The Film Junkie

My favorite show really finds her feet in the second season.

We start out with Xander (Nicholas Brendon) falling in love with the ‘Inca Mummy Girl’, a kind of lame premise that is much like the one-off season one episodes.  But after the introduction of Spike (James Marsters) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau) in ‘School Hard’, we get into the swing of things.

This is the season where love blossoms between Willow (the great Alyson Hannigan) and Oz (Seth Green), as well as the improbable but awesome romance between enemies Xander and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter, the bitchy-fantastic soul of the series).  Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) finally gets some action, gyspy or not, and he becomes far more human as we learn about his younger years.

The best part of season two is the introduction of Angelus (David Boreanaz, clearly relishing the change), the soul-less version of Angel.  Angelus’ romantic and sickening evil games are a great addition and force Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar, as good with the one-liners as she is with the love-sick drama) to grow up in an instant.

The great ‘Halloween’ episode is a highlight of the season, as each member of the cast becomes their costume, and John Ritter is terrifying as ‘Ted’. My favorite of the season has to be ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, where people are forced to re-enact a tragic love story over and over until it inhabits Buffy and Angel.  Plus, it has ‘Popular’s Christopher Gorham.

A really good season where Buffy gets truly addictive.

Grade: A-

The first season introduces our main characters, our setting and the general idea behind the show.  However these 12 episodes are the weakest of the entire series.  It is a double-edged sword, these episodes are needed to set us up for the rest of the show, but to introduce new viewers to the series through this season is a disappointment and may discourage them from wanting more of the Buffyverse.

They are not all bad.  Xander as a hyena in ‘The Pack’ is good fun, and Amy The Witch will be a long-running character.  The weakest and most annoying of all the episodes is ‘I Robot, You Jane’, the Willow-meets-a-demon-on-the-net episode is cheesy and no fun.

All in all this season is still better than a lot of TV out there, but it is only the beginning.

Grade: B