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| Writer: | Joss Whedon |
| Director: | John T. Kretchmer |
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| - | Review |
"Welcome to the Hellmouth" [1x01] largely succeeded because of its overwhelming focus on establishing the characters and setting up some of the core themes that will fuel the series at large. "The Harvest," on the other hand, doesn't really do any of that. This is a very plot-heavy episode with a plot that isn't that good. This presents a problem, which translates to a troubled episode.
"The Harvest" is characterized by a lot of long poorly paced scenes that are trying to play off as suspenseful, but mostly come off as boring. I'm just simply not invested in the corny Luke helping the Master or whatever's going on with Jesse. Luke is talked up a bit as some kind of dangerous vampire, yet he's ultimately a pathetic fighter and more than a little dumb. On top of this, the action sequences can be generously characterized as mediocre, with the big ending action set piece being poorly directed and lifeless. Over in the library not much else of interest happens as we mostly just get a whole lot of dry exposition from Giles and Willow.
While I clearly have some serious issues with the episode, it's fortunately not a total loss. There are some decent character beats mixed in. I enjoyed the little bit where Buffy asks Angel if he knows what it's like having friends only to get a sad non-response. That beat nicely establishes Angel's role as an outsider and gets him a bit of sympathy from both Buffy and the viewer, which becomes important when Buffy begins feeling things for the guy.
Another bit of revealing characterization comes from Xander who, despite his better judgment (and Buffy's clear wishes), goes to help his friends out of a sense of loyalty. This loyalty will save Buffy's life in "Prophecy Girl" [1x12] and be useful many times in the future. This turns out to actually be one of Xander's best qualities.
In the latter part of the episode Joyce essentially grounds Buffy from going out again right at the time when she has to go – to save the world. Joyce says "I know. If you don't go out it'll be the end of the world. Everything is life or death when you're a sixteen-year-old girl." Beyond having amusing irony, it's also revealing of how Buffy uses metaphor. S1 of Buffy, in particular, is a series of largely stand-alone stories that toy around with the theme of high school as hell and it uses metaphor as the vehicle in which to deliver this theme. As the series progresses we see this theme and the metaphors used to serve them used more directly to evolve the characters. So this nice scene with Joyce turns out to be a nice hint of the approach to come.
My favorite scene of the episode occurs right after the conversation between Buffy and Joyce. Buffy reaches into her closet and pulls out a big chest. After opening it we can see that the top layer is filled with all kinds of usual girlie items. After a brief pause, Buffy pulls off the top layer to reveal a secret area filled with usual slayer items. This is a wonderful moment with neat symbolic relevance. Think about how this parallels the shot, in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" [1x01], where the camera goes from the sunny surface of the high school, moves downward, goes through the dirt in the ground, and then arrives underground to reveal the danger than lurks below the sunny surface. Just like Sunnydale has two sides to it, Buffy has a complex duality in her personality – an internal war between, as termed in "The Replacement" [5x03], Buffy-Buffy and Slayer-Buffy -- that will take seven years for her to fully come to understand and come to terms with. This symbolic moment here in "The Harvest" speaks to a central character dilemma.
"The Harvest" has a few memorable character beats and a few nice moments, but in the end it's a really troubled episode that struggles to keep afloat. If the episode actually had some depth to it or had at least a little substantial character growth or had a notably stronger plot, I could see myself liking this one a notch more, but as it stands it just can't climb completely out of its own grave despite a few attempts to. It's a shame that the pilot episode couldn't finish out strong.
