Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "Dead Man's Party" Review (3x02)

Brief Synopsis: "Buffy returns home, but finds that picking up the pieces of the life she left behind may not be as easy as she had hoped. Her mother is trying to accept her back with open arms, but she doesn't seem to trust that Buffy won't just run away again. Her friends seem happy to see her, but their odd behaviour makes it apparent that they silently resent Buffy for taking off. And, of course, before these problems can be laid to rest, the dead of Sunnydale start to rise.”

"Anne" (3x01) quick link here                                                                                                 "Faith, Hope & Trick" (3x03) 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?



 •    “Dead Man’s Party” is my least favourite episode of season three. That doesn’t make it a bad episode; I just find myself liking it less than the others. This episode is split into two halves. The first half is done fantastically well and has me gripped to the screen. The other half doesn’t excite me a great deal.

The parts of this episode that I thoroughly enjoyed were the scenes that centred around the fallout of Buffy running away from Sunnydale at the end of “Becoming Part Two”. Buffy left Joyce a note, left her friends no explanation, and ran away from her problems. The great thing about these scenes is that I can see both sides of the argument. Marti Noxon does a terrific job of airing everyone’s grievances without it being anyone’s fault. That’s what makes this episode work for me. It isn’t implied that Buffy was wrong to run away. Buffy did what she needed to do under the circumstances. Remember, nobody knows at this point that Willow’s spell worked. As far as the Scoobies are concerned, Buffy stabbed Angelus and sent him to Hell, then ran away. If that were the real series of events it would have been a justified enough reason for Buffy to leave. Throw in the fact that Angel was re-ensoulled, and it was certainly a recipe for disaster. On the flipside of that, the Scoobies are feeling abandoned and betrayed. Who could blame them! Buffy disappeared without so much as a goodbye or an explanation. She didn’t even tell her Watcher that she was leaving. Everyone gets an opportunity to vent their frustrations in this episode so that they’re all friends again by the conclusion of it.

What didn’t work for me in this episode is the zombie aspect of it. I enjoy zombie shows (I love “The Walking Dead”), and I appreciate the fact that “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” was trying something new with their first true zombie episode, but it all fell a little short of my expectations. My biggest frustration with the zombie plot is that it all kicks off just as Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Joyce are about to get everything off their chest! Just as we were getting to the meat of the argument, it’s snatched away from us!

•    Can someone please remind Joyce that you’re supposed to put the nail through the wall, not the hammer.
•    I’m sure you’re all aware by this point how much I adore emotionally complex episodes. Especially episodes where you can see both points of view. As mentioned, this episode provides many of those moments. However, it also provides moments of genuine emotion for positive reasons. The first of which is the look on Xander’s face when he sees Buffy for the first time. Nicky Brendon is somehow able to convey shock, distress, slight anger, and relief all in one look. Just from that one look you can tell that he’s still in love with her, and just how much he’s missed having her around. However, he’s not able to forgive Buffy instantly for leaving without saying a word. For all he knew Buffy was dead somewhere. She didn’t tell him she was leaving, she didn’t call after she had settled a little in Los Angeles, she never made any contact whatsoever.

I also feel like Xander is frustrated with himself in this episode. He wasn’t able to save Buffy from the heartache she suffered in “Becoming Part Two”. Xander has always been Buffy’s ‘white knight’. He brought her back from the dead in “Prophecy Girl”, he sat outside her room in “Killed By Death” to protect her, and he’s in love with her. Xander is the man that walked down into the sewers with her in “The Harvest”. He was the first person who was willing to die to try to help Buffy. When Buffy needed someone most, he wasn’t there. He resents himself for that almost as much as he resents Buffy for leaving and not asking for help.

•    Buffy: “Didn’t anyone ever warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.”

Talk about foreshadowing for Xander. Poor Xander will lose an eye four and a half years later. It’s not the result of a pointy stick; it’s the result of a thumb wielded by a crazy priest.

