Have I missed any that were added in past recaps? Let me know in the comments. \u00a0Even though I might forget that you mentioned it.<\/span><\/p>\n WARNING: Some people have mentioned they\u2019re watching along with me, and that\u2019s awesome, but I\u2019ve seen the entire series already and I\u2019ll probably mention things that happen in later seasons. So\u2026 you know, take that under consideration, if you\u2019re a person who can\u2019t enjoy something if you know future details about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Okay, so on the last episode of Buffy, there was this cliffhanger where there’s another vampire hunter. And everybody is trying to kill Buffy. This episode picks up right where the last one left off. Kendra and Buffy argue who’s the real Slayer, since there can be only one.<\/p>\n Buffy proposes they stop trying to kill each other, because as Professor Farnsworth always says, perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything. Kendra tells Buffy that her Watcher sent her to Sunnydale.<\/p>\n Hold up.<\/p>\n Giles is a part of the Watcher’s council, right? And they keep tabs on shit like, hey, maybe there’s more than one Slayer, right? Because I would assume Kendra’s Watcher didn’t track her down until her powers activated. That’s what happened with Buffy in the movie, and in the show Giles is sent to find her. Why would the council have thought they needed to track down a new Slayer if they never got the incident report I presume Giles would make when Buffy actually dies and stays dead?<\/p>\n But whatever. Angel is still locked up at the Tavern of Cliches, waiting as the sun slowly creeps toward him.<\/p>\n After the credits, Buffy is introducing Kendra to Giles. He’s heard of Kendra’s Watcher, but he’s just as confused as I am about how, exactly, she exists and he’s never heard of her. It’s possible that it’s because Kendra has no last name, and the paperwork just slipped through the cracks because of it. I mean, that’s not in the show, but I’m assuming that’s possible.<\/p>\n Willow comes in and Kendra is directly in her face, demanding to know who she is:<\/p>\n Buffy: “Back off, Pink Ranger, this is my friend.”<\/p>\n Kendra: “Friend?”<\/p>\n Buffy: “Yeah, as in person you hang out with? Amigo?”<\/p>\n Kendra: “I don’t understand.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I wish I was better at conveying concepts through the power of the written word, so I could really get across just how much I hate this exchange and how xenophobic and racist it is. Look, I understand that it’s unusual for a Slayer to be in Buffy’s position, with friends who work at her side and know her secret. Kendra and Giles even talk about that in this scene. But the thing that smacks of “look at this kooky foreigner” is the idea that despite speaking English, dressing in Western fashion (but, you know, with harem pants because FOREIGN), and having been trained by a member of the Watcher’s council\u2013 whose members are consistently portrayed as stuffy British people\u2013, Kendra is still so\u00a0other<\/em> that she doesn’t understand the concept of friendship. She doesn’t even recognize the word. If we look at Buffy in canon, she was popular and had friends before her training… why didn’t Kendra? It plays into the pervasive white supremacist belief that while white women have layers and can be tough and vulnerable, warm to their friends but cold when necessary, any combination of moods, modes, and feelings, black women are only capable of being one thing. Kendra can’t even understand the word “friend” or the concept of what a friend is, because it reinforces her role as the kick ass, loner black woman, and “exotic” foreigner.\u00a0(12) (17)<\/strong><\/p>\n Anyway, they get to the bottom of the two Slayers problem really quick. I’m really glad Xander isn’t there, because Willow says:<\/p>\n Willow: “Is that even possible? Two Slayers at the same time?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n and the “hey, Buffy, remember how I want to have sex with you?” wheedling would just explode all over the library.<\/p>\n Giles tells Willow that another Slayer is only called when the previous one dies:<\/p>\n Giles: “Good lord… you were dead, Buffy.”<\/p>\n Buffy: “I was only gone for a minute.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I love that exchange.<\/p>\n Kendra tells Buffy that she assumed she was a vampire after Kendra spotted Buffy and Angel kissing at the ice rink, and lets it slip that she’s done something to Angel. Cut to Willy’s back room, where the sun needs to hurry up already.\u00a0Willy comes in and takes Angel to the sewer, but he’s not rescuing him. He’s handing him over to Spike.