"Wild At Heart" (4x06) quick link here "Pangs" (4x08) quick link here
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1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.
1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.
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With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?
“The Initiative” is the first season arc-heavy episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season four. It gives us answers to who those mysterious commandos are, it explains that Professor Walsh and Riley are both a part of The Initiative project, it introduces us to Forrest and Graham, it shows us that Riley is romantically interested in Buffy, and, most importantly, it shows us that Spike can no longer bite or hurt humans...plus, Riley punches Parker. That’s a recipe for a decent episode. As the episode title suggests, it primarily explores The Initiative and the people within it. However, The Initiative itself isn’t the only focus of the episode. What’s great about “The Initiative” is that Buffy isn’t the focal point of the episode for once. In fact, she isn’t even the second most important character in this episode. The two leading characters are Spike and Riley, both of whom are trying to get Buffy’s attention. In Riley’s case, he wants Buffy to notice him romantically. In Spike’s case, he wants to kill Buffy (like he hasn’t said that before...). I will look at both of their journeys separately in this review.
“The Initiative” is one of those unusual episodes that I like much more than the fandom in general seems to. I think there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I really like Riley. I can’t help it! I always have! I know that most of the fandom seem to not only dislike Riley, but actively loathe him, which I’ve never understood. I understand disliking his childish, stupid actions in season five, but in season four Riley is a great guy and easily Buffy’s most stable relationship. Perhaps it’s because people weren’t willing to accept Riley so soon after Angel left? Perhaps it’s because people prefer watching ‘bad boys’ on TV than they do ‘good guys’? Perhaps it’s because Riley’s character never gets well fleshed-out? Whatever the reason is, Riley taking up so much screen time during this episode might have something to do with why people don’t like it more. Secondly, this episode is initiating the season arc, so it’s much more setup than it is execution. We learn a lot of things, but there aren’t many results in this episode. I don’t feel that this episode needed results to be good, but I can understand why people might find it a little underwhelming.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Riley, Maggie & The Initiative)
“The Initiative” has this wonderful ability to be an exposition episode with two huge plots, yet sew them together perfectly. Nothing in this episode feels forced in order to get The Initiative plot and the Spike plot to interweave throughout this episode. At the start, Riley, Forrest, and Graham are watching and discussing our heroine, Miss. Summers. In typical Buffy fashion, she’s being clumsy and making a fool of herself...I love flawed heroes! There is an amusing parallel between Buffy and Riley in this episode. Buffy, while possessing superpowers, is incredibly clumsy physically. Riley, while tall and handsome, is incredibly clumsy socially (as we find out later in the episode). These two characters have a lot in common when you think about it. Both are living a secret second life, both are clumsy, both have a lot of pressure on their shoulders, they both fight demons and vampires, and most importantly (in Buffy’s eyes at least), Riley is a human and can spend time with her in the daylight. The ‘living a secret second life’ part is explored throughout this episode. Riley confides in Forrest that he wishes he could tell Buffy about the fact that he’s a part of The Initiative. He knows he can’t tell her, but he wants to because he wants her to know everything about him. As we’ve seen time and time again on this show, Buffy isn’t supposed to tell anyone about her extra-curricular activities as a Vampire Slayer because it might endanger them. Oh, sweet parallels. The transitional scenes between Riley and Buffy explaining this are very well done.
Like a lot of males I know (I’m one of them), Riley is oblivious to how he feels about Buffy. He’s deluded himself into thinking that Buffy is nothing more than ‘peculiar’ in his eyes. It’s not until after he listens to Parker make a crude joke about sleeping with Buffy that he realises his feelings for her. Trying to hold back all my inner fanboying, I adore the moment where Riley punches Parker. Yes, I’m aware of the fact that Buffy already got revenge on Parker by clubbing him over the head in “Beer Bad”, but he still deserved more. Cave-Buffy got revenge rather than regular Buffy, which negates the clubbing in my eyes. Riley punched Parker, I started to really like Riley. It’s Riley’s finest hour! Apparently, violence isn’t the answer, but sometimes it leads you to startling realisations about you feelings, kiddies. If you’re confused about something in life, go punch a misogynistic asshole in the face. There is no flaw in that logic whatsoever. No, sir.
I’m going to talk about this in much more depth as the season rolls along, but I both love and get incredibly frustrated by The Initiative plot. It’s absolutely realistic (as realistic as a show about a Vampire Slayer can get) that the government would know about the existence of vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness, and it’s absolutely realistic that they would want to capture and study them. On paper it looks like a terrific idea, right? Sadly, it comes across as rather lacking through the entire season. I think it’s the biggest reason as to why people don’t seem to like season four a great deal overall. While the standalone episodes are some of the best the show ever produces, the season arc and ‘Big Bad’ leave a lot to be desired. The huge Initiative set is spectacular, though. I also love that The Initiative is below the college and can be accessed by a mirror that gives you a retina scan. It makes sense to have The Initiative located there as it means that the government can scout soldiers and medical staff at the college. Speaking of ‘Big Bad’, Professor Walsh is such a bitch to Willow when Willow tries to explain to Riley and Walsh that Oz is only gone from the class temporarily and will be back soon. What. A. Cow. Luckily, Buffy saves the day with her “you know for someone that teaches human behaviour, you might try showing some.” Oh, oh snap. That kind of sass will lead you places, Miss. Summers.
Hey, hey guys, you know what Parker and a toilet have in common? They’re both full of shit. I’m not going to stop doing the ‘Dance of Joy’ (Pylea!) over Riley punching Parker anytime soon. I could watch that clip on repeat all day. I might just do that later.
After realising that he has feelings for Buffy, Riley goes to her dorm room looking for her. Instead he finds a depressed Willow. I appreciate the fact that Willow isn’t instantly over Oz. She’s in a lot of pain for a few episodes after his departure, which she should be. Her first true boyfriend cheated on her and left Sunnydale. It’s bound to make anyone miserable beyond belief. My two favourite parts of this episode involve Willow, a male, and her dorm room...that wasn’t supposed to sound sinister. The scenes between Riley and Willow are adorable. Like, seriously adorable. During these scenes, I was wondering if Joss was going to pull a bait-and-switch on us here and have Willow date Riley at some point down the line. Especially after Oz’s departure and Riley saving Willow from being hit by a car. Plus, Willow is in such a negative, emotional place during this episode and Riley seems to help cheer her up a little and make her smile again. It’s not until the end of this episode that I saw the writing on the wall that it was going to be Buffy and Riley.
Willow: “Say that I help, you start a conversation, it goes great. You like Buffy, she likes you. You spend time together, feelings grow deeper, and one day without even realising it you find you’re in love. Time stops and it feels like the whole world is made for you two and you two alone. Until the day one of you leaves and rips the still-beating heart from the other, who is now a broken, hollow, mockery of the human condition.”
Riley: “Yep, that’s the plan.”
Willow: “I figured it was.”
Can I just point out the dramatic irony that Riley actually does leave and rips the still-beating heart out of Buffy? *awkward turtle*.
Another reason why I like these scenes between Willow and Riley is that Riley is never a member of the Scooby Gang. Let’s be honest here, he is never accepted into the group. He’s never close to Giles, Anya, Tara, Dawn, or Willow, Xander dislikes Riley right up until the point where Riley is about to leave. It’s refreshing to see Riley and Willow being friendly and having so much one-on-one time during this episode!...then Riley uses the term ‘courted’ in relation to dating and ruins everything. Ugh.
Willow is not responsive to Riley’s requests at first. She’s recently been cheated on and heartbroken by Oz and she’s witnessed Buffy be heartbroken with Parker. She’s not very trusting of men at this particular moment in time...“I’ve seen honest faces before. They usually come attached to liars.” Eventually, Riley’s puppy-dog eyes and enthusiasm for wanting to get to know Buffy convince Willow to help him. She gives him the nugget of information that Buffy likes cheese. That’s the hard part over, Riley. It’s all downhill from here. For someone who emphatically declared that she’s not Riley’s accomplice, Willow does a fantastic job of helping Riley and being accomplice-like. Even with Willow’s help, Riley blows it big-time with Buffy. For a good looking, charming guy, Riley is TERRIBLE at flirting with women...or talking to them, actually. He ends up mumbling about college work and cheese. Buffy was not hit by a smooth criminal. His pick-up lines were certainly criminal, but they weren’t smooth at all.
Riley: “Did Willow tell you I like cheese?”
Buffy: “You’re a little peculiar.”
The scene where Buffy and Riley are both trying to get rid of one another in order to find Spike is highly amusing. Neither can tell the other one why they’re trying to get rid of each other so have to come up with lame excuses to try to justify their actions. Riley’s excuses come across as quite sexist, whereas Buffy’s come across as stubborn and dramatic. Good work all around! I must also mention that I enjoy the dysfunctional surrogate mother-son relationship between Maggie and Riley. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. It’s like a highly disturbing version of Buffy and Giles...if Giles secretly watched Buffy and Riley have sex (that will disturb me until the end of time). For now at least, it’s rather sweet. While it appears that Riley grew up in a stable, loving family environment, it’s never revealed how close he is to his parents, so perhaps Maggie is the mother that Riley always wanted. They’re certainly closer than Maggie and the rest of the commandos.
The episode closes with definite sparkage from both sides with Buffy and Riley. Even though it seems fast, I’m not opposed to their relationship. Firstly, it makes sense for Buffy to be attracted to Riley, even before the reveal that he hunts vampires and demons. He’s a nice guy that she has seen outside in the daylight. She’s trying to move on from Angel by finding a nice, normal, stable guy, and on top of that she’s trying to find the anti-Parker as much as possible. Even though she’s not willing to commit to a relationship yet, she is willing to get to know Riley better. Even people that dislike them as a couple can’t deny that they make a certain amount of sense together. I don’t believe that Buffy is ever ‘in love’ with Riley, but she most definitely has feelings for him.
Spike
Spike is not having the best of times in this episode. Forrest mentions to Riley that a lot of people would want to get their hands on Buffy and then the scene pans to Spike muttering about Buffy in a prison cell. Much like the big hanger set of The Initiative, I also love the set of the Initiative cells. Interestingly, when the camera pans to a long room filled with numerous cells, only the first three actually exist. The rest are illusions using mirrors and camera work to make it look like the room is longer and filled with a lot more cells. Within the other cells, we see another member of Kulak’s Miquot clan (he’s the yellow-skinned demon with retractable forearm blades from season three’s “Homecoming”) and Tom from the season four opener, “The Freshman”. Both of these are wonderful pieces of continuity. However, I feel like the show missed a trick here. As these vampires and demons will play a part in the big battle at the end of the season, I would have loved for previous characters to appear in the Initiative cells! Think about it! Sheila from “School Hard”, one of fake-Natalie French’s eggs from “Teacher’s Pet”, Lyle Gorch...any villain that Buffy has ever faced that wasn’t killed could have been used here. It wouldn’t have added a lot to the story, but it would have been a nice nod to the diehard fans of the show.
Tom explains to Spike that the blood packs that fall from the top of the cell are filled with drugs. Spike feints sleep and escapes from The Initiative, sacrificing Tom’s attempted escape in order to save himself. The escape itself was great. Spike’s like an extremely pale, vampiric Indiana Jones...without the whip and hat. I just said 'Spike' and 'whip' in the same sentence. There goes the attention of the straight females and gay men reading this review for the remainder of it. After moping around for a while, Spike tries to weasel back in with Harmony. The last time we saw these two characters together, Spike staked Harmony because she wouldn’t shut up (“The Harsh Light Of Day”). As she was wearing the Gem of Amara, she didn’t become a big pile of dust. Harmony lets Spike back into her life waaaaaay too easily. She’s such a pushover. As I mentioned before, I do have an odd attraction to these characters being together. The thought of Spike being stuck listening to Harmony talk all day and night about unicorns and her glory days at Sunnydale High is beyond amusing to me. Poor Spike. No wonder he tried to stake her.
Spike: “It’s all you and me, my little mentholated pack of smokes.”
Who said that pet names and romance are dead? Harmony and Spike’s nicknames for each other are better than their relationship ever is.
Then we arrive at my favourite part of the episode. Much like Riley had done earlier, Spike goes to Buffy’s dorm room looking for her. Again, like Riley, he stumbled across a depressed Willow instead. Did Spike need that ‘come in!’ from Willow in order to enter the dorm room? Sunday and her gang were never invited in (unless Kathy invited them in off-camera), yet they were able to steal all of Buffy’s possessions. Did Spike need the invitation or was he waiting for Buffy to answer the door in order to take her by surprise? Terrible continuity or a tactical move on Spike’s part...you decide!
I do not like or appreciate the rape subtext behind Spike’s attempted biting of Willow. Not only is it disturbing to watch, but it just feels unnecessary. Why not just have Spike try to bite Willow without the rapey subtext? Especially when you consider that after Spike is unable to bite Willow it’s played as a metaphor for Spike’s inability to ‘get it up’. With that being said though, I do adore the post-biting conversation between Spike and Willow. Poor impotent Spikey. What’s even more amusing than Spike’s pouting is the fact that Willow is actively consoling Spike and encouraging him to try again in a few minutes time. Willow, I get that you’re a nice person, but he’s trying to kill you! Attack now, support later. Spike mentions that he had the inclination to bite Willow during the last season’s “lovers Walk” because she was wearing the pink sweater with the lilac underneath and he thought she looked biteable. Oh Lord, too funny.
Spike: “I don't understand. This sort of thing's never happened to me before...”
Willow: “Maybe you were nervous?”
Spike: “I felt all right when I started. Let's try again *he tries to bite Willow* Ow! Oh! Ow! Damn it!”
Willow: “Maybe you're trying too hard. Doesn't this happen to every vampire?”
Spike: “Not to me it doesn't!”
Willow: “It's me, isn't it?”
Spike: “What are you talking about?”
Willow: “Well, you came looking for Buffy, then settled. I...you didn't want to bite me. I just happened to be around.”
Spike: “Piffle!”
Willow: “I know I'm not the kind of girl vamps like to sink their teeth into. It's always like, ‘ooh, you're like a sister to me’ or ‘oh, you're such a good friend.’”
Spike: “Don't be ridiculous. I'd bite you in a heartbeat.”
Willow: “Really?”
Spike: “...Thought about it.”
Willow: “When?”
Spike: “Remember last year, you had on that fuzzy pink number with the lilac underneath?”
Willow: “I never would have guessed. You played the bloodlust kinda cool.”
Spike: “I hate being obvious. All fangy and ‘grrrr!’ Takes the mystery out.”
Willow: “But if you could...”
Spike: “If I could, yeah.”
Willow: “You know, this doesn't make you any less terrifying.”
Spike: “Don't patronise me!”
If you’re ever having a bad day and need to smile, watch this scene...or drunk Giles in “The Yoko Factor”. Either will make you giddy with joy. Glossing over the humour of the situation, this does give us a startling revelation about Spike. He can’t hurt humans anymore. Although, I think at this point the writers had only thought about the fact that Spike can’t bite people anymore because he managed to hit a few people in this episode without getting a brain flash. It’s only the biting aspect that seems to be in place here. This is arguably the biggest turning point of Spike’s entire character journey. Spike is forced into changing his ways to a certain extent. He can’t feed on humans that are alive, he can’t hurt humans, and the only way he can take out his aggression is with a little vampire-on-vampire action (which he isn’t aware of yet).
In addition to the two primary stories of this episode, we also get to witness Xander and Giles falling deeper and deeper into loneliness and feeling neglected by Buffy and Willow. While this is quite sad to watch, it does have amusing repercussions. Xander and Giles are actually bonding for the first time ever on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. Granted, I think that if Giles had anyone else to hangout with he would do so, but I still like seeing scenes between just the two of these characters because it’s such a rarity. Giles and Xander do have a lot in common this year. They’re both struggling to find their place in the world since Sunnydale High went ‘boom’, they both feel neglected and out of the loop since Buffy and Willow went to college, and they’re both directionless. Who’d have thought that Giles and Xander would have so much in common?! I know Giles certainly wouldn’t have thought it a year previously. I think this exchange between the two sums up just how bored and lonely they are...
Xander: “Well, how about this...we whip out the Ouija board, light a few candles, summon some ancient unstoppable evil, mayhem, mayhem, mayhem. We show up and kick it’s ass.”
Giles: “Wee bit unethical.”
I love that the only reason Giles shoots down this idea is because it’s unethical. If the evil happened to appear by itself, Giles would love it. He’s just spoiling for a fight! Speaking of a fight, this episode contains the greatest fight scene in the history of television: Xander vs. Harmony. Seriously, it’s a masterpiece. They even make the fight scene slow-motion for the full dramatic effect. Buffy vs. Faith, Angel Investigations vs. The Beast, The Scoobies vs. The Turok-Hans, and Buffy vs. Angelus have nothing on this ‘fight of the century’. It has hair-pulling, ‘sissy’ kicking, a slap fight, and Xander’s hilarious facial expressions. Have I mentioned that I really love this fight? Even before the fight I was laughing my ass off (where the frick did that expression come from? How can you laugh your ass off? Did someone in the world laugh so hard that their butt cheeks literally fell off of their body and thudded to the ground?...I digress...) due to the Giles-Xander exchange in the bushes...that sounds naughty...
Xander: “Every man faces this moment. Here, now, watching, waiting for an unseen enemy that has no face. Nerve-endings screaming in silence, never knowing which thought might be your last.”
Giles: “…oh, shut up!...”
Quote Of The Episode
Willow: “And remember, if you hurt her, I’ll beat you to death with a shovel…a vague disclaimer is nobody’s friend.”
With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?
“The Initiative” is the first season arc-heavy episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season four. It gives us answers to who those mysterious commandos are, it explains that Professor Walsh and Riley are both a part of The Initiative project, it introduces us to Forrest and Graham, it shows us that Riley is romantically interested in Buffy, and, most importantly, it shows us that Spike can no longer bite or hurt humans...plus, Riley punches Parker. That’s a recipe for a decent episode. As the episode title suggests, it primarily explores The Initiative and the people within it. However, The Initiative itself isn’t the only focus of the episode. What’s great about “The Initiative” is that Buffy isn’t the focal point of the episode for once. In fact, she isn’t even the second most important character in this episode. The two leading characters are Spike and Riley, both of whom are trying to get Buffy’s attention. In Riley’s case, he wants Buffy to notice him romantically. In Spike’s case, he wants to kill Buffy (like he hasn’t said that before...). I will look at both of their journeys separately in this review.
“The Initiative” is one of those unusual episodes that I like much more than the fandom in general seems to. I think there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I really like Riley. I can’t help it! I always have! I know that most of the fandom seem to not only dislike Riley, but actively loathe him, which I’ve never understood. I understand disliking his childish, stupid actions in season five, but in season four Riley is a great guy and easily Buffy’s most stable relationship. Perhaps it’s because people weren’t willing to accept Riley so soon after Angel left? Perhaps it’s because people prefer watching ‘bad boys’ on TV than they do ‘good guys’? Perhaps it’s because Riley’s character never gets well fleshed-out? Whatever the reason is, Riley taking up so much screen time during this episode might have something to do with why people don’t like it more. Secondly, this episode is initiating the season arc, so it’s much more setup than it is execution. We learn a lot of things, but there aren’t many results in this episode. I don’t feel that this episode needed results to be good, but I can understand why people might find it a little underwhelming.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Riley, Maggie & The Initiative)
“The Initiative” has this wonderful ability to be an exposition episode with two huge plots, yet sew them together perfectly. Nothing in this episode feels forced in order to get The Initiative plot and the Spike plot to interweave throughout this episode. At the start, Riley, Forrest, and Graham are watching and discussing our heroine, Miss. Summers. In typical Buffy fashion, she’s being clumsy and making a fool of herself...I love flawed heroes! There is an amusing parallel between Buffy and Riley in this episode. Buffy, while possessing superpowers, is incredibly clumsy physically. Riley, while tall and handsome, is incredibly clumsy socially (as we find out later in the episode). These two characters have a lot in common when you think about it. Both are living a secret second life, both are clumsy, both have a lot of pressure on their shoulders, they both fight demons and vampires, and most importantly (in Buffy’s eyes at least), Riley is a human and can spend time with her in the daylight. The ‘living a secret second life’ part is explored throughout this episode. Riley confides in Forrest that he wishes he could tell Buffy about the fact that he’s a part of The Initiative. He knows he can’t tell her, but he wants to because he wants her to know everything about him. As we’ve seen time and time again on this show, Buffy isn’t supposed to tell anyone about her extra-curricular activities as a Vampire Slayer because it might endanger them. Oh, sweet parallels. The transitional scenes between Riley and Buffy explaining this are very well done.
Like a lot of males I know (I’m one of them), Riley is oblivious to how he feels about Buffy. He’s deluded himself into thinking that Buffy is nothing more than ‘peculiar’ in his eyes. It’s not until after he listens to Parker make a crude joke about sleeping with Buffy that he realises his feelings for her. Trying to hold back all my inner fanboying, I adore the moment where Riley punches Parker. Yes, I’m aware of the fact that Buffy already got revenge on Parker by clubbing him over the head in “Beer Bad”, but he still deserved more. Cave-Buffy got revenge rather than regular Buffy, which negates the clubbing in my eyes. Riley punched Parker, I started to really like Riley. It’s Riley’s finest hour! Apparently, violence isn’t the answer, but sometimes it leads you to startling realisations about you feelings, kiddies. If you’re confused about something in life, go punch a misogynistic asshole in the face. There is no flaw in that logic whatsoever. No, sir.
I’m going to talk about this in much more depth as the season rolls along, but I both love and get incredibly frustrated by The Initiative plot. It’s absolutely realistic (as realistic as a show about a Vampire Slayer can get) that the government would know about the existence of vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness, and it’s absolutely realistic that they would want to capture and study them. On paper it looks like a terrific idea, right? Sadly, it comes across as rather lacking through the entire season. I think it’s the biggest reason as to why people don’t seem to like season four a great deal overall. While the standalone episodes are some of the best the show ever produces, the season arc and ‘Big Bad’ leave a lot to be desired. The huge Initiative set is spectacular, though. I also love that The Initiative is below the college and can be accessed by a mirror that gives you a retina scan. It makes sense to have The Initiative located there as it means that the government can scout soldiers and medical staff at the college. Speaking of ‘Big Bad’, Professor Walsh is such a bitch to Willow when Willow tries to explain to Riley and Walsh that Oz is only gone from the class temporarily and will be back soon. What. A. Cow. Luckily, Buffy saves the day with her “you know for someone that teaches human behaviour, you might try showing some.” Oh, oh snap. That kind of sass will lead you places, Miss. Summers.
Hey, hey guys, you know what Parker and a toilet have in common? They’re both full of shit. I’m not going to stop doing the ‘Dance of Joy’ (Pylea!) over Riley punching Parker anytime soon. I could watch that clip on repeat all day. I might just do that later.
After realising that he has feelings for Buffy, Riley goes to her dorm room looking for her. Instead he finds a depressed Willow. I appreciate the fact that Willow isn’t instantly over Oz. She’s in a lot of pain for a few episodes after his departure, which she should be. Her first true boyfriend cheated on her and left Sunnydale. It’s bound to make anyone miserable beyond belief. My two favourite parts of this episode involve Willow, a male, and her dorm room...that wasn’t supposed to sound sinister. The scenes between Riley and Willow are adorable. Like, seriously adorable. During these scenes, I was wondering if Joss was going to pull a bait-and-switch on us here and have Willow date Riley at some point down the line. Especially after Oz’s departure and Riley saving Willow from being hit by a car. Plus, Willow is in such a negative, emotional place during this episode and Riley seems to help cheer her up a little and make her smile again. It’s not until the end of this episode that I saw the writing on the wall that it was going to be Buffy and Riley.
Willow: “Say that I help, you start a conversation, it goes great. You like Buffy, she likes you. You spend time together, feelings grow deeper, and one day without even realising it you find you’re in love. Time stops and it feels like the whole world is made for you two and you two alone. Until the day one of you leaves and rips the still-beating heart from the other, who is now a broken, hollow, mockery of the human condition.”
Riley: “Yep, that’s the plan.”
Willow: “I figured it was.”
Can I just point out the dramatic irony that Riley actually does leave and rips the still-beating heart out of Buffy? *awkward turtle*.
Another reason why I like these scenes between Willow and Riley is that Riley is never a member of the Scooby Gang. Let’s be honest here, he is never accepted into the group. He’s never close to Giles, Anya, Tara, Dawn, or Willow, Xander dislikes Riley right up until the point where Riley is about to leave. It’s refreshing to see Riley and Willow being friendly and having so much one-on-one time during this episode!...then Riley uses the term ‘courted’ in relation to dating and ruins everything. Ugh.
Willow is not responsive to Riley’s requests at first. She’s recently been cheated on and heartbroken by Oz and she’s witnessed Buffy be heartbroken with Parker. She’s not very trusting of men at this particular moment in time...“I’ve seen honest faces before. They usually come attached to liars.” Eventually, Riley’s puppy-dog eyes and enthusiasm for wanting to get to know Buffy convince Willow to help him. She gives him the nugget of information that Buffy likes cheese. That’s the hard part over, Riley. It’s all downhill from here. For someone who emphatically declared that she’s not Riley’s accomplice, Willow does a fantastic job of helping Riley and being accomplice-like. Even with Willow’s help, Riley blows it big-time with Buffy. For a good looking, charming guy, Riley is TERRIBLE at flirting with women...or talking to them, actually. He ends up mumbling about college work and cheese. Buffy was not hit by a smooth criminal. His pick-up lines were certainly criminal, but they weren’t smooth at all.
Riley: “Did Willow tell you I like cheese?”
Buffy: “You’re a little peculiar.”
The scene where Buffy and Riley are both trying to get rid of one another in order to find Spike is highly amusing. Neither can tell the other one why they’re trying to get rid of each other so have to come up with lame excuses to try to justify their actions. Riley’s excuses come across as quite sexist, whereas Buffy’s come across as stubborn and dramatic. Good work all around! I must also mention that I enjoy the dysfunctional surrogate mother-son relationship between Maggie and Riley. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. It’s like a highly disturbing version of Buffy and Giles...if Giles secretly watched Buffy and Riley have sex (that will disturb me until the end of time). For now at least, it’s rather sweet. While it appears that Riley grew up in a stable, loving family environment, it’s never revealed how close he is to his parents, so perhaps Maggie is the mother that Riley always wanted. They’re certainly closer than Maggie and the rest of the commandos.
The episode closes with definite sparkage from both sides with Buffy and Riley. Even though it seems fast, I’m not opposed to their relationship. Firstly, it makes sense for Buffy to be attracted to Riley, even before the reveal that he hunts vampires and demons. He’s a nice guy that she has seen outside in the daylight. She’s trying to move on from Angel by finding a nice, normal, stable guy, and on top of that she’s trying to find the anti-Parker as much as possible. Even though she’s not willing to commit to a relationship yet, she is willing to get to know Riley better. Even people that dislike them as a couple can’t deny that they make a certain amount of sense together. I don’t believe that Buffy is ever ‘in love’ with Riley, but she most definitely has feelings for him.
Spike
Spike is not having the best of times in this episode. Forrest mentions to Riley that a lot of people would want to get their hands on Buffy and then the scene pans to Spike muttering about Buffy in a prison cell. Much like the big hanger set of The Initiative, I also love the set of the Initiative cells. Interestingly, when the camera pans to a long room filled with numerous cells, only the first three actually exist. The rest are illusions using mirrors and camera work to make it look like the room is longer and filled with a lot more cells. Within the other cells, we see another member of Kulak’s Miquot clan (he’s the yellow-skinned demon with retractable forearm blades from season three’s “Homecoming”) and Tom from the season four opener, “The Freshman”. Both of these are wonderful pieces of continuity. However, I feel like the show missed a trick here. As these vampires and demons will play a part in the big battle at the end of the season, I would have loved for previous characters to appear in the Initiative cells! Think about it! Sheila from “School Hard”, one of fake-Natalie French’s eggs from “Teacher’s Pet”, Lyle Gorch...any villain that Buffy has ever faced that wasn’t killed could have been used here. It wouldn’t have added a lot to the story, but it would have been a nice nod to the diehard fans of the show.
Tom explains to Spike that the blood packs that fall from the top of the cell are filled with drugs. Spike feints sleep and escapes from The Initiative, sacrificing Tom’s attempted escape in order to save himself. The escape itself was great. Spike’s like an extremely pale, vampiric Indiana Jones...without the whip and hat. I just said 'Spike' and 'whip' in the same sentence. There goes the attention of the straight females and gay men reading this review for the remainder of it. After moping around for a while, Spike tries to weasel back in with Harmony. The last time we saw these two characters together, Spike staked Harmony because she wouldn’t shut up (“The Harsh Light Of Day”). As she was wearing the Gem of Amara, she didn’t become a big pile of dust. Harmony lets Spike back into her life waaaaaay too easily. She’s such a pushover. As I mentioned before, I do have an odd attraction to these characters being together. The thought of Spike being stuck listening to Harmony talk all day and night about unicorns and her glory days at Sunnydale High is beyond amusing to me. Poor Spike. No wonder he tried to stake her.
Spike: “It’s all you and me, my little mentholated pack of smokes.”
Who said that pet names and romance are dead? Harmony and Spike’s nicknames for each other are better than their relationship ever is.
Then we arrive at my favourite part of the episode. Much like Riley had done earlier, Spike goes to Buffy’s dorm room looking for her. Again, like Riley, he stumbled across a depressed Willow instead. Did Spike need that ‘come in!’ from Willow in order to enter the dorm room? Sunday and her gang were never invited in (unless Kathy invited them in off-camera), yet they were able to steal all of Buffy’s possessions. Did Spike need the invitation or was he waiting for Buffy to answer the door in order to take her by surprise? Terrible continuity or a tactical move on Spike’s part...you decide!
I do not like or appreciate the rape subtext behind Spike’s attempted biting of Willow. Not only is it disturbing to watch, but it just feels unnecessary. Why not just have Spike try to bite Willow without the rapey subtext? Especially when you consider that after Spike is unable to bite Willow it’s played as a metaphor for Spike’s inability to ‘get it up’. With that being said though, I do adore the post-biting conversation between Spike and Willow. Poor impotent Spikey. What’s even more amusing than Spike’s pouting is the fact that Willow is actively consoling Spike and encouraging him to try again in a few minutes time. Willow, I get that you’re a nice person, but he’s trying to kill you! Attack now, support later. Spike mentions that he had the inclination to bite Willow during the last season’s “lovers Walk” because she was wearing the pink sweater with the lilac underneath and he thought she looked biteable. Oh Lord, too funny.
Spike: “I don't understand. This sort of thing's never happened to me before...”
Willow: “Maybe you were nervous?”
Spike: “I felt all right when I started. Let's try again *he tries to bite Willow* Ow! Oh! Ow! Damn it!”
Willow: “Maybe you're trying too hard. Doesn't this happen to every vampire?”
Spike: “Not to me it doesn't!”
Willow: “It's me, isn't it?”
Spike: “What are you talking about?”
Willow: “Well, you came looking for Buffy, then settled. I...you didn't want to bite me. I just happened to be around.”
Spike: “Piffle!”
Willow: “I know I'm not the kind of girl vamps like to sink their teeth into. It's always like, ‘ooh, you're like a sister to me’ or ‘oh, you're such a good friend.’”
Spike: “Don't be ridiculous. I'd bite you in a heartbeat.”
Willow: “Really?”
Spike: “...Thought about it.”
Willow: “When?”
Spike: “Remember last year, you had on that fuzzy pink number with the lilac underneath?”
Willow: “I never would have guessed. You played the bloodlust kinda cool.”
Spike: “I hate being obvious. All fangy and ‘grrrr!’ Takes the mystery out.”
Willow: “But if you could...”
Spike: “If I could, yeah.”
Willow: “You know, this doesn't make you any less terrifying.”
Spike: “Don't patronise me!”
If you’re ever having a bad day and need to smile, watch this scene...or drunk Giles in “The Yoko Factor”. Either will make you giddy with joy. Glossing over the humour of the situation, this does give us a startling revelation about Spike. He can’t hurt humans anymore. Although, I think at this point the writers had only thought about the fact that Spike can’t bite people anymore because he managed to hit a few people in this episode without getting a brain flash. It’s only the biting aspect that seems to be in place here. This is arguably the biggest turning point of Spike’s entire character journey. Spike is forced into changing his ways to a certain extent. He can’t feed on humans that are alive, he can’t hurt humans, and the only way he can take out his aggression is with a little vampire-on-vampire action (which he isn’t aware of yet).
In addition to the two primary stories of this episode, we also get to witness Xander and Giles falling deeper and deeper into loneliness and feeling neglected by Buffy and Willow. While this is quite sad to watch, it does have amusing repercussions. Xander and Giles are actually bonding for the first time ever on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. Granted, I think that if Giles had anyone else to hangout with he would do so, but I still like seeing scenes between just the two of these characters because it’s such a rarity. Giles and Xander do have a lot in common this year. They’re both struggling to find their place in the world since Sunnydale High went ‘boom’, they both feel neglected and out of the loop since Buffy and Willow went to college, and they’re both directionless. Who’d have thought that Giles and Xander would have so much in common?! I know Giles certainly wouldn’t have thought it a year previously. I think this exchange between the two sums up just how bored and lonely they are...
Xander: “Well, how about this...we whip out the Ouija board, light a few candles, summon some ancient unstoppable evil, mayhem, mayhem, mayhem. We show up and kick it’s ass.”
Giles: “Wee bit unethical.”
I love that the only reason Giles shoots down this idea is because it’s unethical. If the evil happened to appear by itself, Giles would love it. He’s just spoiling for a fight! Speaking of a fight, this episode contains the greatest fight scene in the history of television: Xander vs. Harmony. Seriously, it’s a masterpiece. They even make the fight scene slow-motion for the full dramatic effect. Buffy vs. Faith, Angel Investigations vs. The Beast, The Scoobies vs. The Turok-Hans, and Buffy vs. Angelus have nothing on this ‘fight of the century’. It has hair-pulling, ‘sissy’ kicking, a slap fight, and Xander’s hilarious facial expressions. Have I mentioned that I really love this fight? Even before the fight I was laughing my ass off (where the frick did that expression come from? How can you laugh your ass off? Did someone in the world laugh so hard that their butt cheeks literally fell off of their body and thudded to the ground?...I digress...) due to the Giles-Xander exchange in the bushes...that sounds naughty...
Xander: “Every man faces this moment. Here, now, watching, waiting for an unseen enemy that has no face. Nerve-endings screaming in silence, never knowing which thought might be your last.”
Giles: “…oh, shut up!...”
Quote Of The Episode
Willow: “And remember, if you hurt her, I’ll beat you to death with a shovel…a vague disclaimer is nobody’s friend.”
FINAL SCORE: 7/10
What are your thoughts on "The Initiative"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
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I gotta admit that I like Riley much more this time around, I don't know if it's maybe cause I'm a more mature girl and I see myself liking a good boy like Riley, or maybe as you said, the first time around it seemed like a bit too early for Buffy to start a serious relationship after Angel... I never disliked him though, I thought he was a nice guy, I may not feel such chemistry between him and Buffy, that's true... I found their relationship maybe a bit dull to be a college relationship, but I like him as a character, I just didn't like him with Buffy... let's see how I see their relationship this rewatching time tho ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for Spike... I LOVE HIMMMMM hahaha I love how being evil he's capable of such understanding of the human nature, and I love that he likes Willow, she's such a cutieee, I hate that she thinks she's not worthy of any attention just cause his bf had a thing with a bitca. I understand it, but I hate it. I just want to hug her and cuddle with her while listening to depressing music.... sigh... Anyways... Thanks for your reviewwww
A t heart I'm just an old unreconstructed Cold Warrior and suit-wearign churchgoer, so I always liked Riley as an individual character, but I never felt a real, real-real conenction between him and Buffy.
ReplyDeleteI have to ownder what was on SPike's mind (and HHarmony's in "THLOD") leading up to biting Willow. Were they plannign to leave her dead or turn her? If the latter, they'd've been in for a *big* surprise once she rose; since Willow had grown, she'd be even more dnagerous than Wishverse VampWillow. The vmapire version of training your own future supervisor. D'C'A'
I see that you haven't been able to finish the rest of these reviews. Will you be able to do it in the near future? I know it has been several years since these ended. But I absolutely love them.
ReplyDelete