| TITLE |
RATING |
PLOT/MINI-REVIEW |
When She Was Bad
W: Joss Whedon
D: Joss Whedon
|
7.5
|
The second season kicks off with Buffy returning
from a summer in L.A. with her dad, acting completely strange and alienating her friends.
Also, rumors that the Master isn't dead haunt Buffy and she realizes she must make sure he is
dead once and for all. An interesting start to the season, if not the strongest episode I've seen
to date. It's nice to see that after effects of Buffy's death and her destruction of the Master.
Serves as a coda of sorts for the first season and begins to set up some of the changes that will
take place during the second.
|
Some Assembly Required
W: Ty King
D: Bruce Seth Green
|
6.0
|
Someone is stealing the bodies of dead girls to make their own
girlfriend. Meanwhile, Giles and Jenny have their first date. Some great B-plot with Giles asking Jenny out. The
first fifteen or so minutes are great stuff. It's one the "monster" appears on screen that the whole thing falls
apart under its own weight. Some good ideas are brought up but not dealt with. In the end, an epsiode that had potential
that wasn't close to realized.
|
School Hard
W: Joss Whedon (story), David Greenwalt (story and teleplay)
D: John Kretchmer
|
10.0
|
Spike and Druscilla come to Sunnydale for the Feast of St. Vigius, a day
of terror and bloodletting for the vampires. This just happens to co-incide with parent/teacher night at school
and all hell breaks loose as Spike attacks and Buffy must keep her mother and the other innocents from harm
while protecting her secret. Simply put, an amazing episode. It may have a special place in my heart due to the fact
it's the episode that got me hooked, but I love it. Spike is amazing and the scenes in the school are so well done.
|
Inca Mummy Girl
W: Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer
D: Ellen Pressman
|
6.5
|
Just like Some Assembly Required this one
has a lot of wasted potential. Xander falls for Buffy's foreign exchange student, who just happens to be a long
dead Incan princess come to life. Only problem: She must suck the life force of others to stay alive. Not really all it
could have been due to a rather uninspired performance by the girl playing Impata and a plot that is at times relies too much
of conveince. On a good note, we see Oz for the first time and Xander's explanation of Twinkees to Impata is a lot of fun.
|
Reptile Boy
W: David Greenwalt
D: David Greenwalt
|
4.5
|
Buffy and Cordy attend a frat party and discover
the guys have a deadly savior in the basement. Frat guys with a monster in the basement.
How many of us haven't suspected that? A rather pedestrian outing because it's so predictable.
Also, Reptile Boy is a bit of disappointment once we actually see him on screen.
|
Halloween
W: Carl Ellsworth
D: Bruce Seth Green
|
8.0
|
The gang gets Halloween costumes from a local
shop. But the costumes have a curse on them that turns the wearers into whatever their costume is.
Xander becomes a soldier, Willow a ghost, and Buffy a 19th century maid, who has forgotten that she is the Slayer.
Just as Spike and company go on a killing rampage. A fun romp through Halloween that gives each of the
characters a chance to stretch a bit. Foreshadows "The Dark Age" in some ways.
|
Lie to Me
W: Joss Whedon
D: Joss Whedon
|
10.0
|
Buffy feels alienated by the gang when she catches them lying to her
on several occasions. An old boyfriend moves to Sunnydale and he and Buffy begin to bond. However, his interest
in Buffy may not be as innocent as it appears. Joss pulls out all the stops in this story. The best part is that
even a bit sympatetic. He's got cancer and wants to become immortal before he it's too late. A nice use of motivation
by Joss really takes this episode to the next level. That and Xander's line about whether or not Buffy has any
fat friends.
|
The Dark Age
W: Bruce Seth Green
D: Bruce Seth Green
|
7.5
|
Giles's dark past returns to haunt him. As a younger
man, Giles rebelled against his calling to be the watcher and participated in a ceremony to bring
about a dark force. However, when members of that group begin to be killed slowly, it looks like Giles
may be the next target. And he refuses to allow Buffy or the rest of the Scooby gang help him.
I really, really hoped this would be better. However, it's not quite as good as advertised. I liked the
fact that Giles has a dark past. I just wish they'd devoted a bit more screen time to it.
|
What's My Line, Part One
W: Marti Noxon and Howard Gordon
D: David Solomon
|
7.0
|
Spike sets a plan into mission to eliminate
Buffy and kidnap Angel for his own evil purpose. Meanwhile, Buffy is shocked to discover she
may not be the only slayer out there. It's hard to really judge this since it's only the first half of a story.
The idea of Buffy's not really having much choice about her future is interesting and well done, for the first
few minutes of the story. And the book taken from Giles in "Lie to Me" takes on new importance.
|
What's My Line, Part Two
W: Marti Noxon
D: David Semel
|
6.5
|
The conclusion finds Angel a prisoner of
Spike and Dru, who want to use him for a ritual to restore Dru's strength. Meanwhile,
the Scooby gang must race against time to save Angel as well as fend off the attacks of
the Order of Tenakra, who have been sent to kill Buffy. Disappointing really. Kendra is a
bit of a bust (her accent annoys the tar out of me!) and the plot never really gels for me. Usually
the show has found great stregth in two part stories, but here it could easily have been told in one.
|
Ted
W: David Grenwalt and Joss Whedon
D: Bruce Seth Green
|
7.5
|
John Ritter guest stars as Ted, Joyce's new
boyfriend, whom Buffy takes an instant dislike to. He is overbearing and controlling of
our favorite slayer, leading to a deadly confrontation when he snoops too far into her life.