•    You just know that Xander chose the name ‘Nighthawk’ for himself.
•    Heart-warming moment number two is when Giles sees Buffy for the first time. Interestingly, Giles doesn’t seem overly excited when he first sees Buffy. It’s when he’s in the kitchen by himself that you truly see how happy he is. His Slayer has returned. More importantly than that, his surrogate daughter has returned. I think that Buffy’s three-month absence was as hard on Giles as it was on Joyce. If Giles heard a snippet of a rumour, he was on the next plane to that location.

I’ve always found it interesting that Giles is the one character that doesn’t give Buffy a hard time. Xander does, Willow does, Joyce does, but Giles doesn’t. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, he suspects that there’s more to Buffy’s plight than just having to kill Angelus. He’s already fairly certain that Willow’s spell worked. Furthermore, he knows what it’s like to be so overwhelmed that you run away from your problems, having done the same thing himself after accidently being involved in the murder of a human. Giles tells the Scoobies to stop asking Buffy so many questions. He’s hoping that Buffy will come to him after she’s adjusted to being back. I appreciate Giles’ actions so much in this episode.

•    The Mayor receives yet another mention in this episode. Only three more to go until his debut.
•    I wonder if Willow and Xander used to go and visit Joyce whilst Buffy was gone. Based on Xander’s “you should have seen what you put her through” later in the episode, I’m assuming that they did. It’s so nice that they all stayed intact without Buffy. It’s common knowledge by this point that Xander doesn’t have a good relationship with his parents and that Willow certainly doesn’t seem close to hers, so it’s nice to think that they have a substitute mother in Joyce (especially during scenes like the closing one for “Killed By Death”).
•    It was mean of Willow to no-show on Buffy. I know that it’s awkward for the Scoobies having Buffy back (as they explain later), but they should be trying to welcome Buffy back and help her as much as possible, and Willow no-showing didn’t help matters. I know that Willow isn’t aware that her spell worked so that Angel was re-ensoulled, but she still knows that Buffy had to kill Angelus and that Buffy has been having a very hard time dealing with it. It’s out of character for Willow to bail on Buffy like that. Sadly, she does a lot of things out of character in the next few episodes, including cheating on Oz with XANDER.
•    Pat is the impressive combination of sinfully boring and highly annoying, all at the same time. I cannot emphasise enough how little I cared about her character or her death in this episode. It’s nice to think that Joyce had a friend to help her through Buffy’s disappearance, but did it have to be this one? I’d rather be alone than have to listen to Pat or stare at her Umbridge-like face. Luckily she has mask-face and eye strain by the end of this episode.
•    Zombie kitty!

•    I know it’s a dream, but it’s so nice to see Angel out in the sunlight.
•    Buffy: “Mom, I’m the Slayer. It’s not like I need to ride the little bus to school.”
•    Oz: “We should figure out what kinda deal this is. I mean, is it a gathering, a shindig or a     hootenanny?”
Cordelia: “What's the difference?”
Oz: “Well, a gathering is brie, mellow song stylings; shindig, dip, less mellow song stylings, perhaps a large amount of malt beverage; and hootenanny, well, it's chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny.”
Xander: “Well, I hate brie.”
Cordelia: “I know. It smells like Giles' cat.”
Giles: “It's not my...”

It’s great to see that in an episode filled with so much tension and drama there is still some laugh-out-loud humour. It would appear that the Scoobies have bonded while Buffy has been away. Oz and Cordelia are both fully integrated members now.

•    While I appreciate that this episode is showing both sides of the story, I feel really sorry for Buffy in this episode. It almost feels like nobody cares that Buffy is back except for Giles. Xander is yelling, Joyce confides in Pat that in some ways it’s harder having Buffy back than it was when she was away, and Willow is no-showing on Buffy. It’s strange behaviour to say the least...but it should be like this! I can’t tell you how disappointed I’d have been if Buffy had returned and everything was unicorns and rainbows straight away. Buffy deserted everyone for three months. It should be awkward and uncomfortable. This whirlwind of drama ultimately leads to Buffy deciding to run away again. Willow catches Buffy in the act, and everything kicks off....I could talk about the big argument scene for hours! There is so much happening!

