Have You Googled Her Yet?

Episode 7.4: Help. Original Airdate 10.15.02    

"Buffy begins a new job as school counselor at Sunnydale High. On her first day she encounters a troubled young girl who is convinced she is about to die."

Zelda's Thoughts: 

• wheeeeeeeeeeee. I remember really liking this episode when it aired. Let's see if it holds up.
• The middle of Season Seven is where it's gonna get weird for me, recap-wise. I've rewatched the rest of the series a lot, but I think there are some eps in S7 I've seen only once or twice each, and that's super weird.
• It's also gonna get weird when we start our next show. The only other TV shows I know to the extent I know Buffy are Firefly and the first 3.5 seasons of The West Wing, and we won't be doing either of those.
• I'm talking about this too much.
• "I should be home in bed, cuddling up to my insomnia." Aw Buffs.
• Oh it's Sarah Hagan. Hi Sarah Hagan.
• "I'm really tired of everyone being so insecure." Preach, Amanda. Don't write off boys being shits to girls as growing pains.
• "Do you think I should pound on him some more?" Maybe this was our clue that Amanda was a potential.
• It's a sad/sweet mood, the reveal that Willow's walk and talk with Xander is on the way to visit Tara's grave. And the moment with the stones - one of the few nods to Willow's Judaism - lovely and sad.
• I'm glad Tara was buried in Sunnydale, where her true family can visit her grave, rather than wherever her fucked up blood kin reside. "Hey, it's me." Ow, it hurts.
• Aw Cassie. I love Azura Skye. She has such an interesting energy.
• "Because next Friday I'm gonna die." BUT NO BUFFY SAVES THE DAY ONLY ON TUESDAYS. I'm sorry you guys, that was horrible.
• Do we think Buffy was supposed to be wearing a fancier shirt? Cassie is all "I really like that shirt" and I'm all "... looks like a wifebeater idk?" 

You can get five for $10 at Hanes.

• Wood may have gone to high school in Beverly Hills, but HE SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD IN NEW YORK. #spoilers
• They have a ceramics class? With ... homework? Does Dawn have a take-home pottery wheel?
• Though I do love the continuity of Dawn taking art classes.
• Fun trivia note: apparently Willow asking if Buffy googled Cassie is the first time Google was used as a verb on television.
• Another fun trivia note: it's no longer online, but Cassie's website was a real page you could visit, with her art and poetry all over it.
• "Buffy the Vampire Slayer would break down this door." Zelda the blogger waits patiently to see if she can update her stats. She can't.
• Cassie's speech ... so well-delivered. "There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do ... I'd love to backpack across the country, or I don't know, fall in love? But I won't. I just never will."
• uhmmmm Buffy just an fyi, now that you're an employee of the school and therefore the government, maybe threatening children with physical violence is not the best plan of action? Just my five cents.
• Oh what a surprise, the dickiest dick to dick around this episode is the ringleader of the red-robed dicks. Still counts as an evil reveal.
• I can't believe these dumbasses have actual flaming torches set up in the library.
• Heh. Spike punches douche, grabs his head in pain from the chip, punches douche, grabs head in pain.
• "She'll tell you. Someday she'll tell you." Yep, right before you die.
• "See? You can make a difference." /// "And you will." *dies*
• Man, this one hurts
• "I failed her." // "Uh uh. No. You didn't, cuz you tried. You listened and you tried. She died cuz of her heart, not cuz of you. She was my friend because of you. I guess sometimes you can't help." // "So what then? What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?" You show up for work the next day, and you see who you can try to help next. This melancholy ambiguity feels much more like an Angel episode than a Buffy episode in that regard. very "if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."

Daniel's Thoughts:

• Hey look, peaceful old lady in a coffin.
• It’s weird that they’re staking ;) out a funeral home when most vamps are buried before they turn.
• Hey! Buffy at her job! These three teen actors. One’s from that stupid Tim Allen show – one is from Reaper And our very first (live) potential, Amanda (spoilers!) [from Freaks and Geeks! - Z]
• Hey! A real park! They’re both wearing a lot of clothes for fall.
• Xander with the construction analogy.
• Oh…it’s Tara’s grave…on some weird hillside…where the stones are SUPER far apart. How rich was Tara’s family? Or rather – who did bury Tara? Was it Buffy & Co? Where’d they get the money? Maybe Giles did it with the leftover money from his GIANT MANSION.
• I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Willow puts stones on Tara’s grave. It’s a Jewish tradition and I’m glad the writers didn’t forget that Willow was born Jewish.
• Hey, Cassie Newton. She’s got such a weird demeanor.
• Oh Buffy – being unintentionally racist. “The hood?” Really, Buffy?
• What an inappropriate shirt for work, Buffy.
• Hey, look, people in a library!
• Google – it’s a search engine! Man, this show feels so old sometimes.
• That’s a really weird looking browser…
• “I’m over you now, sweetie.” Heh, yeah. She’s gay now.
• Doogie Houser fan fic..and then she starred with Doogie Houser on another show!
• All these red herrings to this mystery.
• Hey, it’s that guy who’s in everything now!
• If he only has her on weekends and had her last weekend, why is she skulking outside?
• Oddly, showing the men in red hoods burning a picture of Cassie is almost comforting – because it’s something that Buffy can stop.
• Hey, there’s crazy pointless Spike. Yet – this is the first episode in the season with no Anya. Joy.
• My sister’s your second choice?? Heh.
• This is the second time one of the scoobs was all wiggy about revealing that Buffy is the slayer – but I mean, doesn’t everyone know by now? She got the class protector award, so.... [Yeah, but then half the class died at graduation, so ... - Z]
• Ok, this one guy – he’s joking about a booby trap that he set up so no one would get in. Except that booby trap is a fucking arrow that could go off in someone’s skull, so…wth, dude.
• Ugh, spike to the rescue.
• So I mean, the chip’s not really strong enough to stop Spike from actually hurting humans. Maybe he’s gotten used to it? So pretty much Spike could have been killing – just…been hurting afterwards.
• And Cassie dies anyway. Kinda a throwback to Joyce, even. This wasn’t something supernatural, so it wasn’t something Buffy could stop.

Favorite Lines:

Zelda: "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 cuz 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." - Cassie
Daniel: "You know, I'm really tired of everyone being so insecure." - Amanda, about bullies

Arc/Continuity Stuff:

• First appearance: Amanda, Cassie
• Recurring: Principal Wood
• No Anya this episode

• The little secret demon worshiping group with the female sacrifice is a shoutout to the frat house in Reptile Boy

Stats:

Anya's Hair - invisible, apparently
Dead Humans - 1
Dead Undeads - 2
Dead Flashbacks - 0
Buffy Breaks a Door - 0
Evil Reveal - 1
Unevil Reveal - 0
Shenanigans Called - 0
Apocalypse Called - 0