| - | Minor Pros/Cons (+/-) |
| Pros: | |
| + | Giles explaining the basic history of the Buffyverse. It's a little exposition-y, but necessary. |
| + | The irony of an old vampire master being stuck in an old buried church. |
| + | Willow looking all concerned at how close Giles hovers over her in the library. |
| + | Buffy's flip over the gate (a gate I don't think we ever see again). |
| + | The long-haired hippie guy poking his head into frame around Cordelia's computer monitor. Haha. |
| + | Hey, there's Harmony! It's quite funny thinking about how she ends up in the final episode of Angel, 11 seasons later. |
| + | Buffy going bowling with Vampire Jesse. |
| + | Strange but neat shot of the vampire pack arriving at the Bronze all slo-mo and menacing. |
| + | Buffy's chipper attitude after crashing the vampire party at the Bronze. She brightens up an otherwise boring sequence. |
| Cons: | |
| - | Odd 'off' editing in the scene in the cemetery where Buffy is rescuing Willow and Xander. |
| - | Buffy all melodramatically saying "Jesse" when both she and us barely knows the guy. |
| - | The library exposition scenes drag on far too long. |
| - | Cordelia's computer failure isn't funny, just kind of lame. I did enjoy the bit of real C++ code on her screen though. |
| - | It's still a shame that it takes so long for Cordelia to show any signs of depth. |
| - | The Master's a pretty boring, cheesy villain here. He gets a bit better later in the season, but not much. |
| - | Xander's "heads up" crack during the fight at the Bronze is silly, poorly delivered, and just not funny. It doesn't help that the characters haven't earned the right to even attempt a silly joke like that yet. |
| - | Quotes |
| XANDER: | Okay, this is where I have a problem. See, because we're talking about vampires. We're having a talk with vampires in it. |
| WILLOW: | Isn't that what we saw last night? |
| BUFFY: | No. No, those weren't vampires; those were just guys in thundering need of a facial. Or maybe they had rabies. It could have been rabies. |
| WILLOW: | Oh, I, I need to sit down. |
| BUFFY: | You are sitting down. |
| WILLOW: | Oh. Good for me. |
| BUFFY: | He asked me to get a book for him. Uh, from the store, 'cause I have a free period, and I'm a big reader. Did it mention that in my transcripts? |
| FLUTIE: | Mr. Giles? |
| BUFFY: | Ask him. |
| FLUTIE: | Well, maybe that's how they do things in Britain, they've got that royal family and all kinds of problems, but here at Sunnydale nobody leaves campus while school's in session. |
| XANDER: | You've done some beheading in your time? |
| BUFFY: | Oh, yeah. There was this time I was pinned down by this guy that played left tackle for varsity... well, at least he used to before he was a vampire. Anyway, he had this really, really thick neck, and all I had was a little, little Exact-O knife... |
| WILLOW: | I think, maybe... I surfed through the old newspapers around the time of that big earthquake back in '37? And for several months before there were a rash of murders. |
| GILES: | Great! |
| GILES: | The earth is doomed. |
| - | Score | Learn about the Grading Scale |
| 57/100 |
D+ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ |
Just too flawed to quite recommend. There might be a few entertaining moments, but they're completely outweighed by a likely awful plot and slight-to-no character significance.
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Comments (48)
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| 1. | LatoyaMay 1, 2007 (Tue)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I thought that Buffy talking about beheading was hilarious. It was very consistent for Buffy to get grounded by her mom for her slayer related activities. Having to sneak out of her bedroom window every night to kill demons and stop apocalypses. It is very sad that Buffy--a very ethical goody two shoes--is letting her mom think she is a trouble making delinquent because she knows she won't believe the truth. When she first told Joyce her secret she put her in a mental institution against her will for 3 weeks. The second time she told her (actually staking a vamp in front of her!) she kicks her out of the house. Poor Buffy. |
| 2. | MarieMay 11, 2007 (Fri)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I have watched this episode several times and have enjoyed it each time. The plot is a little slow, but I think that is in order to make the show seem more realistic. I don't think I would be able to find out where Jessie is before Buffy does. The character dialogue and characters again keep the show interesting. |
| 3. | buffyholicOct 3, 2007 (Wed)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I don´t even notice the slow pacing because I´m having so much fun with the episode. Yes, Luke is corny but I love the scoobies and I love the dialogue. The dialogue is what makes this episode so damn enjoyable. It´s nice to see them all cute and carefree here. |
| 4. | AustinOct 4, 2007 (Thu)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Yeah the "good old days" feeling really gets you durring a S1 rewatchad |
| 5. | AndrewDec 26, 2007 (Wed)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| My biggest problem with this episode is the zero emotional reaction to Jesse's death, conversion to vampiredom, and staking. I mean, OK, so Buffy had only known him for a day or so and was probably pretty much used to that sort of thing by then, but Xander and Willow really ought to have reacted in some way. |
| 6. | MichaelAug 3, 2008 (Sun)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I disagree with Andrew. They take time to deal with Jesse's death. Xander's reaction is pretty well-acted. They definitely could've taken more time to show this rather than the constant and annoying sequences with Buffy wandering around dark hallways, with scary music playing in the background.
WTTH is definitely the better of the two because it is more about the characters than the fairly lame Harvest storyline, but this episode still was not downright BAD. I'd give it more like a 55/100 myself. I've been rewatching S1 though and trying to be a little less harsh on these episodes because of the obvious circumstances of the crew not having enough $$/resources to create the amazing kinds of episodes they do so later on. |
| 7. | Rob in MichiganFeb 18, 2009 (Wed)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I have to say that I think you're too harsh on this one, too. Although there are some harsh moments, for a season premiere it did what it needed to do. And, yes, the Scoobies forgot about Jessie's death awfully fast which is a definite negative. On the positive, was Buffy's beating the vampires in the Bronze, especially the way that she uses her brain to trick "The Vessel".
