"Reptile Boy" vs. "Help"

[BuffyElevated]

I'm watching "Reptile Boy" (season 2) and just realized how similar the plot is to the subplot of "Help" (season 7)... A group of boys worship a demon in exchange for riches. Anyone else ever thought about this similarity? I wonder if the writers did that on purpose or if they just forgot about "Reptile Boy??

 

[Yosso]

Ha, you're right I've never noticed that before. I imagine the writers probably forgot about "Reptile Boy", the point of the sacrifice is just to have a bit of concrete supernatural antagonism for Buffy to fight. The sacrifice bit of "Help" lasted about two minutes compared to it being a key element in the plot of "Reptile Boy" so really it wasn't the important how Cassie died, the point of the episode is Buffy trying to save Cassie but not being able to stop her inevitable death.

 

[Lyri]

For a second there, I was SO confused. I was like 'what does the demon worshiping frat boys have to do with Buffy's Crucimentum?' I think we should rename 'Help' as something else, lol.

As for the sub-plots of the second ep, I can actually see the point of it. The frat boys weren't the first to sell their souls to a demon, and with 'Help', the show proved that, despite Buffy's intervention, they weren't the last. I think this ep proves that there will ALWAYS be people stupid enough to sell their souls to demons, thinking that nothing will happen to them.

Don't these people watch Supernatural? 😉

 

[Jeff86]

I think they did this on purpose, actually. One of the main points of Season 7 was, as said by The First, "going back to the beginning." There were several nods to the earlier seasons in Season 7, so I think this was a deliberate nob to "Reptile Boy."

 

[Wesley Pryce]

i agree,season 7 was in part a "best of" final Buffy season.

 

[PassionBecoming]

That was my first thought the first time I saw this ep. "Didn't we see this one already?" It wasn't the main plot, but still. I think I would have felt better if they had purposely referenced back to "Reptile Boy".