Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Seasons 1-2

Xander: See, what I should do is I should just start with talking about the dance. 'Ya know, Buffy, Spring Fling just isn't a time for students to choose, um...a mate and then we can...observe their...mating rituals and tag them before they migrate.' Just kill me!

Buffy: Giles, care? I'm putting my life on the line battling the undead. Look, I broke a nail, okay? I'm wearing an press-on. The least you could do is exhibit some casual interest. You could go, 'hmm.'

Giles: Hmm? Oh, sorry. Um, yes, I'm very glad that you're alright. Uh, I need to verify, um...I just can't really talk right now.

Buffy: Fine. That's okay. I can't put it off any longer. I have to meet my terrible fate.

Giles: What!?

Buffy: Biology.

-exchange in Prophecy Girl

The Master: You're dead!

Buffy: I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you.

-exchange in Prophecy Girl

The Master: Did you really think you could best me here when you couldn't below?

Buffy: You have fruit punch mouth.

The Master: What?

-exchange in Prophecy Girl

Season 1: The first season, picked up as a replacement for a failed fall series, is just 12 episodes long, so it shouldn’t take too long. The season isn’t really as much about great episodes as much it is about establishing the personalities of the great characters and chemistry the rest of the show’s duration relied on. The season also introduces a few characters who will either be important in the season or in both the season and future ones. It features David Boreanaz as Angel, a 242-year-old vampire cursed by gypsies with a soul who tries to help everyone he can to try to repay his debts for all of the terrible murders he committed; Kristine Sutherland as Buffy’s mom, Joyce Summers; Mark Metcalf as the “Big Bad” of the season, The Master, a ridiculously old vampire trying to take over the world; Julie Benz as Angel’s sire (or person who made someone a vampire) Darla, who will be incredibly important in the spin-off series Angel; Robia LaMorte as high school teacher Jenny Calendar; Mercedes McNab as Cordelia Chase’s top groupie, Harmony Kendall; and Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder, a bossy man with a largely unjustified grudge against Buffy as well as a short temper and an even shorter stature.

Best Season 1 Episodes:

-Welcome to the Hellmouth—The pilot episode, while not fantastic, does a brilliant job at explaining the entire basic premise of the show without feeling like an info-dump. It quite effectively establishes and fleshes out the main characters as well.
-The Harvest—The second part of the pilot is great for all of the same reasons as Welcome to the Hellmouth.
-Angel—Probably my favorite episode of the season, it discusses the background of Angel and features the first real signals of the perfect love found between Buffy and a certain someone.
-Nightmares—A boy in a coma is responsible for everyone’s worst nightmares coming true and the gang must wake the boy and help him face his fears.
-Out of Mind, Out of Sight—A girl named Marcie, unnoticed by everyone, literally turns invisible because she seemed to be so to everyone around her. This, for me, is really an underrated gem.
-Prophecy Girl—Arguably the best episode of the season, it features the end-of-the-world prophecies that come quite often throughout both Buffy and Angel and that almost always end up being untrue.

Overall Season 1 Review: As I mentioned above, season 1 really is all above the series finding its place. Something that far too many movies and TV series struggle with nowadays is finding that sense of place. For movies, at least, some of them don’t need it because they are entertaining enough, but the truly great movies all have at least a basic sense of place. For a TV series, unless carried entirely by its lead actors, a sense of place, focused episode tone, and strong narrative direction are immensely important, especially for a successful “genre” show. The first season really explores all of the show’s potential storytelling methods and dialogue motifs, allowing Whedon to really fine tune his vision and perfect them for the coming seasons. As far as prominent series writers are concerned, the first season features episodes penned by Whedon (27 total episodes) and by David Greenwalt (9 total episodes before becoming the showrunner on Angel). No other first season writer pens an episode after season 2. Same with directors, where Whedon (20 total episodes) is the only director to lead the filming of an episode after season 2.
Season Score: 7/10

You're a vampire. Oh, I'm sorry. Was that an offensive term? Should I say 'undead American'? - Buffy to Angel in When She Was Bad

Cordelia: So, does looking at guns really make girls wanna have sex? That's scary.
Xander: Yeah, I guess.
Cordelia: Well, does looking at guns make you wanna have sex?
Xander: I'm seventeen. Looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.
-exchange in Innocence

Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping...waiting. And though unwanted...unbidden...it will stir...open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us...guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have?...Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love...the clarity of hatred...and the ecstasy of grief...If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow,...empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead. -Angel in Passion

Season 2: In a truly excellent season, all of the main cast returns and David Boreanaz joins the main cast. The Big Bads, my favorites of the entire series, are vampire couple Drusilla and Spike, Angel’s vampire daughter and grandson (I don’t really know what to call them because, since vampire grandfather/mother is grandsire, that term doesn’t really work here), and are portrayed by Juliet Landau and James Marsters. They are incredibly entertaining and menacing and will play large both in this season and later ones. Kristine Sutherland returns, as does Robia LaMorte in a position of increased importance. Shimerman also returns. Seth Green is introduced as Oz Osbourne; Danny Strong, Emmy-winner for his screenplay for Game Change this past year, appears in a small role in a handful of episodes as Jonathan Levinson, a role that will become far more important in a few seasons; and Bianca Lawson appears as Kendra, a role that, if I revealed it’s true nature, would completely ruin parts of the series.

