Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series) Doublemeat Palace (2002) User Reviews

Jane Espenson salvages an okay plot

[nightwishouge · 7/10 · 20 September 2015]

I don't know why, but I feel like Jane Espenson was often saddled with some of the crummier story lines that just didn't give her a lot to do. When given something a bit meatier (so to speak) or more integral to the overarching story, she's capable of greatness--see season three's Earshot, season four's Pangs, or season five's Intervention (possibly my favorite episode of that season--yes, even above The Body or The Gift). But too often she's thrown the "in-between" episodes, the valley where you get stuck in a season with 22 episode while waiting for the plot to pick up. Maybe she preferred it that way. Vince Gilligan had the same preference on The X-Files, not caring to get involved in the show's mythology, and in some ways "Doublemeat Palace" actually feels a bit like an X-Files episode.

I don't know if there's much to say about Doublemeat Palace that hasn't been said already. Its satire of the fast food industry is pretty on-the-nose. It's both funny and depressing. There are some colorful characters, and Buffy is more cheerful in the face of corporate ennui than I would have expected. Maybe because the grotesque mystery she encounters on the job activates her Slayer sense and gives her a sense of purpose beyond the dead-eyed stare into the deep fryer that her other co-workers have to look forward to. Anybody who's worked customer service can relate to the vacant enthusiasm of middle management. And as another reviewer noted, Buffy looks pretty cute in the Doublemeat Palace uniform.

One thing the show has yet to address is why nobody seriously considers charging for the services Buffy performs as Slayer. Anya brought it up earlier in the season and everybody acted as though she was morally corrupt for suggesting such a thing. I can understand why Dawn would feel that way--teenagers have no sense of financial reality and thus look down on anyone who does--but why didn't a more level-headed Scooby point out that police officers and firefighters get paid for their work and nobody looks down on them for it? Heck, Cordelia made a pretty solid argument for accepting payment from clients way back in season 1 of Angel. The writers of Buffy choose to take an avenue of complete ignorance on the subject and, by bypassing it completely, make the whole financial quandary that leads to Buffy's employment in a part-time minimum-wage job seem silly and wholly unnecessary. Then again, for all its virtues, BtVS has often handled season-long story arcs with something less than grace, so I guess it's not all that surprising given the context of the previous seasons.

Buffy gets a job at a fast food restaurant

[katierose295 · 7/10 · 4 September 2006]

There's a part of me that sort of likes this episode. It has a silly, sort of fun quality to it that would have worked for a one time joke. It's "Doublemeat Palace"'s placement that makes it so depressing. It's almost exactly in the middle of the season. If Buffy had gotten the job BEFORE Giles gave her that check back in "Life Serial," then she could've suffered a bit at the Doublemeat Palace and then quit when she got the money. Or, if she'd gotten the job later in the season, we wouldn't have to see her working there for another ten episodes. Working at a fast food joint isn't the end of the world, but Buffy sure does mope about it a lot and it gets old. The way it's set up, "Doublemeat Palace" just comes across as one more sad event in a sad season. Still, the story line will play out for awhile, so you might want to see this episode if you're watching the season.

"Doublemeat Palace" revolves around Buffy going to work at a fast food joint. She needs money and its the easiest place to get a job. Unfortunately she hates it there. The people are strange, it's hard work and it's really boring. She's depressed. When things get strange and people start disappearing from the Doublemeat Palace, Buffy jumps on the idea that it's a diabolical plot. She thinks that the "secret ingredient" in the Doublemeat burgers is the missing employees. She's fired for her "Solient Green" style outbursts in the restaurant. Meanwhile, Willow is trying to get over her addiction to magic by going cold turkey. When Amy stops by the house and gives Willow some of her magic, Willow is upset. She tries to hide the magic coursing through her and investigate the Doublemeat Palace the old fashion way: Through chemistry. It turns out that the burgers are made of vegetables, not meat and Buffy's back to square one. Anya and Xander continue to plan their wedding. When her old demon pal Halfreck comes to town, Anya starts to question whether Xander treats her properly. Back at the Doublemeat Palace, Buffy finally finds out that a demon is behind the employees disappearances. She fights it and then she gets her job back.

There are some good parts to this episode. I like Spike showing up to hassle Buffy at her job. "You're in the service industry now, Love. Service me." He's being a jerk, but really, he feels sorry for Buffy. He even offers to get her money if she wants to quit the job. It's sweet. I also like Buffy's conversations with her coworkers. From Manny the manager to the french fry guy who tells her all about his problems with grease. It's pretty funny. Also, Halfreck arrives for the wedding in this episode. I love Halfrck and her conversations with Anya about Xander are hilarious. Apparently he has "unusally large forearms." And when Xander complains about Halfreck's demon appearance, Anya gets insulted. "Don't you find her attractive?" Xander hesitates. "There is no right answer to that is there?" No, there's really not. Finally, Buffy looks really cute in that chicken hat.

