Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "Helpless" Review (3x12)

Brief Synopsis: "For her upcoming 18th birthday, Buffy declines the Scooby Gang's offer of a big party, hoping to celebrate with quiet reflection and a traditional trip to the ice-skating show with her father. Suddenly, Buffy finds that her Slayer abilities are fading, perhaps completely. Is this some natural event in the lifecycle of the Slayer or is it something more sinister?”

"Gingerbread" (3x11) quick link here                                                                                                         "The Zeppo" (3x13) quick link here


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



•    Originally called “18”, this episode explores what it would be like if Buffy were to suddenly lose her slaying powers. If a Slayer makes it to her 18th birthday (which is a happy statement about the life of Slayers in general), she undergoes a Cruciatus curse. No, wait, I’m confusing my fandoms. She undergoes a ‘Cruciamentum’ test. In essence, the Slayer is left powerless and has to destroy some evil fiend. This is done to test the Slayer’s resourcefulness, courage, and innovation. Can I just mention what a bunch of assholes the Watcher’s Council are to do this to the Slayer?! That’s their reward for making it to 18?! Were they all out of cakes or something? Buffy should just stop celebrating her birthday. At 17 she receives a charming Judge-arm as a gift, and now at 18 she’s powerless.
•    The episode opens with some sexual tension...sorry, that’s “training”, between Buffy and Angel. This is one of very few remaining episodes where ‘Bangel’ are a happy and loved-up couple. We’re just nine episodes away from Angel breaking up with Buffy and then leaving for Los Angeles after “Graduation Day”.
•    Buffy: “Actually, I do have a date. Older man, very handsome, likes it when I call him ‘daddy’.”

...Giles?...that’s a little more than I needed to know about their relationship off-screen if I’m honest.

•    In addition to the primary theme of the episode, “Helpless” also starts to very subtly lay the groundwork for the eventual breakup of Buffy and Angel. After a very sexually charged workout, Buffy starts playing with the phallus-shaped crystal, realises what she’s doing, and quickly puts it down. Someone’s getting frustrated with the lack of touching available in her relationship.
•    A powerless Buffy is an intriguing concept for an episode. It’s something that I saw coming sooner or later because the entire premise of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” is that Buffy is a strong, superhuman woman, so taking away her powers and making her ‘normal’ was a perfectly logical writing decision to make. Buffy has to explore her entire identity again; her identity has been tied to being the Slayer for such a long time that she’s forgotten who she is without being the Slayer. It’s interesting to me that Buffy has been craving a normal life since she first arrived in Sunnydale. Now she gets her wish and is powerless and she instantly wants to get her powers back and fight evil. I like to think of this as phase one in Buffy’s appreciation and acceptance of being the Slayer. Season five is phase two. Buffy learns a lot about the history and mythology of a Vampire Slayer in that season and it makes her truly appreciate what a gift she has (pun-believable!).

Buffy being powerless is originally played as a joke. She tries to throw knives and it ends terribly. Seriously, she has zero aiming ability without her Slayer powers. However, the episode takes on a much more sinister aura after it is revealed that GILES is the one making Buffy powerless. I’m not embarrassed to say that when I first saw this episode, I was so shocked that I yelled. Loudly. WHY IS GILES MAKING BUFFY POWERLESS?! WHY IS HE LYING TO BUFFY?! GILES CAN’T BE EVIL, SURELY! What makes this betrayal all the more haunting is that Giles is such a convincing liar when telling Buffy that he doesn’t know the cause of the problem. It seems to come so naturally to him. Whether that’s because of his Watcher’s Council training or because he used to be a little juvenile delinquent, Giles’ lying abilities are far too convincing.

•    Oz: “Ice is cool. It’s water, but it’s not...”

Thank you for that insight, Oz. I’d never have known that without your genius.

•    What makes Giles’ betrayal all the more heartbreaking is that Buffy’s father is being a douchebag in this episode. His douchebaggery knows no limits in fact. Hank Summers no-shows on his usual ice skating trip with Buffy for her birthday. Her eighteenth birthday at that! I can really empathise with Buffy’s daddy issues in this episode. You all know by this point that I have a strained relationship with my own father. I see him once or twice a year for an hour and that’s about the extent of our relationship. Unlike me, Buffy has a surrogate father in Giles. That is what makes this episode work. If Giles was nothing more than her Watcher, the story would have no emotional impact. If this episode had taken place towards the beginning of season one, it would have been interesting, but not emotional in the least. This episode taking place in season three after Giles and Buffy’s father-daughter relationship has been fully established means that it crushes the audience and the characters.

