Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “Lie To Me" Review (2x07)

Brief Synopsis: “Ford, an old friend of Buffy's from L.A., shows up unexpectedly in Sunnydale and seems to know that she is the Slayer. When Xander, Willow, and Angel discover that he is involved with a cultish group of disillusioned people who idolise vampires, they must find out Ford's true agenda before it's too late.”

"Halloween" (2x06) quick link here                                                                                                      "The Dark Age" (2x08) 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’m fairly certain you’re all aware by this point that I adore emotionally complex villains that I can identify with and feel empathy for. They almost always make the best villains. So, with that being said, I’m sure you can appreciate that this episode is like a picnic for me. I know it’s not a fan favourite, and this episode certainly has some pacing issues and other problems, but overall this episode works tremendously well! It was right around the “Halloween”/”Lie To Me”/"The Dark Age" time that I realised just how consistently good “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” was becoming. Season one had its moments, but it was a very inconsistent season. Season two, however, was able to tell much deeper, emotionally complex stories with a well-structured plot to back it up. This episode encompasses that perfectly.
•    How irresponsible is that boy’s mother?! Why is he out by himself in the dark?! He’s, like, eight years old!
•    Drusilla: “Run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.”
Hello, iconic and crazy Drusilla rhymey goodness. I’d like to live in her head for an hour or two, just to see all the crazy. Even after she’s “cured” at the end of “What’s My Line Part Two”, she’s still mentally unbalanced. That’s a big part of the reason why she’s such an effective villain during season two; she’s insane and completely impossible to predict.
•    The very first Angel-Drusilla scene takes place at the beginning of this episode. I am fascinated by their relationship throughout “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”. It’s a rather unique relationship, and the little love-triangle that erupts later on in the season between Angelus, Spike, and Drusilla is a delight.
•    For those of you that are currently in school or college, note-passing is not sly in the least. Your teachers know that you’re doing it. Most of the time they just don’t care enough to call you out on it.

•    Looking back at this episode after it’s finished, I take pride in the fact that I didn’t like Ford from the beginning. I suspected him immediately. Why, you ask? Because he was new and seemed like a really nice guy. As a general rule for the Buffyverse, if someone new is introduced at the beginning of an episode, they’re either evil or dead within 20 minutes. This isn’t always the case, but it is fairly solid logic.
•    Diego’s cape is glorious. You don’t see enough sparkly capes in the Buffyverse. Diego deserves to live for that cape alone.
•    His puffy shirt, however, is not glorious. Diego deserves to die for that shirt alone.
•    There are a few interesting twists in this episode. The first is that Ford knows that Buffy is the Slayer. I was so worried this episode was just going to be about Buffy having to hide her slaying life from someone (like season one’s “Never Kill A Boy On The First Date”). Ford revealing to Buffy that he knows she’s the Slayer suddenly flipped this episode on its head. The audience is instantly left with a thousand questions...How does Ford know about vampires? How does he know what a Slayer is? How long has he known? What the Hell is going on?!
 
•    JULIA LEE! I adore her so much. Wonderful actress. Julie Lee will go on to play the same character (under different names) in later episodes of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”. After this episode, Chanterelle moves to Los Angeles and adopts the name “Lily”. She soon finds herself living on the streets and starts dating a guy called Ricky. In the season three opener, “Anne”, Buffy finds Lily in Los Angeles and helps her get her life back on track. Before Buffy departs Los Angeles in that episode, Lily takes the name “Anne” from Buffy (it’s Buffy’s middle name). At some point between the season three opener and Angel season two, Anne has opened up a homeless shelter in Los Angeles and is now going by the name ‘Anne Steele’. She ends up appearing in a couple of Angel episodes that season, and even re-appears for the last ever Angel episode three years later, when Gunn goes to help her move furniture to a new (bigger) homeless shelter. For a character that appears briefly in one episode, she ends up going on to play a relatively important role in the Buffyverse as time goes on.
•    How cute is the scene between Angel and Willow in Willow’s bedroom? From Willow embarrassingly hiding her bra, to Angel’s jealousy over Ford, it’s all very cute. I was impressed that Angel, a 245-year-old vampire, openly admits to Willow that he’s jealous of Ford. He didn’t deny it, he didn’t try to excuse it, he just admitted it. It turns out Angel’s instincts were dead-on (see what I did there?), and Ford was untrustworthy. I understand Angel’s jealousy in this episode. It doesn’t mean I approve of his behaviour, but I understand it. Ford is an important part of Buffy’s previous life. Buffy used to have a big crush on Ford. Ford is human. He can take Buffy out in the daylight. Angel is insecure that Buffy might find something in Ford that she can never find in Angel.
•    Angel: “Really honed my brooding skills.”

