Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Two Retrospective

This is the season where Buffy loves and loses her innocence, has to face her true love in battle, meets Spike and Drusilla, ends up a fugitive and basically starts the road to womanhood.

Originally, I can recall this being my favourite Buffy season – it has a lot of strong episodes and a solid emotional character arc that runs through it all. Is it as good as I remember? Let’s find out episode by episode…

When She Was Bad

“Hey guys, miss me?”

And we’re back in Sunnydale. Nothing’s really changed apart from Buffy’s hair and the fact she lost a chunk of weight. Oh and she’s got a huge attitude problem with everyone after…well, dying.  It’s hard to watch in places, but as an episode that resolves some issues as well as opening her arcs it’s not that bad considering it’s actually going on a conclusive episode that worked as a series finale. Plus Buffy’s slow dance with Xander has to be seen.

Some Assembly Required

There’s a rule with the BuffyVerse. Second episodes of a season just don’t seem to work. They have some premiere fall-out but act as a stand-alone which doesn’t seem to settle. I can’t fathom why this happened seven times (bar perhaps season three’s Dead Man’s Party) but this story of Frankenstein-like proportions seems clunky, saved by the interplay between the characters.

School Hard

Possibly my favourite episode of Buffy ever. Introducing Spike and Drusilla, there’s genuine peril and the sense things are really developing. The Anointed is offed by Spike, whilst the secondary characters have a taste of the person Buffy can be in future seasons. There’s great dialogue, great moments and just an overall sense of awesomeness that comes from Whedon’s pen.

Inca Mummy Girl

Bit of an average episode. There’s some good moments with Buffy and Ampata finding a kinship, it’s just the overall execution feels a bit naff. It has the first appearance of Oz, however – and he just reeks of coolness.

Reptile Boy

One of the worst episodes of the season, and the whole show for that matter. The show has a real grudge against alcohol and it really starts here with Buffy being drugged and nearly feed to a demon as part of a frat house. Maybe this is a sort of prophecy which gives a weird echo that show just doesn’t have the ability to emulate the high school metaphor to the college metaphor.

It wasn't just the teenagers getting some this year...

Halloween

Characters be people they aren’t (Buffy the damsel in distress, Xander the macho-army guy) and have a little bit of fun with it. Add Spike and the start of his growing obsession with Buffy, the introduction of Ethan Rayne and you get a solid strong episode. We get some more Oz, and Willow starts to develop some confidence! Oh and hints to Giles having a bit of a dark past…

Lie To Me

A Joss Whedon episode, and also what might be a season arc one. Buffy learns of Drusilla whilst dealing with liars and deception. Her own past and Angel’s past begin to collide and they start to become more drawn together.

The Dark Age

The first proper look at Giles, and a chance to break away from the pratfall buffoon and comic foil to a slightly more rounded character that had a history. It cements the bond between Buffy and Giles as well, whilst developing the Giles/Jenny relationship.

What’s My Line? Part One

The first two-part story (bar the pilot) in the series history kicks off with some added threat and arc development and the introduction of the Order of Taraka is a nice little twist and plot device that brings Angel and Buffy even closer. The majority of it is more set-up than anything though, and the episode leads up to a great multiple case of the cliff-hangers and the mother of all clangers and “WTF?” at the end of the episode.

What’s My Line? Part Two

Things develop, character relationships develop and couples start to couple up. The pacing takes a bit of a knock, but overall the story has some nice moments. The Xander/Cordelia stuff, the Willow/Oz stuff and the relationship between Buffy and Kendra adds a nice contrast with the theme of the story in Buffy’s future and ‘job’. Plus Drusilla returns to full health. Scary.

Ted

In a rare piece of ‘stunt casting’, John Ritter appears as Joyce’s new boyfriend who seems to be actually quite dark and abusive. The main story has a very strong and well written exploration of the abusive ‘step-father’ and the controlling nature of some men, but it does lose itself in the climax. The need for a supernatural element kicks in, and it does kind of spoil the episode somewhat. It is a shame as for a part of the episode; you honestly think that Buffy has killed an innocent man. It doesn’t help that Ritter is actually very good and sinister in the role, which is a long way away from the kind of the roles he usually has.

Bad Eggs

Uggh. In a list of the top ten worst episodes of the series, this should be near the top. A very stupid idea that really doesn’t have much relevance throughout the season, a vampire sub-plot which is completely an afterthought to the whole plot and it’s just….stupid. Some funny lines, but it can’t really be saved.

