Buffy...finally...

[lirazel]

 Y’all…Buffy.

Oh, yes.  That’s right.  I’ve finally started watching what Nathaniel calls the greatest show of all times.  And I’m positively giddy with love for it. 

Season 1 was, let’s face it, pretty bad.  Very B-movie and somewhat cheesy—fun, but not great.  The emotional resonance that Joss puts such stock in wasn’t really showing yet.

I liked the characters, though.  Giles is so perfectly British, right from the beginning, that there was no way I was going to not love him with all my heart.  Xander is absolutely the typical high school guy, and never fails to make me laugh.  And I felt a lot of kinship with Willow in the first season—I’m a bookworm, not a computer geek, but it all evens out to the same thing in the end.  And shock of shocks, I actually like Buffy.  A lot.  I tend to be a bigger fan of the sidekicks than I usually am of the heroes, but even though Buffy and I have very, very little in common, I really felt for her, even when she was making mistakes. 

But when I finished that first season, I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it.  I mean, yeah, it was fun, but I don’t feel that deep of a connection with it.

Two weeks later, and I realized how much it’s sucked me in and I was dying waiting to see the next season. 

So a facebook message to a friend I know has every season and then I have Season 2 in my hands and I realize this show is mind-blowing.

Really.  Season 2 keeps the fun and the pop culture references and the snark (oh, snark.  How I love thee) but adds real problems and moral dilemmas and heartbreaks.  I bawled my eyes out in at least two episodes. 

So I know all of you have probably been fans for years, but I thought I’d still share what I’m loving about the show.  I’ve gotten a couple of episodes into Season 3, but I think I’ll just keep this about the first two seasons for now.  More forthcoming.

1. I worship Spike and Drusilla.  Greatest bad guys ever.  The Master in the first season was cheesy and over-the-top and not very well developed, and the Anointed was just annoying as heck.  But Spike and Dru….Is it wrong to miss the bad guys when they aren’t on screen?  Should I really think they’re cooler than anyone else on the show? 

They’re so twisted and snarky and in love and…Nick and Nora meets Sid and Nancy meets…Edward Cullen (I cannot believe I just made a Twilight reference.  Shoot me now).  I literally can’t tear my eyes away from the screen whenever they’re interacting.  And when Angel turned all evil and showed up and started hanging all over Dru, I wanted to scratch his eyes out because she belongs to Spike. 

I could go on for days, but I’ll stop now.  I promise.

2. Speaking of Angel, that whole storyline was brilliant.  Taking the typical girl’s fear of “If I sleep with this guy, will he still love me in the morning or was he just using me for sex?  Will he call me?  Will I regret this?” and blowing it up to an operatic scale was just so brave and right.  Innocence is one of the most painful things I’ve ever watched.  When they’re in Angel’s apartment and he’s saying all these horrible things to her and she still doesn’t realize he’s changed yet…that had to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever watched.

                And then in Becoming Part 2 when she finally gets him back for just a few moments, only to     
                have to sacrifice him to save the world….gah, rip my heart out.  I was sobbing, and how
                great was Sarah Michelle Gellar in that scene?  Love.  Just love. 

3. Jenny!  Oh, I loved Jenny.  And I loved that Giles loved her.  They were so cute and wonderful together and just perfect, and then Angel killed her!

4. Who knew that I would love Seth Green so much?  But I just think Oz is the sweetest guy in the world.  I adore how much he adores Willow.  That whole scene where he was telling her he was going to wait to kiss her till he was sure she was going to kiss him back made me sort of fall in love with him.  I know Willow’s going to come out later, and that makes me sad because I just love her with Oz!  Oh, well. 

5. Speaking of people I love together: Xander and Cordelia?  Too much fun.  I have to admit that I fangirl Charisma Carpenter quite a bit, for reasons I’m not too clear on.  But I love her as Kendall Casablancas and I love her as Cordelia Chase, even though they’re both the type of people I would hate in real life.  And I just love Xander cuz he’s so very Xander.

But I think the reason I like them together is because Cordy really grows up.  She sacrifices the most important thing in her life—her popularity—to be with him.  And from careful watching, I think it’s clear that she totally wants to be as important to him as he is to her.  But he’s totally taking her for granted in that teenage boy kind of way, and it breaks my heart.  The whole “You’d never die for me”/”No, but I might die from you” was funny, yes, but it really broke my heart because she wants him to make that kind of commitment to her and he just won’t.  

