Buffy Season Two Episode Five
"Buffy, it's like we're sisters, with really different hair."
Frat party, with boring monster at the end, and boring attempt at human sacrifice. But up 'til then, this episode is relatively sure-handed, the "nice guy" frat guy doing a good job of attracting Buffy through his babbling hesitance and humility. In fact, if the script had been written around that, around Buffy's compassionate nature being both a strength and a potential vulnerability, we'd have a strong episode. The theme of Giles pushing Buffy too hard in training is pushed too hard, and there's still too much heavy sadness in the Buffy-Angel courtship (not that the sadness isn't plausible, given the situation, but plausibility doesn't make it art). But this is lightened in advance by superb Willow exposition of the sociological ramifications of asking someone for coffee:
Buffy: "I'm brainsick. I can't have a relationship with him."
Willow: "Not during the day, but you could ask him for coffee some night. It's the nonrelationship drink of choice. It's not a date; it's a caffeinated beverage. OK, sure, it's hot and bitter like a relationship, that way, but..."
So this makes coffee both amusing and potentially romantic for the rest of the story, as asking Buffy out for coffee recurs. The Willow-Buffy convo, like most of the best conversations, takes place in motion: Willow and Buffy walking in tandem down the hallway but Willow purposeful in her movement and speech, while Buffy next to her is sweetly uncertain and attentive, trying to find solace and insight in Willow's words, the two girls part of the hallway flow. I'm continuing to enjoy the school decor: down the stairs they go, landing next to bright sunny glass double doors, in bright sunny Sunnydale, then turning up a hallway lit by this brightness.
The Cordelia character is back to shtick, but the script suggests that she's slowly learning to need Buffy. Xander holds his own in outfront nastiness when confronting/engaging Cordelia, which works well this time, an edge to his character that he's going to have to figure out what to do with. (Or he can be like me and never figure it out.)
Frat party, with boring monster at the end, and boring attempt at human sacrifice. But up 'til then, this episode is relatively sure-handed, the "nice guy" frat guy doing a good job of attracting Buffy through his babbling hesitance and humility. In fact, if the script had been written around that, around Buffy's compassionate nature being both a strength and a potential vulnerability, we'd have a strong episode. The theme of Giles pushing Buffy too hard in training is pushed too hard, and there's still too much heavy sadness in the Buffy-Angel courtship (not that the sadness isn't plausible, given the situation, but plausibility doesn't make it art). But this is lightened in advance by superb Willow exposition of the sociological ramifications of asking someone for coffee:
Buffy: "I'm brainsick. I can't have a relationship with him."
Willow: "Not during the day, but you could ask him for coffee some night. It's the nonrelationship drink of choice. It's not a date; it's a caffeinated beverage. OK, sure, it's hot and bitter like a relationship, that way, but..."
So this makes coffee both amusing and potentially romantic for the rest of the story, as asking Buffy out for coffee recurs. The Willow-Buffy convo, like most of the best conversations, takes place in motion: Willow and Buffy walking in tandem down the hallway but Willow purposeful in her movement and speech, while Buffy next to her is sweetly uncertain and attentive, trying to find solace and insight in Willow's words, the two girls part of the hallway flow. I'm continuing to enjoy the school decor: down the stairs they go, landing next to bright sunny glass double doors, in bright sunny Sunnydale, then turning up a hallway lit by this brightness.
The Cordelia character is back to shtick, but the script suggests that she's slowly learning to need Buffy. Xander holds his own in outfront nastiness when confronting/engaging Cordelia, which works well this time, an edge to his character that he's going to have to figure out what to do with. (Or he can be like me and never figure it out.)