Tuesday November 5, 2002
7ABB06
Dawn's simple crush on Sunnydale High's star quarterback RJ Brooks starts to become obsessive, leading Buffy to investigate the boy herself. When Buffy, and all the other women who see RJ, also fall in love with him, Spike and Xander must team up to discover the source of this attraction. But first they have to keep the women from doing anything crazy in their competition for RJ's affection.
Read Full Recap » (warning: possible spoilers!)"I just don't understand these relationships where you all do insane things." - Dawn hide show
Re-re-wind. Spike moves back in with Xander, Buffy sits on the bleachers in shades drinking soda through a straw, Dawn tries out for the cheerleader squad (not) wearing Buffy's uniform,Theme From A Summer Place is played (Oz had a fantasy involving it and a feather boa), Buffy uses S2's rocket launcher, and the entire plot is ripped from Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered (a fact the writers admit when Xander flashbacks to a BBB moment ("good times")). I almost expected Devon or Freddy Iverson to turn up.
So this is a Dawn-centric episode, not words to bring cheer to many people's hearts. She is confused by the dualisms in the gangs' love-lives: Buffy has sex with Spike who "disgusts" her, Spike loves Buffy but tries to rape her, Xander loves Anya but betrays her. Dawn was obviously not around (she was just a twinkle in a monk's spell) when Willow explained that "love makes you do the wacky". This episode aims to put this right as she falls for RJ, unremarkable school football player who nonetheless gets all the chicks. The story returns to the original BTVS MO – high school is hell, literally. Xander points out the plot when he says: "It's the jacket, something about the letter on the chest" - the jacket that metaphorically turns the jock into a god does so in actuality. And the insane love that is teenage hormones, actually is insane, caused as it is by magicks. The boy who casts a spell over girls who then do his dirty work for him ("You turn on the charm, you get whatever you want") - homework, pushing quarterbacks down stairs - is literally a spell. Just as people in love think that only their love is real, then everyone in this ep thinks that it is other people who are under the spell and that they themselves are immune. Once Dawn has caught RJ's attention by injuring his football rival, she's won the right to go on a date with him, in an icky scene where she's suddenly all growed up in "slut-bag hussy" clothes and Xander and Willow are inadvertently perving after her (Xander's "Daddy like" becomes horridly incestuous as we realised that Xander has been a father figure to Dawn; what would Freud have to say about Xander being Dawn's first crush?). The story riffs on the return to high school theme; Dawn is as klutzy as her sister around boys and her claims about RJ ("I know his soul") sounds pretty similar to Buffy's re: Angel. She tells her mother substitute that "you have no idea how I feel" - the Sunnydale High New Generation thinks that they are different from the older. Buffy, no longer a teenager, has to act the hot teacher to seduce RJ. Later on, when the odd couple of Spike and the Xandman visit the previous owner of the jacket, RJ's brother, Lance, we see how people who were popular at high school lose their sheen (and their jacket) when they leave school and become pizza place workers with bad hair and a rumpus room in their parents' basement. Spike and Xander, both having left a basement relatively recently, are in no mood to linger (perhaps it is the basements making people crazy?)
It's also about the viciousness of women and self-centredness of love. Dawn walking home from the Bronze discovers something more scary than vampires – an annoyed teenage girl who proceeds to try to push her around. Buffy breaks up the fight, but once the Slayer falls under RJ's spell, she hurts Dawn more than the cheerleader. Dawn accuses Buffy of not being able to "stand it that I'm getting the attention", and it seems that this is true when Buffy uses what Dawn doesn't have ("I'm just like you but with the sexual experience and stuff") to get RJ all to herself. Of course in the end sisterly love overcomes womanly enemity as Buffy saves Dawn from a very squashed death, but for a while there Buffy was playing the b*tch. Dawn's rival isn't the nasty Lori but her older, hotter, sexier sister who's not acting all sisterly. Buffy duplicitously tells Dawn: "You're gonna come out the winner here, with me looking out for you". As Dawn points out later: "You're not supposed to do this....you were the one I trusted". Meanwhile, Buffy is counselling more than students as she aims to put things right with Spike (she feels for him, but not pervy feelings) by physically moving him out of the basement, and makes it up to Anya for almost killing her by saving her from D'Hoffryn's henchdemon; Buffy effectively get the outcasts into the gang.
