Buffy for Beginners 4.12: A New Man

By Sabrina Boyer

This is an episode that gets overlooked often. It’s also an episode that spotlights the magnificent acting chops of one Anthony Steward Head. Now I’m not one to go for the older guys, but for Anthony Stewart Head (ASH for short) I’d do it in a red hot minute. He’s the only actor I can think of that could make a demon costume look hot.

Oh, and he’s a great actor too. I mean, come on! He’s British!

So, Riley and Buffy are in new couple land, complete with lame, romantic, late-night make-out sessions in Buffy’s dorm. Of course, Will interrupts cause their creature features afoot; Buffy’s got Mr. Pointy ready as she rushes into the dorm Rec room only to discover a surprise birthday party in her honor. Surprise! She tucks Mr. Pointy away and gets to the boogying; but am I the only one who remembers that Buffy birthdays are of the bad? At least, the one in season two didn’t go over so well; Angel went evil and tried to kill Buffy. That, I would say, is of the bad.

We also get more of Anya and her annoying honesty and bluntness. Meanwhile, Giles is the old man out at the party and is feeling a bit of….out of place. Buffy introduces Riley to Giles, who didn’t know Buffy had a boyfriend. He’s in between jobs and Buffy’s goings on about Professor Walsh being “the smartest person” she’s ever met doesn’t go over well either. Giles is her long time father-figure, and Professor Walsh is quickly becoming her mother figure, the one that may be able to understand her slayerness more than her own mother. The knife goes fully in when, after Giles suggested Buffy should’ve invited Professor Walsh, Buffy responds with, “She’s like 40. She has better things to do than hang out with a bunch of kids.” Ouch.

Spike gets ready to find his own dark and dank living facility so he doesn’t keep mooching off of Xander. Anya gives Spike Xander’s lamp as a housewarming gift. Buffy finally comes out to Professor Walsh as the slayer; Walsh thought she was a myth; apparently, she was myth-taken. As Walsh so succinctly sums up the differences between their two methods, “we use advanced weaponry, and you poke them with a sharp stick,” it resonates as more of a commentary on ways of knowing and perhaps a critique on pure reason and science as the West’s privileging of knowledge production.

There’s also a playful look at gender here as Riley boasts about killing 17 hostiles and then Walsh turns to Buffy, asking her how many she thinks she’s slain; Slain? Seriously? Buffy’s saved the world on multiple occasions. Puh-lease. Riley’s a little humbled by that. Will he find that too much to handle? Will he ever find out the plural of apocalypse? Fighting since age 15?

Giles goes to see Walsh and their fundamental differences break the surface; I’m of the Giles School in letting young people find their own way; Walsh thinks it can be problematic for a young person to be so carefree and thinking on their own; she clearly lacks a strong father figure. Ouch. Slap # 2. Meanwhile, Giles recruits Xander and Willow in vanquishing some demon that is supposedly supposed to rise. However, it seems he’s just looking for an excuse to kind of matter to the rest of the Scoobies, who are much younger than he and are exploring their new lives. Oh, and then Xan and Will let it slip they know about the commandoes and The Initiative. Slap # 3.

Poor Giles. He’s just an unemployed librarian who has a tendency to get knocked on the head.

He reverts to a little of his old Ripper self as he goes out drinking to dull the “I don’t matter” pain. As Giles leaves the crypt, Ethan Rayne comes out of the shadows to talk to himself and Giles bounds in because he heard him talking. To himself. They go drink together because Rayne says he knows “the bad” that’s going to happen. Rayne has information about something about 314 that have got the demons in the underworld scared; Something that’s throwing the worlds out of balance. As the boys drink, Buffy and Riley spar and she kind of kicks his butt.

But another relationship starts to brew as Will and Tara join up to do some magic. It is clear that Tara’s influence is very powerful on Will’s development as a major Wicca. The next morning, Giles wakes up with a wicked hangover. And he’s a demon.

A demon?

With great big horns. And no one can understand him. He’s speaking Pharall and is uber strong. He’s crushing everything in his apartment. Will mentions her spell that went awry and that there’s a dark magic that’s blocking other magics; Giles tries to enlist Xander’s help at his dark and dreary basement and we realize that no one can understand Giles, so he just seems like any other scary demon. Giles’ demon self is just another metaphor for his feeling inadequate and out of place in the Scooby world. As he’s chased away from Xander’s apartment, he yells “Bloody humans!”

The gang plus Anya head to his place for help only to find that Giles’ apartment has been ransacked. They begin to worry about Giles’ whereabouts and the fact that he might’ve been eaten up; that, and their lack of Giles time as of late. As Giles wanders through the cemetery he runs into Spike, who happens to speak Pheyaryl. Instead of Spike helping out of the evilness of his heart, Giles agrees to pay him money to help him. The pairing of these two are tremendously adorable; he convinces Spike to help him find Ethan Rayne instead of finding Buffy. Back at the apartment, the gang looks through books without any guidance, and it’s clear they need Giles’ brains to help them through any mission. Buffy and Riley’s two styles are compared as they team up to search for Giles. One is mystical, one is tactical.

Spike can’t decide if he’s driving Giles’ car or wearing it and Giles wonders if he has any special powers; he has special mucus abilities. He’s also feeling rage and the mindless need to destroy; he has a soul and a conscious. But, he also decides to run after Professor Walsh and scare her to death. The gang gets a lead on what the demon is that has “attacked” Giles and Buffy gets with the ordering; they still aren’t on to the real deal, that Giles IS the demon. But they know the demon stole Giles’ car and chased Walsh.

Buffy finds out that Rayne has purchased materials at the local magic shop and Riley calls in to the boys to find his whereabouts. They clash as Walsh told Riley not to bring Buffy along. Buffy, however, doesn’t take orders. Hello? Look what happened to The Watcher’s Council.

Giles finds Rayne first, and Buffy comes in a close second. Right after she stakes him with a silver letter opener, she realizes that the demon IS Giles. Because of his eyes. The letter opener wasn’t real silver. Buffy gets Ethan to change him back to normal. The Initiative does, however, take Rayne into custody. Nice.

Riley finally realizes the awesomeness of Buffy; she’s Spiderman strong, she’s in charge, make the plan, execute the plan, no one giving her orders. She’s the slayer. And Riley likes it. Giles warns Buffy about The Initiative. He does, in fact, raise some concerns about the military as a whole: doing and being a part of things we don’t understand.

And strangely, Walsh seems to be jealous of Buffy. And her mystical ways. And she’s got a restricted area called room 314. Ethan. Was. Right.

About Sabrina Boyer: 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.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Buffy’s Giles Trashes The Slayer Reboot (cinemablend.com)
• Buffy’s TV “Giles” Says He Won’t Watch New Buffy Movie (themovieblog.com)
• Exploring: Merlin (dashpunk.com)