| [LIGHT | DARK] | NAVIGATE: ⇩ CRITICALLYTOUCHED.COM |
|
| [LIGHT | DARK] | NAVIGATE: ⇩ CRITICALLYTOUCHED.COM |
|
| home | reviews | articles | links | discussion |
| Writer: | Rebecca Rand Kirshner |
| Director: | Rick Rosenthal |
| - | Quick Links |
| - | Review |
This is a very difficult episode to judge, because it's a very solid production with very little character and story relevance. "Help" feels a lot like an old school stand-alone which, I suppose, is alright from time to time, but just doesn't have the lasting impact to the season as a whole that I crave. How is what happens to Cassie in any significant way relevant to the characters who are still alive? With that said, I still found an emotionally compelling story here. The actress who plays Cassie, Azure Skye, does an excellent job with the role given to her -- I found Cassie to be a likeable and sympathetic enough character. So, I definitely enjoyed the episode, but it just can't score much higher than it does here because of its lack of relevance.
The episode's not a complete loss for character relevance though. It's neat that the first person who stops by Buffy's desk is an unknown Potential. The manner in which Amanda has been handling her problems is amusing (pounding her bully in the face), but also very much hints at the truth of what's going on inside her. It's also entertaining watching Buffy's reactions to all these kids and their problems or excuses. I chuckled when Dawn showed up just to tell Buffy about all the things that she does to annoy her.
Obviously, though, the episode decides to hone in on Cassie, the girl who thinks she's going to die. This is the crux of the episode: are there times when there's just nothing you can do to help someone? If that's true, should you even bother trying to help? I do see some light parallels to the impending Potentials situation and the apparent hopelessness of the fight ahead. Yes, it's cool Buffy learns something about the nature of helping people, but it just doesn't connect as well with the rest of the season as I'd have liked it to.
I like seeing Dawn thrown into the mix more. Here's yet another example of Buffy living up to her promise of including Dawn more in her life. Although not initially slayer-related, Buffy's making a consistent effort to include Dawn in research, investigation, and even the solution, even if it doesn't work out so well (e.g. posable Dawn in "Same Time, Same Place" [7x03]). Although, they're not quite treating her as an equal yet. Admittedly, her idea here about the friend of Cassie potentially being her killer was dead wrong.
I appreciated that Willow went to visit Tara's grave. It's a very somber moment, but one that I feel was very necessary to actually see on screen. Willow's conversation with Xander en route was also nice, as it further illuminates Willow's central dilemma this season. She tells him, "I don't know what I can do. I mean, frankly, I'm scared of what I might do."
Xander, back to classic form this season after a slump last season due to personal issues, has a great analogy for Willow, "Yeah, I get that. Figuring out how to control your magic seems a lot like hammering a nail. Well, uh, hear me out. So you're hammering, right? Okay, well at the end of the hammer, you have the power, but no control. It takes, like, two strokes to hit the nail in, or you could hit your thumb ... So you choke up. Control, but no power. It could take like ten strokes to knock the nail in. Power, control. It's a tradeoff." Willow, thankful, amusingly points out the difference in consequences between Xander's analogy and her reality, "That's actually not a bad analogy ... Except... I'm less worried about hitting my thumb, and more worried about going all black-eyed baddy and bewitching that hammer into cracking my friends' skulls open like coconuts." I think these two sum up Willow's struggle very nicely in this conversation.
That's really about all I have to say about this one. I appreciated the bits of foreshadowing we got, loved the usual top-notch continuity, enjoyed the one episode stint with Cassie and actually wish she would have hung around longer, liked all of the surrounding character material -- especially the Willow and Xander interaction and the visit to Tara's grave, and thoroughly enjoyed Buffy fully realizing that she just can't save everyone, which doesn't mean she should stop trying. This is a perfectly respectable episode of television that, sadly, just doesn't have enough lasting relevance to the story or the characters, and is a bit shallow on complexity (although I did appreciate all the red herrings to Cassie's actual death). In summary, not bad, but not particularly memorable either.
