Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "Shadow" Review (5x08)

Brief Synopsis: “Riley falls deeper and deeper into insecurity over his feelings that Buffy doesn’t love him. Meanwhile, Joyce is undergoing further tests for her brain issues and Glory is conjuring up a creature that will be able to locate The Key for her.”


"Fool For Love" (5x07) quick link here                                                                                                             "Listening To Fear" (5x09) quick link here

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



I wish to politely request a name change for this episode. While “Shadow” is a relatively fitting title, a much more fitting one would be “Depression-fest”. EVERYONE IS SO MISERABLE IN THIS EPISODE! Joyce is ill and scared, Buffy is depressed and heartbroken, Riley is pouty and insecure, Dawn is upset...THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS! “Shadow” is a very polarising episode. On the one hand, it sets up a lot of things that will be important later. It’s the first big episode revolving around Joyce’s brain issues, it’s the final nail in the coffin (pun-believable!) for Riley’s continued appearance on the show, and it helps further Glory’s motivations and characterisation. On the other hand, nothing important seems to happen in this episode itself. It’s a setup episode. It’s quite slow-paced, the giant cobra is despatched quickly by Buffy, and nothing in the episode jumps out at you as overly memorable. It’s a good episode, but certainly nothing more than that. The wonderful thing about “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” by season three onwards is that the show is so great at handling character development that every episode is at least in that ‘average-good’ range, even if the monster or story of the week leaves a lot to be desired. Every episode has a few things to contribute regardless.

First and foremost, the episode revolves around Joyce’s brain issues and the discovery that she has a tumour. We see how this is affecting not only Joyce, but Buffy, Dawn, and the rest of the Scoobies as well. In addition to this, we also have two secondary plots in place. The first of which is Riley’s continued disassociation from Buffy and him falling deeper and deeper into the pits of insecurity about his relationship. The other secondary plot is Glory trying to find The Key using a demon cobra thingy (that’s the technical term for it), which has terrible C.G.I. That’s pretty much everything of importance that happens.

The episode opens with Joyce in hospital about to undergo her CAT scan. If I close my eyes and block out all noise and movement, can I pretend that this Joyce story isn’t happening? PLEASE?!

Tara: “Your one-stop spot to shop for all your occult needs.”

Those of you that have read these reviews from the beginning will know that I have a habit of trying to recreate tongue-teasing “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” quotes when I’m a little tipsy. About two years ago I tried to repeat this quote. Here’s how it came out...“your wonsta sposha for all the cold knees”. I’m a gifted young man.

Xander: “...Am I right, Giles?”
Giles: “I’m almost certain you’re not, but to be fair I wasn’t listening.”

Someone needs to take Xander to the hospital for all that burn. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m stalling. I’m desperately clinging to the hilarious moments of this episode because they’re so few and far between. Like a squirrel in the last day of autumn, I’m gathering up these precious moments to keep me alive for the long winter ahead. Outside of gloom, doom, depression, and heartache, this episode does hold some positive significance...the debut of Glory’s amazing minions. I must admit, I have a ridiculously large soft spot for those scabby little kiss-asses. They worship Glory over every little thing she does...insult them? Worship. Degrade them? Worship. Fling shoes at their heads? Worship. You can’t help but be impressed with that level of dedication. Could you imagine a creative compliment competition between Glory’s minions and Harmony’s pet names for Spike?! The world would implode. Glory’s interaction with her minions here highlights Glory’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. Her strengths are her physical power, her volume of followers and worshippers, and her ability to stick to whatever she feels is the best plan...unless it takes too long. Her biggest weakness is the fact that she’s so self-obsessed that she does what’s best for her regardless of what the best course of action may possibly be. Plus, you know, she’s bat shit crazy.

Riley catches Spike sneaking around Buffy’s bedroom and sniffing her sweater. This makes for hilarious television, as Spike tries to pretend that it’s a predator thing. Thinking about it more deeply, it’s really fucking disturbing. Imagine someone sneaking into your house without your knowledge and going through your possessions and stealing your underwear. Creepy. What an invasion of privacy! In addition to showing the audience how quickly Spike’s obsession is growing, the interaction between Spike and Riley here does serve another purpose...

Spike: “Your girl in the habit of buying her enemies drinks? Because she spent the better part of last night with me doing just that.”
Riley: “'Cause you guys are such tight pals.”
Spike: “Yeah.”
Riley: “That's good. Tell me another.”
Spike: “Okay, how about this one...twice in recent memory she's had the lover-Wiccas do a de-invite on the house. Keep out specific vamps. Ever ask yourself why she's never taken my name off the guest list?”
Riley: “...Because you're harmless.”
Spike: “Oh yeah, right. Takes one to know, I suppose. Least I still got the attitude. What have you got, a piercing glance? Face it, white bread, Buffy's got a type and you're not it. She likes us dangerous, rough, occasionally bumpy in the forehead region...not that she doesn't like you, but sorry, Charlie, you're just not dark enough.”

