Review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2 Episode 5: Reptile Boy

Director: David Greenwalt

Writers: Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt.

This episode is not bad, but not particularly epic, either. There is some building of the relationship between Buffy and Angel. Xander has some good comedic moments, and one bad-ass moment. It's entertaining, but not full of strong feeling or anything. The cult of the snake demon-god was an interesting concept, but it's barely truly touched on, and most of the episode is given to a bit of romance, and another reminder that dating anyone in Sunnydale is probably a bad idea. I'm not sure if it espouses Fraternity stereotypes, other than giving more reason to not really trust them. The creepy secretiveness of the Fraternity is somewhat reminiscent of how people see secret organizations in general, and the Skull and Bones one in particular. I think the episode would have been better if the focus had been more on the secret society, and less on dating, but that's my opinion. There is some development in the relationship between Giles and Buffy, being that Giles realizes he pushes Buffy too much, which I think they already did in the first season, but maybe I'm getting details muddled. The snake demon-god is supposed to be the Big Bad of the episode, but he really only appears for a few minutes. And Buffy kills him in those few minutes. I always feel like fights like that in the series are a cop-out and a loss for a good, long battle, but I suppose there would always be some quickly ended battles if this were real. The way she kills him, however, truly does make no sense. She cuts his tail off with an axe...and he dies. Something that wouldn't kill a garden snake apparently can kill a eons old snake god. Who knew? So, again, not a bad episode, but not really deep either, or all that important. The humor does reach a chuckle worthy level, however.

Drama: 5 Plot: 5 Acting: 6 Horror: 5 Romance: 6 Humor: 8 Action: 3 Importance: 5 Overall: 6