Buffy S2 “The Dark Age”
18 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Project Buffy Tags: Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Giles, Jenny Calendar, Mark of Eyghon, Slayer, Vampire, Wesley Pryce, Willow, Xander
Quotes of the Episode:
Xander: “Ooh, gang, did you hear that? A bonus day of school plus Cordelia, mix in a little rectal surgery and it’s my best day ever!”
Jenny Calendar/Eyghon: “Nothing’s safe in this world, Rupert. Don’t you know that by now?”
Buffy: “I’m not going to lie. It was scary. I’m used to you being, you know, the grown-up. And then I find out you’re a person.”
Giles: “Most grown-ups are.”
Let me start off this post with how strange the beginning is. This man hurriedly approaches a high school at night. He asks the janitor for Rupert Giles, and the janitor motions him over to the library. Even if the janitor knew that Giles was the librarian, wouldn’t it be weird to motion this man, at night, towards the library when the librarian probably isn’t there — because it’s night?
Anyways, this episode focuses on Giles. From the very beginning, with an unknown man trying to find him, this episode shines a mysterious light onto our lovable librarian. He’s not the predictably past-less man that he seems; he is a real person with real histories and experiences, just like everybody else. This episode also develops Giles in other ways as a person, for instance romantically with his relationship with Jenny Calendar. At this point, Jenny’s got him pretty much figured out, and she can make him “squirm” by joking about ruining an important book of his. Though, the dialogue takes us to another aspect of their relationship, where she hopes to “make him squirm” on a night-in. Things are taking off in their relationship, and we witness Giles’ actions and reactions to it.
For example, Giles tells Jenny that he never meant for her to “get involved in any of this”. I take it to mean that by “any of this”, Giles is referring to all the fantastical and otherworldly dangers that he, as a Watcher, has to face. Even though she is a techno-pagan, Giles doesn’t want her to ever have to face real danger — because he cares for her.
We see the same mark on Giles that we see earlier on the guy from the beginning of the episode. We find out that it’s the Mark of Eyghon, but when confronted about it, Giles doesn’t share any information. He says that it’s “his battle”. That introduces the idea that there is something that he is more suited to solving than the Slayer is. Buffy doesn’t see it that way; she sees this situation as something that endangers everybody, and everybody should know the details of this situation. At that point, Giles leaves, leaving Buffy to try to solve this problem on her own. Luckily, Buffy has Willow, and Willow is a BAMF.
It is striking, though, to see Giles in this episode. He has scruff; he’s all disheveled. The lighting is particularly involved in making him look so…different. The lighting’s dark with bright green and yellow hues. This gives him a very unnatural and eerie countenance — going along with this air of mystery that is hanging around him during the entire episode. And there are moments (for instance, when Jenny/Eyghon jump out of the window, when Giles knows that Jenny is possessed), when Giles looks strikingly similar to Wesley Pryce, who we haven’t met yet. But I look at him, and I see Wesley. There’s an uncanny Watcher-ness in the two.
Finally Giles spills the beans, and we get a glimpse into his past. He was a rebel in his youth, experimenting with magics. We find out that he and his comrades discovered how to summon Eyghon, but one day it took a hold of one of his gang and they killed him in the process of saving him. Now he’s stricken with the fear of losing Jenny — which shows his true and honest colors.
But due to Willow’s brilliance, Angel saves the day with his being dead.
Unfortunately, this experience — which Giles had hoped he could keep Jenny from — has shaken her. And she’s drawing back, coping, thinking.
Thought the conversation between Buffy and Giles at the end (as many conversations between them are) is poignant. Buffy, growing up, now realizes that adults have lives and experiences and issues. Once she graduates high school, she will realize that even more.
Buffy S2 “Halloween”
03 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
in Project Buffy Tags: Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Drusilla, Halloween, Joss, Slayer, Spike, Vampire, Willow, Xander
Quotes of the Episode:
Cordelia: “Well, his loss is your incredible gain!”
Cordelia: “Look, Buffy, you may be hot stuff when it comes to demonology or whatever, but when it comes to dating, I’m the Slayer.”
Cordelia: “Oh, he’s a vampire. Of course! But the cuddly kind, like a Care Bear with fangs?
