Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Robot, You Jane

Can someone please give this to Willow?




Willow and Co are scanning Giles' musty old books, and inadvertently release an evil demon named Moloch into the computer.  He comes up with a clever plan to woo Willow by starting an online relationship with her, all while his followers build him a shiny new metal body to live in.  Yes, this is all as ridiculous as it sounds.


Things I Like:

Umm...err...

Well, Dave's suicide scene is actually pretty unsettling, credit where credit's due.

And I kind of want Moloch's agonized robot noises as my ringtone.

Also, I really liked this scene at the end of the episode:

Things I Don't Like:

Look, this is a terrible, terrible episode.  I felt this so strongly that I had to write it in my notes.  Then threw my notebook across the room.

What's with the depiction of people who actually know how to use computers as obsessive, overly intense, socially maladjusted freaks?  I blame it on the 1996iness of this episode, but it really truly has aged terribly.  You know how to use an email account?  You're this guy:

Part of me wonders if (besides the crappy storyline) the reason why this episode fails so badly is simply because I'm not watching it in the 90s.  Maybe this was a cutting edge warning about being safe on the internet.  Maybe someone as smart as Willow really did need to be told that cute boys you meet in a chat room aren't necessarily cute or even boys.

Even so, I have a hard time getting over how pointlessly out of character Willow is in this episode.  Did the writers even have a vague notion of who the character is?  Because this Willow bears no resemblance to the Willow of the previous seven episodes.

And how did Moloch/Malcolm even get in touch with Willow in the first place?  Did he just start IMing her? And she wasn't like, "How did you get my email?" or "Who are you?"

I sincerely hope that there are no people out there for whom this was their first exposure to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  If you're out there, well...you have my sympathies.


Random Musings:

• *snickers*  Look how funny the Internet used to look.

• I wonder how Giles would feel about Kindles?  Perish the thought.

Verdict: 2 Stakes Out of 10