The second episode, also written by Joss Whedon picks up right where the last one left off. Luke about to kill Buffy but her neckless burns him giving her a moment to get up. When she does he is gone. She rushes to the rescue of her friends but it was too late for Jessie, they couldn't find him anywhere.
The trio make it back to the library where Giles explains all about the old ones and how demons use to run the world. Xander and Willow don't want to believe any of it but they don't have a choice. They lived it. The last demon fed on a human and mixed their blood making vampires. Jessie, already bitten is brought down to the Master. He isn't happy about getting leftovers like a dog. Back in the library Giles gives a brief explanation of what a slayer is. For the first three years of the show that is what the library is for. Giving information. They also make a joke about Vampires not being able to fly, which is funny if you saw the movie where they could fly. Already poking fun at what came before. The Master and Luke figure out that Buffy is the slayer and that she must be stopped before the harvest starts. Jessie is going to be used as bait. Willow shows us some of her hacking skills. Something that is important to the early Scooby gang. Buffy figures out where Luke came, there is a tunnel entrance in the crypt. She tells Xander that he can't come help because he isn't strong enough. He takes it very personal. Flutie stops Buffy from leaving the school so she jumps over the gate like the Hulk. Moments like these always kind of bug me. It feels like her strength changes from scene to scene. In this one she can sail over the gate but later on she needs Xander to help her close a metal door. It doesn't gel for me. Angel shows up in the crypt before Buffy goes down below. He tells her that she has to stop the harvest and he is too scared to do it himself. Buffy asks him if he knows what it is like to have friends and he doesn't respond. Instead he tells her how to find her friend once she goes down under. Down in the tunnels Buffy runs into Xander. He went in after her. He didn't bring anything to help but for a flashlight that would only help warn the vamps that they were coming. We meet the one and only Harmony in the next scene. Now she is beautiful as well!! Cordy and Harm are trying to finish their computer homework but keep getting distracted by talking shit about Buffy. Willow tells her to hit deliver which Cordy takes to mean del! Which as we all know is delete. Costing them all of their homework. Willow is crafty!!! Xander and Buffy find Jessie but the vampires soon give them chase. Jessie leads them to a dead end before showing them that he is now a vampire too. They toss him from the room and Buffy closes the door with help from Xander. This is a hard moment for Xander, he sees his best friend turned into a blood sucking monster. Buffy and Xander escape into the sun light just as the vampires close in on them. It is a close call but they make it! The Master picks Luke as the vessel while Buffy tells Willow that Jessie is dead. Willow doesn't seem all that upset that one of her best friends is now a vampire. Xander is at least upset. Giles fills them on all about the Master's history as well as the history of the Hellmouth. He got stuck in an earthquake while trying to open the hellmouth. The harvest only comes once a century so he needs it to go off without a hitch. Xander tells the gang that the vamps are going to the Bronze. Buffy goes home for weapons but Joyce grounds her. She is mad that Buffy missed a few classes. Buffy sneaks out, after all if she doesn't go out it really is the end of the world. If only Joyce knew how right she is. Cordy tells her friends how boys their age are loser, Jessie more than most. He asks her to dance and finally takes charge and she agrees, taken with his force. It only took him becoming a monster to get the girl he wanted. Sad commentary on young dating. Darla leads the vampires into the club as Luke kills the bouncer. Giving the Master strength. The Harvest has begun and Buffy is nowhere to be seen. The Scooby's arrive when the doors are all locked. They split up trying to get in. She wants them to get the people out while she fights the vampires. Xander wants to save Jessie but Giles yells at him and tells him that their friend is dead. Jessie tries to keep Cordy for himself but Darla won't let him. Buffy stops Luke from draining Cordy and fights Luke. The fate of the world in the balance. The Scooby's get everyone out the back while the fight goes on. Jessie tries to bite Cordy while Xander threatens him. Someone knocks Xander into Jessie killing him. This always bothers me. Xander, Willow and Jessie were best friends and they see him turned into a vampire, hell Xander slays him himself and they never speak about him again. I feel like this doesn't make any sense, they would mourn him. He would be the one they talk about whenever things get dangerous. But they never do and it drives me crazy. Darla almost kills Giles but Willow hits her with holy water and drives her off as Buffy distracts and then kills Luke, thus stopping the harvest. Angel steps out from the shadows, having done nothing. Not a damn thing. Lazy ass. The next day at school everyone acts like nothing happened. They think it was gang work or something. No one wanted to deal with what really happened. The three friends walk off as Giles watches them and starts the longest sentence in history. "The Earth is Doomed" A sentence that he won't finish for 7 years when he says "The Earth is definitely doomed" in almost the same scene. Very beautifully done. And this brings to a close the first story of the TV show. And what a story it was. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is born!!!