Man, Cordelia’s got the zingers!!
Of course, in Joss’ fantastical ‘verse, Halloween would be the Demonic Labor Day. Thank goodness for that; parents have enough to worry about with their children wandering about at night to strangers’ houses without demons becoming involved.
After being absent from a couple episodes, Spike and Dru are back! From her first appearance, Dru appears to be just a bit crazy, but in this episode, she adds seer to her résumé, for she senses Ethan’s witchcraft. Also, we see Spike’s methods of conquering a Slayer. He sends one vampire to fight her and another to film the fight, and he watches the footage later and learns how she fights. Sneaky little devil.
This episode brings to light many insecurities of our characters. Buffy and Angel are supposed to have a date at the beginning of the episode, but a couple of things get in the way. Buffy has branches in her hair from her vampire fight, and Cordelia’s talking with Angel when her date flakes on her. Buffy walks into the Bronze seeing the two of them laughing at a table, and she immediately turns around to walk out. Part of me gets very frustrated with Buffy in this aspect. She’s a confident woman when it comes to everything vampire slayage, but when she sees the guy she likes talking with another girl, she freaks. Granted, Cordelia is beautiful, but at this point of the Buffy/Angel plot, she doesn’t compare with Buffy in character. I get frustrated when I see her so intimidated by Cordelia, but I suppose I can understand how Buffy feels — the mystical is Buffy’s terrain, but Cordelia’s confident that dating is her terrain. She also complains about how she’s not a normal girl and can’t do normal things like dating. But she never stops to realize that Angel is not a normal guy either. It’s not like he can stroll in the daylight as a normal boyfriend. Why doesn’t Buffy realize that maybe he, who understands her calling, her power, and her secrets, is the one she can really open up to? Plus, after looking at Angel’s diary, Buffy feels so inadequate in her appearance. Here is where I sometimes roll my eyes. Buffy is a powerful Slayer; she’s beautiful and elegant. But this is also the universe where nerdy Willow has a six-pack and dorky Xander has a smokin’ body. I think we’re supposed to see them in a diminished capacity, but it’s hard to get over that (especially when I feel like *my* body is actually inadequate). At the end of the episode, Buffy and Angel talk (communication is key!) and work out everything…for now.
Willow and Xander also have insecurities highlighted in this episode. Willow is used to being off in the background, unnoticed. She’s a nerd who lacks social skills. She’s been growing as a person during the 1st season, but she still has a ways to go. When prompted to dress up for Halloween, she chooses to be a ghost. Buffy tells Willow that she’s hiding by choosing that costume. Oz, who was clearly moved by Willow, doesn’t recognize her when he bumps into her in her ghost costume. By the end of the episode Willow realizes that she needs to step out of her shell.
Xander still has insecurities about his masculinity. Attempting to defend Buffy’s honor, he faced a beating from a pretty buff guy, and he even remarks about doing something extremely manly, but Buffy steps in and rescues Xander. Escaping physical pain has a price: humiliation. He now has to live with the shame of having a girl protect him instead of he himself. He’s struggled with maintaining an acceptable amount of masculinity throughout the show, whether it was being a virgin or not or fighting off bullies. He picks to be a soldier for Halloween. When he’s transformed into an actual soldier, he reeks masculinity. He beats up demons and saves damsels in distress. At one point he comments about how he strangely has a sense of closure after beating up someone. After this experience, though, Xander will still have to deal with the pressures of society regarding man’s masculinity.
I apologize for taking so long to write another post. I’m going to work hard to be more regular!!
Buffy S2 “Reptile Boy”
24 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Project Buffy Tags: Angel, Buffy, Callie, Cordelia, Drusila, Jordana Spiro, Slayer, Spike, Todd Babcok, Tom, Vampire, Willow
Quotes of the Episode:
Willow: “Oh, sorry! The reflection thing that you don’t have. Angel, how do you shave?”
Willow: “And you! I mean, you’re gonna live forever! You don’t have time for a cup of coffee?!”
This was a great episode for Willow banter. And it’s another episode focusing away from Spike and Dru, and vampires in general. This episode is about a fraternity cult that worships a demon; no wonder I didn’t rush.
