One of my favorites of the first season (I feel like I�m always saying this�.but who wouldn�t? It�s Buffy!) this episode exemplifies the classic debate (well, classic in the sense of the last twenty years) of the good and bad of technology typified between the characters of Giles and Jenny Calendar. Is the printed page obsolete? Is technobabble replacing regular babble?

As the gang unpacks old dusties (a.k.a. books) Ms. Calendar and Giles argue over the �idiot box� as Giles so lovingly calls the computer vs. the printed page. �I�ll be back in the middle ages,� Giles tells the Scoobies as he scoffs off to do what librarians do and Ms. Calendar responds �Did you ever leave?� Snap. Here lies the central subtextual (and sometimes textual) debate. Will scans an old dusty into the computer and we learn the next day that Will has met Malcolm, an online sweetie who she never actually meets in person. Online predator much?

Even though this episode was made ten years ago, it seems its central exploration of the goods and bads of technology and the internet are as relevant as ever. As Will tells Buffy of her new love interest, we begin to see that something is wacky with the computers on campus; Who is this Malcolm? Xander and Buffy begin to ask this and much more about this mystery man as we see fellow Sunnydale students manipulated by the computers, like Fritz who consistently repeats �I�m jacked in, I�m jacked in.� Eerily reminiscent of those who spend all their free time in front of computers �jacked in� but hardly ever stepping into sunlight.

Later, Buffy confronts Will about blowing off a few classes and asks fellow student Dave how to find out about Malcolm; we learn that Malcolm has been controlling students through the computer and that in fact, he is actually in the computer. An ancient demon banned to the written page, he escaped when Willow scanned him into the computer, literally unleashing him into the net. Malcolm tells his lackies to kill Buffy due to her constant snoopage; Buffy�s �spider sense is tingling� as she sees Dave breaking into a local computer company. After she tells Giles, Ms. Calendar stops by to check on Giles and his �Middle Ages� way; Xander responds to her inquiry about their presence in the library, stating �reading books makes our speaking English good.�

Perhaps at the crux of the episode, Giles and Ms. Calendar debate the merits of the musty old books vs. this whole new online society; are people forgoing personal interaction for online chatting? How easy is it to manipulate digitized data? As the episode suggests, we seem to learn that the printed page is a tad more reliable than floating data streams.

As Buffy almost becomes a crispy critter by a close call of being electrocuted, we see Fritz kill Dave, and Giles figures out Malcolm is really Moloch, who preys on impressionable minds by promising knowledge and power in exchange for love. Moloch has been scanned into the computer, and every computer connected by a modem. �He�s gone binary� on us. What can he do to us with a computer? As we see, launch nuclear weapons, destroy the economy, you know, basic chaos on every level.

Buffy and Xander head on over to Willow�s house as Giles figures out a way to de-net Moloch. We see Fritz kidnap Will and Giles tell Ms. Calendar that there�s a demon in the internet. �I know,� she replies. A real live technopagan. Buffy and Xan head on over to CRG, the closed computer company to save Will from Moloch; a battle ensues (a nice metaphor for the fight between the old and new ways of learning and gaining knowledge) as Ms. Calendar and Giles work on a ritual to cast Moloch out of cyberspace. It succeeds, but he�s bound not in a book, but in his makeshift steel body. It�s poetic justice as Moloch attempts to kill Buffy only in turn, electrocuting himself.

What is it about computers that bothers Giles so much? �The smell. Smell is the most powerful conduit to the memory. Books smell musty and rich. Knowledge gained from a computer has no context. If it�s to last, the getting of knowledge should be tangible. It should be smelly.� I�m going to have to agree with Giles on this one.

About Sabrina: As a kid my dad would sneak scary movies past my mom and let me indulge in his horror movie fetish. I grew up watching V, Alien Nation, The Thing, The Fog (all originals) and then, in 1992 when Buffy the movie came out, I became obsessed with vampires, girl power, and all things gothic. I once stayed home from school, faked sick, and watched BTVS: the movie 6 times in a row. I know the beginning cheerleading dance by heart (still). Currently, I’m obsessing over Laurell K. Hamilton novels, and dream about Anita Blake being my best friend.

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