Buffy 4.14: "Goodbye Iowa"

Written by Marti Noxon
Directed by David Solomon

In which the truth about Professor Walsh and her project at the Initiative is revealed, and Riley is forced to deal with the thought that his life has been a lie, while Buffy deals with the fallout…


Status Report

This episode not only picks up where the previous episode left off, but it also takes the season’s theme and runs with it. The questions of self-identity and self-realization have been on the table since the premiere, where Buffy was doubting herself and her place in the world. Before dealing directly with Buffy’s crisis of personal growth, however, there’s the matter of Riley Finn, a character designed specifically to explore the concepts of self-awareness. Riley begins to discover that critical assumptions about his world are wrong, and it is not easy for him to adjust.

Riley’s experience is important because it foreshadows the journey that Buffy must ultimately take throughout the rest of the series. Buffy has lived the life of the Slayer for years, but beyond Giles’ most basic lessons, Buffy has ignored the training that Slayers have previously enjoyed. Thus the source of the Slayer power is something of an unknown, and what that means to Buffy as a person has yet to be explored.

The question is: how much of a person is the sum of the influences that went into his or her creation, and how much is inherent to the individual? To understand what the legacy of the Chosen is, one must first establish who Buffy is at her core. This season is all about taking the lessons learned in the third season (Buffy facing her dark reflection) and using them to find herself, once all of her assumptions from high school are stripped away. It’s a long and involved process that never really comes to an end, especially since Buffy comes to the inevitable conclusion that she must understand what comes externally from the Chosen line. It becomes a process of give and take, stepwise revelation…Buffy learns about herself, thus discovers something about her Slayer legacy, which then spirals into more self-awareness, and so on.

As would be the case for many of the character introduced to carry the theme in the later season of “Buffy”, unlike Angel or Faith, the writers would ultimately fail to consider what to do with Riley once his main purpose was fulfilled. For many fans, Riley will always be remembered as the annoying character that he became in the beginning of the fifth season. The episode also introduces a side to Tara that touches on the season’s theme; indeed, Tara would become another example of a character that was kept around past her intended exit with no clear purpose.

But at this point, Riley was of primary importance to the narrative. For one thing, the writers had set up Buffy and Riley as a couple isolating themselves from their allies; this would have long-term consequences for the rest of the season. On Buffy’s end, the damage wasn’t quite so severe, but the lines between Scoobies and Initiative were definitively drawn. Riley was caught between the truth offered by Buffy and the life he had come to know in the Initiative.

Of course, Riley doesn’t see it quite that way at first, and Buffy’s life doesn’t make it any easier. Spike’s association with the gang (however loose at this point) is in direct conflict with Riley and his training. To him, it seems like Buffy may be the enemy that Walsh was trying to make her appear to be. But he also can’t deny the fact that Walsh lied to him. His physical symptoms, his withdraw from the chemicals administered to him by Walsh and the Initiative, are a reflection of the shedding of illusions. In an interesting (if gruesome) parallel, Adam has awoken, and he feels a need to understand himself, to the point of conducting experiments.

More parallels are drawn between the Scoobies and the Initiative. The gang hasn’t really been working together as a team for some time, and being forced into close quarters under siege conditions is not good for the friendly relations. Similarly, Riley finds Forrest unwilling to give Buffy the benefit of the doubt. In fact, Forrest is unwilling to accept that Walsh is potentially deceptive. Once Walsh’s body is found, Forrest automatically assumes that Buffy killed the Professor, rather than waiting to examine the evidence or accepting Engleman’s admission that the Polgara skewer was involved.

Things go from bad to worse when Riley decides to take command of the investigation into Walsh’s death himself. This sets the stage for a direct confrontation with all the things he would rather not acknowledge. He tests Buffy, unsure of where her allegiances lie, despite all the evidence to date. Buffy is forced into a position of resolving the issue herself, if only to prove herself to Riley. Under such circumstances, the result is predictably damaging to both parties.

Since the episode is all about shedding illusions (or the struggle to preserve them), the scene between Willow and Tara is significant. Tara has something to hide, and she’s willing to lie to Willow to keep it that way. Considering how much of her confidence is currently riding on Willow, this speaks to something rather powerful. Unfortunately, while this subplot would gather some ominous overtones in short order, the plot would come crashing down when Tara’s supposed demonic legacy would turn out to be a lie.

Before long, Riley is confronting Buffy at Willy’s, and as his confusion grows, so does his reaction to his withdrawal. By the time his world is truly spinning in circles, he’s struggling for control and losing the fight badly. Buffy, of course, is the only thing that seems to calm him down, but that’s not necessarily a sign of romance; Buffy has already been established as a powerful female figure, in place of Walsh, and thus his comfort in her presence has disturbing psychological implications.

With all the thematic resonance established early in the episode, the writing wavers a bit once the plot turns towards the action at the Initiative base. The story requires a showdown between Buffy, Riley, and Adam under highly charged circumstances, and it’s clear that the writers weren’t sure how to get there. Bringing back some semblance of Xander’s supposed military “training” from “Halloween” is unnecessary and contradictory, especially since Buffy’s clearance wouldn’t extend to Xander if the Initiative had any semblance of security. Then again, the Initiative is run rather sloppily, because they were always better as a concept than as depicted. (Though Buffy in glasses is rather hot!)

As usual, the writing seems to indicate a much larger and far more impressive operation than the one that’s actually on screen, which is just plain weird. It’s one thing for that disparity to be in the script for “The Initiative”, but once it was clear that the reality wouldn’t match the vision, why keep up the silly front? It adds to the already present concern that the writers didn’t really know what to do with the Initiative, beyond its role as the source of Riley’s inner struggle. (It also doesn’t help that the meds given to Riley and the others are suddenly being given through their food, instead of the far more obvious and consistent vitamins that were highlighted in the previous episode!)

It all comes to a head when Riley hears the truth and can’t handle it. He can’t reconcile the idea that he was being treated like a test subject by someone he practically worshipped, and that the worship itself was at least partly engineered. Enter Adam, who is both a regression from the subtle workings that created Riley and an advancement of Walsh’s obvious goal: the creation of the perfect anti-demon soldier.

Adam comes across as a creature engineered in both body and mind, meant to approach his appointed task with a certain brilliance tactical flair. This also echoes the philosophical side to the original Frankenstein’s Monster. But it should be noted that Adam offers to explain Walsh’s endgame to Riley, and at the last moment, Riley interrupts him. This is fairly blatant way to avoid having to give an explanation, since it’s clear that the writers didn’t know where to take the concept. They needed to use this situation for the sake of triggering Riley’s psychological journey, but beyond that, the writers were unsure of themselves.

As one would expect, the fallout is left to future episodes, but Riley becomes the center of a struggle between the reality that Buffy offers and the illusion that Forrest embraces. This would serve to isolate Buffy even further, because she feels a need to fill the gap that the loss of Walsh and the Initiative leaves in Riley. More than that, Buffy’s own questions of self-identity come to an unusual head in the next few episodes, where her dark reflection (Faith) makes an unexpected return.

But the point of this episode is to bring the “complication” phase of the season to a relative close. Many characters are at a crisis point. Riley, certainly, has had every assumption in his life thrown into question. Buffy, still unsure of who she’s supposed to be, now faces an enemy that she doesn’t quite understand. Tara is hiding things from Willow, even as she draws Willow away from her old friends. Xander still doesn’t have a stready job, and thus he hasn’t found a solid foundation for understanding himself. Even Spike is no longer living in the same world he left behind, now that he fights demons.

The subsequent two-part epic would transition the season towards its “resolution” phase, where the plot/character arcs would begin to converge. Riley’s process of dealing with the truth about the Initiative is key to that evolution, and in a sense, it’s that outward focus that leaves the season feeling somewhat unfocused. As strong as the Riley material is in this episode, Buffy’s part of the journey is only prompted by the events of this season. Add to that the fracturing of the core gang, however well intentioned, and the season is weakened.

This episode is very strong, however, even as compared to the previous episode, which felt rushed and poorly structured. It resolves the immediate problem of replacing Walsh with an even bigger threat, while also giving Riley a reason to exist beyond the need to give Buffy a love interest. All that said, the episode struggles because the season as a whole was not as well-conceived as it should have been. One could easily wonder if the troubles with “Angel” and its first season were to blame.


Memorable Quotes

XANDER: “Storm the Initiative…yeah! Let’s take on those suckers!”
BUFFY: “I was thinking more that we’d hide.”
XANDER: “Oh thank God!”

RILEY: “That’s Hostile 17!”
SPIKE: “No…I’m just a friend of Xanderrrr…bugger it. I’m your guy.”

BUFFY: “That would never happen.”
WILLOW: “Well, no, Buff…that’s why they call then cartoons, not documentaries.”

BUFFY: “Riley was supposed to be Mr. Joe Guy. We were going to do dumb things like hold hands through the daisies, going tra-la-la.”
WILLOW: “Poor Buffy…your life resists all things average…”

BUFFY: “That probably would have sounded more commanding if I wasn’t wearing my Yummy Sushi pajamas…”

BUFFY: “Sorry. I’m the only one that can pass the retinal scan.”
XANDER: “The…ew, I don’t wanna see that!”
BUFFY: “Retinal. Scan. Xander!”

ENGLEMAN: “Adam…Maggie would want you to stand down.”
ADAM: “Yes. But I seem to have a design flaw.”

BUFFY: “No way I can get near him until I come up with a better plan than just storming in and getting us all shot.”
WILLOW: “Yeah, you might want to work the kinks out of that one…”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is a strong continuation of the season’s theme, and a highlight reel for the character of Riley Finn. Several characters are forced to reconsider the basic assumptions of self-identity, and the seeds are planted for Buffy’s own psychological journey in future seasons. The Initiative arc continues to be ill-defined and out of proportion, but despite a clear direction, it provides the necessary fodder for the intended character drama.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10