This is Buffy-as-teenage-metaphor in its most basic sense, depicting the idea of teenage rebellion and how it becomes horrible and fatal and hideous when things spiral out of control. Buffy takes a walk on the wild side this week: partying, skipping school, stealing. But what creates the genre twist is that so much of Buffy and Faith's bad girl routine involves hunting and killing vampires. It's such an interesting approach to both characters. Buffy's idea of being a slayer is that it’s a curse and that slaying is a duty. Faith sees slaying as a sport, and vamps as a means to an end in her efforts to have fun. There's no conscience there, she just loves the hunting and the staking. It's because of Buffy's morals and her history that she quickly realizes that she's screwed up big-time.
Like so many other episodes this season, Buffy and Giles make a wonderful father-daughter-style double act. They both immediately side together when Wesley, a new Watcher, arrives; and Buffy continues to treat Giles as both a friend and a father figure when talking about her duties. A part of Buffy has also rubbed off on Giles, his snarkiness and combat skills in Balthazar's hideout were awesome. Maybe Wesley's annoying cowardice just brings out the best in Giles, but he's truly great here. Wesley is the Kendra version of a Watcher, a by-the-book, humorless grouch with a major bug up his ass. Of course, Kendra became likable, but Wesley's majorly frustrating. It is fascinating, though, seeing him here. For obvious reasons. But that discussion is for a different time.
Balthazar was a great villain. The first thing that comes to mind is the similarly gross tub of goo in the first Blade movie (love, by the way), but Christian Clemenson's manic, exasperated delivery makes him ridiculously entertaining. The character is horrifying (I think it's the desperate need for moisture), but hilarious.
Finally, we have the Mayor becoming indestructible. He's been an amusing character so far, that now unfortunately typical 'chipper all-American dad'-type with death and carnage on his mind behind closed doors. Of course, he hasn't done a whole lot up to this point, but Harry Groener has been consistently fun in the part. In some ways his introduction has been a little too padded-out so far, since his presence only truly kicks into gear this episode.
Bad Girls is a lot of fun, working well as a statement piece (the allure of rebellion), as well as featuring a whole bunch of individually memorable moments (Buffy and Faith dancing in the Bronze is... well... it's kinda hot). The one part that always gets me, though, is actually a really small moment, in which Willow whispers 'stupid' to herself and throws her little protection spell back onto the bed after Buffy leaves with Faith. It's such a tiny yet heartbreaking moment, something Alyson Hannigan always does so well. A
Credits
Guest stars Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Harry Groener (Mayor Richard Wilkins III); K. Todd Freeman (Mr. Trick); Jack Plotnick (Allen Finch); Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce); Christian Clemenson (Balthazar); Eliza Dushku (Faith)
Writer Douglas Petrie Director Michael Lange
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