DoubleMeat Palace
"A normal job for a normal girl? Way to drive yourself crazy,
that is."
Spike to Buffy, Doublemeat Palace
Doublemeat Palace brings back both fond and nightmarish
memories of my own youthful experiences in the fast food industry.
Yes, the grease does coat you like a second skin, as Buffy soon
discovers. But that's just the smallest of her realizations. In
Gone, Buffy realizes that she no longer wants to be dead.
In Doublemeat Palace, she discovers that there's a whole
world of difference between not wanting to be dead and actually
living.
Buffy is finally ready to deal with her financial situation, which
she's refused to deal with in any meaningful way since Flooded.
Perhaps Giles' money is running out. Perhaps she's trying to address
the social worker's concern that she has no income. She takes action.
She finds a job. She fights to keep the job. All this is of the
good. Or is it?
The job seems to turn people into zombies. When Buffy describes
her co-workers to the Scoobies, she says that "they just…just stare
into space." In a series of training adventures, we learn that the
DMP is a place that outlaws humor and individuality. The only spice
allowed is what's in the food. It values the convenient lie over
of the actual truth. Everyone must be an undifferentiated cog in
the wheel of the team.
First, let me state that I don't think honest work can ever be
demeaning. I'm sure there are people who enjoy working in the food
service industry. I'm sure there are people who have to work in
the food service industry to make ends meet. But ME's version of
the food service industry appears to suck the life out of anyone
in its path.
Buffy's friends try to support her. They show up at the DMP to
cheer her on. But they don't seem to understand the implications
of this job. How is Buffy going to spend quality time with Dawn
if she's either out slaying or working at the DMP? Will working
at the DMP conflict with her patrols? Is she putting herself at
risk because she's too drained to take proper care of herself on
patrol? These are important and relevant questions that don't seem
to occur to them as they willingly eat the free meal that Buffy
can scarcely afford to provide. Xander understands some of what
Buffy is going through. After all, he's had his own career struggles.
He helps Dawn see that while her opportunities are endless, Buffy's
are not.
"He recognized what her friends didn't, that this is the most
demeaning job she could take and that it will kill her spirit."
(Klytaimnestra, 30-Jan-2002)
Spike sees. His visit to the DMP and his confrontation with Buffy
illustrate one of the great themes of the Buffyverse: the dangerous
myth of normalcy. Buffy has been struggling since she became the
Slayer to balance her sacred duty and her desire to live as a normal
woman. The challenge that she continues to face is to understand
that no one is normal. It's a myth, and it's the type of myth that
makes a girl dance until she explodes.
First, Spike reminds Buffy that she "came back wrong" by asking
what type of demon she is. On the face of it, this looks a bit cruel.
Is Spike trying to drag Buffy down to his level to make her more
accessible to him? Spike's motives are often mixed. But thinking
about it a bit more, why isn't Buffy more interested in why Spike's
chip isn't firing when they fight? This is another one of the really
important things Buffy just isn't capable of handling.
Second, Spike asks her if she has taken this job in order to prove
something about being normal. He's already told her in Life Serial
that she isn't a schoolgirl or a shopgirl; apparently he doesn't
see her as a counter girl at the DMP, either. After hearing Buffy
sing herself into the dance of the red shoes over fitting into this
glittering world in Once More, With Feeling, I have to concede
that Spike might have a point.
Third, Spike tells her that she's better than the DMP. To Spike,
being both the Slayer and Buffy the woman is a special thing. She
can make a dead man feel alive again, after all. She's not normal,
she's not wrong: she's special.
"There is a real connection where he is getting through to her.
Similar to when she first came back before Denial!Buffy took over."
(Moose, 30-Jan-2002)
Spike reaches Buffy for a moment. She pleads with him not to make
it harder by forcing her to hear the truth. She needs money, and
this is the only way she can think of to make it. Is Spike wrong
to encourage her to leave the DMP? Certainly Spike's offer to get
money is extremely suspect. The mind boggles at what Spike might
do to get the money. Certainly going without an income is not a
good thing for Buffy right now. But Buffy seems without direction
in this episode. Surely she could get a job that pays more than
subsistence level wages? She seems to be taking the expedient way
out of a tough situation once again. She's willing to work herself
into exhaustion and spiritual numbness at the DMP, but she's not
willing to figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her
life. It's always been about slaying for Buffy, and she's never
shown much interest in a career outside of that. She's at that tough
crossroads in life between childhood and adulthood where you really
do have to figure these things out.
"Spike is still someone Buffy turns to when she's feeling desperate,
as in the alley scene. This is both good (if someone can help you
when you're desperate, that's a good thing) and bad (it would be
nice to see Buffy more interested in Spike when she's non-desperate).