There's a lot in this episode about taking short cuts and being punished for it. Anya lectures about the capitalism system and how people are always trying to get around. They want something for nothing, which is not how the system works. Willow gets magic from Amy and has to struggle against the urge to use it. She does all her investigation the normal, hard way which slows her up and makes her frustrated. Still, she doesn't slip and we all know that she's doing the right thing. Buffy goes to work at the Doublemeat Palace because it was the easiest place to get a job. She hates it there, but rather than wait through an interview process at another, better place, she continues making burgers. The episode seems to be saying that you can't always take the quick and easy path or you'll end up on the Darkside. (Oh man, I think that was a "Star War"'s quote. No wonder I like the Trio.)

On the down side, this episode is pretty depressing thanks to Buffy's angst. And it sets up her job at the Doublemeat Palace for the rest of the season, which keeps the plot going for way too long.

My favorite part of the episode: Xander's reaction to learning that he might've just eaten a "people" burger.

Dead end jobs can be soul killing

[ossie85 · 6/10 · 23 August 2022]

Buffy's new job at the Doublemeat Palace fast food service turns out to be a lot more than she bargained for. The constant turnover of employees is incredibly suspicious and the 'secret ingredient' has Buffy feeling curious. Along with her creepy manager Manny things can't get mush worse; then Spike arrives.

Why It's So Good - If you've ever worked a job like this, it is a very relatable episode. A little fluff is what the season needed.

Watch Out For - Buffy's reveal of her uniform.

Quote - "Oh, yes! Like how the cow and the chicken come together even though they've never met. It's like Sleepless in Seattle if Meg and Tom were, like, minced." - Buffy about the demo video.

Fast food worker

[Realrockerhalloween · 5 October 2016]

The sadness continues as Buffy takes a job at a burger joint and tries to figure out how to work the cash register. You can feel how smooths she feels not knowing how it works, a long line of customers and the employees who clock in like zombies. It makes you think what is a pretty girl settling for this type of work and you realize difficult times can call for the worst jobs. Her slayer duties took priority over school not allowing her to become a lawyer or a nurse making the situation even more downing. The only exciting feature is when she finds body parts in the meat grinder thinking it's people and knocking trays out of customers hands. It feels like this type of situation should've arose during season 3 with the lunch room lady and the script was held back now only making an appearance.

Spike even knows she isn't happy at her job, it will kill her spirit and can get her money. You can see she's tempted, but its to easy to give in and part of being an adult is relying on yourself not someone else. Spike being undead can take what he wants or needs with no worries of tomorrow and shows the disconnect between them.

Apodictic fast food

[abbabash · 6/10 · 1 June 2008]

That's not the best episode of Buffy, not even a very good one, but it's apodictic! That means that theories shown are not required to give legal proofs, but just common sense evidence! In this case, that fast food restaurants are giving customers unhealthy food. Maybe the burgers are not made by human flesh, dogs', cats' or rats' meat (but I've read that just Burger King signed a protocol about that), but it's unhealthy anyway! A guy made an interesting documentary about it! So stay away from McDonald and such like Hell! Anyway, the story of the episode is following the high and low trace of sixth season of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer": Buffy very vulnerable (and in this case very naughty) in her relationship with Spike and Willow in crisis of abstinence from omnipotence.

The doublemeat medley is people!

[*Phantom Chick* · 10/10 · 24 November 2008]

"Doublemeat Palace" is an odd little episode, but I'm quite fond of it. It has a strange, skewed feel to it; the fast food atmosphere is exaggerated for comic effect, and yet still surprisingly realistic. Of all the awful things Buffy goes through from the middle of season five (Joyce's death) to the end of season six (losing Giles, money woes, dirty sex with Spike, Dark Willow's rampage, lots of self-loathing - the list goes on), working at the Doublemeat Palace is pretty close to the top of the list of awfulness. Yet, her stint at the fast food restaurant is not a mere one episode storyline, but Buffy sticks it out and works there for the rest of the season. There is no easy fix to Buffy's financial troubles, just as there is no easy fix in real life. Not just any show would have the courage to depict its superhero star in the depressing job of fast food worker for an extended period of time.