 You can say that again, Angel.

•    The “I have a secret” Willow has shown me new levels of adorableness on television. Willow should be that jittery and nervous more often.
•    Xander’s jealousy over every male that Buffy talks to is really annoying by this point. He hates Ford instantly because Buffy used to have a crush on him, and he’s unnecessarily rude to Angel because he knows that Buffy and Angel are semi-dating. We’re 19 episodes into “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, and Xander has had very little character development yet. I don’t start to truly like Xander until his Buffy obsession comes to a close.
•    Another reason why season two is vastly superior to season one is the dialogue. One of the strongest points of Buffy season one was Joss’ superbly witty and unique dialogue. Season two has kept this, but added to it greatly. Some of the highlights from this episode are :-                                                        ......................................................
                                               Xander: “Angel was in your bedroom?!”
                                                   Willow: “Ours is a forbidden love.”
                                                        ......................................................
                         Xander: “Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with Dead Boy on this one.”
                                                    Angel: “Could you not call me that?”
                                                        ......................................................

•    Willow raises an interesting point about sore thumbs. Where does that expression come from? I’m going to be plagued by thoughts all day...
•    The look that Xander and Willow give Angel after he’s mean to Chanterelle...go watch it right now! Side-splittingly funny.
•    Speaking of side-splittingly funny...the guy wearing the same clothes as Angel! I nearly died! Thank God this episode has some humour before the shit-storm of depression that’s approaching.
•    Jenny, know your audience. Don’t take Giles to monster trucks. It’s GILES! You should have taken him tea shopping or to a good book shop. Perhaps to buy a relic polisher.
•    Spike: “Can I eat him now, love?”
I love that Spike asks Dru for permission to eat Ford. I wonder if that’s due to love or because she sired him...
•    Buffy: “Don’t lie to me, I’m tired of it.”
     Angel: “Sometimes lies are necessary.”
     Buffy: “For what?”
    Angel: “Sometimes the truth is worse.”

I believe that this is foreshadowing Buffy’s talk with Giles at the end of the episode where she asks him to lie to her because it’s easier for her to hear than the truth. I love continuity! This is one of those examples of a “well-structured plot” that I mentioned earlier in the review. It’s such a little moment, but it adds so much to the episode as a whole. For the first time, Buffy is forced to see the naked truth of Angel’s past. What this conversation also does is lay the foundation for what Angelus is going to do later in the season. The audience now has a much clearer picture of what Angel is like without a soul.

•    Angel telling Buffy about his past with Drusilla is a powerful scene. It’s so raw. Gave me chills. It was wonderfully written and acted by both David and Sarah. David’s acting has improved in leaps and bounds since the first season. I look back at his “actually, I thought it was going to be a little sooner” from season one’s “The Harvest”, and he’s like an entirely different actor here.
•    Buffy: “And my God could you have a dorkier outfit?!”

Classic “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, right there. Big dramatic scene, broken by humour. Got to love Joss! 

•    Now we get to the big scene. The scene that makes this episode ‘great’ rather than ‘good’. The Buffy-Ford scene. I could talk about this scene forever. It’s so powerful, so full of emotion. I genuinely welled up a little during the rewatch ready for this review (first time since “Prophecy Girl”). Ford’s brain tumours added a whole new level to the episode. It went from the bland troupe of ‘old friend comes back and is evil now’, to suddenly having a much thicker plot. Here’s why this episode works: Ford’s motives for wanting to become a vampire make complete sense! He’s a teenager and he doesn’t want to die. I think almost all of us can relate to being terrified of dying, especially at Ford’s age. He knows that he doesn’t have much time left. Soon he’s going to waste away. As far as he sees it, the only option left at his disposal is to sell Buffy out to Spike to save himself. In the first seven episodes of season two, there have been at least three emotionally complex villains. Daryl Epps, fAmpata (fake Ampata), and now Billy Fordham. Each of these villains has genuine reasons to make the audience feel sorry for them. That works so damn well! How are we supposed to root for Buffy to kill them if we understand why they’re acting the way they are? They leave us conflicted. So what makes them villains rather than victims? Are they both? In a matter of speaking, they are both. However, when it ultimately comes down to a choice, they chose to save themselves over the people around them. That’s why their villains. That’s why they're evil. Ford had an opportunity during this episode to die with dignity after his talk with Buffy. He chose to knock her down the stairs. That’s the moment when your empathy for him disappears. Did Ford do the wrong thing in the end? Of course! But how many of us would have tried the same thing in his situation?

