Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Band Candy

"I don't get this. The candy's supposed to make you feel all immature and stuff, but I've had a ton and I don't feel any diff... never mind."

- Xander Harris

"Band Candy" is the sixth episode of season three of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is the 41st episode overall. The episode was directed by Michael Lange and written by Jane Espenson and first aired on the WB Network on November 10th, 1998. In this episode, an old rival of Giles named Ethan Rayne taints a supply of candy that is distributed amongst the student body at Sunnydale High. Adults who consume the candy find themselves turned into immature, irresponsible "teenagers". Buffy and the Scoobies must determine why Joyce and Giles are acting so strangely while also boning up for the SATs.

Synopsis
Buffy and Giles are on patrol in a cemetery. While hunting vampires, Buffy is also prepping for the upcoming SAT scores. She acts flippant and Giles tries to stress the importance of getting good grades. A vampire attacks and Buffy kills him with her number 2 pencil. Fortunately, Giles has another one.

At City Hall, Mayor Richard Wilkins III conspires with his underling Mister Trick. He makes an allusion about an offer to a demon and Trick, though uncomfortable with his new arrangement with the mayor, agrees to help him.

The following day at school, Principal Snyder passes out boxes of Milk Bar candy to each of the students walking down the hall. He tells them that they are to sell this candy to help raise funds for the school's marching band. Buffy takes the candy home and convinces her mom to buy twenty of the forty chocolate bars. She doesn't however, convince her to let her drive her car. After a quick meal, Buffy has to dash off for some slaying time with Giles. Joyce thinks Giles is taking up to much of the young girl's time.

Buffy goes to the school library for a brief practice session with Giles, but ducks out early, citing that her mother wants her home early. Instead of returning home however, she goes to the Crawford Street Mansion where she finds Angel practicing a martial arts kata. She provides Angel with a container of blood. The conversation is tense between the two and Buffy tells Angel about her new boyfriend Scott Hope.

She returns home and tries to play it off as if she had been spending the night training with Giles. As it turns out however, Giles is there. Joyce and he confront Buffy while simultaneously partaking in the Milk Bar candy bars that Buffy sold them. Buffy lies and says that she was at the Bronze. The conversation gets heated and Buffy storms off upstairs. Joyce and Giles sit on the couch and eat more candy.

At a factory, a worker packages up a case of Milk Bar candy. He sneaks one away and prepares to eat it, but Ethan Rayne approaches him and warns, "Trust me... you don't want to do that."

The next day at school, Rupert Giles is not in attendance. Principal Snyder assigns a woman named Ms. Barton to fill in for him during study hall. Buffy and the others are surprised to see the older woman's flippant attitude towards Snyder and school in general. Xander and Willow begin flirting with one another, but quickly stop when they realize how inappropriate they are being.

Later, Buffy goes to Giles' apartment and is surprised to see her mother there. Joyce tells her that Giles and she were trying to coordinate a schedule for Buffy's spare time, in the hopes of alleviating some of the pressure from her life. Buffy doesn't care for the strange glances that passes between the two adults. She is surprised even further when Joyce hands her the keys to her car. After Buffy leaves, Giles lights a cigarette and Joyce pulls out a bottle of wine. They begin listening to 1970s acid rock albums. They then decide to go out to "tear things up a bit". Buffy and Willow go the Bronze and are stymied by how many older people are seen drinking and dancing. Even Oz, on stage with his band Dingoes Ate My Baby, seems off put by their new demographic. Many of the patrons are members of Sunnydale High's faculty including Principal Snyder and Ms. Barton. Snyder acts as if he's the life of the party. After the band finishes the set, Oz joins with Buffy and Willow. They realize that all of the adults in town are suddenly acting like teenagers. The three of them leave to find Giles so that they can figure out what has come over everybody. Principal Snyder decides to accompany them and they all pile into Joyce's jeep. As they drive down the road, the vehicle is truck by another car.

Meanwhile, Giles and Joyce walk down the street watching the adults of the city act like wild, partying teens. As they pass a clothing shop, Joyce points out a coat that she likes. Giles decides to acquire it for her and smashes the window of the shop and steals the coat. A cop arrives on the scene and tries to arrest Giles, but he disarms him and beats him up. Afterward, he grabs Joyce and begins kissing her.

Buffy, Oz, Willow and Snyder emerge from the vehicle unscathed. As they look about, Buffy wonders why no vampires have come out of hiding to snack on the easy prey that stumbling about in the streets. She figures out that it is the candy that is making everybody act so strangely and asks Snyder where he got it from. He says that he received it from the school board, but knows nothing else. Willow and Oz take off for the library to look up information on "candy curses" and "disturbing second childhoods".

Buffy takes Snyder to the warehouse where the candy is being distributed. Outside, a throng of people eagerly wait to get their hands on more candy. Among them is Giles and Joyce. Buffy finds the two locked together in a passionate embrace and cannot believe her eyes. Harsh words are exchanged between the three of them, but ultimately, Buffy convinces Giles to help her get to the bottom of this fiasco. As they enter the warehouse, they come upon Giles' old rival Ethan Rayne. Giles wants to beat him up, but Buffy restrains him. Ethan tries to escape, but Buffy ferrets him out and punches him in the nose. Ethan eventually reveals that he is but a pawn of Mayor Wilkins and that the entire cursed candy idea was merely a distraction. He needed a scheme to divert people away from the hospital so that Mister Trick's vampire agents could gather up babies from the nursery and use them as an offering for a demon called Lurconis.

Willow telephones Buffy with more information about Lurconis. She describes that the beast is a serpent that requires a ritual tribute once every thirty years. Giles becomes lucid enough to remember the ritualistic passage relating to the demon. "Lurconis dwells beneath the city", he tells them. They figure out that Lurconis must live in the sewers. Buffy and the crew go down there and find the vampires annointing the babies, readying them for the sacrifice. She fights off the vampires while Joyce rescues the babies. Mister Trick is hungry for the opportunity to take on Buffy, but Giles intervenes. As the sounds of the demon draws near, Mister Trick escapes from the sewer. Lurconis emerges from the sewer tunnel and Buffy pulls down a gas pipe. Igniting it, she points the pipe at the giant serpent and it goes up in flames.

The next day, the adults have returned to their senses. Snyder promptly chooses Willow, Oz, Xander, and Cordelia as "volunteers" to clean up the mess in the hall. Buffy complains to Giles about the SAT's. They meet Joyce, but Buffy fails to notice their awkwardness upon seeing each other.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode has been made available on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Third Season DVD collections.


 * This is one of the few instances where we get a glimpse of what Giles' personality was like during his "Ripper" years.


 * The song that Giles and Joyce are listening to in his apartment is "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream.


 * The song that the three inebriated older men are singing at the Bronze is "Louie Louie", originally written by Richard Berry in 1955 and popularized in the 1978 film Animal House.


 * When seeing a coat that she likes, Joyce Summers remarks, "That is cool. Very Juice Newton". Juice Newton was a pop/country recording artist popular in the early 1980s.


 * When presented with the task of selling candy for the school band, Buffy makes a reference to Willie Loman. Willie Loman was the central figure from the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman.


 * Buffy tells Angel about her new boyfriend Scott Hope in this episode. She met Scott in episode 3x03, "Faith, Hope & Trick". Scott broke up with Buffy in "Beauty and the Beasts".


 * The song performed by Dingoes Ate My Baby is called "Violent". It is actually performed by Four Star Mary.


 * The meditation technique that Angel is practicing is called Tai Chi. Ironically, the technique is also used as a means of sustaining longevity - a problem that Angel would not suffer from being an immortal vampire.


 * Anthony Stewart Head usually tones down his accent when playing the part of Giles. As "Teen Giles" however, Head uses his full accent.


 * Principal Snyder says that he wants to change his name to a single word like "Barbarino". This is likely a reference to Vinnie Barbarino, a character played by John Travolta in the 1970s sit-com Welcome Back, Kotter.

Quotes

 * Willow Rosenberg: Oz is the highest-scoring person ever to fail to graduate.

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 * Joyce Summers: Honey, don't you think that Mister Giles monopolizes an awful lot of your time?

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 * Rupert Giles: Lets go out and have some fun. Tear things up a bit.

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 * Principal Snyder: Summers, you drive like a spaz!

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 * Buffy Summers: Giles at sixteen? Less 'together guy,' more 'bad magic, hates the world, ticking time bomb guy.'

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 * Joyce Summers: Screw you! I want candy.

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 * Rupert Giles: You listen to me. I'm your Watcher so you do what I tell you. Now sod off!

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 * Cordelia Chase: Mom started borrowing my clothes. There should be an age limit on Lycra pants.

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 * Rupert Giles: Lets find the demon and kick the crap out of it.