Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 2

Click here for the first season’s review.
“In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Buffy Summers, The Chosen One, the one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight the vampires and demons. With the help of her close friends, Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendon), and her Watcher Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), she balances slaying, family, friendships, and relationships. And saves the world… A lot. Again.

Episode 01: When She Was Bad
The season premiere was alright. The Master story from season one needs to be finished, but Joss Whedon didn’t come off from the shitty cliffhangers. Even though it was funny to hear the Anointed one saying he hates Buffy, but his story isn’t finished. It just stops here.
The mystery around Buffy (is she behaving really that way or is she just possessed from the Masters “energy” or what the hell she was on…?) was interesting, but didn’t bring anything, except trouble between her and Angel. At least Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) is more and more in the scooby gang and the final fight was really good – the best fight sequence so far in Buffy.
And I liked the drama part of the episode. Buffy’s little breakdown after she smashed the skull of the Master was really good and shows once more what we are dealing with in future episodes. 7/10

Episode 02: Some Assembly Required
A boring episode. The Frankenstein theme was uninteresting and the characters were boring. But it was nice to see that the writers concentrate more on Buffy’s job as a vampire slayer. The fight with the vampire at the beginning was good and after all, it was a good setup to the episode story – a story which wasn’t really interesting at all. I still don’t care about Cordelia being in danger (it is kind of usual these last episodes…), because she is not really a part of the scooby gang and still a boring and stereotype character. And the flirts between Giles and Jenny (Robia LaMorte) are just childish and needs to be stopped. 4,5/10

Episode 03: School Hard
This was a far more better episode than the last one, because it brings more characters into the now starting main story: Welcome Spike (James Marsters) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau) into the world of Buffy. Okay, Spike’s entry into the Buffyverse was really uninteresting and I couldn’t care less about him; Drusilla is much more dangerous with her “craziness”. Spike on the other hand is a vehicel for funny scenes or for some verbal jokes. At least he killed the Anointed one, so his story is over for good.
The final fight was alright, but Spike talks too much. And I couldn’t understand Angel’s (David Boreanaz) plan to get to Spike and I couldn’t understand why he didn’t tell the scooby gang about Spike when he heard he is in town.
The ending was interesting: There is something with principal Snyder (Armin Shimerman); he is like a mysterious guy, knowing what is going on, but doesn’t know what he is dealing with. Pretty interesting. 7/10

Episode 04: Inca Mummy Girl
Surprisingly good stand alone episode. Even though the mummy story was uninteresting, Ampata (Ara Celi) herself was a really good character and had some similarities with Buffy. Xander is falling in love with a demon (or is a mummy not a demon?) again and has really no luck with women; Willow obviously loves Xander and wants more than just a simple friendship and Buffy just wants to be a normal girl. And it was really good that Ampata wasn’t really evil, instead she did everything to live a normal life, because she died too young – so her actions are pretty understandable. Well, except she wanted to kill Xander, because she killed for him in the first place.
The introduction of Oz (Seth Green) was good, too, and finally Willow has a possibility for a little romance for herself. 6/10

Episode 05: Reptile Boy
The episode was alright and had some good moments. The story wasn’t interesting, but gave Buffy some emotional moments, especially after her little “relationship” trouble with Angel. Her dog face she gave Giles was totally cute and she looked just awesome sad, when she was alone at the party. And that Cordelia was in danger again was just funny and stereotype.
Willow’s little speech to Giles and Angel was almost genius, she made a little character development and shows again that friendship is necessary in the scooby gang.
The fight in the frat house wasn’t really good though. I am asking me how Angel could step foot into the house, even though he wasn’t invited in – so here was a big mistake by the writers. But why did he put is game mask on before? This scene was completely unnecessary, but only shows us that he cares for Buffy. But for that he doesn’t need his teeth. 6/10

