Sometime in late 2009, I saw Buffy the Vampire Season 1 DVD on sale at Wal-Mart for something like $5. I've had the hots for Sarah Michelle Gellar since I was like 13, and when I was a kid... I was a pretty big fan of the movie that starred Kristy Swanson. So, naturally, BTVS the Series has always been something I've wanted to check out, and when I saw the season on sell for so cheap, I had to pick it up.
I immediately watched the first two episodes, and while I liked what I saw, I put off watching the series until the beginning of the summer of 2010. It took until something like Halloween to finish the whole thing, and then after that I decided to buy the Angel DVDs, which only took me a couple of weeks to run through.
When I finished Angel, I wanted to make a thread like this running down what I liked and disliked about both series, but never found the inspiration to do it, because I knew if I did do this, I was going to make it a very long write up.
However, on this Sunday morning, when the Saints should be playing in the NFC Division Playoffs, but they're not, I have nothing better to do.
Xfearbefore is currently watching the series, which I admit is a part of the reason why I decided to do this, but I warn him now that there will be some major spoilers through out this review. I myself got spoiled on a couple of things while watching the series, and it sucked major ass.
I know there are many BTVS and Angel fans here, so I would love to hear your input on my reviews here. Also, by the end of my reviews of each season, I am going to list my favorite 3 episodes from that season, and give a rating to each as well season. I would be interested in seeing everyone else's top 3 episodes from each season as well, and what rating you would give the seasons as a whole yourself.
Anyways, after that unnecessarily long intro, here we go...
Being 2010, watching the 2 hour pilot episode of Buffy, Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest, you're not overly impressed with the visuals of the show, nor the fight scenes. However, in hindsight, I've come to appreciate what Joss Weadon was able to do with such a low budget. Sure, the make-up was pretty terrible, and the fight scenes left a lot to be desired, but what could you really accomplish on such a low budgeted television pilot for a network nobody had ever heard of at that point? The fact they were able to get what they got from make-up and fight scenes is incredible when you look at it from that perspective. Besides, what the first season lacked in visuals and action, BTVS more than made up for it with interesting stories, witty dialogue, great acting, and hot chicks.
Anyways, the pilot did a tremendous job introducing the characters. I must admit, right off the bat I did not like Xander, and my disdain for him would remain throughout the entire series as you'll see throughout my review of it. And Angel... when he appeared, I just thought he was going to be a worthless heartthrob and nothing more; little did I know he would become perhaps my favorite "Super Hero" of all time.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, looks wise, was in her absolute prime during the first season of Buffy. She actually had some meat on her bones, which gave her some very nice boobs (you'll notice by Season 7, while SMG is still extremely beautiful, her boobs are non-existent because she's so skinny) and a wonderful ass. Even if this show absolutely sucked, it would have been worth watching regardless just for SMG's hotness.
Speaking of hotness though... Charisma Carpenter (who played Cordelia Chase) was drop dead gorgeous by this time as well. So, she was a lot of fun to watch, and she was also perfect as the snotty bitch that undoubtedly would go on to influence films like Mean Girls.
And then there's Willow and Giles... Willow was Willow. You cannot help but like her the first couple of seasons. I much preferred nerdy Willow to witch Willow, which I know is an unpopular opinion. And Giles, right off the bat I liked him and thought he was ten times better than Donald Sutherland in the movie. As the season progresses, I would become more and more of a fan of Giles.
The main villain in Season 1 was The Master. At first glance, like I said, in 2010, the first thing you think about is, "Damn, that's a horrible make-up job." But the actor who played him was absolutely terrific, and he mesmerized you with his diatribes.
Also in the pilot was Darla, and Jesus... looking back at it now, who in the World would have ever thought she would become such an important character? But hey, that's one of the things that make the Buffyverse so intriguing.