Buffy becomes frustrated, yet again, when she and Angel have an awkward-turned-aggressive conversation about dating. They have honest intentions, and they do have feelings for each other — but both of them are very bad at communicating with each other. They could have avoided a bunch of turmoil had they just talked openly to each other. Granted, we would’ve missed out on some jealousy, but still. Thankfully, Willow put some perspective into Angel’s head, and at the end of the episode, Angel promptly asks Buffy on a date.
After Angel’s and Buffy’s argument, Buffy unexpectedly meets a college boy, Tom (Todd Babcock), and she is lured by his kind demeanor. I don’t see why Buffy thought he was actually interested. In the practical world, he’s a college boy, and she’s underage; guys usually don’t go for that. Granted, he was giving her all the signals — just so that he could lure her as a sacrifice to a demon. He was a very kind guy, compared to the rest of his brothers, but he became very cruel (surprisingly so) when seen as the cult demon-worshipper that he was.
The cult is very ritualistic and feels to be somewhat Catholic in some ways — which may be expressing anti-religious or anti-Catholic sentiments. The fraternity brothers pray “in his name”, probably “in His name”, in reverence to Machida, the demon. They speak in scriptures to Buffy, Cordelia, and Callie (Jordana Spiro). When Buffy speaks to Machida, Tom hits her for having the audacity to be female and to talk to the demon. I don’t know one way or the other if this one episode is trying to condemn religion in general or a particular one; it could just be showing the ways of an extreme cult, beyond the spectrum of religion. It’s interesting to watch, regardless.
Today’s post will be short and sweet. I’ll try to fit in another post before the day’s through.
Buffy S2 “When She Was Bad”
09 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in Project Buffy Tags: Buffy, Cordelia, Slayer, Vampire, Willow, Xander
Quotes of the Episode:
Xander: “Sorry, I can’t help myself. Your nose looks so tasty.”
Cordelia: “Whatever is causing the Joan Collins ‘tude, deal with it. Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever, but get over it. ‘Cause pretty soon you’re not even gonna have the loser friends you’ve got now.”
Xander: “A bitca?”
The opening might be my favorite part of the episode. Willow and Xander are playing a movie quotes game and walking through the neighborhood one evening. Xander remarks about the really boring summer they’ve been having, which I’m sure is all talk since it’s probably been him and Willow the entire time — and that wouldn’t be boring. They talk about Buffy, but then drop the subject as Xander pokes Willow’s nose with his ice cream cone. The chemistry between the two is real and true. Xander tries to lick off the ice cream, and Willow stops him giddily. He wipes off the ice cream, and they almost share a kiss before a vampire ruins the moment. The way these two act around each other shows exactly how comfortable they are with each other. They’ve been friends for years, and they know each other and trust each other completely. I suspect that they’ve had similar moments like this in the summer, but maybe none had gone as far as this one was about to go. This scene shows that there could be more than friendship between these two.
Unfortunately, this episode wasn’t my favorite — especially following Season One’s epic finale. This opening scene was fantastic, but the rest failed to impress me. So on that note, I’ll focus on another aspect of the modern super hero. As we’ve seen in previous episodes, Buffy is a powerful super hero with super strength, but she’s living in the modern world where school is a priority and she can’t be completely open with her family and possible dates. Then we saw her deal with hearing a prophecy about her death, and how scared she was to die at the age of sixteen. She promptly kicked ass after her death, but this episode focuses on the aftermath. Evidenced by how her father described her stay in Los Angeles and how she starts treating her friends, Buffy is clearly affected, which is totally understandable. I mean, she did die after all. She starts to fear vampires, afraid that she’ll die again. Then the Anointed Child tries to revive the Master, which would revive Buffy’s worst fear. When watching superhero movies or reading comics, you don’t really see trauma from facing death. They face it all the time; it just seems like part of the job — but Buffy is a sixteen year old girl. That’s not to say that sixteen year old girls can’t take much, but she shouldn’t have to face death. She should be worrying about getting through school and making friends, not about saving the world from an apocalypse, time and time again. So when she faces death and slays the one who killed her, there definitely will be some trauma. That being said, she’s got to find a better way to channel her anger. She shouldn’t hurt her friends and those who care about her. The end of the episode, though, shows how lucky she is when Xander and Willow just dismiss all the things Buffy did, and they save her a seat in class and talk to her like nothing happened. Xander and Willow are good friends.