0 Comments
At long last we made it! The episode that started it all by airing on the WB, back when the CW was the WB. It rebooted the failed movie and gave us an ever expanding universe that was true to Joss Whedon's vision and gave us Sarah Michelle Geller as the blonde with a stake.
The episode, of course written by Whedon himself, starts off by throwing us for a loop. A young couple breaks into Sunnydale high late at night. A troublemaking boy, who only has his mind on one thing and his sweet date who clearly wants to be anywhere else. She's a good girl who fell for a bad boy and is going along for the ride as he takes her through the dark empty hallways. Or at least that's how she wanted it to look like. She shows her true face, her vampire face and kills the boy. Darla is back! Buffy herself is dreaming of the Master and all the crazy things that are to happen this year. It's a lot, including the Vampires storming the school when the Master rises. Joyce calls out to Buffy and tells her she can't be late for her fist day at. . . You guessed it, Sunnydale High. It's here that we meet Xander for the first time, riding a skateboard of all things, the only time that will ever happen and you can see why. He is not good at it. He quickly finds a quirky looking Willow and his best friend Jessie. The trio's conversation is all about the slayer herself. Principle Flutie rips up Buffy's records to show her that she has a fresh start, as soon as he reads that she burnt down the gym he starts to tape it back up. He wants to be everyone's best friend but at the same time he is very by the book. Not nearly as cool or understanding as he let's on. Xander finally meets Buffy and the first thing he says to her is "Can I have you?" He is so smooth. Even points out that they both go to school. He is Jon Don if I've ever seen one. He finds a stake that fell out of her purse, that isn't normal. Buffy is in a history class that thinks the Black Plague being used for germ warfare is fun. That is the type of school she has entered. She quickly makes fun with one of the most beautiful women who has ever lived. Charisma Carpenter, or Cordelia Chase as her character is named. She tells Buffy all about the town and the bronze. They become fast friends, how the show could have been if Buffy stuck with her. She is so beautiful. Beyond words. She dropped Buffy off in the library where we meet Giles, guess he won the job in the comics. He gives Buffy a book on vampires and Buffy runs out of there. She wants no part of her old life. I guess Pike ditching her left it's mark on her. Buffy becomes friends with Willow so that they could study together. Willow suggests the library but Buffy vetoes that idea. She is creeped out by that place. Xander and Jessie show up moments later and returns the stake. She says it's to defend herself and Xander and Jessie try to figure everything out about her they can. Cordelia tells Buffy about the dead guy in the lockers. Jessie tries to hit on Cordelia but gets shot down dirty. Buffy and Cordy's friendship is already falling apart and it just started. Damn the luck. Buffy finds the bite marks on the body and goes to yell at Giles, as if it is his fault. Giles tells her he is to be her watcher but she wants no part of it. The job of slayer is just too much for her. She can't do it again. She storms out and Xander walks out, he over heard all of it Giles chases after her and tells her that something major is coming to Sunnydale and only she can stop it. We see underneath the high school a cavern full of vampires. One named Luke is reading from the vampire bible over a pit of what looks to be blood. Back at Buffy's house she is trying on clothes to go to the Bronze. We see Joyce talking about making it work and her gallery. She is over doing it with the whole good mom thing. She is trying to relate to Buffy but keeps making her feel worse and worse. She heads to the club but a mystery man starts to follow her. She spots him and leads him towards a back alley, where she gets the drop on him. Literally drops down on him. The mystery man turns out to be Angel! He knows all about Vampires, we all know how and why! Buffy on the other hand has no idea who he is or how he knows about any of it. He wants to help her with the vampires but she wants no part of it. He hints at the hellmouth down below and tells her about the harvest, but not really. He is the king of vague. We enter the Bronze and see just how lonely Buffy really is. It isn't long before she finds Willow and we learn that at age five her and Xander dated till he stole her doll. Buffy tells Willow that her life is short and she should go out and seize the day. Buffy spots Giles upstairs and goes to talk to him, leaving Willow alone. Giles had never heard of the Harvest. It worries him. She also tells Giles about the mouth of hell. He tells her that everything might be fine as long as she isn't having the nightmares, you know the ones from the start of the show. Jessie gets shot down once again by Cordy so he moves on to. . . .Darla! Buffy says she doesn't have warm feelings for vamps, now that is funny. The slayer who falls for vampires over and over, she does have warm feelings for them. While watching the crowd Buffy spots a vampire talking to Willow and she rushes to her aid. Willow leaves with the vamp before Buffy can get there. Buffy makes a stake and goes through the back halls of the bronze where