Doublemeat Palace

[Updated May 2, 2013]

I’m reliably informed that people who’ve worked in the fast food industry find Doublemeat Palace funny. Most viewers didn’t like it and it regularly gets rated among the worst in the series. The episode doesn’t do much for me either, but I do think there’s a point to it.

A number of viewers interpreted Buffy’s job as a return to the “Buffy has no money” theme we saw in Flooded. That’s certainly present in the text, but I think it makes more sense to see Buffy’s dead-end, soul deadening job at the DP as a metaphor for how she sees her Slayer job at this point in her life. Consider the dialogue as if the references were to what it means to be a Slayer rather than a worker at the Doublemeat Palace: “We have a lot of turnover here.”; “MANNY: In it for life. Like me. You wanna get something out of this, Buffy? You'll do the same. You put the work in, and ten years from now, you'll be where I am.”; “WIG LADY: Oh, you really might make it, dear. Not like some of them, where suddenly you never see them again. I can see you here a long time.”

Following the same thought, it’s also possible to interpret Buffy’s conversation with Spike – seemingly referring to her job – as an attempt by him to convince her that she should stop being the Slayer (at least in a moral sense) and join him in the dark:

SPIKE: You're not happy here.
BUFFY: (quietly) Please don't make this harder.
SPIKE: You don't belong here….

SPIKE: This place'll kill you!

 

At the end of the episode, when Buffy says she would “like to not be fired”, we can take that as referring to being the Slayer, rather than her DP job (from which, after all, she has already been fired). She’s at least willing to accept that she is the Slayer, but she’s still just going through the motions. Progress of a sort, as “not wanting to die” represented progress in Gone.

Should we interpret this as progress in the sense of solving Buffy’s seasonal dilemma? Not if you adopt my view of it. In my view, her problem is not her failure to accept responsibility – that’s merely a symptom. She doesn’t want to take responsibility because she’s depressed. Going through the motions on her job may be a step above not doing her job at all, but it doesn’t make her less depressed. If ending her depression is the goal, then focusing on her “job” is a diversion.

I’ve said enough to this point about the addiction metaphor, so I’ll just add that Willow’s continued focus on “addiction” should also be seen as a diversion from her real problems. The text makes that problematic, but it’s the only way I can see to make it work.

Sex with Spike continues to be Buffy’s escape. But what was once daring, thrilling, hot enough to bring down the house, is now lifeless and tawdry in the back alley.

Buffy’s relationship with Spike is, in my view, reflected in her metaphorical heart’s doubts about the marriage and how he feels about Anya:

ANYA: When I was a vengeance demon, I caused pain and mayhem, certainly. But I put in a full day's work doing it, and I got compensated appropriately.
XANDER: Welcome to today's episode of 'Go Money Go!' I hear it daily.
WILLOW: Yep, for the rest of your life.

Xander looks dismayed, continues to contemplate that as Anya continues talking.

Xander shouldn’t be seeing things just from his own POV, though. I thought Halfrek made excellent points about Xander’s treatment of Anya, even if she was obnoxious about it. I never thought he treated Anya very well. That’s one reason why his speech in Into The Woods rang false to me – he hadn’t ever acted like someone who truly loved her, as I documented in my post then. His behavior hasn’t really improved since then, even bearing in mind that Anya is difficult and that, as he told her in Graduation Day 1, “That humanity thing's still a work in progress, isn't it?”. Anya’s faults don’t excuse Xander’s, any more than Spike’s excuse Buffy’s. Some examples of Xander’s lesser moments, not including the stall on announcing their engagement and one other point which I’m leaving out to avoid an important spoiler:

ANYA: Are we gonna see the body?
WILLOW: (shocked) What?

Xander looks annoyed, turns away. (The Body) 

XANDER: Ahn, how's about we try being a bit less prejudiced, and a bit more inclusive? Not us, (indicates himself and Willow, then points to Anya) just you. (Tough Love)

ANYA: Piano!
XANDER: Because that's what we used to kill that big demon that one time!

Buffy turns to look at them with a confused frown.

