A Justification for "Gingerbread"?
Jun. 4th, 2005 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellow"Gingerbread", episode 3.11 of Buffy, is one of the weaker episodes of season three. There are some choice moments - the Cordelia/Giles scenes in particular - but the main plot is simply silly. Nonetheless, I have realized that it does have some interesting ramifications in terms of the overall season.
Short version, for real Buffy geeks: without the events of "Gingerbread", Willow is not the only, or even the most powerful, witch at SHS at the time of "Doppelgangland".
The full explanation depends on the interrelations of three episodes.
"The Wish" (3.09): Cordelia, still seething over her breakup with Xander in the previous episode and (irrationally) blaming Buffy, voices a wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Unfortunately, she does this in the presence of the vengeance demon Anyanka, who promptly grants the wish. This plunges the world into an alternative reality in which The Master broke out of his mystic prison (cf. episode 1.02, "The Harvest") and established a hell on earth. Among other changes, Willow and Xander are vampires in this reality. The episode climaxes in a bloodbath in which (the alternate versions of) Angel, Xander, Willow and Buffy are all killed. Fortunately, alt-Giles manages to seize and smash Anyanka's pendant - the source of her power - and thereby reverse the effects of the wish. Anyanka is trapped, powerless, in the form of Anya Jenkins, a senior at SHS.
"Doppelgangland" (3.16): Anya, in an attempt to recover her pendant (and her powers), persuades Willow to help her cast a spell to retrieve the pendant from "where it was last seen" - i.e., the Wishverse reality. Of course, she doesn't tell Willow of the possible consequences. During the spellcasting, Willow gets a glimpse of the Wishverse; her nervous reaction distorts the spell so that, instead of summoning the pendant, it brings her vampiric self over to this reality. Unaware that this has happened, Willow chews Anya out for playing around with dark forces, and refuses to try again. (The episode continues with hijinks involving mistaken identity and deliberate masquerades, culminating in the return of VampWillow to the Wishverse.)
"Gingerbread" falls in between those two episodes. Sunnydale comes under the influence of a demon whose M.O. is to manifest as two murdered children, apparently the victims of ritual sacrifice. This triggers a literal witch-hunt, ending in an attempt to burn Buffy, Willow, and Amy Madison at the stake. Amy, like Willow, is a witch, and at this point, she is significantly more powerful and less scrupulous. To escape the stake, Amy attempts to cast a spell, which backfires, turning her into a rat. (She remained in rat form, except for one momentary incident, for about three years.) Giles and Cordelia arrive moments later, in time to put out the fires and break the demon's power; Buffy then kills it.
The relevance of this episode? Without it, Amy is still around at the time of "Doppelgangland"; Anya could have approached her instead of Willow, or after Willow's refusal. It is quite possible that Amy would not have shared Willow's qualms, or at least would not have reacted as strongly. The spell goes through, and Anyanka, and possibly the Wishverse, is restored. This is not good...
Yes, I think about these things too much.
Short version, for real Buffy geeks: without the events of "Gingerbread", Willow is not the only, or even the most powerful, witch at SHS at the time of "Doppelgangland".
The full explanation depends on the interrelations of three episodes.
"The Wish" (3.09): Cordelia, still seething over her breakup with Xander in the previous episode and (irrationally) blaming Buffy, voices a wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Unfortunately, she does this in the presence of the vengeance demon Anyanka, who promptly grants the wish. This plunges the world into an alternative reality in which The Master broke out of his mystic prison (cf. episode 1.02, "The Harvest") and established a hell on earth. Among other changes, Willow and Xander are vampires in this reality. The episode climaxes in a bloodbath in which (the alternate versions of) Angel, Xander, Willow and Buffy are all killed. Fortunately, alt-Giles manages to seize and smash Anyanka's pendant - the source of her power - and thereby reverse the effects of the wish. Anyanka is trapped, powerless, in the form of Anya Jenkins, a senior at SHS.
"Doppelgangland" (3.16): Anya, in an attempt to recover her pendant (and her powers), persuades Willow to help her cast a spell to retrieve the pendant from "where it was last seen" - i.e., the Wishverse reality. Of course, she doesn't tell Willow of the possible consequences. During the spellcasting, Willow gets a glimpse of the Wishverse; her nervous reaction distorts the spell so that, instead of summoning the pendant, it brings her vampiric self over to this reality. Unaware that this has happened, Willow chews Anya out for playing around with dark forces, and refuses to try again. (The episode continues with hijinks involving mistaken identity and deliberate masquerades, culminating in the return of VampWillow to the Wishverse.)
"Gingerbread" falls in between those two episodes. Sunnydale comes under the influence of a demon whose M.O. is to manifest as two murdered children, apparently the victims of ritual sacrifice. This triggers a literal witch-hunt, ending in an attempt to burn Buffy, Willow, and Amy Madison at the stake. Amy, like Willow, is a witch, and at this point, she is significantly more powerful and less scrupulous. To escape the stake, Amy attempts to cast a spell, which backfires, turning her into a rat. (She remained in rat form, except for one momentary incident, for about three years.) Giles and Cordelia arrive moments later, in time to put out the fires and break the demon's power; Buffy then kills it.
The relevance of this episode? Without it, Amy is still around at the time of "Doppelgangland"; Anya could have approached her instead of Willow, or after Willow's refusal. It is quite possible that Amy would not have shared Willow's qualms, or at least would not have reacted as strongly. The spell goes through, and Anyanka, and possibly the Wishverse, is restored. This is not good...
Yes, I think about these things too much.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-04 07:56 pm (UTC)Yes, but I'm glad because I enjoy it! :-)
We're still watching Season 2.
We took a long hiatus before watching Surprise (the one where Angel goes bad at the end, if that's not it). Probably because I was really traumatized by bad Angel the first time through and wasn't too looking forward to watching that all again. (should mention that the only time I've watched all the episodes before now was when they were on TV, but have Seasons 1, 2, and 3 on DVD and am working my way through with Tom, who hasn't necessarily seen any of them)
We've since watched a few episodes with Angelus and surprisingly, I'm really enjoying it!! I guess I've got the distance from knowing what happens and the years between. :-)
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the alternate vampire realities now. Fun!
no subject
Date: 2005-06-04 10:26 pm (UTC)It's what makes his shows good, and makes them trail off and die when he is no longer there to do it.