•    Another interesting point to raise is this...if Ford went about this a different way, would Buffy have tried to convince Angel to turn Ford into a vampire to save him? I don’t think she would, as she’s aware of the fact that vampires are soulless, evil beings, but it’s an interesting thing to consider.
•    The acting in this scene was terrific as well. Jason Behr was a marvellous choice of guest actor. To me, this is the most emotionally investing scene since “Prophecy Girl”. It’s so great that this episode took place after “Prophecy Girl” because it means that Buffy can relate to what Ford is going through. Buffy found out that she was going to die and she went a little crazy for a while. Buffy quit slaying and walked away from her responsibilities. Much like Ford is doing in this episode. Buffy can empathise with how Ford is feeling. Not only that, but Buffy is friends with Ford. He’s not a stranger. The difference between the two scenarios is that ultimately Buffy did the right thing and sacrificed her life to try and stop The Master. Ford never chooses to do the right thing.
•    It was really intelligent of Buffy to threaten to stake Dru. She knew that Spike would never allow it to happen. Spike’s actions here help to prove that vampires, in special cases, are capable of some form of love.
•    Spike: “Uhhh, where’s the door knob?”
•    The ending scene between Buffy and Giles is arguably my favourite part of the episode. Giles is firmly cemented as Buffy’s father-figure by this point, and he’s a great father-figure at that. He listens to her and helps her as much as he can in this scene. Also, his little speech where he lied to Buffy (at her request) is fantastic.

•    I was genuinely surprised that Spike followed through on his promise of turning Billy into a vampire.  Why did he do that? To keep his word? Doubtful. Because he knew that it would mess with Buffy? Much more likely. I also love how effortlessly Buffy killed him; there was no hesitation whatsoever. No moral crisis. Ford’s actions just before dying had made it easy for her.
•    This episode has to walk a very thin line in order to work successfully, which it manages to do very well. The underlying point behind this episode is that everybody lies. Some lies are necessary in order to protect people or protect yourself. If Ford was treated as just a villain without the brain tumours, this episode would fail. If Buffy wasn’t having trust issues with Angel in this episode, it wouldn’t work so well. If Ford had ultimately done the right thing in the end, it wouldn’t work so well. This episode was written and acted to perfection for the type of story that this episode was trying to tell.
•    Giles: “It’s all terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and we always defeat them and save the day. No-one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.”
Buffy: “Liar.”
•    To conclude, I love the way that this episode deals with 1) Death, and 2) Lying. Some lies are necessary. Giles lies to Jenny about enjoying monster trucks, the Scoobies lie to Buffy when they’re secretly investigating Ford, Angel lies to Buffy about his encounter with Drusilla...all of this comes to fruition when Buffy asks Giles to lie to her. I feel like this episode, in some ways, takes away some of Buffy’s innocence. Season two is definitely the season where Buffy grows up, and this is the start of that.


Quote Of The Episode

Buffy:  “Well, I've got a newsflash for you, brain-trust, that's not how it works. You die, and a demon sets up shop in your old house, and it walks, and it talks, and it remembers your life, but it's not you!”

Ford:  “It's better than nothing.”

Buffy:  “And your life is nothing? Ford, these people don't deserve to die!”

Ford:  “Well, neither do I! But apparently no one took that into consideration, 'cause I'm still dying. I look good, don't I? Well, let me tell you something, I've got maybe six months left, and by then what they bury won't even look like me. It'll be bald and shrivelled and it'll smell bad. No, I'm not going out that way. I'm sorry, Summers. Did I screw up your righteous anger riff? Does the nest of tumours liquefying my brain kinda spoil the fun?”

Buffy:  “I'm sorry. I had no idea. But what you're doing is still very wrong.”

Ford:  “Okay, well, you try vomiting for twenty-four hours straight because the pain in your head is so intense, and then we'll discuss the concept of right and wrong. These people are sheep. They wanna be vampires 'cause they're lonely, miserable, or bored. I don't have a choice.”

Buffy:  “You have a choice. You don't have a good choice, but you have a choice! You're opting for mass murder here, and nothing you say is gonna make that okay!”

Ford:  “You think I need to justify myself to you?”

Buffy:  “I think this is all part of your little fantasy drama! Isn't this exactly how you imagined it? You tell me how you've suffered and I feel sorry for you. Well, I do feel sorry for you, and if those vampires come in here and start feeding, I'll kill you myself!”

Ford:  “You know what, Summers? I really did miss you.”


I’m not teary-eyed, it’s just ash in my eye...absolutely fantastic scene.



FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

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