Band Candy
Band Candy
Season 3, Episode 6 (Episode 40 of entire series)
This episode totally rocked!! It seems like more of a return to the season one episodes --okay, so we didn't exactly get why an offering had to be made..maybe we should just assume it's along the same lines as the offerings made in Reptile Boy-- and plus, it marks the return of that most charming of villains, Ethan Rayne! Your basic responsibility theme here, with a twist. Snappy dialogue..and the plots of Angel/Buffy and Xander/Willow are also touched upon. Yee-ha! Oh, and for all those who wondered about how and if Giles and Joyce were gonna smooch....may I just say, question answered!
Show opens up with Giles and Buffy in the cemetery...it kinda reminded me a lot of Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, but as it goes, Giles is merely helping Buffy prep for her SATs. It's kind of fun to see Buffy's take on standardized testing. Anyhoo, a vamp appears and she stakes it.
Meanwhile, across town, the Mayor's got Mr. Trick over and is asking him for a favor. It doesn't seem to me to be so much asking as it is coercing, but whatever. Turns out the Mayor's got a lot of promises to keep. He's also got some funky cabinet full of everything from the weird to the weirder. Anyhoo, Trick promises to "subcontract" someone to help him carry out the Mayor's wishes. I don't guess I really need to capitalize Mayor but I'm going to.
At school the next day, Buffy's complaining about being plagued by nightmares of test bubbles, and Oz offers to help Buffy bone up for the test, but she begs off saying that she's busy. The gang runs into Principal Snyder, who's forcing everyone to sell candy so that the band can buy new uniforms. "Note his interesting take on the volunteer concept."
Anyhoo, later Buffy's at home scarfing Chinese food with her mom. The question about driving comes up and Joyce puts her foot down. Apparently Buffy flunked the written driver's test and couldn't even take the road test. Well you know, some of those questions are hard! But Joyce is the best mom...after all, she buys 20 candy bars, doesn't she?
Next up, Buffy leaves to go train with Giles, who has her do some kind of Jedi mind trick. Just kidding...he wants her to be able to sense where her opponents are without using her sight. (See? Sort of like in Invisible Girl.) She's good with it, sells him the other 20 candy bars, and then says she has to go home to bond with mom. Which of course is a big fib.
Which basically means that Buffy goes to visit Angel at the Garden Mansion and bring him some juice. She sees Angel doing some kind of cross between martial arts and ballet. And I've never begrudged anyone their need to see Angel's naked torso, but c'mon, I was like, "Get a shirt!" Um, anyhoo, it turns out that Angel's gradually feeling better and a bit stronger, and he asks how Scott is doing. Buffy lets him believe they're still dating, and she's kind of hurt when he implies it'll be better when he's strong enough to make it without her help.
Well, I'm running off at the mouth here...Let's see....so Buffy goes home and is caught in a lie...apparently Giles went to see Buffy's mom to find out where Buffy was. Buffy balks about the hyper-strict watch she seems to be under, and Giles and Joyce send Buffy to bed and kind of agree to talk about it later. Meanwhile, the two of them have been scarfing lots of chocolate.
Next day at school, Willow and Xander are playing footsie under the table in study hall, which is kind of risky, since Cordy and Buffy are right in front of them. Which also begs the question, what's with this seating arrangement? Anyhoo, Giles is supposed to be proctoring the study hall, but he's not around. We see Snyder kind of coerce this other teacher into taking over study hall duty. His lingo is...odd, and so is hers. He calls Giles a "pinhead." The gang's startled when the nice old lady teacher tells them to pretend to read until Snyder's out of earshot, at which point she'll dismiss the class.
Long story short, Ethan Rayne's cast some kind of spell on the chocolate bars that turns the adults into teenagers...Joyce and Giles get smoochy and smoke a lot. Giles steals some clothing that Joyce admired in a store window, and he knocks out a cop when they're caught, and he lifts a gun. He doesn't hotwire any cars in this ep., though. Snyder's a big hanger-on who likes babes but can't score, and Willow's doctor is topless and stage-diving.
Basically, everyone's acting irresponsibly and the gang finally gets a handle on why. When Buffy goes to the factory to see what's up, she runs into Ethan, who spills the info. Apparently, there's a big tribute to be made to the demon Lurconis, and everyone needs to be out of it, sort of. So why not just dope everyone up with sleeping pills? Because that wouldn't serve the purpose of the ep. and message I guess.
Anyhoo, Buffy takes Giles and Joyce down to the sewers with her so they can save the babies from being eaten by Lurconis. There, they run into Trick (who makes a quick getaway), and the mayor, who also makes a getaway of the quickness. The babies are saved, the demon is killed, and Buffy can now take her SATs. At the end of the 'sode, there is apparent embarrassment on the parts of Giles and Joyce.
That's all I'm saying, 'cause I yapped for too long as it is now. Sorry.
1. Buffy staked a vamp in the cemetery.
2. Buffy inflicted bodily harm on Ethan Rayne in order to gain some knowledge.
3. Buffy staked some vamps in the sewers.
4. Buffy fed Lurconis a "flaming stick."
1. That politics really are dirty!
2. That Snyder really was a dweeb in high school!
3. Buffy's still not a licensed driver (and with good reason)!
4. Willow and Xander are still into each other.
5. Cordy's still into Xander much and has no knowledge about the W/X "tryst."
6. Cordy also tests well.
7. Eating too much chocolate can be hazardous to your health.
1. Sunnydale High School
2. The Garden Mansion
3. Buffy's house
4. The cemetery
5. The Milkbar candy factory
6. Giles's place
7. The Bronze
8. Some downtown streets
9. The park
10. Sunnydale General Hospital
11. The Mayor's Office
12. The sewers
1. Buffy
2. Willow
3. Xander
4. Giles
5. Cordelia
6. Angel
7. Oz
8. The Mayor (aka Richard Wilkins)
9. Devon
10. Mr. Trick
11. Miss Barton
12. Principal Snyder
13. Joyce Summers
14. Ethan Rayne
15. Lurconis
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