Buffy for Beginners 2.8: The Dark Age
So, the harmless librarian we’ve come to know and love, you know, the one who wears tweed and speaks with GRE words on a regular basis, was once a teenage rebel who summoned demons and broke the law? My world is all askew. I guess teenage rebellion isn’t just for Americans.
As the episode opens we learn that some of Giles’ old colleagues are possessed one by one by a demon he, Ethan Rayne and the others summoned as adolescents. Talk about showing up fashionably late. Cut to a scene where Buffy is doing her calisthenics in the library to techno while Gile’s brain dribbles out of his ears, and there is a line said by Giles that references the Buffy film: as Buffy turns off the �music� he says “finally, and the rest is silence.” Nice.
As the Scoobies wonder if Giles ever got restless as a kid (did he play “anywhere but here” or did he sit in math class thinking this could be mathier? Were his diapers tweed?) We come to realize soon enough that this wasn’t entirely the case. As the gang wonders what it would be like if Ms. Calendar and Giles got together, she calls him a “sexy fuddy duddy” and wants to make him squirm (oooh, he’s dirty!).
The cops come a callin’ and let Giles know that there was a murder on campus and the person was looking for him; as he identifies the body, Buffy waits for him at their slay date at the hospital, does some slash and stake, and heads by his apartment to check on him since he considers tardiness the eighth deadly sin. He acts un-Giles like, and he begins to put the pieces together that his old gang, who all worshipped the god Chaos, have dropped like flies and he may be next.
The dead guy from the morgue awakens (not as a vamp but possessed by the demon after Giles and friends) and heads out to find the last two remaining of the group: Giles and Ethan. As Will, Xander and Cordy head to school on a Saturday to learn the art of computers, Buffy stops by and informs Ms. Calendar that Giles was acting very anti-Giles and may have been drinking, and not tea. As Buffy looks in the library, she finds Ethan Rayne snooping about, calls Giles and asks about the Mark of Eyghon. Meanwhile, the dead guy breaks into the library and goes after Ethan. Thrown into the book cage, Ethan greets Giles as “Ripper,” and dead guy breaks out only to infect Ms. Calendar.
Buffy is thrown by Giles’ less than stellar explanation of what is going on, and the gang hits the books while he takes Ms. Calendar home. The gang uncovers the meaning of the Eyghon, a demon who can only exist in this realm by occupying someone’s body, and can only jump to a dead or unconscious person. The Scoobies surmise that the demon jumped from the puddly dead guy to the unconscious Ms. Calendar and head over to his apartment while the demon unleashes its power on Giles. Buffy stops the demon temporarily, begs him not to be sorry but to be Giles, and we learn that Giles was 21 at Oxford practicing magics, summoning Eyghon as a way to get high.
Buffy goes to the old Halloween shop and Ethan knocks her out and puts the tattoo that is like a homing beacon for the demon on the back of Buffy’s neck. Meanwhile the Will, Xan and Cordy get the bright idea to let the demon jump into another dead body, only this time, the dead body is Angel, but there�s already a demon set up shop in Angel’s body, and it beats Eyghon. Jenny is ok, but asks for some time off from Giles.
It seems that even the tweediest of us have secrets, and our past seems to catch up with us, no matter how far away we think the past might be. Most grown-ups have that rebellious teenager inside, even if we think we’ve long buried it. We might not be so different after all. We just forget sometimes.
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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