| - | Minor Pros/Cons (+/-) |
| Pros: | |
| + | I've got to point it out again: the characters are talking about what happened in the previous episode! :D |
| + | Buffy being more nervous about her first actual day on the job than a potential vampire in the coffin behind her. |
| + | Cassie's dad being extremely temperamental over Buffy's implication that he's going to beat on his daughter. I sympathize with Buffy's concern, but I also sympathize with the dad's point of view here. |
| + | The robed guys in the high school brought back unfriendly reminders of "Reptile Boy" [2x05]. Fortunately, in this episode they're just a red herring for the real danger. |
| + | Spike trying to not listen to anything around him anymore, because he's worried if he listens to all the voices -- most of which are likely the First -- he could hurt someone. |
| + | Spike wailing on Peter -- head robe guy -- despite the pain it causes him due to the chip. |
| - | Foreshadowing |
|
| - | Quotes |
| DAWN: | You'll be fine. You'll be a great counselor. |
| BUFFY: | It's my first week actually talking to the kids. What if their problems are all weird and tricky? |
| XANDER: | I think you underestimate your familiarity with the world of weird and tricky. This job's perfect for you. |
| WOOD: | Listen, Buffy, it's hard. Kids this age... they're hurting, they're pissed off, and they say things. Sometimes they say awful things. When I was in high school, I had a thing with this guy, right? Real bully. I kept telling everyone that he'd better sleep with one eye open 'cause I was gonna bust his ass. Well, I got suspended. Talk like that is taken pretty seriously where I come from. |
| BUFFY: | The 'hood? |
| WOOD: | Beverly Hills... which is a hood. |
| WILLOW: | I mean, a lot of teens post some pretty angsty poetry on the web. I mean, I even posted a melodramatic love poem or two back in the day. |
| XANDER: | Love poems? |
| WILLOW: | I'm over you now, sweetie. |
| XANDER: | Love poems! |
| BUFFY: | Buffy the vampire slayer would break down this door. |
| XANDER: | And Buffy the counselor? |
| BUFFY: | Waits. |
| CASSIE: | You think I want this? You think I don't care? Believe me, I want to... be here, do things. I want to graduate from high school, and I want to go to the stupid winter formal... I have this friend, and it would be fun to go with him. Just to dance and hear lame music to wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff. I'd like to go. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do. I'd love to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. And I'd love to see my cousins grow up and see how they turn out 'cause they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat. I'd love to backpack across the country or, I don't know, fall in love, but I won't. I just never will. |
| BUFFY: | You're asking my sister to the dance, and she's your second choice? I'll be keeping an eye on you. |
| - | Score | Learn about the Grading Scale |
| 76/100 |
B- ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ |
Flawed in some areas. Possibly lacking in character development and relevance or possessing a poor plot and/or villain. There's still a lot of good material mixed in with the mediocre.
|
| - | Screencaps |
 |  |  |
| - |
Comments (27)
|
| 1. | buffyholicMar 2, 2009 (Mon)Link | |
| mike, great job and your reviews just make me relive the episode in my mind, and that makes me very happy. I agree with all your points, about not having much relevance regarding the rest of the season but this episode just gets a lot of love from me because of the characters and the Willow part. So for me, a solid 80. Mike, I can't wait for your take on Selfless. I'm sure it's gonna be great. |
| 2. | Tom LMar 2, 2009 (Mon)Link | |
| MikeJer, don't have much time right now to read all those new reviews, but 78? I love this episode. I would give it a A- any day. This is in my opinion the second best episode penned by Kirshner (Tabula Rasa being the best). It has a great script and a lovely stand-alone story. |
| 3. | ZillexMar 2, 2009 (Mon)Link | |
| I liked this episode. One big reason was the actress who played Cassie. She did a great job. Typically I don't like child actors as they tend to overact (Dawn included). |
| 4. | AdamMar 2, 2009 (Mon)Link | |
| This episode tries too hard to be an episode that would have fit in with more of the earlier seasons. Unfortunately, it does not match in quality. There were some good moments but I just didn't feel anything memorable enough to make me care about this episode. |
| 5. | SamMar 2, 2009 (Mon)Link | |
| I love that you post three reviews in one setting. Hooray! However, much like "Beneath You", you're nicer on this one than I would be. Even though I love that the show is back in high school, I think that after "The Body", this attempt to touch on death by natural causes is simply way too melodramatic and contrived, and no Anya! Still, I do love the intimacy of this season--the Summers home really is command center for the final season, and I think it's entirely appropriate. Can't wait for the rest of your reviews! |
| 6. | llinnaeMar 4, 2009 (Wed)Link | |
| Thanks again Mike for the reviews! For this one, I'm quite surprised that this episode didn't get a higher score than a B-. Your comment, "So, I definitely enjoyed the episode, but it just can't score much higher than it does here because of its lack of relevance" is questionnble for me. Why does an episode have to be relevant to the season to score well? I saw this episode as Joss' response to the viewers complaining about the darkness of season 6. It was, as you said a nice remindor of the highschool days and was undoubtably less dark than season 6 but thats not to say that it didnt have anything interesting to say. It wasn't relevant to the season' PLOT but it had a signifigant theme, the idea of, as you said, "realizing that she just can't save everyone, which doesn't mean she should stop trying". This is an idea that follows through (with even more signifigance now after all buffy's been through) from the third season in "Amends" when Angel tells Buffy that he admires her ability to fight the fight because she believes in it, not only to "win". This part of the episode "Help" reminds me of my favourite Whedon quote from the Angel episode "Epiphany" when Angel realizes that "if nothing we do matters, than all that matters is what we do". I think this idea applies to this episode as well: its the fact that Buffy tries to help Cassie thats more important than the fact that she can't, hence the episode's title, "Help". For me at least, this signifigance combined with good writing, a sold plot and its entertainment factor raise the episode to at least an B .
