Guest Starring: 
     
 Dagney Kerr: 
 (Kathy) 
   
 Adam Kaufman: 
 (Parker Abrams) 
   
 Clayton Barber: 
 (Demon) 
   
 
 
  2. Living Conditions.  
   
  Buffy and her flat-mate Kathy aren't getting along too well; this leads to suspicion verging on psychosis on Buffy's part concerning Kathy's true agenda.  
   
  Great quotes:  
   
 
Kathy is evil.
  • Kathy: "Super-fun!" and "Toodles!"
  • Buffy: "Super bad fake rub-on tan." Giles: "Translate?" Buffy: "Orangey."
  • Willow on Buffy's behaviour: "OK that was the evil twin right, because that was bordering on Cordelia-esque."
  • Xander: "Why couldn't Giles have shackles like any self-respecting bachelor?"
  • Willow: "They're toenails." Buffy: "Evil toenails!"
  • Buffy on Kathy: "She irons her jeans! She's evil!"
 
  Fantastic moments:  
   
 
  • Willow waves 'bye' to Buffy at the start of the episode in a really cutesy comedy style.
  • Buffy and Kathy deliberately annoying each other is pretty funny. They use slow-motion sequences as Buffy taps her pencil while Kathy clips her toenails. Previously Buffy was necking Kathy's milk in delightfully insane retaliation for her talking to Parker, how silly these Freshers are.
  • Kathy is great as the 'housemate from hell'; the character was well observed by the writers. Her Celine Dion poster, obsessively playing annoying pop music and hanging out with Buffy's mates despite being uninvited are all traits that I've seen in people from time to time.
 
  Duff Bits:  
   
 
  • So the Mak'taya demon is trying to find Kathy by looking for someone without a soul? There are a lot of vampires in Sunnydale, none of them have souls either.
  • I was rather disappointed about the big reveal when we find out Kathy actually is a demon. It puts an acceptable gloss on Buffy's behaviour throughout the episode (which, let's face it, portrays her as psychotically obsessed with the behaviour of her relatively normal housemate) since it turns out that she can beat Kathy up to solve her problems. This is one of those rare occasions when the BtVS metaphor has failed.
 
  Dean's comments:  
   
 
Willow is having some difficulties with her flatmates.
This is an average episode that plays on the theme that Buffy (as an only-child) might not be too good at having to live with other people her own age, it is all let down by Kathy's demonic nature (see above). Buffy's scenes with Kathy are incredibly funny because everyone has known people as annoying as Kathy and as picky as Buffy in their lives. The problems lies in the conclusion, in which rather than learning that people are different and to deal with differences, Buffy is able to pummel Kathy until she gets her own way. The episode is trying to continue on from where 'The Freshman' left of by portraying Buffy as someone who is incredibly insecure; perhaps this episode should have been played a bit more seriously.
 
   
 5/10 
 
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