Triangle
Written by: Jane Espenson
Directed by: Chris Hibler
Air Date: January 9, 2001

Or: The one with the Troll. Or: The one where Xander has to pick between his best friend and his girlfriend. Or: the one in which Buffy overracts and SMG overacts to the thought of Xander and Anya breaking up. Or:… you get it, now, I’m sure, so nevermind. Let’s move on.

“Triangle” (which admittedly took me until this viewing to understand why they named it this. I’m dumb, sometimes) starts off in a strange way. There is a bait-and-switch moment where you the joke is made that Buffy might have become a nun now that she is freshly single due to the sudden and underdeveloped end of her recent relationship with Riley. They even go far enough to show a trickle of blonde hair beneath a nun’s wimple (I learned that word from this show!) without showing her face to tease you. You think “Maybe she’s undercover?” but nope, just some random nun she saves from a vampire. But the they toss out the goodwill built up by having it be an obvious, subverted expectation by having her actually grill the nun on life without boys and how hard it is being a nun. This lame series of events and gags is indicative of most of this episode, one which is really just filler to cleanse the palette after the sorrow of Riley’s departure.

The bulk of this episode centers around two thing: Giles is leaving for England to talk to the Watchers Council about getting help with their big Glory problem. This leaves the shop unattended, the gang without a reliable parental figure, and a rift to form between some of the core cast. And that rift is the second thing: Giles leaves the store to Anya and Willow can’t believe it. The two come to verbal spats that range from comical to cutting in the span of a few seconds. Some of it is warranted – Anya doesn’t trust Willow because she takes advantage of her access to the Magic Box and Giles’ in-store stash of magical goods, stuff she refuses to pay for. Willow doesn’t trust Anya because of her former profession as a vengeance demon and she worries she’ll hurt Xander, her best friend. Neither of them can come out and say these things right away, of course, and that leads to real-time accounting, raised tempers, and a botched spell resulting in the episode’s giant troll, Olaf. Who used to date Anya before she transformed him into the monster we see before us.

There are a handful of things I really like about this episode, so I’ll start there. First off, I like that Olaf is a stereotypical and oafish troll with immense strength and a giant hammer. It gets a bit overdone with the “let me eat a baby” bit, though Spike does get to question Xander on where the nearest baby might be (“What do you think, the hospital?”), but he is otherwise funny, looks great, and is a legit threat to the gang, including Buffy. I like that an emotionally run-through Buffy gets PTSD to comical effect when Tara tells her she bailed when Anya, Willow and Xander got into it over Xander’s relationship, especially since I really enjoy seeing Tara continue to expand into her role within the group as a kind of “den mother” position. But, again, the script and directing has SMG play this up to ludicrous levels, where she cries at the thought of them breaking up and jumps to the conclusion that it has happened already and that they were the prefect couple and their relationship needs protected at all costs. This is especially egregious as just last episode she came within inches of berating Xander for his relationship before he stopped her in her tracks.

I also love that Giles is returning to England to reconnect with the Watcher’s Council, but that doesn’t happen in this episode, really, just him leaving. This is the springboard for a really, really great episode coming up soon, but I do love that one minute with their father figure out of the picture, the gang devolves into almost caricaturized versions of themselves, no longer able to function like actual adults. But, then again, all of this is overdone. Willow wouldn’t blatantly steal from him like this, even if she didn’t respect Anya. Xander, who has been getting so confidant that he corners the strongest person he knows, wouldn’t just walk away from this problem. Buffy wouldn’t act this childish. Anya wouldn’t… well, no, she’s still in character. But almost everyone turns into a more petulant version of themselves and it doesn’t come across as authentic.

And that’s the issue with this episode – every positive has an immediately noticeable flipside negative, for the most part. There are even smaller examples of it: Spike practicing asking Buffy out with his mannequin is comical, but that he hears her belittle him in his head so much that he dismantles her violently, only to put the head back on and start again is too much. I like that Buffy’s mom gets to come home and that she has a lasting mark in the form of her shaved head… but its a tiny bit that is shaved and then she just wears a scarf. I like that Dawn finally starts to overhear more about “The Key” and stuff, but its just another TV trope in which a character only hears enough of a conversation to make the situation bad and not anything more (something that will continue to be a problem for this show and character in particular). Its just 100 near slam-dunks followed by 100 off-the-rims, none of which elevate or completely derail the episode, but it is enough to cause it to feel like a mixed bag.

The worst part about this is that, back when I’d watched this episode previously, I really thought this was one of the great examples of Season 5 storytelling, but it really isn’t. Again, its not a terrible episode and far from the worst the season or series as a whole has to offer. It just feels like a bunch of water treading in order to keep pushing the main two narratives for the rest of the season: make Buffy suffer either comically or emotionally and drive home how important love is for everyone (but, again, especially Buffy), something that will become a very identifiable central pillar in just a handful of episodes. But, the comedy is good, the troll fight in the Magic Box is effective and I like seeing power and strength exhibited in much more brutal ways on this show, like Buffy getting tossed across the room or the troll easily breaking Xander’s wrist/arm. And the setup that is put into place in this episode is really good stuff. I just wish the rest of it was designed to match.

Overall Rating: 72

Additional Thoughts:
-Willow and Tara’s spell idea – a small simulated sun – is a good idea
-Tara being on Willow’s side about the stealing, especially with where their arcs are headed and her entire rough go in Season 6, seems extremely out of character
-I understand this was early 2000’s television, but that hammer looks like it weighs the amount the prop actually weighs and does not give off the illusion that it is a heavy weapon
-I couldn’t find a place for it, but one good thing that has no flipside is Dawn’s support of her sister in the aftermath of her breakup. I feel there was genuine affection between the two characters during the scene in Buffy’s bedroom and I love any time these two feel like actual sisters like this
-Anya’s first time driving a car is hilarious
-Anya bringing up her fears that Willow could get between her and Xander is cute, particularly the Cordelia reference
-Best line? Willow’s impersonation of Anya: “People can so rarely be exchanged for goods and/or services!”
-Next handful of episodes make up for the weaker string we just got through