"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Anne (1998)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Joss Whedon

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Joss Whedon (written by)

TV Series:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)

Original Air Date:

29 September 1998 (Season 3, Episode 1)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

While Cordelia went to Cancun, Xander, Willow and Oz learned to control the vampire population without the slayer...

Plot Keywords:

Reference To Gandhi | Female Protagonist | Library | Heroine | Title Spoken By Character

Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Seth Green	...	Oz
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Kristine Sutherland	...	Joyce Summers
Julia Lee	...	Lily
Carlos Jacott	...	Ken
Mary-Pat Green	...	Blood Bank Doctor
Chad Todhunter	...	Rickie
Larry Bagby	...	Larry Blaisdell (as Larry Bagby III)
James Lurie	...	Teacher
Michael Leopard	...	Roughneck

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

First episode with the "real" Buffy logo in the main title.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Buffy is knocking demon guards off a platform, you can see that they are landing on safety mats.

Quotes:

Ken: Humans don't fight back! That's how this works!

Soundtrack:

Back To Freedom

The beginning of a golden season

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Season three is the first full season of BTVS that I ever saw. I never watched the show when it was new. I only found it in re-runs and quickly became addicted. After seeing a few episodes, I was hooked and I decided to go find more of them on DVD. Unfortunately, I'm cheap. Instead of just buying all seven seasons and watching them in order, I headed down to the library and rented whatever random discs they had on the shelves. (The second disc of season 4, the first and fourth discs of season 6, etc... Not my brightest move.) For some reason, though, all the season three DVDs were in the library that day, so I just brought them all home. Luckily, season three is a great season to start with. It has an dramatic story arc, interesting new characters and just about every episode is a winner. The writing and creative energy are never better. Season three is one of the show's best seasons. (Only seasons two and five can give it any competition, in my opinion.) It's BTVS at it's height.

That said, season three's first episode is a little weird. "Anne" finds Buffy in LA, where's she's fled after leaving Sunnydale in "Becoming Part Two." She's working as a waitress, trying to forget about her old life and still mourning Angel. It's hard to run from being the Chosen One, though, and Buffy soon finds herself mixed up with a girl named Lily. Well, NOW she's named Lily. Back in season two's "Lie to Me" she was the vampire groupie Chanterelle. After that run-in with Spike in the bomb shelter, she's over the whole "lonely ones" fixation and is leading a new life as a homeless teen runaway with her boyfriend Ricky. LA's not on a Hellmouth, but it still has some supernatural problems. (As five seasons of "Angel" will soon attest.) In no time, Ricky's missing and Lily and Buffy have to go searching for him.

Back in SunnyD, The Scoobies are vampire hunting on their own. (They'll do the exact same thing in season six, only with a bit more success.) Willow and Xander have reached the point where they'll fight evil, with or without Buffy. It's interesting that they never try to walk away from their new responsibilities, even though they weren't drafted by the Powers That Be like Buffy and Angel. Xander and Willow are volunteers, they WANT to help. Oz and Cordy are there, too, of course. And the four of them patrol around town with walkie-talkies and wooden crosses. Giles, meanwhile, is looking for Buffy. He's tearing apart the countryside, chasing down leads and trying to find her.

Little do they know that Buffy has been sucked into another dimension. She and Lily are trapped in a terrifying alternate reality, where time goes faster than normal and people age one hundred years in a single Earth day. Kept as slaves in cages, they are stripped of their identities and forced to work in some kind of mine/factory deal. In order to escape, Buffy has to be Buffy again. Reclaim her name and identity and fight to live.

The episode has some good points. I love Oz's explanation for still being a Sunnydale High student, even though he was suppose to attend summer school and graduate. "Remember when I didn't go?" And Xander and Cordy's awkward reunion is really funny. "How's my hair?" Also, Angel looks pretty darn good standing on the beach on Buffy's dream. (Yes, I am that shallow.) Mostly, I like Giles in this episode, though. He's so desperate to track Buffy down. His relationship with Buffy is such a large part of the season. His love for Buffy-the-person over Buffy-the-Slayer, will lead to the introduction of Wesley and provide a counter balance for the relationship between Faith and the Mayor that will develop. This episode foreshadows that, with his fatherly concern for Buffy's well-being coming before his desire for the Slayer's return to evil-fighting.

"Anne" has some interesting things to say about identity and being true to yourself. Names are very important. The evil hell-dimension guys try to steal the names of their victims and make them "no one." Buffy changes her name, the Scoobies are using "cool sounding" code-names to track vampires and Lily doesn't have a real name at all. Everybody is trying to be someone they're not. But, in the end, they really can't escape who they are. Buffy is the Slayer, not a waitress. The Scoobies are often in over their heads without any super-powered help on patrol, no matter how they pretend to getting into the "rhythm" of slaying. And Lily has to shed her dependency and exotic personas to finally become a real person, even if she borrows Buffy's name to do it. The episode saying that it's easy to get lost, especially in a big city like LA. People will use you and try to make you less than you're capable of being. You have to stand up for yourself and remember who you really are. On a side note Chanterelle/Lily/Anne does pretty well for herself, becoming an advocate for homeless teens. She appears over on Angel several times, including the final episode, seasons five's "Not Fade Away."

On the downside, it's hard to come off "Becoming Part Two" and into "Anne." You want Angel's storyline to continue immediately and you have to wait several episodes for his resurrection. Also, does Buffy leave some of those captives behind in the hell-dimension? It seems like she and a dozen or so escape and leave the rest of the slaves behind. Kinna harsh.

My favorite part of the episode: Larry's inspirational speech about Sunnydale's chances at athletic glory. "If we can focus, keep discipline and not have so many mysterious deaths... Sunnydale is gonna rule!"