Act Three
17EEE) "Three stones." THE MAGIC NUMBER THREE: See 12F.
17FFF) "Why'd I ever let you talk me into coming here?" CLASSIC CORDY: And now Cordy blames Buffy for the situation. What else is new?
17GGG) "Angel, how do you shave?" VAMPIRES & REFLECTIONS: See 11CC.
"I always shave by touch rather than eye, so I can never get why people get so worried about this issue. :-)"--KdS, Mon, 01/27/03 at 10:34:58 (Editor's Note: Me too!--Rob)
17HHH) "Well, why do you think she went to that party?" FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Losing it, she turns on them both in a sudden Willow-fury."--"Reptile Boy" by David Greenwalt, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1
WILLOW POWER: "One of the first times that Willow uses her considerable intellect in an assertive way to disagree with apparent authority figures on the series. Up until now, she has largely stayed quiet on people's decisions, but here she takes them to task for their treatment of Buffy. It's the seeds of Willow's developing self-confidence, which then grows slowly but relentlessly throughout three or four subsequent seasons."--Tchaikovsky, Mon, 01/27/03 at 08:58:36 See 20RRR.
17III) "One day I'll have money. Prestige. Power. And on that day they'll still have more." POOR XANDER: "This episode...gives some fabulous insight into Xander and we see boiling over some of the resentment of being one of a few working class kids in a rich and upper middle class town. Consider this [referenced] line...[,which is h]auntingly accurate in both its foreshadowing of his future success and his understanding of where he really fits...The frat boys in this episode all come from privileged and monied backgrounds. Their fathers are presidents of banks and large business concerns (a cosmetics company, for example). Xander's family is blue-collar, working class--not exactly poor, but miles away from wealth and privilege. Xander continues in a blue collar trade--construction/carpentry--and, while he works his way up to a foreman position, he's still a construction worker." So Xander's line here is either incredibly prescient, incredibly perceptive, or perhaps both.--Rattletrap, Mon, 01/27/03 at 15:07:35, with a small addition by Rob
17JJJ) "We have no wealth, no possession... except that which you give us." NOUVEAU RICHE?: "A distinction between inherited and self-made wealth? Perhaps what lies at the heart of the class resentment in this episode, the idea that the power and privilege was not earned. It's the old meritocracy vs. aristocracy divide."--ponygirl, Tues, 01/28/03 at 07:36:23
17LLL) "I don't think we go to it. I think it comes to us." BUFFY PERCEPTIVE: A classic case of Buffy smartness (see 2L). She is very aware of her surroundings, and fully realizes what is about to happen. Not that she's happy about it.
17MMM) It's a half-man, half-snake, green and scaly. FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "AT THE ALTER The rumbling grows louder and more fierce. The brethren are all glass-eyed, murmuring “Machida” feverishly. And suddenly, with a great explosion, the HORRIBLE THING bursts out of the big black pit. MACHIDA is half man, half snake. He has a muscular body (from the waist up) and the enlarged and frightening head of a man with the fangs and horrible eyes of a snake. His skin has the diamond pattern of a snake – thus the diamond carvings on his “people”. From the waist down he is all snake – and a big ‘un, too, his snake body trails behind him into the depths of the pit: God knows how long this guy is. Machida towards over the brethren and stretches his glistening body so he can look down on Buffy, Cordelia and Callie. Off Buffy, looking up at the hideous Delta Zeta deity, and Cordelia screaming for all she’s worth."--"Reptile Boy" by David Greenwalt, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1
UN-SUBTLE MUCH?: "So these frat boys have a large snake-like object, which lives downstairs, and which impedes their ability to think rationally. The phallic imagery is fairly obvious, and the obvious power and status that they will have in their later life is a hint at the unsavory nature of patriarchal society, a theme which David Greenwalt gets to explore more fully in the [law] firm 'Wolfram and Hart' in Angel."--Tchaikovsky, Mon, 01/27/03 at 08:58:36
"The episode…unifies the two common hostile images of men-only fraternities and Greek societies at US universities - the image of fraternity members as loutish, debauched and sexually predatory against young women and the conspiracy theories expressing concern about fraternities' perceived role as economic and political old-boy networks."--KdS, Tues, 01/28/03 at 07:45:56
This cult is probably inspired by the "secret societies" at such Ivy League schools as Harvard and Yale. These are fraternities where the members are all promised and given great affluence, and yet little to nothing is known about them, since few if any members ever spoke about what goes on in them, although there are implications that illegal activities go on. A movie from 2000, entitled The Skulls, was a fictional version of one of these societies.
Act Four
17*3) "And we shall feed him." DOUBLE ENTENDRE: "It's fairly clear that the monster is interested in consuming the girls for nourishment, but, in view of the phallic nature of Machida, perhaps it's worth noting that 'eating' a person can also refer to oral sex."--submitted by Rhys
17NNN) "No woman speaks to him!" PAGING BETTY FRIEDAN: "A very heavy emphasis on the misogyny of the fraternity, especially considering the phallic appearance of the demon. By denying women a voice the men deny them access to the economic power they control."--ponygirl, Tues, 01/28/03 at 07:36:23
17OOO) "You don't want her. Look at her. She's all skin and bones. Half an hour later you'll be hungry." FAIRY TALE TIME: This is a great, subtle reference to the classic fairy tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, in which the first and second goat convince the troll not to eat them by saying, "You don't want to eat me. I'm all skin and bones. But wait for my brother, whose coming next. He's big and fat, and will be a great meal for you." Buffy's words are, of course, a tad bit more selfless here, since instead of trying to save herself at the expense of others, as the billy goats did, she is trying to keep another girl, Cordy, from being devoured first.
17PPP) Angel comes in behind him... WHY DOESN'T ANGEL NEED AN INVITE HERE?: See 7E.
17QQQ) "And that's for the last sixteen and a half years!" CONTINUITY CHECK: Xander is getting out all his aggression against all the bullies who ever hurt him throughout the years, including, assumably, Rodney Munson (see 16F). In Inca Mummy Girl, Willow noted that Xander probably doesn't like him "'cause of that time he beat you up every day for five years."
17RRR) ...Buffy wields back the sword and slashes it into him. HOW FITTING!: Buffy uses one phallic symbol--a sword--to destroy another.
17SSS) "You did it! You saved us!" MY KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR!: "A nice gender-related joke that Cordelia immediately thanks the guy when Buffy did all the real work." Also, another nice little nod the on-going Cordy-throwing-herself-at-Angel plot thread (see 5GG and 14XX).--KdS, Mon, 01/27/03 at 10:34:58
17TTT) "I just...hate you guys! The weirdest things always happen when you're around!" SURE, BLAME THEM: Cordy blaming the Scoobies for all the terrible things that happen to her, including the monsters they save her from, will reach its pinnacle in The Wish, when Cordy decides that her life would be perfect had Buffy never come to Sunnydale, ignoring the fact that had Buffy never come to Sunnydale, the town would have been undefended from the monsters.
17UUU) "And you! You're going to jail for fifteen thousand years!" FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In the original shooting script, a very elaborate sequence occurred here: "...[U]nbeknownst to any of our heroes, the snake body begins slowly moving. Until it joins up with the torso. A squooshy sound of flesh and protoplasm meeting and the two halves re-join!" Machida jumps up, but, instead of attacking the others, goes up to Tom and yells, "For a hundred years I have given your forebearers wealth and power. And this is how you repay me. From this day forth you are alone in the world." Machida goes back into the pit, but then pops up again and grabs and swallows Tom, saying "Lil’ somethin’ for the road." In the DVD commentary for Reptile Boy, David Greenwalt said that cutting this scene from the script was his biggest disappointment, but ME did not have the time or money to shoot it. As originally conceived, Machida was meant to return as a recurring villain.--"Reptile Boy" by David Greenwalt, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1
17VVV) "I told one lie, I had one drink." JUST SAY NO: "BtVS sometimes seems to be winking at the whole teen show cliché of showing horrific consequences to drug and alcohol use. As Giles notes what more can you say after that one drink led to being chained to a wall and offered to a giant snake?"--ponygirl, Tues, 01/28/03 at 07:36:23
17WWW) "The words 'let that be a lesson' are a tad redundant at this juncture." FORGIVENESS: Just like in When She Was Bad, Buffy thinks she deserves a lecture from Giles over her bad behavior, but he doesn't give her one. She has already learned her lesson, and doesn't need a scolding from him, he realizes. See 13DDD.
17XXX) "Thank you, Jonathan." CONTINUITY CHECK: Another Jonathan appearance, after his introduction in the previous episode, Inca Mummy Girl (see 16Dx4). This is the first time we learn his name. See 16Dx4, 22TT, 24WW, 32M, 36VVV, 39SSS, and 43Y.
FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In the original script, the boy who Cordy goes out with is a freshman named Leslie. Although Jonathan (who is a junior, like the Scoobies) was used in the final product, the description of the boy could be used for Jonathan as well: "He looks up at her (being so much shorter and all) adoringly."--"Reptile Boy" by David Greenwalt, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1
17YYY) "Did we forget something?" FIXING A DRINK: This is a great symbolic way of showing that Cordy has regained the control she lost from the frat boys. Whereas earlier, the boys had the power, symbolized by the drugged drink they made for her, she now makes the specifications for the drink she wants. She sends this boy back to get the exact drink she wants. She is exerting her power over the same symbol that was earlier used to attack her! Buffy will do this as well in a few minutes, when she doesn't give Angel an exact answer about whether she will go out with him for coffee. See 17Bx4.
17ZZZ) "And older bones dating back fifty years." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: In the original script, Willow says here, "They didn’t find the snake? Which means we probably will some day. Oh goody." This, of course, was meant to leave the door open for another appearance by Machida. Since in the final product, he didn't come back to life, this line was dropped. Interesting to note, though is that, although Machida never reappeared, a similar cult of boys trying to get power by sacrificing girls to a demon was an important element of the seventh season's Help.--"Reptile Boy" by David Greenwalt, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1
17Ax4) "Starve a snake, lose a fortune." WORD TO THE WISE: "Probably a riff off the proverb: 'Starve a cold. Feed a fever.'"--Tchaikovsky, Mon, 01/27/03 at 08:58:36
17Bx4) "Yeah. Sometime. I'll let you know." FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "And she gets up and goes. Xander, Willow, Angel stare at her departing back. Xander kind of respects what she just did. So does Angel. ANGLE – BUFFY – WALKING AWAY Tracking backwards with her. Letting her grow into a tight close-up. So we can see how pleased she is. Then she walks out of frame and we – FADE OUT."--"Reptile Boy" by David Greenwalt, available through Pocketbooks, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season Two, Volume 1
YOU GO, GIRLS!: "Both Cordelia and Buffy end the episode in control. Cordy by sticking with younger men, confident that she can assert her status over them. Buffy, after being reassured and given proof that Angel does care about her, is able control her emotions and walk away, setting the terms herself rather than constantly chasing."--ponygirl, Tues, 01/28/03 at 07:36:23 See 17YYY.
CONTINUITY CHECK: Buffy and Angel will almost have this sort-of date in the next episode, Halloween (see 18L).