she attacks Cordy by mistake, thus ending their friendship, at least for the time being. Although they never do become as close friends as they could have. Back at the pool of blood the Master rises. He is a vampire but looks more bat than man. We learn that the Harvest is to restore him to health and free him from being trapped underground. Willow and Jessie are being taken to the Master. Willow's date is taking her through the cemetery, why would she go with him? Buffy runs into Xander while looking for Willow and Xander tells her that he knows she is the slayer but doesn't believe her. Buffy doesn't care she tells him that Willow is in danger and he goes to help. She is one of his best friends after all. Speaking of Willow, her date throws her into a crypt. She is finally scared but can't escape. Darla shows up and Jessie runs in after her. She already fed off him a bit. Buffy and Xander show up in time to save them. Buffy makes a joke about living in the crypt, something that Spike will do in a few years time. Buffy slays one vamp quickly before going after Darla. Xander gets Willow and Jessie out of there. Buffy starts to kick Darla's ass. She is messing with the oldest of the whirlwind, not cool slayer. Luke comes and saves Darla, tossing Buffy aside like a ragdoll. Darla takes off as Luke and Buffy fight. He is stronger than her. Not something many vampires can say. Xander and co are surrounded by vamps as Giles reads up on the Harvest and Luke starts to move in on the kill. Buffy is doomed and that is how they ended the first episode of the greatest show ever!!! Is Joss Whedon great or what? Starting a little before the ending of the origin story, we learn that Buffy finds out soon if she is going to be expelled or not. Spoiler alert, she gets expelled. In this story written by Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza we see what happens when Buffy goes on the promised Vegas trip.
Buffy and Pike learn that a great deal of Vampires are coming out of Las Vegas and Buffy's home life is becoming harder and harder. Her parents are fighting more and more every day. And she knows a lot of it is about her. Going to Vegas isn't just about fighting vampires but it is also vacation from her life. Right off the bat I have a glairing issue with this story. Dawn has no place in it. I understand that she was placed in all of their memories but this story unlike Origin isn't a flashback so why is she there? It takes me out of the story a bit if I am to be honest. She gets expelled from school, her dad acts like a jackass about the whole thing. It helps paint a picture of the ending of the marriage that we kept hearing about on the show. Now there is an added problem with this story. She gets expelled in her freshman year and has to redo her freshman year. But when she goes to Sunnydale High it is the middle of her Sophomore year. So does she get expelled again? How does it work? I really think it was an over sight and those are never fun. Anyways, nitpicking done for now. So Buffy talks Pike into going with her to Vegas. A mystery man named Angelus follows her. I lied, one more nitpick, why is he going by Angelus and not Angel? Let's assume it is to sound more intimidating and that it wasn't a mistake. This is the real first time we see Angel in the timeline, he was never really in the Spike Vs Dracula series so this is a big deal. We get to see his first appearance at last! He sneaks after Buffy and Pike to Vegas to help her from the shadows. When they get to Vegas Buffy gets a job collecting coats and Pike gets a job parking cars. They quickly finds the place littered with vamps. Angel gets a job with the manager who he soon finds out has a side thing going. He crosses the boss and gets stuck in the past. Where everything is black and white. The only way for the spell to break is for a vampire to enter the zone. But only a vampire without a soul. Angel crosses a line and turns the owner from the past into a vampire. Thus causing another problem. He says on Angel that the only vampire he turned with a soul was on that German sub. There are a great deal of continuity issues with this story and it does tend to bother me. But the story over all is really good and a fun read. So Angel gets back to the present and tosses the manager back into the past just before the spell ends, leaving him stuck there. Now back in the past he has to help the old owner or die. It's karma at it's best! Back with Buffy and Pike, they find the current owners. They are twins, stuck at the waist. The brother is a vampire and the sister is still human. It's a very weird idea that I love. It's simply genius. The fight turns against Buffy and Pike and Pike feels like he is going to get her killed so he jumps off the building. He lands on the ground and lives. But Buffy doesn't know that, at least not yet. Buffy kills the vamps and goes to find Pike, she is pissed that he tried to kill himself but they don't have time for that yet. They still have to get the owners and the casino is over run with vamps. Buffy changes tactics, she gets a priest to bless the water supply and turns on the sprinklers, killing all the vamps inside, including the brother. Leaving the sister finally free. Not to mention rich! Buffy and Pike head back to LA and Pike takes off, telling Buffy that he can't stay around and be the reason that she dies. They never speak again. I know I complained a lot about this story but it is really good and well written. Just small issues with fitting into the larger universe that I take issue with. Next up we finally make it to the show! The moment is here at last. We finally meet the one and only Buffy Anne Summers. The slayer. The girl who this universe is named after. Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Origin is a comic book written by Christopher Golden and Daniel Brereton, based off the movie. When it gets right down to it, it really is a retelling of the movie but fitting into the TV universe. Buffy is just your normal everyday Freshman girl, not wanting anything other than having fun with her friends and her boyfriend. She is popular and a cheerleader. A bit of a air-head really. A couple of loud mouth drunks by the name of Pike and Benny cause her and her friends trouble but they aren't really bad people, just annoying. Well that is until Benny gets turned into a vampire. Buffy meets her watcher Merrick, he explains all about her destiny. He takes her out to hunt, telling her that she won't need to do anything. Just watch. He is quickly proven wrong as the vampire gets the upper hand and Buffy has to save him. She tries to run away from her duty but Merrick keeps pushing her and it causes tension among her friends. Pike finds out about Benny being a vampire and tries to flee. He doesn't get far before the vampires attack him. Buffy saves him and they meet an old vampire named Lothos, who kills Merrick. Pike gets Buffy away to safety. She breaks down and throws in the towel. She goes to buy a dress, wanting to be a normal girl again. Pike is not happy about it. He feels like she is running away from who she is. At the dance everything goes to hell. Buffy finds out that her boyfriend is dating her friend now and vampires pick this time to attack. The students freak out and the vampires start killing. Buffy and Pike fight and soon start to turn the tide. Pike kills Benny, a lot like Xander kills Jessie in the show. Buffy over comes Lothos control and slays him. The vampire army bears down on Buffy and Pike and they are stuck, so she lights the gym on fire. The two of them escape and watches the gym burn down. Buffy is expelled and her friends all turn on her. Her parents end up getting divorced and she runs out to Vegas with Pike. When does she end up in the insane asylum? This was a fun tale that retold the Movie but better. You can see Whedon's voice shine through even in this story, he may not have been the writer but you can still see that it is his story. Any fan of the show should give this book a read! In this story by Ben Edlund we meet a vampire who use to be a priest back during the Spanish inquisition. He burned a real witch at the stake and a friend of hers who happened to be a vampire killed all of his friends and turned him into a vampire.
At first he was disturbed by his new life, tried to escape it. After all as a man of God he was now spurned by him. He lashed out and killed a holy man, this gave him a new purpose. A goal in his unlife. He would kill those who did God's will in order to show mankind that nothing we do is right, that we can never truly understand our father above. He meets another priest and tells him all of this. He means to kill this man but he doesn't react, at all. In fact he then tells the vampire that he is in fact God. That the vampire is just as stupid and blind as everyone he looks down on. He orders the vampire to walk into the dessert and wait for the sun to rise, he agrees and runs off to kill himself. Moments later the sheriff shows up and we learn that this man isn't God, he isn't even a priest. He is just a crazy person off of his meds. It is such a great story that pulls you in and makes you think. It shows you how powerful faith is but also how dangerous it can be in the wrong hands. This story is an extremely important one, not just as a Buffyverse story but as a story about faith and humanity. The issue all about the one and only Nikki Wood. The slayer who would go on to give birth to Robin Wood. She is the slayer with the smallest screen time, other than the Chinese girl Spike killed, but the most talked about. The slayer that everyone wants to know more about. Well Doug Petrie gives us a story all about her! The story starts with Nikki in bed with her lover, could this be Robin's father? The story doesn't tell us. All we know is that she wanted to tell him the truth about herself but he is killed before she gets the chance. She tries to stop the man responsible and the cops try to bring her in for questions. She escapes and finds out that they were just transporting vampires in those crates but also a flying bat demon. She fights the bat demon but it takes to air with her on it's back. Her fear of heights kicks in so she forces it down into the subways where she feels more at home. It isn't long before she manages to kill the bat demon and goes hunting for the man who killed her lover once more. It is a great story, the only bad part is there isn't one following it up. It leaves me wanting more. The job of any good story! This story by the Great Jane Espenson is a fun escape from the normal stories we have had thus far. For it is not really a story but more of a riddle. Something that you can't figure out no matter how hard you try. It simply shows us a picture and asks us to find the vampire. We go over the clues one by one but which one could it be?
