OTH: Buffy the Vampire Slayer- "Lies My Parents Told Me" / "Dirty Girls"
When the Scoobies have troubles that they can't face head on.
Season 7, Episode 17
Aired March 25, 2003
Directed by David Fury
Written by David Fury and Drew Goddard
Synopsis: Giles surprises Buffy at work to inform her and Robin that he may have found a method to ease the First’s ability to trigger Spike and prevent them from making him kill again. After school, Buffy and Robin meet in the basement to see what Giles and Willow have in store, a stone that when placed in Spike’s mind, will allow him to understand how the trigger works. When eased in, we flashback to young William in old England, who recites his poetry to his ailing mother, Anne. As she confides in her son how proud she is of his poetry, William admits that he’s not sure if it will woo his beloved Cecily, she calms him by singing his childhood song, “Early One Morning”. This causes a chained Spike to snap and try to maim, hurting Dawn in the process and has the stone escape him. Buffy knocks him out and waits for Spike to regain consciousness and his sanity. Willow takes Dawn upstairs to look after her wound, when she receives a call from Los Angeles from a girl named Fred. Wonder who that is. Back in the basement, Spike asks if he can have his chains removed, and while Buffy is willing to, Giles and Robin aren’t receptive. After he delves a little further into his past, how after being sired by Drusilla, Spike decides to use his newfound ability to give his dying mother the same eternal life he was gifted. Buffy ultimately unties Spike’s chains and takes him upstairs, when Robin has a one-on-one with Giles, suggesting that the only way to assure that the First can’t use Spike to enact their evil is to get rid of him once and for all. Giles doesn’t disagree, but he soon puts the pieces together and realizes who Robin’s mother is, and why he appears to be so gung-ho about killing Spike. Still, when Robin asks Giles to distract Buffy for a couple of hours, he doesn’t say no. Giles takes Buffy patrolling while Robin shows Spike inside his hideout. It’s here that Robin stops beating around the bush; he reveals who he is, who is mother was, and his intention. Except that he doesn’t want to kill Spike, the meek, soulful vampire who answers Buffy’s every whim. Robin turns on his laptop and blasts a rendition of “Early One Morning”, hoping to let out the beast who killed Nikki Wood 30 years ago. As the two fight, we see more flashbacks to a young William the Bloody, whose mother shows her true colors after being sired. Anne has always resented her son, his awful poetry and dotting nature, and being freed from the curse of life allows her to recognize that. As they are now creatures of the night, Anne feels honest and free, but William is still the spineless man who could never part her, and that’s all he’ll ever be. His mother’s words hurt William, and he stakes her out of anger. This comes back as Spike and Robin resume their fight, and even though Principal Wood has had a good start, Spike soon gains the upper hand and pushes Robin to the ground. It’s here that Spike realizes that he’s freed of the trigger, blasting “Early One Morning” and noticing that he is no longer possessed. He thanks Robin just as he feasts into him. Back at the graveyard, Giles has Buffy fight a newly-risen vampire but demands that she doesn’t kill him as he imparts some wisdom onto her, reminding Buffy of her words that everyone is expendable. He even has her admit that unlike back with Glory, she would kill Dawn if it meant saving the world. Yet, she stops herself short for Spike, every time. Buffy realizes what’s going on, and rushes to Robin’s hideout, where she sees Spike escape. He insists that he only phased Robin and let him live because of his past actions towards his mother. Next time he won’t be so lucky. Buffy goes in to check on Robin, then tells him what Spike said, and that she’ll let Spike go through with it if he interferes with the mission. Back at home, Buffy checks on Dawn and runs into Giles, who appears indifferent to Spike surviving. He tries to offer his former student advice, but Buffy, uh, rebuffs Giles, saying that she’s learned everything she needs to from him.
It feels like it’s been a long-time coming, but not really- we only met Principal Wood at the beginning of the season, and only just learned about his history and beef with Spike a few episodes back. But for Robin, this is what he’s dedicated his life to, and the moment is finally his.
Or so he thinks. What Robin didn’t count on is 1) How much more powerful Spike, even with a soul, is than him and 2) That the only person in immediate relation more powerful than either of them would take the vamp’s side.
I give credit to the crew behind “Lies My Parents Told Me” in that it does a good job of making both Robin and Spike empathetic. Robin lost his mother at a far too young age for responsibilities that he had no say in. The only thing that’s kept him alive since then was vengeance, and whether or not that’s healthy is moot. He just wants a chance to reclaim what was taken from him.
Meanwhile, Spike has his own tricky history with his mother and alongside the sacrifice he made, he has to bare the burden of the lives he took between the death and rebirth of his soul. It hurts to have the image of every person’s life that he took come and haunt him, but at the same time, Spike is tired of apologizing for a world that he no longer relates to, and has no time to deal with Robin’s petty game of vengeance.