Buffy is already having daddy issues after her own father abandons her, then Giles betrays her as well. Let’s not forget, Buffy having fears of abandonment in relation to her father is not a new concept for Buffy. Going all the way back to season one’s “Nightmares”, Buffy has had insecurities about her father not caring about her and her parents’ divorce being her fault. To this point, Giles has been everything for Buffy that Hank wasn’t. He’s cared for Buffy, loved Buffy, supported Buffy, and been willing to die for Buffy (in “Prophecy Girl” he was prepared to face The Master in Buffy’s place). The Watcher’s Council put Giles in the unwinnable position of having to choose between being Giles the Watcher and Giles the father.

Initially, Giles chooses to be ‘Giles the Watcher’. He poisons Buffy. Giles has always been the most reliable, dependent member of the Scoobies. He’s the wise old mentor that often puts his feelings aside for other people. Hell, Giles even put his personal feelings aside to help Angel two episodes ago! A man that murdered his girlfriend (technically it was Angelus). Yet when Buffy needed him the most, he chose to be loyal to his employers, not his Slayer.

I love Giles, but he was wrong for the vast majority of this episode. He should have told Quentin where to shove this ‘rite of passage’ at the very beginning. However, as we discover in season five’s “Checkpoint”, it’s not as straightforward as that. The Watcher’s Council have a great deal of power. They have the ability to deport Giles in an instant and make his life a living Hell. So even though I feel like Giles made the wrong choice at the beginning, I can definitely understand why he did. He was scared to oppose the Council.

This is a story that needed to be told though, as it’s key for Giles’ development. By the end of the episode he turns his back on everything he’s ever known in order to save Buffy’s life. Ultimately, he did the right thing. His reward? Being fired for caring too much about his Slayer (that’s what he gets for having two jobs, the greedy...). What a load of crap! How can you love your Slayer too much?! I understand that it could split Giles’ loyalties, but look what Giles was willing to sacrifice in this episode to save Buffy! He’s more capable of keeping her alive than anyone else because of that love. It goes to show just how out of touch the Council are with the Slayer. The Council aren’t interested in having the strongest Slayer it seems, they’re interested in having the most obedient Slayer. I’m sure they’ll have more luck with Faith...

Quentin: “You have a father’s love for the child, and that is useless to the cause.”

I also resent Quentin calling Buffy a ‘child’. She’s eighteen years old and just defeated your insane vampire without her powers.

I hate the Watcher’s Council. All they ever seem to do is show up and make Buffy’s life harder. “Helpless”, “Who Are You?”, “Checkpoint”...they’re too disassociated with Buffy to know that she’s better than other Slayers. Her support system works for her. With that being said, Harris Yulin is superb as Quentin Travers. His voice is wonderful and he should read audiobooks for a living.

•    Speaking of excellent guest stars, we arrive at Jeff Kober. What a performance! Any actor out there that wants to know how to leave a lasting impression on a show in just one episode, look no further than Jeff Kober. He nails this performance. He plays insanity and genuine creepiness so well. He does such a good job that they bring him back for a three-episode run in season six as Rack. My Buffyverse Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BTVSFC) is currently running a tournament for the greatest minor Buffyverse villain. Both of Jeff’s characters made it all the way through to the quarter-finals.
•    With regards to the Oz-Xander kryptonite argument, Oz is correct. There are three types of kryptonite that are toxic to Superman as far as I’m aware. Green kills, red mutates, and gold drains Superman of his powers.
•    “Helpless” is yet another example of an episode filled with flawless musical scores that really help to enhance the story. Christophe Beck is a genius. The Kralik scenes in particular are flawless. In fact, the musical score “Kralik’s House” is used again in “Graduation Day Part One” (as The Mayor is wiping the sword that Giles just shoved through his chest) and “Fear Itself”.
•    I completely understand Buffy’s fears about being powerless. As much as she likes to talk about having a normal life, she could never have one even if she was powerless. She knows about vampires, demons, werewolves, Hellmouths and a whole mess of other nasties. She’d never be able to just be a normal girl. Either she’d be constantly scared and paranoid or she’d want to go out and fight them without her powers and end up getting herself killed. It’s a similar situation to what Angel finds himself in during “Angel” season one’s “I Will Remember You”. Oh, sweet parallels, how I love thee.
•    Giles discovering the body of the Watcher’s Council member was a really powerful scene (especially with the score playing over it), but I wish we could have seen more! It’s probably a ratings issue, but we only really see a dead arm and a bit of blood. Perhaps they were going for a situation where the audience’s disturbed little minds could imagine a scene more horrific than they were capable of creating.
•    There are two scenes in this episode that make it stand out. The first of which is when Buffy discovers that Giles was the one who was poisoning her. Buffy’s face after the reveal is gut-wrenching to watch. Sarah was perfect in this scene. Her despair, shock, and disbelief were so believable that it made the audience feel everything that Buffy was feeling.