I just want to apologize for taking so long to start the new season. I’ll try to be more regular this month. Thanks for all the visits and please feel free to comment and discuss! Stay shiny y’all!
Buffy S1 “Prophecy Girl”
02 Aug 2010 4 Comments
in Project Buffy Tags: Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Giles, Joyce, Slayer, The Master, Vampire, Willow, Xander
Quotes of the Episode:
Xander: “But I want more. I want to dance with you.”
Buffy: “I don’t care! I don’t care. Giles, I’m 16 years old. I don’t want to die.”
Master: “But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don’t tell you everything.”
Wow. I remember when I first watched the series, I went through the first season really enjoying it, but my clearest memory of this season was that the season finale was so far above the rest of the season. I remember finishing the first season and thinking, “Whoa, this reached a whole new level.” And the next season picked up from that higher level and kept going. Now that I’ve watched it again, this episode is an amazing way to end a season (it almost ended the series since it wasn’t known whether or not a second season would be offered or not), and it’s just a delicate way to develop the characters. Again I say, wow.
Let’s start with Xander. Xander is such a loving character. As the series goes on, I’ll touch on many instances of his compassion, but this episode shows such a clear example. He practices asking out Buffy with Willow, which is really cute. Even the way he asks out Buffy is so sweet (see the aforementioned quote). He is a pure and noble soul, which is pretty hard to find in high school-aged guys. But, of course, Buffy and Xander are not relationship material. We all know that, but Xander doesn’t yet. He puts himself out there, incredibly vulnerable, and then he’s shot down. He’s clearly disappointed and heartbroken, but even though Buffy rejected him, he still takes the initiative to round up his ‘enemy’, Angel, and look for Buffy — which ultimately saves Buffy! Xander is the sensitive soul who’s emotions fuel his actions, and that’s something I can relate to.
Next is Willow. Willow’s been growing in many ways this entire season. She started off as the dorkiest of the dorks, with no social skills and no fashion know-how. She’s found her place in the Buffy gang as the super smart technological girl. She no longer lets bullies, like Cordelia, walk all over her; she stands up and fights back in her own way. She’s helped fight demons and vampires, but she wasn’t ready for what happens in this episode. As she and Cordelia are walking into the AV room, they see slaughtered students, a terrible thing to ever have to witness. Willow later explains to Buffy that even though she’s seen giant bugs and vampires, she knew the guys who were dead in that room; only then did this strange world become real to her. It’s such a horrifying event for a loss of innocence, but that’s exactly what it is for Willow. She had plenty of innocence throughout this season, but this event pretty much drains it out from her. From this moment on, she’ll keep growing and becoming more rooted into reality.
Now to Buffy. This episode brings to light, again, the quirk of being a modern super hero. We’ve seen it before when Buffy wanted to go on a date instead of having to save the world — ending up in her realization that she may not be able to have a normal life in that respect. In this episode, it goes much further. She overhears Giles and Angel talking about the prophecy that says she will die. The way Joss handled this scene is pure genius. I had to watch it again after the episode was done just because of how spectacular and poignant it is. Her voice breaks as she talks to Giles about who the new Slayer might be. She asks if he’d train her. And about her dying, she — in complete vulnerability — asks, “Do you think it’ll hurt?” She goes through feelings of fear to feelings of anger. She yells at the two for not telling her and she yells at Giles for hiding behind his pile of books, trying to be helpful. She then drops all her defenses again and delivers such an honest statement: “I’m 16 years old. I don’t want to die.” And therein lies the unanticipated oddity of the modern super hero. Buffy goes home, tries to convince her mom to just get out of town for the weekend, but Joyce surprises her with a white dress that she bought for her. She ends up trying on the dress and wearing it for the rest of the episode. It symbolizes her quest for normalcy; she’d be wearing that dress to the Spring Fling if she were a regular high school girl. If she can’t wear it to a school dance, she’ll wear it to take on the Master. And even though she actually does die, all her self-doubt dies, too — and she comes back ready to kick ass and take names later.
