"Choices"

Written by David Fury
Directed by James A. Contner


In which Buffy attempts to take on the Mayor’s plan directly in order to take charge of her life, and ends up placing Willow’s life on the line in the process...

Status Report - Memorable Quotes - Final Analysis







Status Report

Like the previous episode, this is mostly transitional, setting the stage for the final series of confrontations in the season finale. Unlike the previous episode, there is no separate plot element to distract from the fact that it’s a transitional episode. As a result, the quality of the episode is determined largely by the character moments, most of which excel.

It’s not shocking that the very beginning of the episode is a reminder that Buffy and Faith are on a collision course. Faith receives a gift from the Mayor, a wonderful blade that the Mayor hopes Faith will eventually use to kill Buffy. It is immediately fated to become a symbol of which Slayer holds the power in the continuing struggle.

At the same time, even having resolved the whole Faith issue, Buffy and Angel find themselves facing another obstacle to future happiness. Buffy may not have much of a future, even if things go well with the Mayor; it’s simply the way things go for the Chosen. Angel, on the other hand, may live forever. Any fan of “Highlander” knows the story.

This is another episode where “paths not chosen” come into play, but in this case, it’s a question of each character’s future and what might have been. For Buffy, the past few weeks have delivered a crushing blow to her morale. With the arrival of Faith earlier in the season, she had reason to hope that she could escape Sunnydale and make a normal life for herself (or something approaching normal).

It’s psychologically damaging, then, for her to know that going away to Northwestern is out of the question. It might have been less painful if she hadn’t scored well on the SATs or made it into a few good colleges. Knowing that, and also knowing that Willow has at least the same chance to get away, Buffy is faced with the knowledge that she might have been someone very different. She has the potential; it’s her destiny that’s getting in the way.

It’s now abundantly clear, after a great deal of foreshadowing throughout the season, that Xander has squandered his high school years and has little promise of a bright future. Like many high school students, he has no idea what will happen after graduation, having focused entirely on survival at Sunnydale High. Not only does it distance him from the rest of the gang, but it also makes him an easy target for Cordelia.

Wesley personifies the pressure that Buffy finds herself under. For all that it’s played for laughs, it’s just excruciating to see Buffy jumping through every possible hoop to justify her desire to go away to school. Wesley’s constant reminders that Buffy must place her Chosen duty above all else presages the end of the episode. Buffy’s plan to be proactive is all well and good, but it doesn’t eliminate the rather obvious truth that the Hellmouth won’t stop pumping out the demon catnip if the Mayor’s plans are ended.

Faith’s little mission to take custody of the Mayor’s box provides more foreshadowing. Not only does Faith get to use her knife, but she demonstrates her skill with the longbow. Her attraction to the weapon was mentioned in “Bad Girls”, and of course, it becomes very important in the season finale. By following that scene with the Mayor’s observation that Faith isn’t quite over the whole Angel question, it points to the situation in “Graduation Day”.

As usual, Wesley finds himself on the outside looking in. Of all the characters in this episode, Wesley is probably the least well served. Because his objections and comments are necessary to provide an opposing point of view, he becomes little more than a running plot device (and an annoying one at that). At the same time, he’s right much of the time, and that makes him even more annoying.

Demonstrating just how strong the character and plot continuity has been all season, it’s revealed that Cordelia’s increasingly caustic and self-involved attitude might be a defense mechanism. Xander may have no future and Cordelia might have several acceptance letters, but when Xander mentions the whole “family money” issue, it really strikes a nerve. It’s suddenly very clear that Cordelia might see Xander as the person she might become. (And in light of her future on “Angel”, she’s not far from the mark.)

It makes perfect sense for Willow to get personally involved with the operation at city hall. For one thing, it’s a nice evolution of her confidence in her magic ability (even if the writers continue to incorrectly mix Wicca and “black magic”). It also makes it clear that Willow’s encounter with Dark Willow resulted in some serious self-evaluation. Willow is definitely dressing more provocatively (that red dress is beyond drool-worthy), and she’s willing to take more chances.