XANDER: No wait, that-that was a rocket launcher. (turns to Anya) Ahn, what are you talking about? (Spiral) 

XANDER: Anya, Giles is gonna leave the store to you when he goes. What more do you want?
GILES: I'm not *leaving* the store to anyone. I'm going to England. I'm not dead, I'm still a partner. (yanks the statue away from Anya)
ANYA: (sullen) Silent oversees partner.
XANDER: Who you should be very nice to, unless you want to end up working at Video Hut. (Bargaining)

ANYA: Well, um, it's just ... we're minus a Buffybot. And, uh, Spike is missing in action somewhere with Dawn, and Giles flew away, and, uh, well you, you're looking a little magicked-out.
XANDER: Ahn honey, we're nearing your point, right? (Bargaining)

ANYA: Slaying vampires! (Xander looks embarrassed) Well, you're providing a valuable service to the whole community. I say cash in.

Awkward pause. Xander still looks uncomfortable. Anya doesn't pick up on it….

DAWN: Xander?

Anya looks at Xander. He continues looking uncomfortable.

XANDER: (reluctantly) Action is his reward.

Dawn gives Anya a "told you so" look. Anya looks annoyed, stands up.

ANYA: (angrily) Why don't you ever take my side? (Flooded) 

GILES: Anya is a wonderful former vengeance demon, I'm sure you'll spend ... many years of ... non-hell-dimensional bliss.

Xander smiles, looks a bit nervous.

GILES: Is she moving in with you?
XANDER: Um...
GILES: You know, with your combined incomes, you might think about a down payment on a house.
XANDER: Like the kind you *live* in?
GILES: No rush. I'm sure you have plenty to think about with the arrangements for the wedding and so on. You've got the rest of your lives to plan the rest of your lives.
XANDER: (laughs, nervously) Yeah, yeah.

They sit there. Xander looks increasingly nervous. (All The Way)

ANYA: What? I'm just saying what everyone's thinking, (to Xander) right baby?
XANDER: You are attractive and have many good qualities. (Tabula Rasa)

In comments, Aeryl said I was too hard on Xander: “As far as Xander and Anya go, man I hope you are never outside MY relationship looking in. While I agree that Xander is frightened to take their relationship to the next level(and Anya is too eager, more on this when it's appropriate), I don't necessarily see his tactless attitude as a symptom of the problems in their relationship, more as a response to Anya's own tactless attitude(he was much the same way with Cordy, and I don't think any of us doubt the sincere affection he had for her)…. I think he's tactlessly honest, because he cares, not because he doesn't.”

I think Xander loves Buffy, and always has, despite his tendency to put her on a pedestal and then condemn her when she fails to live up to his image. His feelings for Anya, however you see them, certainly aren’t as strong as hers are for him. Just like Buffy and Spike.

Trivia notes: (1) Xander thought Jonathan had “learned his lesson” about being a supervillain, but it’s not clear what he has in mind. The reference is probably to Superstar, but Jonathan wasn’t a villain in that episode. (2) The “Vulcan Woman” on Star Trek: Enterprise, mentioned by Willow, is T’Pol. (3) Buffy said she felt like a “tool”, which is American slang for a loser. (4) The movie Sleepless in Seattle, mentioned by Buffy, starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. (5) Manny’s expression “curiosity killed the cat” is an American idiom meaning that asking too many questions gets you in trouble. (6) Buffy told Dawn that she had waitressed “that summer in LA”, referring to Anne. It’s interesting to speculate whether Dawn actually had memories of that. (7) Buffy’s “variety is the spice of bad” plays off the expression “variety is the spice of life”. (8) If Halfrek looks familiar to you, she should. She’s the same actress (Kali Rocha) who played Cecily in Fool For Love. (9) When Buffy ran through the DP shouting about that the meat was people, the scene was an homage to the movie Soylent Green. There was a similar scene in Earshot. (10) Xander and Dawn were playing the card game “Go Fish”. (11) One of the weird things about living in LA is that you can recognize the scenes where TV shows and movies are filmed. DP was filmed at what was then a small hot dog place (now it’s a Coffee Bean) at the corner of Palms and Sepulveda. (12) After this episode aired, Jane Espenson gave some tongue-in-cheek interviews in which she was very disingenuous about the demon. She said it had never occurred to them that the penis-shaped demon which paralyzed its victims by spraying them with poison, but missed when it aimed at a lesbian, who screamed and ran away from it, after which it was killed when the lesbian chopped it off, could be seen as in any way sexual.