Buffy is inducted into the Initiative as its newest member, but Maggie Walsh is concerned that she will prove to be a liability rather than an asset. Meanwhile, Spike has been tagged and a commando team is after him.
It's difficult to sort out how I feel about this episode, as I swing from side to side about it constantly. Centering on Buffy, it shows how her relationship with Riley is affecting her friendships, particularly the still-lonely Willow. It also sets up a lot of plot points that will no doubt become increasingly important as the series continues. The problem is that there's too much talking, something that's been a particular problem with the show this season, and a couple of ill-advised scenes.
The first of these is the commando attack on a demon which is interspersed with a scene of Buffy and Riley getting physical. There are two problems with this: firstly, the two don't go together at all, making me wonder how they are connected, and secondly Marc Blucas seems to have all the passion of a wet fish. Sarah Michelle Gellar is as hot as ever (after some practice in season two's Surprise and the film Cruel Intentions), but Blucas doesn't really seem to be giving his all, as it were.
Meanwhile, Maggie Walsh is watching the pair on a monitor while having a cup of coffee. This disturbing image adds something new to Walsh, making her a more sinister character, especially after seeing her interact with the creature she calls Adam who resides in Room 314. This leads to the main point of the episode: Walsh decides that Buffy could destroy the Initiative and decides to get her killed. It's about this point that it all goes wrong, and for those who don't want spoilers, don't read any further.
Just as Walsh is turning into a major evil force, lying to Riley, trying to kill Buffy and being caught out (a great speech to camera from Sarah Michelle Gellar), she's killed by her own creation in the last scene. Now, shades of Frankenstein's monster turning on its creator perhaps, but for the sake of the ongoing arc, this seems to be something of a step back. Without Walsh, the rest of the season will have to be Buffy versus Adam, and he's not really much of an enemy considering that he seems to be a stupid, monosyllabic monster. However, I hope I'm proved wrong, and at least with me not knowing where it can go from here, any plot development will be a surprise. This episode just seems to leave what was building into an interesting story high and dry.
There are other plots running through The I in Team, however, also treated with varying degrees of success. The Willow plotline which brings her closer to Tara is downplayed to such a degree that there's no telling what she does once she goes into Tara's room. I suppose we don't need intimate lesbian footage, but something would explain what is going on better. The Spike plotline is better, mainly because it brings him one step closer to the realization that he needs the Slayerettes to survive, as they're the only people who can protect him from the Initiative. Where his arc will finish up should be interesting, but we'll have to wait and see.
***
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