That said, the writers rely on a silly plot contrivance to deliver Willow into the Mayor’s hands. It’s questionable enough to have the rope get jammed; it’s even worse to have Angel completely ignore his own superhuman strength and get into an unnecessary fight. Why not simply pull Buffy up himself and leave the damn gear? Well, because if that happened, Faith wouldn’t have time to grab Willow, that’s why!

What follows is an interesting moral debate. Wesley takes the intellectually logical stance that sacrificing Willow to save millions would be an acceptable trade. And as someone outside of the Scooby Gang, it’s easy for Wesley to take that perspective. It’s very different for Buffy, Oz, and the others, who love Willow and can’t imagine sacrificing her to save the world.

It’s not a major leap to recognize that this argument is just as valid when applied to Buffy’s situation. The writers don’t take it quite that far, at least not directly, but that is the question that the Slayer’s very existence poses. Willow wasn’t Chosen, so to sacrifice her life would be wrong, even if she chose to place herself in danger. On the other hand, it’s almost a given that Buffy’s entire life must be sacrificed in the service of the Chosen destiny, against her will.

Willow has Oz to bring the debate to an immediate halt, forcing Wesley to go along with the trade. It’s a moment that is actually rather disturbing, because in a way, Oz could be deemed responsible for the deaths in the season finale. Of course, that’s assuming that destroying the box wouldn’t have unleashed the Hell Spiders, thereby making things much, much worse. Still, one can’t help but wonder if Buffy’s future could be changed by someone taking similar unilateral action.

In keeping with her decision at the end of the episode, Willow demonstrates her priorities by facing down a vampire and killing it with a pencil (another nice payoff to an apparent throw-away earlier detail) and choosing to scan the Books of Ascension rather than escape the Mayor’s clutches. Willow couldn’t have known about the trade, and even if she thought Buffy would try to rescue her, she still places intelligence gathering over self-preservation. If it didn’t mesh with Willow’s choice at the end, this would have come across as one hell of a plot contrivance.

The biggest change in Willow, however, shines through in her indignant conversation with Faith. Willow really lets Faith have it, and one can hear the underlying anger about Faith’s betrayal of Xander and Buffy in every word. Willow certainly isn’t the wallflower she was at the beginning of the season, having discovered a desire to help people and fight evil.

Holding the meeting at Sunnydale High is one of those writing decisions that seems to come out of left field. Obviously, this choice was made so that Snyder could interrupt the meeting and therefore bring about the release of the Hell Spiders. Even so, it works well enough. Just as the scene begins, it provides a good laugh at the episode’s expense: Angel claims to be the only one that can see the Mayor and friends coming, and yet he’s the only one looking the wrong way when the Mayor steps into the room!

Showing his usual penchant for toying with his enemies, the Mayor strikes Buffy at her most exposed weak point: her relationship with Angel. Perhaps more interesting, however, is the sense that the Mayor is also attacking the relationship for Faith’s sake. Whatever the case, it highlights that Angel’s redemption is something he cannot pursue at Buffy’s side. Sooner or later, they will give in to temptation or Buffy will grow old and die. Suffering is in the cards, whatever the case.

The release of the Hell Spiders is actually a letdown, since it’s resolved rather quickly. It’s great to see Snyder’s reaction to his first glimpse of the true scale of the demonic activity in Sunnydale, but the Hell Spiders themselves are just disappointing. The situation, however, gives Faith a chance to show the instinctual decency under the cultivated veneer of evil. For all that Faith gives in to the primal urges of the Slayer legacy, those same imperatives are designed for saving lives. She saves Wesley without hesitation, and then very much wishes she could recover her knife.

Willow comes through with the stolen pages from the Books of Ascension, though it’s hard to imagine that out of several volumes filled with text, only a few pages would contain the critical intel. That said, it justifies the writing decision, because it becomes an important step in the evolution of the plot thread.