|
| 7. | llinnaeMar 4, 2009 (Wed)Link | |
| Whoops, i meant to write that IMO the episode deserved at least an 85/ A-, not a B. |
| 8. | mikejerMar 4, 2009 (Wed)Link | |
| llinnae, that comment wasn't meant to exclusively refer to "plot" relevance, but also character arc relevance. I appreciate the episode for what it does, but the fact that it doesn't tie in with the season OR the character thematic arcs this season simply limits its affect on me. I find this to be a borderline skippable episode -- one of very few in the series since its early days. Even with that flaw, though, I still 'like' the episode, hence the struggle I had scoring it. |
| 9. | AaronJerMar 5, 2009 (Thu)Link | |
| It's easier to understand MikeJer's opinion if you take it to an extreme. If there was an extremely interesting stand-alone episode about trying to successfully navigate the dangerous frozen waters of the arctic circle, no matter how good it was you'd still have to be like "WTF, fail" since it had no relevance to the show it's supposed to be part of. In that case you'd have to give the episode an F, whereas in this less extreme case it has to lose 10-20 points for the same reason. |
| 10. | llinnaeMar 5, 2009 (Thu)Link | |
| Well when you put it like that lol... Nah, I get what youre saying. Just a difference of opinion, I suppose. I find standalones kind of refreshing if theyre well thought through but from a more structually analystical standpoint, makes sense ;D |
| 11. | RickMar 5, 2009 (Thu)Link | |
| I have gotten in many arguments over this episode (including both Ryan and you!). While I have always felt compelled to praise the performance of the actress playing Cassie (indeed, if Joss had kept her alive instead of offing her as a plot contrivance, the season would have been the better for it), this episode falls flat for me. I think it is actually one of the weakest of the season, as it comes off as an episode that tries so hard to succeed that it inevitably fails. It builds Cassie up as a sympathetic character, allthewhile forging, literally from nothing, artificial relationships between her and the main cast. While the plot twist is genuinely suprising, it comes off as a bit tacky, and the emotional "payoff" at the end is incredibly cheap. It certainly doesn't help that Michelle Trachtenberg is not very good at crying scenes, but it goes deeper than that, as even SMG struggled in this scene - a rare miss for her. I feel that likely has more to do with deficiencies in the teleplay than with her own abilities. I'd say more, but time is short and I am lazy.
