Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “Reptile Boy" Review (2x05)

Brief Synopsis: “Giles is pushing Buffy in her Slayer training, her mother's rules are becoming more and more strict, and Angel is growing more over-protective. Buffy is feeling pulled apart. When Cordelia's college crush shows up on campus with a friend who has eyes for Buffy, Cordelia convinces Buffy to go with her to a frat party. But the party soon turns sinister, and Buffy learns the connection between the fraternity and the local girls who have recently gone missing. Xander, Giles, Angel, and Willow must crash the party before all Hell breaks loose.”

"Inca Mummy Girl" (2x04) quick link here                                                                                          "Halloween" (2x06) quick link here


Two quick notes before we get started...

1)    I will be reviewing the episodes in bullet point form. This is because it makes the reviews simple to read, and helps break up the text.
2)    If you are watching the show for the first time along with these reviews, please be warned that there may be a few spoilers for things that haven’t happened yet.

With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



•    I find many parallels between this episode and the previous one, “Inca Mummy Girl”. Firstly, both episodes are in the weakest of season two. Secondly, their names are similar. “Inca Mummy GIRL” and “Reptile BOY”. I think the episode names aren’t a coincidence. One of the biggest themes of season two is growing out of adolescence. Buffy has to grow up a lot this season. She has sex for the first time, she has her first real relationship, she has to send Angel to Hell, and she has to become more of an adult to survive all of this. On top of that, I find myself being bored by the actual plot of the episodes. Instead, I am drawn to the smaller moments of the episodes. In this instance, Willow’s angry rant at Giles and Angel, the adorable opening scene, and Cordelia’s...well, everything in this episode, is what saves this episode from being completely throwaway.
•    As I mentioned above, the opening scene between Buffy, Xander, and Willow is just adorable. The core three just hanging out, being teenagers, and talking, without any drama for once! I often find myself searching out scenes like this during times of distress in my own life. I find them so comforting. Especially with all the drama and separation that happens in later seasons. I’d love a few more scenes like this.
•    Cordy’s line about how Xander’s pizza delivery career will take him to lots of places turns out to be highly accurate. Xander doesn’t go to college and actually does end up as a pizza delivery man for a while. I doubt that this line was planned out for that reason, but it makes for great continuity.
•    If anyone is in doubt about whether or not Giles is Buffy’s father figure by this point, go and watch the scene where Buffy pouts at him. It’s hilarious. The pout was totally getting to you, Giles.
•    Richard is a douche and deserves to be eaten.
•    Why is Buffy attracted to Tom? Or Parker in season four? They’re both smarmy creeps. However, it takes both of them a while to show their true nature. I think this episode uses Tom as a way to tell the audience that waiting until you really know someone before having sex with them is the best way forward. Appearances can be deceiving. I think the title of “Reptile Boy” is talking about Tom, not Machida. Machida is what it appears to be, whereas Tom is deceptive and manipulative. Like Callie tells Buffy when they’re chained-up in the basement area, Tom is the one you have to watch out for. Everything Tom says and does in this episode (until you realise that he’s a villain) is all an act. It’s all to get Buffy and Cordelia downstairs (which is clearly a metaphor for getting them into bed).

•    Geez, Giles! Give Buffy a break! Buffy has proven capable of battling the forces of darkness time and time again, why are you suddenly being so hard on her? This episode is one of very few instances where I get upset with Giles. I just don’t understand his behaviour in this episode at all. Buffy hasn’t been slipping in terms of skills or strength, so why is Giles being so hard on her at this particular time? Is he ‘manopausing’? It feels like sloppy writing to me. Giles’ actions for the vast majority of this episode are completely out of character. It feels like Giles being hard on Buffy is deliberately added to make Buffy rebel, rather than because it’s realistic, which I feel hurts this episode. There was no build-up or reason for Giles to suddenly be harder on Buffy. If Giles started being harder on Buffy after she died, that would fit. If Buffy had been slacking off and losing some of her skill because of it, that would fit. Doing it this way simply doesn’t work.
•    The “fight scene” between Buffy and Giles is extremely funny. Buffy defeats Giles so effortlessly! Which brings me back to “WHY IS GILES BEING SO HARD ON BUFFY DURING THIS EPISODE?!”
•    With the above being said, I do appreciate how Giles tries to rationalise this to Buffy. Giles tells Buffy that she has a purpose in life, a destiny. Very few people Buffy’s age can say the same thing. The older Buffy gets, the more she comes to realise this herself. As the seasons go on, Buffy starts to appreciate her slaying abilities and the fact that she has a purpose. However, in this episode, Giles is talking to a sixteen-year-old Buffy, who hates having all the responsibility that goes alongside slaying.
•    Angel: “When I kiss you, you don’t wake up from a deep sleep and live happily ever after.”
Buffy: “No, when you kiss me I want to die.”