Well in the end the answer is quite simple when we get right down to it. For you see the picture was nothing more than a mirror so the vampire was the one who wasn't shown. As I said, no real story but a fun break to bring a smile to your face! This one is my favorite so far. Spike, is once more writing to Darla about what is going on. We find out that she has gone back to the Master in Sunnydale. Meanwhile Spike and Dru are in Italy. Dru is captured by the count and Spike is attacked by demons who are to take care of him. Spike beats them and forces one of them to take him to the count and Dru.
On the helicopter there he finds a statue of Count Dracula and he now knows for sure that he is the one who has Dru. He is going to make him pay for everything. He gets to the house to find Dru playing the piano. It turns out that is wasn't Count Dracula who has Dru it is a man called The Comte De Saint-Germain. He wasn't going to take advantage of Dru he just wanted to play music with her and the demons were going to take care of Spike. Not by killing him but by letting him have a night of passion with Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren. Spike regrets coming here. Instead of a night of passion he sits and listens to the two of them play music. It is not the night he would have wanted. On the way out he breaks the statue of Dracula as payback. He an Dru leave the house and out of the ruins of the statue Dracula returns. Turns out that the statue held Dracula prisoner. He goes out and kills the creature, he can't be human because he is 200 years old and Spike didn't need an invite to enter the house, therefor he must be some kind of demon. Spike set his worst enemy free, how is that for irony? Peter David keeps killing it with this series. Here is an exciting story set in the great city of Las Vegas by Brett Matthews. It is the story of a vampire who spends all his time gambling away his days. It's become routine to him, almost boring. He wants something more. It is then that he hears a commotion, a few casinos guards are rough handling a beautiful woman. Are hero jumps in and kills them, saving the girl.
She asks him to take her somewhere nice so he does. They get in the car and drive up to his special spot. She asks if he has ever taken anyone there before and he assures her that he hasn't. A lie, the bottom of the cliff is filled with the bodies of his many many victims. He moves in for the bite, but something isn't right. The blood isn't hers. He wakes up in the middle of nowhere hours later. Not sure of what happened. Only knowing one thing, the sun is coming up. He lights his cigarette with his hand as he starts to catch on fire, if he has to go he is at least going to enjoy it. It's a good story with a nice twist. Vampire feeding on vampire with some sleazy Las Vegas thrown in. What could be more fun? And here is Part 3 of Peter David's thrilling story. This one setting up the season 5 episode of Angel, Why We Fight. In this issue we learn how Spike got his Nazi jacket and how he ended up on the submarine.
Once more we see that Spike is writing letters with Darla. Thus cementing their relationship even further. To me this is one of my favorite parts of this series. It is nice to think that all four members of the Whirlwind had a relationship with one another. I always wanted Spike and Darla to have some scenes together but they only had group scenes. It wasn't enough for my liking. This fills that void for me. Spike finds Dracula in Darla's room and the two almost get into it before Dracula explains that one of his brides was captured by some Nazis. Darla must also have been captured and now they have to work together to save them. The two of them break into a Nazi camp and almost at once Dracula is gone. Leaving Spike to fight his way out. He finds a werewolf named Osborn, which means he is most likely a relative of Oz from Buffy. How cool is that? It's a nice Easter egg that I really enjoyed. Spike makes it out and finds a note from Darla that she is well and as gone off to England. Who can blame her for wanting to get out of Nazi Germany. Before Spike can leave two Vampires show up, Nostryev and the Prince of Lies. The same two vampires that show up with Spike on the episode Why we Fight. This episode doesn't just add to this series but to the bigger universe as well. That is a mark of great writing! |
Buffy the Vampire SlayerWelcome to all the reviews on the greatest show ever made! Archives
July 2017
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly