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dvd.review.buffy.the.vampire.slayer.season.2 |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 24 February 2005 00:00 |
 "Sorry, but I'm an old fashioned gal. I was raised to believe that men dig up the corpses and women have the babies."
Warnings: Spoilers lie within this review although I did my best not to
give the real major plot turns and characters and what not away.
Highlights:
Episode 1 - When She Was Bad - Buffy is struggling with a little
post-traumatic sydrome from her near-death encounter with the Master
last year. She's very distant from Giles and her friends and because of
her bad 'tude, her friends almost die!
Episode 3 - School Hard - This episode is the introduction of Spike and
Drusilla. While I thought the master was an enjoyable bad guy, albiet
one dimensional, Spike has the potential to really be a great ying to
Buffy's yang. Plus, "the annoying one" (as Spike calls him) gets offed.
He was pretty worthless, anyways.
Episode 9-10 - What's My Line (Part 1 & 2) - Another classic couple
of episodes! We get introduced to Kendra the Vampire Slayer (you
kidding me!?!) who almost kills Buffy's boy Angel. Spike's girlfriend
Drusilla is almost (???) brought back to power by sacrificing Angel.
I'm starting to feel that every episode with Spike is a classic and
every episode without him is a bit of a letdown.
Episode 13 - The Innocence - Ah dag... one character who I once
considered my boy is now a bad guy! This is the best episode of the
show so far. Completely didn't see this coming. There is nothing like
having not one but two bad guys (Spike and
the-don't-want-to-spoil-it-for-you-so-I'll-leave-him-nameless) that I
almost cheer for.
Episode 17 - Passion - My boy who turns bad decides it's time to get
back at all the people he used to be involved with. I hate to say it,
but I actually enjoy him more as a bad guy than a good guy. And I liked
him as a good guy! The scene where he sits outside of Buffy's window
after killing another semi-important cast member just to see her
reaction is so... (Rick James voice) cold... blooded!
Episode 21-22 - Becoming Part 1 & 2 - These are just brilliant
episodes. All season, you've been waiting to see the inevitable battle
of good versus evil. The Master was a good villian in the first season,
but the villian (who still remains nameless thanks to me not wanting to
give it away) is much more interesting and adds many more dimensions to
the Buffy vs. the underwold vs. her inter-feelings story that dominates
much of the show.
There are also a few episodes that aren't all that great. There weren't
any that I thought were total stinkers, but a few that didn't involve
vampires or Spike felt a little bit more lacking than the others. As a
whole, this was one of the better seasons of a tv show that I have seen.
Overall, the entire arc of the show is much better in this season than
in the first season. The Angel/Buffy storyline is absolutely great. On
a much smaller scale, the Giles/Jenny, Cordelia/Xander and the
Willow/Oz storylines are entertaining. The character that absolutely
makes the season, though, is my boy Spike. He's hilarious. He's the bad
guy that you almost have to root for. The first season had a lot of
stand-alone episodes with the Master thrown in at the end to tie it all
together. This season has an initial conflict and then a bit of a
cliffhanger for a resolution. It's television at it's finest ladies and
gents!
Audio & Video
Unfortunately, the video is 1:33 to 1 which is the original format it
was shown in and the audio is only 2-channel stereo which is normal for
a cable tv show. To be honest, it looks and sounds alright but the
picture is a little grainy and obviously not in the format I prefer and
the sound is limited but still sounds okay.
Extras
I must admit I skipped most of the extras just because I didn't want
any of the future seasons to be spoiled for me. There are interviews
with Joss Whedon about a few specific episodes spead out throughout the
discs and there are also commentaries for a select few episodes as
well. From the looks of things, though, the real meat of the extras is
found in the extras. "Designing Buffy" is 13-minutes and it features
interviews discussing why and how the show has the look it has. "A
Buffy Bestiary" looks very cool as it is a 29-minute feature with
interviews and behind the scenes stuff from most of the villians from
season 2. "Beauty and the Beasts" is a feature about the makeup used in
the show.
Value
Around 16-1/2 hours of television show at around $40 = $2.40 per hour. Right around average for a tv show.
Closing thoughts...
Many people probably have their mind made up about whether or not
they'd like Buffy before they'd ever even seen an episode. If you
haven't seen a single episode, do yourself a favor and at least make it
halfway through season 2. If by that point you aren't addicted, it's
not for you. I'd be willing to bet you'll wind up pleasantly
surpriseed, though.
Overall Score
TV Show - 9
Audio & Video - 6
Extras - Guessing about a 7
Overall - 8
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Last Updated on Sunday, 27 February 2005 23:00 |