SO. MUCH. ANGST. Buffy’s response reminds me of fAmpata (fake Ampata), who’s kiss really did make people die. Happy nostalgia. I understand that Angel is trying to protect Buffy as he feels that she is too young for him (she is), but it’s her decision Angel, not yours! If you love her and she loves you, why not give it a try? It’s better than living your life wondering what could have been. Angel is one of my favourite characters in the Buffyverse, but I sometimes dislike his treatment of Buffy. In a lot of ways he treats her like a child. He leaves Buffy in “Graduation Day Part Two” because he thinks he knows what is best for her. I actually agree with his decision, but who’s to say that he’s right? Does Buffy not get 50% of the choice? In Angel season one’s “I Will Remember You”, Angel takes a whole twenty four hours to decide that he can’t stay human because it will put Buffy and the world in danger, so he has time rewound without consulting Buffy! He was erasing Buffy’s memories without even giving her a say in the matter! Again, I agree with Angel’s decision, but he should give Buffy enough respect to add her opinions before acting.

•    The only part of this particular scene that annoys me is Angel saying that Buffy doesn’t know what she wants because she’s sixteen years old. Sixteen-year-olds are capable of knowing who or what they want out of life! Sure, a great deal of sixteen-year-olds don’t know what they want, or it changes as they grow older, but that’s for Buffy to decide, not Angel. Not only is Buffy old enough to make up her own mind, but she’s the Slayer. She’s already proven herself to be responsible enough to protect the entire world! Good for Buffy for not putting up with Angel’s crap in this scene.
•    I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the irony that Angel is telling Buffy here that their relationship will end badly if they start it. Oh how right he was...
•    Cordelia: “It’s like we’re sisters!...with really different hair.”
Talk about a back-handed compliment. It’s one of those compliments that isn’t really a compliment at all. Like “Not many people can pull off those massive ears” or “You’re quite pretty for a fat person”. Bitchdelia (that’s what I’ve named the Cordelia that appears for most of her time in Sunnydale) is the undisputed queen of back-handed compliments.
•    Giles having a sword fight with a pretend opponent will never not be funny. Bless this episode for moments like this. If you took away the little moments like this, “Reptile Boy” might be my least favourite episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”.

•    You lied to Giles! Bad Buffy! To be fair though, he has been working Buffy too hard recently. Buffy deserves a break. Let’s see how it turns out for her, shall we?...
•    I think one of the reasons why I can’t get into this episode is that I’m struggling to find the theme behind it. Is the theme that lying to your parents is wrong? That’s not always the case. Is it that frat guys are morons? We don’t have fraternities here in England, so that could be true. Is it that alcohol is bad? That’s not always true either. It feels like every time a Scooby drinks alcohol, something bad happens (I’m excluding vampires like Spike and Angel). This episode, “Beer Bad”, “Life Serial”...I understand that binge drinking is bad. However, outside of that there’s nothing wrong with alcohol every now and then so long as you’re in a safe environment. In fact, my Buffyverse Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BTVSFC) has a drinking game once a month via the page, which always goes over very well! In this instance, Buffy gets drunk at a party, surrounded by strangers, so I’ll allow some wiggle room for the “alcohol is bad” stance on this occasion.

