The main problem with this episode is that there is little separating it from any other fantasy series from the 1990's. Characters are brainwashed by monsters into worshiping monster's overlord-type thing, hero saves the day. There's very little else to the hour, not even a metaphorical depiction of what happens when trust is broken, or what happens when people begin to act differently. Also disappointing is the compete lack of any Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style paranoia. The egg critters appear, characters are suddenly revealed to be evil, and folks begin cracking open the ground beneath the high school. It's major filler material.Things are getting hot and heavy at Sunnydale High. Buffy and Angel literally spend the whole hour making out, while Xander and Cordelia are similarly distracted in various closets on campus. Poor Willow. Can she just shack up with Oz already? She's like the only Scooby member not involved right now! Though, remembering how badly relationships end on this show, maybe she should consider herself lucky.
Of little consequence are the Gorch's. I don't know if the script came in shorter than usual, but their inclusion in the story is unnecessary at best. I liked Buffy fighting alongside the vampires to ward off the brainwashed teens, but they were still pretty redundant. A funny thing I thought about was how, in retrospect, Lyle and Tector look and talk like they're straight out of True Blood. Heh.
Bad Eggs has a couple of fun moments (the Bezoar stalking Buffy's bedroom, the monster beneath the ground), but it's all very, very inconsequential. Maybe it's just my knowledge of the next run of episodes that distracted me, but I couldn't wait for this to be over. D+
Credits
Guest stars Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Jeremy Ratchford (Lyle Gorch); James Parks (Tector Gorch); Rick Zieff (Mr. Whitmore)
Writer Marti Noxon Director David Greenwalt
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