Episode 06: Halloween
I love these episodes, where everybody (or almost everybody) loses their memories and is somebody completely different. It promises fun and action; an episode with doesn’t take itself very seriously, but nevertheless prepares some stories for later episodes (Ethan [Robin Sachs] & Spike’s wish to kill the slayer). And it is Halloween – another reason why this episode is so good.
Ethan was a really shitty bad guy, because he didn’t have any screentime and his motives are unknown; but his past with the ripper (something the scooby gang doesn’t know) seems interesting and necessary for later stories. Buffy as woman from the 18th century was sweet and Xander as a real soldier was a bit too cool for me. And Willow just looked sexy and again got Oz’ eyes on her. And Spike and Buffy battled again and he doesn’t seem to have a change against her.
Just the same question again: How did the vampire get into the Summers house without invitation? 8/10

Episode 07: Lie to Me
I don’t know what to make of this episode. The story about a group of “vampire lovers” trying to become vampires seems interesting, but the execution sucked. Billy (Jason Behr) was interesting at the end, when he discussed his plans with Buffy (excellent minutes of emotional drama), but his introduction sucked. Even Spike sucked as a character in this episode, and I don’t know why. I couldn’t stand him here. And I am asking myself, why Buffy didn’t just kill Drusilla. She had it so easy… But Dru and Spike are part of the season story arc and shouldn’t be killed here, but it seems so illogical that Buffy lets her live.
Another problem was Angel: Even though he just wanted to save Buffy, but he being jealous looks just bad and doesn’t suit his character. 6/10

Episode 08: The Dark Age
Ethan Rayns is back – and Giles is hiding some secrets from the scooby gang. Both get a bit of character development, Giles more than Rayns, even though Rayns is only a guest character and it is his second episode in Buffy. But it is good that he returned, he gives Giles some background and definitely more character. While he was like a funny father figure back in the first season, he gets darker tones now, a past, he lies and stuff. Very good.
The episode itself was alright. The Eyghon story was acceptable, but not really a burner. Giles had to know about the body shifting and probably he had to know that Jenny was the demon. When the scooby gang gets so easy to this conclusion, why not Giles? And why was it so simple for Ethan to erase the tattoo on him and just put it on Buffy, so she gets killed next? 6,5/10

Episode 09/10: What’s My Line
The first double episode of the series and it has some interesting stories. First Spike trying to get Dru better, then the army which is hunting Buffy in many ways, then Kendra (Bianca Lawson), and then everything merges and concludes in a very good finale, which could be a little season finale. Not to forget Xander and Cordelia making out a couple of times (funny and kind of romantic).
After all, this episode prepared lots of staff for the second half of the season. Most important the last scene, where Dru is healed and Spike badly hurt. And the story about the second slayer, which means there are two slayers now. When Kendra is dying, somebody has to take her slayer position. But this was never mentioned here, which is kind of a bummer, because this is an interesting part in the slayer mythology.
The army against Buffy story was good and interesting. Buffy always in danger and she doesn’t know when it comes. And she had some good fights. The worm guy was creepy and Xander and Cordelia were just cute together – but this story had to come eventually. It was screaming to let him out for the last few episodes.
And the sequences with Kendra and Buffy fighting together was really good. It shows once more that the slayer is not alone, she has help and doesn’t have to stand against her fate alone. And the fights are much more better choreographed, which I really liked. From the cheesy and partly terrible fights from season one to real little action sequences – nice development.
And a real nice double episode. 8/10

Episode 11: Ted
A very good episode. Totally stand alone, but John Ritter takes everything. He is creepy, first a human, than a robot, in between he is creepy again. And his character is the reason for much character development for Buffy. Just the fact that Buffy had a problem with Ted from the beginning seems a bit awkward, despite him being the new boyfriend of her mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland). And why was Ted so “mean” to Buffy, why he was a nice person to all the others? He could have tried to convince Buffy to take one of the cookies, but he didn’t even start to try.
Well, this was the only problem I had with this episode, all in all it was a really good one. 8/10