Angel blows, frankly. David, uh, was awkward, sure. But, for the most part, it worked well. And, we get a sense of who the characters' are right off the bat. And, we like them. I like this as a departure from Buffy, the Movie and the start of the series. I'm pretty sure that I'd see this in the C range, but it's good for a "we need to explain who the main guys are and what the setting is" and the shock of Jesse being killed was a good twist. |
| 8. | SeleneJul 20, 2009 (Mon)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Major pro in this episode? Willow throwing the holy water in Darla's face to get her off Giles. Score one for the computer nerd! |
| 9. | KateAug 12, 2009 (Wed)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| And yes, this episode sucked. At least it wasn't F!!! hehe. |
| 10. | EmilyAug 31, 2009 (Mon)View This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I'm on my sixth rewatch of Buffy here....and decided to read- and comment on- your reviews again. You really do a great job of reviewing and helping me understand the show, Mike. Did you ever notice how Xander says, after he kicks the trash can, "I don't like vampires. I'm gonna take a stand and say they're not good." I don't know if Joss meant this as a foreshadowing, but in all 7 seasons, Xander has unqualified, complete dislike of all vampires- including Angel and Spike. Seems to me like he took this stand and never wavered once- even when he was proven otherwise. |
| 11. | Mr. ValentineFeb 5, 2010 (Fri) @ 4:16pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I never really liked the first season. To me most of the episodes looked like bad acting. But, hey.. they were still growing into their roles. |
| 12. | Smallprint84Mar 2, 2010 (Tue) @ 4:07amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Yeah, the first season wasn't much great, but still it is needed for the series to understand it. What I like about S1 and 2 a bit that it looks like a big hommage to B-horror films. So unique for a tv-show. But indeed the show starts really with S2.
Plus, I find the opening credits of S2 one of the coolest ones. I think they should have kept this audio version for the rest of the seasons. The bassline and drums is so badass, the opening with the organ, like a old vampire flick and its a bit faster. And that scream in the middle, haha. |
| 13. | AttackedWithHummusMar 22, 2010 (Mon) @ 2:55pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| There is also some foreshadowing (which I find clever) in Angel saying "I'll be damned" - a hint to his reveal as a vamp. |
| 14. | Darth RosieApr 6, 2010 (Tue) @ 2:35amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| one of my all-time favourite scenes: ############ WILLOW: (interjects) No, she's not. CORDELIA: What? WILLOW: She's not a psycho. You don't even know her. CORDELIA: Excuse me? Who gave you permission to exist? Do I horn in on your private discussions? No. Why? Because you're boring. HARMONY: Okay, I think the program's done. CORDELIA: Finally the nightmare ends! Okay, so how do we save it? WILLOW: Deliver. CORDELIA: Deliver? Where's that? (searches the keyboard) Oh! She hits the "Del" key, and her program disappears. She stares at the screen in wide-eyed, open-mouthed horror. ################## you can see here that willow has always had a taste for revenge! this is some incredible forshadowing ... |
| 15. | MaxApr 6, 2010 (Tue) @ 9:50amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| you can see here that willow has always had a taste for revenge! this is some incredible forshadowing ...
______________ Or rather just over analysing things. I doubt this was intended as that. It was just sticking up for her friend rather than a slow build up to where they were going to take Willow in s6. |
| 16. | Kris10May 1, 2010 (Sat) @ 5:19amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| This grade made my eyes bulge a little. I can't help but think you jumped on the Buffy bangwagon after the party had already started. Most people who champion the later seasons tend to knock season one. I understand, I really do. But... damn, you guys don't get what you're missing. I wish I could explain, but it's not totally rational. It's the fuzzy feelings you have for the beginning, expressing themselves as A s for everything that is Season One. That said, I enjoy reading your reviews. |
| 17. | GuidoMay 1, 2010 (Sat) @ 4:20pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| @Kris10, I guess there are two ways of looking at Season One: its stand-alone merits, and its contribution to the overall 7-season run. I feel strongly that ratings for Season One should not rely on comparisons to later seasons. Except for a comparative reference to Darla's character in Angel, this review seems self-contained. However, I agree that the rating seems pretty harsh, which leads me to wonder if the "sins of Season 1" phenomenon hasn't creeped in a bit.
