Buffy The Vampire Slayer

3. Xander as “Soldier Guy,” Buffy The Vampire Slayer

In “Halloween,” the sixth episode of Buffy’s resurgent second season, a diabolical curse causes Sunnydale’s trick-or-treaters to truly become whatever their costumes reflect. Which is significant, since the protagonists have all chosen their costumes to reflect something they wanted to be in the first place. Shy Willow covers herself with a sheet and hides as a ghost. Buffy, tired of playing the tough tomboy, flounces it up as an 18th-century English noblewoman, and is subsequently rendered helpless. (Facing danger, she faints; later, she confuses a car for a demon.) That leaves Xander a rare opportunity to save the day. Suffering from an earlier ego-blow when Buffy saved him from a bully, he tries to connect with his inner macho (yet continues to be both cheap and half-assed) with a $2 “Soldier Guy” costume, but winds up as a capable military man, fending off beasties with a fake M16 (“big noise scare monster”), handling triage, and leading kids to safety. It’s clever enough as a standalone conceit, but Xander’s “Soldier Guy” instincts linger even after the spell has been broken, and they come in handy later when a Scooby operation needs a little military discipline. All of which gives Xander a much-needed competency upgrade as the series keeps getting darker and more dangerous.

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