But yeah... I wasn't sure when I bought the season whether each episode was going to be a different case like the X-Files, or if there was going to be an big plot for each season, so when The Master didn't die by the end of the 1st episode, I thought the entire season was going to revolve around him. Of course though, I was wrong. Buffy had it's fair share of stand-alone episodes. Some of them were fantastic, while others were terrible.
The first stand alone episode, Witch, falls in the okay category. The 2nd, Teacher's Pet, falls in the terrible category, as will every episode that revolved around Xander. I just cannot stand the guy. He's such a whiny little bitch, and I absolutely hated his stupid fucking jokes. The Puppet Show was another stand-alone episode that was terrible from this season as well.
As far as the good stand-alone episodes from Season 1 go... I really enjoyed The Pack, mostly because of Eion Bailey, who I am a big fan of. And then there was Nightmares, which I thought was absolutely tremendous. It felt like David Lynch wrote and directed the episode. It was basically about everyone's worst nightmares coming to life. Just imagine everyone in your city's nightmares coming to life and what would happen. Pretty wild, and a very impressive idea for an episode, especially one so young and on such a low budget.
Angel was another fantastic episode, with one of the best endings to the series when the cross is left burned on his chest after Buffy kisses him. The only thing I didn't like was that Angel got his ass kicked so easily throughout the episode, and the whole season in fact. That ends up making absolutely zero sense looking back at it.
The main arc of the season overall was okay. On the Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, I was genuinely surprised by the ending, in which it was a little boy all along who turned out to be the Anointed One. I did not see that coming. The Anointed One was something The Master continuously harped about. He was the key to opening the Hellmouth, which would basically cause hell on Earth.
The finale though, left a lot to be desired I thought. I didn't like Buffy "dying," nor Xander being the one to bring her back to life. Honestly, the only thing I did like about it was Buffy in her prom dress... she was stunning, and it was cool to see her kick some ass while in it. But other than that, meh... I thought it was a shitty way for The Master's reign to come to an end, and I just thought Buffy "dying" was cheap and only done for shock factor.
Favorite Episodes:
1. Angel
2. Nightmares
3. Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Havest
Overall Rating: 5.5/10
Season 2
I was reluctant to buy Season 2. I mean, as you see, I liked the first season, but I didn't love it. However, once finished, I was curious enough to buy the 2nd Season, and am I glad I did... because Season 2 is by far my favorite season from the series, and I credit it alone for me continuing to watch the series, which in turn got me to check out Angel, which is now one of my all time favorite shows in television history.
Anyways, the Season actually gets off to an absolutely horrendous start. For no reason given, Buffy is just a complete bitch, and that's what the whole episode revolves around. It made no sense. Thankfully it only lasted one episode, and didn't disgust me enough to not continue with the rest of the season.
The 2nd episode wasn't that much better... just a worthless stand-alone episode about a zombie wanting the perfect girl. I mean, the plot was promising, but meh.. I just wasn't feeling it.
However, the 3rd episode is where the series completely turns around. School Hard introduces Spike and Drusilla, which ended up being two of the most compelling and entertaining villains not just in BTVS, but in television period. Plus, not only were those two great, but the story for this episode was fantastic.
Spike and Dru arrive to town and immediately meet up with The Master's minions. Spike has killed two slayers already and wants to kill another one. He promises the Anointed One he will do so that Saturday. Meanwhile, Buffy's having trouble in school because of her ******** principal, and she and the rest of the Scoobies have to prepare for a Parent-Teacher night. During said Parent-Teacher night, out of nowhere Spike and his boys bust through the window, breaking his promise that he was going to wait a couple of more days until attacking. That was easily one of the biggest "Holy Shit" moments throughout the entire series. The ending to the episode was also great and shocking, when Spike killed the Anointed One. I did not see that coming at all... I really thought they were going to work together. But that single moment established Spike as a bad ass motherfucker who wouldn't take orders from ANYBODY, let alone a worthless little boy.
