Bad Eggs (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Bad Eggs"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 12
Directed by	David Greenwalt
Written by	Marti Noxon
Production code	5V12
Original air date	January 12, 1998
Guest actors
Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers Jeremy Ratchford as Lyle Gorch James Parks as Tector Gorch Rick Zieff as Mr. Whitmore Danny Strong as Jonathan Levinson Brie McCaddin as Cute Girl Eric Whitmore as Night Watchman

"Bad Eggs" is the twelfth episode of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy must contend with vampire cowboys the Gorch brothers and the bezoar, a prehistoric parasite.^[1]

Plot

Buffy and her mother Joyce are shopping at a mall when Buffy becomes distracted by a vampire leading a girl into a closed arcade. Buffy enters the arcade after them (ignoring her mother's request to pick up her dress), and fights off the vampire who is later found to be a semi-notorious vampire named Lyle who travels with his brother Tector.

At school the next day, Cordelia and Xander make out in a closet despite the fact they both continue to bicker and agree they do not want a relationship. Later that day in health class, the teacher, Mr. Whitmore asks the students to list consequences of sex, and Xander and Cordelia list each other's faults as consequences. Finally Willow gives the intended answer - pregnancy - and Mr. Whitmore says to learn about parenthood, the students will pair off to take care of an egg. After class, Xander and Willow go to the library to give Buffy her egg, who was absent from class due to researching the vampire Lyle with Giles. Giles suggests that Buffy hunts with Angel that night, however the pair instead spend the night making out. That night, as Buffy goes to bed, her egg (which she dubbed "Eggbert") breaks open and an arm emerges, attaching itself to Buffy's face.

The next morning when she wakes up, the egg is back to normal. Back at the library, Giles comments on how both Buffy and Willow appear to be very tired and sluggish, both passing it off as a bad night's sleep. Xander tosses his egg nonchalantly in the air, worrying Buffy and Willow who are taking the project a lot more seriously. Xander eventually drops his egg, but it does not crack, due to the fact he had hard-boild it. Buffy and Angel go patrolling again that night, but ultimately spend their time kissing. They stop to talk and the subject of children comes into play. Angel reveals how he can't have children. Buffy is shocked, but that doesn't change how she feels for him. Meanwhile, at the school, a security guard enters the basement and finds a large hole in the wall, only to be knocked unconscious by Mr. Whitmore.

Arriving home, Buffy stumbles across her egg hatching. Suddenly a creature attacks her, attempting to attach itself to her body. However, Buffy finally manages to stab it with a pair of scissors, before phoning Willow to warn her. Willow assures Buffy that she is fine, but her egg is seen to already be hatched. Joyce comes to Buffy's room and finds her awake and fully clothed, and angrily grounds her, with no after-school activities being allowed, apart from going to the library. The next day, the creature is seen to have attached itself to Willow's back. As Buffy, Willow and Cordelia meet up with Xander, he decides to eat his egg, only to find a dead creature inside. The group proceed to the science lab to dissect the creature. However, Cordelia's egg hatches and the creature attaches to her, forcing her to knock Buffy unconscious, while Willow hits Xander over the head with a microscope. They drag Buffy and Xander to a closet, before Willow and Cordelia are joined by a large group of students who pick up tools and head into the basement.

Joyce arrives at the library to pick up Buffy, however she instead encounters Giles, who places a creature on her back. They both then go into the basement. Buffy and Xander regain consciousness and find two unhatched eggs in the closet. Buffy smashes them, before they go to the library. Buffy finds a book describing the creatures who attach themselves to and then control a host, under the instructions of 'the mother Bezoar'. Suddenly, Jonathan cries out in pain in the hall. They rush to help him, however find he has been turned into a host. They follow him into the basement and through the hole, only to find the host group digging up the mother Bezoar, who is laying numerous eggs. Xander pretends to be a host and follows Cordelia as she carries the eggs through a tunnel. He catches up with her and reluctantly hits her, before presumably destroying the eggs. Meanwhile Buffy decides to kill the mother Bezoar. However, Lyle and Tector arrive and fight Buffy. The fight eventually ends up in the working pit, where Willow orders the others to kill them. While fending off the hosts, Tector is grabbed by a tentacle and eaten by the mother Bezoar. Buffy is also grabbed by a tentacle, but she manages to pick up a pick-axe which she uses to kill the mother Bezoar, thus killing the creatures and freeing the hosts—causing them to temporarily pass out.

Outside, the hosts have no memory of the events, leading to Giles trying to convince everyone there was a gas leak. Joyce reunites with Buffy, but remembers that she was not in the library when she arrived. Joyce gives Buffy a lecture about responsibility before confining Buffy to her bedroom. As the episode finishes, Buffy and Angel are seen kissing at Buffy's bedroom window.

Critical Reaction

AV Club said it offered a take on the same material as the episode "Ted", with its themes about good parenting. However they found it lighter in tone and more action-packed. It also advances the theme that sex has consequences, which relates to events later in the season when Buffy and Angel consummate their relationship.^[2]

Trivia

• This episode contains the first direct reference that Willow is Jewish (although there is a hint with her last name, Rosenberg).
• Among the movies referenced in this episode are Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Tingler,^[3] Alien, Children of the Corn, and The Wild Bunch (from which the Gorch brothers' names were derived).
• Machiavelli, author of The Prince, is referenced by Giles to Xander.

Arc significance

• This episode introduces the Gorch brothers, Lyle and Tector, as minor villains. Tector is eaten, but Lyle returns in season three's "Homecoming".
• The physical relationship between Buffy and Angel is intensifying, foreshadowing the events of "Innocence".
• Despite Angel telling Buffy that it is impossible for vampires to have children, he eventually would father a son, Connor, with his sire, Darla (who would be resurrected in the series' spin-off's episode "To Shanshu in L.A."), and thus he and Darla would become the first vampires ever to conceive a progeny.
• Angel asks Buffy if she ever thinks about the future, and she replies that in her future all she sees is him. Angel's guilt over his inability to provide Buffy with a normal life or a fulfilling future foreshadows forthcoming events in their relationship in season 3.

References

1. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Eggs (episode guide)". Fandango/AMG. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
2. Murray, Noel (July 24, 2008). "Ted, etc". AV Club. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
3. "Episode Guide Bad Eggs". BBC Cult. September 2005. Retrieved 23 October 2013.

External links

• "Bad Eggs" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Bad Eggs" at TV.com