It’s notable progress, how Spike refuses to be a punching bag for anyone, be it the First, Buffy, Robin, or whoever. I always like when we have flashbacks to the eternal one’s lives before going to Sunnydale, and we get some interesting stuff as we meet Anne, his mother. Even before Drusilla, he was at her beck and call, and as we see, what made him stop being William the Bloody and turn into Spike is when he accepted that he deserves more than to be nagged at by her for eternity. Or really, that he didn’t appreciate being lied to by the person he looked up.
“Lies My Parents Told Me” is an obvious title, but one that sells the episode’s point across. Robin has to grip with his mother’s legacy and accept that maybe Spike was right and she had a deathwish that could rival her love for her son, while Spike has to deal with the damage done by his matricide. Whether or not Anne was telling the truth regarding how she feels about her son is irrelevant- what matters is that Spike doesn’t have to care, and he is no longer triggered by her tune.
But the episode also works for Buffy, who has come to the conclusion that Giles- her father figure- doesn’t always have the best interests out for her. Personally, I don’t think that Giles is wrong, himself; Buffy has blinded herself to Spike and the danger he is capable of. Spike may be a strong fighter, but he’s also incredibly dangerous, with or even possibly without the First’s control. He can be a liability, so I understand where Spike is coming from.
Still, Giles comes to this conclusion too easily, and does so despite knowing Buffy’s resistance. I understand why he feels the need to question Spike’s role, but it’s a bad look and sets a dangerous precedent for the one person Buffy is supposed to look up to.
I don’t think it’s bad writing to have Giles change his tune, though. It fits his character, and he’s had a history of questionable actions during the show’s run. It’s not fair to begrudge Fury (who’s doing double-duty this week) and Godard for this turn for the character. If anything, it tracks too well.
And it also makes sense that due to this, according to Buffy, the student is now the master. Buffy has proven herself to be among the best Slayers of all time, if not THE. But does that mean that she’s also a great leader? So far, it’s been inconsistent, but the next episode will show a unique challenge.
Season 7, Episode 18
Aired April 15, 2003
Directed by Michael Gershman
Written by Drew Godard
Synopsis: A young girl named Shannon is being chased by Bringers through the woods- yes, she’s a Potential. She’s saved by a priest (Nathan Fillion) who brings her into his vehicle. While at first, it sounds like he’s taking her to safety, it turns out that the priest, whose name is Caleb, is working for divine purposes and his intent is to rid the world of everyone fighting against the First. He brandishes his mark on her neck with a burn and cuts her, while also leaving a message for the Slayer- “I’ve got something of yours”- before leaving her out on the road, hopefully to die. By coincidence, Willow and Faith, who are returning from LA, arrive just in time to take her to the hospital. Willow decides to stay and keep an eye on the Potential and lets Faith find her way to the Summers house. The other (still technically active) Slayer decides to do a little patrolling first and finds a vampire attacking a poor, innocent girl. This isn’t just any vampire, though- this is Spike, who she’s had an encounter with before (which he doesn’t remember), and the two fight before Spike can share his side of the story. Buffy comes up in the middle of their fight and informs Faith that Spike has a soul- kind of like Angel, although he rebuffs the idea- and this is actually a vampire they’re facing. Faith promptly stakes her, and the three decide to head home. While they know about her return, Buffy haphazardly welcomes Faith into the fold, recognizing that they’ll need the help, but Giles and Dawn are more apprehensive about letting in the person who tried to, and nearly could bring down Buffy. Still, Buffy insists and the two reluctantly agree to find room for her in the already-cramped house. The next day, Buffy checks in on Principal Wood and the two confess that they share no hard feelings towards each other, yet Robin decides to fire Buffy. He thinks that she needs to spend her time prepping the Potentials for war, and while she agrees, Buffy still wants to work at least part time, but Robin stands firm. She comes home and finds Faith and a bare-chested Spike connecting in the basement, surprised and maybe a little jealous at the sight, but before she can say anything, Dawn arrives with news from Willow. Shannon’s awake, and she heads over to the hospital to receive her news. Buffy is spooked by this tale of a preacher who has something of hers, so she calls a meeting at home and prepares the girls to go find him and fight. Willow and Giles aren’t crazy about Buffy sending the Potentials out for a big battle when they’re unprepared and don’t know what he has of hers, so she decides to leave the less-experienced ones at home with the two of them, as she and Faith go patrolling and find a Bringer, stalking him and discovering Caleb’s hideout- an old, abandoned winery. While they return home to pick up their army, we learn a little about Caleb over the episode, that he meets with the First, how he wants to rid the world of impurity and how he’s above the belief of a higher being, but still follows the good book to an extent. The two Slayers return to the house and prepare a few of the Potentials, alongside Spike and Xander, to take on Caleb head-on. While they do okay with a group of Bringers, Caleb arrives and surprises everyone by being incredibly strong, knocking Buffy to the ground. It’s here that the battle goes badly, with the Potentials becoming overwhelmed and increasingly getting their asses handed to them, with even the Slayers and vampire struggling to hold on to his army. Buffy has no choice but to call a retreat and sends the girls back home, although a few are damaged to the point of needing care at the hospital. Xander is able to save one girl from Caleb’s wrath, and noticing how good his eye is, Caleb digs his thumb right into Xander’s eye, pushing it out. The episode ends with Xander and the damaged Potentials lying in hospital beds as Caleb makes note of his encounter.