After this episode, they would go on to have a couple of dumb ass stand-alone episodes. The only good one being Halloween, which I thought the premise was genius where everybody turned into their Halloween costume because of a spell. Also, Charisma Carpenter in a cat suit... Lord have Mercy. Dat ass!
Following Halloween, they finally continued the main arc with Spike and Dru in a great episode called Lie to Me, which was about an old friend of Buffy's going to Spike to make him a vampire since he's dying. This episode is extremely important for the Spike character, because it shows how hard he loves Dru, to actually sacrifice killing Buffy just to save her.
After another stand-alone episode about Giles' past catching up to him, the main arc with Spike continues, as a new Slayer arrives to Sunnydale named Kendra, to help Buffy out. Apparently when Buffy "died" at the end of Season 1, another Slayer was brought about, even though Buffy would "come back to life."
The two part episode with Kendra, What's My Line, was great just because of Spike and Dru. They were such fucking great characters at this point in time. You loved to hate them, and you loved to love them. They were remarkable. The ending to this two-parter was great as well since it now put Spike in the position of the one who needed to be taking care of, while Dru got back to her full strength.
After this we have two more stand-alone episodes, Ted and Bad Eggs. The episode Ted was actually pretty good, in which John Ritter became Buffy's mom new boyfriend. And as it turned out, he was an evil robot the whole time. Sounds silly, but Ritter truly gave one of the best performances of his career. He was fantastic. Bad Eggs was an annoying, frustrating piece of shit though.
And then... in the next episode, Suprise, Angel sleeps with Buffy, which changes the Buffyverse forever. We learn that Jenny (one of Buffy's teachers and Giles' love interest at this point) comes from a long line of Gypsys, the same Gypsys who cursed Angel with his soul. However, as it is revealed, once Angel receives just a true moment of happiness, his soul is removed and he goes back to his evil ways. Of course, Angel's true moment of happiness ends up occurring when he makes love to the person he loves most in the World: Buffy. And when Angel turns back to Angelus, one of the coolest visuals ever happened when Angelus bit the neck of a girl smoking a cigarette, and then blew out the smoke himself. Awesome.
In Innocence, the 2nd part to Surprise, we really get to know Angelus, and man is he a rotten piece of shit. I have a take a moment and simply praise David Boreanaz's acting. The way this dude could transform from
such a sweet, gentle person with that sappy puppy dog look, into one of the most evil, absolutely despicable villains you'll ever come across... it's truly remarkable. How this guy didn't win an Emmy, I'll never know.
Anyways, in Innocence, Angelus meets up with Spike and Dru to help them bring back "The Judge," an evil demon who supposedly can't be killed by any weapon. Spike and Dru are at first happy to see Angel back to his old self, but that doesn't last long for Spike, because Angelus is nothing but a bully to the guy, taking complete advantage of Spike in his weakened condition. The bickering between the two is absolutely hilarious. Like I said... it's just incredible how Boreanaz was able to switch into that kind of character. It still shocks me.
The ending to Innocence is one of the most awesome, yet ridiculously over-the-top things you'll ever see. Buffy gets Xander to use the military stuff he learned from being a soldier in the Halloween episode to get her a rocket launcher. Of course it blows the Judge up to pieces in a great moment. I thought for sure the Judge was going to become the unbeatable villain for the rest of the season, but thankfully it remained Angel, Spike, and Dru has the head honchos of the evil in Sunnydale.
Oh shit, I have forgotten to mention that Seth Green has now made his way to the show as Willow's love interest. Following Innocence is a great stand-alone episode called Phases. It was about Oz (Seth Green) becoming a werewolf, which was the start to Seth Green really becoming a regular, and he couldn't have been better for this series. Every stand-alone that revolved around him was fantastic. Great character, and great acting from Seth Green throughout his entire stay on the show.