•    “New pledge! New pledge! New pledge!”
•    Poor Xander. Although, I must admit, he does look hilarious in a bra and make-up.
•    The attempted sexual abuse scene between Buffy and Richard is very uncomfortable to watch. Luckily, nothing happened, but it does highlight the dangers of over-drinking. I’m really glad that the show didn’t insinuate that it was Buffy’s fault for dressing a certain way or acting a certain way. I’ve seen far too many shows that imply it was the female’s fault in some way. There is no excuse for sexual assault of any kind. No excuse. It doesn’t matter if the woman was wearing nothing more than a belt, no is no. So in that regard, I was pleased with this episode...until Machida arrived.
•    Xander is not butt ugly! He’s surprisingly good looking and in good shape, actually. I’ve always struggled to figure out why Xander is unpopular at Sunnydale High. He’s good looking, funny, oddly charming...he’d have been loved at my school. Perhaps it’s because of his lack of self-esteem and the fact that he can’t talk to women at all? I was certainly guilty of both of those things when I was in school.
•    Willow: “Why do you think she went to that party?! Because you gave her the brush-off! And you, you never let her do anything except work and patrol! I know she’s the Chosen One, but you’re killing her with the pressure! She’s sixteen going on forty! And you! You’re gonna live forever; you don’t have time for a cup of coffee?!”

 Willow lecturing Giles and Angel is the best scene since “School Hard”. It’s one of those “whoop loudly at the TV” moments. Willow tells Angel and Giles exactly what the audience is thinking. Everything she said needed to be said, so it worked out well for everyone in the end. I ADORE angry Willow. She has a few more outbursts like that this season, and I beam happily every time.

•    Then we get to my least favourite part of the already-average episode. The Machida costume. It is so unconvincing! I actually burst out laughing when I saw it. It looks like a giant deformed penis! How can the show go from the impressive mummified corpse make-up in the last episode, to this! I know that “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” often takes a real life problem and puts a supernatural spin on things, but this is just ridiculous. To highlight the dangers of over-drinking, Buffy and Cordelia are literally almost eaten by a giant penis demon. That is not a subtle metaphor at all.
•    After handling the attempted rape scene so well, this episode then handles the concept of ‘consequences of drinking alcohol’ very badly. It almost feels like “Reptile Boy” is saying that Buffy nearly got eaten because she didn’t listen to Giles. So the ultimate message of this episode is that trying to find your own way in life will lead you to near-death experiences? Possibly involving a giant penis? For a show that is normally so perfect about this type of thing (more than any other television show I’ve ever seen), it falls short of my expectations in this case.
•    Willow: “Angel, how do you shave?”

That’s a very good point. I’m assuming he just feels his face and shaves the parts he’s missed, but it does raise an interesting point about how Angel is always so well groomed. I always liked to imagine that Cordelia would go round to the Hyperion Hotel an hour before Wesley and Gunn arrived to do Angel’s hair for him. That’s now canon in my head and you cannot take that away from me!
 
•    Angel vamping out and getting upset over Buffy in danger is hot.
•    I can’t look at the Machida costume without giggling anymore.
•    Seriously, please get that costume off the screen, my insides can’t cope.
•    I withdraw my statement that the Machida costume is the worst part of the episode. It’s so comically bad that I’m starting to like it...
•    How was Xander reading a paper the next day saying that the frat guys were arrested and charged? It takes longer than 24 hours to convict someone...
•    Xander: “Angel, Angel, Angel....does every conversation we have have to come round to that freak? *Angel appears*, Hey man, how’re you doing?”

Well that’s just awkward.

•    This episode resolves with Buffy and Angel making plans to go for coffee (this happens at the beginning of the next episode, “Halloween”), and the rest is history. So this episode is responsible for the eventual “I Will Remember You”...curse you, Whedon!
•    To conclude, this episode is far from good. Perhaps I can’t appreciate this episode as much as other people because we don’t have fraternities in England. I don’t know how accurate fraternities are portrayed in this episode. I’ve got to be honest; I don’t really understand the point of them. Why do they exist? Also, I can appreciate the message that the episode is trying to convey, but it’s handled in such a heavy-handed way (a literal giant penis demon, anyone?) that it’s very hard to like it. However, even with my criticisms of this episode, it’s still better than a lot of TV shows out there. A ‘bad’ episode of Buffy is still equivalent to a ‘good’ episode of almost any other show. What was good about this episode you ask? Willow. Willow (and a few other good moments) saves this episode!


Quote Of The Episode

Xander: “I want to keep an eye on Buffy, those frat guys creep me.”

Willow: “You want to protect her, and you want to prove you’re as good as those rich, snotty guys...and maybe catch an orgy?”

Xander: “If it’s on early.”



FINAL SCORE: 3/10

So what are your thoughts on "Reptile Boy"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!