Summary
In this episode Cory and Laine discuss the triad chemistry of Spike, Angel, and Dru, a censer to the head, and a how Buffy might be a Sith.
Thanks for listening to Season 2, Episode 10- What’s My Line Part 2.
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Music
Music for this episode is “Digging a Grave,” by Shadows from the Underground, and is used under license from Audiosocket.
Myth Taken: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast 
I love the discussion re: Oz, Xander, and Joss. I think I heard the same thing as Laine, that Joss said Xander was who he identified with but Oz was who he wanted to be. It makes sense for the reasons you described – Oz is more (or at least seems more) self-assured and clever. Xander makes clever quips, but they come from a place of being unsure of himself. I think it’s very relatable, especially growing up, to feel insecure and, as a result, wish that you were someone who seemed almost untouchably cool- Oz appears to have a sense of self that leaves him almost a step removed from little every day things that probably really get to Xander. I’ve always loved Oz and have felt the same.
I know the Zeppo isn’t coming up yet, but since you brought it up in this episode, I want to mention an issue/comparison before I forget (and sorry, this is a ramble). I love the Zeppo- I think it’s incredibly clever as a concept (esp. w/r/t the melodrama of Buffy/Angel and the non-Xander scoobies via Xander’s perspective in that episode), and I think it’s really interesting to view it in terms of Joss’s identification with Xander and his relationship to masculinity.
However, the ultimate message that I think they don’t work too hard to dispel in the episode, is this: do masculine things –> become cool. They try to undercut that a few times, but I still think that’s the message that comes across in that moment when Xander shakes off Cordelia. Hell, Xander had sex for the first time in this episode. Yes, Faith initiated, but still, it’s not exactly a new trope, and it wasn’t really undercut by anything else that happened in the episode. Having sex with a woman was one thing (among other adventures with/against a bunch of other guys) that gave him a surer sense of himself. There was actually a very similar thing that happened in an episode of Firefly: in the episode Jaynestown, a young man’s father hires Inara so that he can lose his virginity and become a ‘real man.’ The episode nominally acknowledges that this is a bullshit concept – Inara reassures him that there’s nothing wrong with being a virgin, and once they have sex, the young man says he doesn’t even feel any different. And yet, after they have sex, he stands up to his father, and the camera pans out to show that under the table where he’s sitting, his legs are spread wide in a very self-satisfied, confident, ‘real man’ pose (this sounds like a small thing, but watching the scene it was made really obvious by the direction).
I think this shows a complicated relationship with masculinity, but also speaks to Joss’s overall tendency to undercut tropes while still upholding them. It’s something that bothered me at different points on the first watch, but more and more as I realized what it was. But particularly regards to sex, if we look at how men and women experience sex in his shows, it’s pretty unsettling, overall. Once again, thanks for the ep and for letting me ramble. 🙂
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