"Anne"
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
In which Buffy is forced to face her demons in Los Angeles, while the rest of the Scooby gang tries to deal with her absence in Sunnydale...
Status Report - Memorable Quotes - Final Analysis
Status Report
Following the first season finale, the second season premiere was spent largely addressing the leftovers from that finale. While that episode did a capable job of setting down the themes for the second season, it was weak on its own. That same tendency is evident in the third season premiere, which is devoted entirely to the aftermath of “Becoming”.
Setting the tone for the entire episode, the teaser states the case plainly: regardless of her faults, being the Slayer is an integral part of who Buffy is. If the second season was about Buffy learning to appreciate the fact that she cannot escape the inevitable consequences of being the Chosen One, this episode is meant to reinforce the fact that Buffy cannot truly be herself without accepting her destiny.
At the same time, this episode demonstrates how Buffy is as much as necessary part of her friends’ world as they are to her world. Despite the best efforts of the Scooby gang, Buffy’s absence is telling in nearly every respect. In terms of slaying vampires, the teaser says it all. The gang can try to take her place and split her qualities amongst themselves, but in the end, nothing can replace Buffy in her destined role.
Having established the Slaying situation in Sunnydale, the episode turns into a status report for the various romantic relationships that didn’t end with a stabbing and one-way ticket to a hell dimension. Willow and Oz continue to make a great couple, even if the explanations for Oz’s continued presence at Sunnydale High sounds remarkably like a lame excuse to keep the character in the mix.
Xander and Cordelia are interesting, if only because the symptoms of future angst from last season continue to manifest themselves in this episode. The two of them developed a relationship out of a sense of rejection by others, whether or not they are aware of the fact. Xander still yearns for Buffy and Willow, and Cordelia was infatuated with Angel prior to his reversion.
Of course, now, Cordelia’s object of desire is no longer in the picture. Xander, on the other hand, still has Willow as his best friend and Buffy as a constant background obsession. That sets the stage for some bad times ahead for the world’s least likely couple. After all, without Angel around, she has no reason not to focus on her relationship with Xander. Xander, on the other hand, has a tendency to lose sight of what he has, reaching for what he thinks he wants.
One interesting and unexpected relationship is the contentious one between Joyce and Giles. Considering the extent to which Giles appears to have gone to find Buffy, which has to involve some measure of personal expense (especially in light of the attitudes of the Watcher Council in later seasons), Joyce is rather harsh in laying blame at his feet. This has to be at least partially a matter of transference.
The bulk of the episode, however, is all about Buffy and her realization that one cannot run away from oneself. Considering that some genre shows typically spread that kind of self-examination across several episodes, devoting a single episode to Buffy’s realization is a bit of a cheat. But much like “When She Was Bad”, this is about dropping the topic into the laps of the audience, and then exploring it more deeply throughout the season.
It seems a bit odd that Buffy would have been living in Los Angeles for a few months without running across demonic activity, having watched several seasons worth of “Angel”, where demons are practically bursting out of the shadows on a daily basis. While it’s true that Buffy was intentionally seeking a new and “normal” identity, one would expect that some demon would recognize the Slayer.
The implication is that Lily’s arrival on the scene forces Buffy to stop turning away from the world and face her demons. It’s actually interesting to think about what this says about Buffy. What if Lily had never crossed paths with Buffy? Could Buffy’s attempt to forget her past have forced a more vicious or lethal moment of realization? These questions pertain to the paths not taken and the roads not traveled, a theme that stands at the core of the third season.
The demon dimension stands as a nice metaphor, in terms of running away from one’s life and losing one’s identity in the process. But more importantly, it serves to depict how a short time in a demon dimension could equal years on Earth. This immediately comes into play with Angel’s return, and then becomes far more important on “Angel” in its third season.
While one can definitely see why Joss Whedon chose to open the season with a quick introduction to the themes that would be explored in the next 21 episodes, “Anne” still feels like a stand-alone coda to the second season finale. This odd pattern of starting the season on a weak note would persist for a few more seasons, straddling both “Buffy” and “Angel”, until Mutant Enemy realized that starting the season arc in the first episode of the season is not necessarily a bad thing.
Memorable Quotes
OZ: “That never really works…”
WILLOW: “I wonder what our first homework assignment’s gonna be! Hey, you’re excited over Cordelia, OK? We’re all got issues!”
WILLOW: “We try not to get killed. That’s part of our whole mission statement: ‘Don’t get killed’!”
OZ: “Well, it’s sort of a funny story. You remember when I didn’t graduate?”
WILLOW: “Well, I know you had a lot of incompletes, but that’s what summer school was for.”
OZ: “Yeah…well, you remember when I didn’t go?”
LARRY: “If we can focus, keep discipline, and not have quite as many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna rule!”
OZ: “I think we’re kinda getting a rhythm down.”
XANDER: “We’re losing half the vamps.”
OZ: “Yeah…but rhythmically…”
KEN: “Ow! My face! Do you have any idea how hard it is to glue that thing on?”
BUFFY: “Hey, Ken, wanna see my impression of Gandhi?”
LILY: “Gandhi?”
BUFFY: “Well, you know, if he was really pissed off…”
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was a typically disappointing season premiere for a Mutant Enemy season. While the overarching themes of the third season were touched upon, it felt less like the beginning of a plot arc than a quick rundown of what to expect. Given how strong the rest of the season would be, this is a jarring and disappointing beginning.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 1/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 5/10
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