Buffy S7-02: The Short Review

'Beneath You'

Written by Doug Petrie

Directed by Nick Marck

Another season of Buffy, another giant penis monster. You'd think they'd get bored of them, but apparently not.

I'm not going to complain about it, though, because for the most part 'Beneath You' was a fine episode. It reminded me of the better 'B-movie' episodes from the first few seasons (with the source in this case being Tremors, obviously): A strong standalone story with some relevance to the main characters, some monster-fighting action, and some arc-y hints along the way. It's also the episode that confirms that intelligent humour is back on Buffy; not so much as witticisms, but in well-handled comic situations. Case in point: Nancy's "is there anyone here that hasn't slept with each other?" line in the Bronze. It's a smile-worthy line in itself because it points up the soapiness of the show in recent times, but the followup glance between Xander and Spike is just fall-down funny - not least because the viewer (or at least this viewer) expected a similar Buffy/Xander glance.

Spike's story proceeds much as expected - the only way it really could proceed, without some intervention in established Buffyverse metaphysics. It's Angel's story, but in more detail, with better acting, and focusing on Spike's personality. The weight of a soul is destroying Spike's sanity (quite probably helped along by the Other from last week). He fights against it, trying to become the Big Bad once more, but inevitably fails. And somewhere in there, mixed up with all the other conflict, is a pride that Angel lacked, a trace of righteous anger that Angel lacked. It's the details - and James Marsters' performances - that will make this story interesting, I think.

Unfortunately, the strength of Spike's story only highlighted the weaknesses in another - Anya. With every episode, she becomes more of a mystery to me, both in terms of simple character motivation and how she can possibly have that motivation within the Buffyverse. Does she have a soul? Her reaction to Spike's ensoulment suggests not, that it's almost something she envies. And yet her actions in reversing the wish are but a hair's breadth away from those only souled beings are capable of; here, it's the lack of detail that saves the story from undermining the show's universe.

The other downside of the episode is probably Nancy. I did like her, but she never really developed a personality outside of 'victim of the week'. I was also disappointed with the lack of closure to her story. There should have been a scene between her and her boyfriend - we needed that scene.

About the only major arc-points here are the continued references to a coming darkness (we get it already, really we do) and the death of another slayer-in-training (as indicated by Buffy's dream). That's OK; when the individual stories are interesting, as this one was, I'm quite prepared to wait for detail on the arc. Dawn continues to redeem herself, with more confidence and self-control than she showed at any time last season. As a final note, I'll say that I'm very slightly uneasy about the direction Buffy and Spike appear to be headed in, but really it's too early to judge; I suspect I'll have to come back to this issue in a couple of episodes.

The Council of Watchers rating: