"A New Man" (4x12) quick link here "Goodbye Iowa" (4x14) 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?
Much like The Initiative arc and season four as a whole, “The I In Team” is a fairly average episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. It exposes what the rest of the season is going to be focused around, it establishes who the ‘Big Bad’ is, and it commits the biggest mistake of the season, in my opinion. Of course, I’m talking about the murder of Maggie Walsh at the end of the episode. Maggie’s death and her replacement as the villain of the season by Adam is this season’s greatest mistake. That’s not to say that season four didn’t have other major mistakes or problems because it did. The Initiative arc as a whole could have been vastly improved. However, Maggie was an interesting and complex character and she was skewered aside to make way for the infinitely more boring Adam. George Hertzberg does a great job of playing Adam, but there’s only so much you can do to bring a character to life that doesn’t do a great deal except learn things and give monotonic monologues (say that ten times fast). In comparison, Maggie Walsh had a personal connection to Buffy, she briefly worked alongside Buffy in this episode, she’s intellectually superior to Buffy, and, most importantly, she has an emotional connection to Buffy through Riley. All the greatest “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” villains have an emotional connection to Buffy in some way. Angelus did, The Mayor did through Faith, Glory does through Dawn...Adam holds no such connection and due to this he never made me fear for the Scoobies lives, nor did he leave a lasting impression as a villain. If they wanted Adam to be in the show, why didn’t they keep Maggie alive to work alongside him? She was an already established character that had been around since the first episode of this season, “The Freshman”! Now she’s been replaced by an unknown character when there’s just 10 episodes left (half of which aren’t season arc oriented). Most importantly, MAGGIE WAS HUMAN! Could you imagine the moral crisis Buffy would have been facing if Maggie was the ‘Big Bad’?! Does she kill the human? Leave her to the government? Would Riley try to stop Buffy killing Maggie? It would have been so much more fascinating and interesting to watch unfold! Adam’s ultimate plan is just not that intimidating when put into action. Sewing a bunch of demons and vampires together to build a super-army of monsters that are flawless? He wants his followers to look flawless? HAVE WE JUST FOUND THE DEMON EQUIVALENT OF TYRA BANKS?! Having The Initiative exist was a wonderful idea. The Initiative having a secret darker motive was also a great idea. The execution of The Initiative and the ‘Big Bad’? Not so great.
Glossing over that humongous flaw, “The I In Team” does a pretty good job with everything else. We finally get to see a broad picture of how The Initiative operates and we finally get to the meat of the season arc. It’s been six episodes since our last season arc heavy one, which is far too long of a break to keep people interested in it. In this episode, Buffy joins The Initiative and starts to discover that they have a darker modus operandi than they claim.
The episode opens with Willow, Xander, and Anya playing poker. It’s one of my favourite scenes of the entire season without a doubt. Why? Say it with me now...because I love scenes where the Scoobies are just hanging out and being young people without danger, doom, and depression lingering around...just generally avoid ‘d’ words. Witnessing them have a regular – albeit a little boring – night in is a treat to watch. How does Anya always win at every game they play ever?! I sense cheating of some kind...at least she can’t try to trade her children for more cash like she does when playing ‘The Game Of Life’ next season.
Xander: “I wish that Buff could have made it. This three-hand poker’s not quite the game.”
Willow: “I guess she’s out with Riley. You know how it is with a spanking new boyfriend.”
Anya: “Yes, we’ve enjoyed spanking.”
*the playing cards go flying everywhere*
Anya, your lack of tact or sense of appropriateness will never not be funny. Don’t change.
Buffy: “Will, I think you better get used to a Twinkie?! That’s his lunch? Oh, he is so gonna be punished.”
Willow: “Everyone’s getting spanked but me.”
Don’t worry, Willow. I’m sure you and Tara will be spanking each other very soon.
At Maggie’s invitation, Buffy joins The Initiative. During a training exercise, Buffy eliminates the entire Initiative patrol in 28 seconds. Remember, kiddies, Slayer > government. Even before Buffy started asking too many questions and Maggie tried to have her killed, it was clear that Buffy and The Initiative was never going to work out. Buffy is a leader, not a follower. Plus, she has a history of not following orders! Ask Giles, Wesley, Joyce, or the Watcher’s Council! The Initiative goes for hi-tech weaponry and state of the art machinery, whereas Buffy uses nothing but her powers and Mr. Pointy. The Initiative relies on a chain of command and complete obedience, whereas Buffy follows her instincts. The perfect scene for highlighting the differences between The Initiative and Buffy is the one where Maggie and Dr. Angleman are briefing Buffy and the commandos on the Polgara demon. The commandos are dead silent and dressed in matching camouflage, but Buffy is asking question after question in a bright orange top. She’s the polar opposite of the clone soldiers surrounding her. However, I can understand Buffy’s choice to join The Initiative as they can offer her advantages, such as spending time with her boyfriend and a group of soldiers backing her up when she’s patrolling. Plus, The Initiative headquarters are visually spectacular. I can see why Buffy’s impressed. How does The Initiative scanner recognise Buffy during her first retinal scan? Why does the government have Buffy’s eyeball on file before she’s joined The Initiative?
There are two continuity errors in this episode...
1) When Maggie gives Buffy a pager, Buffy says that she’s “always wanted one of those”. In season one’s “Never Kill A Boy On The First Date”, Buffy tells Giles to “beep her” if the apocalypse comes. Either Buffy’s had too many blows to the head battling vampires and demons and has developed memory problems or there is some shady writing. Both are equally likely.
2) When Buffy and Riley first lay down on the bed to have a little naughty time, the bed sheets are blue and white. When the scene cuts back to them and they’re kissing on the bed the sheets are red. Perhaps Buffy has another Slayer power that activates during foreplay?
Speaking of that scene, the video montage of Buffy and Riley fighting the Polgara demon, while also cutting to scenes of Buffy and Riley kissing and undressing each other is very well done. The musical score is different to anything else we’ve heard. It’s interesting, unique, and seems to convey every emotion that is being displayed on screen. I enjoy the fact that it’s these two particular scenes that are blended together. In season three’s “Faith, Hope & Trick”, Faith mentions to Buffy “isn’t it funny how slaying makes you hungry and horny?”. Faith later repeats this sentiment in “The Zeppo”, when she sleeps with Xander after battling one of the Sisterhood of Jhe. During the montage of this episode, we witness slaying making Buffy hungry and horny. What this tells me is that Buffy is becoming more comfortable in herself and in her role as the Slayer. She’s accepting what she is rather than fighting it. She’s making a choice to sleep with Riley because she feels in control for once because her blood’s still up from the fight....then the camera pans to Maggie watching Buffy and Riley having sex and it’s SO DAMN CREEPY THAT I WANT TO TEAR MY EYES OUT OF MY SKULL. I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS LEVEL OF CREEPINESS! I swear, she’s so much more disturbing than any other Buffyverse villain so far. I would gladly have a tea party with Der Kindestod and The Gentlemen over having to watch creepy Maggie again. Skewer her, Adam! Skewer her!
Maggie and Riley’s dysfunctional mother-son relationship is chilling and oddly sweet at the same time, which I didn’t think was possible. It does raise an interesting point...do Riley’s parents know he’s in The Initiative or that it exists? Do they think he’s just a teaching assistant? It’s never explained on the show sadly. There are many parallels between The Mayor and Faith’s relationship last season and Maggie and Riley’s relationship this season. Both Faith and Riley have found a parental figure in their boss, both The Mayor and Maggie have found a surrogate child in their student, and both relationship pairings seem to genuinely care about each other. While Faith and The Mayor were sweet together and part of me wanted to see them survive the ascension and live in a cottage by the sea together, playing the Playstation 1 for eternity, Maggie and Riley are highly dysfunctional and incredibly creepy. Maggie is jealous that Riley has a girlfriend. Maggie is jealous that Riley seems to care about Buffy more than her, and Maggie is actively watching them have sex. Someone get me a vomit bucket, please? It didn’t take Maggie very long to decide that Buffy needed killing, did it? About 20 minutes of screen time after Buffy joined The Initiative.
The morning after Buffy and Riley’s bed-sheet-colour-changing-shagathon (I might have to trademark that phrase for the future...), it’s apparent that Buffy half expects Riley to not be there the next morning. Who can blame her?! Angel wasn’t, Parker wasn’t, but Riley was. Big points in the plus column for Riley there.
To counteract her jealousy and cover up “314”, Maggie sends Buffy on a bogus hunting trip for two demons that have ‘escaped’. She gives Buffy a faulty weapon and fully expects Buffy to never come back. What a mean, mean psychology professor. She clearly doesn’t know who she’s dealing with. This episode is a huge one for Riley as a character. His girlfriend joins him at work, he has sex with her for the first time, his substitute mother tries to kill his girlfriend, he thinks his girlfriend is dead, and then she suddenly isn’t dead. He goes through a year’s worth of Jerry Springer episodes in 42 minutes. When Maggie tells Riley that Buffy is dead, just look at his face. Marc Blucas was great in that scene. You can tell in that one moment just how much Riley loves Buffy and how devastated he is by her ‘death’. He was the one who brought her to The Initiative, he was the one who told Maggie what Buffy was, and now she’s dead because of him. Then, we’re treated to one of Buffy Summers’ greatest speeches (the full transcript is in the “Quote Of The Episode” section). What an incredible moment that is for Buffy’s character and for the show! Buffy is so commanding and powerful in that speech! It enforces the point that Buffy has come a long way in the past three and a half years. She’s more confident in her powers, she’s more confident in her role as the Slayer, and she’s more confident in herself as a person. Riley discovering that Maggie tried to have Buffy killed is a turning point for his character. Even though he remains with The Initiative for a while longer, that was the moment he walked away from the organisation in his head. When he left Maggie at the end of the scene, he left his old life behind at the same time. I mentioned earlier that Maggie and Riley’s relationship is highly disturbing, but oddly sweet at the same time. This scene is the perfect example of that. Maggie tried to kill his girlfriend, yet I feel sorry for her when Riley walks away from her and she’s yelling after him. I think I need a therapist.
In addition to the main story of the episode, it also contains two other significant plot points. The first of which is Willow’s feelings of abandonment and jealousy over Buffy spending so much time with Riley. Understandably so, Willow feels as though she’s been replaced by Riley. Willow and Buffy have rarely been socialising recently and Willow’s annoyance is obvious after Buffy arrives at The Bronze for a Scooby session with Riley and some other commandos. While I appreciate Willow’s sense of abandonment in this episode, I do find it a little hypocritical. Willow herself has been busy recently due to her secret relationship with Tara. It’s not an official relationship yet, but Willow has been seeing someone and hasn’t even told Buffy about it! Perhaps if they’d spent more time together she would have told Buffy, but I still find it hypocritical that Willow is annoyed at Buffy for something that Willow herself is doing too. It’s yet another example of how far the Scoobies have drifted away from each other during this season. Buffy and Willow aren’t communicating a lot, Buffy is preoccupied with Riley, Willow is preoccupied with Tara, Xander is preoccupied with Anya, and Giles is so lonely and miserable that he’s been watching “Passions” with Spike and drinking beer with Ethan Rayne!
Speaking of Giles and Spike, it’s funny to me that Giles is the one who suggests that Spike may have a greater purpose in life now that he can’t hurt humans. He mentions to Spike that perhaps Spike can do some good and Spike responds with annoyance and tells Giles that the “honeymoon is over” and that he wants no more communication with the Scoobies. He says that a lot. Let’s see how long it lasts this time, shall we? It lasted 12 minutes. 12 minutes after declaring that he wants nothing more to do with the Scoobies, Spike shows up at Giles’ house asking for help. Giles gets a small measure of revenge on Spike after Spike only helped Giles in the last episode (“A New Man”) if Giles paid him. Giles charges Spike for his help in removing the tracer that The Initiative shot into Spike’s shoulder. Seeing Giles so smug is always fun. The tracer leads to the co-funniest moment of the episode. Willow does a spell to interrupt the tracer’s signal and it results in Willow, Anya, Xander, and Giles’ hair all sticking on end like they’d been electrocuted.
Before Spike arrived, Xander convinced Giles to try a boost bar that he was selling. Giles’ reaction to the boost bar is priceless and I can never watch it without laughing out loud...“please leave my home now”. How many jobs does Xander have this season, anyway?! Food vendor, phone-sex operator (Anya mentions it), pizza delivery man, bartender, construction worker, boost bar salesman...that’s a lot of jobs in one year! That won’t look good on your C.V., X-man!
Quote Of The Episode
Buffy: “Professor Walsh, that simple little recon you sent me on wasn’t a raccoon. Turns out it was me trapped in the sewers with a faulty weapon and two of your pet demons. If you think that’s enough to kill me, you really don’t know what a Slayer is. Trust me when I say you’re gonna find out.”
With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?
Much like The Initiative arc and season four as a whole, “The I In Team” is a fairly average episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. It exposes what the rest of the season is going to be focused around, it establishes who the ‘Big Bad’ is, and it commits the biggest mistake of the season, in my opinion. Of course, I’m talking about the murder of Maggie Walsh at the end of the episode. Maggie’s death and her replacement as the villain of the season by Adam is this season’s greatest mistake. That’s not to say that season four didn’t have other major mistakes or problems because it did. The Initiative arc as a whole could have been vastly improved. However, Maggie was an interesting and complex character and she was skewered aside to make way for the infinitely more boring Adam. George Hertzberg does a great job of playing Adam, but there’s only so much you can do to bring a character to life that doesn’t do a great deal except learn things and give monotonic monologues (say that ten times fast). In comparison, Maggie Walsh had a personal connection to Buffy, she briefly worked alongside Buffy in this episode, she’s intellectually superior to Buffy, and, most importantly, she has an emotional connection to Buffy through Riley. All the greatest “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” villains have an emotional connection to Buffy in some way. Angelus did, The Mayor did through Faith, Glory does through Dawn...Adam holds no such connection and due to this he never made me fear for the Scoobies lives, nor did he leave a lasting impression as a villain. If they wanted Adam to be in the show, why didn’t they keep Maggie alive to work alongside him? She was an already established character that had been around since the first episode of this season, “The Freshman”! Now she’s been replaced by an unknown character when there’s just 10 episodes left (half of which aren’t season arc oriented). Most importantly, MAGGIE WAS HUMAN! Could you imagine the moral crisis Buffy would have been facing if Maggie was the ‘Big Bad’?! Does she kill the human? Leave her to the government? Would Riley try to stop Buffy killing Maggie? It would have been so much more fascinating and interesting to watch unfold! Adam’s ultimate plan is just not that intimidating when put into action. Sewing a bunch of demons and vampires together to build a super-army of monsters that are flawless? He wants his followers to look flawless? HAVE WE JUST FOUND THE DEMON EQUIVALENT OF TYRA BANKS?! Having The Initiative exist was a wonderful idea. The Initiative having a secret darker motive was also a great idea. The execution of The Initiative and the ‘Big Bad’? Not so great.
Glossing over that humongous flaw, “The I In Team” does a pretty good job with everything else. We finally get to see a broad picture of how The Initiative operates and we finally get to the meat of the season arc. It’s been six episodes since our last season arc heavy one, which is far too long of a break to keep people interested in it. In this episode, Buffy joins The Initiative and starts to discover that they have a darker modus operandi than they claim.
The episode opens with Willow, Xander, and Anya playing poker. It’s one of my favourite scenes of the entire season without a doubt. Why? Say it with me now...because I love scenes where the Scoobies are just hanging out and being young people without danger, doom, and depression lingering around...just generally avoid ‘d’ words. Witnessing them have a regular – albeit a little boring – night in is a treat to watch. How does Anya always win at every game they play ever?! I sense cheating of some kind...at least she can’t try to trade her children for more cash like she does when playing ‘The Game Of Life’ next season.
Xander: “I wish that Buff could have made it. This three-hand poker’s not quite the game.”
Willow: “I guess she’s out with Riley. You know how it is with a spanking new boyfriend.”
Anya: “Yes, we’ve enjoyed spanking.”
*the playing cards go flying everywhere*
Anya, your lack of tact or sense of appropriateness will never not be funny. Don’t change.
Buffy: “Will, I think you better get used to a Twinkie?! That’s his lunch? Oh, he is so gonna be punished.”
Willow: “Everyone’s getting spanked but me.”
Don’t worry, Willow. I’m sure you and Tara will be spanking each other very soon.
At Maggie’s invitation, Buffy joins The Initiative. During a training exercise, Buffy eliminates the entire Initiative patrol in 28 seconds. Remember, kiddies, Slayer > government. Even before Buffy started asking too many questions and Maggie tried to have her killed, it was clear that Buffy and The Initiative was never going to work out. Buffy is a leader, not a follower. Plus, she has a history of not following orders! Ask Giles, Wesley, Joyce, or the Watcher’s Council! The Initiative goes for hi-tech weaponry and state of the art machinery, whereas Buffy uses nothing but her powers and Mr. Pointy. The Initiative relies on a chain of command and complete obedience, whereas Buffy follows her instincts. The perfect scene for highlighting the differences between The Initiative and Buffy is the one where Maggie and Dr. Angleman are briefing Buffy and the commandos on the Polgara demon. The commandos are dead silent and dressed in matching camouflage, but Buffy is asking question after question in a bright orange top. She’s the polar opposite of the clone soldiers surrounding her. However, I can understand Buffy’s choice to join The Initiative as they can offer her advantages, such as spending time with her boyfriend and a group of soldiers backing her up when she’s patrolling. Plus, The Initiative headquarters are visually spectacular. I can see why Buffy’s impressed. How does The Initiative scanner recognise Buffy during her first retinal scan? Why does the government have Buffy’s eyeball on file before she’s joined The Initiative?
There are two continuity errors in this episode...
1) When Maggie gives Buffy a pager, Buffy says that she’s “always wanted one of those”. In season one’s “Never Kill A Boy On The First Date”, Buffy tells Giles to “beep her” if the apocalypse comes. Either Buffy’s had too many blows to the head battling vampires and demons and has developed memory problems or there is some shady writing. Both are equally likely.
2) When Buffy and Riley first lay down on the bed to have a little naughty time, the bed sheets are blue and white. When the scene cuts back to them and they’re kissing on the bed the sheets are red. Perhaps Buffy has another Slayer power that activates during foreplay?
Speaking of that scene, the video montage of Buffy and Riley fighting the Polgara demon, while also cutting to scenes of Buffy and Riley kissing and undressing each other is very well done. The musical score is different to anything else we’ve heard. It’s interesting, unique, and seems to convey every emotion that is being displayed on screen. I enjoy the fact that it’s these two particular scenes that are blended together. In season three’s “Faith, Hope & Trick”, Faith mentions to Buffy “isn’t it funny how slaying makes you hungry and horny?”. Faith later repeats this sentiment in “The Zeppo”, when she sleeps with Xander after battling one of the Sisterhood of Jhe. During the montage of this episode, we witness slaying making Buffy hungry and horny. What this tells me is that Buffy is becoming more comfortable in herself and in her role as the Slayer. She’s accepting what she is rather than fighting it. She’s making a choice to sleep with Riley because she feels in control for once because her blood’s still up from the fight....then the camera pans to Maggie watching Buffy and Riley having sex and it’s SO DAMN CREEPY THAT I WANT TO TEAR MY EYES OUT OF MY SKULL. I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS LEVEL OF CREEPINESS! I swear, she’s so much more disturbing than any other Buffyverse villain so far. I would gladly have a tea party with Der Kindestod and The Gentlemen over having to watch creepy Maggie again. Skewer her, Adam! Skewer her!
Maggie and Riley’s dysfunctional mother-son relationship is chilling and oddly sweet at the same time, which I didn’t think was possible. It does raise an interesting point...do Riley’s parents know he’s in The Initiative or that it exists? Do they think he’s just a teaching assistant? It’s never explained on the show sadly. There are many parallels between The Mayor and Faith’s relationship last season and Maggie and Riley’s relationship this season. Both Faith and Riley have found a parental figure in their boss, both The Mayor and Maggie have found a surrogate child in their student, and both relationship pairings seem to genuinely care about each other. While Faith and The Mayor were sweet together and part of me wanted to see them survive the ascension and live in a cottage by the sea together, playing the Playstation 1 for eternity, Maggie and Riley are highly dysfunctional and incredibly creepy. Maggie is jealous that Riley has a girlfriend. Maggie is jealous that Riley seems to care about Buffy more than her, and Maggie is actively watching them have sex. Someone get me a vomit bucket, please? It didn’t take Maggie very long to decide that Buffy needed killing, did it? About 20 minutes of screen time after Buffy joined The Initiative.
The morning after Buffy and Riley’s bed-sheet-colour-changing-shagathon (I might have to trademark that phrase for the future...), it’s apparent that Buffy half expects Riley to not be there the next morning. Who can blame her?! Angel wasn’t, Parker wasn’t, but Riley was. Big points in the plus column for Riley there.
To counteract her jealousy and cover up “314”, Maggie sends Buffy on a bogus hunting trip for two demons that have ‘escaped’. She gives Buffy a faulty weapon and fully expects Buffy to never come back. What a mean, mean psychology professor. She clearly doesn’t know who she’s dealing with. This episode is a huge one for Riley as a character. His girlfriend joins him at work, he has sex with her for the first time, his substitute mother tries to kill his girlfriend, he thinks his girlfriend is dead, and then she suddenly isn’t dead. He goes through a year’s worth of Jerry Springer episodes in 42 minutes. When Maggie tells Riley that Buffy is dead, just look at his face. Marc Blucas was great in that scene. You can tell in that one moment just how much Riley loves Buffy and how devastated he is by her ‘death’. He was the one who brought her to The Initiative, he was the one who told Maggie what Buffy was, and now she’s dead because of him. Then, we’re treated to one of Buffy Summers’ greatest speeches (the full transcript is in the “Quote Of The Episode” section). What an incredible moment that is for Buffy’s character and for the show! Buffy is so commanding and powerful in that speech! It enforces the point that Buffy has come a long way in the past three and a half years. She’s more confident in her powers, she’s more confident in her role as the Slayer, and she’s more confident in herself as a person. Riley discovering that Maggie tried to have Buffy killed is a turning point for his character. Even though he remains with The Initiative for a while longer, that was the moment he walked away from the organisation in his head. When he left Maggie at the end of the scene, he left his old life behind at the same time. I mentioned earlier that Maggie and Riley’s relationship is highly disturbing, but oddly sweet at the same time. This scene is the perfect example of that. Maggie tried to kill his girlfriend, yet I feel sorry for her when Riley walks away from her and she’s yelling after him. I think I need a therapist.
In addition to the main story of the episode, it also contains two other significant plot points. The first of which is Willow’s feelings of abandonment and jealousy over Buffy spending so much time with Riley. Understandably so, Willow feels as though she’s been replaced by Riley. Willow and Buffy have rarely been socialising recently and Willow’s annoyance is obvious after Buffy arrives at The Bronze for a Scooby session with Riley and some other commandos. While I appreciate Willow’s sense of abandonment in this episode, I do find it a little hypocritical. Willow herself has been busy recently due to her secret relationship with Tara. It’s not an official relationship yet, but Willow has been seeing someone and hasn’t even told Buffy about it! Perhaps if they’d spent more time together she would have told Buffy, but I still find it hypocritical that Willow is annoyed at Buffy for something that Willow herself is doing too. It’s yet another example of how far the Scoobies have drifted away from each other during this season. Buffy and Willow aren’t communicating a lot, Buffy is preoccupied with Riley, Willow is preoccupied with Tara, Xander is preoccupied with Anya, and Giles is so lonely and miserable that he’s been watching “Passions” with Spike and drinking beer with Ethan Rayne!
Speaking of Giles and Spike, it’s funny to me that Giles is the one who suggests that Spike may have a greater purpose in life now that he can’t hurt humans. He mentions to Spike that perhaps Spike can do some good and Spike responds with annoyance and tells Giles that the “honeymoon is over” and that he wants no more communication with the Scoobies. He says that a lot. Let’s see how long it lasts this time, shall we? It lasted 12 minutes. 12 minutes after declaring that he wants nothing more to do with the Scoobies, Spike shows up at Giles’ house asking for help. Giles gets a small measure of revenge on Spike after Spike only helped Giles in the last episode (“A New Man”) if Giles paid him. Giles charges Spike for his help in removing the tracer that The Initiative shot into Spike’s shoulder. Seeing Giles so smug is always fun. The tracer leads to the co-funniest moment of the episode. Willow does a spell to interrupt the tracer’s signal and it results in Willow, Anya, Xander, and Giles’ hair all sticking on end like they’d been electrocuted.
Before Spike arrived, Xander convinced Giles to try a boost bar that he was selling. Giles’ reaction to the boost bar is priceless and I can never watch it without laughing out loud...“please leave my home now”. How many jobs does Xander have this season, anyway?! Food vendor, phone-sex operator (Anya mentions it), pizza delivery man, bartender, construction worker, boost bar salesman...that’s a lot of jobs in one year! That won’t look good on your C.V., X-man!
Quote Of The Episode
Buffy: “Professor Walsh, that simple little recon you sent me on wasn’t a raccoon. Turns out it was me trapped in the sewers with a faulty weapon and two of your pet demons. If you think that’s enough to kill me, you really don’t know what a Slayer is. Trust me when I say you’re gonna find out.”
FINAL SCORE: 7/10
What are your thoughts on "The I In Team"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
What are your thoughts on "The I In Team"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
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It is such a shame we don't get more back story in Riley. For me he just plays as All American Hero type, which for me is not enough. He doesn't have much personality. I hated him originally but have grown to like him more...well until his selfish poor me crap when Joyce is ill. Buffy has such beautifully crafted characters that you feel you know personally. ..But they don't do this with Riley. Think this is why he not much liked.
ReplyDeleteWalsh is mega creepy. ..I agree completely shame she was not the big bad.
And YES smug Giles is brilliant
I loved this review, besides from the "monotonic monologues" that absolutely cracked me up, I would have loved to watch your description on a without a doubt better story arc for this season. You should really think about bringing your ideas to some tv writers cause... I like how you think ;) Seriously, I would have loved to watch Maggie get darker and darker as the season continues, specially now that Riley knows about it, cause she is not the person they think she was anymore so it would be really interesting to see how would she react to the soldiers opinions - that, of course, if any of those soldiers had one opinion on anything :P
ReplyDeleteA couple points to answer your questions/concerns:
ReplyDelete1) Lindsay Crouse actually forced the writers' hands by leaving to take on another commitment half-way through the season. Apparently this came as a surprise to the BtVS staff, so they had to scramble to re-write the season arc because she was originally intended to be the Big Bad of this season. The season arc still could have been handled better even with this unexpected problem, but it's fair to say that the flaws weren't entirely their fault.
2) Riley says he was plucked out of Special Forces training (in this episode, in fact) so I would assume his parents just think he's doing military type stuff. He doesn't seem to be out in the cold, so to speak, because he was going to head home for the holidays earlier in the season, and seemed to be looking forward to spending Grant Wood-level time with his family. So whatever surrogacy Maggie provided wouldn't likely parallel that of Faith and the Mayor. The more apt comparison, I'd say, would be Maggie/Adam (who calls her "mommy", after all...right after he skewers her) and that seems like it would have been the real central relationship had Lindsay Crouse not left the show in the lurch.