I would like to begin this review series with a recommendation: check out Buffy Guide for a stunningly well-done historical accounting of all Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes and canon. They do a better job collecting and documenting the series than I ever could. These reviews will focus far less on the common category-based ratings (though those will still be present), and far more on social commentary. I'm taking on BtVS because the show is near and dear to my heart, extremely well-presented, filled with witty banter and lovable characters...all while presenting a string of social messages that I think need to be more closely scrutinized. In some cases I'll agree with Joss Whedon's world view, in others I won't. I just think this is a rare case where the TV is consistently outstanding even though its creator is very definitely on the opposite end of the political spectrum from me and pulls no punches expressing his viewpoint. It makes for a fascinating "debate".
Overall Rating: 7.4
The characters are instantly appealing and very well defined right off the bat. The dialogue is snappy and clever in Joss Whedon style. The plot is a bit hammy and corny compared to later Buffy goodness, but it moves along alright for a pilot. The show is weak on messages - it almost has to be to get all of the characters introduced and show us our big bad for the first season - but otherwise, a solid first effort.
Plot Synopsis:
Buffy Summers crash lands in Sunnydale, CA after getting expelled from her old High School in LA for torching the gym (to kill a horde of vamps, but who's gonna buy that story?). Immediately upon her arrival, she's confronted with vampire killings and an uptight new watcher who insists she take her calling seriously. All she wants to do is fit in and have a normal life, but that rapidly proves to be quite impossible. While making her first appearance at the local club (The Bronze), she encounters a tall, dark and brooding stranger who warns her that "the harvest" is coming and she needs to be prepared. Later, she encourages new friend Willow Rosenburg to seize the moment and this leads her right into the arms of a vampire. While trying to locate the vamp and rescue Willow, she inadvertently attacks queen bee Cordelia Chase in the search for a vampire who has taken unassuming Willow Rosenburg hostage and stories of Cordy's harrowing survival at the hands of a loony spread like wildfire at Sunnydale High.
Her hunt for Willow eventually leads her to a mausoleum where she encounters a strong vampire who nearly overpowers her, thwarted only by the cross her brooding stalker gave her earlier. Her newly minted sidekicks Xander Harris and Willow barely manage to survive the ordeal, but red shirt...er...Xander's friend Jesse...is taken captive and used as bait to draw the slayer into a trap. She and Xander once again just barely escape, but not before realizing that Jesse has been turned. They regroup at the library - the setting for most future slayer briefings for the next three years - and Giles and Willow update them on their research. A very old, very dangerous vampire (who will come to be referred to as "The Master") has become trapped in a mystical bottleneck and intends to anoint a vessel to feed in his name at this harvest to give himself the strength to escape.
Buffy gears up for a fight, resigning herself to her destiny, at least for now. Her mother tries to stop her, but there's no stopping the slayer when duty calls. She slips out and arrives (a bit too late) at the Bronze, where the killing has already begun. Clever thinking and a whole lot of dusty vampires follow, including the vessel (the vampire she faced before at the mausoleum), stopping The Master's escape.
Writing: 9.0
One of the best-written pilots I've ever encountered. Joss Whedon can really turn a phrase...his very modern, very clever (and intelligent despite its cultural idiosyncrasies) dialogue is rivaled by nothing else in terms of originality and style. The plot is a little melodramatic and his first season big bad is...well...corny. Sorry, but The Master is a lame uber-threat, but perhaps that's just because they didn't really take any time to flesh out his character, and his dialogue was fraught with cliche - which is weird coming from Joss, who does so well with everyone else.
Acting: 7.0
Anthony Stewart Head is a BRILLIANT casting decision and will this show's most powerful cast member throughout. But already we're seeing good stuff from Alyson Hannigan (Willow) in the role of the awkward, brilliant (and secretly SEXY!) nerd and Nicholas Brendan (Xander - the show's underdog with a heart of gold...I'm a sucker for those. :) ). Unfortunately, the entire guest cast was unconvincing with the exception of David Boreanaz (Angel - and I'm not his biggest fan) and Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), and I don't think Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) was all that comfortable in her role yet. Some of her scenes didn't work so well - especially fight scenes, where she not only seemed physically awkward, but off her game in terms of delivering convincingly witty repartee.
Message: 6.2
Small boost to a show that is generally lacking in message for its portrayal of a socially motivated girl who is nonetheless willing to associate with people not deemed acceptable by the in crowd. It's no small thing that Buffy arrives at Sunnydale, meets with the queen bee, proves her coolness, and then witnesses Cordelia's cruelty toward Willow and decides to make friends with the geeks. On behalf of geek nation, I'd just like to thank Joss for allowing his heroine to joyfully hang with the outcasts and not simply get flung there by her job title.
You don't find many action-adventure shows - especially not in the fantasy genre - that have the courage to "go there" as often as Joss does, and his first act in this vein was to form his team of heroes out of geeks (Willow), outcasts (Xander), uptight Brits (heh - who do you think?) and unwilling participants who just repeatedly get dragged into stuff and are forced to grow up as a result (Cordelia), rather than go the way of most modern edgy franchises and put the hero with super-cool edgy emo teens or bad-ass types.
Highlights:
XANDER: Can I hump you?
BUFFY: What?
XANDER: Uh...can I help you?
BUFFY: I got it, thanks.
XANDER: I don't know you, do I?
BUFFY: I just transferred here, so I kinda doubt it.
XANDER: Well hey, if you need a tour or help with classes...we both go to school...
BUFFY: Uh huh...(seeming very distracted even before the bell rings)...I gotta run. Thanks again.