I like to imagine Buffy-Season One as a show that was never renewed, and yet we all still remember it and love it (which I think would indeed be the case). How would the ratings look then? Only Mike can answer that. It will be interesting to read his ratings when he revisits this season in the future (as he has indicated he plans to do). |
| 18. | Kris10May 2, 2010 (Sun) @ 10:38pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I think all fans have different criteria. When I first started watching the show, even the fashion choices were a factor. (Buffy's platform shoes KILLED season three.) Now that I'm no longer 12... my criteria have changed, and I look at the show more comprehensively. That helps me understand the criticism people level at season one, but to me, it's like judging the geocentric theory by today's standards, or listening to Fats Waller after hearing experimental jazz. Knowing what we know now, we know the road goes so much farther and deeper. But (going back to Buffy), when you didn't yet know how the stories were going to unfold, or how the characters were going to develop, at that point, season one was pretty darn awesome. I agree that a different sort of lens is required to fully appreciate the season. I'll definitely be checking back to get his "revamped" take. :) Thanks for the response. And I greatly appreciate the use of the Buffy font in the captcha box! |
| 19. | yippers6Jul 11, 2010 (Sun) @ 8:15pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| i agree with you mikejer there are alot of corny villians |
| 20. | LizzieJul 22, 2010 (Thu) @ 2:37pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Mike, even though I usually always agree with you take on things, I don't see the pacing problem you talked about in this episode. It didn't have the best plot ever, but the little things that were good, were actually great. Like Buffy staking a vamp with a tree branch! Awesome. Also, Buffy tricking Luke was great. It's true The Master sucks as a villain, but he can be funny. All in all, I would rate this episode a C-. Just my humble opinion. |
| 21. | MikeJerJul 22, 2010 (Thu) @ 3:02pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Lizzie, I will be rewriting all my S1 reviews very soon. Expect the same overall opinion of the season but much more thorough and nuanced reviews with more precise scoring. |
| 22. | TylerJul 29, 2010 (Thu) @ 1:26pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| As you rewrite these, you might give some more consideration to "corny" Luke! He's surprisingly nuanced and fun for his short time in the series. Consider his prideful embarassment as he describes the last time he was defeated in battle (he remembers the year!) or how he genuinely doesn't understand why people aren't volunteering to sacrifice themselves for the Harvest.
Even though you're right--these episodes wear a bit on multiple viewings--I never get tired of old Luke. |
| 23. | MikeJerAug 28, 2010 (Sat) @ 1:01pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| ADMIN NOTE: This episode review has been completely rewritten. In light of this, references to the old review have been edited out of the the above comments. |
| 24. | G1000Aug 28, 2010 (Sat) @ 7:26pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I actually liked this one a lot, simply because I thought it was an acceptable conclusion to the opening storyline. It's not brilliant, but not bad. |
| 25. | buffyholicAug 29, 2010 (Sun) @ 3:52amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I am having so much fun with the characters that the plot doesn´t bother me.
And how cute is Willow here? btw, I think you going through the series again to polish up your reviews is a very good idea. |
| 26. | DarthMarionAug 29, 2010 (Sun) @ 3:01pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Good review Mike, as good as the ep lets you do it! Not a fan of Harvest myself, except that recently I had a little epiphany. You talk beautifully about the scene between Buffy and Angel. Myself, until recently I couldn't really appreciate how the ship begins, how Buffy's feelings developped in season one. And I watched this scene again and now I get it, it starts just here when she can relate with him like with no one else. He alone can understand the loneliness.... |
| 27. | TomSep 6, 2010 (Mon) @ 8:02pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| "Hey, there's Harmony! It's quite funny thinking about how she ends up in the final episode of Angel, 11 seasons later." 11 seasons? Wouldn't it be 8? |
| 28. | Michael CarruthersSep 16, 2010 (Thu) @ 8:35pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| MikeJer is probably including the other seasons of Angel with the "11 seasons later" comment..