I think it’s also important to touch on what the Master said before he drank from Buffy. He said that prophecies are tricky because they don’t tell you everything. All the prophecy said was that the Master and the Slayer would face, and she would die. What it doesn’t say is that she’ll come back and kick the Master’s ass. The incompleteness of prophecies is something that will come back time and time again through the series.
This episode is absolutely amazing. I was so blown away by the writing, the beautiful shots, the intensity building, etc. Joss closes the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in an extremely meaningful and impressive way, and it leaves the audience thirsting for more. Season 1 of Project Buffy is complete! Now we go onwards into Season 2!
Buffy S1 “Out of Mind, Out of Sight”
24 Jul 2010 3 Comments
in Project Buffy Tags: Buffy, Clea DuVall, Cordelia, Denise Dowse, Joss, Marcie Ross, Ms.Miller, Slayer, Vampire, Willow
Quotes of the Episode:
Cordelia: “People who think their problems are so huge craze me, like this time I sort of ran over this girl on her bike. It was the most traumatizing event of my life, and she’s trying to make it about her leg. Like my pain meant nothing!”
Cordelia: “You think I’m never lonely because I’m so cute and popular? I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone. It’s not like any of them really know me. I don’t even know if they like me half the time. People just want to be in a popular zone. Sometimes when I talk, everyone’s so busy agreeing with me, they don’t hear a word I say.”
Evidenced by the quotes of the episode, this is a huge Cordelia episode.
But before we get to Cordelia, I’d like to talk about Marcie Ross (Clea DuVall). This episode overly-dramatizes the unpopular side of the spectrum. We all went to high school and know first-hand how cut-throat and seemingly important (at the time) the popularity games can be. I wasn’t ever too affected by the popular people in high school; I had many friends and got through comfortably. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be so alone during that time in my life, to have no friends and no interaction with anybody. And it’s not like Marcie didn’t try; she tried participating in class but never got picked on, and she tried participating in conversations with the popular kids. She felt like she wasn’t being seen at all, and Joss took that idea and went with it; he made her invisible. That’s exactly how she feels and how probably lots of high school students feel. The disturbing thing is that after so much loneliness, Marcie becomes violent and demented. She lashes out, thinking that that will be some kind of justice for her. It ties in perfectly with the allusions from The Merchant of Venice towards the beginning of the episode. The creepy thing about all of this is that Marcie, along with countless other ignored-turned-invisible students, is never truly “rehabilitated”, like the “FBI” agent says she will be; she’s trained to be an assassin — her emptiness is never filled and her violent feelings are never deterred.
Now on to Cordelia! Up to this point, she’s only been comic-relief, acting as the stereotypical popular and ditsy high school girl, but we all know that Joss doesn’t like the stereotypical. Well, before I delve into what this episode has to offer, I’d like to highlight what past episodes have shown about her. She actually is a hard worker in class. In the pilot episode, she’s taking notes diligently in class and then shares her textbook with Buffy. In “The Harvest”, while she’s taking trash about Buffy, she is working on her class assignment and completes it, before Willow tricks her into deleting it. In this episode, she gives her opinions — peculiar as they may be — about the Shakespeare play the class is reading; she knows what’s going on. She talks to Ms. Miller (Denise Dowse) after class about help with her paper; she obviously is proactive about her classwork.
That being said, outside of class, she’s been completely superficial — talking about fashion and ridiculing the losers of the school. But after she goes to Buffy and the gang for help, she tells her that being popular doesn’t mean being any less lonely. She expresses this ironic sense of loneliness so articulately and sensitively that you know there is more to Cordelia than meets the eye. There is a living, breathing person inside her, with feelings, and I am excited to see the character opening up — opening up into a character who will become someone so different than what she seemed.
Buffy S1 “The Puppet Show”
22 Jul 2010 1 Comment
in Project Buffy Tags: Armin Shimerman, Buffy, Cordelia, Joss, Principal Synder, Slayer, Vampire, Willow, Xander
Quotes of the Episode:
Principal Snyder: “That’s the kind of woolly-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten.”
