Season 5

Episode 11

 

TRIANGLE:  The woods are lovely, dark, and deep

by Spring Summers – 05-JUL-04

 

- Baby steps in the woods – Inner Olafs:  Buffy, Xander, and Spike - Life without Giles – Individual values – Spicy extras for James Marsters fans -

 

In the last episode, Buffy and company started Into The Woods.  This week, they are taking their first, tentative steps along the dark and unbeaten path.  There are many, many references to people trying something new and a little scary.  Here are a few examples:

 

  • Anya wants to try running the shop on her own.
  • Spike wants to take a stab at seriously courting Buffy.
  • Willow & Tara want to try a new spell.
  • Anya tries driving.  (“I couldn’t know until I tried, could I?”)

 

Buffy and her friends are no longer – like Giles or Olaf - Englishmen in England, or Trolls in the safety and familiarity of Troll-land.  They’ve begun their journey away from home, and it’s time to start experimenting.  The first character Buffy and her friends encounter in the enchanted forest is, appropriately, Olaf the Troll.  He is certainly the id, the beast within, personified.  Note that he mentions virgins and babies – i.e., the innocent, as his natural victims.  He is cheerfully amoral, with adult-sized drives and propensities for sex and food and violence (sans the governing ego of the adult).  He seeks immediate gratification, is insatiable (“You cannot appease me!  Do not try!”), and he is childlike in his wholly irrational and easily distractible approach to his surroundings.  Allowed to run wild, he leaves a terrible troll trail of destruction, ceaselessly damaging property and injuring others as he seeks to fulfill his needs. 

 

The biggest challenge of adulthood is to not surrender to the twin temptations to completely deny, or to completely indulge, our own Olafs.  We must each eventually meet our personal Olaf head on, and take control of him.  But as we see in this episode, Buffy, Spike & the Scoobies aren’t quite ready to control Olaf; they simply send him away.  Reminders of their past youthful indiscretions abound, as we note that Olaf isn’t the only one who has left a rather messy trail:

 

  • XANDER (to Anya):  “Yeah.  Relationship debris is kinda piling up on Buffy highway.  This is a reference to Buffy’s failed relationships with Angel and Riley.
  • Reminding us of Willow’s past history (with spells and with Oz), several references are made to Something Blue:  The de-ratting of Amy; Willow checking to see if her wishes are coming true; Anya mentioning that D’Hoffryn offered Willow a job; Giles sarcastically commenting that nothing can go wrong with Willow’s spells.
  • Spike mentions to Xander that “Lot of people never really got Dru” reminding us of the debris on Spike’s highway of love.
  • Cordelia, Xander’s ex, is also mentioned, with a bonus reference to his brief dalliance with Willow:  ANYA (to Willow):  “I know what broke up him and Cordelia, you know.  It was you!  And your lips!”
  • We learn that Olaf was Anya’s former boyfriend, and Willow mentions Anya’s history of “hurting men.”

 

Also underlining the still unformed nature of everyone’s ability to deal with their inner Olafs are the many references to what is “insane,” and the scenes involving each of them struggling with irrational and emotional responses to stimuli.  Here are some examples:

 

  • Willow and Anya allow their anger toward each other to distract them and control their behavior during the casting of the spell - and the result is Olaf.  Repressed anger leads to Olaf’s appearance.
  • Xander loses his temper with Spike and slaps his hand away, when Spike reaches for some of Xander’s snack:  “Hey!  Those are mine!”  We all have fierce, instinctual desires to defend what is ours.  Territorial disputes are on display in this episode as reasons for unthinking anger. 
  • Spike looses his temper – with an inanimate object.  He is responding to a wholly internal dialogue, yet he makes himself so furious that he knocks over the Buffy-mannequin and ruins the candy.  He has to try again to get through the process without losing control.  Disappointment in love, that fear of rejection and subsequent feeling of emptiness and worthlessness, can easily cause us to cede control to our inner Olaf.

 

OLAF:  “I find myself very hungry.  And when I’m hungry, I grow impatient!” 

 

Underneath it all, Buffy, Spike, & The Scoobies are hungry, anxious, and struggling to meet their needs for food, sex, love, acceptance, and self-knowledge.  And it is so very, very hard to control Olaf, when he’s hungry.

 

BUFFY:  “About being a nun – you know, with the whole abjuring the company of men?  You know, how’s that working for you?  The abjuring?”

NUN:  “Um – good.”

BUFFY:  “Do you have to be, like, super-religious?”

NUN:  “Well – uh –”

BUFFY:  “How’s the food?”