And then when he asks for the necklace back and she pretends she doesn’t care about it and hides that she had it on…my heart broke for her.  I think it’s clear that she’s really grown up in Go Fish when she thinks he’s turned into the fish thing and she still gives him that speech about how they can still be together and do anything to help his quality of life.  I just love them.

6. My favorite funny scene in the show thus far?  When Spike is going to help Buffy defeat Angel in exchange for saving Dru’s life, and Buffy takes him to her house.  Spike and Joyce sit there in the living room with their tea, staring in different directions and not saying anything.  I was giddy with laughter from that scene.
   

7. I love Giles.  Have I mentioned that?

8. I want to bash Principal Snyder’s brains out. 

9. Favorite episodes? 

Favorite fun ones: Halloween and Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.

Favorite emotionally resonant ones: Innocence and Becoming Part 2. 

Favorite from Season 1: Angel. 

                Least favorite episode from Season 2: Bad Eggs (even if there was that brilliant part
                where Cordy and Xander were trying to one-up each other in class). 

10.   Has anyone else noticed that Killed by Death is exactly the same episode as Something Wicked from Supernatural?  EXACT SAME!  It’s quite a credit to the writers of Something Wicked that it’s still a fantastic episode, even after I’ve seen Killed By Death.

11.   Buffy makes me want to be able to kick ass.  And I’ve never really wanted to kick ass before.  It’s a weird feeling. 

12.   Giles really has a dark past and a nickname like “Ripper”?  Brilliant!  I hope I learn lots more about this later.

13.   Watching this show is a whole lot more fun than reading Moll Flanders.  A whole lot.

 

Yeah.  Love all over the place!

Comments

[shamoogity.livejournal.com]

I'm so jealous that you're watching Buffy for the first time. I can't really imagine that I'll ever love a show as much as I love that one. Keep posting your reactions; they're a great read.

[belovedranger.livejournal.com]

Yay, Buffy! I watched the first three seasons on dvd a few months ago. Loved them.

Cordelia makes me giggle. So many great characters.

I really liked the Angel/Buffy storyline.

[ava-leigh-fitz.livejournal.com]

OH. MY. GOD (because this needs Janice-level of freaking.out)
I am so glad you took the plunge because Buffy owns my life. Quite seriously, as a pre-teen this was the most important tv show I ever watched. I even defied my parents by watching it because I loved it so much. And I'm so glad you love it too!

I worship Spike and Drusilla. Greatest bad guys ever. Oh they are indeed. They should be villains on every show, especially Dru (I love her! She's so full of evil!win it's nearly unbearable, except for the part where it's not)

I have to say, it's been forever since I saw early Buffy but now you make me want to go and buy the seasons all over again. Because I still don't own the damn thing Pivotal point of my early adolescene and nothing to show for it. Apart from the incoherence when I talk about it apparently.

Taking the typical girl’s fear of “If I sleep with this guy, will he still love me in the morning or was he just using me for sex? Will he call me? Will I regret this?” and blowing it up to an operatic scale was just so brave and right.
Just how much do you love Joss for this? The metaphors he and his writers construct throughout this entire series is one of the oh so many things that makes it great. And yes, that episode still breaks your heart after the fifteenth viewing.

*smooshes Oz* He is fantastic. I always loved Oz, trust me, you will only love him more later. A little wavering perhaps but when you see that episode, you'll know what I'm talking about. Come find me when you do.


when he asks for the necklace back and she pretends she doesn’t care about it and hides that she had it on…my heart broke for her
Honestly? I'm getting teary-eyed remembering it. Charisma Carpenter is just fantastic. I liked her as the popular bitch and as the girl that Xander never quite realises he has. She is love and she breaks my heart.

How can I not remember that Spike/Joyce scene? Seriously, I'm going to have to find it because it's irritating me now by not being able to picture it.

Has anyone else noticed that Killed by Death is exactly the same episode as Something Wicked from Supernatural? Which one is that again?

Buffy makes me want to be able to kick ass...It’s a weird feeling. Doesn't she just? It's bizarre isn't it.

Apologies for this nonsense, but I have fangirled enough about Buffy in a good long while.