Anya and Willow also fall for RJ and we get a Charlie's Angels style split screen scene as each of the girls goes about trying to win RJ in her own way. Willow uses magic to make him what she wants (female), Buffy uses violence (RJ wishes someone would get Principal Woods off his back so Buffy tries to kill him), Anya, the capitalist, robs a bank (she was going to buy RJ?) and Dawn, the passive, the one who is "not really good for anything. " decides to commit suicide to show RJ how much she loves him. Buffy's teatime special gives a message to all the lovelorn girls out there, "No guy is worth your life, whatever". Although she also promises Dawn that she'll feel "even stupider" when Dawn falls in love for real.
All the girls fall for the highschool jock and they'll do just about anything to get his attentions. hide show
This episode is classic in many ways. 1st in that it is a shining example of the humour that a Buffy episode can contain. 2nd is how the writers can find a way to make even a jacket evil! What was that line... "Welcome to sunnydale, where even outerwear isn't safe"
A serious point in this episode is seeing Dawn's insecurity and her inferiority complex when it comes to Buffy. I found it revealing the way she fought for the attention of RJ against other school girls and even his football rival but when it comes to competing with Buffy she just gives up, finding suicide preferable to trying in vein to beat her sister.
But back to the humour, the 3 girls ( Buffy, Anya and Willow ) fighting over him at the house was awsome. My favorite part was Anya: "Yeah well I'd kill for him"
Willow: " You'd kill for a chocolate bar."
Classic. Also Willow trying to turn him into a girl is golden.
My favorite touchy feely moment was when Xander saw Dawn crying and didn't hesitate to fall into big brother mode. Though Buffy did the same at the railroad, she IS her sister so it is kind of expected, with Xander there is no blood there and no obligation, it comes straight from love and I find that more heartwarming.
I would have liked to see at some point in the future what Anya did with all that money. I wonder if she gave it to charity out of guilt :P
All in all this is a gem of an episode and will always be a favorite of mine.
A boy at Dawn's high school wears a magical jacket and all the girls fall in love with him. hide show
This is one of the better episodes in season 7. It's funny throughout the whole episode. First of you have Buffy who starts having a crush on RJ which is really weird. So you have Dawn acting all childish but it's only because she's under a spell. The only sad part in this episode is she made a fool of herself at cheerleader tryouts and she ruined Buffy's uniform. I like how Spike and Xander get along in this episode. It's so funny when they go visit that RJ's brother. I like how Willow, Anya, Buffy, and Dawn are discussing who get's RJ and they all do these things that are either illegal or wrong. Buffy was going to kill the principal, Willow's a lesbien and she was going to do a spell and make him into a girl, and Dawn was going get run over by a train for him. The funniest part was at the end of the episode after the spell has been broken. They all talk about what they were going to do except for Anya. The radio or televsion is on and it announces that someone just robbed a bank which was obviously Anya. This episode made season 7 more enjoyable to watch
a very funny episode. hide show
i kinda liked this episode. it has some funny moments. but this season is not exactly my favorite maybe coz it's the last & there's just too many slayers. this is the only episode where there's romance involving buffy after last season's so many 'intense' episodes. i like the split screens scene showing buffy, willow, anya & dawn doing the crazy things they would do for love. the trouble is caused by a jacket worn by a 'hot' student (according to buffy) that had a spell. spike & xander saved them & burned the jacket. dawn seemed to be the hardest hit that she was willing to die for love. isn't that sweet!?! love ... look what you've done.
Dawn, Buffy, Anya and even Willow all fall in love with a high school football player each trying to prove they love him the most. Xander and Spike work together to get to the bottom of it. hide show
This episode makes me laugh. It's not like a vital episode and important to the rest of the season but man is it hilarious.
It reminds me of the episode in season 2 where everyone, including Drusilla, fall in love with Xander and he even reflects on that "good times!"
When Principal Wood is in his office and through the window you see Spike fighting Buffy and stealing her gun, to stop her from killing Wood, is just absolutely hilarious. All of the girls actions are so crazy.
Another classic moment is when Dawn tries out for the cheerleading squad. I was embarrassed for her, though I had to laugh.
The ending is also classic, Anya makes me laugh.
What a pointless but absolutely memorable episode.
grailwolf
Editor
BuffyAnneLove
Trusted
Adelette
Trusted
SmegHead3000au
Retired
TvTome_Murdok
SleepTight
arkhyel
