"So are they all, all honorable men . . ."

4.4: Living Conditions
4.5: The Harsh Light of Day
4.6: Fear, Itself


There are several important points throughout the show at which Buffy is portrayed as vulnerable. In the episode "Innocence" of Season 2, after Buffy and Angel consummated their relationship, she confusedly searches for Angel only to find him using careless language about their night together. She stands speechless, her forehead wrinkled in consternation as he mocks her lack of experience and jibes her youth and ignorance. While this is clearly a result of his having lost his soul, she has not yet discovered that fact and is distraught, thinking that it was something specific she did (or did wrong) that has contributed to his change of heart. The insecurities she seems to have always had concerning her relationship with Angel had been fully confirmed—everything she had feared had become real, even more distinctly than happens in the episode "Fear, Itself." How she can ever again trust anyone to that point of a romantic relationship is incredible.

Which is why I was a little shocked when, after a mere couple of dates, Buffy made her choice to spend the night with Parker. I thought one possible explanation, however slight, was that she saw a reflection of her former (younger) self in his attitude—after all, in the very first episode of the very first season, she flippantly told Willow that she believed in "seizing the moment." Even so, she doesn't ever really seem to embrace this philosophy in any area of her life, school, social life, or "work." She was shown vividly to be separate from this mindset especially when she ran into Faith, whose nonchalance and diregard for real responsibility upset and annoy Buffy rather than cause her to identify with her. Besides, Parker seemed like a good bet—steady, considerate, and cautious—even nervous about moving forward in their relationship (example: when he pretended like he was "too scared" to ask her to the frat party the next night). His pretences are only kept up until after they have slept together, and—just like Angel—he demeans her expectations and laughs off her expression of emotions. Buffy shudders under the weight of the déja-vu, practically breaking: she takes her time recovering because she simply does not want to "cope." Vulnerablility #3—as, when Buffy first comes to the University of California at Sunnydale, her sense of being out of her element was Vulnerability #2.


Of course, Parker's behavior is not because he has lost his soul, which makes him fully responsible for his actions—and also a pathetic excuse for a human being and should be thrown into the river with a millstone around his miserable neck. Parker is a plain and simple scoundrel, a blackguard, a varlet, and all of those wonderful words that people use but rarely in today's society. Willow's nomination of him as a "poophead" also covers the bases (though I always thought that "The Poophead Principle" was the inexplicable sense of satisfaction that a more mature person invariably derives from the expressing of grown-up feelings with a childish vocabulary).


From the onset, of course, Parker certainly did seem like a nice guy—but as Shakespeare said, "one may smile and smile and be a villain." As we discussed in class, Buffy's being hoodwinked into believing every word that Parker said is not that surprising: his deportment, choice of words, and body language would not have led anyone to the conclusion that he was the "love 'em and leave 'em" type. Of course, Buffy DID "make the choice," which makes her responsible, but it doesn't make Parker any less of a scoundrel.


Clearly, Buffy's relationship with Riley is going to become more important as the season progresses. I know this both by my sense of foresight . . . and by my accidentally reading a summary of some later episode. But it is interesting to see Buffy's progression in relationships: from Angel, an "older" man, someone with maturity who can look out not only for himself but for Buffy as well—to Parker, much more of a peer, not that far ahead in school or age with something of the vulnerable (and deceitful) about him—to Riley, from whom intelligence and experience seem to emenate. The good thing about Riley (thus far) is that, rather than pursuing or being actively pursued, they are allowing their relationship to develop normally, outside of any established boundaries of the "romantic." Whether they were to actually become involved or not (even though they do), it will surely be a much healthier development for Buffy—her relationship with Parker was, overall, romantic and, unfortunately for Buffy, wound up being merely sexual.