It's freaky how much I actually agree with you.. Pretty much everything is spot on. Especially the comment about Buffy's scene with Angel, one of the episode's only really decent scene. The way Angel behaves, all quirky, mysterious and just non-Angel-like, is sooo annoying for the first few episodes. But when Buffy mentions about friends, he instantly turns into the brooding Angel we come to know later on. This, to me at least, shows that his whole "mysterious 'friend'" thing is just an act to lead Buffy off his scent. It makes up for some of Angel's crappy scenes this season, such as the one in WTTH where Buffy first meets him. Though Xander following Buffy into the sewer is decent character-wise, it didn't really make sense. He would've seen Angel in the mausoleum. Angel definitely didn't have enough time to get down the stairs behind Buffy before Xander would've seen him, the only real explanation is that Angel backed into some shadow in the mausoleum or staircase so as to not be seen by Xander. Also, in the sewer scenes, why are the vamps walking so damn slow? Wouldn't they want to EAT Buffy and Xander, or take them as a serving to The Master? They walk reaaaally slowly towards them and take forever to catch up once they get into that dank room where Jesse makes his big reveal. Clearly The Master wanted them dead from his frustration following this. Was just really cheesy, you can tell the show is trying to set itself up as too much of a horror series, but it's still non-sensical. The vamps would've definitely caught up, even if they were walking.. I think you were a little soft on this episode ;) Or maybe I'm just a harsher critic. There were a few things to like here - for example, I also really liked your favourite scene of the episode, and also loved the slow-mo shot of the vamps: its the only time in the whole episode or the one before that they seem the slightest bit scary - but most of it was Buffy wandering through darkened hallways with crappy music, or Giles explaining everything at the library. And Luke and The Master's exclamations during The Harvest itself were just awful, and laughable. "MOOOOOOORE!!! GIVE ME MOOOOOOOOOOOORE!" And The Master's "NOOOOOOOO!!" when his plan fails. LOL! And I hated the "we averted the apocalypse" line. Ummm, how? THAT was going to cause the end of the world? Some vamps feeding at the Bronze? The whole harvest plan would've not gone anywhere fast ;-) Anyways, the series gets a lot better later on with the whole 'apocalypse' thing. I'd say a 50/100 from me. And even that feels really generous. |
| 29. | debisibDec 17, 2010 (Fri) @ 10:10amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| uhhh... Master (to Luke the vampire): My blood is your blood. My soul is your soul. ... The master is a vampire. He should have no soul. if they knew angel would be the vampire with a soul, why would they ignore it in this line? |
| 30. | ArachneaJan 24, 2011 (Mon) @ 10:34pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Visit the forum made me want to watch Buffy and Angel again. I'll take the opportunity to read the reviews after each episode, just to compare my feelings freshly, so thank you for the great work. About the soul, in the first episode, they talk about a "demon soul". I like to imagine that vampires have demon souls as opposed to human souls. I also remember vampires talking about being soul mates and we can notice that they have their own codes about "family", "loyalty", "endanger the race", "being a shame for their kin". In brief, the human soul gives you the ability of making emotionally the difference between good and evil, and therefore the capacity to feel remorse, the notion of guilt or the satisfaction of having done a good deed. I think the demon soul makes vampires something more than just basic animals: they do have feelings, they have needs to bonding, they have a conscience, but definitely not with the same standards as humans. Well, writing it makes it feel a bit silly, but I like let my imagination take over in those puzzling and inexplicable situations. About the episode, I mostly agree with the review, though I tend to forgive many flaws due to the youth of the show. I'm just glad Luke dies, he bored me to death :-p |
| 31. | CoyoteBuffyFanFeb 4, 2011 (Fri) @ 7:11pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| How many times do you have a show where character themes carry through an entire show? The whole "Xander feels useless" characterization starts right here in this episode and carries all the way to the end of the show. That is so great. Are there some character discrepancies between these first few episodes and the rest of the series? Yes, particularly with Darla and Angel, but they get it so right with Buffy, Xander, and Willow. It is such a treat to behold.
I have to say that I loved the story that Buffy was telling about the vampire with the thick neck and the exacto knife. LOL One thing that this episode did very well was to establish a feeling of discomfort with the main characters. I assumed that Jesse would be part of the main cast. When they turned him into a vampire, it was putting everyone on alert -- no character is ever really safe. This is reinforced with the devouring of Principal Flutie and the again, quite brilliantly and shockingly, with the death of Ms. Calendar in one of my favorite ever episodes. And someone mentioned in the last review that they were surprised that they didn't mourn for Jesse more. I have always imagined that they mourn the death of their loved ones (Jesse, Jenny, Tara, Anya) off-screen after the chaos has been dealt with. I never took it as them being cold or anything. We get to see totally bad ass Buffy for real this time. We know she is strong and athletic from the first episode but here we learn just how resourceful the girl really is. It's pretty fun to watch the last fight scene. Although what is really ridiculous is that where Xander accidentally staked Jesse is absolutely no where near the heart. It was more like in his collar bone. LOL And while I love the final scene because of how it really sets up what the whole series is going to be like --- they will face awful danger but there will be many laughs along the way -- the music in that scene is so terrible. It sounds like music out of an episode of Saved By the Bell - LOL. |
| 32. | CoyoteBuffyFanFeb 4, 2011 (Fri) @ 7:17pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| And I didn't think as poorly of this episode as you did, MikeJer. I also liked the computer scene with Cordelia. We got a little glimpse of Willow standing up for herself. Very satisfying to see. |
| 33. | CoyoteBuffyFanFeb 4, 2011 (Fri) @ 7:29pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| @Michael Carruthers: The apocalypse wasn't the vampires feeding at the Bronze. The scene at the Bronze was just the vampires giving offerings to the vessel who was nourishing the Master. Once the Master had enough he would be able to break free of his dungeon and his plan was to open the portal to the hellmouth. THAT would have been the apocalypse. While the Master was not the scariest villain, the plan was supposed to be more sinister then you are giving the show credit for. |
| 34. | AlMay 6, 2011 (Fri) @ 4:50amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Just love how GILES: The earth is doomed. is reiterated at end of the series finale. It's a great bookend and shows just how well some of the small details get carried through to the end. As much as things have changed in the characters journey throughout the years there is still the spirit of the original series premier there. Cheers, Al |
| 35. | buffyholicMay 29, 2011 (Sun) @ 4:04amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| The final dialogue between Buffy and Willow could be considered as foreshadowing, don´t you think?