 

Yes, you do have to be super-religious, Buffy.  ‘Cause I’m thinking the food may be good, but it’s not that good.  It takes effort and true commitment to get Olaf on a leash.  It also takes strong self-awareness and vigilance, as well as support from others.  Watch this ep closely and note how many times people deal with the actual, or the figurative, appearance of Olaf, by ducking or by hiding behind other people.  And notice also the continued mention of signals, and the importance of watching for the signs to avoid surprise and unexpected blows. 

 

You must develop the wisdom to avoid Olaf’s blows, AND the strength to fight against him, because you can’t hide behind others always or forever:

 

BUFFY:  “New semester, new classes.  Whole new vistas of knowledge to be confused and intimidated by.”

TARA:  “I think this one’s gonna be kind of fun.  Greek Art’s gonna touch on so many things.  Mythology, history, philosophy.”

BUFFY:  “The professor spit too much when he talked.  It was like being at Sea World.  The first five rows will get wet.”

 

Tara suggests they sit farther back next time – you know, behind some other people who can take the brunt of the saliva for them.  But of course, if you sit farther back, you might not hear everything, or get as clear a vista on that new knowledge.  There are times when you’ve got to take a chance on getting wet.

 

But as we hear in Buffy’s conversation with the nun, she doesn’t quite understand, not yet, the power of Olaf, and what it takes to contain him.  Notice that he has more than one source of strength.  And note in particular Buffy’s pigtails and childish appearance and behavior in this episode.  Ultimately, Olaf’s vicious acts are not what energize Buffy in her fight against him - it is his attack on her idealized view of romantic love that gives her the extra boost she needs to defeat him.  You want Buffy to really, violently hurt you?  Try challenging her cherished, childlike view and definition of romantic love.

 

No, Buffy is not quite ready to face her Olaf, or even acknowledge his existence within her, not yet.  Buffy’s fear of the woods, of letting go of her childhood and of entering the world of adulthood, is further demonstrated in her comments about change:

 

  • To Joyce:  “”You!  You with the actual clothing!  Who are you?”  Buffy is just teasing here, but still, this is a comment about discomfort with change.
  • To Dawn:  “Stop being insightful.  It’s creepy.”  Growth and change in Dawn is a disquieting experience for Buffy.
  • To Spike (after noticing that he is helping a bleeding woman):  “What are you doing?”  Buffy’s tone indicates she could easily have added, “Stop being kind.  It’s creepy.”

 

Englishmen belong in England.  Trolls belong in the Land of the Trolls.  It’s creepy, otherwise.  Also emphasizing Buffy’s reluctance to head into those fearful woods is the difference between her treatment of Dawn (her innocent girly side) and Spike (her dark side) during the episode.  After putting down a beauty magazine she has been reading in her room, she allows Dawn on to her bed, and gently strokes Dawn’s hair.  Dawn is wearing a t-shirt which says “Glamour is my occupation.”  In contrast, Buffy ignores Spike at first, and then later demonstrates disgust and suspicion of him.  It’s been three years since Halloween, but part of Buffy is still hanging on to the dream of being a girl whose job is being beautiful.

 

And though part of Buffy might want to live forever in the Land of the Starry-eyed High Schoolers, Willow tells us at the end of this episode:  “Alternate universes don’t stay put.”  I’m sure they don’t.  And regardless of her reasons, Buffy does beat Olaf, doesn’t she?  And she’s got a nifty souvenir from her tangle with that beastie, one that will soon prove invaluable.  Ultimately, it all foreshadows Buffy’s eventual successful integration of her conflicting selves, as she reaches adulthood.  (Note that Spike’s mannequin represents only half-a-Buffy at this point – and half-a-Buffy is the most that is going to be available to Spike, for a good long while yet).

 

And what do we see in Xander?  Xander makes an attempt to get Olaf under control by suggesting that Olaf eat “some roast pigs and stags” instead of babies.  He offers moral means of satiating the Troll’s hunger.  He also suggests that they sit down “for a calm talk.”  But this doesn’t work, and later, Xander finds himself badly beaten by Olaf as he fights to keep him from harming Willow or Anya.  That’s quite a picture, isn’t it?  Olaf, in his role as the beast within, is a terrible threat to the women in Xander’s life.  Xander tries to fight that beast, but he is just not strong enough (“far too breakable!”).  So Xander demonstrates that he currently lacks the means to beat back his Olaf.  But in his willingness to confront Olaf against all odds (both with his brain and his body), and in his brave and stubborn refusal to let Olaf control his options, decisions, or behavior, Xander shows us the great potential he has to one day conquer his inner demon – i.e., to become the truly extraordinary adult he is well on the way to becoming, by series end.

