Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 2, Episode 8 Review: The Dark Age

The Dark Age
Original Airdate: November 10, 1997
Writers: Dean Batali & Rob Des Hotel
Director: Bruce Seth Green

Like many kids, the gang doesn’t think much about the lives of their elders before they came into their lives. As far as they know, Giles has always been a stuffed shirt; a British guy who was proudly unhip, dedicated to work and in control. However, in “Halloween” we got a taste that there was a dark side to him, and this episode gives us more detail. Ultimately, when they return and wreak havoc on his stable life, we see that Giles is flawed with past regrets, although it may not be deep enough to make a lasting impact on Giles’ character.

With the hints of a dark side, the pay off feels slightly toned down. Perhaps it’s because Giles’ past pales in comparison to his demonic counterparts. Angel’s mass murderer; Giles summoned a demon to get high and had to kill one of his friends when possession became permanent. His liking the Bay City Rollers almost sounds darker (Bay City Rollers? Really, Giles?) It could’ve been darker had we learned that Eyghon had some bigger plans besides killing those who summoned him twenty five years earlier.

This episode also establishes the use of demon possession as a way to keep a couple apart, which was first used in “The Pack”. Things seemed to be going well for Giles and Jenny, complete with heavy flirting and PDA. It was cute to see Giles get the girl, but nice relationships rarely last long on “Buffy”. So to enforce the idea of Giles’ past coming to haunt him, they have someone he cares for pay the penalty. Although Jenny under possession was a bit hot (not with the Eyghon make up of course).

It was neat to have Ethan return. His character serves as a model of what Giles would be like if he had not tried to make up for killing his friend. Ethan is selfish to the point where he would mutilate Buffy to save himself, whereas Giles has many people close to him and would sacrifice himself to save them. Although one nitpick; did Ethan know about this in advance, since he got another month’s lease on the costume shop? He would’ve left town otherwise. Did he know Eyghon was back and wanted to be in close proximity with another potential victim?

Another problem, albeit minor, is that for some reason they to made the metaphorical “scent” of the Mark of Eyghon literal. How exactly is a tattoo going to produce a scent Eyghon could use to locate them? Unless the searing flesh is a tell, this just came off as sloppy. It would’ve worked better had Eyghon scanned Ethan with his/her eyes before figuring that he didn’t have the mark.

This episode brings up the concept of Buffy’s friends as Watchers in training. It certainly feels fit at this point in the show. With Giles out of commission through most of the episode, the three in the library have to step up the usual research. Willow once again proves to be resourceful as she realizes a vampire would be a perfect host to destroy Eyghon. And as Xander and Cordelia bicker, which is so over the top with excessive one liners that only assures they’ll get together, she once again brings up the stern side to put personal drama aside until the job is done.

One element that felt undercooked was vampires seizing the human blood delivered to the hospital. For creatures that don’t object to feasting on human beings, Angel excluded, it seems odd that they would go through the effort to take donated blood. Only Angel gets packaged blood because he doesn’t want to directly harm someone to get his sustenance. Since one of the vampires referred to the blood as “product”, perhaps they spike the blood with something for vampires to use like drugs. Blood intoxication has been mentioned in “School Hard”.

This episode, a bit like its predecessor, could’ve been a bit better. The exploration of Giles’ dark side is intriguing, but doesn’t go much deeper than his “lost weekending”. Even throughout the series, it is only a motivation here and there. With the spin off series “Ripper” scrapped (as far as I know) this may be one of the few examples of this dark side, which makes Giles a little incomplete.

Overall Score: 7/10