Cordelia: “But the mood! It’ll be all wrong! My song is about dignity and human feelings and personal…hygiene or something . Anyway, it’s sappy, and no one is gonna be feeling sappy after all that rock and roll.”
Boy, does Joss have a way with expressing creepiness.
The first creepy item to discuss is the new principal. Principal Synder (Armin Shimerman) just oozes nastiness. The episode begins with Giles listening to students performing their Talent Show acts, and the trio comes up and teases him for a little bit. As they leave, Principal Snyder just turns everything they said around on them, and he punishes them to a spot in the Talent Show. Then, when he’s alone with Giles, he shares his principal’s philosophy, which is entirely antagonistic towards the children; he doesn’t like them! Uh-oh. He suspects that Buffy is a trouble-maker, and his being around all the time gives the audience suspicions that he may be more than just a principal. There’s also the scene, right before Buffy finds Morgan (Rich Werner), where Principal Snyder tells her that a girl like her shouldn’t be wandering the halls alone when there’s a killer out there. Buffy replies that she’s just leaving and that she can take care of herself, but when she says that last part, it’s as if she’s saying she can protect herself from him, too. It was a very eerie scene between the two, and it leaves a lot of ambiguity for who exactly Principal Snyder is.
The second creepy item is the dummy. The dummy has a malicious smirk on him, and his sleazy voice and inappropriate conversation make him the prime suspect for demonic activity. It’s not a surprise that Joss twists the plot so that what the audience feels will happen actually turns out differently. The dummy is not a demon; he’s a demon-hunter!
This episode shows the other side of a modern day’s superhero. While Buffy has to balance going to school, being a daughter, having friends, and being The Slayer, many demons have to their own limitations, too. A demon masquerades as a high school student, and he has to come up with a Talent Show act while also killing people for their organs. It’s just not as easy these days to be a demon. And while vampires weren’t a part of this episode, they, too, have to work in the boundaries of the modern era. For example, the first scene of the entire series shows Darla acting as a scared high school student going for some fun with an older guy. This means that at some point before this trip, she had to meet the guy and come up with back stories, etc. This is a whole new world for villain and hero.
I love how the episode ends, with the trio reciting some Shakespeare. The three have completely different expressions. Xander is struggling to remember his lines; Willow is utterly and completely terrified, and Buffy just wants to get it all over with. It’s hysterical to watch, especially when Willow just runs off stage in fear, leaving a bewildered Xander and Buffy on stage. O Joss, how you slay me. *wink wink*
Buffy S1 “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date”
15 Jul 2010 2 Comments
in Project Buffy Tags: Angel, Buffy, Christopher Wiehl, Cordelia, Giles, Joss, Master, Owen, Slayer, Vampire, Watcher, Willow, Xander
Quote of the Episode:
Giles: “All right, I-I’ll just jump in my time machine, go back to the twelfth century and ask the vampires to postpone their ancient prophecy for a few days while you take in dinner and a show.”
First off, I’d like to apologize for my latency here on the blog. This week has been a touch busy, but I’m glad to have made some time to watch and write about another episode!
So, after a couple of episodes with mystical beings not related to vampires, this episode brings us back to the vampire trajectory. The episode starts with Buffy taking out a vampire — and write after she finishes him off, Giles unexpectedly pops out from behind a tombstone and critiques her performance. This episode focuses on their relationship of Watcher and Slayer. At first, the two kind of bicker at each other, but the ending illuminates an understanding towards each other. We’ll get to that in a bit.
This episode also highlights the difficulties of being a modern superhero. Buffy tries to balance a social life with her Slayer life, and she ends up having trouble doing so. She’d love to put dating as the priority, but after she finds out that Giles is in danger, she realizes that her Slaying has to be the priority. She’s also dispirited by what happens with Owen (Christopher Wiehl). She really likes this guy, and she’s astonished that he likes her back. They’re supposed to go out on a date, and a vampire prophecy and Cordelia ruin it. Then he asks her out for the following night. She’s enjoying her time with him at the Bronze, but when Angel, Willow, and Xander show up with warnings, she has to run off to save Giles — but Owen follows! So she tries to protect everybody while also eliminating the Anointed One, from the prophecy. She kills the vampire and saves everyone, but Owen is a little freaked and goes home. The next day, he talks to her and tells her that he loved the exhilaration of danger and that he’d love to pursue more of it with her. Buffy realizes that 1) he’s only into the danger, not so much her and 2) she can’t let everybody into her Slaying posse because it could risk many people’s lives.