More important to the fourth season, however, is Willow’s decision to remain in Sunnydale and go to the same college as Buffy. It takes what might have been a forced situation and gives it a realistic context. Willow is making a decision to fight evil and learn about magic, something she can’t do easily in any other place (presuming that the Watcher Academy won’t take her). Considering that Xander has already proven to have very little idea what to do with his life and Oz already has friends at the same college, the core group remains largely intact.

Of course, Cordelia is not so fortunate. Unlike Xander, she has no desire to stick around to continue some semblance of “the old days” with friends, so her impending move to Los Angeles as a part of “Angel” is facilitated by her loss of financial support. Cordy’s just not cut out for retail!

The final scene neatly exposes the fact that Buffy is in denial about her relationship with Angel. They both know that the fight with the Mayor during the Ascension is going to be the decision point: if they survive, they will have to part ways. Angel seems to understand this, at least on an intellectual level, and he’s been taking personal steps to prepare for a solitary crusade. Buffy, however, wants to hold on to the delusion that something will change, allowing them to stay together.

Of course, by this point in the season, the writers have supplied so many reasons for Buffy and Angel to end their relationship that it seems like a relief to know that the season is almost over. Considering that this has been a foregone conclusion since Angel’s return, it’s just a question of time, and that becomes tedious.

This is an episode about choices, setting the stage for the fourth season while also bringing the third season that much closer to the final confrontation. At this point, it’s simply a question of triggering all of the remaining plot elements and letting the fun begin. Buffy now has Faith’s weapon, which metaphorically places Buffy in the advantage.

The real focus of the episode, however, is the concept of self-sacrifice and free will. Willow chooses to fight evil and remain in Sunnydale. Buffy has no such choice. Both end up in the same place, and in the end, both of them take a shared journey towards self-discovery and attainment of the Chosen legacy of power. What’s interesting is how each choice is perceived: while Willow’s choice is seen as the sacrifice that it is, Buffy’s choice is practically dismissed as a given.


Memorable Quotes

WILLOW: “Sounds like your mom’s in a state of denial.”
BUFFY: “More like a continent.”

BUFFY: “You! I mean, I can’t believe you got into Oxford!”
WILLOW: “It’s pretty exciting.”
OZ: “That’s some deep academia there.”
BUFFY: “That’s where they make Gileses!”

XANDER: “Go ahead. Mock me.”
OZ: “I think she just did.”
XANDER: “We Bohemian anti-establishment types have always been persecuted.”
OZ: “Well, sure. You’re all so weird.”

WESLEY: “All right, everyone. Monsters, demons, world in peril?”
BUFFY: “I bet you they have all that stuff in Illinois.”
WESLEY: “You cannot leave Sunnydale. By the power invested in me by the Council, I forbid it.”
GILES: “Ah, yes...that should settle it.”

GILES: “What’s your plan?”
BUFFY: “I gotta have a plan? Really? I can’t just be proactive with pep?”

WILLOW: “Hey, I eat danger for breakfast!”
OZ: “But oddly enough, she panics in the face of breakfast foods.”

XANDER: “I need a volunteer to hit Wesley.”
WESLEY: “Giles, you know I’m right about this.”
BUFFY: “Wes, you want to duck and cover at this point?”

WILLOW: “I know you had a tough life. I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo!”

FAITH: “You hurt me, I hurt you. I’m just a little more efficient.”
WILLOW: “Aw, here I just thought you didn’t have a comeback.”

WILKINS: “Raise your hand if you’re invulnerable...”

SNYDER: “You...all of you! Why couldn’t you be dealing drugs like normal people...”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is not quite as strong as it could have been, though there are some intriguing philosophical issues hidden within the transitional elements of the plot. Characters make serious decisions about the future, setting the stage for the fourth season. The relationship between Buffy and Angel once again comes under question, leaving just about everyone frustrated.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10




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