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'BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER' season 2 dvd challenge (1 Viewer)

Wendy_L

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Last night I watched one of my favorite episodes of BtVS, When She Was Bad. When I first saw this episode I couldn't get over Buffy's, to quote Cordelia, "Joan Collins tude". And that scene when she was dancing with Xander in the Bronze, my oh my. I thought that was one of the sexier scenes on Buffy. And I love the look on Xander's face and how uncomfortable he was knowing that she was just using him to piss off Angel. It also contains one of my favorite lines, "You're a vampire. Oh, I'm sorry, was that an offensive term? Should I say 'undead American'?"

I also noticed that the Season 2 premiere introduced us to two new locations we would be seeing quite a bit in Seasons 2 & 3, the soda machine and the lounge area. I guess Joss Whedon and Co. got a bigger budget for Season 2 and were able to build a few more sets.

All-in-all an excellent episode. It gets a 5/5 rating from me.
 

Scott-S

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When She Was Bad:

A great episode to start the new year. Buffy had some issues to hammer out (pun intended), but in the end, the Scoobies hold together.

It was kind of fun seeing a more bad-ass buffy, but I guess it is good she gets back to normal by the end.

I really loved the Xander line to Buffy about how if anything happens to Willlow, “I’ll kill you”. It is weird, but he really looked like he meant it.
 

Wendy_L

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Oh, I think he did mean it. He loves Willow, even if only in a sisterly type of way. They have been best friends since they were 6 yrs old.
 

Nick Martin

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This season marks one of my favorite changes - Christophe Beck doing most of the episode scoring, writing serious music for it, and not that stupid, cheesy, flat-out bad music Walter Murphy did for all of season 1.

It may not mean anything to most of you, but I always notice these things.
 

Inspector Hammer!

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When She Was Bad

Buffy's sophomore year starts with a bang, kicking off a season that will reveal many surprises for the ever-strengthening Scoobies. Buffy retruns from summer vacation..but somethings not right with her, she angrier, meaner and more aggresive than before.

Her confrontation with the Master effected her in ways no one could have forseen, being killed will do that to you I guess[/b].

The scene in the Bronze with Buffy and Xander on the dance floor was both extremely sexy and also extremely cruel on Buffy's part, you could see that Xander was both hurt and a little angry. I can't agree that Xander's threat to Buffy was genuine, he loves Willow, that's very true, but he said that out of frustration and anger, Buffy's "issues" put them in direct danger and he lashed out at Buffy, no one could blame him for that, I would have said the same thing in his shoes.

You could almost feel the release of anger and pressure when Buffy took to whaling on the Master's skeleton with that sledge hammer, Buffy's journey has officially began to get tougher...little does she know what awaits her and the Scoobs.

I was blown away the night this one aired, it left me wanting more immediately and I was right there every week after that, I guess you could say that this ep is what solidifyed the series as a can't-miss for me. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Scott-S

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Some Assembly Required:

A pretty good stand-alone episode. Had some really funny lines. A lot of things made no sense to me logically, but it was fun.

A couple technical things bothered me about this episode. First, the terribly grainy and dark scenes. Especially the scene with Willow and Giles looking into the students lockers. That had to be a serious fubar on the part of the editor to allow that to make it on the air.

Another thing that bothered me is the way the DVD chapter stop was not at the end of the opening credits as usual. It is right in the middle of a scene. The first 2 times I watched this, I missed out on about 3 or 4 minutes by skipping to the next chapter during the opening credits like I normally do. I didn’t know I missed out on some pretty funny stuff. Luckily I noticed that it seemed weird the way the scene opened (or where I thought it opened) and I backed it up. I then noticed that the chapter stop was right in the middle of the scene and I had previously missed this on my previous viewings.

Angle dressed in a tan, yuppie-looking jacket and light colored shirt seemed real weird. LOL
 

Kevin Grey

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Christophe Beck's work was really great. I would probably have enjoyed the later seasons a helluva lot more if he had stayed on as composer. His "reappearance" in "The Gift" was a real highlight. That said, I did enjoy the work of the guy they got to compose S7 (forgot his name). Almost all of the non-Beck scoring of Seasons 5&6 was dreadful.
 

Ruz-El

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Didn't realize we had started a new thread!
2.1 : WHEN SHE WAS BAD 4/5

In which our heroine wakes up on the wrong side of life.

An awesome season opener, that kicks off with a fury from the particularly strong season finale. What impressed me most was the tone of the show, which is more mature and cinematic than previous season. nicholas brought up a real good point with the music, it really does make a world of difference and really helps to push the show even farther away from it's teeny roots. Cibo Matto was a great surprise as the band of the week at the bronze, and I order every onn in this threa to seek out their video for "Sugar Water" that was directed by the genious Michel Gondry. It well blow your head apart, than smash it back together, only to kick it over the fence where that really mean dog lives.

My only complaint was again how Cordillia is handled. They could of handled her switch from bitch to scooby a lot better. it just seems to sudden to me.
 

