I was a late convert to Joss Whedon. My gateway drug was Firefly, and that wasn't even until after the movie had been out for a couple of years. It just so happened my roommate had the DVD set and one summer I decided to sit down and finally watch something from this Joss guy I'd heard so much about. I was hooked immediately and have since devoured any new stuff he's put out (except his comics work). Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible, and just this year The Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers. Going backwards though, was a more daunting task. Seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and five seasons of Angel is a lot of episodes. I finally got the push I needed when two of my favorite TV critics were going to be revisiting the first season of Buffy on their podcast.
You know what I found out? The first season of Buffy isn't all that great, but it shows signs of greatness.
First the bad. This is partly a sign of the times and what I imagine to be a tight budget, but the production values were pretty awful. The vampire makeup was great, and everything else ranges from passable to downright funny. The worst contenders were the praying mantis teacher and the internet demon robot. Not surprisingly, those were two of the worst episodes of the season, too. Those two in particular illustrated another issue with the season, stand alones. When The Master didn't show up, it usually meant it was not going to be one of the better episodes. I'm not against mixing in stand alones with arc episodes, in a show like this it can let them explore other genres and do fun things. In this season, for the most part, the stand alones failed to have spark, as if not tying into the greater story of the season left the writer flat. This got much better later in the season, specifically with "Nightmares," so I have hope for stand alones in subsequent seasons.
Overall I was pretty nonplussed by The Master. His episode were appreciably better than the ones without him, but as the season big bad, he didn't exactly live up. His scenes were almost always great, I especially love his aside about what an earthquake was on the Richter scale at the end of a speech of doom, but they were few and far between and too often just the beginning of the episode to send out whatever the gang will be facing this week. He was also defeated too easily, but I chalk that up to bad pacing more than anything else. As far as I know, this is the series that invented a season big bad, so this is probably just another case of growing pains. The Anointed One never really amounted to anything, but he's still around, so maybe he'll be back. I was also sad to see Darla dispatched already. I liked Julie Benz's performance and her connections with Angel.
The characterizations were for the most part pretty great, except for Cordelia. I was very glad to see her as an actual part of the action in the finale because the writers spent the better part of the season not really knowing what to do with her. Charisma Carpenter is in the credits and sometimes she felt really shoe-horned into episodes. She was used to good effect in the beginning as a foil to Buffy and whenever a plot involved something to do with popularity, but outside of that, it was mostly her boyfriend of the week was attacked by the episode bad guy. As one final minor gripe, David Boreanaz was pretty wooden as Angel early on. I've watched a fair share of Bones, I know this guy can act. He got better as the season went along, especially the spotlight episode "Angel," and I can only assume he continues that improvement.
Okay, that's out of the way. Everything else was pretty great. First and foremost the cast is plain phenomenal. Nicholas Brendon as everyman Xander with a crush on Buffy. Alyson Hannigan as nerdy girl next door Willow. Anthony Stewart Head as the paternal watcher, Giles. Even Charisma Carpenter was great as popular, stuck-up Cordelia when she was actually given story to work with. Everything hinges on our protagonist, though, and Sarah Michelle Gellar shines as Buffy Summers. She's managed the perfect mixture of vulnerability and kick-ass. When she's talking about the hardships of moving or being the slayer you can really sympathize with her struggle, but when a vampire needs to be dealt with she takes it on with aplomb. The scene in "Nightmares" where her father explains that she was the reason that her parents got divorced was just phenomenal work.
On the villain front, I'm really digging the idea that vampires are evil. This is entirely retrospective because they weren't around at the time, but the Twilight and True Blood outlook of vampires being just super people, some good, some bad, has gotten a little tiresome. Not in this universe. Vampires are a form of demon that no longer has a soul or conscience and that live only to feed and make mayhem. With the sole (soul! get it?) exception of Angel, of course. It's refreshing for this viewer, but probably didn't feel that way back in 1997.
The smartest thing about the entire show, though, was letting Xander and Willow find out right away. There can be a lot of drama mined from someone having to keep the burden of a secret from the ones they love, but it is usually dragged out way too long and it's something we've seen time and time again. Joss does love to subvert the norms, and we love him for it. Just witness the opening scene of the entire series where it turns out it's the girl luring the boy into a trap and not the expected other way around. Having Xander and Willow in on the slaying gives Buffy a support system, and more importantly a support system of peers so it's not just Giles being flustered by the life of a high school girl.
Overall, it started out great, a little weak in the middle with some bad and some good episodes, but a very strong finish. I have high hopes for season 2, and from what I know of the series, I don't think I'll be let down.
Stray Thoughts
- There a few things that a nerd like me can't help but know about this iconic series. One being that (SPOILER) Willow is a lesbian. That being said, at the moment, I am totally pulling for Willow and Xander. It's a testament to Alyson Hannigan's performance that I want her to get her male crush even though I know that she really likes girls.
- Xander practically killed his best friend, Jesse. Does that never get mentioned again? You'd think that would be a little traumatizing. At least affecting enough that you'd mourn losing your best friend.
- On that same note, a lot of kids at Sunnydale High seem to wind up dead and there's not much comment on it. It was used hilariously by the new principal (Quark!) constantly mentioning his predecessor being eaten.
- Speaking of the late Principal Flutie, I enjoyed the episode "The Pack" except the tag where it's revealed that Xander remembers all the stuff he did while under the hyena influence. It's played for laughs, but that means the rest of the affected kids remember eating their principal. That's worse than killing your best friend who has been turned into a vampire.
No comments:
Post a Comment