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FROG CITY » TV STATION » BTVS Reviews » "Him"

BTVS EPISODE REVIEWS

Season 7, Episode 6: "Him"
(last updated: 11/17/02)

Comments by: AlyToo ¦ Cyn ¦ Dan ¦ Karyn
Reviews by: Alex ¦ Bo ¦ Little Willow ¦ Natalie

Random Comments:

"You want to know the saddest part about tonight's episode? I know girls that act like Dawn WITHOUT being under a spell... It's really pathetic and sad. Which is the entire reason I hated high-school. That is all." -- Cyn

[re: "What was with the split screen? I never saw >that on BTVS before. Was it an homage to '24?'" -- Bo]
"Reminded me more of Charlie's Angels. Especially with the music in the background." -- AlyToo

[re: "Why did Willow want to change that jock into a girl? Everyone said she was gay, but don't they remember Oz? Isn't Willow supposed to swing both ways? Of course I've also heard many gay people have changed their sexual orientation several times. Of course Will was also under a love spell & not thinking clearly." -- Bo]
"Willow is a lesbian. She dated Oz before she realized she was gay. It's not uncommon. College is a prime time for girls to come out, it's just the age where it happens. Gay people don't necessarily "change their sexual orientation several times" but sometimes they need a transition period. It's not unheard of for there to be a "bisexual" phase, not so much for the individual, but for everone else around them. You can feel like it just might be easier for people to handle if you can say, "I like girls. Oh, but don't worry, I still like boys." -- Karyn

"When Willow caught herself drooling over Dawn on Tuesday, was I the only one who could SWEAR to have heard slash-writers everywhere lunging for their keyboards?" -- Dan

Alex's Review:

I suppose whoever wrote the ep could have been trying to make a 'girl power' statement, you know, women being in control of their sexuality, etc. Actually I found the ep pretty funny, though BBB is still the funniest Buffy ep hands down. I especially got a kick out of the scene through the Principal's window with Spike and Xander trying to stop Buffy, and the Principal being clueless. Plus Xander starring into space, remembering the 'good times' of BBB. Xander saving the day seems to be becoming a theme this season. On Anya stealing, it's totally in character for her to try and buy a guy's love- she's still a material girl.

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Bo's Review:

OK I'm compelled to express my thoughts on the November 5 eppy. (So, I'm compulsive tonight--sue me). Here are my thoughts, not in any particular order

Well, I don't think it was too much of a rehash of "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered." Most of it was the Scooby gang reacting with each other, rather than just showing Xander's point of view in BB&B. They did flash back to BB&B though. It was nice to get a glimpse of Cordy again.

Michelle sure looked like a slut in that slut outfit, which was the point. But where did she dig up that outfit on such short notice? Not to mention a new do?

Why did Buffy save her cheerleading outfit? If it was of such sentimental value to her, why didn't she throw an actress sized (I'm locking myself in my trailer!) hissy fit when Dawn shredded it?

Willow said "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition." That's weird. About a year or two ago I posted something about how the writers on BTVS may have been influenced by Monty Python. I ended the post with that exact same quote! Did the writers read my post & remember it? Or was it just a coincidence? It's spooky!

If that high school letter was passed down over a period of about 20 years (from father to son to younger brother) wouldn't it be awfully faded, if not falling apart? Of course it's a magic jacket, yeah, I know.

Did you notice Spike finguring those angel figurines? Is that a reference to Angelus/Angel--or to the angel Buffy talked about--the one who gave her that message in heaven that she didn't want to share with the rest of the gang? It might be a foreshadowing of something yet to come, I think.

That window scene with the principle was funny, even though I've seen something similar before.

Why did Willow want to change that jock into a girl? Everyone said she was gay, but don't they remember Oz? Isn't Willow supposed to swing both ways? Of course I've also heard many gay people have changed their sexual orientation several times. Of course Will was also under a love spell & not thinking clearly.

I'm confused--did Buffy get over the love spell when she saw Dawn in danger, or when the letter jacket was burned?

Why did Hofren change his mind about offing Anya? Did he want her to suffer first before he sent that demon to kill her? I'm not sure that scene made sense.

All in all I think it was very amusing to see the really stupid things people do when they're in love--Hey!!!!! Wait a minute!!!! I've done stupid things when in love!!!! I just changed my mind!!!!!! This show was NOT funny!!!!! It was PAINFULL!!!!