After that was the absolute worst episode of the season called Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. It was about fucking Xander trying to make Cordy (Charisma Carpenter) fall in love with him through a spell, but it backfires and every girl in Sunnydale falls for him. It was absolutely ******ed. Oh, and I know I have left out a lot of the Xander/Cordy stuff, but I really just didn't care enough about it to comment on it until now.
After having the displeasure of sitting through that garbage, we get the best episode of the season, Passion. This episode was really where they wanted to drive the point home that Angel was an evil motherfucker and he was going to stay that way. In this episode, he killed Jenny in perhaps the most shocking moment in the series history. I don't think anybody would have ever saw that coming. I know I sure as fuck didn't. It was great though, and like I said... really established that the Angel we knew and loved was gone, and that Angelus was there to stay.
Following that was another stand-alone episode called Killed by Death, which I actually ended up digging a lot. Buffy was in the hospital sick with the flew, and while there she learns of a grim reaper like dude (who's absolutely hideous on top of that), killing all the children. It was really a creepy episode, but I dug it a lot.
I Only Have Eyes for You followed this episode, and at first it seemed like another annoying, frustrating stand-alone episode about a ghost making students reenact the way he died. However, since Buffy and Angel turned out to be two of the people affected by the ghost, it turned out alright. It was interesting to see Angel act like his old self, even if possessed. The ending was very satisfying as well.
After that though we have Go Fish, which was just a dreadful stand-alone episode that revolved around some stupid ass swim teamed getting eaten and turned into some evil fish. It was fucking ******ed. I was also sadden by the fact that Xander didn't end up being one of the guys who got eaten.
Anyways, following that unneeded, God-awful trash, we get the absolutely tremendous 2-part season finale, Becoming.
Becoming was easily the best, most satisfying, and most shocking season finale in Buffy history. To make this brief, this is nearly everything that happens:
- Willow and Buffy find a spell that can restore Angel's soul.
- Angel, Dru, and Spike get their hands on a demon that if woken up, he will suck the World into Hell.
- Kendra returns and is killed by Dru in a tremendous fight scene.
- Flashbacks of Angel's past (which are always great).
- Buffy gets arrested for Kendra's death and expelled from school.
- Willow is hospitalized
- Angelus kidnaps and tortures Giles.
- Spike rescues Buffy from the police and tells her he wants to help since Angelus has stole Dru away from him.
- Buffy confesses to her mother about her Slayer ways.
- Xander gets his heartbroken by Willow.
- Buffy and Angel have an epic sword fight.
Okay, I'll stop the listing there and simply describe the rest. When Willow is able to regain her strength, she's determined to restore Angel's soul with the spell she found in Jenny's classroom. She tells Xander to warn Buffy she's about to attempt it, but of course Xander being the CUNT that he is, the only message he gives Buffy from Willow is that she said to, "Kick his ass." So of course... Willow succeeds in restoring Angel's soul, but by that time it's too late... Buffy has to send Angel to hell in order to stop the World from being sucked into it. At the very end, losing Angel, being expelled from school and wanted by the police, her mother disowning her... a depressed Buffy leaves Sunnydale for a new life on her own.
All that happened in two episodes of a television show. Tremendous. Absolutely tremendous.
Season 2 had a few of ridiculous, extremely annoying stand-alone episodes, but the main arc with Angel, Spike, and Drusilla is so incredible that I have to give the season a perfect10/10, even with its flaws. It's the only Buffy season that will get that rating from me, but it's well deserved.
Favorite Episodes:
1. Passion
2. The Becoming Parts 1 & 2
3. Surprise/Innocence
Overall Rating: 10/10
Okay, so... my God, this has been much longer than I anticipated. I knew the overall review would be long, but fuck... I didn't know I'd be worn out by the end of writing the 2nd Season review. I thought I would run through the entire series of Buffy and then get to Angel another day, but I must stop here. I'll continue with reviews of Seasons 3 and 4 for Buffy sometime in the near future (I can't promise they'll be as long and as informative as the reviews above, however).