“Who are you? How could you do this to me?!” and “You stuck a needle in me. You poisoned me!” are the most powerful lines of a very, very emotionally intense scene.

•    Then Kralik escapes and ruins all the Watcher’s Council’s careful planning by kidnapping Joyce (when he appeared from under that Little Red Riding Hood cloak, I screamed...in a manly sort of way, of course). I find the scene where Kralik is talking to Joyce fascinating. The writers spend a lot of time showing the audience why Kralik is as mentally unhinged as he is. It’s a clever parallel to have Kralik’s relationship with his mother as the focal point, as it directly correlates to Buffy’s struggles with Giles in this episode.
•    The scene where Buffy is trying to find her mother by making her way through the creepy house is very well done. It’s directed well, it’s acted well, and the musical scores are again perfect. Kralik, please stop whispering “hide and seek”. This episode is creepy enough without you adding to it even more than you already have. Just when I thought this episode could get no more creepy, Kralik is sexually excited by the cross burning him.

  •    Look at all those Joyce photos! It’s a good job that Kralik has one of those cameras that develops the photos right after they’re taken, otherwise the cost to develop all of those would have been ridiculous. I think Joyce went overboard with her selfies.
•    “No friends, no weapons, no hope, take all that away and what’s left?”...“me”. Buffy killing Kralik using holy water completely embodies that quote from “Becoming Part Two”. Even without superpowers she’s intelligent enough and strong enough to kill Kralik. It’s one of the most creative deaths during the show and I believe the only time holy water is used to kill a vampire in the Buffyverse.
•    The second scene that makes this episode stand out is the scene where Buffy and Giles make amends. Giles cleans blood off of Buffy’s face like he’s trying to remove the stain of his betrayal. You can see Buffy forgive Giles as he’s wiping the blood away. He just threw away his career for Buffy. She just heard that Giles has a “father’s love” for her. I’m sure she’d thought before that Giles loved her as more than just his Slayer, but she’s now had it confirmed by an outsider. This episode ends on a rather touching note. David Fury tore Buffy and Giles apart in this episode to sew them back together even stronger by the time it fades to black. That’s impressive. You all know by this point that Buffy and Giles’ relationship is my favourite on “Buffy The Vampire  Slayer”, so this episode holds a special place in my heart.
•    Then, Xander tries to be all macho and ends up failing miserably, as we all knew he would. The perfect ending to an episode about female empowerment.


Quote Of The Episode

Angel: “I saw you before you became the Slayer. I watched you and I saw you called. It was a bright afternoon out in front of your school. You walked down the steps and I loved you.”

Buffy: “Why?”

Angel: “Because I could see your heart. You held it before you for everyone to see and I worried that it would be bruised or torn and more than anything in my life I wanted to keep it safe...to warm it with my own.”

Buffy: “That’s beautiful…or taken literally incredibly gross.”

Angel: “I was just thinking that too.”


I love that exchange. Firstly, Buffy finally gets to know that Angel saw her being called. It was a really sweet moment for Buffy and Angel as a couple (you know, if you gloss over the whole part where Buffy was 15 and Angel was 242 at the time...) and it’s so nice that they share it now. It’s also wonderful to see Angel show a bit of humour and personality at the end of that scene. Angel is one of my favourite characters in the Buffyverse, but almost all of that stems from after he moves to L.A. to live. Angel on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” was still quite a cool character, but he was a little boring and far too broody for my liking. This is another instance of an emotional scene counterbalanced with humour. It’s pretty much Joss’ trademark by this point. Well...that, and killing characters I love. 


FINAL SCORE: 8/10

What are your thoughts on "Helpless"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!

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