BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: The Second Season

A Review by Paul O'Brien

As people may have read in my previous review, I give the WB series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER very high marks. Lucky for us, the quality of excellence the show created in its first season has not been compromised for its second season, which just ended, rooting it more firmly among a potential all-time great program.

The series excels even in spite of some serious character developments, new archenemies, some new supporting cast, and some fairly serious, radical twists in the overall plot. For a show that could have rested on its laurels and kept the formula stagnant, BUFFY's producers continue to surprise and shock, keeping viewers on their toes. In fact, I respect them immensely not only for their smarts--these are, after all, creatively sharp decisions--but their guts to change, hurt, and even kill any given character.

What follows is my assessment of the show's developments in its second season, but those just watching the show for the first time or those who still want certain surprises to be kept secret ought to stop reading now. I'm going to spill the beans for you and think you had better watch the reruns and see the surprises for yourself, but if you're a regular viewer--or simply don't care--then read on.

The second season began very well when two new archenemies entered Sunnydale, Spike and Drusilla. Last year's Master was a generic syndicated villain who acted poorly and had virtually no personality . . . Spike and Drew, on the other hand, are simply wonderful characters. These two actors, particularly the man who plays Spike, play the parts with more enthusiasm and gusto, making them likable, vibrant foes. In fact, I sincerely hope Spike becomes a series regular rather than an extended visitor . . . his brazen humor and subtle sensitivity really kept me tuned in.

But on the villain front, the biggest change during this season was making Angel evil. Though it's a complicated story as to how and why he became bad, Buffy's camp lost a powerful ally and gained a serious enemy. I was getting a little tired of Angel saving their butts so often in the first season, and saw his change of heart as an opportunity to emphasize Buffy's strengths. Buffy certainly rose to the challenge, but still retained her vulnerability as Angel hurt the crew time and time again and she finally got over her feelings and decided to try to kill him. Frankly, Angel is much more fun as a bad guy than a good guy anyway. He's stronger and more stylish; he clashes well with Buffy and meshes well with Spike and Drew; and the actor seems to be having loads of fun in the process. Turning this teenage heartthrob into a murdering monster was a real heart-breaker, too, a shrewd development on the producers' part. In one of the scenes that shocked me the most this season, Angel toys with Ms. Calendar, suddenly snapping her neck, leading to a brutal end of the romance with Giles. Yikes! A wonderfully effective move.

As for the good guys, we see an expanded supporting cast and some interesting developments. The most improved character is clearly Cordelia, who is now extremely charming in her frank, shallow, yet good-natured manner. Willow continues to be her sweet, nerdy self, and Xander's cracks haven't lost any edge either. Hooking up Xander with Cordelia at first seemed a little off-base for me, particularly after establishing so much Willow/ Xander tension, and then introducing Oz as Willow's love interest complicated things even further. Oz is an alright character--with a complicated problem which rolls around once a month, which watchers will know what I'm talking about--but the boat is starting to get too heavy. I feel too many minor characters are keeping plots unnecessarily diluted, but so far so good . . . we'll just see how they handle it for the future.

A few other developments concern me, however. First of all, the show feels like it's trying to do too much, that's it's trying to expand and enhance all the parts we saw in the first season. It's true, the horror is more serious and threatening, and the romance is more touching and complicated, but there's a limit to how far you can push either side, much less blend them together. Though the season finale was very strong in its second half, for instance, the first part did far too much . . . exploring Angel's past, setting up the finale, mixing in virtually every minor character in the show . . . too much! Producers and writers shouldn't have the BATMAN film disease . . . more is not always better. When they've kept things in check and worked through matters one scene at a time, however, the show is far better than your average program, however, so it still gets my highest praises. Like I said, I'm just concerned about the future season.

Secondly, Buffy and Giles have gotten a little too dark for my likening, and I fear irreparably so. Giles had a few episodes devoted almost solely to his problems, either demons from the past (so to speak) or coping with Ms. Calendar's death. He seems more intolerant, more driven this season. Buffy is likewise more torn and much more isolated from her friends . . . while her classmates are connecting and coupling up, she basically--well--kills her ex-boyfriend and then ditches Sunnydale. Though these are dramatic and logical changes which I respect for the season, I miss the lighter spirit of Buffy and Giles and fear it can't ever be reclaimed in the same way. This will be the challenge for the third season . . . to balance the second season's downward spiral (after all, each of the characters basically went through hell and back this year) and begin to build back up. I love the melancholy as much as the next guy, but it's a finite well you can only drink from for so long.

All in all, there were some rather poor episodes this year too, and it's not quite as consistently good as it seemed a year ago. But when it's good, Buffy is absolutely great. I thought this year's Halloween episode was brilliant and the Valentine's episode was loads of fun. Anytime Joss Whedon pens an episode and behind the camera, too, you can expect great quality. BUFFY is now more like X-FILES, though, in the sense that there are one-episode challenges and then there are story arc developments. Some episodes relied on one-episode concepts, much less every episode from last season, but now there are episodes completely devoted to the long-ranging drama of Buffy and Angel. This arc and the suddenness of some of the show's changes make it more serial-like than ever, and it watches much more like a soap opera. But at least unlike a soap opera, it is consistently well-written and well-acted, making it a more heartfelt ride than a year ago (even if it broke your heart a few times along the way).

All in all, it's been a great second season and guarantees that the program's freshman season was no fluke. In its third season, I hope they begin to bring the characters a little closer and a little more back to basics, perhaps by killing Oz, bringing Willow and Xander together, and bringing back Angel (somehow . . . he's too popular to leave away for long).

Rumor has it that Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is simply stellar in the title role, may opt to leave the show for the big screen. If so, it would be a terrible loss, and a terrible mistake, I fear (think David Caruso or Denise Crosby). Nonetheless, Gellar or not, I'm convinced the producers have the brains and the heart to move on intelligently and thoughtfully, giving us the steady yet rare dose of weekly horror romance which separates BUFFY from the rest. It's a superb program . . . let's just hope it stays that way.