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BUFFY SEASON TWO

The highest of many peaks

1998-9

Director: Various, created by Joss Whedon

Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon

Not needed.

THE SETUP:

Buffy's second year in Sunnydale sees her accepting the burden of responsibility being the Slayer places upon her, and having an emotional ordeal with Angel.

DISCUSSION:

This season is the best of them all, although most of them are very, very good. Everything is working perfectly here. All of the characters gain extra depth, they all grow and change, new and compelling characters are introduced, and there is a killer overarching storyline in the last half. If you are new to the Buffy universe, I would say that you're safe in buying this DVD set, as you are more than likely to want to keep this one forever.

This season is about Buffy really coming to terms with the burden of her responsibility, and the effect it has on her and her friends. Even her relationship with Angel can be seen as an attempt at having a boyfriend like any other girl-just one more suited to a Slayer. Buffy comes back from a summer vacation spent with her father BITTER about having to return to slaying. She soon gets back into the swing of things, but over the course of the season, she is forced to make some hugely difficult decisions. Nevertheless, Buffy remains charmingly funny and upbeat throughout, in contrast to how increasingly joyless she gets as the series moves on. To the writers' credit, Buffy's growing seriousness IS the storyline [i.e. they don't try to skirt around the topic], but on the other hand, who wants to hang around with a harpy?

All of the other characters have great arcs of their own. Willow begins to stand up to others more, finds a boyfriend in Oz [who is PERFECT for her], and performs her first spell by the last episode. Xander continues the most unchanged, but he is softened up a bit by his romance with Cordelia. One of the surprises of the season is the reflective depth given to Cordelia by the end of the season, with her gaining a little character in rejecting her friends and choosing to stay with Xander. Giles has his romance with Ms. Calender, and shows a moving vulnerability and range of emotions through the changes that relationship goes through. And Buffy's mother Joyce finally gets to drop the "parenting guide" jokes and display her loneliness and frustration with being a single mother with this unusual daughter. Speaking of Joyce, let it also be noted that the line "Have you tried NOT being the Slayer?" appeared here a full three years before the same line got so much attention and acclaim in X-Men 2.

This is also one of the most successful seasons in terms of the balance of self-contained episodes to episodes serving the "Big Bad" storyline. Personally, I prefer this balance to the season-long villains of season five, and especially the tedious and stultifying storyline that encompassed virtually every episode of season seven. Because in that case, if you don't find the overall storyline very interesting, the entire season is pretty much ruined. Here, for the most part, all you have to do is wait for the next episode. One can also marvel, during season two, how well the writers gradually continue the overarching storyline in the small details and throwaway moments of the individual episodes.

While this season continues to include some obvious "issue" episodes [Steroid use! Promotion of athletics over academics!] it shows some of the writers' most brilliant successes in finding creative ways to mirror everyday crises and moral quandaries in supernatural terms. The genius of this show is that the writers will create a storyline that either mirrors or contrasts to the psychological quandries the characters face. The most obvious example of this is the central Buffy/Angel love story, in which Buffy receives the absolute worst possible rejection after giving her virginity to Angel, inadvertently turning him into her worst enemy. This is brilliant on its own, but to have them later act out the unspoken rage and confusion they have for each other because they are possessed by ghosts is just too stupefyingly clever. And the series finds endless ways to accomplish these things.

The other thing I like about this show is that it isn't afraid to have its characters act in unlikable and immature ways. And I LOVE that it is willing to devote entire episodes just to being funny [like Xander's love spell].

SPOILERS>>>
We're going to talk about the season finale here, and if you don't know what happens, you really should experience it first.

The season parses its shocks and developments out carefully throughout, but the finale is a true epic. Every character has an important part to play, and all of their stories have just the right amount of unresolved development to get send them off for the summer and get you pumped for the next season.

The first part of the finale makes an excellent move by flashing back to the creation and evolution of Angel, showing how he came to first see Buffy and how she changed him even before he met her. They also have a few flashbacks in which Joss and co. get to reclaim what was lost in the misguided movie and establish a more cohesive history where Buffy first learns of her destiny and powers. Unfortunately, this episode [and all of "Passion," in which Miss Calender is killed] is tragically marred by the unfortunate inclusion of Angel voice-overs that effectively KILL the mood and convert ambiguities into banalities. Can you just imagine how much more powerful Buffy's slow-motion race to save her friends at the end of "Becoming Part One" would have been if we hadn't had to hear Angel's moronic thoughts over it? We're talking some theatrical version Blade Runner shit here.

The theme of Buffy having to face the hard choices her responsibility demands of her could not have a better expression than having to kill Angel, especially after he is turned good again. This is a perfect capstone to the maturity she has gained over the course of the year and-not least-it is emotionally devastating! I love the wonderfully romantic shot of them kissing as the vortex that will destroy the world swirls behind them. Tragic and moving, this ended the season on an incredible emotional high, brought the entire season into focus, and sent viewers off dying to know what would happen next. I'm so glad I watched it on DVD and didn't have to wait three months to find out what came next!
<<<<SPOILERS END

Now, I don't watch TV at all, I just watch movies. Sure I heard that Buffy was clever and funny, and I was like "Yeah, yeah, clever and funny for TV, but not like, you know, REALLY clever and funny." Well, I was utterly wrong. This series also helped me understand what TV does that a movie or novel can't, which is that rather than having characters that exist only to tell a specific story that has been created just for them, you create characters with a lot of potential and then just keep coming up with stories and adventures for them, and working on a nice, roomy, satisfyingly long-term canvas.

This series also made me question why movie actors are considered so much superior to TV actors, as, when you look at it, these guys are putting in much more acting hours and having years-long character arcs. I know that Sarah Michelle Gellar seems to want to distance herself from this role, and I can understand that, but what she created with her performance in this character is a formidable achievement that would still stand if she never did anything else again.

So if you're thinking that this is just a dumb TV show, or maybe it's clever but not that clever, or that people who tell you it's got a great deal of character depth are just silly, well, it may surprise you. I'd say you're safe to buy it on DVD so you can have it around when you find that you love it. That way you're not in any hurry to rush through it, either. This season remains the very best of a consistently good show, and is season has everything operating at peak levels, and really is a definite must-own.

SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?

Have you been listening? You shouldn't just watch it, you should OWN it. Once you watch it you'll start to have that "I must own this! What if there's an apocalypse and my DVD copy is the only one left on Earth? This show MUST be preserved!" feeling.