Oh yeah, and one more thing. What was with the split screen? I never saw that on BTVS before. Was it an homage to "24?" I did catch an episode of "24" the other night. Since this show unreels in "real time" they use split screen a lot to show things happening simultaneously-or so I've been told. But it's also pretty obvious they sometimes use this split screen technique when it's totally unnecessary.

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Little Willow's Review:

My typical episode analysis will have to wait. Toothache medicine is making me drowsy, so I'll be brief.

I did not find the episode amusing. In fact, I thought some parts were downright degrading. If Buffy did what was implied with R.J., gee, I think she should be in jail. Smooching him due to a spell - that's understandable and in step with a love spell. But if she honestly went there? That's disgusting, deplorable and illegal. R.J.'s age was never stated, but some assume he was 16, Dawn's age. Buffy is 21. If that was Xander letting people get physical with him, fans would have had a fit and a half, calling him irresponsible and so forth. Xander had enough of a clue in BB&B to tell stop lovestruck Buffy from going too far.

BB&B was ten times funnier than this. It was also quite a bit more respectable and decent. It showed that actions have consequences. People such as Giles and Oz were completely disgusted with what Xander had done. Xander hadn't meant to make everyone fall in love with him -- just Cordelia -- and his motive made sense, due to their breakup and their characterizations. The spell went wrong, wackiness ensued, but at no point did Xander fully take advantage of any of the women once he knew what was going on and that the attention/affection was false.

HIM had a guy who had a jacket that had been passed down from his brother, who had gotten it in turn from his father. We had never heard of this brother before, we still don't know what happened to the father, and we still don't know what happened to the jacket in the first place - how long it has been enchanted or whathaveyou. All we got for completion was a jacket being burned, everyone being okay, everyone smiling, Anya not having to pay for holding up multiple establishments (the radio announcement at the end said they were hold ups) and everything played like a big joke. Willow wasn't in the teaser act nor the first act. It felt as if Spike was forced and used; there was none of the funny Xander/Spike interaction that there was in Hush (which - in another case of "syndie freaky" - aired on FX today) nor the hostility we love to hate. Dawn was ready to die for this boy, at which point it would have been nice for Buffy or SOMEONE to mention that Buffy did die for Dawn in The Gift - because as much as I disliked The Gift, I would have rather heard that THAT was what snapped Buffy out of it, the connection. Something . . . more.

Season Seven has been strong and steady, with the exception of this episode. I'm sorry, but if this had been on another show like Charmed, you KNOW many of us would have been saying, "Gee, what a BtVS rip-off," or, "Wow, someone watched Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered, huh?"

I still think that BB&B is one of the funniest BtVS episodes ever. It holds up after all of this time not just because the writing was funny, but because the writing was true to form and to character. It continued seasonal arcs - Buffy suffering through Valentine's Day, Angelus trying to kill Buffy's friends, Drusilla, Cordelia/Xander, Giles/Jenny, Amy dealing with witchcraft, Oz/Willow - and it wrapped itself up tidily. It is not that I'm holding HIM up to BB&B and refusing to see the light. It is that you can't help but compare the two, what with the similar plotlines and the fact that a clip of the old episode was purposely within the new episode.

There was a great deal of music in tonight's episode. The theme to A Summer Place was funny the first time, but didn't end up being directly connected to the jacket, so it either should have been used every time as a signal (ie I Only Have Eyes for You) or just the first time, when Dawn fell off of the bleachers. I did like the espionage score music when the four women were each on a mission. I wished for better editing, both sound and visual.

As always, I'd rather watch my least favorite episode of BtVS on repeat than watch many other shows out there. This episode was not the worst one I've ever seen.

I simply won't ever fall in love with it.

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Natalie's Review:

I didn't get to do Ramblings this week. I was pretty much sick in bed, so I really didn't feel like grabbing my notebook an taking notes. Spoilers abound.

Truth is, I ended up grabbing a book and reading during the episode. While there were some bits I liked, I have to agree with Little Willow. There were some good lines, there were bits where I wondered if Alyson and Emma weren't trying to reenact bits of BBB because their voices and inflection were really close to that of Jenny and Amy in that ep, and I like that Spike is no longer what in the whatment. (I'm overusing that. Don't care. I love it.)

That's about it. At the risk of starting another "Dawn needs to die" convo, I have never hated Dawn before. I really really did this episode. Plus, while I hate the idea of killing someone or yourself because of love (because IMO, that's psychosis, not love), I didn't get why Anya was robbing places, and how Willow turning RJ into a girl would prove how much they loved him.

So there we go.

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