Buffy: Maybe I can still get kicked out of school. Willow: Maybe you could blow stuff up. They´re really strict about it. Buffy gets expelled from school at the end of season 2 and blows up the school at the end of season three. |
| 36. | RobOct 15, 2011 (Sat) @ 10:08pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I love Kris10's "Buffy's platform shoes KILLED season three" comment. I don't notice shoes much ("Chosen" being a notable exception), but Buffy's oddly hued and too-opaque nail polish annoyed me during the first two seasons. I'm also downright scandalized by some of the tops she wears to school. I guess if one of the themes of the show is subverting the old, then I'm one of the things being subverted. Girls in my day were pretty heavy into wool. Like, into heavy wool -- crew-neck sweaters and what not. I get past it. I never saw the show in its initial run until "The Body" in S5, but I've been through the whole thing a few times now and still feel a sense of nostalgia -- and relief -- looping back to S1 and its characters as yet unburdened by the cares and concerns and wounds they'll accumulate later. It doesn't last long, though, and I'm happy S1 is a short one. Pretty soon I am jonesing again for the harder-hitting stuff, like the moment in S3's "Consequences" where Willow realizes what sort of connection Xander is trying to both explain and not explain that he has had with Faith. Devastating, but we can't have anything like this yet in S1. Look how young everyone is! Xander's just a kid! |
| 37. | Gemma Dec 6, 2011 (Tue) @ 9:23amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Mike, a great review. One i agree with almost completely. I do enjoy this episode in the sense that it sets up the core foundations straight away; Willow's and Xander's eagerness to help Buffy tackle the forces of darkness, Giles acceptance of this instead of proclaiming that the slayer should have no ties which is what Kendra bleats about when she makes an appearance and of course establishing the library as HQ! There are some plot devices that make me smile in this episode. One being the back story Giles discusses with the three friends regarding the naming of Sunnydale and the myth behind the 'old ones'. I particularly like the sentiment of Buffy jumping the school fence after Principal flute having said he wants the Buffy Summers with her feet firmly on the ground in his school. Nice touch to the writers there! My favourite moment of this episode though is Both Xander's and Willow's inherent feelings for Buffy and her safety. Each character showcases their concern and like for her in their own way; WIllow assisting Giles on the computer (Which serves as a lovely foreshadowing for episodes to come when we frequently see her at the computer. A plot device and character trait that seems to diminish ever so slightly when we get to season 5 and 6 and she concentrates more on the magic side until the episode Smashed where we see her combine the two - I missed hacker WIll immensely) . Xander on the other hand shows his concern by following Buffy, this trait is one of his best and i'm glad it is broadcasted straight away. As you have said Mike, Season 1 doesn't go very far in the way of developing the characters but i do enjoy the fluency and interconnectivity they manage to get and their compassion and love of one another is great to see. The final point i will make is that i never felt any lose when Jesse was killed in this episode, this may be for a few reasons. The first is that Jesse on mass didn't receive a lot of screen time in Welcome to the Hellmouth thus when he was kidnapped and ultimately killed no feelings of loss or sadness were evoked within me. I also didn't completely believe the friendship between him and Xander and Willow. As a character albeit a fleeting one he didn't get to me as the others did, he had nothing likeable about him. I am writing this retrospectively and it may be because i have watched the show in its entirety i have seen the four main players grow, develop and change hence my instant like for Buffy, WIll, Xander, Giles etc but not Jesse. ALthough come to think of it i didn't like him much on its first run. This is the contrary to the season 7 episode Help. Cassie was a good, established character. I liked her and she received enough back story to evoke loss when Buffy couldn't save her. This episode does manage, in my opinion, to plant the seed for other episodes in which Buffy can't always save the day. |
| 38. | keekeyDec 6, 2011 (Tue) @ 10:30amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I read recently (probably here) that they considered having Xander appear in the Conversations with Dead People episode in Season 7, talking to Jesse. For the reasons you mention, Gemma, I'm glad they didn't. I guess it could have been a nice nod to Season 1 but I don't know that I even would have recognized Jesse again (and I just watched the series for the first time straight through over the course of 6 months) so any creepy impact would have been lessened by my reaction of "Huh? Who IS that guy?" Does anyone remember whether they actually mention Jesse again after this episode? |