At this point, the Firefly experiment was long considered a failure but had yet to be revived in feature length form. To keep some of the Serenity crew around, Whedon will bring back some of the actors in the works that stick. So Nathan Fillion shows up here, Gina Torres will reoccur over on Angel this season, while that show’s next and last season will get Adam Baldwin, one of the few people associated with his work who might be worse of a person than Whedon.
But anyway, Fillion is quite good as the deceptive southern preacher, bringing a welcome, terrifying menace to this last stretch of episodes. He gets some killer monologues and does just as well with combat, even holding his own against a pro like Gellar.
“Dirty Girls” has a lot going on- besides the debut of Caleb, Faith also returns to the Scoobies and the episode ends with Xander being handed a major wound- but it does so while not overwhelming viewers with new information or story points, despite how many we obtain.
The title is meant to represent how women, even those with incredible power like the Slayers and their Potentials, are perceived and ultimately looked down upon. Xander’s awkward wet dream is the least worst example, and if anything is expected for a lonely heterosexual male. It’s kind of stupid and questionable since these girls are supposed to be high school age, but harmless if he doesn’t act on hitting up the curious young girls.
The core case of misogyny that the women here face comes from Caleb, who intends to rid the world of Eve’s sins. He uses biblical gobbledygook to justify his persona, which is backed up by incredible strength that even the Slayers can barely handle. The extended fight at the end is among the most exciting we’ve hit in a while thanks to the stakes added by Caleb.
Buffy’s used to this. She’s had many call out her dainty size, fluffy blonde hair and relatively high-pitched voice against her and has often been called a bitch on duty- probably also the c word when the censors aren’t there to protect our ears- and Faith is probably also used to it. If anything, she may miss it, after spending a couple of years in a prison full of women. She enjoys her brief moment with Spike a little too much to not suggest that she misses men. Hell, she even states as much.
Still, the purpose of being a Slayer is recognizing the power of women, and realizing that it’s best to stand up for one another in a cruel world that will cast you aside for the next mediocre man. Faith and Buffy know this, and they do their best to instill this to the Potentials, but they can only understand so much before dealing with the real thing themselves.
And it’s here that we see them fail. Despite this being the first time Buffy and Faith, possibly the strongest warriors alive, fought together in years, Caleb has something with him that they can not handle. Not with another worthy combatant like Spike, not with a near-dozen Potentials. This isn’t the first time Buffy met her match this season, ie the Turok-Han, but she was able to find a way to stop it with some clever planning. With Caleb, she forewent this step just to get hers, and many others, asses handed to her. And it resulted in wounded young girls and her best friend losing his eye in the process.
“Dirty Girls” completes our team and Eliza Dushku does everything she can to prove that she fits in with this crew, but it also introduces one last challenge to make sure that they don’t win with an easy fight. It’s a solid set up for what is shaping to be the gang’s last big obstacle before their big fight against the First. Now let’s see how this goes next week.
Watcher’s Guidebook:
To be fair, Giles is right, not having any books in the library is alarming. Computers are useful, but they’re not a perfect substitute.
The juxtaposition between “Hi Rich” and Buffy whacking him is so perfectly timed.
“I’m in the fight of my life here.” “Really?” “Not you, Richard.”
I don’t think Xander’s wet dream was necessary… but also, Nicholas Brendan does the commentary for “Dirty Girls”, and holy shit, he talks just like Xander.
Spike’s reaction to Faith is priceless- “Do you think I’m stupid?” “Well, yes.”
Here’s Faith vs. Spock.
I understand why Buffy was fired, but I hope Robin leaves her a decent severance package.
Earlier this season, Xander was getting annoyed with Andrew’s nerd references, but now he’s backing him up about the Matthew Broderick Godzilla not being canon. Which, I mean, fair.
Oh hey, that’s Rachel Bilson as Colleen. I had a MAJOR crush on her back on The OC, which she’ll start later that year.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles: While we’re dealing with the First in Sunnydale, something else is transpiring in LA, which Angel learns about in “Inside Out”. Everything that’s happened over the past season, like Connor’s birth and Cordelia’s pregnancy, come from a higher being wanting to bring the end of the world. Darla even shows up! And we meet this new evil in “Shiny Happy People”, when Cordy gives birth to Jasmine, who’s able to trick most of Angel Investigations into falling for her whims. Except for Fred (I guess Jasmine is straight), who tries to prove that her boys are being brainwashed. It’s not very effective.
Next Week: The girls are finally getting frustrated with Buffy when they can’t successfully take down Caleb, which results in Faith taking her place as leader. Will he be defeated in these episodes? We’ll see.