Light vs Dark, Blond vs Brunette

Some of us have already pointed out the parallels between "Carmilla" and "Living Conditions". One similarity in particular I would like to exaggerate on is in the physical appearance of the characters we would pair based on the role they play in the story: Buffy and Laura both have lighter features, while Kathy and Carmilla both have darker hair and eyes. All are meant to be quite beautiful in their own right.

We tend to pair Carmilla and Kathy together because they are the antagonists of the story. Both put the protagonist through terrifying ordeals which they (that is to say Buffy and Laura) percieve as nightmares, and both claim to share those nightmares. Kathy and Carmilla also feed off of Buffy and Laura, respectively. What they take in both cases is what could be considered a person's life force: Buffy's soul and Laura's blood. For this reason the two seem at first glance to be the same, and this is why the dark features they share are appropriate. The same applies to Laura and Buffy, who at a basic level are the innocent victims of dark creatures and thus boast light features to contrast their enemies.

In the case of Buffy and Kathy, these stereotypes are only skin deep. If we examine the two as characters, we find that Buffy is the truly dark one. Kathy comes to college for the same reasons most freshmen do: to escape her home life, get and education, make some friends, and have a little fun. What could be more innocent? Even though she is a demon, she does not have a dark soul. She is a fan of Cher and Celine Dion (as we see in the episode before "Living Conditions" for those of you who haven't watched it), and her flaws are simply being a little over eager about college life and also territorial. Sure, she tries to suck out Buffy's soul, but where she comes from souls are not important. In fact, they don't even exist. As far as she knew, she was doing nothing more socially unacceptable than borrowing Buffy's sweater. It is Buffy who is the darker character, a fact which becomes indisputable in later seasons. She was chosen to fight the forces of darkness, and as such she is irreversibly tied in with dark creatures. This breaking of stereotypes is what makes the gothic universe, and more specifically Sunnydale California, such a dangerous place to live: you never can accurately distinguish between light and dark, good and evil.