Season Two: Looking Back

Season two really felt like an almost entirely different show, and that's a good thing. Season one was bogged down by monster of the week plots and I don't feel like the actors had decided exactly how they wanted to play their characters yet, or if they had, hadn't broken them in. Season two saw the show really grow up, both in terms of writing and in terms of the themes. While there were still some monster of the week shows and still some filler episodes (some would argue that point, I'm sure), what we have here is a show that takes a hard look at growing up and making sacrifices.

My own memory of this season was that it was the first time I'd ever been so emotionally drained by a TV show. I thought maybe as I had gotten older that it was just me being young and that perhaps this show wasn't really that revolutionary. Certainly there must have been a plethora of other television shows that elicited the same emotions from people. Well, in rewatching this season, I've been visiting various message boards and blogs, and I can pretty conclusively say that, while maybe there was a show that did delve into the soap opera aspects of relationships and loss, this is widely considered to be the first show of it's kind. It combined action, horror, comedy, romance, and tragedy usually all in the same episode. It seems that no one can remember that ever having been done to this level before. Joss Whedon's name gets bandied about quite often as a visionary of television and film, and I'll admit that in the years that Buffy has been off the air, I've grown pretty callous to his reputation. I enjoy his comics work, but I recently remember deriding the people that wear those "Joss Whedon Is My Master" t-shirts on my podcast, Geek Brunch. I feel like yes, Joss Whedon's name has become almost a cliche among the geek culture, but watching these episodes again, he earned it. I would be proud to wear one of those t-shirts now.

It's weird. Time can wipe away memories or certain things and make you grow hard and jaded. I'd relegated Whedon to the "overrated" pile, but this show brings back memories of me living and breathing this show in the late 90s. I remember buying Buffy posters, the soundtrack, the videos (in the time before DVD), and books. I remember poring through the Buffy magazine for any new details. So maybe I've been a bit of a hypocrite. One thing is for certain. This show is completely worthy of it's reputation. Look past the funny name and you will find some of the most compelling television ever put on film.

This isn't a perfect season, and I do feel compelled to point out that I do think it's got some flaws, but what doesn't? There is no such thing as a perfect product. I do think some of these episodes are perfect, though. If I could have designed this season, I would have put the Angelus stuff slightly later in the season to displace the 3 episodes that feel the most like filler to me (they precede Becoming part I and II) and have them be earlier. If memory serves, I think Whedon and company learned from this though, because I believe that subsequent seasons had huge climaxes that lasted for episodes and episodes. I think specifically of season 6. One cliffhanger led into another, and if you had them all available to watch, you could not stop until you were done.

In summary and in conclusion (thanks, public speaking class!) I think that Buffy season 2 was miles ahead of season 1, and just a few episodes in these guys already felt like family. I'm so glad I decided to go back and watch these again.