"Buffy The Vampire Slayer" Tv Series - Season 2 - Pajiba.com Review

Choosing just one season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” out of seven was not as daunting a task as one might imagine. The first three seasons of the show are generally regarded by fans as the golden years of the series — before the Scooby gang blew up Sunnydale High, Angel and Cordy high-tailed it to Los Angeles, Sarah Michelle Gellar stopped eating and Willow inexplicably turned gay. Although, ironically enough, the best episodes of the series actually came after the Scooby gang left high school. Season Four had “Hush,” the spectacularly creepy and well-written episode that featured almost no dialogue whatsoever — but unfortunately, it also had Stupid Riley. Season Five had “The Body,” which saw the death of Buffy’s mother Joyce, which remains to this day one of the most heart-wrenching and realistic depictions of death on the small screen — but, it also had Stupid Riley and Stupid Dawn. Season Six had “Once More With Feeling,” the musical episode which inspired Rocky Horror-style revues and a cult-like following — but it also had … well, sometimes I just like to pretend the rest of Season Six didn’t even happen.

While those noteworthy episodes definitely deserve mention, the overall cohesive storylines of their respective seasons still don’t hold a candle to those first awesome three. And of those remaining, you can knock out the abbreviated Season One since it was a mid-season replacement and still finding its tone. Season Three was pretty damn great, with fantastic standout episodes like “The Zeppo” and “Dopplegangland.” But when it comes down to it, Season Two is the season that defined the series, and has easily got the best overall season arc. In the beginning of the season, Buffy is dealing with a lot of shit. Granted, Buffy is dealing with a lot of shit at any given point during the series, but she was in a particularly dark place at this point. Still dealing with the reality of being The Chosen One, reeling from her brush with death, haunted by the nightmares of that big white maggot of a vampire, The Master, and fending off his tiny Anointed protégé ; it was time for a fresh start. And thankfully, this comes three episodes in with “School Hard,” in which we were introduced to the legendary, Billy Idol-wannabe badass of a vampire, Spike, and his delightfully sinewy, batshit clairvoyant girlfriend Drusilla. Although it may not have been noticeable at first, their incorporation heralded a tonal change to the series. This is probably best summed up by the somewhat meta line Spike delivers as he’s killing the Anointed (“Annoying”) One : “From now on, we’re going to have a little less ritual and a little more fun around here !” And while there’s no denying that Season Two was a hell of a lot of fun, it was the mix of heartbreak and poignancy that made it one of the best seasons of television ever.

The first half of the season consists of mostly lighter fare — mostly standalone episodes, exploring Buffy and Angel’s (as well as Giles and Jenny Calendar’s) budding romances, and several foiled attempts by Spike and Drusilla to kill the Slayer. This all leads up to “What’s My Line,” the first of three two-part episodes. Season Two was all about the dramatic cliffhangers, and “What’s My Line, Part One” was a real humdinger. Spike and Drusilla had sent a trio of deadly assassins called The Order of Taraka after Buffy, and the first part concludes with Xander and Cordelia walking into a trap set by the bug man assassin (providing the set-up for one of the best kisses in “Buffy” history) ; Angel already stuck in a trap with the clock ticking to daybreak ; and Buffy ambushed by Kendra, who reveals herself to be “The Vampire Slayer.” Kendra, of course, was activated after Buffy died at the end of Season One, creating an anomaly in which two slayers existed at the same time. Seriously though, no one would have clued Giles in on this fact ? Stupid Watchers’ Council. At any rate, Kendra joins the Scooby gang to rescue Angel (who was kidnapped by Spike before he could be burned alive) from being killed in a ritual to restore Drusilla to full power. The assassins assassinated, Spike and Dru supposedly killed in a church collapse, everyone goes home happy. But of course, this is all a big Whedon-esque tease, because everything is about to go to shit, right ? If there’s one thing the Whedon loves, it’s creating a false sense of security before skewering a screwdriver into your gut ; gleefully twisting it to and fro. But more on that in a moment.

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