Surprise

Another two-parter, but this one is a sweeter, erotic episode which deals with the heightened passion that grows between Buffy and Angel. With Xander and Cordelia, and the sweet Oz and Willow relationship blossoms whilst Spike and Drusilla use The Judge (a walking plot metaphor) to try and kill a lot of people. The episode again is more set-up, but the sexual tension between Buffy and Angel is the main focus. It leads to a very worrying cliff-hanger, where Jenny Calendar’s true identity is revealed and Buffy and Angel will never be the same again…

Innocence

Aaaaand the second season really kicks into gear now. Buffy’s innocence is lost, and the metaphor of the guy who loves and leaves and is disinterested the next day. David Boreanaz absolutely revels and has a lot of fun as Angelus, providing a very dangerous enemy against Buffy and the Slayerettes. Sarah Michelle Gellar is heartbreaking as the heart broken Buffy and the episode, and there’s a huge amount of great character beats here that just cement what’s great about the whole show. Buffy in her room, the final Buffy/Angel moment with the sprinklers, the Willow/Xander moment, Willow figuring out what happened and Xander proving his worth. That’s not to mention the Slayer-with-a-rocket-launcher finale which is just a cool image.

And my favourite Xander line: “I’m seventeen, looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex.”

One of the best episodes of the whole series. Which is strange considering two episodes ago one of the worst was going on…

Phases

Oz gets his Unique Selling Point this episode, and discovers that he’s a werewolf. As his relationship with Willow becomes ‘official’, Buffy continues to reel from Angelus’ reversion. The highlights here include Xander trying to find the wolf, only to come across a classmate’s secret, and Oz’s laid back phone call to his Aunt and Uncle about his werewolf cousin.

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

I absolutely love this episode. Incredibly funny, and sort of a turning point in the Xander/Cordelia relationship but also just very very funny. The cast look as if they’re having fun, and it’s nice to see the other characters apart from Buffy share the spotlight. There’s so many good moments that it’s hard to count. From Buffy’s robe moment, the excellent Average White Band moment (perhaps the best moment in Buffy ever), the Dru moment, the Willow moment…so many moments that they’ll all add up to…the duration of the episode! How about that.

Not to mention: that damn dialogue.

Passion

Another strong episode, and an arc episode to boot. Angel’s torment of Buffy takes a darker step, and starts to target her friends and her mother. There are some tough steps that Buffy has to take, her mother finds out her losing her virginity, and the death of Jenny Calendar slowly begins the catalyst towards the finale. Many elements in the season finale are dropped here; with Buffy finally realising that Angel may never come back, and the translation of the original curse caught on a floppy disk.

Killed By Death

Stand alone episode that’s actually quite creepy on a functional level. Buffy faces a personal demon – and that’s it really. There’s not much to this episode, but it does generate a decent atmosphere with an interesting story.

I Only Have Eyes For You

One of the stronger stand-alone episodes. Great ongoing characterisation, decent use of Angelus and a good sense of character development as Buffy comes to further terms with Angel with her being possessed by the ghost of James. The main story is touching, brilliantly portrayed and builds up to a touching and fantastic climax. Not to mention the teasing closing moments when Spike steps out of his chair, seething revenge…

Go Fish

Wentworth Miller. I despise him. He was tolerable in Prison Break, but most of his appearances before hand were bad. Same here. The episode is quite silly, but it does have a good amount of funny moments. It’s a ‘calm before the storm’ episode, very similar to how Killed By Death functions but not as good.

Becoming Part I

Mixing Highlander with a bit of Forever Knight, we see a bit of Angel’s past that leads up to him trying to open up a portal to Hell. The events of the season begin to build upon each other and it leads to a failed attempt to raise said portal, an attack on the Library and the death of a supporting character. It’s a nice build up, but also has its own climax which helps it stand alone on some levels.

Becoming Part II

The developments and the season all builds up to a final fight between Buffy and Angel. There’s revelations and development galore as characters reach crossroads and things just get worse for Buffy. She loses her friends, her mother, her place at school…and ends up having to kill the man she loves just as she gets him back. There’s just so many brilliant moments and scenes here. The Spike/Joyce scene is excellence, as is Spike’s reasons why he likes the world – but the stand out scene is the massive sword fight between Angel and Buffy as she musters all the courage to fight him. A lovely montage at the end gives a sense of closure, but also leaves with an excellent little cliff-hanger to help resolve in the next season.

Overall

In hindsight…there’s actually a bit rougher than I actually realise. The Angel/Buffy relationship seems to delve into some quite melodramatic moments a little too early for my liking before it really kicks in. The first part of the season has some quite dull episodes mixed in with some great moments, but it’s when Angel loses his soul and Buffy and friends have to deal with one of the most dangerous vampires ever the season really gets going. There’s a couple of slight stalls but the second half of the season is great stuff.

Finishing this review, I’ve made it through the first half of the third season, and I think that that season may end up being better than this one in hindsight. But the season is still very good stuff and one of the best examples of the show. Buffy’s character begins the slow road to adulthood, losing her innocence and getting her first views of the adult world.