It’s at this point of the episode where Buffy and Giles come to understand each other better. Giles tells her that his father and his grandmother were Watchers; he found out when he was 10 years old that he was to be a Watcher, too. He tells her that his father talked to him about responsibility and sacrifice. While Xander and Willow will be important members of the Slaying gang, Giles and Buffy are really the two that are in it because they have to be. She’s this generation’s Slayer who has to dedicate her life to defeating vampires, and he’s this generation’s Slayer’s Watcher, who has to dedicate his life to training and guiding her. They’ve made — and will make — many sacrifices for the betterment of the world. It’s a tough responsibility to bear, but at least they know that they’re bearing that responsibility together.
Now, everything seems fine and dandy at the end; we think Buffy’s slain the Anointed One — and Giles infers that the Master is probably having a pretty bad day. But Joss is a trickster, and he gives us a twist at the end of the episode. The Anointed One is actually a child vampire, accompanied by creepy dollhouse music. We’d never expect the Anointed One to be a child, and that’ll make his role ever the more profound and disturbing — there’s nothing creepier than an intelligent and evil child character. And that’s where the episode leaves us, with great momentum moving forward.
Buffy S1 “Witch”
08 Jul 2010 4 Comments
in Project Buffy Tags: Amy, Buffy, Cheerleading, Cordelia, Elizabeth Anne Allen, Giles, Joyce, Robin Riker, Slayer, Vampire, Willow, Witch, Xander
Quote of the Episode:
Xander: “I laugh in the face of danger…then I hide until it goes away”.
Who would have thought that a Vampire Slayer’s first choice for an extra-curricular activity to feign normalcy would be cheerleading? Giles doesn’t believe it either, and he gives Buffy a hard time about her shrugging off her responsibilities in order to be a cheerleader. But Buffy wants to do something normal and safe.
In this episode, we meet Amy (Elizabeth Anne Allen) who is also trying out for the cheerleading squad, along with Cordelia (no surprise there). We find out through Buffy and Amy’s getting to know each other that both sets of parents split up, which is good to know for both characters’ developments.
But strange things are going on — every so often the scene cuts to a creepy place with dolls hanging from the ceiling and a cauldron stewing some kind of potion. At first we think it has something to do with the Master, but the twist in this episode is that there are no vampires involved! The whole plot has to do with mystical content, of course, but not vampire-related. Amy is too into cheerleading, and after talking to her mom (Robin Riker), we find out that they’ve switched bodies — witchcraft! Amy’s mom is the witch and she’s jealous of her daughter’s youth, so she takes it away. It is in this episode where we see Giles cast the first of many spells to come.
I’d like to point out that despite how much of a bully Cordelia is, she does have an innocent side to her. Amy casts a blindness spell on her, and Cordelia just roams around the halls, trying to find her locker. She stumbles, late, to her driving lesson, and is forced to drive. She can’t see and she almost kills herself. She has such a terrified look on her face, which shows she’s never really encountered fear.
There’s a little bit of character development for Xander and Willow, too. Xander likes Buffy, and he wants to ask her out — and he talks to Willow for advice. As Xander describes how Buffy probably just doesn’t ever notice him and dismisses him as a really good friend, there’s a subtle sense that Willow feels the same way about Xander. We’ll see where that goes as the season progresses.
