Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Rewatch & Review Part 2

The second half of the first season, aka when the show really starts ramping up. There are some real great ones in here.

01.06 The Pack

Rating: 3.5/5

Quote:

Giles: “So, Xander’s taken to teasing the less fortunate?”

Buffy: “Uh huh”

Giles: “And there’s a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?”

Buffy: “Yes.”

Giles: “And otherwise, all his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles?”

Buffy: “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Giles: “It’s devastating. He’s turned into a 16 year old boy. Of course, you’ll have to kill him.”

Buffy: “Giles, I’m serious!”

Review:

Possessions, Hyenas (or are the African Wild Dogs?), Nicolas Brendon having an opportunity to show off some different acting skills, and some damn horrifying things I’m not going to mention specifically just in case of spoilers. Okay, screw it SPOILER ALERT the death of Sunnydale High’s first principal. d’awww.

01.07 Angel

Rating: 4.5/5

Quotes:

Buffy: “For us to have a conversation about a guy there’d have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about… was that a sentence?”

Buffy: “You read my diary?? You don’t even know what I was thinking about! Hunk can mean a lot of things. Bad things. And when I said your eyes are penetrating, I meant to write bulgy!”

Angel: “Buffy, I-”

Buffy: “-And A doesn’t even stand for Angel for that matter. It stands for Ahmed, a charming foreign exchange student. So that whole fantasy part has nothing to even do with you!”

Angel: “Your mother moved your diary when she came in to straighten up. I watched her from the closet. I didn’t read it, I swear!”

Buffy: “Oh. ….OH”

Review:

Such a big episode, revealing the truth about Angel and his past! The shock! The horror! The agony of Darla’s annoying voice!

01.08 I, Robot, You Jane

Rating: 2/5

Quote:

Buffy: “I get your point. This guy could be anybody. He could be weird or crazy or… he could be a circus freak! He’s probably a circus freak!”

Xander: “Yeah, I mean, we read about it all the time, you know. People meet on the net, they talk, they get together, have dinner, a show… horrible axe murder.”

Buffy: “Willow. Axe murdered by a circus freak… ok ok what do we do??”

Where do I know that face from?

The computer nerd Dave in this episode (seen above in orange) is played by Chad Lindberg who is also known for the character Ash in early seasons of Supernatural.

Review:

That one episode about the dangers of talking to strangers over the internet. Watching it today with all the ‘technology’ involved is somewhat hilarious.

01.09 The Puppet Show

Rating: 4/5

Quote:

Giles: “Our new Fuhrer, Mr Snyder.”

Willow: “I think they call them principals now.”

Review:

I FORGOT ABOUT THE CREDITS-SCENE. Don’t miss it, it’s actually the funniest thing! I really liked the twist in this episode as well. Great fun, much weird, such insanity, a good creep factor, what’s not to like?

01.10 Nightmare

Rating: 4.5/5

Quote:

Not so much in the quotes department this episode, but there were a couple of hilarious scenes. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately) you’ll need to watch the episode for those because I can’t put them all in words!

Review:

This is definitely one of my favourite episodes of first season. Starts off fairly strong and just gets stronger as it goes! Plus an interesting part of revealing characters’ nightmares is what it also reveals about the characters themselves.

01.11 Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Rating: 4.5/5

Quote:

Buffy: “So you’ve come to me for help?”

Cordelia: “Because, you’re always around when all this weird stuff is happening. And I know you’re very strong. And you’ve got all these weapons… I was kind of hoping you were in a gang.”

Where do I know that face from?

The Invisible Girl (in her few visible scenes) is played by Clea Duvall, who I knew from being Matt Parkman’s FBI buddy in Heroes, and also the movie Ten Inch Hero. Others may know her more recently from roles in American Horror Story Season 2, Better Call Saul and Veep.

Review:

Another great one, interesting concept, excellent ending of the episode, and we get to see a bit more into Cordelia’s life and her character development through this episode.

01.12 Prophecy Girl

Rating: 5/5

Quotes:

Buffy: “Fine! That’s okay, I can’t put it off any longer. I have to meet my terrible fate.”

Giles: “What?!”

Buffy: “...biology.”

*SPOILER WARNING*

The Master: “You were destined to die. It was written!”

Buffy: “What can I say? I flunked the written.”

Review:

The epic finale to an overall fantastic first season, all the prophecies, storylines and bad guys come to an end (Just in case there couldn’t be a season 2), Cordelia almost *almost* starts acting like a real person and Buffy gets ultra badass.

Season 1 Sum-Up

Average Rating: 3.75/5
Best Episode: 12: Prophecy Girl, the season finale.
Worst Episode: 8: I, Robot, You Jane -the dangers of the internet.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Rewatch & Review Part 1

I have been inspired to rewatch Buffy (with the intention of rewatching Angel as well once I get to that stage) and giving each episode a short review, throwing in a favourite quote or two from each episode as well, because Whedon-speak is the best!
For simplicity I'll be rewatching in this order suggested by the Buffyverse Wiki.
So here's the first few episodes as watched over the last few days!

01.01 Welcome to the Hellmouth

Rating: 4/5

Quote:

Willow: “But aren’t you hanging out with Cordelia?”

Buffy: “I can’t do both?”

Willow: “Not legally.”

Review:

Back to where it all started (forgetting about the weird movie that was technically the origins of Buffy). A great first-half-of-pilot, introduces everything while still also being exciting and entertaining and funny. Xander's character introduction is my favourite, it just about sums up his character for the entire first season.

01.02 The Harvest

Rating: 3.5/5

Quote:
Buffy: “Well, I gotta look on the bright side. Maybe I can still get kicked out of school.”
Xander: "Oh, yeah, that's a plan. Coz lots of schools aren't on hellmouths."
Willow: “Maybe you could blow something up! They’re really strict about that.”
Buffy: “I was thinking of a more subtle approach, you know, like excessive not-studying.”
Giles: “The Earth is doomed.”

Review: 

The pilot concludes, already a seemingly could-have-been main character has been killed! No one is safe! A bit slow for the first half of this episode but they did have to go through the lore and the research I suppose.

01.03 Witch

Rating: 3.5/5

Quote:

Giles: “This is madness! What can you have been thinking? You are the slayer, lives depend upon you… and you enslave yourself to this… this cult?”

*Camera pan to Buffy wearing a cheerleader costume*

Buffy: “You don’t like the colour?”

Review:

An interesting introduction to Buffyverse witches (which, wouldn’t you know, becomes important later on!). Not exactly amongst my favourite storylines or characters though.

01.04 Teacher's Pet

Rating: 3/5

Quote:

Giles: “...this computer invasion that Willow is performing on the coroner’s office, one assumes that it is entirely legal?”

Buffy & Willow: “Of course.” “Entirely.”

Giles: “..right. Wasn’t here. Didn’t see it. Couldn’t have stopped you.”

Review: 

Ah the giant bug episode. A classic trope of grossness that must be killed. I will always think of Men in Black first though! An alright episode overall, but not great in Buffy standards.

01.05 Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Rating: 3/5

Quote:

Willow: “It’s a big deal. Tell her!”
Giles: “I’m afraid it’s very big.”
Willow: “Thank you! ...wait, what are you talking about?”
Giles: “What are you talking about?”
Buffy & Willow: “Boys!”

Review:

Another basic baddie ep, leading up to the creation of “the anointed one” who may in fact free the Master. Ooohhh. A fairly average episode as Buffy goes though. Oh no one boyfriend down, so many more to come?