Eyeballs to Entrails, my sweet.

Season 2 — Episode 6: Halloween.

Can I just gush for a second? This episosde is SO GOOD, I can hardly function after watching it. One of the all time best hours on TV ever.

The plot: Buffy and freinds buy costumes from a man who casts a spell so that they turn into their costumes. Spike takes advantage of the situation to try to kill the now weak slayer, who has dressed up as an 18th century debutante. The only thing wrong with this episode is SMG’s horrible accent as a non-specific helpless girl from the past.

Everybody has a character arc that’s forwarded — Xander and his problems being a nerdy boy with a slayer for a friend, Willow’s self-confidence (although why does self-confidence have to equal dressing like a ho?), the relationship between Angel and Buffy, Spike’s continuing obssession with killing the slayer, and we even get to see a good side of Cordelia as she flirts good-naturedly with Angel in the Bronze where both she and Angel have been stood up — and of course we get the first glimpse that Giles is not simply the mild-mannered librarian, that he has a dark side, too — one that Ethan brings out with his presence just as surely as his costumes brought out internal weaknesses and strengths in Buffy and friends.

The more I watch this, the more I am impressed out just how tight the script is. All of the major plot turning points flow very naturally out of conversation that is completely in character. For instance, Willow and Giles figure out that the source of the evil costumes come from one particular store because of the confluence of three seemingly random, off the cuff remarks that turn out to have significance later: Cordelia complaining that she won’t get her deposit from Party Time costume shop back because it’s ripped; Giles intimating that Willow is wearing a risque outfit, and Willow responding to that intimation by telling him that Cordelia was dressed much more skankily than she — and then realizing that Cordelia hadn’t turned into her costume like Xander, Willow, and Buffy had.

By the end of this episode, Buffy and Angel’s relationship is solidified as Buffy finally gets the confidence that Angel loves her because of who she is, slayer warts and all.

The moment that we realize exactly what has happened is one of the most viscerally thrilling moments in the show — it’s shot so effortlessly — Xander in the street trying to find the cause of the newly errupted pandemonium, he turns and his toy gun drops down off screen and then his whole demeanor changes and he brings his gun up — and it’s a real gun. The abrupt presence of a real and dangerous military weapon in the clutzy and clownish hands of the hitherto helpless Xander, along with the stealy look in his eye and the obvious assurance with which he uses it, is the epitome of topsy-turvy in the Buffyverse. Our clue that something is seriously and terribly weird. The horror of the universe gone awry is brought to a climax when we realize that not only is Xander an amnesiac soldier but that Buffy is helpless. The savior is brought to heel. But we also learn that the Buffy friends can get it together enough by themselves to save the day — or at least to save Buffy.