Lies, Damn Lies

Buffy Season 2

Season 2 is where Buffy begins to seriously grow up. Some bad things happen here, and it's the first season where metaphors begin to play a big role in the show. While some of the villains in season 1 obviously represented some concepts (the pack being peer pressure, I robot you Jane being awful), here we have entire plot arcs representing metaphors- Angel turning into a soulless fiend after Buffy sleeps with him being about guys changing after having sex with you (this is made explicit in season 4 with Parker, an interesting contrast), and there's even a metaphor for homosexuality here, with Buffy coming out to her Mum about being a slayer, and then feeling rejected because of it.

Sadly, this is also the season of terrible accents. Spike and Drusilla, while excellent characters, sport appalling accents (while Spike's gets better as James Masters settles into the role, Drusilla's, if anything, gets worse). Then there's Kendra the vampire slayer, who's accent makes me want to cry. I know it's a minor thing, but it's hard to pay attention to the plot when accents are ruining everything- Passions is an excellent episode (and the first EXTREMELY dark moment for the series), but it does have an irish accent in it, which I could have lived without. Still, there are some excellent episodes here-

This season starts having some funny episodes as well. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" sees Xander casting a misfiring love spell to get revenge on Cordelia, which gives us some hilarious moments as well as some touching character moments. Quite frequently the humorous episodes in Buffy will give us insights into characters and plot. The other episode worthy of mention is "Halloween" , where the characters become their costumes, leading to Buffy being helpless, and Xander being strong, with Willow being the only person who knows whats going on.

The stand out episodes of the season are probably Innocence, where we learn of Angel's curse, and, of course, get to see a rocket launcher in action, and Becoming Part 2, a brilliant battle between Angel and Buffy, this episode features everything that makes the show great.

Worst episode? There are a few stinkers here, and they're mostly the stand alone ones. My least favourite is probably reptile boy, which has a tiresome moral message to impart, and a hokey evil villain. It also features Buffy's amazing variable powers, which are utterly dependent on the plot...

Labels: buffy, television

posted by Mr K @ 10:14 am