Spike tells Riley that Buffy spent the previous night with him at The Bronze (“Fool For Love”)...he neglected to tell Riley that Buffy told him that he (Spike) was beneath her and that she’d never, ever lower herself to be with him. Way to miss out those details, blondie bear. Of course, Riley has been feeling neglected and unimportant for a long time now. He feels as though Buffy has no need or desire for him to be a part of her life any longer. It’s not Buffy’s fault, she’s been distracted! She’s had Slayer studies and a sick mother to contend with. Buffy neglecting Riley is completely understandable, but it has worked as a catalyst to further Riley’s justifications for feeling this way. Now Riley discovers that Buffy can find the time to spend the night with Spike, but she’s recently cancelled on plans with him repeatedly. I’ve got to be honest, though...I love this story. I hate that Riley is about to leave because I’m one of his few supporters, but I love the reasons behind the breakup. Buffy and Riley aren’t breaking up because someone did something wrong or because of some major catastrophe in their relationship. Sure, Riley allowed himself to be bitten by vampires and Buffy was ignoring Riley and not treating him much like a boyfriend, but nothing disastrous happened. It was a simple case of the chemistry not being right in the relationship. It happens all the time in the real world. Plus, their breakup isn’t a sudden, shocking moment to shake up the show. It’s been a long time coming. You could argue that it’s been coming ever since the last season’s “The Yoko Factor”, but nobody can deny that it’s been coming since at least “The Replacement”. They drifted apart and the timing sucked, that’s it. No blame. For a show that centres around a superhuman heroine, it’s a wonderful thing to behold that her relationship is ending on such natural terms.

Spike also raises another very interesting point about Riley not being dark enough for Buffy. It’s an interesting point because it’s totally true! Buffy is drawn more towards dark, supernatural, mysterious guys. Let’s not forget that Buffy’s Slayer powers and lineage stems from a demon. The First Slayer became a Slayer because the Shadow Men inserted a demon into her body. This power and the darkness that surrounds its origin have been passed down to Buffy. It makes sense that Buffy would be attracted to darker guys or guys with some form of supernatural presence like hers. Plus, Buffy is a young woman, and God knows that a lot of young women seem to be attracted to bad boys that aren’t relationship material at all, which makes no sense.

What a coincidence that Glory buys things at The Magic Box. That advertisement came in handy and wasn’t at all used as a convenient plot device to get Glory in the shop. In another shocking coincidence, Glory is in the shop just as Giles and the Scoobies are talking about Glory. It’s pretty lucky that she didn’t overhear them. She’d have probably killed the entire lot of them for funsies if she knew they were friends with the pesky Slayer that was giving her trouble.

Doctor: “Nearly one out of three patients with this condition does just fine.”

Thanks for giving us those odds, doctor. Does anyone else think that doctors should just not give odds at all if the odds are less than 50/50? The scene where Buffy discovers that Joyce has a brain tumour is easily the most powerful of the episode. The choice to drown out what the doctor was saying and to concentrate on Buffy’s reaction was genius. We’re living that scene through Buffy. Buffy is so shocked and overwhelmed that she can no longer hear what the doctor is telling her. In turn, neither can we. The choice to play the scene this way is simple to do, but it’s such a rarity to see! It’s so realistic! Whenever you receive some form of overwhelming news (sometimes positive news too), that’s exactly what happens! Your mind shuts off completely and all you can hear or feel is yourself. Your mind goes into shutdown mode. Buffy takes this revelation especially hard because she is powerless to help her mother. Buffy has been blessed with super-strength, super-speed, and other special abilities, yet she can do absolutely nothing to help her mother in this situation. Usually when Buffy is having strong emotional feelings, she has a way to channel them – an enemy to fight or something to slay. Here, she can’t do anything to help, so she’s forced for arguably the first time ever to really feel her grief and terror.

Another highlight of this episode is the bonding scenes between Riley and Dawn. Thus far we haven’t seen a great deal of interaction between these two characters and very soon Riley will be gone without so much as a goodbye to Dawn. Therefore, it’s oddly sweet to see these two acting so close. While waiting for Joyce’s results, Dawn falls asleep in the hospital hallway. Riley places his jacket over her to keep her warm and my feels just explode. Curse this episode! Curse this brilliant season! Joss Whedon and David Fury, a plague on both your houses! Why do Riley and Dawn have to have cute scenes together just before Riley leaves?! WHY?! They’ve never had cute scenes like this before! David Fury added these to the episode just to twist the knife in my personal belly a little more! THERE’S A CAROUSEL AND EVERYTHING! YOU KNOW I LOVE CARNIVALS AND ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS! WHY IS RILEY SO NICE TO DAWN – ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT HOW LONELY SHE FEELS IN THE NEXT SEASON!

