BtVS Retro Review Project (Episode 1.2: The Harvest)
I made it to Episode 2! Moral victory!
Episode Summary in Five Sentences or Less
Continuing from where we left off in Episode 1, Buffy escapes Luke's clutches and rescues Willow and Xander, but the gang of vamps makes off with BFF Jesse. Regrouping in the library, Giles reveals that The Harvest may well result in opening the Gates of Hell and ending the world.* Buffy goes to investigate, where Angel shows what a jerk he is by not actually helping her and Xander proves his worth by following her into the sewers/catacombs, before they escape a very poorly-laid trap and learn that Jesse had vamped out.*** The gang quickly deduces that the vamps are going to target The Bronze for their feast to free The Master,**** as that is apparently the only gathering place in Sunnydale.***** Buffy does some nice gymkata and offs Luke while Xander dusts vampire Jesse****** and Willow and Giles save the bystanders and The Master's plan is foiled....for now.
Five Overarching Thoughts*******
(1) Joss is not going to let Buffy off the hook for being a teenager
Clearly the fact that the Buffster is 16 years old is a feature of the show, and not a bug. While trying to save the world from annihilation, she also has to contend with her mom grounding her and Principal Flutie giving her a lecture about not leaving school grounds, not to mention the slings and arrows of Cordy and the other popular girls.
In other words, while BtVS is (obviously) a big-time sci-fi / fantasy show dealing with vampires and demons and slayers, it is also taking place in the actual world where, unlike so much television (especially at the time), it's going to make an effort to reflect said actual world. The needs of the plot are not going to outweigh the facts of the situations in which the characters live - mostly because the writing is careful to take it into account instead of just being lazy.********
(2) The characters, while being impossibly fictional, are some of the most real you'll see on-screen
This is a fact that I and probably most of everyone reading this has had to struggle with in discussing Buffy and similar shows with people who aren't immediately taken with the premise. Yes, there are vampires and giant man-eating teacher-mantises, and the main character is The Chosen One, and etc etc. But within that framework, the characters are fully-developed people and have true-feeling emotional reactions to the events of the story, and grow and change, etc, just like real people.
I don't want to preach to the choir too much on this point, but it really struck me in this instance with respect to Luke - a more-or-less throwaway character that doesn't survive the second episode of the series and has maybe 5 minutes of total screen time, if that. But when The Master is disappointed that Luke has fought Buffy and yet she lived, The Master remarks that he can't remember the last time that happened. And Luke reacts like a proud immortal vamp should, by recalling that it was Madrid in 1843, then explaining that they caught him sleeping as a rationale for why it happened then.
Remember, Luke serves no function in the plot other than to be a big imposing guy that Buffy can beat to establish her bona fides for the audience, and the writers********** still take the time to flesh out a real reaction to the initial fight instead of just establishing that it happened and having Luke seethe and threaten revenge.
(3) Remember that nice group of friends? Make it one less.
While Jesse's death didn't necessarily indicate that anything could happen, it definitely demonstrated that we shouldn't get too comfortable. It may be hard to remember now, but re-watching these episodes, Jesse felt just like another member of the gang - the other characters all talk about him while he's missing, they treat his captivity by the vamps with the same concern and urgency that they later treat similar situations involving other friends. When he's vamped and then slayed*********** the show is saying that things can change, that we shouldn't assume that the good guys will always win and that the reset button will be pushed at the end of the episode.
(4) The more things change....
Having said all that, Point 3 really applies mostly to the internal Buffydom universe. Notwithstanding that 120 or so kids survived The Bronze, including seeing Luke and other vamps there, watching Luke drain a few humans, and seeing Buffy fight Luke, the episode ends by very opening making the point that society in general is not about to go all vamp-crazy without a LOT more evidence. The whole incident is apparently blown off by the populace as rival gangs fighting.************ As Giles explains, when people are confronted with things like rampaging vampires, their little brains hasten to rationalize what they can and forget what they cannot.
Frankly, this is a much more likely outcome than everyone suddenly carrying crosses and holy water. Although one would think that there would be a small underground of people trying to get to The Truth.
(5) Every girl likes the bad boy
Jesse finally gets at least some milage with Cordelia when he's a vamp, getting a dance with her. Meanwhile, Angel acts like even more of an ass than he did in Episode 1, lurking at the entrance to The Master's catacombs but not going down with her to help out, and then apparently hanging out outside The Bronze while she and the gang are inside saving the world. Obviously, she is destined to fall for him. Dammit.
Top Ten Episode Quotes
(10) Cordelia (to Willow): "Excuse me, who gave you permission to exist?"
(9) Xander: "I don't like vampires. I'm going to take a stand and say they're not good."
(8) Luke: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no cause for alarm. Actually, there is cause for alarm...it just won't do you any good."
(7) Jesse: "I am not okay, on an epic scale."
