Buffy S2 “What’s My Line?” Part 1

08 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by Jonathan Thompson in Buffy, Project Buffy, TV Shows Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quotes of the Episode:

Willow: You and Angel are going skating? Alone?
Buffy: Unless some unforeseen evil pops up. But I’m in full see-no-evil mode.
Willow: Angel ice-skating…
Buffy: I know, two worlds collide.

Buffy: Do I like shrubs?
Xander: That’s between you and your god.

Whoa guys, I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to continue Project Buffy. I’ve been SO busy with school and auditioning for grad school, but now I can get back to the grind — especially now that I’ve finally purchased the entire series for myself :D

So, this episode is the first part of two. Buffy and the gang are filling out questionnaires for Career Day, something Buffy is not very excited about. While Xander, Willow, and Cordelia have their entire futures ahead of them, Buffy’s fate is already sealed; she’s the Slayer. The gang tries to console her throughout the episode, but Buffy doesn’t have any of it. She wants to be a normal girl — a theme that will pop up time and time again.

Meanwhile, Spike has his minions steal an artifact from Du Lac’s tomb, which will help transcribe the text that will bring Drusilla back to full health. An interesting detail to note about Drusilla: at times, the music around her is plunky celeste notes, giving the feel of creepy dollhouse music. This music around her elludes to her innocence as well as to her strangeness. It’s interesting to also note how similar Drusilla is to River Tam from “Firefly”, disturbing and innocent individuals with great power.

This episode introduces the Order of Taraka, bounty hunters set loose by Spike on Buffy. Some are human, and some are not. Buffy becomes very scared when Giles describes them to her, saying that they have no care for earthly possessions. They pursue their goal until it is captured. Even if some are stricken down, more will come until their mission is complete. This causes Buffy to run away to Angel’s lair.

This episode also introduces Kendra. At first, she’s made to look like part of the Order of Taraka. They introduce the savage man getting off a bus at Los Angeles and the salesman who offers a woman free beauty samples both before introducing Kendra — who knocks out an airport worker when she exits the luggage section of an airplane. She’s also seen watching Buffy and Angel at the ice-skating rink. She later disables Angel, leaving him to fry in the soon-to-rise morning sun, and she attacks Buffy in Angel’s lair. The shocker comes when she reveals that she is Kendra, the Vampire Slayer.

I saw a similarity between Buffy in this episode and Buffy in the end of season one. She succumbs to fear. In the “Prophecy Girl”, she went to confront the Master, but her fear paralyzes her and leads to her demise. In “What’s My Line” Part 1, her fear causes her to run away to Angel. It’s not surprising that she would be scared, but I would have liked to see the resurrected Buffy from “Prophecy Girl” in this Buffy — a girl who isn’t going to let fear conquer her. Fear actually is something she struggles with during the season. I want the Buffy from “Nightmares” to realize that she is something to be feared, too.

An interesting cut happens in this episode: a match cut. A match cut is when one scene contains some image and then cuts to another scene with a similar image, thus creating some link between these (probably) dissimilar images. In this episode, there appears an aural match cut. When the salesman enters Buffy’s neighbor’s house, she lets loose a blood-curdling scream — such a high-pitched scream that it matches the pitch of a soaring airplane in the next scene. A cut like this encourages the mind to link the malicious man in the previous scene to the strange woman we see in the airplane — which then makes her revelation at the end of the episode that much more shocking.

Part Two will come pretty soon! :D

Buffy S2 “Lie to Me”

09 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment

by Jonathan Thompson in Project Buffy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quotes of the Episode:

Buffy: “Are you drinking coffee again? ‘Cause we’ve talked about this.”

Xander: “Once more with tension.”

Buffy: “Lie to me.”

Hello all! Greetings from Ann Arbor, MI! I am here for a lesson, but I had some extra time on my hands and thought a blog post would be the best thing to do!

As the episode’s name implies, this episode is about honesty and trust. Even side stories deal with trust; Jenny asks Giles to trust her regarding the mysterious date she’s planning for them. Though it all mostly centers around Buffy’s trust. The events of the episode lead to those she trusts most hiding information from her. She sees Angel with Drusilla in the park, but he doesn’t tell her about it. Angel, Willow, and Xander all cooperate to find out information about Buffy’s LA friend Ford (Jason Behr) behind her back. Understandably, Buffy is upset.

Buffy sees Angel while she’s on patrol. She sees him speaking to a woman (Drusilla) in a park. She’s too late to see him stop Dru from preying on a child, but she’s right on time to see them speak really closely. Of course (and yet again) she’s overcome with jealousy and inadequacy. Sometimes I’m frustrated at Buffy’s jealousy. She was right there feeling insignificant in the last episode, and then at the end of the episode, she and Angel are making out and life is grand. But then we’re back to her being jealous. Enter trust issues! This just means that she doesn’t trust Angel yet, which she admits later on in the episode. Once she realizes that he does love her and that he is a vampire with a soul — meaning good — she will begin to trust him and she won’t succumb to jealousy. I don’t know how long that takes.

