A Man. And His Blog.

Click here for the review of Season 2

The third season of Joss Whedon‘s Buffy the Vampire Slayer was marked by the arrival in Sunnydale of renegade slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku), a moody loner who seemed to like her demon-staking calling just a little too much. While Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was always wary of Faith, the two developed a deep friendship and appreciative rapport – that is, until the evil mayor of Sunnydale (Harry Groener) tapped into Faith’s dark side and lured her into his plot to take over the world, first as a double agent spying on Buffy, then as out-and-out nemesis. And as the mayor’s ascension approached – which happened to fall on Sunnydale High’s graduation day – Buffy and Faith’s battles got nastier and nastier, as Buffy attempted to wrestle with her dark side, save the world and her friends (again), and keep her lover Angel (David Boreanaz) out of Faith’s evil clutches – and out of evil’s evil clutches.

Episode 01: Anne
It was a good episode. Buffy is dealing with past happenings, coming around Angel’s death and trying to turn away from her old life. At least her disappearance from the last episode didn’t get a shitty conclusion, but took a whole episode to deal with this topic – good. And it was good that the other characters in Sunnydale didn’t get much screentime, and only one vampire and their first day of school. Even though the talk Giles (Anthony Steward Head) and with Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) was pretty interesting and full of character moments. Not only tries Joyce to accept Buffy being the slayer, she still looks for excuses, why Buffy moves far and far away from her. And she has kind of right. Giles really is a big father figure in Buffy’s life and he sometimes took most of her time.
The demon story was alright, it gave a nice conflict for Buffy and a reason to return. And with the appearance of Lily (Julia Lee) we have a character from season two back for one episode and another little conflict for Buffy.
Just the fact that Buffy must have been sad all summer long gets a bit on my nerves – nobody can be that sad all the time – she shut herself out from life all the time, didn’t meet people, did nothing? Kind of unreliable. To run away from life means you have to live another life and not think about it… 7,5/10

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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

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“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.”
Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) knows this tale by heart, and no matter how hard she tries to be just a normal girl, she cannot escape from her destiny… Joined with Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Alexander “Xander” Harris (Nicholas Brendon), and her watcher Giles (Anthony Steward Head), Buffy fights the challenges of High School and saves the world… a lot.

Episode 01: Welcome to the Hellmouth
No question, Buffy is a great show. But this pilot was so bad, so cheesy, so dumb that I actually wonder how Joss Whedon did it to make it a success. The characters are all kind of stereotype. Okay, maybe the viewers couldn’t believe their eyes in 1996 to actually see a kick-ass woman slaying some kick-ass demons and vampires, but the other characters were just boring. The cool Xander, the “Queen” Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), the shy Willow, the love interest, secret-guy Angel (David Boreanaz), the father figure Giles. The effects: terrible for today’s standards; i don’t know how they looked 13 years earlier. The story: Well, it was uninteresting, but at least it gave us the characters for the series and the start of the season plot. The fight sequences: Oh my god… so bad, I had to laugh. Especially when Buffy fought with Darla (Julie Benz).
But all in all, the pilot had its charm. Some funny lines and acceptable actors do the rest. I just would have hoped that Joss Whedon had done something different with the first season. 3,5/10

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