Until then, I would love to hear everyone else's thoughts on the first two Seasons of Buffy. If you want to go further in series of BTVS and Angel, please feel free.
I immediately watched the first two episodes, and while I liked what I saw, I put off watching the series until the beginning of the summer of 2010. It took until something like Halloween to finish the whole thing, and then after that I decided to buy the Angel DVDs, which only took me a couple of weeks to run through.
When I finished Angel, I wanted to make a thread like this running down what I liked and disliked about both series, but never found the inspiration to do it, because I knew if I did do this, I was going to make it a very long write up.
However, on this Sunday morning, when the Saints should be playing in the NFC Division Playoffs, but they're not, I have nothing better to do.
Xfearbefore is currently watching the series, which I admit is a part of the reason why I decided to do this, but I warn him now that there will be some major spoilers through out this review. I myself got spoiled on a couple of things while watching the series, and it sucked major ass.
I know there are many BTVS and Angel fans here, so I would love to hear your input on my reviews here. Also, by the end of my reviews of each season, I am going to list my favorite 3 episodes from that season, and give a rating to each as well season. I would be interested in seeing everyone else's top 3 episodes from each season as well, and what rating you would give the seasons as a whole yourself.
Anyways, after that unnecessarily long intro, here we go...
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Season 1
Season 1
Being 2010, watching the 2 hour pilot episode of Buffy, Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest, you're not overly impressed with the visuals of the show, nor the fight scenes. However, in hindsight, I've come to appreciate what Joss Weadon was able to do with such a low budget. Sure, the make-up was pretty terrible, and the fight scenes left a lot to be desired, but what could you really accomplish on such a low budgeted television pilot for a network nobody had ever heard of at that point? The fact they were able to get what they got from make-up and fight scenes is incredible when you look at it from that perspective. Besides, what the first season lacked in visuals and action, BTVS more than made up for it with interesting stories, witty dialogue, great acting, and hot chicks.
Anyways, the pilot did a tremendous job introducing the characters. I must admit, right off the bat I did not like Xander, and my disdain for him would remain throughout the entire series as you'll see throughout my review of it. And Angel... when he appeared, I just thought he was going to be a worthless heartthrob and nothing more; little did I know he would become perhaps my favorite "Super Hero" of all time.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, looks wise, was in her absolute prime during the first season of Buffy. She actually had some meat on her bones, which gave her some very nice boobs (you'll notice by Season 7, while SMG is still extremely beautiful, her boobs are non-existent because she's so skinny) and a wonderful ass. Even if this show absolutely sucked, it would have been worth watching regardless just for SMG's hotness.
Speaking of hotness though... Charisma Carpenter (who played Cordelia Chase) was drop dead gorgeous by this time as well. So, she was a lot of fun to watch, and she was also perfect as the snotty bitch that undoubtedly would go on to influence films like Mean Girls.
And then there's Willow and Giles... Willow was Willow. You cannot help but like her the first couple of seasons. I much preferred nerdy Willow to witch Willow, which I know is an unpopular opinion. And Giles, right off the bat I liked him and thought he was ten times better than Donald Sutherland in the movie. As the season progresses, I would become more and more of a fan of Giles.
The main villain in Season 1 was The Master. At first glance, like I said, in 2010, the first thing you think about is, "Damn, that's a horrible make-up job." But the actor who played him was absolutely terrific, and he mesmerized you with his diatribes.
Also in the pilot was Darla, and Jesus... looking back at it now, who in the World would have ever thought she would become such an important character? But hey, that's one of the things that make the Buffyverse so intriguing.
But yeah... I wasn't sure when I bought the season whether each episode was going to be a different case like the X-Files, or if there was going to be an big plot for each season, so when The Master didn't die by the end of the 1st episode, I thought the entire season was going to revolve around him. Of course though, I was wrong. Buffy had it's fair share of stand-alone episodes. Some of them were fantastic, while others were terrible.
