Since this series started, Cordelia Chase has existed for one specific purpose – to act as Buffy’s Shadow Self. She has represented Buffy’s pre-Slayer self, and her desire to return to that state. That part of Buffy’s life is her childhood – both literally in the sense that she was fifteen years old when she was called, and metaphorically in the sense that Slayerhood represents Buffy’s adulthood. In life, however, we cannot go backwards. We cannot return to our childhoods; growing up is an unavoidable fact of existence. So Buffy, if she is to develop as a person and as a character, has to overcome this desire to return to her childhood and move on from it.
Because she is not a static character, and because this is a functional television show, Buffy has been on that journey for two seasons now. We have chronicled the strides she has made in this department, and how by the end of Season Two, she has more or less completed this part of her arc. That’s why she gained a new Shadow Self two episodes ago in Faith, who represents different parts of Buffy – different desires and obstacles for her to overcome. Buffy is moving on from her desire to return to childhood – and moving on from Cordelia as her Shadow.
This is Cordelia’s last hurrah – the last episode in which she fully acts as Buffy’s Shadow before Faith takes on the role full-time. This is half the reason why Cordelia is mistaken for Faith by the competitors in Slayerfest ‘98 and hunted alongside Buffy. In-universe, the likely explanation is that the competitors have never seen Faith and were simply given a basic physical description (e.g. “white brunette riding this limo with the blonde”) that happened to describe Cordelia as accurately as Faith. Symbolically, it’s because this is a passing-of-the-torch moment, in which Cordelia completes the mission she was originally created for, which allows Faith to step into her shoes, and take the Shadow role from here.
Season Three is about graduation – not just the literal act of completing High School education, but the more general concept of transitioning from one stage of life to another. This season is marked by events that are typically milestones for young people (or, at least, are typically recognised as conventional milestones by mainstream American society) – Graduation, Prom, Eighteenth birthdays, and of course, Homecoming. The fact that three of these events are also episode titles is not a coincidence. Buffy has to hit these major milestones in order to complete her journey into adulthood.
“What would you know about it? Just because you were Guacamole Queen when you were three doesn’t mean you understand how this works.”
Cordelia Chase, 3×05 Homecoming
As with any good character arc, before she can complete it, Buffy must first fail, and she fails as soon as she instigates this episode’s central drama by entering the race for Homecoming Queen. Her reasons for running are deeply sympathetic. She has had her childhood robbed from her and seeks a brief escape from a life she never asked for Sarah Michelle Gellar excellently expresses her grief at this fate in the speech she gives Cordelia in the cabin. However, it is an aim that will never give Buffy real happiness, and that she can never actually fulfil, because winning Homecoming Queen means, for her, a return to the childhood that she can never actually return to.
Buffy will be awarded with a trophy by her classmates this season – at another school dance, in another episode named after said dance; another episode in which Buffy is broken up with. The Prom is a twin to Homecoming in so many ways, but there is an important difference between the crown Buffy is vying for in this episode, and the one she is awarded in The Prom. Here, she attempts to win by adequately performing as the Girl side of herself (and by adequately performing femininity – note the sudden explosion of flowery skirts and cutesy headbands in the electioneering montage). She can only be recognised by others if she lets herself show all parts of herself – which is why the trophy she actually wins – the Class Protector award – is won through adequate performance of her Slayer side: fighting demons and protecting her community.
The second reason why her mission to win Homecoming Queen is futile is that in order for Buffy to win, Cordelia must lose. Buffy has to take her down – to destroy a part of herself. The Jungian concept of the Shadow that informs so much of Buffy’s framework is that it is something that must not be resisted or destroyed, but must be healthily incorporated into the conscious self. The idea of competing with one’s shadow is an objective incompatible with this framework.
“Competition. Competition is a beautiful thing. It makes us strive. It… makes us accomplish. Occasionally, it makes us kill.”
Mr. Trick, 3×05 Homecoming
Mr. Trick speaks of competitiveness as something wonderful – something to strive for – but it only takes remembering that he is the villain of this episode to realise that this is not a statement we are meant to agree with. Buffy and Cordelia’s competitiveness brings out the worst in both of them, causes major rifts within their friendship group, and by the end of it, they achieve nothing. They both lose the race, and the Homecoming crown goes to two other girls that are perfectly content with sharing it. The participants in Slayerfest don’t accomplish anything through competing either. In fact, they all end up destroying themselves, or each other. The human hunter gets caught in his own bear trap. The knife-throwing demon gets blown up by the Germans. The Germans are tricked into shooting each other. The episode could not be more clear about the self-destructive results of prioritising competition over co-existence.
This adds an interesting layer to how the competitive rivalry between Buffy and Faith that shapes their relationship is foreshadowed by this episode. Here, Cordelia and Buffy compete over a single title that is designed for one girl, much as Buffy and Faith jostle over the role of Slayer. Cordelia accuses Buffy of “trying to be like [her]”, something that Faith will very explicitly try to achieve in Who Are You. Cordelia and Buffy lock horns because both desire something that the other possesses. They are jealous of each other, while also believing the other to be jealous of them. Much in the same way, Buffy and Faith both desperately desire something that the other has in their life (Faith’s freedom and Buffy’s stability), while also insisting to each other that all the other wants is to be like them. It is darkly amusing to know how often they will come to blows over these rivalries, when this episode is so very clear about how productive an avenue that is.
At the end of this season, Buffy will make the decision to kill Faith and defeat her in battle – but it is not that act that marks the completion of her arc. It is the act of becoming Faith, of accepting the parts of herself that Faith represents and incorporating them into her conscious self, that truly marks the end of her arc. We won’t see this until episode 22, but we are told what will happen right here in episode 5, because it’s what Cordelia does to save the day. She defeats the villain by leaning into her mistaken identity and claiming to be the Slayer. She wins because she stops trying to tell people that she’s not Faith, and instead, becomes her.
“See, in the end, Buffy’s just the runner-up. I’m the Queen. You get me mad, what do you think I’m gonna do to you?”
Cordelia Chase, 3×05 Homecoming
This is a moment of great smarts and bravery that Cordelia would not have been capable of at the time of her introduction – or even a season ago. Episode Five of Season Three intentionally recalls Episode Five of Season Two, in which Buffy and Cordelia go to a party but find themselves in a perilous situation (because, after all, all of Season Three is overwhelmingly designed to recall Season Two). In Reptile Boy, Cordelia is not capable of much more than whimpering in fear while Buffy saves the day. In Homecoming, she takes centre stage and saves them all while Buffy is incapacitated. She has been on a subtle but consistent arc that these two episodes highlight well, and it’s this development that puts her on track to join Angel as the leading lady of his show – a very different role to the ‘Buffy’s Shadow’ role she was originally designed for.
Cordelia has also, in the meantime, taken up a second role on Buffy – the role of Xander’s love interest. This development has been building since Some Assembly Required and arguably reaches its peak here with Cordelia’s confession that she loves Xander. This is another thing that the Cordelia of seasons one and two would not have been able to do – and it’s heartbreaking really, to see her truly happy in this relationship, as this episode also introduces its imminent destruction.
It’s a little shocking to be reminded how rapidly the “sexual tension” between Xander and Willow is introduced and escalated. There’s really nothing before this – not since Xander’s (arguably platonic) “I love you” in Becoming. There have been zero indications this season that the relationship between Xander and Willow is anything other than platonic. The first hint of anything romantic between them comes at roughly the 16 minute point in this episode. By the time we hit 17 minutes, they have already kissed. This is an absurd acceleration that this season puts no effort into laying groundwork for, and this lack of build-up would damn the Xander/Willow romance completely if their actors’ utter lack of romantic chemistry hadn’t already done so.
Execution aside, the Xander/Willow romance does have a thematic purpose. As representations of Buffy’s Heart and Spirit, their sudden and inappropriate desire for each other is indicative of a similar turmoil existing in Buffy herself. Clearly, this is meant to relate to Buffy’s recent discovery of Angel’s return, and her lingering feelings for him. Buffy’s relationship with Scott ends this episode specifically because of Angel – because despite her attempts to resist her attractions and commit to the “nice and solid” Scott, she has become focused on the man she truly desires. Her unwanted attraction to Angel torpedoes her relationship with Scott, in the same way that Xander and Willow’s attraction to each other permanently damages their relationships with Cordelia and Oz respectively – and Willow makes sure to connect these ideas by, in the throes of her guilt over kissing Xander, once again evoking the dog motif.
“No, I’m not a friend. I’m a rabid dog who should be shot!”
Willow Rosenberg, 3×05 Homecoming
Yet, there is something not quite complete about this parallel. Scott breaks up with Buffy before the title sequence, while Xander and Willow’s attraction doesn’t enter the episode until after the first ad break. Xander specifically describes the attraction as something new and sudden that he hasn’t experienced before, which would be a very inaccurate way to describe Buffy and Angel’s current dynamic. There’s something else at work here.
We have already noted the parallels between this episode and Reptile Boy. A major event of Reptile Boy is that Angel asks out Buffy for the first time, and she says yes – lighting the fuse on everything that goes wrong in Season Two. Buffy is also asked out in this episode – this time by another member of the Dog Motif Club: Faith. It’s Faith who actually takes Scott’s role as Buffy’s date to Homecoming, and directly antagonises him because of how he treated Buffy. A sudden and unexpected attraction would not describe Buffy’s relationship to Angel at all – but would very accurately describe any hypothetical attraction she might have towards Faith. Faith is not only taking over Cordelia’s role as Buffy’s Shadow Self, but also seems to be making a serious bid to take over Angel’s role as Buffy’s Love Interest.
So where does all this shifting of roles leave Cordelia? Unfortunately for her character, not in a fruitful place. The introduction of Faith has already pushed her out of the role of Buffy’s Shadow, and the introduction Xander/Willow puts a terminal countdown on her role as Xander’s Love Interest – a death sentence that will be carried out in just four episode’s time. And since she can’t get her promotion to Leading Lady on Angel until he leaves the show at the end of the season, she ends up being stuck for much of Season Three in a purgatorial state, not really allowed the opportunity to do much beyond deliver bitchy one-liners. It’s a blessing to all of us that Charisma Carpenter is incredibly good at delivering bitchy one-liners.
It’s this episode, therefore, that is Cordelia’s ascension. She completes this section of her character arc when she stands up and declares herself “queen” – both purposefully behaving like a Slayer, and claiming the crown of Homecoming Queen that represents Buffy’s desire for a life outside of being the Slayer. It is the incorporation of both these elements – the unification of Girl and Slayer – that allows her to win the day.
Cordelia and Faith both represent different Shadow-sides to Buffy, but this moment reminds us of how little daylight there is between them. Cordelia has represented an essential part of Buffy since the show’s inception, and will continue to do so even after she’s gone. She’s never completely forgotten. She may be getting pushed out of the spotlight – but this is Cordelia Chase. Of course she doesn’t leave before she can remind us of just how important she is.
* * *
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this piece, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi!
* * *
Thank you to juanabaloo on Tumblr for her help proof-reading this essay.
Insect Reflection 