Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Buffy Episode Review

In which I think the title says it all.

What Happened

Buffy lands a date with her secret crush, but Giles is sure that a prophecy is about to be fulfilled that night and insists Buffy do her duty as the Slayer. Unfortunately, when Buffy tries to mix work and play, Owen insists on tagging along.

What happens next is the perfect example of why you never date the star of a show. Unless, you know, you like getting beat up.

What Did I Think?

There's always this problem on television of how to give the Hero a love life without committing to another regular character. Tying them to one person cuts off the potential for bringing on special guest stars, but on the other hand, if they constantly date around, they start looking pretty skanky. It's even worse with a female lead, because keeping a Love Interest around requires making sure that the guy doesn't start coming to the Hero's rescue on a regular basis.

Owen kinda falls into the cute but not so bright category. Usually, we see the guy figure out or get told what's going on and they and the Hero have some kind of "keep up the good fight" scene at the end. Owen remains stubbornly ignorant of Buffy's being the Slayer, even when confronted with a vampire. ("He tried to bite me! What a sissy.") It's a twist to find him actually eager to stay involved with Buffy, but have her reject him for his own good.

I like to see this episode as more about Buffy's relationship with Giles than anything else. It's where the story begins and ends, with scenes between them and the ongoing debate about whether Buffy can have a normal life or not. In the end, Owen is more of an excuse to trigger discussion than a character that would stick around for any reason.

Giles gets a workout this episode, telling Buffy that she has to 1) Concentrate on finding the Order of Aurelias; 2) Blow off her date with Owen to sit in the cemetery; 3) Not let Owen know she is the Slayer; 4) Skip her second date to check out the funeral home; 5) Realize that he understands what's she's going through.

And, of course, there's that whole part where he nearly gets himself killed. He goes ahead and tries to take Buffy's place as the Slayer and winds up hiding in a morgue freezer with a corpse. His reaction when Buffy finds him and he realizes that she's brought Owen along is priceless: "When I said you could have a social life and be the Slayer, I did not mean at the same time."

In the end, Giles doesn't lecture Buffy; he sits down and commiserates with her, explaining that he also had plans for his life that didn't involve nightly vampire patrols. It's a nice moment between the two of them that expands his character just a bit and continues the father-daughter bond growing between them.