XANDER: (watching her leave) We both go to school...very suave, Xander...very not pathetic. Oh hey, you forgot your...(realizes she dropped a stake and looks confused)...stake? - I can tell already that Xander is my favorite. Of course, having seen the entire show I do have a bit of a head start.
BUFFY: It's the weirdest thing. There was a dead guy in the locker room...two little little puncture marks in his neck...lost all his blood! Doesn't that surprise you? Doesn't it just make you go 'oooh?'
GILES: I was afraid of this.
BUFFY: Well I wasn't! It's my first day! I was afraid I was gonna be behind in all my classes, or that I wouldn't make any friends, or I'd have last month's hair! I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus. And I don't care.
GILES: Then why are you here?
BUFFY: To...tell...you that I...don't care? And I don't...and now I've told you. So...bye!
GILES: Was he...will he rise again?
BUFFY: No way.
GILES: How can you be sure?
BUFFY: To make you a vampire, they have to suck your blood and then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing (LOL).
BUFFY: (holds up a ridiculously revealing dress) Hi! I'm an enormous slut! (holds up a ridiculously wholesome full-bodied dress that looks like it came out of a 1950s TV show) Hi! Would like a copy of the Watchtower? I used to be so good at this. (Right away, Whedon demonstrates a very thorough understanding of the teenaged mindset)
BUFFY: Hey!
WILLOW: Oh hi!
BUFFY: Are you here with someone?
WILLOW: No, I'm just here. I thought Xander was gonna show.
BUFFY: Oh...are you guys going out or something?
WILLOW: No, we're just friends. We used to go out, but we broke up.
BUFFY: Oh really? Why?
WILLOW: He stole my Barbie. (pause) We were five. (awwww) No...I don't date much lately.
BUFFY: How come?
WILLOW: Well...when I'm with a boy I like, I have trouble saying something really cool...or witty...or at all. I can usually get out a few vowel sounds, but then I have to go away. (aaaawwwwwwww...LOL)
BUFFY: Oh come on, it's not that bad.
WILLOW: Trust me, it is. I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk. (LOL)
BUFFY: (deadpan) You really haven't been dating lately. (ROTFL!)
GILES: You should be able to sense them...try! Reach out with your mind. (Buffy begins scanning the room nonchalantly) Buffy, being a slayer requires discipline. You must hone your instincts and your senses...reach into the very depths of your perception...see what only you can see...
BUFFY: There's one.
GILES: Where?
BUFFY: Right there, talking to that girl.
GILES: You don't know that.
BUFFY: Oh please! Look at that jacket...he's got the sleeves rolled up. And that shirt? Deal with that outfit for a moment.
GILES: It's dated.
BUFFY: It's carbon-dated. Only someone who was living undergroud for ten years would think that was still cool.
GILES: But you didn't...hone. (Hee! I love Giles)
XANDER: See that's where I have a problem. Because we're talking about vampires! We're having a talk...with vampires in it!
WILLOW: So that's what we saw last night?
BUFFY: No...those weren't vampires. They were just big guys with weird facials and freakishly long teeth. And that guy who turned to dust? That was just a trick of light. That's exactly what I said the first time I saw a vampire. Well...after I was done with the screaming part.
WILLOW: I need to sit down.
BUFFY: You are sitting.
WILLOW: Oh...good for me...(LOL)
GILES: I've been researching this Harvest affair. It seems to be some sort of preordained massacre... rivers of blood, Hell on earth... quite charmless. I am a bit fuzzy, however, on the details. It may be that you can wrest some information from that dread machine. (long awkward pause) That was a bit...British...wasn't it. (LOL)
BUFFY: Welcome to the new world.
XANDER: So...crosses, garlic, stake through the heart?
BUFFY: That'll get it done.
XANDER: Great. Of course I don't actually have any of those things.
BUFFY: Nice thinking.
XANDER: Well the part of my brain that would normally be busy remembering these things was kinda busy telling me not to come down here. I have this though. (turns on a flashlight, which serves as a beacon to reveal their position)
BUFFY: Shut that thing OFF!
XANDER: Sorry...so...what else?
BUFFY: What else?
XANDER: You know...for killing vampires?
BUFFY: Oh, fire, beheading, sunlight, holy water...the usual.
XANDER: You've done some beheading in your time?
BUFFY: Oh yeah...one time I was pinned down by this guy who was the captain of the football team...well...he was until the whole vampire thing came up. Anyway, he had this really thick neck and all I had on me was this little Xacto knife...you're...not...loving this story.
XANDER: No, actually, I find it oddly comforting.
CORDELIA: Finally...the nightmare ends! So how do we save?
WILLOW: Deliver.
CORDELIA: Deliver? Where's that? Oh! (hits the delete key and her program self-destructs - HA!)
JOYCE: It's your second day here and I'm already getting calls from the principal!
BUFFY: Mom, I don't have time to talk about this now but I have to go!
JOYCE: No.
BUFFY: What?
JOYCE: No. Now the books all say I have to get used to saying it.
BUFFY: Mom! I don't have time!
JOYCE: You have all the time in the world because you're not going anywhere. (yep...that'll hold her)
LUKE: You forget...metal cannot hurt me.
BUFFY: There's something you forgot about too.
LUKE: What's that?
BUFFY: Sunrise. (smashed her metal pole through a wall revealing a bright street light...Luke freaks out for a second and Buffy stabs him from behind) It's in about 9 hours, moron.
GILES: We're at the center of a mystical convergence here. We're the last line of defense against untold evil.
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. 'Cause 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, y'know, like excessive not studying.
GILES: The Earth is doomed!
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