The first stand alone episode, Witch, falls in the okay category. The 2nd, Teacher's Pet, falls in the terrible category, as will every episode that revolved around Xander. I just cannot stand the guy. He's such a whiny little bitch, and I absolutely hated his stupid fucking jokes. The Puppet Show was another stand-alone episode that was terrible from this season as well.
As far as the good stand-alone episodes from Season 1 go... I really enjoyed The Pack, mostly because of Eion Bailey, who I am a big fan of. And then there was Nightmares, which I thought was absolutely tremendous. It felt like David Lynch wrote and directed the episode. It was basically about everyone's worst nightmares coming to life. Just imagine everyone in your city's nightmares coming to life and what would happen. Pretty wild, and a very impressive idea for an episode, especially one so young and on such a low budget.
Angel was another fantastic episode, with one of the best endings to the series when the cross is left burned on his chest after Buffy kisses him. The only thing I didn't like was that Angel got his ass kicked so easily throughout the episode, and the whole season in fact. That ends up making absolutely zero sense looking back at it.
The main arc of the season overall was okay. On the Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, I was genuinely surprised by the ending, in which it was a little boy all along who turned out to be the Anointed One. I did not see that coming. The Anointed One was something The Master continuously harped about. He was the key to opening the Hellmouth, which would basically cause hell on Earth.
The finale though, left a lot to be desired I thought. I didn't like Buffy "dying," nor Xander being the one to bring her back to life. Honestly, the only thing I did like about it was Buffy in her prom dress... she was stunning, and it was cool to see her kick some ass while in it. But other than that, meh... I thought it was a shitty way for The Master's reign to come to an end, and I just thought Buffy "dying" was cheap and only done for shock factor.
Favorite Episodes:
1. Angel
2. Nightmares
3. Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Havest
Overall Rating: 5.5/10
Season 2
I was reluctant to buy Season 2. I mean, as you see, I liked the first season, but I didn't love it. However, once finished, I was curious enough to buy the 2nd Season, and am I glad I did... because Season 2 is by far my favorite season from the series, and I credit it alone for me continuing to watch the series, which in turn got me to check out Angel, which is now one of my all time favorite shows in television history.
Anyways, the Season actually gets off to an absolutely horrendous start. For no reason given, Buffy is just a complete bitch, and that's what the whole episode revolves around. It made no sense. Thankfully it only lasted one episode, and didn't disgust me enough to not continue with the rest of the season.
The 2nd episode wasn't that much better... just a worthless stand-alone episode about a zombie wanting the perfect girl. I mean, the plot was promising, but meh.. I just wasn't feeling it.
However, the 3rd episode is where the series completely turns around. School Hard introduces Spike and Drusilla, which ended up being two of the most compelling and entertaining villains not just in BTVS, but in television period. Plus, not only were those two great, but the story for this episode was fantastic.
Spike and Dru arrive to town and immediately meet up with The Master's minions. Spike has killed two slayers already and wants to kill another one. He promises the Anointed One he will do so that Saturday. Meanwhile, Buffy's having trouble in school because of her ******** principal, and she and the rest of the Scoobies have to prepare for a Parent-Teacher night. During said Parent-Teacher night, out of nowhere Spike and his boys bust through the window, breaking his promise that he was going to wait a couple of more days until attacking. That was easily one of the biggest "Holy Shit" moments throughout the entire series. The ending to the episode was also great and shocking, when Spike killed the Anointed One. I did not see that coming at all... I really thought they were going to work together. But that single moment established Spike as a bad ass motherfucker who wouldn't take orders from ANYBODY, let alone a worthless little boy.
After this episode, they would go on to have a couple of dumb ass stand-alone episodes. The only good one being Halloween, which I thought the premise was genius where everybody turned into their Halloween costume because of a spell. Also, Charisma Carpenter in a cat suit... Lord have Mercy. Dat ass!
