Dead Man's Party

These snapshots may contain SPOILERS for the entire series, so if for some reason you haven't yet seen some of the episodes and do not want to know what is going on, read no further.
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Buffy returns home, but finds that picking up the pieces of the life she left behind may not be as easy as she had hoped. Her mother is trying to accept her back with open arms, but she doesn't seem to trust that Buffy won't just run away again. Her friends seem happy to see her, but their odd behavior makes it appear that they silently resent Buffy for taking off. And, of course, before these problems can be laid to rest, the dead of Sunnydale start to rise.
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Oz: Well, a gathering is brie, mellow song stylings; shindig, dip, less mellow song stylings, perhaps a large amount of malt beverage; and hootenanny, well, it's chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny.


OK character development, average dialogue and a so-so plot.

While Buffy finds it easy to face monsters and demons, she doesn't really find it at all easy to face up to her friends and how they feel. It's much easier to deal with clear cut conflicts between good and evil and with externalized enemies. But Buffy is forced to recognize that evil exists even within the best people - even Willow is less than kind and many of the things said during the argument are cruel. And the toughest enemies sometimes are the ones you don't see.

While everyone is apparently a lot happier by the end of this episode, many of the problems really aren't resolved. The fact that they all work as a team to destroy the zombies says something about the strength of their friendship. It also reassures Buffy's mom who realizes her daughter is not truly alone in her battle against demons. Plus it also gives Buffy's friends a chance to show what they can do and to accept Buffy back in her role as Slayer.



Foreshadowing

Buffy: (to Xander) Didn't anyone ever warn you about playing with pointy sticks? It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.




My views/status of characters;
Buffy - like
Willow - like
Xander - like
Giles - like
Cordelia - like
Spike - absent
Angel - neutral
Oz - like

Overall I consider this a poor episode compared to the rest of the season.