*10 deep breaths later*

Dawn then adds to Riley’s insecurities by telling him that Buffy doesn’t get worked up over him like she used to with Angel. There’s a part of me that thinks “and that’s a bad thing, why?”, but the other part of me was thinking that it’s probably not a good sign for Riley in his current mental state. To the casual observer, Buffy not getting worked up and crying all the time over Riley is a good thing, right? Sometimes, sure. I think Riley sees this as Buffy not caring about him as much as she once cared about Angel and it just enforces his notion that Buffy doesn’t love him. Plus, what Spike just told him is still playing on his mind and everything is starting to fall into place that Buffy doesn’t need him and that he isn’t what she needs in a partner. Due to this, Riley turns to vampires to see why darkness holds such power over his girlfriend. Why is she drawn to darkness? What does it feel like to be a part of a darker world? I disagree with Riley voluntarily allowing vampires to suck his blood, but it makes perfect sense for his character and predicament.

Anya: “Are you stupid or something?”
Giles: “Allow me to answer that question with a firing.”
Xander: “She’s kidding. An., we talked about the employee-employer vocabulary no-nos. That was number five.”

Two things...1) Sassy Giles might possibly be the greatest thing to ever happen to television. 2) I cannot contain my euphoria at the idea of Xander taking the time to sit Anya down and write a list of employee-employer no-nos. I need that scene now! Can you imagine Anya’s reactions?! YOU’VE ALL HEARD HER WEDDING VOWS ABOUT SEX POODLES AND OBEDIENCE! Also, Xander, expressing your desire to stumble across a cult of bunny worshippers while Anya is within earshot? KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! 

Using a ritual that her minions presented her with, Glory transforms a cobra into a giant cobra that’s somehow capable of figuring out who or what The Key is and reporting it back to Glory. The ceremony that’s used for the transforming is intensely...underwhelming? Perhaps it’s because The Mayor turned into a much, much larger and more terrifying snake, but this side plot really does nothing for me. It serves no real purpose in this episode or for the wider season. I guess I can take some solace in the fact that the C.G.I. has marginally improved since the penis-looking snake demon Machida in “Reptile Boy”. It’s still pretty bad though.

I’ve just noticed some parallels between Riley and the Groosalugg. Towards the conclusion of “Shadow”, Riley tells Xander to tell Buffy to contact him if she needs him. His exact words are “if she needs me...”, before he looks back towards Xander (having looked away while saying the words). This reminds me so much of Groo’s relationship with Cordy in season three of “Angel”. Groo even says “if she asks...” to Lorne in regards to if Cordelia notices that he’s gone for a walk and asks for his whereabouts. Like Riley, Groo knew that Cordelia didn’t love him and that their days together were numbered.

“Shadow” also adds to my theory that I really like Dawn when her and Buffy are getting along, but I dislike her a lot more when they’re not because she’s more whiny and annoying. It’s as though we (the audience) see Dawn through Buffy’s eyes. When Buffy is feeling loving towards Dawn, we are. When Buffy is annoyed with Dawn, we are. What people have to remember is that Dawn is a 14-year-old girl here. Her mother is going through major medical issues and she’s understandably terrified. I’ve seen firsthand what it does to a teenage girl when her mother is fighting a serious illness and I can’t help but have deep empathy for Dawn during this entire season and beyond.

Glory’s big cobra breaks through The Magic Box’s window, realises that Dawn is The Key, and slithers back to tell Glory. Giles’ insurance premium for The Magic Box must be catastrophic! It gets damaged in almost every episode! Buffy chases after the giant cobra, strangles it to death, and beats the crap out of it to let out some of her frustrations over her mother’s illness. That’s that entire subplot wrapped up in a few minutes.

The episode ends with Riley trying to comfort Buffy, but Buffy won’t allow him to because if she starts to fall apart she won’t be able to stop. The episode fades to black with Buffy closing the door on Riley...talk about metaphors and foreshadowing. I do feel rather sorry for both Buffy and Riley in this episode. I know that a lot of people think that Riley is just being a needy, self-centred douche in these last few episodes, which is true to a certain extent, but I can completely empathise with how he feels and where he’s coming from. He’s desperately trying to feel needed by Buffy and like he’s not losing her. The more he tries, the more hurt he gets. It’s the typical signs of being in love with someone who doesn’t love you back. I’ve also got to praise both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Marc Blucas’ acting ability in this episode. Buffy’s teary-eyed confusion and sadness is spectacularly played by Sarah and Riley’s desperation to feel needed and his further fall from grace is terrifically handled by Marc.

The episode started depressingly with Joyce’s CAT scan and ends depressingly with Buffy crying and Riley left outside in the hallway. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and watch “Band Candy” to cheer myself up.


Quote Of The Episode

Anya: “Giles sold it to her...”

Giles: “I didn’t know it was her! How could I!...If it’s any consolation, I may have overcharged her.”


Bless this scene for breaking up all the tension. I always giggle at that.

FINAL SCORE: 6/10

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

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