Episode 12: Bad Eggs
Muhaha, Texan vampires – they were so cool, definitely the best one episode vampires of the series. And the story about the monster eggs was good as well. Sure, it was holy trash with the mother demon living and laying eggs under the school (and nobody noticed), but the writers didn’t take this episode seriously (with the exception of some scenes) and it just was fun all the way.
Okay, the episode was predictable. Obvious that Willow and Giles are now under the control of the mother demon (or whatever), but the little scene in Buffy’s bed room with the thing from the egg was really cool.
Sure, this episode is totally filler and has nothing to do in this season (especially the writers wanted to waste some time until the Angel becomes Angelus double episode), but I liked it. And the vampire brothers were just hilarious. 7/10

Episode 13: Surprise
The episode was alright, but concentrated too much on its conclusion and the episode cliffhanger and prepared too long for the next episode. Nothing against episodes, which prepare stories for the rest of the season, but this episode kind of comes too late and maybe had to come a bit earlier (minus a few filler episodes, though they were good – at least some of them).
Well, it was a good love story between Buffy and Angel, even though it kind of got too long here. But what I don’t understand: Why did Angel slept with Buffy, despite his curse? Or didn’t he know about the curse being broken while sleeping with her? He knew about the “true happiness” thing and he knew that sleeping with Buffy will be “true happy” for him.
That Jenny was a Gypsy and one of the descendant of the people who gave back Angel his soul was a really nice twist and puts her suddenly more into the story. Like Oz, who went out for a date with Willow and saw Buffy slaying a vampire (“That actually explains a lot.”). And the episode enemy, “The Judge” was boring. And Brian Thompson was back for this one – wasn’t he killed when he was a vampire in the first season (LOL)? 6,5/10

Episode 14: Innocence
A great episode in Buffy history. Sure, it is the sequel of an episode, which was a bit over average, but Angel steals all the show. Angelus is back, and how. David Boreanaz acted with some cliche, but I didn’t care, because everything was going into the fight between Buffy and Angel. The first one (“Give me time.”). Very interesting and very cool. And the ultimate metaphor for the series: Boyfriend sleeps with girlfriend and turns bad on her after the sex – WOW. Like every other teen show, but here we have a bad vampire, who has to die, because he is bad.
“The Judge” was concluded well, with a rocket launcher – pretty cool scene, together with the scenes before, how the gang got this thing and how we never saw what was actually in the case, until it was revealed in the big boom scene.
And character drama was there as well: Willow sees Cordelia and Xander making out, which is a shock for her; Giles and Buffy are shocked as well and can’t believe that Jenny lied the whole time – everything was very good written and executed.
If you look it that way, it was the best Buffy episode so far, and prepares lots of stuff for the rest of the season. Now Spike and Drusilla are with Angelus. Three mean vampires – two more than last season. 9/10

Episode 15: Phases
This episode prepares Oz for getting into the main cast. He is getting his story, becoming a werewolf and another “demon” which one of Buffy(’s friends) has a relationship. Buffy dated a vampire, Xander was in love with a bug and now Willow is dating a werewolf – pretty interesting. And partly very funny episode. The writers actually brought some episode cliffhangers from the first season into this episode. First the cheerleader statue in the beginning of the episode (I had to laugh) and Buffy learning that Xander didn’t forget what he did as a hyena (okay, not that funny, but still interesting that the writers picked it up again).
Just the fact how Oz is dealing with his new identity is lame, this just went too fast, even though it was necessary to deal with this topic in just one episode.
The little side plot with Angel sending love to Buffy was getting on my nerves though. It shows that the season arc is on-going in every episode now, despite filler episodes. But it was just misplaced in this episode. And Angel can easily kill Buffy. 6,5/10

Episode 16: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
Well, another filler episode, but a funny slash serious one. I love these episodes where a spell goes wrong and backfires really bad, like here. The whole situation around Xander was merely funny and the writers didn’t take the episode very seriously, but the few moments where it goes serious are really good.
Nice to see Amy (Elizabeth Anne Allen) back, it won’t be the last time; and nice to see Xander back in a main story for one episode (it won’t be the last time); and nice to hear that the writers didn’t forget the relationship between Xander and Willow – both of them still have feelings for each other, though they are in a relationship of their own.
The Buffy rat was kind of useless, I didn’t like that. It only shows that Amy is a powerful witch (which is a preparation for later episodes). While Xander’s girls, especially Joyce and the ugly kitchen woman (or what the hell she was), were really funny and I couldn’t take it very seriously, the Buffy rat was just boring and not funny.
And, again like in the last episode, the writers wrote Angel into the story, even though he was unnecessary (again). Why putting Xander in danger, when he was “rescued” by Drusilla anyway? 6,5/10

