This is an extremely fun episode! The main plot is intentionally hokey and really pretty dumb, but all the people involved play it out for maximum laughs and for the most part, it works. With all the heavy themes and emotions running wild over the last group of episodes, it's actually quite refreshing to have one excessively inconsequential 'fun' episode before the heartbreakers, "Becoming Pt. 1" (2x21) and "Becoming Pt. 2" (2x22), roll in. In only that goal, this episode fantastically succeeds, mostly due to its timely humor.

I don't have a lot to say about this aside from a few observations. First up is that Willow should have been replaced as teacher of the Computer Science class by now. It's not that I don't like seeing Willow teaching but rather that it's completely unrealistic. Second of all, I find Cordelia's comment, that winners get special treatment because that's just the way the world works, very intriguing. From my own experiences, this comment seems to be far to commonly true. It's also important to realize that the definition of who is a 'winner' changes during different stages of your life. In high school a 'winner' may be a jock, while in your 30's whoever has the most money is generally considered the 'winner,' regardless of physical appearance.

I really enjoyed seeing Buffy beat the shit out of the guy who was trying to take sexual advantage of her in his car. Xander's comment to the jocks later, "I love it when you guys mess with her," is also highly entertaining. It's funny to note that when Buffy doesn't want to turn guys on the guys seem to want to jump on top of her, yet when she wants to be sexually attractive she has trouble. When Buffy goes stalker girl on Gage, the swim team guy, so she can protect him, he seems completely turned off by her. She amusingly admits her sex appeal is on the fritz. This problem possibly stems from the fact that she really is very sexually insecure with herself. Her experience with Angel certainly didn't help at all.

This episode bashes all those dumb teachers in high school who think "school spirit" is a matter of life and death, and I adore it for that. When I was in high school I always had teachers telling me I needed more "school spirit" and that I had to attend school assemblies. Thank you Scoobies for helping to show the world how amazingly dumb "school spirit" is. "School spirit" can burn in that pile of books over there titled 'useless.'

So there's the gratifying "school spirit" and jock bashing, but the ending ocean scene leaves me feeling odd. I don't know what to make out of that. Anyway, the biggest draw of this episode is the ridiculously funny dialog. The characters have fun with the corny plot and everyone has a good time of it. This isn't blow-you-away material, but it's definitely a lot of fun if you're in the non-serious mood.