Dead Man's Party

First of all, is there any fallout over more dead kids, a dead neighbor, and the destruction of a house. I wonder if their homeowners insurance covers a zombie attack. I don't know if I buy this episode. They all know Buffy but treat her like dirt. After all the previous incidents wouldn't it be natural to trust her. She faces danger every day. There was a warrant out for her on a murder charge, her mother had rejected her, and she had been through the most vicious of events. Anyway, the whole zombie thing is really tiresome. It's interesting that they can barely walk, but they have the energy to go through a window and chase people around. But I guess the bucolic last scene with Willow is enough. It will be interesting to see how the principal comes out of this.

This episode is a little awkward and it's sad how naive Buffy's mother is ...

... after spending the past four months in LA waitressing. Of course Principal Snyder is resisting letting her back into the high school even though Buffy has been cleared of all charges concerning the violence in the library in Becoming Part 1. Everyone is acting awkward around her, including her own mother. Meanwhile Buffy's mom, Joyce, has put up a Nigerian mask in her bedroom that just happens to have the power to raise the dead. Complications ensue.

One thing that has always bugged me about this episode (besides the obvious selfishness of the Scoobies being angry at Buffy for running away) is the fact that Joyce invited over the Scoobies and Giles (plus Pat I guess) for a nice dinner. They then took it upon themselves to vote on and change her fancy dinner party into a rager, or as Oz would say "hootenanny". And Giles condoned it! Of all people, he should know better! This just made Buffy feel even more distanced from the gang as all of the other people at this impromptu kegger didn't even know who she was or what the dinner turned party was about.

Buffy is also wrestling with the fact that she had to kill Angel and send him to hell moments after his soul was restored to him. Everybody else believes the spell Willow did to restore Angel's soul was a failure. Only Buffy knows the truth of the sacrifice she made.

There are some great touches in this episode, which just demonstrate how good the writing and direction were during Buffy's high school years. For example, when Buffy shows up at Giles' apartment and he goes into the kitchen by himself as the others converse in the living room, he is shown leaning up against the cabinet for a moment and smiling a smile of relief, happy to have Buffy back home safe. He always had a father's love for the girl.

I feel like this episode would have been a 10 if it didn't have the mask subplot. The character stuff going on was enough to carry the episode I feel.