Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3, Episode 16: Doppelgangland
Written and Directed by Joss WhedonThis episode is so downright enjoyable that I'm prepared to forgive Joss Whedon for the disaster that was Amends. That's not to say it's a masterpiece, but the idea behind it - effectively getting Alyson Hannigan to play four different versions of Willow - is sheer class. So here we have normal Willow, vampire Willow, normal Willow pretending to be vampire Willow, and vampire Willow pretending to be normal Willow, and somehow all of them seem very different but still recognisably the same person. There's a heck of a lot of foreshadowing going on here, and I'm not just talking about the more obvious "I think I'm kinda gay" line. Watching it again, I'm amazed at just how much Willow's descent into darkness in Season 6 is prefigured here, which makes me wonder just how far these storylines were planned out in advance. I know that the "Willow turns gay" idea was merely one of two possible options (the other was having Xander turn out to be gay) the writers were considering, and that Seth Green's abrupt departure more or less forced their hands, but I'd have been curious to see how the "Dark Willow" storyline would have played out if Willow had remained straight (given that one of the main criticisms of that storyline was how closely it connected her sexuality with her emerging evilness).
Overall rating: 9/10.
Next time: Enemies.
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