Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"Triangle"

Airdate: January 10, 2001

No fury like a woman scorned, yadda yadda yadda.

So, what are the odds that one particular crystal, which houses one particular being, could find its way to one particular magic shop and then get bespelled so as to release its familiar prisoner in front of one particular person?

About as long, I would have thought, as those against Anya forgetting how to drive (see "Graduation Day 2"), how to read a spellbook (see "Doppelgangland"), or how to annoy a former flame (see "Harsh Light of Day.") All of which she does here, actually. And in other non-continuity weirdness, Willow acts like a spoiled child, Buffy breaks down into shipper-y tears, and Xander plays pool with Spike.

It's a great episode.

See, Giles, in a fit of absolute insanity, decides to take a trip over to Watcher's Council territory, his mission to enlist their aid in the what-is-Glory? sleuthin' that seems to have been going on forever and ever, despite her conspicuous absence of late. (Is it possible that she's not the promised Big Bad of the season after all? Maybe it's really that Intern Ben guy. Maybe it's really Dawn, and, y'know, that whole Key thing was a big fib. Hey, maybe it's Joyce! Nah. They've had her already.) Anyway, while Giles is off being a crazy person who completely forgot that "Helpless," "Consequences," "This Year's Girl" and Angel's "Sanctuary" all happened, Anya and Willow battle for supremacy in the Magic Box, putting boyfriend-trapped-in-a-best-friend's-body Xander in such the awkward position that he -- along with Tara -- leaves them to work it out on their own. ('Cause he forgot about "Homecoming" and Slayerfest '99.)

And in this episode, Xander becomes a victim of insane troll logic.

Attempting to prove to Anya that she's not the boss of her, Willow -- in defiance of lessons learned from, oh, say, "Doppelgangland" and "Fear, Itself" and "Something Blue" and numerous other episodes -- uses the shop's supplies to attempt a complicated Buffy-helping spell on her own. A spell that Anya's inevitable interference causes to go horribly wrong, and from the crystal (that just happened to have been placed near the magicking area of influence) springs forth a big, menacing troll with a big ol' menacing hammer, intent on the usual troll stuff. Raping. Pillaging. Drinking copious amounts of ale and indulging in the ever-popular delicacy that is baby-flesh. (Plus attacking those poor Billy Goats Gruff, I shouldn't wonder.)

It turns out, of course, that the troll is Olaf, Anya's philandering ex from a millennia ago whom she once turned into that troll, which got her the vengeance demon gig in the first place. (A former occupation which, in a very "previously in my life" manner, she feels the need to mention with little or no prompting at any opportunity.) As Anya and Willow try to work out a way to defeat Trolaf by magical means, and Buffy, Scoobified Spike and others pick up the pieces at The Bronze -- where Sunnydale people continue to hang out, 'cause of not watching "The Harvest" and "Phases" and "Doppelgangland," etc... did no one watch "Doppelgangland"? -- Ex-Demon and Witch begin to come to some accord over their feelings for Xander. Willow is reassured that Anya has no intention of turning Xander into a troll, Anya is reassured that Willow has no intention of stealing Xander away ('cause "Hello, gay now"), and if it weren't for that pesky plot device of a supernatural ex-boyfriend, all would be right with the Buffy-verse. But, of course, that can't happen so soon, 'cause Xander hasn't been hurt yet!

Doesn't take long, though. And, ah! Continuity is back in town.

Which doesn't really make up for the lack thereof from before, but that's okay. 'Cause this is an enjoyable, amusing, ever-so-slightly myth-arc advancing episode, with great delivery of some outstanding lines. Even the tears of a Slayer that Buffy McBeal so dramatically sheds can be forgiven when there is Spike to be seen playing with his Slayer Barbie and just generally being adorable, when we get to see Tara actually be kind of interesting, and when we hear Anya make a cute "Superstar" reference to the World Without Shrimp.

At last, an episode from a past season that someone had actually seen.

-- Rachel Hyland

Buffy the Vampire Slayer airs at 8/7c, Tuesdays on the WB.

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