<\/p>\n Back at Buffy’s house, Cordelia is talking to the Oogie Boogie salesman when she realizes there’s something kind of… off about him:<\/p>\n He dissolves into a writhing mass of fast-moving mealworms and chases Cordelia and Xander into the basement, where they attempt to keep him out by smashing his bugs and sealing up the door with duct tape. Well, Xander does. Cordelia doesn’t “do worms,” and it’s a line she’s not willing to cross, even under threat of gruesome, bug-related death.<\/p>\n Kendra takes Buffy to Willy’s bar, where they find Angel missing and no evidence of him being dusted. They do find Willy, though, and the two Slayers rough him up for information about Angel. Willy tells them that Angel went underground to heal, and Kendra considers the matter settled, suggesting they return to Giles for “orders.”<\/p>\n Buffy: “I don’t take orders. I do things my way.”<\/p>\n Kendra: “No wonder you died.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ouch, Buffy, you’re going to need some serious medical intervention for that third-degree burn. Also, how great is Kendra’s eye roll?<\/p>\n And then Willy asks the two of them if they’re willing to take nude photos. No, seriously. This happens, for no other reason than to show us how skeezy Willy is, and for the viewer to laugh at how skeezy he is. The point of the joke is that an adult man is asking two underage girls to become objects for his sexual fantasy, and this makes him gross.<\/span>\u00a0For the record, Willy has already been depicted as fully loathsome, so there was no reason to throw this into the mix. This is what we call “normalizing,” because Willy is still being played off as the oh-shucks guy you know is a bad dude but who’s still comic relief.\u00a0<\/span>(6)<\/strong><\/p>\n Back at the factory, Drusilla tells Spike that she was dreaming of spending time with him and a branding iron in Paris, and then he presents her with her sire, Angel, bound and gagged. Drusilla calls Angel a “very bad daddy” and slaps him, so if you need a cigarette right now, I totally understand. The plan is to kill Angel at the big ritual to restore Drusilla’s health and\u2013<\/p>\n Wait.<\/p>\n I just thought of something. We’ll have to come back to it at the end.<\/p>\n Back at the high school, Giles tells Kendra that he and her watcher have agreed that the two Slayers should work together for as long as it takes to get this whole Spike thing on lock down, especially since those assassin creeps are still out there trying to get her.<\/p>\n If there’s one character flaw that Buffy consistently displays in situations where she’s caught off guard or feeling insecure, it’s jealousy. When Kendra and Giles start chatting about ancient Slayer books, she rolls her eyes more than Anastasia Steele.<\/p>\n We’ll see this reaction again when Faith shows up, and when she believes her college roommate is moving in on her turf. You might be thinking that I’m going to mark this as an anti-feminist character defect, but I like that Buffy has such a realistic weakness. It shows awesome depth of character that Buffy can be jealous of Kendra, be ticked off that she’s there, but still works with her and makes an attempt at friendship because it’s the right thing to do in the situation.<\/p>\n Giles tells Buffy that Snyder has been looking for her, and that she should show up to the career fair to get him off her back. Kendra expresses disbelief that the Slayer would be allowed to be a student, and then snaps that Buffy’s probably a cheerleader, too. So, Kendra is so Slayer-minded and anti-social that she doesn’t know what a friend is, but she knows what a cheerleader is?<\/p>\n At first, Buffy is straight up jealous girlfriend about Kendra and Giles bonding, while Willow reassures her that she’ll always be more important to Giles than Kendra is. But then Buffy starts considering the possibility of letting Kendra take over as Slayer, so she can live a normal life.<\/p>\n Did I mention Cordelia and Xander are still trapped in the basement? Because they are, and they are bickering. And fighting. And getting really personally nasty and right up in each other’s faces and\u2013<\/p>\n Mortified by their slip of the tongues, they decide to brave the bug man and run out of the house. But the bug man isn’t gone, he’s waiting on the ceiling and he rains down his caterpillian fury onto the head and, eugh, hair of Cordy. This is probably the grossest thing that ever happens on this show. I have nightmares just thinking about the slight weight of those wriggly bodies dropping onto my head, under my collar, falling to smash wetly beneath my feet\u2013<\/p>\n You know, what? Let’s move on.<\/p>\n![\"I](\"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/highlanderimage01.jpg\")
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