Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 Episode 2: The Harvest

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!!!