(6) Luke: "I thought you nothing more than a meal, boy. Congratulations, you've just been upgraded...to bait."
(5) Buffy: "Here's something you forgot about - sunrise!"
Luke covers face, claws at the air, then pauses and looks confused
Buffy: "It's in about 9 hours...moron"
(4) The Angel Semi-Ironic Quote of the Week: "She did it. I'll be damned."
(3) Willow: "I need to sit down."
Buffy: "You are sitting down."
Willow: "Oh....good...."
(2) Vamp Jesse: "I'm connected, man, to everything. I can hear the worms in the Earth!"
Xander: "That's...a plus?"
(1) Buffy: "So, Giles, got anything that could make this day any worse?"
Giles: "How about the end of the world?"
Buffy: "Knew I could count on you."
Coming Up Next:Episode 1.3: Witch. Anticipated BtVSRRP posting on Thursday 9/24. Ish.
* But then, what doesn't? This is what happens when you build your stupid city on a Hellmouth.**
** We can only assume that there are other Hellmouths (or similar dimensional cross-over type places), as otherwise the Slayer would presumably be stationed there at all times, and Our Gal Buffy seems to be the first one that the place has had in a while.
*** I know, these sentences are getting kind of run-on, aren't they? Maybe five sentences was a poor call on the limit? Or maybe I just need to learn to edit?
**** If the vamps had just thought for like 10 minutes about their plan instead of just assuming the impossibility of failure, we'd all be penned up like cows to feed their unholy thirst by now.
***** After all, this is a mid-size town in California. How could there be more than one teen hangout?
****** I had forgotten how silly Vamp Jesse's death is - Xander is holding him at stake-point when a terrified woman runs by and bumps into him, impaling him on the stake. Thank goodness that vamp rib cages are notoriously soft!
******* Any thoughts or suggestions about format would be greatly appreciated. For that matter, are these posterisks getting unwieldy? I needs me my endnotes and all, but distinguishing between 6 stars and 8 stars is hard enough for me, and I'm writing this damnable thing.
******** Which is not to say that the show always succeeds on this front. If any other student were to ever enter the library, they would see all kinds of charts and graphs and studious monster lore, for example.*********
********* Although I'm pretty positive that the show itself started making fun of this fact after a bit. Self-awareness always wins points with me.
********** Well, in this instance "the writers" = Joss alone, but you get the idea.
*********** Slayed? Slaid? Slain? Anyone? Bueller?
************ Of course, they revisit this phenomenon in later seasons also, with the police intimating that they and the local media have been involved in a cover-up for ages.
Episode Summary in Five Sentences or Less
Continuing from where we left off in Episode 1, Buffy escapes Luke's clutches and rescues Willow and Xander, but the gang of vamps makes off with BFF Jesse. Regrouping in the library, Giles reveals that The Harvest may well result in opening the Gates of Hell and ending the world.* Buffy goes to investigate, where Angel shows what a jerk he is by not actually helping her and Xander proves his worth by following her into the sewers/catacombs, before they escape a very poorly-laid trap and learn that Jesse had vamped out.*** The gang quickly deduces that the vamps are going to target The Bronze for their feast to free The Master,**** as that is apparently the only gathering place in Sunnydale.***** Buffy does some nice gymkata and offs Luke while Xander dusts vampire Jesse****** and Willow and Giles save the bystanders and The Master's plan is foiled....for now.
Five Overarching Thoughts*******
(1) Joss is not going to let Buffy off the hook for being a teenager
Clearly the fact that the Buffster is 16 years old is a feature of the show, and not a bug. While trying to save the world from annihilation, she also has to contend with her mom grounding her and Principal Flutie giving her a lecture about not leaving school grounds, not to mention the slings and arrows of Cordy and the other popular girls.
In other words, while BtVS is (obviously) a big-time sci-fi / fantasy show dealing with vampires and demons and slayers, it is also taking place in the actual world where, unlike so much television (especially at the time), it's going to make an effort to reflect said actual world. The needs of the plot are not going to outweigh the facts of the situations in which the characters live - mostly because the writing is careful to take it into account instead of just being lazy.********
(2) The characters, while being impossibly fictional, are some of the most real you'll see on-screen
This is a fact that I and probably most of everyone reading this has had to struggle with in discussing Buffy and similar shows with people who aren't immediately taken with the premise. Yes, there are vampires and giant man-eating teacher-mantises, and the main character is The Chosen One, and etc etc. But within that framework, the characters are fully-developed people and have true-feeling emotional reactions to the events of the story, and grow and change, etc, just like real people.
I don't want to preach to the choir too much on this point, but it really struck me in this instance with respect to Luke - a more-or-less throwaway character that doesn't survive the second episode of the series and has maybe 5 minutes of total screen time, if that. But when The Master is disappointed that Luke has fought Buffy and yet she lived, The Master remarks that he can't remember the last time that happened. And Luke reacts like a proud immortal vamp should, by recalling that it was Madrid in 1843, then explaining that they caught him sleeping as a rationale for why it happened then.
