"A New Man"
Airdate: January 25, 2000

As a rabid Buffy fan, I really can't stand the thought of missing an episode. I've had dreams -- nightmares really -- about being away from hearth, home, and VCR some Tuesday night, and they usually involve much wailing and gnashing of teeth. If I am someplace other than home on a Tuesday, I am willing to break traffic laws to be home by seven o'clock.

So that, I think, could explain the vague sense of unease that I experienced while watching "A New Man". I was sure I hadn't missed an episode, but I couldn't figure any other explanation for my confusion. The entire episode left me wondering just what I missed and when I missed it.

When did Buffy and Riley get to the making-out-in-dorm-room phase? When did Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya and Spike find out the Walsh was in charge of the Initiative? When did Buffy go completely insane and decide to make her secret identify not-so-secret? When did Willow and Xander suddenly become experts on the doings of the Initiative? And why is everybody okay with it?

Of course, these things don't really ruin the episode, they just give it a strange and disjointed feeling that made me slightly disoriented and a little bit seasick. I feel like I've missed something, something big and important like an entire episode, and I have no idea where it's gone.

"A New Man" focuses mostly on Giles' own disconnection from the group, which I hope means that they're trying to get us to empathize by disconnecting the viewers from the show. At least that would almost explain the odd pacing. But anyway, the people surrounding Giles spend the entire episode basically putting him down without really realizing it (because they're stupid). Buffy comments to him that Professor Walsh is the smartest person she's ever met and says that Walsh wasn't invited to Buffy's birthday party because she's older and has better things to do than hang out with a bunch of kids. Ouch. Later, when Giles actually meets Walsh, she tells him that Buffy is lacking a strong male role model and disagrees with him on all points of bringin' the child up right. Xander and Willow let it slip that they know all about the Initiative, but they and Buffy just plain forgot to tell Giles.

So when Ethan comes back into town, instead of beating him to a pulp, Giles decides to listen to what the man has to say about scared demons and the mysterious "314", and they end up in a bar, having drinks. The pitiful state of Giles' life leads him into drunkenness, and when Giles wakes up the next morning, he's been turned into a demon. His disconnection is complete: not only do his friends not recognize him, but he's unable to speak English, so they can't understand him, either. Luckily for Giles, Spike does understand the demon's native language, so when Giles runs into the vampire in the graveyard (where he's looking for a crypt to live in, instead of Xander's basement), they team up to evade the Initiative and get Giles back to his human self. And after Spike totals Giles' Citroen (how does a vampire survive the centuries without learning to drive a stick?) and Giles is almost killed by Buffy, things get straightened out and the commandos of the Initiative cart Ethan away to be "rehabilitated".

Now, freaky pacing of this episode aside, this is my real problem with the whole Initiative storyline, and I pray to Joss' muse that all this is addressed at some point in the future. I really don't get how Buffy and the Slayerettes can be not only okay with the Initiative but also seemingly for the Initiative. We are talking about a fuzzy, fun gang that consists of a Slayer who's in love with a vampire (of course they're still in love, Riley's just a phase), a witch who's in love with a werewolf, a former vengeance demon, a librarian who happens to be pretty strong with the magic-usin', and a neutered vampire. Spike himself aside, none of the others seem to realize that for all they know, they themselves are prime candidates for scary underground experimentation. What if Oz has already come back to town but was trapped by the Initiative? And I really think they oughta phone Angel and warn him about that situation just in case he feels the need to lurk around town again. I doubt Buffy'd be all "Oooh, Riley, you're such a macho demon-hunter" if the guy had trapped her vampire studmuffin.

Of course, the Initiative isn't all bad. Take them stun-guns for instance. I could use one of those. I know of a certain vampire who needs trapping, but trust me... I'd treat him considerably better than those Initiative fellas. I have a better appreciation for British accents and bleached heads.

-- Lisa Kincaid

Buffy the Vampire Slayer airs at Tuesdays on the WB.

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