 

But with Olaf representing the id, is it any surprise that Spike is absolutely powerless against him?  “Do what you like,” he says to Olaf.  He has no interest in fighting the beast (“I’m paralyzed with not caring very much.”) until Buffy’s appearance motivates him to give it a try.  But he doesn’t even know enough to duck, or to hide.  He confronts him head on, yes, but he goes down, flat on his back, at the first incidental blow.  That’s our Spike:  A victim to his inner Olaf, to the amoral gratification of his physical and emotional needs, and to his instinctual life.  His lack of a moral compass leaves him almost painfully clueless, as he guilelessly seeks Xander’s opinion about where Olaf might find babies to eat.  And later, he is genuinely baffled by Buffy’s failure to be impressed by his “not feeding on bleeding disaster victims.”  But still, his ability to control his hunger amongst all those “lovely blood-covered people,” despite his vampiric nature, is, in its own way, as extraordinary as Xander’s fight.  It seems that in his Buffy-love, there is hope.  There is hope for growth and for the day when Buffy’s presence may no longer be needed to motivate Spike to fight for control over his Olaf.

 

Buffy is an authority figure to Spike, as Giles is to Buffy & The Scoobies.  Olaf’s appearance coincides, fittingly, with the departure of Giles, the group’s “father.”  Giles leaves on a temporary mission to England to consult The Watchers about Glory, and we get a sneak peek at what life without Giles will mean for the younger generation, in Season 6.  We get several references to Dr Seuss’s character, The Cat in The Hat:

 

  • WILLOW:  “And voom!  There’s a floating ball of sunlight.  Vamps get dusty.”  Surely this is a deliberate reference to the Voom in The Cat in The Hat Comes Back:  “Voom is so hard to get; You never saw anything like it I bet; Why Voom cleans up anything; Clean as can be!”
  • WILLOW (to Anya):  “You’re the fish - the fish in the bowl, in The Cat in The Hat!  He was always saying the cat shouldn’t be there while the mother was out.”
  • Another Seuss reference occurs during the final fight in The Magic Box, as Olaf’s hammer goes flying against a magazine rack featuring a magazine called Green Eggs.  Like The Cat in The Hat, Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham is about characters being tempted to indulge in “bad” behavior.

 

If there ever was a character who went wild while mom was away, it’s that Cat. 

 

“That cat is a bad one,

That Cat in the Hat.

He plays lots of bad tricks.

Don't you let him come near.

You know what he did

The last time he was here."

 

In this episode, it is primarily Willow (secondarily Spike) who is The Cat in The Hat. 

 

That witch is a bad one,

That Witch with Red Hair.

She casts lots of bad spells.

Don’t you let her cast more.

You know what she did

Back in season four.

 

As she will in Season 6, with Giles away, Willow will play.  (I couldn’t help but notice that the cash register came back wrong!  But fortunately, the important part, the money inside, turned out to be OK after all.)  Reminding me again of Something Blue, this episode also draws parallels between Willow and Spike, casting Spike, as well as Willow, in pesky role of The Cat, of the serpent in the garden, the one who tempts the others toward freedom from authority, and toward sampling the delights of adulthood:

 

  • WILLOW excuses her carelessness and bravado in the use of magic, which is really about her trying to gratify her own needs, by claiming she is just trying to help Buffy.  In his rehearsed speech, SPIKE claims his selfishly motivated actions, in telling Buffy about Riley’s habit, were simply to help Buffy. 
  • WILLOW steals some of Giles’ Magic Box supplies, but then scoffs at Anya’s description of her as a burglar:  “Right.  The cunning, broad daylight, in front of everyone burglar.”  Later, SPIKE steals a feel from Buffy, in broad daylight, in front of everyone.
  • WILLOW pesters Anya; SPIKE pesters Xander.  WILLOW attempts to pull Xander into her problems with Anya; SPIKE attempts to pull Xander into his problems with Buffy.
  • We watch WILLOW rehearsing her sensitive spell, trying to get it just right; We watch SPIKE rehearsing his words to Buffy, trying to get them just right.
  • WILLOW tries to tempt Anya into complicity by offering to teach her to float a pencil; SPIKE tries to tempt Xander into conversing with him (so he can pump him for information) by mentioning the availability of chicken wings and the onion blossom.

 

As they did in Something Blue, the Willow and Spike parallels foreshadow their descent and ascent respectively – these two will pass each other on the Stairway to Heaven in Season 6.  Willow’s upcoming rampage is further foreshadowed in her attitude, which includes touches of arrogance and condescension, and in Anya’s comment:  “You’re closer to being a vengeance demon than I am.  Maybe Xander should be afraid of you!”