Remember, Luke serves no function in the plot other than to be a big imposing guy that Buffy can beat to establish her bona fides for the audience, and the writers********** still take the time to flesh out a real reaction to the initial fight instead of just establishing that it happened and having Luke seethe and threaten revenge.
(3) Remember that nice group of friends? Make it one less.
While Jesse's death didn't necessarily indicate that anything could happen, it definitely demonstrated that we shouldn't get too comfortable. It may be hard to remember now, but re-watching these episodes, Jesse felt just like another member of the gang - the other characters all talk about him while he's missing, they treat his captivity by the vamps with the same concern and urgency that they later treat similar situations involving other friends. When he's vamped and then slayed*********** the show is saying that things can change, that we shouldn't assume that the good guys will always win and that the reset button will be pushed at the end of the episode.
(4) The more things change....
Having said all that, Point 3 really applies mostly to the internal Buffydom universe. Notwithstanding that 120 or so kids survived The Bronze, including seeing Luke and other vamps there, watching Luke drain a few humans, and seeing Buffy fight Luke, the episode ends by very opening making the point that society in general is not about to go all vamp-crazy without a LOT more evidence. The whole incident is apparently blown off by the populace as rival gangs fighting.************ As Giles explains, when people are confronted with things like rampaging vampires, their little brains hasten to rationalize what they can and forget what they cannot.
Frankly, this is a much more likely outcome than everyone suddenly carrying crosses and holy water. Although one would think that there would be a small underground of people trying to get to The Truth.
(5) Every girl likes the bad boy
Jesse finally gets at least some milage with Cordelia when he's a vamp, getting a dance with her. Meanwhile, Angel acts like even more of an ass than he did in Episode 1, lurking at the entrance to The Master's catacombs but not going down with her to help out, and then apparently hanging out outside The Bronze while she and the gang are inside saving the world. Obviously, she is destined to fall for him. Dammit.
Top Ten Episode Quotes
(10) Cordelia (to Willow): "Excuse me, who gave you permission to exist?"
(9) Xander: "I don't like vampires. I'm going to take a stand and say they're not good."
(8) Luke: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no cause for alarm. Actually, there is cause for alarm...it just won't do you any good."
(7) Jesse: "I am not okay, on an epic scale."
(6) Luke: "I thought you nothing more than a meal, boy. Congratulations, you've just been upgraded...to bait."
(5) Buffy: "Here's something you forgot about - sunrise!"
Luke covers face, claws at the air, then pauses and looks confused
Buffy: "It's in about 9 hours...moron"
(4) The Angel Semi-Ironic Quote of the Week: "She did it. I'll be damned."
(3) Willow: "I need to sit down."
Buffy: "You are sitting down."
Willow: "Oh....good...."
(2) Vamp Jesse: "I'm connected, man, to everything. I can hear the worms in the Earth!"
Xander: "That's...a plus?"
(1) Buffy: "So, Giles, got anything that could make this day any worse?"
Giles: "How about the end of the world?"
Buffy: "Knew I could count on you."
Coming Up Next:Episode 1.3: Witch. Anticipated BtVSRRP posting on Thursday 9/24. Ish.
* But then, what doesn't? This is what happens when you build your stupid city on a Hellmouth.**
** We can only assume that there are other Hellmouths (or similar dimensional cross-over type places), as otherwise the Slayer would presumably be stationed there at all times, and Our Gal Buffy seems to be the first one that the place has had in a while.
*** I know, these sentences are getting kind of run-on, aren't they? Maybe five sentences was a poor call on the limit? Or maybe I just need to learn to edit?
**** If the vamps had just thought for like 10 minutes about their plan instead of just assuming the impossibility of failure, we'd all be penned up like cows to feed their unholy thirst by now.
***** After all, this is a mid-size town in California. How could there be more than one teen hangout?
****** I had forgotten how silly Vamp Jesse's death is - Xander is holding him at stake-point when a terrified woman runs by and bumps into him, impaling him on the stake. Thank goodness that vamp rib cages are notoriously soft!
******* Any thoughts or suggestions about format would be greatly appreciated. For that matter, are these posterisks getting unwieldy? I needs me my endnotes and all, but distinguishing between 6 stars and 8 stars is hard enough for me, and I'm writing this damnable thing.
******** Which is not to say that the show always succeeds on this front. If any other student were to ever enter the library, they would see all kinds of charts and graphs and studious monster lore, for example.*********
********* Although I'm pretty positive that the show itself started making fun of this fact after a bit. Self-awareness always wins points with me.
********** Well, in this instance "the writers" = Joss alone, but you get the idea.
*********** Slayed? Slaid? Slain? Anyone? Bueller?
************ Of course, they revisit this phenomenon in later seasons also, with the police intimating that they and the local media have been involved in a cover-up for ages.