65 |
| 12. | wilpyMar 7, 2009 (Sat)Link | |
| I'm surprised that you gave the episode a measly B-, but I'm more surprised that you say it's a bit shallow. You compare the episode to an old-school procedural, but check out the lasting effect of the ones back in seasons 1 through 4. Heavy handed moral statements about drinking, partying, sex, parental issues abound, and yet this great episode delves into the complexities of the ways in which a hero can and should help others, and the moral dilemmas that arise when going out of your way to help a stranger. Buffy's come to the point at the end of the episode where helping others bears no semblance of self-gratification or obligation. She's not doing it because it's right, she's doing it because it's necessary. This is basically her entire philosophy as a leader, so I believe 'Help' does in fact bleed into the season suitably. I'd give it an A-, personally. It's one of my all-time favourite one-offs. Incidentally, Azura Skye was excellent in this role. I would've loved to have seen more of Cassie and her guy friend with Dawn, they were much more appealing than Carlos and Kit. With that said, the poem montages are really lame. It would've been better if those poems had related to the other characters in some way, and weren't just pretentious twaddle. |
| 13. | wilpyMar 7, 2009 (Sat)Link | |
| Rick, why do you think the payoff at the end is incredibly cheap? I thought it was incredibly earned. While I agree MT and SMG's acting was off, I think that final scene worked very well because the characters had rarely if ever dealt before with a *predetermined* death that was completely out of their hands. |
| 14. | Guido001Apr 18, 2009 (Sat)Link | |
| The subtitle of this episode should have been "Helpless," as it is a sobering reminder to everyone that fate and inevitability are part of the equation. For this reason, I don't think of this as a stand-alone, but a relevant series side-bar. Wilpy, on the poetry being pretentious twaddle, remember, Cassie's a 17 year old high-school girl, and she KNOWS she's going to die, so her poetry is intended by the episode writer (Rebecca Rand Kirshner) to convey this tragic juxtaposition. I have to give credit to Kirshner for pulling this off in however few days she was given to write the episode. If someone told me to cough up poetry for a character that was painfully aware of her impending death, you'd really see some twaddling! Xander initially took your same point of view when Willow discovers Cassie's website and poetry. He says, "Poems, always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil." But after Willow reads the poem, Xander says, "Okay, death really is on her brain." After a couple more Xanderisms, the Scoobies are left wondering if there is something more to this than naive Goth fantasy. Re-reading the poem in this context, I think Kirshner did a fine job with it: The sheets above me cool my skin like dirt on a mad woman's grave I rise into the moonlight white and watch the mirror stare Pale fish looks back at me Pale fish that will never swim My skin is milk for no man to drink My thighs unused unclenched This body is not ready yet But dirt waits for no woman and coins will buy no time I hear the chatter of the bugs. It's they alone will feast. |
| 15. | EmilyJun 17, 2009 (Wed)Link | |
| Mike, I think you really missed out on something that Buffy says at the beginning of the episode: XANDER: 33 minutes. Since when do we go through all this trouble for one lousy vampire. Excuse me, one lousy potential vampire. BUFFY: Vampire by vampire. It's the only way I know how. This is something that we've seen for a long time, something that Joyce herself says in "Gingerbread" (albeit quite cruelly because she's under the gingerbread spell): Joyce: You patrol, you slay... Evil pops up, you undo it. A-a-and that's great! But is Sunnydale getting any better? Are they running out of vampires? Buffy: I don't think that you run out of... Joyce: It's not your fault. You don't have a plan. You just react to things. I-it's bound to be kind of fruitless. I think this is a foreshadowing to the rest of this season, as well as the comics (I only read the first and second, so I'm basing this only on what I've read). This system of Buffy is going to change now that the Potentials will be coming; and it will especially change when they become Slayers. Buffy will have an army to deal with- it will be more than just vampire by vampire. Buffy's way of fighting will change, if only because there are others like her and they can help. |
| 16. | EmilyJun 17, 2009 (Wed)Link | |
| When I said "an army to deal with", I meant her own- an army of Slayers. |
| 17. | EmilyJun 17, 2009 (Wed)Link | |
| Sorry for posting 3 times!! But I just have to add how much the scene with Willow at Tara's grave breaks me up. I don't really cry when Tara's shot in S6- it's too much of a shock to be able to cry. I tear a little when Dark Willow talks about Tara, especially when she says: Willow: The only thing Willow was ever good for...the only thing I had going for me...were the moments - just moments - when Tara would look at me and I was wonderful. But this part when she visits her grave- the first time I saw it, I had *no* idea that this was where Xander and Willow were going. So when I saw the cemetery, I started crying. Then when she walks up and puts the rocks, I cry more, and especially when she traces the letters of Tara's name and says, "It's me." As you can tell from my avatar on the forums (Willow putting the rocks), this is one of...well, I can't say favorite, because that sounds too happy to me, but I will say the most poignant, sad, heartbreaking scene of any show I've ever seen. The only thing that comes close to me is in "Charmed" when Fury-Piper yells at Prue's grave in "Hell Hath No Fury" [4x03]. I guess I have a thing for grave scenes. I wish we had been shown more of what Willow says, or even just kept the camera on her for a few more seconds. Wow, I'm crying as I write this. I miss Tara. |
| 18. | TaraJun 29, 2009 (Mon)Link | |
| One thing about this episode really bugs me. Buffy seems awfully blase about lying in a coffin, considering that the last time she was in one, she had to break out of it and claw her way out of her own grave, the terror of which almost killed her, and in Nightmares was one of her deepest fears. |
| 19. | Blue FanJul 9, 2009 (Thu)Link | |
| Great review, definitely.