Episode 17: Passion
A wonderful episode, wonderful passion themed, wonderful characters, wonderful story and a wonderful preparation for the final episodes of the season. Angel gets all the credit this time and isn’t unnecessary, instead he brings all the character constellations for the next episodes into the right position. And after two filler episodes this was really necessary.
Jenny is on to a spell, which can recreate Angel’s soul – and she basically did it, but then Angel had to kill her. Awesome scene. From the moments, Jenny sees Angel in her classroom up to the moment he breaks her neck was just awesome suspenseful. Okay, maybe not awesome, but it was really good. The writers took their time to kill Jenny in that scene, they had to let her run through the halls first. As a viewer you had your time to prepare for her death, but still, it is a really good WTF moment.
But I had some problems: Giles was too much forgiving Jenny, and this too fast. And when she was dead, he was too much out on revenge. He had to know that his revenge would kill him, though he loved her and just wanted to revenge her death.
By the way: Why are Spike, Drusilla and Angel still in the factory, even though their greatest enemies know where they are? Isn’t that a bit illogical? And it was great to see that Spike has some problems on his own with Angel. Once best “friends” – and now? Almost enemies, because Angel plays with Spike’s Dru – fantastic. 8,5/10

Episode 18: Killed by Death
Interesting episode. Strong theme and one of the episodes which takes itself serious.
It was a perfect time to put Buffy “out” for a while – after all the things she experienced in these last episodes she is sick and can’t slay, instead she has to stay in the hospital. But this show wouldn’t be a show about monsters and demons, when there were no demon in the hospital. Even though the story about the “Kindestod” was a bit illogical (he must be existing for a while now and nobody noticed him before? Only the kids?), I liked it very much and the demon was a really scary one. He was just dead too fast.
The other characters had some nice development in this episode. Not only Xander, who stood his man against Angel and tries to help Buffy in every way he can. I think his scene with Angel was the best he ever had in the series before. And Xander’s and Cordelia’s relationship talk are just wonderful written.
I loved the homages on “A Nightmare on Elm Street” though. 7,5/10

Episode 19: I Only Have Eyes For You
An average episode with a stand alone mystery and some troubles for Buffy/Angel. I didn’t care about the student/teacher trouble and I kind of ask myself, why the poltergeist situation didn’t happen sooner – why now all of a sudden?
That Giles believed Jenny was responsible for all the happening was a bit out of character of him; but it gave the scooby gang the possibility to solve a paranormal case on their own. And very interesting is that Willow begins learning about the magic and having her first real spell in her life. The scooby gang gets another advantage from that and Willow has real possibilities for much character development.
Though I didn’t like that Angel went to the school to kill Buffy (so that he can be in the poltergeist mystery to end it), I liked his reaction, when he kissed Buffy and came to senses again.
The end was fantastic: Spike can walk again and totally doesn’t like Angel. Interesting factor, that two friends and vampires stand against each other. So short before the season finale it is interesting to see what happens.
Interesting fact: The writers already prepare for the next season and Snyder knows about the hellmouth. That’s why he took the principal job. But doesn’t he know that Buffy might be a fighter against the hellmouth? Or is there coming more? 6/10

Episode 20: Go Fish
Probably one of the most boring episodes in Buffy ever. One episode before the finale the writers had to pack out a filler episode, and a boring one. I didn’t care about the story, I didn’t care about the monsters, the twist with the students actually being the monsters was alright, but it was no shock moment. And the episode had some incredible laugh moments (negatively speaking).
First: Willow is still a substitute for Jenny? How long is she teaching the computer class now? It seems like ages and it totally doesn’t fit into the series. Second: The coach had knowledge about chemistry? Why isn’t he taking the job in this business, but instead is a coach for a high school swim team? Third: Why does nobody care about students? They are monsters, they are killed, they are vampires – nobody cares about this.
But there were also some good moments: Willow interrogating Jonathan (Danny Strong, did he get a name in this episode? Or was he called it earlier already? I can’t remember anymore), Xander in his speedos (muhaha, funny scene) and Cordelia’s talk with one of the monsters, actually believing it’s Xander (very nice and a bit of character development here).
But: This episode was just boring. 3,5/10