There’s also something to comment on about Buffy and her mom’s relationship. Buffy tries to get her mom interested in her cheerleading endeavors, but her mom’s really focused on her museum stuff. Then Joyce tries to get Buffy interested in what she did when she was in high school, and Buffy dismisses it. But third time’s a charm, and they share a little moment at the end of the episode. Though, it’s also interesting to note that Joyce seems to be one of those parenting-book moms. In the last episode, she says that the books all say she needs to get used to saying “no”, and in this episode, after she brings up *again* that Buffy was kicked out and they had to move to Sunnydale, she says, “Great parenting form…little shaky on the dismount.” This just shows that Joyce is really concerned with how she raises Buffy. Instead of treating Buffy like a delinquent after being kicked out of HS, she’s being really supportive and nurturing — that says a lot about her!
This episode takes a step off the storyline path, which could be a way for Joss to show off all the mystical creatures his imagination has to offer. So it’s safe to assume that we’ll have more of these episodes.
Buffy S1 “The Harvest”
07 Jul 2010 4 Comments
in Project Buffy Tags: Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, David Boreanaz, Giles, Harmony, Joyce, Ken Lerner, Luke, Mercedes McNab, Principal Flutie, Slayer, Vampire, Willow, Xander
I apologize for taking so long continuing Project Buffy; the holiday weekend ended up being unexpectedly busy!
Quotes of the episode:
Joyce: “I know. If you don’t go out it’ll be the end of the world. Everything is life or death when you’re a sixteen year-old girl.”
Cordelia: “It’s like when I go shopping. I have to have the most expensive thing. Not because it’s expensive, but because it costs more.”
This episode picks up where the pilot left off. Buffy is trapped in a tomb by Luke, who is about to finish her off. She escapes when he brushes his hand on the cross hanging from her neck — a gift from the mysterious and *handsome* stranger, who we now know is named Angel (David Boreanaz). Though, after this episode, we still don’t know anything else about him.
This episode explains the origin of vampires (which I had completely forgotten when I had watched the entire series): Earth was dominated by demons in the beginning, and the last demon possessed a human form and exchanged blood with a human. Ever since, vampires have fed on humans and turned others to keep their breed alive. I find it important to remember, because many vampire stories never bother to explain how vampires came into being.
Like the pilot episode that alluded to the deep threads of thought underneath the witty banter and funny dialogue, this episode also presents a different point of view that one doesn’t expect in a superhero setting. After the gang (Giles, Willow, Xander, and Buffy) discuss what the vampires’ plans are and Buffy comes up with a mission, she sets out to complete it. As she’s walking off campus, she’s stopped by Principal Flutie (Ken Lerner). While the Slayers of the past have been able to focus on only slaying (I presume), Buffy’s life is in modern America, and she just can’t tell her Principal that she’s off to save the world — which is clearly more important than going to class. The same kind of thing happens later that evening when Buffy stops by her house to get supplies. Joyce tells Buffy that the Principal called again and she’s starting to get worried that Buffy is doing the same kinds of things that got her kicked out of her LA school. It’s in this scene that Joyce delivers the insanely funny quote about the end of the world. How could Buffy actually tell her mom that it *is* the end of world if she doesn’t go out? You can bet that there will be more superhero-meets-real-life scenarios in Buffy’s future.
This episode also shows a little bit of growth in Xander and Willow. As soon as the three escape from the vampires at the beginning of the episode, Xander’s already kicking himself about useless he feels. He wants to help and be involved, but Buffy doesn’t want him to get hurt. Understandably, Buffy is a super-being, and Xander’s an average high school boy, so her worries are reasonable, but this feeling of uselessness will definitely thrive throughout the series. On the other hand, Willow finds her nook in helping out in technology and intelligence. She hacked into the city’s web account and was able to bring Giles some helpful information about the Harvest.
Willow also shows a little bit of defiance in a scene with Cordelia and Harmony (Mercedes McNab). The two popular girls are talking about how weird Buffy is, and Willow timidly speaks up in Buffy’s defense. After Cordelia cruelly puts her down, Willow manages to trick Cordelia into deleting her entire assignment — again showing Willow’s technological prowess. We’ve always seen Willow accept the bullying Cordelia gives her, but now she’s kicking back!
While the gang was able to stop the vampires’ plans of resurrecting their master, Giles alludes to the fact that there will be many more situations to face in the future, dealing with vampires and even other beings. This ending to the episode wets our appetite for the many exciting things to come!
Let me know what you liked/didn’t like about this episode! Quotes, characters, anything!
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