| 39. | Gemma Dec 6, 2011 (Tue) @ 2:07pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Keekey, I read your review and thanks for the shout out :) I didn't know they were planning on that but i concur. It would have felt contrived in a way if they hard. Jesse was never mentioned again after The Harvest. He certainly didn't appear in the season 5 flash back seen in the final episode The Gift. I did hear that Joss wanted to put Jesse in the character credits at the beginning of the episode so the audience would be shocked at his demise, this is something that i ponder. Would it really have had the affect Joss was going for? Jesse had no story. His crush on Cordy wasn't believable along with his friendship with Xander as i said. I fear that this character was poor creation and in the end mere collateral damage to highlight that vampires are dangerous. I still stand by the point i made about his death planting the primary seeds that Buffy although she does try can not and does not save everyone. |
| 40. | keekeyDec 7, 2011 (Wed) @ 6:16pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Hi Gemma, It's interesting that Joss Whedon wanted to put Jesse in the opening credits. When I was watching Season 1 straight-through for the first time this summer, I do remember wondering whether Jesse was a regular character in the early seasons whom I'd forgotten all about. Then, when I noticed he wasn't in the opening credits, I figured he'd be killed off quickly. So I definitely would have been more surprised by his death if he'd been in the opening credits, but I agree that it wouldn't have changed my overall (fairly apathetic) feelings about his demise. Jesse just didn't have the immediate appeal that Willow and Xander did. You make a good point, though, that his death showed the audience right at the outset that Buffy can't save everyone--there will be losses--a point that's brought home pretty brutally with Jenny Callender's death in the second season. I didn't realize how early on Whedon laid the groundwork for that idea (maybe that's why he considered Jesse an important enough character to potentially merit an appearance in Conversations with Dead People). I really need to watch Season 1 again because I didn't appreciate while I was watching it how much foreshadowing this series uses. It is such a well-thought out show, which makes it a great re-watch. |
| 41. | OdonDec 12, 2011 (Mon) @ 6:14amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I like when Angel appears to be standing next to a sign saying WATCH YOU — appropriate enough for his "mysterious watcher" role. But when he walks away we see the sign actually reads WATCH YOUR STEP, hinting at events to come with Angelus. The same trick is used in Season 6, with Buffy talking to Spike who's next to a BEWARE OF DOG sign. |
| 42. | Gemma Dec 12, 2011 (Mon) @ 7:42amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Hi keekey, I agree with you with regards to my shock of a series regular being killed straight away, Joss did succeed with this partly when he added Amber Benson to the opening credits in the episode she was killed but on the other hand the character of Tara was an amazing creation, her character was in the core of the group as WIllow's girlfriend, Buffy's confidant, the only one really there for Dawn. With this in mind her death would still have been as shocking as it was without her being in the credits. Jesse though was in mind a last minute character, never really going to be a 'potential friend' to Buffy. I like the point you make about Joss considering him to be an interesting character to propose the concept of his appearing in CWDP, I hadn't though of him in that respect. I agree with your summary that the show is well though out, many shows claim to be but Buffy is significant. The inaugural season has hidden depths, it is pivotal in implementing the underlying themes. Not that high school is hell but that life is tough, that its all about choices and consequences, dealing with things that aren't always nice. The way Joss portrays these themes through show instead of the blatant tell is great especially the mixing of humour and horror. |
| 43. | RobJan 15, 2012 (Sun) @ 5:30pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| My current thinking is that the use of prophecies and (especially in Angel) powers-that-be is the worst aspect of the Buffyverse, and it partly explains why I like BtVS so much better than Angel, which relies so much more on those plot devices. They are almost inevitably damaging to the coherency of the plot line. Worse, they nullify the choices the characters are making, since it ostensibly could not have turned out other than the prophecy foretold. The only hitch is the usual "prophecy was misinterpreted" thing, and by S3 of Angel, I'm sick of that excuse (Connor was never "born" because Darla staked herself, etc.). Thankfully we don't get much of that in BtVS. I never like seeing Giles or Wesley or Fred or whoever figuring out "omigosh, the prophecy is going to be fulfilled tonight!" Ugh. S1 is the only one I can think of where a prophecy is a key aspect of the final confrontation with the season's Big Bad. I do love seeing Buffy try to grapple with that prophecy, I just think it set a bad precedent. |