(Jerry, 30-Jan-2002)
Spike's initial assessment of the dangers of the DMP looks about
right. In her next encounter with Spike, she tries to use sex as
a way to escape the mind-numbing atmosphere of the DMP. This sexual
encounter raises a lot of questions. Buffy looks withdrawn and preoccupied
during the act, which is a far cry from the sex scenes shown in
Smashed and Gone. Buffy could be losing interest in
Spike sexually. Or she could be discovering that sex isn't going
to help her escape from all her problems. Or it could be that the
DMP really does suck the life out of people, including their sexual
impulses. The answer might even be a combination of all three things.
We probably need context from upcoming episodes to really know.
But clearly Spike is offering the only comfort Buffy is willing
to accept. She wouldn't take his advice, but she will still run
to him as her safe place when life overwhelms her. But this need
to escape, which seemed so positive in Wrecked, is now taking
on more negative connotations. Buffy has a tough life. She deserves
to have a release, a way to get away from it all. But when she begins
to make this the rule, rather than the exception, it starts to cross
the line from healthy to unhealthy.
Not only is the DMP starting to numb Buffy emotionally, but also
there is actually something dangerous going on there. Buffy is almost
killed by the Wig!Lady and the giant lamprey that sprouts from her
head. Although one never wants to be too Freudian, we can't escape
noticing that the penis-shaped monster ejaculates a paralyzing liquid
on Buffy before it tries to eat her alive. Is sex with Spike responsible
for Buffy's emotional paralysis and inability to resume living?
In Once More, With Feeling and Smashed, it appeared
that Spike was the tie holding Buffy to this world. Here, we start
to see that the tie may be binding her too tightly. Then again,
a cigar may be just a cigar.
"Well, it was clear that Xander still has some issues about accepting
Anya's past. He knows intellectually that she was a demon for 1100
years, but apparently he hadn't really given much thought to what
that means." (Jerry, 30-Jan-2002)
Xander and Anya are also struggling with what it means to live
a normal life. As the date for the wedding grows closer, Anya's
less than normal past continues to be an issue. The arrival of Halfrek
gives Anya a chance to finally recognize some of the less-than-healthy
ways in which Xander treats her. Hallie acts like a demonic therapist,
subtly mirroring Anya's observations. But Hallie focuses only on
the negative aspects of the relationship. It's as if she wants to
undercut Anya's dream of a normal married life with Xander. Hallie's
appearance also scares the pants off of Xander when he's confronted
again with the reality of what Anya did for 1100 years. Despite
Anya's insistence that demons don't take shortcuts and earn an honest
wage, Hallie giggles over the many mistakes she's made over the
years. Seeds are being planted here that will take root and flower
later in the season.
Willow continues her attempt to live a normal, magic-free life.
She's thrown a curve by the appearance of Amy. Amy forces magic
on Willow against her will, as a birthday gift. Willow enjoys it
while it lasts, but she's been violated. When it wears off, she
feels used. She now experiences what she did to Tara and the Scoobies
when she altered their memories without their consent. Willow is
strong enough to tell Amy to stay away from her, but we get a sudden
glimpse of Amy's hidden resentment at being left in an altered (not
normal) state for so many years. Again, this seems like heavy foreshadowing
of some vengeance plot on Amy's part in the future. Willow is trying
to avoid magic and return to that very normal girl she was in high
school, but magic just won't leave her alone.
In some ways, Buffy, Xander, and Willow are facing the same challenge:
how to balance what is exceptional about themselves with the demands
of ordinary life. We see their coping mechanisms showcased in this
episode. Buffy continues to compartmentalize her life, separating
her identity as a Slayer from her identity as Buffy Summers. Her
job choice satisfies neither the Slayer nor the woman. Xander has
consistently ignored Anya's demonic past in order to maintain his
relationship with her. On the verge of their wedding, he's being
forced to take notice. Willow could not control her use of magic.
In response, she's chosen to reject that part of herself. She continues
to face temptations to reverse that decision. They have each taken
a path that avoids the real issue: integrating all the various elements
of their lives. It will be interesting to see how they progress
through the last third of the season.
Memorable Moments from Doublemeat Palace:
1. The penis-shaped monster rising from Wig!Lady's head, ejaculating
paralyzing liquid on Buffy, and then trying to eat her -- Freud
will never be dead while the writers at ME live
2. Willow chopping off the penis-shaped monster's head and grinding
it up in the meat grinder
3. Spike's strangely normal acrylic sweater
4. Spike's observation that the lights in the DMP make him look
dead
5. Xander's dismay at realizing he may have eaten peopleburgers
6. Buffy's Dead!Muppet hat
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