The Best of Buffy

Okay so we are going through every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and pinpointing the best parts of it. By both picking out the best episodes and the best moments. Something Buffy is really good at is having a monster of the week format while also contributing to the overall big bad of the season. Season 2 is our first “full” season. Season one was much shorter due to it being a pilot season, this means it either premiered in the middle of a network’s normal season OR the network wouldn’t greenlight more episodes until they saw the ratings. Season 2 was its first renewal, thus we get a normal amount of episodes.

Season 2’s big bad part 1: Spike

We get introduced to Spike pretty early on and though he was supposed to be a one off villain, the fans loved him so much that they brought him back. And then they brought him back some more. But really the first 13 episodes of the season are Spike focused as he continues to be a thorn in Buffy’s side. And her taking down his master plan is actually what leads to the 2nd big bad of the season.

Season 2’s big bad part 2: Angelus

The other main focus of this season was Angel into Angelus and his curse. Buffy and Angel have sex and this triggers his curse causing him to lose his soul. Now as we know Buffy the Vampire Slayer is really good at taking real world struggles and more importantly, real adolescent struggles and interpreting them through fighting monsters. In this case (and it's kind of brought up later in season 4) a girl has sex with someone that she, honestly, barely knows and he literally turns evil on her.

The best episodes are absolutely in the second half of the season, starting with episode 19; I Only Have Eyes For You. First of all this episode gives us some incredible acting from Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz. This is also just an incredibly well written episode. From Buffy and Angel’s connection to a past couple, to the intensity and volatility of the actual relationship this episode does a great job of showing the audience why Buffy and Angel will never be a good idea. A fact that much of the fanbase chooses to ignore. And then of course we get to The Becoming parts 1 & 2. Buffy has to kill Angel and she is strong and badass, as is Willow who brings Angel back at the last second. This episode really hammers home the Slayer responsibility and the sacrifice it takes to be the Slayer. She is the law. And she gets to make unilateral decisions because she has to make these massive sacrifices. And Xander sucks really hard and we hate him. A lot is accomplished in this two parter.

Overall I think the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of its strongest seasons, there are actually only a couple of episodes that could be considered filler. And in the case of monster of the week “filler” isn’t at all a bad thing. But some of the best performances of the show are in this season and it's honestly one of the most emotionally brutal seasons of any television show. Jenny Calendar's death is actually pretty graphic for a 90s/2000s TV show and it's very upsetting. Marti Noxon joining the writing team and writing the most episodes of anyone besides Joss was very evident. She was such an incredible addition to the show and genuinely made it so much better.