Season six, more than any other season, is all about real life. Even the villains of season six are less otherworldly and more common - who doesn't know a Jonathan, Andrew, or Warren? (Hopefully we all know more Jonathans and Andrews than Warrens.) To me, Buffy's job at Doublemeat Palace is one of the best examples of how much realism pervades season six. In reading other user comments and reviews of Buffy's sixth season, I've noticed fans seem to be almost evenly divided when it comes to the merits of the season - some love it, some hate it. I'm one of the fans who loves it. I love the darkness of many of the story lines - darkness that almost unilaterally stems from human weakness. There are never any easy fixes in life, and every time a character tries to find an easy fix (such as Willow's abuse of magic), things get worse (much, much worse).

Some of my favorite parts of the episode are the scene where Manny is introducing Buffy to the "lifers," evoking images of prison (don't you always feel sorry for the older people who work fast food jobs?); the awesome Soylent Green reference when Buffy tries to warn the Doublemeat Palace customers not to eat the burgers (Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance in this scene amuses me immensely every time I see it); and the stark realism of Buffy's quick shag with Spike out by the dumpsters during her break. The latter scene was proof we'd come a long way from the Angel days, and things with Spike might not turn out to be all flowers and candlelight (which they sure don't - at least not in season six).

Also, it was cool to see Kristin Nelson as the new manager of the Doublemeat Palace at the end of the episode. Fans of USA network's Psych will recognize her as Chief Karen Vick.

I may be the only fan who thinks so, but in my opinion this episode is worth a closer examination.

This episode's sooo spaced out...

[mozillameister · 9/10 · 18 April 2012]

**Please ignore the horrible pun. I usually avoid puns, but it was so fitting that I just kept it** (not that anyone will read this anyway)

This episode is very un-Buffy. Its a quirky Soylent Green meets Burger King episode filled with awkward dark humor, and there's a reason for this: Its very reminiscent to Daisy's half of the Spaced episode "Mettle", down to the awkward boss and "mysterious firings" (though the morale is ruining creativity vs. unhealthy food). Still cool that someone else appreciate awesome British TV shows.

Anyway, from the reviews, its a very underrated episode. The whole surreal nature of the episode works really well. Working in fast-food, the whole atmosphere is sadly realistic to how its really like. A great parody, really, and a great way to break up the season's depressing story arc. The biggest con is the effects of the baddie at the end is so low-budget it looks like something from Troll 2. I mean, its really laughably bad. Guess kinda fitting with the B-movie plot, but they really coulda tried a bit here...

Its really a love it or hate it kind of episode. I kind of get the complaints that its a one-off sort of plot that should of been a sidepoint rather than a whole episode. I mean, Spaced dedicated like 5 minutes of the episode on this, while the rest was robot wars. Then again, the Soylent Green aspect wasn't really there, and the show's a legit comedy.

Watch it, and you'll definitely form an opinion strong enough to go on IMDb and write a review. Whether you like it or not, its definitely a memorable episode.

Buffy Finds a Job

[Samuel-Shovel · 5/10 · 1 July 2018]

In "Doublemeat Palace", Buffy gets a minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant but quickly realizes things are a bit off. Some of the employees mysteriously disappear and the manager is a very strange man. She starts snooping around when she finds a finger in the meat grinder. Meanwhile an old demon friend of Anya's stops by and the two catch up; Xander is a bit weirded out by the fact that Anya used to look like that. Willow realizes that she can no longer hang out with Amy due to the temptation of magic.

In the end, it appears that the meat isn't human after all but is in face vegetable! A customer had been killing off employees and eating them. Buffy retains her job and chums it up with the new manager.

The plot of this episode felt like vintage early seasons BtVS. The disappearing, disposable characters, the strange creature, it's all very nostalgic for seasons 1 & 2. The only difference is the dark undertones pinned to it: the alleyway sex with Spike, the subplot involving Willow's addiction to magic, etc. These duality of tones make for a weird final result that doesn't really click for me.

Terrifying...

[allnewsuperfake · 9/10 · 17 June 2020]

...and I'm not even talking about the actual monster here. I thought it was over the top 20 years ago, but with a fresh documentary about the opoid epedemic in the US on my mind even the completely ridiculous demeanor of the colleagues is just too real.

It's a little bit the overarching problem of this season, culminating in the wonderful "Back to Reality": Real Life seeps into the episodes, the horror that we actually want to forget when we watch TV. The income of jobs like the one Buffy took here now has 25 % less purchasing power than when this episode first aired. Yeah, you really didn't want to know that, right? And that's why is the scariest episode in the whole series.

Lowpoint of the season

[Joxerlives · 3/10 · 19 July 2012]

The Good; Very little, a very weak episode. Actually our first introduction to Halfyrek and the scene between her and Anya is wonderful. Also like Xander's advice to Dawn that if Buffy can't ever have a proper career outside Slaying Dawn can do it for her. Some nice comedy too with Xander eating the burger and the 'Hi, I'm Troy McClure' style corporate training video.

