Buffy Review – The Complete Second Season

I just watched the entire second season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer to get ready for the release of the third season on DVD this Tuesday. That should hold me over until the first season of Angel comes out on February 11.

Cast

The complete cast and crew listings are availabl here from the
IMDB. The main stars are:
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers
Nicholas Brendan as Xander Harris
Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg
Anthony Stewart Head and Rupert Giles
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
David Boreanaz as Angel

The show is the brainchild of Joss Whedon.

Original Airdate

This season originally ran in the fall of 1997.

Synopsis

Spike and Drusilla, two nasty vampires sired by Angel, come to
Sunnydale to kill the Slayer.

High Point

Innocence was the episode that really kicked the season into
high gear. It was also the first to hint that even major characters
are not safe on this show, which was proven later in
Passion. It also happens to be a great episode.

Low Point

Go Fish was just a crummy episode. The only other aspect of
this season that might even be considered a low point was the low
effects budget, but that only showed in a couple of places (such as
the formation of bug man’s arm.)

The DVD Set

The DVD set has a nice set of extra features, including a few
commentaries, which are listed at www.TVShowsOnDVD.com.

The Review

This is an original show. Happy endings are never
guaranteed, obvious answers are rarely the right ones, and the setups
you see in every horror movie that you see here never end the way the
end in the movies. I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects were not always what they should have been. The
WB was a young network, so the money to do it right wasn’t there yet.
I give it 4 out of 6.

The story is the best part. Even the “freak of the week”
episodes tend to fill in some piece of a larger puzzle. There is no
status quo. I give it 6 out of 6.

The acting was generally good. David Boreanaz was lackluster
as usual until Innocence, at which point he kicked it into
high gear and kept it there for the rest of the season. I give the
team a 5 out of 6.

The emotional response this generated was some laughter in
the first half of the season, but no real suspense. That changed with
Innocence. At that point, they had me along for the ride. I
give it 4 out of 6.

The production was somewhat limited by the small budget.
They tried, and they did an excellent job with what they had
(including 16mm film stock,) but they needed more money to do the show
the way it deserved to be done. I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, this is some mighty fine TV. I’m in for the long
haul. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season Two receives 33
out of 42.