I don’t have children myself, so to a certain extent I don’t fully comprehend Joyce’s side of things, but even without having kids it’s obvious to think about how painful it must have been for her. Not just because Buffy ran away from home and that Joyce had no idea where she was, but because Joyce had told Buffy not to come back in a moment of rage and terror. The fear of the unknown is probably the scariest thing in the world, and that’s what it was like for Joyce (and all of the Scoobies) after Buffy ran away. It’s fair to say that mistakes have been made by many characters since “Becoming Part Two”. Buffy acted rashly in running away, Joyce acted rashly when she told Buffy never to come back (plus yelling at her in front of a house-full of people...big no-no!), Xander and Willow have made some questionable decisions since Buffy returned to Sunnydale...that’s what I love about this show! Everyone is flawed! Even the heroine.

Also, I nearly died when Buffy turns to Jonathan and asks if he wants to weigh in as well! HIS FACE! I adore the writers for putting a touch of humour into such an intense scene. It’s a trademark of the show by this point.

•    Giles: “Do you like my mask? Isn’t it pretty? It raises the dead…Americans….”
•    Giles knows how to hot-wire a car...oh, Ripper, you really were quite the juvenile delinquent back in the day, weren’t you?
•    Points to Cordelia for at least trying to be the voice of reason during the argument scene. She’s had such great character growth already since season one. She doesn’t really blossom until she moves to L.A., but just the fact that she is trying to see things from someone else’s point-of-view is still a huge step forwards for her. I’m going to gloss over all the backhanded remarks during her shoe-filling process. Cordy is the only person that tries to see things from Buffy’s point of view! You know something is wrong when Cordelia is the empathetic voice of reason.
•    Willow: “Talking about it isn’t helping, we might as well try some violence *zombies break through the window*, I was being sarcastic!”

Do you people never learn?!

•    It was wonderful to see that the Scoobies, who have just been having a massive argument, instantly team up in order to take down the zombies. No hesitation or resistance. It just goes to show that when things get serious, the Scoobies are a unit, regardless of external circumstances.
•    Buffy stakes a zombie to see if it’s a vampire or not. The stake was nowhere near the heart at all! Go and watch it back. Her slaying skills must be rusty.
•    Cordelia: “How do we know it’s really you and not zombie Giles?”
     Giles: “Cordelia, do stop being tiresome.”
     Cordelia: “It’s him.”
•    The Scoobies make up and Buffy realises that she belongs in Sunnydale. Upon viewing this reconciliation, Giles pays a visit to Principal Snyder to get Buffy reinstated at school. I love it when Giles gets all Ripper-like.
•    I adore the ending scene between Willow and Buffy. It’s a great scene to broadcast their friendship to the audience. Even the jokey insults. They’ve talked out their issues now, and they are getting back to normal...just in time for the arrival of a new Slayer in Sunnydale... 


Quote Of The Episode

Oz: “It looks dead. It smells dead. Yet it's movin’ around. That's interesting.”

Cordelia: “Nice pet, Giles. Don't you like anything regular? Golf, USA Today, or anything?”

Giles: “I'm trying to find out how and why it rose from the grave. It's not as if I'm going to take it home and offer it a saucer of warm milk.”

Oz: “Well, I like it. I think you should call it Patches.”

Willow: “What about Buffy's welcome home dinner tonight? I had told her mom we'd help out. Bring stuff.”

Cordelia:  “I'm the dip.”

Xander:  “Uh, you gotta admire the purity of it...”


Again, I must mention how much I love the Scoobies just hanging out and being friends. No mortal peril looming, no Big Bad on the horizon, no apocalypse...the most traumatic thing currently happening in their lives is whether or not Giles should keep the zombie kitty. I’m on Oz’s side. Giles should have kept it and called it ‘Patches’. 

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

So what are your thoughts on "Dead Man's Party"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!

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