Following Halloween, they finally continued the main arc with Spike and Dru in a great episode called Lie to Me, which was about an old friend of Buffy's going to Spike to make him a vampire since he's dying. This episode is extremely important for the Spike character, because it shows how hard he loves Dru, to actually sacrifice killing Buffy just to save her.
After another stand-alone episode about Giles' past catching up to him, the main arc with Spike continues, as a new Slayer arrives to Sunnydale named Kendra, to help Buffy out. Apparently when Buffy "died" at the end of Season 1, another Slayer was brought about, even though Buffy would "come back to life."
The two part episode with Kendra, What's My Line, was great just because of Spike and Dru. They were such fucking great characters at this point in time. You loved to hate them, and you loved to love them. They were remarkable. The ending to this two-parter was great as well since it now put Spike in the position of the one who needed to be taking care of, while Dru got back to her full strength.
After this we have two more stand-alone episodes, Ted and Bad Eggs. The episode Ted was actually pretty good, in which John Ritter became Buffy's mom new boyfriend. And as it turned out, he was an evil robot the whole time. Sounds silly, but Ritter truly gave one of the best performances of his career. He was fantastic. Bad Eggs was an annoying, frustrating piece of shit though.
And then... in the next episode, Suprise, Angel sleeps with Buffy, which changes the Buffyverse forever. We learn that Jenny (one of Buffy's teachers and Giles' love interest at this point) comes from a long line of Gypsys, the same Gypsys who cursed Angel with his soul. However, as it is revealed, once Angel receives just a true moment of happiness, his soul is removed and he goes back to his evil ways. Of course, Angel's true moment of happiness ends up occurring when he makes love to the person he loves most in the World: Buffy. And when Angel turns back to Angelus, one of the coolest visuals ever happened when Angelus bit the neck of a girl smoking a cigarette, and then blew out the smoke himself. Awesome.
In Innocence, the 2nd part to Surprise, we really get to know Angelus, and man is he a rotten piece of shit. I have a take a moment and simply praise David Boreanaz's acting. The way this dude could transform from
such a sweet, gentle person with that sappy puppy dog look, into one of the most evil, absolutely despicable villains you'll ever come across... it's truly remarkable. How this guy didn't win an Emmy, I'll never know.
Anyways, in Innocence, Angelus meets up with Spike and Dru to help them bring back "The Judge," an evil demon who supposedly can't be killed by any weapon. Spike and Dru are at first happy to see Angel back to his old self, but that doesn't last long for Spike, because Angelus is nothing but a bully to the guy, taking complete advantage of Spike in his weakened condition. The bickering between the two is absolutely hilarious. Like I said... it's just incredible how Boreanaz was able to switch into that kind of character. It still shocks me.
The ending to Innocence is one of the most awesome, yet ridiculously over-the-top things you'll ever see. Buffy gets Xander to use the military stuff he learned from being a soldier in the Halloween episode to get her a rocket launcher. Of course it blows the Judge up to pieces in a great moment. I thought for sure the Judge was going to become the unbeatable villain for the rest of the season, but thankfully it remained Angel, Spike, and Dru has the head honchos of the evil in Sunnydale.
Oh shit, I have forgotten to mention that Seth Green has now made his way to the show as Willow's love interest. Following Innocence is a great stand-alone episode called Phases. It was about Oz (Seth Green) becoming a werewolf, which was the start to Seth Green really becoming a regular, and he couldn't have been better for this series. Every stand-alone that revolved around him was fantastic. Great character, and great acting from Seth Green throughout his entire stay on the show.
After that was the absolute worst episode of the season called Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. It was about fucking Xander trying to make Cordy (Charisma Carpenter) fall in love with him through a spell, but it backfires and every girl in Sunnydale falls for him. It was absolutely ******ed. Oh, and I know I have left out a lot of the Xander/Cordy stuff, but I really just didn't care enough about it to comment on it until now.
