The Good;
Kathy is a wonderful character and I wish we'd seen her again (the actress later turns up as recurring character in Desperate Housewives, the nurse who accidentally kills Carlos' mother). I was genuinely suprised that she was a demon, I thought Buffy was going nuts (great performance from SMG, amazing what a little eye-shadow can do). The fight between the 2 at the end and the argument between Kathy and her dad is terrific. The final gag is excellent too although Buffy's scarf makes her look a lot like Joyce when she's had her operation.
The Bad;
Exactly how long would it have taken the demons to work out that Buffy wasn't Kathy?
Best line;
Kathy; I just wanted to make sure we didn't have a thief or somthing?
Buffy; Like who? Sid the wiley dairy gnome?
but I also like Oz; 'On the plus side you killed the bench which was looking shifty' and 'No one deserves mime'
Character death; none
Tied up;
Buffy is netted and tied up by Xander, Oz and Giles. They need to work on their Boy Scout skills though (Buffy's been tied up and escaped countless times and I'm sure escapology must be part of Slayer training?)
Knocked out;
Yep, Oz and Xander by Buffy
Women good/men bad;
Patriarchical demons not letting their daughters go to college. On the other hand it seems that Hank still helps out with Buffy's tuition.
Jeez!;
Kathy slamming the phone into Buffy's face is gruesome yet oddly funny
Kinky dinky;
Xander wonders why Giles doesn't have any manacles like any self-respecting bachelor? Both Oz and Xander admire Parker's 'driveby' hitting on Buffy.
Calling Captain Subtext;
Kathy puts the moves on Parker much to Buffy chagrin. Buffy and Willow end up in the end being roomates. And here is Veruca for the first time, the little scene between her and Oz subtle but incredibly significant. Willow refers to Parker as the cutie-patootie once again casting her as Bi rather than gay. Willow refers to Giles as their 'grown up friend' but not in a creepy way.
Scoobies to the ER;
Buffy isn't hurt despite the no-holds barred thrashing she and Kathy give each other
Where's Dawn?
Kathy comments that Buffy has always been an only child, well not always. She also says she and Buffy are like sisters, well Dawn and Buff fight too and Dawn turns out not to be what she seems
Questions and observations;
Giles reads Scooter and Motorbike magazine, did he sell Wes his? A funny but pretty slight ep with some good performances from the leads. I think season 4 is just taking a little time to find it's feet.
Marks out of 10; 6/10, a slight ep but a cracker, funny and interesting.
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EDIT
Episode Summary
Dorm life proves to be a challenge as Buffy has to deal with a roommate who is more than a little bit difficult. Kathy plays music that Buffy hates, labels all her food in the refrigerator, borrows clothes without asking, and gets in the way of Buffy's Slayer duties. She even starts flirting with Parker, Buffy's first college infatuation.''''Eventually, Buffy comes to the only logical conclusion: Kathy is evil, and must be killed.moreless
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Sarah Michelle Gellar
Buffy Anne Summers
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Nicholas Brendon
Alexander 'Xander' Harris
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Alyson Hannigan
Willow Rosenberg
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
See All-
Trivia
ADD TRIVIA- In this episode we can hear Cher's hit single "Believe." This is the first time up to this point in the series that we hear music which could already be considered "popular." Buffy's roommate, Kathy is also a big fan of Celine Dion, since we saw that she has her poster in previous episode, The Freshman. Her song might be featured on the Diva's Audio CD, which Buffy and Willow mention during this episode. Edit
- When Xander asks where Kathy is from she says Nebraska and he replies, "Big Sky Country." Big Sky Country is actually a motto for Montana not Nebraska. Edit
- The director used the shot where Buffy goes to bed twice. First time at the gum/window open argument and the second time when Buffy and Kathy get on each others nerves. Edit
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Notes
ADD NOTES- The silent encounter between Oz and Veruca was done because "Living Conditions" was coming in short on time and needed to make the episode 44 minutes. Edit
- Kendra's lucky stake "Mr. Pointy" from Becoming (1) can be seen in Buffy's weapon bag when Kathy searches it. Edit
- It's possible that the reason why Buffy was reacting so strongly to Kathy is due to her instincts as a slayer. Edit
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Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Buffy: Listening to the best of VH1 all day sorta put me on edge. Willow: Kathy's still spinning the divas? Buffy: 'Cause it's the funnest! It's no big. College is a time of change, right? Before too long, she'll be trip-hopping all over the place. Edit
- Giles: Clearly something is amiss. Buffy: Yeah, something's amiss here, a 'Miss Kathy Newman. Edit
- Giles: What sort of demon? Buffy: He had a cloak on and glowing green eyes. And his skin had a, like, super-bad fake rub-on tan. Giles: Translate? Buffy: Orangey. Edit
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Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS- Buffy: Okay, you're not having one of those mid-life things, are you? 'Cause I'm still going "ick" from the last time you tried to recapture your youth. Buffy is Alluding to the Season 3 episode Band Candy in which chocolates sold in Sunnydale were turning the grown-ups mentally into adolescents. Giles and Joyce, under the affliction of the candy ended up having sex on a police car twice, as mentioned in the episode Earshot when Buffy discovered it. Edit
- Xander: That's because he got hit by the Buffinator. Buffy: You think? Oz: No question, he'll be back. "The Buffinator" is a play on the movie "The Terminator", in which Arnold Schwarzenegger is famous for the line "I'll be back." Edit
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Giles: A friend of mine recently acquired an original Gutenberg demonography.
This is a reference to Johann Gutenberg who was a German goldsmith and printer. He is often credited with invention of movable type printing, this is a process that made it possible to publish many copies of a single work at one time. Edit
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