| 44. | RobJan 15, 2012 (Sun) @ 6:03pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I might also mention that one of the things that really propelled me through my first watching of BtVS was anticipation for the moment that Joyce finally finds out about Buffy's slayerness. Every time I see her before that point I imagine myself being inserted into the plot to clue her in, perhaps with demo help from Angel. It's a lot of fun at points like this ("Everything is life or death...") that she doesn't know, but by and large I think Buffy would've been better off if Joyce had been brought into the circle earlier. Certainly before "Becoming". I'd say Giles should have pushed for this along the way. |
| 45. | Gemma Jan 17, 2012 (Tue) @ 12:32pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| I understand where you're coming from Rob regarding prophecy's in the shows, i never liked the PTB in Angel but conversely liked the one running throughout the shows final season in particular, with either Spike or Angel finally becoming human. As for Buffy the first season was quintessential for prophecies, the one girl in the all world speech. I liked it, it allowed us explore and gave us an influx into Buffy's life and calling. Also it allowed for a great season final. It did die after the inaugural season of BtVS but i think the first season was the most cohesive for innocence and the whimsical and finding its feet required a prophecy. I disagree with you on the matter of Joyce finding out Buffy being the slayer earlier than she did, i liked the outburst and i fear that subverting what happened would have damaged it, Joss didn't want Buffy's parents in the show but i'm glad we got Joyce! I enjoyed her sentimental talks with Buffy when she is actually hitting the nail on the end when she said things about how the world will end if you don't go to the Bronze! When in Buffy's reality it would! I also enjoyed the duality of her life, the hidden part of who she was. |
| 46. | RobJan 17, 2012 (Tue) @ 6:55pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| But is being chosen as the Slayer the same as prophecy? We eventually find out about the shaman types that got the Slayer ball rolling, but I don't remember it ever being clear how the mechanism works -- whether those three guys are actually involved, or whether the PTB have a hand in it, or whether it's just some magic that keeps going on its own without any sentient being directing it. It's not the same as with Angel, in whose life there has been a more explicit intervention (Whistler, Doyle, etc.). In any case there's nothing about being a Slayer that predicts a specific future outcome. All we know is that a shorter life is likely due to the dangers involved. Gemma, I agree with you about Joss and the writers' decisions about Joyce not knowing until the end of S2, it's a good decision as far as the series goes. I realize that my argument about Joyce was more of an "if the Buffyverse were real" scenario, unlike my earlier point about prophecies. |
| 47. | Gemma Jan 18, 2012 (Wed) @ 10:45amView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Rob, I think that a slayer, being a little more than human and having the strength and skill to kill vampires and demons; which spring mostly from myths and fairytales....and Bram Stoker! is verging on a prophecy. "It's one thing to think that you're the center of the universe — it's another thing entirely to have this confirmed by an ancient prophecy." —Douglas Adams The above is a quote from the creator of the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy and several Dr who stories. I think this sums up Buffy being a slayer, the chosen one. But this is just my take on his meaning and the meaning of season one (which is actually my second favourite season after 3) How do you feel about the shows final? Chosen? It springs back to the Prophecy of being a slayer, the idea that the prophecy was sort of the answer....well breaking it anyway! |
| 48. | RobJan 18, 2012 (Wed) @ 1:23pmView This Person's Comments | Link | |
| Gemma -- perhaps I should say "specific prophecy" then to mean not just a calling, but something more like the "Buffy will die at the hands of the Master on June 2, 1997" that she faces at the end of S1. It's the specific, predestined event that I'd rather were not possible and that I'm happy BtVS doesn't use much. Isn't that quote about Zaphod? How do I feel about Chosen? Sad. It's great that the Core Four live, but I feel like I'm the one who dies, since I no longer get to be a part of their world (except by a sort of reincarnation back to S1E1). Aside from that, I'd say that breaking the one-girl-in-all-the-world mechanism was a good thing, considering all the pain and loneliness it brought Buffy over the years, and would continue to bring future Slayers. Great way to wrap up, and I think supports the idea that all the prophecies and other expectations (watcher's council, etc.) aren't necessary. What I don't like though is the axe (oh, so ancient-looking) and the woman in the tomb, any of that stuff that suggests that Buffy is just following a script that the PTB wrote long ago. It takes away from what Buffy and her team accomplish in defeating the First. |
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