Buffy S1 “The Pack”

19 Jul 2010 5 Comments

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

Quote of the Episode:
Xander: “Well, every school has ‘em. So, you start a new school, you get your desks, some blackboards and some mean kids.”

This is probably one of those episodes you’re most likely to remember. I mean, how many other shows have an episode focused on hyenas?

So the episode starts at the zoo, on a class field trip. Buffy runs into some typical school bullies. They end up messing with another student, Lance (Jeff Maynard) who sticks up for them in front of Principal Flutie. The bully gang ends up taking him to the sectioned-off Hyena cave, and Xander volunteers to follow them to help out Lance. It’s so sad to see how happy Lance seems to look when he’s “included” by the gang — until they try to bait the hyena with him. As Xander tries to help out Lance, a hyena looks out at the gang and Xander, and possesses them in some way. And so begins the hyena calamity.

While earlier episodes have only alluded to people’s crushes, this is the episode where the girls first start talking about them. Willow talks about how he likes Xander, and Buffy talks about how much of “a honey” Angel is. Willow expressing her feelings about Xander are critical for this episode, because we see her heartbroken reactions when Hyena-Xander is so cruel to her. The episode plays with an idea Joss has voiced in his commentaries: hurting Willow makes everybody upset. Willow, at this stage, is the most innocent and vulnerable person that could be, and there’s no way to not hurt when she’s hurting — and to have Xander be the one who’s hurting her makes it even worse! But once the hyena effects are gone, he’s the guy who saves her. We then recognize that it wasn’t Xander in control; it was the hyena.

Again, this episode detours from the vampirical plot. There are no warnings from Angel, no Master plans, no scary Anointed Child from the previous episode. It’s another way to show the audience the wide-range that this show is capable of; it’s not just vampires — it’s witches and bugs and hyenas, too.

But before I end this post, I have to take a minute for Principal Flutie. We hardly knew him — really, this is the 6th episode, we really didn’t know him. In a commentary, Joss commented on his death as a way to let the audience know that he’s serious about his characters, that he’ll kill one off so that they know that nobody’s safe. Well, just you wait everybody, haha.

Buffy S1 “The Harvest”

07 Jul 2010 4 Comments

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

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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