Best Season 2 Episodes:

-When She Was Bad—Buffy, suffering visions, is forced to revisit the end of the previous season and finish what she started.
-School Hard—In a fantastic episode, Spike and Drusilla are introduced and an impatient Spike, having already killed two Slayers in his lifetime, attempts to kill Buffy at Sunnydale High on Parent Teacher Night.
-Halloween—In a really fun episode, Ethan Rayne, an unwelcome memory from Giles’ darker past, comes to Sunnydale and turns everyone into their Halloween costumes.
-Lie to Me-Buffy has a mutual attraction to a guy, but he isn't at all what he seems to be.
-What’s My Line, Parts 1 and 2—Kendra arrives unannounced and helps Buffy defeat the Order of Taraka
-Ted—Guest starring John Ritter, the episode explores the difficulties faced by the child when a divorced parent starts dating again and the only person who sees the prospective family member’s huge flaws is the “ungrateful, bratty” kid.
-Surprise—On Buffy’s 17^th birthday, Spike and Dru assemble a long incapacitated, previously indestructible, demon called the Judge to kill Buffy. Buffy and Angel get it on, and perfect happiness ensues.
-Innocence—In my second-favorite episode of the season, Angel becomes Angelus and teams up with Spike and Dru. Buffy uses her birthday present from Xander to defeat the Judge.
-Phases—Oz becomes important when it’s discovered that he’s a werewolf. The episode examines the idea that what’s on the inside is what really counts.
-Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered—After a short-lived relationship, Cordelia breaks up with Xander, who tries to magically force her to fall in love with him, instead making everyone but Cordy fall in love with him.
-Passion—In my favorite episode of the season and one of the best written episodes I’ve seen anywhere, Angelus kicks his revenge campaign into overdrive. Jenny Calendar, revealed to be more than she says, attempts to restore Angel’s soul and the gang tries to bar Angel from their various homes. Angelus takes revenge on Jenny with catastrophic consequences.
-Killed by Death—Not as brilliant as some of the others I’ve listed, this episode still deserves real attention. Buffy’s in the hospital with bad case of the flu, where she discovers and investigates a nightmare demon invisible to healthy people called Der Kindestod. After being cured, Buffy reinfects herself to save the other children, curing herself of her longheld hospital phobia.
-I Only Have Eyes for You—What could have been a boring episode turns into an incredibly rewarding, absolutely riveting 45 minutes of TV. In this criminally underrated episode, the ghost of a love-tortured former student continuously reenacts a murder-suicide he committed, a murder-suicide Buffy and Angelus eventually have to reenact, raising the issue of forgiveness.
-Becoming, Parts 1 and 2—Two excellent episodes close out what is either the first or second best season of the series. Kendra returns to help Buffy take down a demon called Acathla that Spike and Dru are resurrecting, which will suck every living thing into hell. After some unexpected twists, Buffy and Angelus engage in a climactic sword fight.

Overall Season 2 Review: This is my favorite season of Buffy for several reasons. The biggest reason for that is the introduction of Spike and Dru, but mostly Spike. As a team, they’re simultaneously incredibly entertaining and menacing. Dru’s insanity is written and acted brilliantly, which adds quite a bit to the couple’s chemistry. Spike, though, adds this whole new dimension to what a supernatural/fantasy/sci-fi/horror villain could be. He is both menacing and hysterical. In my opinion, one of the best decisions Whedon & Co. ever made was eventually bringing him back (I’ll talk about that over the next few days). He just adds this fantastic quality to the show that I feel can’t really be explained and must be experienced. I had seen James Marsters in a 3-episode arc on Torchwood and enjoyed him, but wasn’t really blown away by him. That’s probably because, looking back on the Torchwood episodes, his character was more used as a plot device to develop the show’s male protagonist. Regardless, I came to absolutely love him. He is incredibly gifted at creating incredibly memorable and menacing villains. I would really love to see him do some film work before he gets too old. Also, he is often cast a villains, but, when examining the later Spike, I could picture him turning in some great work in well-written Woody Allen movie (which are, unfortunately, getting harder and harder to come by). He seems like he would just have a knack for playing neurotic characters if given the chance. The introduction of Angelus is also fantastic and really gives David Boreanaz the opportunity to show off his acting chops (which are frankly tragically underutilized in Bones, save for the fast-paced, flirtatious dialogue that appears about once every episode). He isn't the greatest actor ever, and frankly is pretty bad in the first half of the first season, but he develops Angel perfectly through his 8 season run. After portraying this quiet, brooding, albeit hunky, vamp with a soul, Boreanaz equally convincingly pulls off this monumental character tonal and behavioral shift with amazing ease and naturalness. He seemingly so effortlessly creates two personalities for Angel/Angelus that are always separate, and yet, whichever personality he is at any given moment, you can always see the other one struggling to get free.

This season wouldn’t have been possible, however, without the tremendous writing of the characters, done not only by Whedon, but by the likes of Marti Noxon, David Greenwalt, and Ty King, as well. Until School Hard, Buffy hadn’t really hit its stride, but with the introduction of Spike and Dru, the show took off, and it only got better after Surprise/Innocence. In other words, it finally figured out what it really wanted to be and set to work doing an amazing job of being just that.

The season introduces Marti Noxon (23 total episodes) and David Fury (17 total episodes) as prominent writers and establishes James A. Contner (20 total episodes) and Michael Gershman (10 total episodes) as prominent series directors. One interesting side-note is that the episode What's My Line, Part 1 was co-written by Howard Gordon and Marti Noxon. Gordon would go on the co-create/develop the critically acclaimed, 6-time Emmy Award-winning series Homeland and produce the critically acclaimed, though short-lived, series Awake starring Jason Isaacs, or Lucius Malfoy.

Season Score: 10/10