The next trust issue, which includes Angel, is more directed at her friends. They go behind her back to investigate Ford. They trust Angel’s feelings about him, but — understandably — Buffy’s history with this kid blinds her. When she discovers that they’ve been doing this, she feels betrayed, but I think this experience shows her that she should trust her friends (people who have saved her life various times already) more than some kid who she went to school with in LA. I think Buffy’s grown from the events in this episode, because she will start to realize that the friendship she has with Willow and Xander is deep and extremely trustworthy.

The last issue in this episode deals with the cult of vampire wannabes. Ford’s assembled a host of crazies who believe vampires exist and that they are not cruel killers; they believe that vampires are transcendent beings, almost divine creatures. This is, of course, B.S. We know from Buffy’s experiences that vampires, in Joss’ world, are human shells inhabited by evil demons. They hunger for human blood and kill blindly. On the one hand, they can’t really be blamed for this foolishness. They haven’t encountered a vampire in real life. They have a romantic ideal of a vampire, and they want to believe it. These are young people that thrive for things that even I want: immortality and youthfulness. I love immersing myself into fantasy stories with immortal beings and magical creatures, and I wish that was possible — so I can relate with these kids who are holding on to this idea that could transform their lives and achieve their deepest wish. But that’s not real life, and they almost die pursuing their dream.

Ford is different, though. He is sick, and he wants to become a vampire so that he can live. He has 6 months, and he wants more, even if that means living in a Ford-shell with Ford’s memories and a demon’s evil. And it’s a bit cruel that Ford is killed, while the other fools live. Ford actually had an actual reason to seek out vampiric immortality, yet he’s the one left lifeless.

As always, feel free to comment! I hope you enjoy this blog post all the way from Ann Arbor!

Buffy S2 “Halloween”

03 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment

by Jonathan Thompson in Project Buffy Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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 “School Hard”

17 Aug 2010 2 Comments

by Jonathan Thompson in Project Buffy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quotes of the Episode:
Spike: “I fed off a flower person, and I spent the next six hours watching my hand move.”

Joyce: “You get the hell away from my daughter!”

ENTER Spike and Drusilla! What an exciting episode this is! (Boy, did Joss get a lot of mileage from Spike.)

With the advent of Spike (James Marsters) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau), the vampire quadrumvirate is complete! While we don’t know it yet, the entourage consists of Darla, Angel, Drusilla, and Spike. Some of my favorite Buffy and Angel episodes deal with back stories about the four of them.

Spike rolls in as a badass rocker vampire, with bleach-blonde hair, a sexy accent, and intense aggression. But his hostile demeanor suddenly fades when the white-clad and dainty (seemingly so) Drusilla enters the picture. Spike fades from vamp-face and he speaks so attentively and lovingly to her. But these two characters are such villains. Spike is crass and rash, playing by his rules, and Dru is creepy and chilling (Juliet Landau is perfect as Drusilla!) Spike’s name comes from his use of railroad spikes in his killings, and he’s killed the past two Slayers. We don’t know much about Drusilla yet, but we already know she can be merciless, as she devours Sheila (Alexandra Johnes) in full view of her dolls. Even at the end of the episode, after Spike decides to stop playing nice with the Anointed One, he cages the child and lets the sunlight kill him. Spike’s now in charge, with Drusilla at his side.

This episode also shines some light on the relationship between Buffy and her mother. Buffy’s worried that her mother won’t be happy with what she hears at Parent/Teacher Night, and Joyce tells her that she doesn’t want to be disappointed with her again. It was very frank of her to say, and I think it’s clear that Buffy never wanted to hurt or disappoint her mother back in L.A. Once the dreaded night arrives, Willow helps Buffy by leading Joyce around the school, away from Principal Synder, but their paths finally cross, and he leads her to his office to have what promises to be a stern talk. Joyce seems very upset with Buffy, but then vampires attack. Buffy, as the Slayer, takes charge, and herds people to shelter and barks orders to the civilians to stay put, something which Principal Synder doesn’t enjoy hearing. But seeing Buffy act with such strength and confidence, Joyce reassesses how she thought of Buffy. She trusts Buffy with her life, which is the most profound kind of trust. Though, against Buffy’s wishes, Joyce sticks around a little bit and actually saves Buffy from Spike. I had completely forgotten this happened, and I was very excited to see how brave and strong Joyce is. As the two walk home after the ordeal, Joyce talks about how much peace of mind it gives her to know that Buffy can take care of herself and handle a crisis with such selflessness. While Buffy can’t tell her mom she’s the Slayer, she’s glad to know that her mother can see a little bit into her real self.

The last thing to address is Principal Snyder. After the ordeal, he’s speaking with a police officer about what to tell the papers had happened. The officer asks if he wants to go with “the usual story” of gang-related trouble, and Snyder replies, “What do you have in mind, the truth?” Then the officer decides to go with “gang-related PCP”. This brief scene shows us that not only does at least one police officer (possibly others) know that there are vampires, but so does Principal Snyder. This deserves one, maybe two, raised eyebrows. We’ll have to keep our eyes on that one.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.