Home | About | Wallpapers | Links
| Episode 2.02: Some Assembly Required
Characters:
| Buffy | Angel | Xander |
| Willow | Giles | Cordelia |
Overall (6/10)
Buffy:
Buffy has issues. Major issues. See, she died last year, so now she's all angsty about it. I have always been impressed with BtVS in that it actually deals with dramatic fall-out instead of pushing the dreaded "reset" button. It's nice to see an episode centered around this.
For this ep, Buffy seems to regress to a snobby, meaner version of herself. From scene one, she's harsh towards her friends. She also shows a great deal of hostility towards Giles. It's telling that in her nightmare, she sees Giles attempting to kill her before he turns into the Master. It seems like Buffy, on some level, blames Giles for failing to take care of her.
Buffy also does what she can to drive her friends away. Obviously, her dying had such a strong impact that she doesn't want to risk that happening to somebody else.
Also, a part of her surely feels invincible, like she can say or do anything without repercussion. So she does. She does the little sexy dance and hurls insults at Cordelia.
Let's also note that we do see a bit of Buffy's "It's all about me"-syndrome. When Giles notes that the ritual requires the person closest to the Master, she immediately thinks that it's her. My first thought was, "How'd you figure?". Who knows? Maybe the guy had a girlfriend or something hidden away somewhere.
By the end, she faces her issues and literally smashes them apart. Then she has a good cry and goes back to being happy with her friends. Yay.
Angel:
And Angel keeps up his creepy stalker routine. Am I the only one wigged by a 200-year-old guy sneaking into a 16-year-old girl's bedroom at night while she's sleeping? I guess so, cause everybody else finds it romantic.
Anyway, creepy pedophiliac thoughts aside, Angel gets to play the bruised puppy dog when Buffy lashes out at him. The first couple times, he slinks away to brood. Finally, though, he shows some balls and unsuccessfully confronts her as to how she's acting. He doesn't get very far, though, but I'll give him points for making an attempt.
At the end, Angel puts on his concerned face and comforts Buffy while she angsts.
Emote, Angel, emote!
Xander:
Xander is such a typical teenage boy. He's spent the summer pining over Buffy. However, he makes the beginning of the moves on Willow at the beginning? What is that? Some hidden attraction? Seeing Willow as a Buffy-substitute? Good old-fashioned boy-hormones?
Course, once Buffy shows up, Willow's immediately forgotten and it's All About Buffy. To his credit, even Xander looks wigged by the sexy dance she does for him. He knows, though he doesn't want to, that something isn't right in BuffyLand. And when Willow is taken by the baddie, Xander outright threatens Buffy if she gets her killed. Xander, as always, is loyal.
It's also interesting to note that Xander does seem rather concerned about Cordelia when they find that she's been taken. Hints of what's to come?
Poor Willow. That's all we need to say. She spends the entire summer with Xander who's pining over Buffy. She almost gets a consolation kiss before a vamp interrupts. By the time Willow has a chance to recreate the moment, Xander has moved on to the Buffster.
In this episode, we get cheerleader!Willow, eagerly asking Buffy about Angel smoochies. But we also get assertive!Willow when she takes Buffy to task for her behavior. This is a Willow that rarely shows her head in the early seasons, and it's refreshing to see her call Buffy on how she's acting.
Anybody else see a bit of Ripper coming out when he's talking to Jenny? He seems rather interested in the naked portions of the Burning Man Festival.
Giles, for his part in the episode, does a wonderful job delivering exposition. He makes moon-eyes at Miss Calendar, and has some absolutely hysterical conversations with Principal Snyder. That's about it.
Oh, Cordelia, how do I love you? True to form, she's catty, snobby, and generally unlikeable in a likeable sort of way. She seems genuinely excited about the prospect of facing more demons, though. Note her face when asking the Three Musketeers if there's any demony stuff going on. That girl is looking for some supernatural action, though she'll protest that she's not.
It's also a joy to have Cordelia chew Buffy out. She gets to say exactly what we are all thinking. And that's why we love her.
Plot? Oh, I guess there was one somewhere in there. This episode was mainly a vehicle for dealing with Buffy's death. Basically, some vamps working for the Anointed One are gonna resurrect the Master. They don't, though.
The main baddie is Buffy, herself, as she pushes away her friends and, in doing so, puts them all in mortal danger.
However, the literal baddie is some vamp that talks better than he fights as he's taken out fairly quickly at the end. Nothing spectacular.
Not an arc episode, really. If anything, it ties up loose ends from last season's arc.
Not a bad episode. The plot isn't really here or there. But it succeeds in what it sets out to do. Special performance award goes to Armin Shimerman because he just amuses the hell out of me as Principal Snyder.
If an average episode is a 5 out of 10, then this one is a 6. Good, but not extraordinary.
My first Buffy wallpaper. It shows. I wanted to give Snyder some fan-love cause he never gets any.
Credits:
Caps: Screencap Paradise
Textures: Unknown
Fonts: Army of Darkness (Link), Demon Night (Link)
Brushes: None
*Some resources were used that I can't identify. All resources are generally linked to on the links page, but if you recognize an uncredited resource let me know so I can note it with the actual wallpaper.
| Episode 2.02: Some Assembly Required
Home | About | Wallpapers | Links