Buffy The Vampire Slayer S:02 Ep:12

Episode title: Bad Eggs

Original air date: January 12, 1998

“I See Your ‘Gyughhh!’ and raise you a Nyaghhh!” – Buffy

It’s a mixed bag of ideas that this underrated (let alone another of my favourite) episodes as it not only manages to reference both “Aliens” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” but also manages to work in a pair of vampire cowboys as well.

The main meat of the plot this week sees Buffy struggling to deal with responsibility both at home and at school and its almost fitting that Buffy and the Scoobies would find themselves forced to look after an egg as if it was a baby. Buffy however soon discovers that these eggs might not be what they seem as the people around her start acting very strangely.

Opening with Buffy and her mom at the mall there is some great back and forth dialogue between them and this episode like last week’s episode really uses the character of Joyce well, especially when she shows the patience of a saint in her attempts to discipline her daughter, while amusingly dismissing Buffy openly admitting to her vampire slaying woes. It’s also during this extended opening that we are also introduced to Lyle Gorch one half of a pair of vampire cowboys drawn to Sunnydale by the power of the Hellmouth.

Lyle and Tector are great fun especially when they spend more time arguing with each other than trying to battle Buffy, while their dusters and cowboy hats really give them a look which makes them standout from your usual run of the mill vampires we have been used to seeing until now. Sadly this duo are criminally underused, with this episode and the season 3 episode “Homecoming” being the only times that Lyle appears in the series while Tector is amusingly killed off here when he is suddenly eaten by the mother Bezoar being one of the only occasions in the series that I could think of in which a vampire is kill by another monster let alone by being eaten.

The main monster of the week though is cleverly played out over the course of the episode as the baby Bezoar hatch from their eggs and taking a form non to dissimilar to the Facehugger from “Alien” making the scene in which Buffy battles one of these hatchlings in her room very similar to the facehugger scene in “Aliens”. At the same time the first time we see one of the eggs hatch and its tendrils moving over Buffy’s sleeping face it is an undeniably creepy scene to watch.

Outside of the egg monsters and vampire cowboys, Xander ad Cordelia continue their secret relationship, as we get several scenes of them making out in closets again, their relationship being fuelled randomly by an open distain for each other, which in turn fuels their lust for each other which provides some fun moments here, especially when they start trading barbs in their health class while trying poorly attempting to hide their relationship from the rest of the class.

A surprisingly amusing episode especially when it contains so many genuinely creepy moments, involving tendrils and tentacles suddenly appearing, its one which perhaps could have been made better if the Gorch brothers were setup as being more than a monster of the week style character, more so when as I’ve mentioned already they are just such a great comedy double act. Still this episode is a great starting place for the newcomers, while the established fans get an incredibly fun ride, let alone one topped off by a giant octopus in the school basement,

Next Episode: Suprise