I was thinking... is just my impression, or you can make a paralell with S2's frat party espisode? Notice that, once again, selfish boys are sacrificing girls to a demon as an exchange for wealthyness. It is just an idea. |
| 20. | SeleneJul 19, 2009 (Sun)Link | |
| I loved the Willow-Xander scene when she goes to visit Tara's grave, but am I the only one who thinks Tara's gravestone looks kinda fake? Jenny's and Buffy's both looked quite real, but something about Tara's just looked off to me. And Xander's hammer analogy was quite effective.
The Cassie storyline was okay, but felt rather redundant. |
| 21. | ZephosSep 19, 2009 (Sat)Link | |
| I've always felt that the relevant thematic point of this episode is one of the most important of the season - that of the "potential". Cassie has the potential to be an incredibly bright, beautiful person, and she and all her friends know it. But it's the knowledge of this potential juxtaposed with her fate that gives real weight to the situation. So mike, I disagree that it's irrelevant. It's the beginning of the most prominent theme in the final season, I feel. |
| 22. | JeremyOct 8, 2009 (Thu) @ 7:03amLink | |
| I dunno, I really liked this episode. Why must you judge according to that silly criteria (sorry criteria)? Stand-alones with individual plotlines are necissary and amazing in their own and your scoring openly discriminates against them :(. Maybe I just love red herrings in Buffy (haven't seen this many since Earshot) but this episode threw out quite a few good ones.
Also Mike, just about your security code thingy, what is that thing that looks like a cross between an f and P, neither worked? |
| 23. | LucyOct 22, 2009 (Thu) @ 5:39amLink | |
| Jeremy-it's a T. Crazy font, though, isn't it!
I liked this episode quite a lot. The only thing that bugged me was that the main bad guy was that kid out of home improvement. Surely that guy's about 40 by now? He was too old to be playing high school. Even if I hadn't recognised him, he looked way too old! |
| 24. | MasbrillanteNov 24, 2009 (Tue) @ 10:31amLink | |
| I didn't care for this episode, and it was not because of its overall relevance to the season. I just thought that the dialogue was overwrought, that many of the scenes went on too long, and that the heart attack at the end was kind of a cheap way to die. I think that part at least would have been better played if she had died in the midst of the ritual because of her heart or her brain or something. Afterward, it just seemed trite. |
| 25. | SunburnNov 25, 2009 (Wed) @ 12:47pmLink | |
| Rick said: "the emotional "payoff" at the end is incredibly cheap. ... even SMG struggled in this scene - a rare miss for her. I feel that likely has more to do with deficiencies in the teleplay than with her own abilities." I agree. The bit where she said she'd 'failed' Cassie irritated the crap out of me. How can you 'fail' someone when they die from something you had absolutely no power to prevent? Urgh. I also love the scene at Tara's grave and would have liked to have seen more of Willow at that time, or in fact during her grieving process. Not to be morbid, but simply to acknowledge that Tara was an important and greatly missed character. The introduction of the Kennedy relationship might have been a bit less jarring and (for me) icky in that case. |
| 26. | baunger1Jun 9, 2010 (Wed) @ 2:29amLink | |
| The sad irony here is that Cassie is not asking for help, and she can't be helped. Spike is asking for help, and he can be helped -- with caring, forgiveness, faith. But Buffy turns her back on him. The answer to her question "What do you do when you know that maybe you can't help?" is: give help where you can. In the basement. I know she eventually gets there, but I'm really furious at her in these episodes. It would be one thing if she couldn't deal with Spike at all because of their history. But no. She continues to use him and give him nothing -- worse now because she knows that what he's done -- gotten his soul -- was for her, and she knows what it's doing to him. |
| 27. | SvenJun 26, 2010 (Sat) @ 12:12amLink | |
| One thing that annoyed me about this episode is that there are a few things that happen that should have major consequences but don't.
Buffy goes to see Cassie's father and falsely accuses him of beating on his daughter. Did the writers have any idea of just how bad an idea this is? In real life Buffy would be very lucky to walk away with her job from that one. And then there's the kids raising the demons. Regardless of how Cassie ended up dying, they were willing to commit murder for personal gain. That's a level that even the Trio wasn't initially willing to sink to. But nothing comes from it. As far as we know they weren't arrested, they weren't sent to counselling, there are no repercussions at all. Does anyone besides Buffy even know that there are a bunch would-be murderers attending the high school? |
| - | Post a Comment |
|
Name
(NOTE: Before posting your opinion on this episode, please remember to read the review, be respectful of opposing opinions, and to competently use at least basic spelling and grammar. The administrator has the right to remove a comment at any time.) (*** copy your comment in case of failure!!! ***) Security Code |