3.14, “Hammer Time” - White FangI was glad they were able to bring Garren back and throw Marty back

3.14, “Hammer Time” - White FangI was glad they were able to bring Garren back and throw Marty back into the mix as they brought the show to a close, but Marty’s first couple of appearances in season three hadn’t really done much for me. One was just the short phone call. The other was 3.13, which was fine, but didn’t really have that sort of spark that early Muffy had. Maybe it was intentionally a little stiff as a way to show the characters had to find that rhythm with each other again as well. Either way, both appearances were just sort of… there.Their spark came back in a big way in this episode, however.It wasn’t just the banter, which they did a good job with this episode. It was a reminder of why these characters work so well together. Because they understand each other. Because they’re both competitors, but they also know when not to be. And because, as Buffy once pointed out, Marty’s really the only person who gets that.When Buffy is rude to him in the park after he helps her to the bench, she’s successful in getting him to leave her. If it was anybody else, any other runner who helped her, and she talked that way to them, they’d probably go “have it your way” and run off and not really think much more about it.But you know Marty ran off thinking about nothing else. He probably spent the next half-mile running through scenarios in his head: what was wrong with her? Why was she acting so mean? That’s not who she is. And then a little light bulb went off.And that light bulb lit up a poster of the 1991 Ethan Hawke film White Fang. Admittedly, it’s some reference, but it’s also kind of sweet in how strangely particular it is. Is it a movie Buffy loved as a kid? Does she get something out of it now? I don’t know. But it meant enough to her that she made Marty watch it because he meant enough to her that she wanted to share it with him. And it became a reference that only they would understand.So Marty returns and calls Buffy on her behavior – as he’d done in the past, because he’s never been afraid to – and he reminds her through his actions that when it comes to them, competition isn’t the most important thing, their relationship is. That finishing with a strong time in the marathon doesn’t mean as much to him as finishing the marathon with her.And so it becomes this perfect visual moment when they cross the finish line at the same time, Buffy riding on Marty’s back. No winners, no losers. Another of their interactions that seemed like it was going to be a race and never was. -- source link

More pics about