After having the displeasure of sitting through that garbage, we get the best episode of the season, Passion. This episode was really where they wanted to drive the point home that Angel was an evil motherfucker and he was going to stay that way. In this episode, he killed Jenny in perhaps the most shocking moment in the series history. I don't think anybody would have ever saw that coming. I know I sure as fuck didn't. It was great though, and like I said... really established that the Angel we knew and loved was gone, and that Angelus was there to stay.
Following that was another stand-alone episode called Killed by Death, which I actually ended up digging a lot. Buffy was in the hospital sick with the flew, and while there she learns of a grim reaper like dude (who's absolutely hideous on top of that), killing all the children. It was really a creepy episode, but I dug it a lot.
I Only Have Eyes for You followed this episode, and at first it seemed like another annoying, frustrating stand-alone episode about a ghost making students reenact the way he died. However, since Buffy and Angel turned out to be two of the people affected by the ghost, it turned out alright. It was interesting to see Angel act like his old self, even if possessed. The ending was very satisfying as well.
After that though we have Go Fish, which was just a dreadful stand-alone episode that revolved around some stupid ass swim teamed getting eaten and turned into some evil fish. It was fucking ******ed. I was also sadden by the fact that Xander didn't end up being one of the guys who got eaten.
Anyways, following that unneeded, God-awful trash, we get the absolutely tremendous 2-part season finale, Becoming.
Becoming was easily the best, most satisfying, and most shocking season finale in Buffy history. To make this brief, this is nearly everything that happens:
- Willow and Buffy find a spell that can restore Angel's soul.
- Angel, Dru, and Spike get their hands on a demon that if woken up, he will suck the World into Hell.
- Kendra returns and is killed by Dru in a tremendous fight scene.
- Flashbacks of Angel's past (which are always great).
- Buffy gets arrested for Kendra's death and expelled from school.
- Willow is hospitalized
- Angelus kidnaps and tortures Giles.
- Spike rescues Buffy from the police and tells her he wants to help since Angelus has stole Dru away from him.
- Buffy confesses to her mother about her Slayer ways.
- Xander gets his heartbroken by Willow.
- Buffy and Angel have an epic sword fight.
Okay, I'll stop the listing there and simply describe the rest. When Willow is able to regain her strength, she's determined to restore Angel's soul with the spell she found in Jenny's classroom. She tells Xander to warn Buffy she's about to attempt it, but of course Xander being the CUNT that he is, the only message he gives Buffy from Willow is that she said to, "Kick his ass." So of course... Willow succeeds in restoring Angel's soul, but by that time it's too late... Buffy has to send Angel to hell in order to stop the World from being sucked into it. At the very end, losing Angel, being expelled from school and wanted by the police, her mother disowning her... a depressed Buffy leaves Sunnydale for a new life on her own.
All that happened in two episodes of a television show. Tremendous. Absolutely tremendous.
Season 2 had a few of ridiculous, extremely annoying stand-alone episodes, but the main arc with Angel, Spike, and Drusilla is so incredible that I have to give the season a perfect10/10, even with its flaws. It's the only Buffy season that will get that rating from me, but it's well deserved.
Favorite Episodes:
1. Passion
2. The Becoming Parts 1 & 2
3. Surprise/Innocence
Overall Rating: 10/10
Okay, so... my God, this has been much longer than I anticipated. I knew the overall review would be long, but fuck... I didn't know I'd be worn out by the end of writing the 2nd Season review. I thought I would run through the entire series of Buffy and then get to Angel another day, but I must stop here. I'll continue with reviews of Seasons 3 and 4 for Buffy sometime in the near future (I can't promise they'll be as long and as informative as the reviews above, however).
Until then, I would love to hear everyone else's thoughts on the first two Seasons of Buffy. If you want to go further in series of BTVS and Angel, please feel free.
