CBR Review: Dead Man’s Party

27 Years Later, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fans Still Hate This Uncomfortable Episode (& For Good Reason)

Season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer concluded in dramatic fashion. Forced to fight the man, or rather vampire, she loves, Buffy saved the world but was forced to kill Angel in the process. Overcome with grief and guilt, kicked out of her home by her mother, and on the run from the police, she fled town. The opening of Season 3 offered a glimpse of her life in the city and how her friends and family were coping with her absence. It was the second episode, however, that brough Buffy back home and set up the rest of the season. While it was an important moment narratively, “Dead Man’s Party” proved to be a deeply uncomfortable and frustrating episode for fans.

The story beats covered in the episode were certainly important, and necessary for advancing the narrative. After the previous season, Buffy needed to come home and reunite with her mom and the Scoobies. Lingering feelings about her departure had to be dealt with. Some elements of the status quo had to be restored. To accomplish these tasks, however, the writers put Buffy through an incredible level of emotional abuse.

Buffy’s Friends and Mother Treated Her Terribly

  • Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer often point out that the main character suffers to a ridiculous degree throughout the series.
  • While unkind to Buffy in general during the episode, Joyce does stick up for Buffy against Principal Snyder.
  • While it angered many fans, “Dead man’s Party” did receive recognition for its realistic portrayal of some of the unhealthy ways people may cope with conflict and resentment.

It’s understandable that the members of the Scoobies would have some conflicted feelings about Buffy when she returns. They didn’t know everything that she went through, having not been there for her fight against Angel. They were also worried about her for an extended period of time, leaving them emotionally raw. Finally, they were all around seventeen or eighteen years old at the time and still, obviously, somewhat immature. How they responded to the situation, however, was completely uncalled for.

Alternating between avoiding her and being standoffish and cold throughout the episode, they sent the message that they didn’t care that Buffy was back. Even worse, they refused to express their true feelings and insisted that everything was fine, leaving her hurt and confused. When the situation finally exploded, with Buffy preparing to leave again, Willow, rather than offering comfort or trying to understand, chose to condemn her and start a fight. This quickly grew into a confrontation involving nearly everyone in Buffy’s life ganging up on her.

It’s hard for many fans to decide what is most infuriating about this moment or which character is the most shameful. Xander’s unjustified sense of righteous anger, Willow’s continued insistence on making the situation about her own feelings and how losing her friend impacted on her, and Cordelia’s attempts to help that actually make Buffy feel worse are all good contenders. Buffy’s own mother, Joyce, seems to go beyond all of them, however.

Joyce’s refusal to acknowledge the role she played in her daughter’s running away, her condemnation of Buffy while dismissing her own issues by simply saying “Mom’s not perfect,” and just the fact that she joined on on the group attack rather than trying to deescalate the situation all speak to her abysmal parenting. The fact that, unlike the Scoobies, she’s an adult and knows more about what led up to Buffy’s leaving makes her behaviour even more terrible.

Of the entire group present, only Oz shows enough compassion and maturity to try to break up the fight and, even then, no one else seems interested in listening to him. It takes an attack by zombies to finally bring the berating of Buffy to an end and, even after the tension has been relieved, no one ever seems to offer her a true apology. All of this adds up to a frustrating situation for fans that’s made worse by the fact that Buffy, but the end seems to simply accept it.

The Writers Didn’t Give Buffy a Chance to Defend Herself

  • “Monster as metaphor” is a common trope in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and “Dead man’s Party” is no exception.
  • The Zombies represent the simmering issues between Buffy and her friends that they try to bury, but keep rising to the surface.
  • Xander explicitly references the idea of burying problems immediately before the zombies attack the party.

The behaviour of her friends and family is compounded by the fact that Buffy never offers a good defense of herself and seems to accept many of the accusations lodged against her. While she does express frustration at her circumstances, she mostly fails to speak up for herself, fully explain why she left and stayed away for so long, or call out her friends for their own poor behavior. The closest she comes to any of this is when she reminds Joyce that it was she who told her not to come back home, but this is quickly forgotten as her mother changes the subject and the attack on Buffy continues.

Even at the end of the episode, when the Scoobies have reconciled, Buffy seems to have accepted the fact that she was wrong and never expects an apology from anyone else. While having coffee with Willow, she accepts her friend’s joking comments about her leaving and even implies that her friends have the moral high ground. Willow acts as if she’s being the bigger person by even forgiving Buffy, and Buffy appears to go along with this framing of the circumstances.

As with her friends’ behavior, some of this can be justified by Buffy’s age and her need to grow and mature. It’s understandable that she would find it difficult to stand up to so many people at once. Further, she does seem to have internalized many of the negative things her teachers and others have said about her over the years, leading to poor self-esteem and a tendency to simply accept criticism. Still, it’s hard to imagine that, when faced with so much abuse from nearly everyone in her life, she would refrain from defending herself at all.

The overwhelming attacks on Buffy, combined with her passivity throughout the episode, make “Dead Man’s Party” one of the harder points of the series for many viewers to get through. While it does a lot of important work in setting up the rest of the season, the episode is still skipped by plenty of fans when rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fortunately, one character remains honorable throughout the episode and makes it somewhat tolerable.

Only Giles Remained a Loyal Friend and Mentor

  • Giles briefly reveals his darker side in “Dead Man’s Party,” threatening Principal Snyder to force him to let Buffy back into school.
  • The Watcher’s turbulent past is also referenced when he is shown to be capable of hot-wiring a car.
  • A guest at the party refers to Giles as “Mr. Belvedere,” referencing the sitcom about an English butler.

True to his role as a surrogate father to the Slayer, Giles treats Buffy kindly upon her return and never joins her friends in demanding explanations or apologies. He never pries into where she’s been, refuses to acknowledge Xander’s snide remarks, and his first question to Buffy is how things went with her mother, displaying his care and compassion. In a touching moment at his apartment, he leaves the room to get tea and, while alone, displays a slight smile, showing his relief at Buffy’s return and his love for the girl he sees as a daughter.

It’s also Giles who seems to know that Buffy needs support and empathy, pushing for a small gathering among her friends at her house. While he’s overridden by the Scoobies, who demand a big party, he still seems to know that it’s the wrong move. Giles sadly isn’t present at the gathering to defend Buffy, being busy investigating the sudden resurrection of a local cat, but it’s safe to assume he would have put a stop to the criticism if he had been there.

Appropriately, Giles is the hero of the episode in multiple ways. It’s the Watcher who figures out how the zombies are rising and triumphantly arrives to deliver the information needed for Buffy to save the day. Further, despite Joyce’s confrontation with Principal Snyder earlier in “Dead Man’s Party,” Giles is the one who aggressively pushes for Buffy’s return to school. While it’s never clearly explained who’s actions led to the school board overruling Snyder, it’s easy to assume Giles played a prominent role.

Giles helps to alleviate some frustration and partially redeem the episode, but the behavior of nearly every other character makes “Dead Man’s Party” tough for audiences to get through. Years later, it’s still ranked among the worst episodes for many fans and derided for the discomfort it causes.


Original article at Screen Rant.

This article has been reproduced for archive purposes, all rights remain.

Author: Cider

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