"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Halloween (1997)

Director:

Bruce Seth Green

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator)
Carl Ellsworth (written by)

TV Series:

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)

Original Air Date:

27 lokakuu 1997 (Season 2, Episode 6)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

When a curse causes the Sunnydale masses to become their Halloween costumes, Buffy becomes an English noblewoman, Xander a soldier, and Willow a ghost. Spike seizes the moment of Buffy being totally helpless, and decides to attack.

Plot Keywords:

Halloween | Female Protagonist | Library | Heroine | Demon

Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendon	...	Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan	...	Willow Rosenberg
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Anthony Head	...	Rupert Giles (as Anthony Stewart Head)
Seth Green	...	Oz
James Marsters	...	Spike
Robin Sachs	...	Ethan Rayne
Juliet Landau	...	Drusilla
Armin Shimerman	...	Principal Snyder
Larry Bagby	...	Larry Blaisdell (as Larry Bagby III)
Abigail Gershman	...	Girl

Runtime:

44 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Latin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

Writer Carl Ellsworth was fired by Joss Whedon immediately after completing the script for this episode.

Goofs:

Continuity: Willow should not be able to touch anything but when she leaves Giles at the costume shop she touches the curtain and it moves.

Quotes:

Xander Harris: A black eye heals, Buffy, but cowardice has an unlimited shelf life.

Movie Connections:

References "Xena: Warrior Princess" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Shy

A classic BTVS episode

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is not only one of the funniest episodes of the season, it's also an important one. It introduces Giles' arch-enemy Ethan Rayne and Xander's on-again, off-again bully, Larry, both of whom will be in more episodes to come. It provides us with our first glimpse of the harder-edged Giles lurking behind the tweed and library books. It sets-up the recurring joke that Halloween is an embarrassment to the truly evil, with Spike growing more and more disgusted with it's commericalization as the years go on. This episode will also be cited repeated throughout the rest of the series. For example, Xander's Army-guy training will be discussed right into season seven. "Halloween" is one of the episodes that you really shouldn't skip. It's a classic episode that shows BTVS at it's comedic best.

The episode revolved around Halloween in Sunnydale, where everyone is suddenly transformed into whatever they're dressed as. It begins with, Xander, Buffy and Willow being "volunteered" by Snyder to take neighborhood children trick-or-treating. Having seen Cordy flirting with Angel, Buffy is determined to "wow" him with her costume. She dresses up like an 18th Century lady, convinced that he'll be more attracted to her if she looks like the women from his youth. Xander, meanwhile, dresses up like a soldier and Willow hides the revealing outfit that Buffy made her wear under a white, sheet-like, ghost costume. It should be a fairly simple evening, but being Sunnydale, things soon go wrong. Unfortunately for the Scoobie's, Giles' nemesis Ethan Rayne is in town and he's cooking up a spell to turn everyone into their Halloween costumes. Soon Xander is shooting a machine gun, Buffy is fainting and simpering in the face of danger and Willow is walking through walls. Meanwhile, Spike arrives to take advantage of the situation and starts recruiting the newly transformed children/monsters into a slayer hunting party. It's up to Giles to stop Ethan before Buffy and the rest of the town is destroyed.

There's a lot to like about this episode. I think Angel, Buffy and Cordy's scene at the beginning of the episode is cute. I pretty sure that's the first time we see Angel laugh. And who can resist Spike and Dru? I just adore watching them together. Video taping Buffy so he can study her weaknesses is just so.... Spike. Unlike Angel he gleefully adapts to technology and uses all situations to his own advantage. I also love the scene where Willow, Xander, Cordy and Buffy are hiding at Buffy's house. Buffy and Xander's memory loss is hilarious, especially when Angel arrives. Spike's right, the whole episode is just... "neat."

On the downside, and I'm nitpicking here, but how that vampire just walked into Buffy's kitchen? He should have needed an invitation, even if he was just an ordinary person transformed into a vampire, right? The spell made everyone turn into their costumes, so technically he would be a vampire now and have to follow the "you need to invite them in" rule. Also, I can't believe how easily Spike captured Angel and the Scoobies. Good grief, he didn't even have to break a sweat! Angel's a better fighter than that. Also I'm not convinced that Angel ever knew any noble women in his human life. He was the wastrel son of an Irish merchant. His family, much to young Angel's dismay, only had one servant. I think it's sweet when he talks to Buffy at the end of the episode, reassuring her that she's far more interesting than any of the noble women he once knew. But, I don't think he's being entirely accurate.

My favorite part of the episode: Buffy's reaction to seeing a car for the first time, "It's a demon!" This is the exact same response Angel will have when he looses his memory and sees LA traffic speeding by in the "Angel" episode "Spin the Bottle."