While defending herself against an attack on Ted, she uses her slayer strength and accidentally kills
him...or so she thinks. The first episodes I reviewed and a personal favorite. Ritter turns in a strong
performance and his catch phrase, "Beg to differ," becomes quite chilling. Also seeing Buffy have to deal
with the fact that she killed Ted is quite well done.
|
Bad Eggs
W: Martin Noxon
D: David Greenwalt
|
6.0
|
A school assignment goes horribly wrong. The gang are given
eggs as "children" to take care. However, unknown to them, an alien in lurking inside each egg. Meanwhile,
two wild west vampires roll into town. An episosde that needed more focus. The wild west vamps are brought in
and quickly dumped until the last few minutes. Then, there's the plotline take right out Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters
that never really gels correctly. Of course, Xander's hard boiling his child is absolutely hysterical.
|
Surprise
W: Marti Noxon
D: Michael Lange
|
9.0
|
Major events shake the Buffy universe in this effort.
Spike assembled a demon known as the Judge who will destroy all life on Earth unless stopped. Meanwhile, Buffy contemplates
a major, life changing decision on her 17th birthday--one that will change her relationship with Angel forever. Essentially
an hour long set up fop Innocence, it works rather well. Seeing Buffy debate about whether or not she should take her relationship
with Angel to the next level is nice. Also, seeing the ramifications of the ceremony to restore Dru gone wrong is nice. Joss has the
good habit of following up on events he sets in motion.
|
Innocence
W: Joss Whedon
D: Joss Whedon
|
10.0
|
The conclusion of the two night Buffy
event finds major changes in store for our heroes. Angel loses his soul and reverts
back to his evil Angelus self. Buffy is devistated by the loss and by the fact that she was responsible
for helping Angel find one moment of true happiness and lifting the curse. However, she may have more
than Angel to worry about how to stop the Judge. Boy if there a lot going on in this hour. But it all works
well and none of the plotlines get slighted. In the running for best episode of the year.
|
Phases
W: Rob DesHotel and Dean Batali
D: Bruce Seth Green
|
7.0
|
A werewolf in on the loose, terroizing Sunnydale.
Buffy must put aside the pain she's feeling at the loss of Angel in order to protect the creature
from a poacher who would like to add it to his collection. A bit of a let down after the major
shake-up in the two night Buffy event, but it still works well. It's a fun re-telling of the werewolf
legend and the fact that Oz basically has male PMS in a bad way is well done.
|
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
W: Marti Nixon
D: James A. Cotner
|
8.0
|
Giving into pressure from her "cool" friends, Cordy
breaks up with Xander, on Valentine's Day. Xander wants Cordy to "feel his pain" and gets Amy the
witch (from the 1st season!) to cast a spell on him making Cordy fall madly in love with him.
It backfires in a big way, leading to every woman in Sunnydale hot for Xander. Buffy has a lot of fun
with Valentine's Day and also with our latest couple, Xander and Cordy. Xander's plan go horribly wrong
gives some great funny moments.
|
Passion
W: Ty King
D: Michael Gershman
|
10.0
|
Angelus takes his torment of Buffy to new depths
as he seeks to destroy her friends and family. Meanwhile, Jenny works on a way to try and restore
Angel's soul to him. However, Angelus doesn't want his soul back and he's willing to kill to
keep it that way. The death of Jenny is shocking, but even more shocking is the fact that the
fall out from "Surprise" and "Innocence" continues in a big way. Buffy's mom finding out about what'
happened between Buffy and Angel is nice.
|
Killed by Death
W: Rob DesHotel and Dean Batali
D: Dorean Sarafian
|
2.0
|
Buffy is ill with the flu and gets put into the hospital
where she must confront a demon who preys on little children. Redeemed only by the fact that
there is a killer confrontation between Xander and Angelus. Otherwise, pretty much a huge waste of an hour.
|
I Only Have Eyes For You
W: Marti Noxon
D: James Whitmore, Jr.
|
8.5
|
Back in the 1950's, a student-teacher relationship ended in
tragedy when they were both killed. Now the spirits of both of them haunt the halls of Sunnydale, reliving the
experience each night because the young man wants forgiveness for what he did. An interesting episode because
the need the ghost has for forgiveness parallels Buffy's want and desire to forgive herself for what happened
to Angel. Also has some nice, scary moments as the ghosts haunt the halls of Sunndydale and the gang tries to
figure out how to exorcise this ghost.
|
Go Fish
W: David Fury
D: David Semel
|
7.0
|
The Sunnydale swim team is poised on winning the state championship when a
strange creature begins targeting members of the team. A fun episode that is pretty much a filler episode as we
get ready for the mammoth season finale. Still an enjoyable effort and by far better than the horrific
Killed by Death.
|
The Becoming, Part One
W: Joss Whedon
D: Joss Whedon
|
8.0
|
The epic two-part, season finale begins with the discovery of the yellow disk
that contains the spell to restore Angel's soul. Meanwhile, Angelus steals a demon that he intends to bring back to life and
unleash hell on Earth and Kendra returns. A pretty good episode, but I'm still holding out for part two
before I make any major judgments about it.
|
The Becoming, Part Two
W: Joss Whedon
D: Joss Whedon
|
10.0
|
A perfect coda to season two resolves some of the major
issues our heroes have faced this year, while introducing some interesting plot developments for next
year. Buffy is on the run from the police and is forced to make a deadly bargain with Spike in order
to stop Angel from awakening the demon. Meanwhile, Willow recovers in hospial as Xander makes a startling confession
and Angelus tortures Giles to find out how awaken the demon. Let's give Joss Whedon a standing ovation for this
great coda.
|
Season Two Wrap-Up Review
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