"The Initiative"
Airdate: November 16, 1999

I could use this space to tell you all about how, in "The Initiative", Willow is all broody over Oz, Riley is finally noticing Buffy as more than "peculiar", and we're finally exposed to The Initiative, a shadowy underground group into vampire research. I could tell you that Riley's a major player in The Initiative and thereby gains the much-needed dimension that finally makes his character interesting. I could tell you about Willow's Buffy-dating tips ("She likes cheese") and how Buffy's just -- uh, well, she's Buffy.

But if you think I'm gonna prattle on about that when there's more important things to talk about, you're nuts.

The truly interesting and relevant parts of this episode, as you should well know, involve a certain bleached British vampire. After being tasered in a completely undignified fashion during the opening scenes of "Wild at Heart", Spike finds himself inside The Initiative's facility, a vast underground maze of cages and scientific dohickeys. After a conversation with a fellow inmate, he stages his escape, and makes it out of there with some ass-kicking and a few lovely Indiana Jones dives. He thinks Buffy is responsible for his capture, so he heads for her dorm room. Buffy's not there, but Willow is, and the little witch has a nasty habit of calling out "come in" to visitors, even knowing the whole vampire invitation rule thing. Her visitor, of course, is Spike, and his intention is to make a tasty snack of her, until he finds that he can't harm her; if he tries, he acquires a splitting headache. He's tracked down by the boys from The Initiative, but Buffy comes to Willow's rescue, and Spike manages to flee in the confusion.

Both on its own and as a larger part of the Buffy storyline, "The Initiative" stands out as not just a clever episode, but a hilarious one as well. Spike's inability to bite Willow is played out into a metaphor for male sexual impotence, and he mumbles threats about the Slayer in his sleep. Riley, normally a straightforward guy, is unable to speak to Buffy in any way even resembling cool. And in easily the funniest scene of the episode, Xander engages Harmony in a slow-motion epic cat fight.

After seeing this great story, I can't wait to see where the writers will go next with The Initiative... and the inevitable uncovering of Riley and Buffy's secret identities. The set-up for Spike's future turn to the side of "good" is making me cringe, though. Spike and impotence? Not ideas that should ever, ever be associated. It's against all laws of God and man.

-- Lisa Kincaid

Buffy the Vampire Slayer airs Tuesday nights on the WB.

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