight to end all fights, but nothing has happened to make any of it believable. Beyond that, we also got Giles complaining about Spike, which was again inconsistent with his previous behaviours (for example, even though he disagreed with Buffy about Angel on numerous occasions, he still respected her judgments and listened to her viewpoints). I can now see that this is deliberate set-up for “Lies My Parents Told Me”, and the writers’ inexplicable decision to ruin the Buffy/Giles relationship.

- Not enough data was given regarding the Xander demon situation. An extra scene explaining how Lissa got him to the basement, how he sent the text message, what exactly she was (etc) would have been nice. In addition, why did Willow get the text after Xander was tied up? Shouldn’t he have sent it to her before that happened? And when did the Scoobs set up this system? Why do we never hear about it again?

- The bit with Wood in his office was silly. Does he randomly walk around with blood-stained blades in his pockets? That must ruin the lay of his suits. And the ‘knife board’ made me laugh in its glorious cheesiness.

- Xander gets stabbed in the abdomen and loses a lot of blood, yet there’s no mention of going to the hospital?

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

A touch more, as I found the Andrew scenes more acceptable on this viewing. However, I’m still keeping my grade the same, as a four out of ten. I’m seeing a general S7 pattern of either having eps that are really bad (about a third of the year) or are passable, yet far from the great stuff. “First Date” is a nice example of this – the dialogue is consistently good and things move at a decent pace, but it still feels unsatisfying, with no particular episodic plot or meaty advances in the arc. We’re left with what’s enjoyable fluff, and while I’m happy to receive that (remembering how bad the show was at this point in S6), it would be preferable to get something more substantial and impressive.