Buffy: The I in Team (4.13)

Immediately after I re-watched this episode, I became a firm believer in the urban legend that Lindsay Crouse was fired for being a huge pain in the ass on-set. The I in Team is Buffy on fast-forward, with a lot of interesting ideas pretty much exterminated before they have time to flourish. In just 40 minutes we see Buffy joining the Initiative, annoying the Initiative, surviving the Initiative, and discovering the true agenda of the Initiative. It's all way too fast, the story immediately losing any power it could have had.

The problem is most evident in Maggie Walsh but, as I implied above, I'm not sure we can pin that on the writers. She's a fascinating character, one moment horribly arrogant and dismissive, the next moment maternal and nurturing. She cares about her 'boys', so much so that Buffy's arrival creates a feeling of jealousy in her. Then there's that incestuous 'ick' moment of watching Buffy and Riley have sex via a hidden spycam. There's just too much happening with this character for her to be so casually dismissed at the end of the episode. Similarly, the reveal of Adam is shockingly 'blah'. There's little build-up, just an immediate cut to a comatose Frankenstein monster. There's not even a huge whir on the soundtrack to imply something big is happening. It's seriously underwhelming, but I don't know if the writers were planning it to happen so quickly.

Elsewhere, I loved the interesting contrast between Buffy's reluctance to follow protocol and Riley's almost robotic ability to do exactly what he's told. Riley hasn't developed his own perspective or mindset at all, he's a blank slate who feels that blindly accepting what he is told somehow makes him a better person. It's an intriguing approach. I also really liked the ambitious flash-forward sex scene; and that great scene with Buffy asking way too many questions, her opinion that dressing up in camouflage will look 'all Private Benjamin'.

Away from the Initiative hoodoo, there's the obvious feeling that the Scoobies are being frayed this year. It's a theme that's been resonant through a ton of episodes so far, from Buffy's isolation in the season premiere, to Xander's sense of distance, Giles' mid-life crisis, and here Willow's annoyance with Buffy's rudeness. Of course, Buffy is once again pretty obnoxious here, dismissing her friends at the drop of a hat to party with soldier guys. Ugh. At least Willow has her intriguing new friendship with Tara, something she's still keeping a secret from everybody. What possibly could be happening with that? Heh.

The themes of season four are at their most evident here, but the Initiative as a story arc stumbles awkwardly throughout a lot of this episode. The ideas are wonderful, but without being even a little bit staggered, everything feels rushed and hollow. Surely the writers could have worked around behind-the-scenes issues more successfully? B-

Credits
Guest stars Amber Benson (Tara Maclay); George Hertzberg (Adam); Leonard Roberts (Forrest Gates); Bailey Chase (Graham Miller); Jack Stehlin (Dr. Angelman); Emma Caulfield (Anya); Lindsay Crouse (Maggie Walsh)
Writer David Fury Director James A. Contner