Episode 21/22: Becoming
Wonderful season finale. Even though it was boring in parts, but it had great moments, great fights, a great ending and lots of emotional character scenes and developments.
Angel’s flashbacks were really nice. Not only brought it back Darla (Julie Benz, who looked sex as hell in that costume), but it gave some nice history background of Angel. With Whistler (Max Perlich) we had a really good guest character, who told us something about unexpected life off-screen – in connection to the main story of the double episode it suited very well.
The episode brought Kendra back as well, and she gets killed really fast by Drusilla (perfect scene, how Drusilla “controlled” Kendra and just easily killed her instead of sucking her blood out of the body) – a good way to prepare for the next season, when a new slayer comes
The private moments were wonderful. First the little fight amongst the scooby gang about killing Angel or getting his soul back (Xander was in the moment, he never liked Angel, so I can understand him the most), then the decision that Angel has to be killed (even though Buffy’s back and forth about killing Angel, not killing Angel, yet killing Angel got on my nerves after a while).
Only the story about the demon Acathla was dumb and stereotype. Another demon, which resurrection means hell on Earth and everybody’s death. Yeah, nice. NOT. We already had this a couple of times and for a season finale, Joss Whedon had to think of something different (well, he didn’t, there were more hell dimension opening things around the series). Another disappointing scene was the vampire in Buffy’s classroom. She turns to dust and nobody cares (again) – heavily unreliable. And Buffy (or one of the scooby gang) had to notice that this was a trap. It is not the first trap Buffy went into, so I can’t believe why nobody noticed (even though it was necessary for the second part, Kendra’s death and Angel torturing Giles).
The little side plot with Buffy being chased by the police was interesting, but way too short. This would be an interesting story for a later episode, because Buffy is always killing somebodything; a shame that this was never a plan of the writers.
Buffy’s “standoff” with Spike was hilarious though. Not only is he a real character now, but his scene with Joyce waiting for Buffy was just awkwardly funny. And then we had the “standoff” between Buffy and Joyce. The mother finally knows about the daughter’s fate and she won’t believe it, wants to end it. It was a great step to bring the mother/daughter relationship to a new level. And with Joyce knowing about Buffy’s fate we have lost of great possibilities for new stories. And the fight between the two was very well written, though a bit short for my taste.
Giles’ scene with Drusilla/Jenny was good as well. He has nothing left, tries to prevent Angel opening the dimension, but he can’t hold it anyway, when Jenny is in front of him. This shows that Drusilla is a real dangerous enemy, with her psychic powers which can manipulate people.
The final minutes: great. Buffy fighting against Angel (after they had a conversation in the season premiere about exactly that topic – interesting), Spike hammering Angel small and being overrun by Drusilla (kind of funny that scene). And then Angel gets his soul back, Willow’s spell worked (though it was a bit unreliable that her second real spell worked, even though it was a really big one). And Sarah Michelle Gellar acted great, when she killed Angel nevertheless – probably one of her best scenes in the early seasons.
The finale was great. And I read that it was planned to leave Angel dead after this finale, but the network had to think about a spin-off series with Angel. Well, let’s leave it with that. 9/10

Season average is 7,00. The season could have been a bit more better, when some of the filler stories wouldn’t be that boring (Ep. 20 “Go Fish”) and some stereotype actions wouldn’t be that predictable. But it still is a strong season and a big improvement to season 1. This season had the ultimate metaphors of the series and probably the best character constellations.
I am already getting the episodes of season three and four together, but I let myself time with it. The short Buffy marathon is over for now, but I am starting the third season in a few weeks.

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