The Bad; The list goes on. I think if Xander had been working in the DMP everyone would have loved this but we don't like seeing Buffy humiliated.

Best line; Buffy; "The double meat medely is people. Well, probably not the chicken part but who knows! Who knows!"

Women good/men bad; Actually it's pretty disturbing that Halfyrek comments most of the time she's not even sure she's cursing the right guy. Love the way that every good point Anya states about Xander is twisted into a negative by Hally. Amy also shows her true colours implying that she's bitter at not having been deratted earlier.

Jeez!; The severed finger and Manny's severed foot. Note how Buffy is now quite happy to include Dawn in the emergency meeting and show her some of the nastier sights of life.

Kinky dinky; Actually I think Buffy and Spike against the trash trailer must rate as the most unerotic sex scene in the history of TV, even the most avid Spuffers must admit it's positively depressing. The Geeks (and Xander) also like the Vulcan woman from Enterprise, what a surprise. Nowadays it would be Summer Glau as The Big Bang Theory proves. Anya and Halfrek both comment on Xander's large upper arms which makes sense if you're a construction worker (Nic Brendon bulks up noticeably in the final 2 season but I prefer slimmer Xander from the earlier seasons). Again, a girl as beautiful as Buffy working in fast food? Can't she work at Hooters/Spearmint Rhino/Playboy/Pretty Woman/Belle Du Jour?

Captain Subtext;

As is commeted upon in a later ep the worm thing that emerges from the old lady's head is just one giant penis. It spits it's goo at the straight (or bi girl to judge by the comics)making her helpless but the lesbian sees it, screams and runs away before decapitating it with a vagina shaped cooking instrument. (Amber Benson will later make a TERRIBLE horror film called 'The One Eyed Monster' with a similar theme). And Buffy's new boss is called Lorena (Bobbit?)

Apocalypses; 6

Scoobies in bondage: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 5 Will: 3 Jenny: 1 Angel: 4 Oz: 1 Faith: 3 Joyce: 1 Wes: 1 Xander; 1 Dawn; 3 Scoobies knocked out: Buffy: 17 Giles: 12 Cordy: 6 Xander: 11 Will: 8 Jenny: 2 Angel: 6 Oz: 3 Faith: 1 Joyce: 3 Wes: 1 Anya;3 Dawn; 2

Kills: one demon for Willow Buffy: 103 vamps, 41 demons, 6 monsters, 3 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demon, 1 human, 1 god.

Cordy: 3 vamps, a demon Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn.

Angel: 3 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie Faith: 16 vamps, 5 demons, 3 humans Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1 a demon, Anya: 1 vamp and 1 a demon Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons Spike; 8 vamps and 2 demon Buffybot; 2 vamps Tara; 1 demon Dawn; 1 vamp

Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 2 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 4 Anya; 1 Dawn; 1

Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 7 Giles: 4 Cordy: 1 Will: 3 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 4 Tara; 1 Dawn;1 Spike; 1

Recurring characters killed: 10 Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce

Sunnydale deaths; 2 guys from the DMP 95 Total number of scoobies: Xander, Willow, Buffy, Anya, Spike,

Xander demon magnet: 5(6?) Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula?

Scoobies shot: Giles: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 4 Riley; 1

Notches on Scooby bedpost: Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes? Cordy: 1? Buffy: 4 confirmed; Angel, Parker, Riley, Spike. 1 possible, Dracula(?) Angel: 1;Buffy Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?) Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca Faith:2 ;Xander, Riley Xander: 2; Faith, Anya Willow: 2;Oz and Tara Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore Spike; 1 Buffy

Spike; good or bad?

Dawn in peril; 8

Dawn the bashful virgin; 6

Questions and observations; Surely the authorities must inspect the DMP's produce, don't they have a problem with false advertising? Considering how nicely the Geeks tricked out their headquarters with all the money they stole couldn't Buffy and co sell it to raise some cash? Doesn't Amy remember that she turned HERSELF into a rat and indeed left Buffy and Willow to burn at the stake to do so? Love Dawn's kitten t-shirt. Dawn says she's eaten a lot at the DMP, it doesn't show. I reckon Dawn should be a Doctor, that way she can patch up the other scoobs as necessary. Also note that the Yanus head from Halloween is still in the Magic Box.

Would Buffy have survived without Willow's arrival? I think so, Slayer headling was obviously dealing with the paralysing agent when she arrived. Anyone else think that Lorena reminds them a lot of Ellen Degenerees with a little of Lynette from Desperate Housewives? Marks out of 10; 3/10, pretty damn terrible compared to what Buffy can achieve