 

This mid-season episode has not forgotten the formation of identity theme that was set up in the Buffy vs Dracula Season opener – the need to meet, accept, and harness the inner Olaf is part of the work necessary to establish the individual self.  Many references to individual preferences and viewpoints, to the very unique ways we all ascribe value and find motivation, remind us of everyone’s need to define and discover their true selves.  In this episode, it is the mention of money and trash that point out individual values and choices:

 

  • GILES:  “They [the trash men] have been making such a mess in the back alley; the recycling people can’t get in there to collect.”  Recycling turns trash into something useful.
  • BUFFY (about Joyce’s robe):  “Maybe we should burn it.”  Buffy jokes that the robe should be discarded, and Joyce protests that it “doesn’t smell.”
  • SPIKE (picking up the candy):  “Buffy – there’s something I wanted to tell you.”  No use wasting good candy when you can stuff it back in the box and try again.  Notice also that Spike is using the mannequin he picked up at the dump.  Huh.  Who would have left half-a-Buffy at the dump, and who but Spike would have picked her up there?
  • ANYA:  “Money!  Did you hurt the money?  Money good?  She endangered the money!”  Willow comments that Anya cares too much about money.

 

One person’s trash is another person’s cash, and vice-versa. 

 

As we learn and grow and journey through our lives, the need to reach across our individual “alternate universes,” to sometimes throw that live bee at the  puppy and see where you end up, is addressed with many references to finding the right words to properly get your meaning across – some examples:

 

  • As mentioned earlier, both Willow and Spike are trying to find exactly the right words to achieve their ends.
  • Buffy tells Dawn that if she could see Riley again, she might say what she never got a chance to say.
  • Willow says that Tara called her note-taking method “insane”; Tara corrects this, saying it was “quirky.”
  • Willow mentions that with the word “presto,” Buffy will be able to create sunlight – though Tara says, “not presto, exactly.”

 

Our words and actions can have profound impact on others and our surroundings.  There are many images regarding the way we all influence each other’s growth and final form.  Once Willow and Anya communicate, after they have cleared the air, once they “let it out” and face their problems, they work together effectively.  Anya and Willow compliment and encourage one another, as Anya distracts Olaf, while Willow does her successful spell to rid Olaf of his hammer.  “I have faith in you, Anya,” says Willow, providing the encouragement the newly-human Anya needs. 

 

Letting it all out isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it can be a good thing, a freeing thing, to loosen up a bit and let that Cat in The Hat into the house.  Motives and methods are important:

 

OLAF:  “What are you fighting for, miniscule blonde one?”

 

Cursing and bashing someone over the skull with a box of candy because she won’t be your girlfriend?  Bad.  Suddenly throwing yourself at the mercy of an angry troll in order to save your precious loved one?  Good.

 

Spicy Extras for James Marsters fans:

 

  • Spike and that mannequin – ah, James is just so good in that scene, I don’t even know how to write about it.  All I see is Spike; it’s so perfect.  It is wonderfully written and performed - the way Spike practices, but ends up angering himself with his own made-up Buffy-half of the dialogue.  If he’s so damn sure of rejection, why does he bother?  Because he’s absolutely driven by insane troll logic, that’s why.  So he gets a hold of himself, sets the mannequin back up on the Buffy-pedestal, puts the chocolates back in (Oh so pathetic!  It’s never gonna work!) and tries again.
  • Spike copping a feel – I slowed that scene down and watched it carefully on my DVD.  Spike definitely gets a handful of Buffy-breast before he lets go of her.  James does it just right – he fumbles around just enough for it to be unmistakable as an opportunistic grope, but not a bit more.  And Sarah does a great job seeming way too busy and distracted to even notice.  What could have been an awkward scene is very well played.  Trust and professionalism combine to make the acting entirely invisible – the scene is all about those characters in that moment. 
  • And that look on Spike’s face when Buffy finally runs off – that is one nasty, nasty boy.  I love the way James portrays, and the writers write, this very complex character.  He is nasty enough to make me want to stake him as incorrigible and irredeemable one minute, but he inspires deep sympathy and hope in me the next.  But every bit of it is Spike, and very believably so.  He is so very painfully confused at this point; he’s getting all twisted up inside as that teeny tiny flicker of uninvited and unwelcome inner goodness steps up its irregular sparking.  And it all shows in his contradictory actions and immense frustration.
  • Love the Spike and Xander scenes.  Spike exasperates and confuses Xander with his relentless focus on Buffy, but there is also some bonding going on with the talk of their common experience with crazy girlfriends, and with their initial twisted-team approach to trying to deal with Olaf.
  • And finally, since this ep makes reference to Green Eggs and Ham, I must link you to my S’cubie-inspired parody of that poem, Our Spike with Curls:  http://www.soulfulspike.com/likespike.htm

 

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