The Replacement

Buffy Episode Review

In which there are two Xanders.

What Happened

During a fight with a demon who is after Buffy, Xander is hit with an energy beam. The gang picks him up and takes him home, not realizing that another Xander is still left behind in the trash dump. Trash-Xander spends the next day following clean-Xander around as he gets a promotion at work and finds an apartment and makes plans to move out of his parents' basement. He becomes determined that clean-Xander is an evil twin...

What Did I Think?

The twist here is that clean-Xander isn't evil. It's not a completely unique twist, but like a lot of stories on Buffy
it means a little more because it's more than just gratuitous plot point thrown in at the last minute to "surprise" the audience.

Xander has always been the goofy, clutzy one, to the point where I kind of wished that he would finally grow a spine already. And not a fake "I was GI Joe one Halloween" one, either. In this story, character development refreshingly doesn't come from showcasing his bad qualities, but his good ones. Besides, we've already seen Xander's nasty side, back in "The Pack," so what's the point?

Buffy has always excelled at using the supernatural as a metaphor for growing pains.Here, we get to see the Xander we all thought was there: capable of excelling at a job, moving away from his parents, and articulating his feelings for Anya. The kicker is that instead of all this disappearing next episode, we get to see this carry on into the rest of the season. Xander keeps the job and the apartment, and manages not to mess up his relationship with Anya. Because one other thing Buffy gets right is that characters on this show change over time.Basically, Xander grows up, and not a moment too soon.