Ruz-El

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2.2 : Some Assembly Required 1.5/5

In which our heroine discovers that love can come in pieces

This was a wierd one for me. It started out really strong with a great mixture of humor and suspense. Zanders in typical top form, than the monster appears, and POOF! it all sort of falls apart. I can't even explain it but the last half, even with a totally ass kicky fight scene was just boring. Even Phil the Buffy Nerd had to admit that it just went south. This episode is going to bug me in it's unexplainable failure for days to come. I'm just plain confounded by this one. I like monsters. I like ass kicky fights. I like Frankenstein. I should LOVE this episode. Why did it suck? Where did it go wrong?
 

Ruz-El

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Maybe that's why the episode sucked, Angel went all "legit", turning on his brooding "I could make James Dean cry" natural demeaner.
 

Nick Martin

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The one thing that always jumped out at me regarding "When She Was Bad" was the lack of continuity in Buffy's smashing of The Master's skeleton - the ribcage was smashed early on, then later, in another angle, its intact.

That, and Cordelia's obviously raspy voice do to illness.
 

Jay_B!

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I always thought it was funny how much the zombie in Some Assembly Required looked like Drew Carey
 

Inspector Hammer!

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LOL, yeah, he does a little.

Some Assembly Required a.k.a 'Night of the Living Dead Jock'

Okay bad jokes aside, this was a good episode, much better than I remember, seeing Giles all flustered like a 14 year-old at the thought of asking Jenny out is worth it alone lol.

Agreed, Angel in that jacket needs to go! I guess he just wanted to try something new and had no idea of how bad he looked because he hasn't exactly been keeping up with the latest fasion trends. Who knows, but it doesn't suit him, black is his color.

I couldn't help but think of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective when Daryll's mom was sitting there watching that same football play over and over..."Laces Out!" :D

Favorite line was of course from Xander...

Cordelia...
"Why do these things keep happening to me?"

Xander...
"(cough)KARMA(cough)"

:laugh:
 

Inspector Hammer!

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School Hard

This is one of my favorite eps, not only is that incredibly annoying Anointed One destroyed but it marks the first appearance of Spike, who literally comes crashing to town with one goal in mind...kill the slayer. Although, and I never noticed it before because I had no knowledge the first time around of what was to come, but when Spike saw Buffy for the first time at the Bronze, sparks were flying in Spike's head already. I thought that was cool.

Boy does he have NO clue what's in store for him in the coming years lol. It also marks the first appearance of Drusilla, the mentally unstable vampire who was driven mad by Angelus before he sired her into the darkness.
The one element that I had completely forgotten about was that principal Snyder is aware of the vampires, I don't think anything meaningful ever comes of it, that's why I forgot about it, makes me wonder if he knew all along that Buffy was the slayer. Hmmm...

Still, I look at Spike in this episode and I just have to shake my head and chuckle, this poor undead son of a bitch is in for a ride with this particular slayer lol. I also have a warm spot in my heart for him, as he eventually does become Sunnydale's, and the world's, ultimate savior.

Just a fun ride and an ep I enjoy more and more.
 

Nick Martin

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There was also a bit of continuity change with Spike and Angel - in this episode, Spike refers to Angel as his sire - the one who turned him into a vampire - but it's later changed to Drusilla being his sire...I think I read somewhere that fans filled in the continuity gap by claiming that Spike called Angel his sire as an affectionate gesture, for being a kind of mentor for him.

Snyder, or as I lovingly refer to him as, Quark ;), is aware of many things as will later be revealed (ex, he knows about the hellmouth) but the only thing he is convinced of iwhen it comes to Buffy is that she is a criminal, violent, and must be brought down and removed from his school. It's never even hinted at that he is aware of her being a vampire slayer. His calling the vampires 'a gang on PCP' could have been covering up what he really knows?
 

Wendy_L

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I watched Some Assembly Required and School Hard last night also and I like both of these episodes. Seeing Spike's introduction into the story line is always fun. And I loved when Joyce hit him with the axe... GO JOYCE! That was sweet.
 

Scott-S

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School Hard:

I have to admit I was not a big fan of Spike when watching this for the first time. He seems all talk and no action. This episode was why I formed that opinion. He seems to always run away from a fight when things get tough. I eventually changed my opinion of him after he became more of a regular.

There were a couple of good things about this episode. We get to see the annoying one get fired (pun intended) and we get to see Buffy’s mom starting to see her in a different light.

This episode also showed that Quark (snyder) knows more about the stuff going on than we thought.
 

Inspector Hammer!

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With Buffy, yeah, your right, Snyder just really hates our heroin for his own twisted reasons. I couldn't remember if it's ever hinted at that he's aware of her being the Slayer, it's been a few years since i've watched season 2 all the way through.

Spike has always struck me as a vampire ner-do-well, a misfit who talks hard but was only lucky when he killed those other two Slayers, he's never come across a Slayer like Buffy before.

Remember what he was like when he was human? 'William the Bloody' they called him, and not for reasons you might think, he was a put upon nerd and now, with his vampire powers, he's playing the tough guy to compensate for the fact that he's just a really big fuck up with pointy teeth lol. :D
 

Nick Martin

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His 'bloody awful' poetry...

I'm certain you know about Spike's eventual joining the ANGEL cast, and what you describe of his compensating for his weaker human self, and the kind of man/monster he became as a vampire, is explored in a pretty riveting episode of ANGEL's final season.
 

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