Buffy: The Initiative (4.7)

Spike is exactly what the show needed at this point. With Oz gone, Giles way on the periphery of things and Anya only appearing intermittently, Buffy needed a big dose of funny, and that came in the unexpected form of 'neutered puppy' Spike. It's a little dramatically lazy, but Spike's chip creates some genius characterization, especially here. His big moment with Willow, an elaborate erectile dysfunction gag, is insanely awesome, capped by that brilliant moment when Willow snaps out of being a complete sucker and bashes a table-lamp over his head.

The Initiative also marks the introduction of the, uh... Initiative. Regardless of how the story eventually unfolds, there's something visually and thematically exciting about their presence, since it adds another layer of real-world science fiction to the whole show. Just as introducing politics and the Sunnydale Mayor worked so well last season. There's also something mysteriously X-Files-ish about this arc, notably the elaborate Initiative soundstage and the minimalist cells containing various demons and vampires.

The episode's enjoyable script also folds Riley and Maggie Walsh into the Initiative action, cleverly setting up Riley and his buddies with a fun teaser sequence where Buffy is depicted as this clumsy yet intriguingly beautiful presence on campus, and later as they go about their Initiative business. Riley is bland and has a hideous haircut, but his normal-ness works well so far, in particular in his interaction with Buffy. He's so conservative and gentleman-ly, which is entirely what Buffy needs at this point in her life.

This feels a lot like a different series, setting up a big bad with just as much a 'fresh', 'otherworldy' quality as the new locations and scenery of UC Sunnydale. I think I'm enjoying the changes, even if I'm still missing Sunnydale High and the tightness of the Scooby dynamic. But The Initiative is a fun episode, well-balanced with moments of great humor and moving character bits. In the end the big dorm-room coda is a little 'blah', but generally the hour works. And there's also that notoriously funny catfight between Xander and Harmony, which is so dumb and so awesome in equal measure. B

Credits
Guest stars Marc Blucas (Riley Finn); Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall); Adam Kaufman (Parker Abrams); Bailey Chase (Graham Miller); Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates); Lindsay Crouse (Maggie Walsh)
Writer Douglas Petrie Director James A. Contner