With the Master defeated, can Buffy Summers now live a normal life? No! In fact things are about to get a whole lot worse. Two new Vampires have moved into Sunnydale, and have quickly taken over, with a desire to kill Buffy. Meanwhile Buffy is in a relationship with Angel, whilst Xander, Willow, and Giles have all started relationships too, only for those relationships to either end in tragedy, or just simply be doomed from the start. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no time for the core trio to simply hang-out every now and then!
First released in 1997, and created by Joss Whedon; the second season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, continues the story of Buffy Summers in the supernatural comedy drama series. It stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as the titular hero, with Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, Kristine Sutherland, Bianca Lawson, Seth Green, Robia LaMorte Scott, Armin Shimerman, Juliet Landau, and James Marsters in supporting roles. With the enourmous success of the first series, the second series expands the scope of the show, with the addition of 10 more episodes than season one.
Whilst the first season of Buffy concentrated on introducing core characters, by having a sort of arching plot, broken down with the occassional break with a more silly episode; the second season has more of a focus on the series narrative. Yes it does introduce new characters, flesh out more previously introduced characters, and still have time for the occassional independant episode, but that’s not all that happens. The best way to summarize it all really is that, whilst the first season was undeniably fun, the second season (which still retains a lot of fun) is a lot more tragic!
As mentioned above, this series has a lot more attention on relationships between key characters. On the small scale they include Cordelia being stalked by a Frankenstein’s Monster like thing, Xander having a relationship with a Mummy, and Joyce Summers falling in love with a bloke who turns out to be a Robot. But those are just one off’s, what about the more prolonged relationships?
Well, Buffy is in a relationship with Angel, Xander is dating Cordelia, Giles is dating Miss Calendar, and Willow is dating new character Oz. Just a few things that need mentioning however, Oz is a Werewolf, Angel (if you are totally unaware) is a Vampire, and Miss Calendar is holding a deep secret. So somehow the relationship between Xander and Cordelia is the most stable, and less doomed. Which is kind of nice in a way, as it means Cordelia has more of a core role in this season, rather than turning up for a couple of minutes every other episode like in the first season.
The only one of these relationships though that is fully explored however, is the one between Buffy and Angel. But it has to be due to how the series pans out. First off it’s a little rocky, as Buffy is a Vampire Slayer, and Angel is a Vampire, so already the prospects are pretty slim. They do though try to make it work, even if to begin with it’s still a bit difficult given Buffy has to go to School, and Angel can’t go out during the day. But as time passes by (and a little help from Willow), things get better, and it looks like they were made for each other.
But then everything changes. The curse preventing Angel from returning to his old ways is broken, and he becomes the series lead villain. This then leads to the death of another character, and a huge amount of torment on the Scooby Gang, as Angel plays mind games with Buffy, and even kills everything Willow’s fish tank. Like I said: Tragic!
That’s part of the series in a nutshell, as there’ a heavy focus on relationships, but there’s a continuing one on Buffy’s duty as a Slayer, which proves more difficult, as that there’s not one, but two new villains in town, as well as another Slayer.
Due to Buffy’s sort of death in the previous season, another Slayer has been activated, but Buffy didn’t fully die, so now there’s two. Kendra is actually a pretty cool addition to the series, as she’s somewhat the polar opposite of Buffy. Whilst Buffy sees her role more like a chore, whilst Kendra accepts who she really is.
Meanwhile at the Legion of Doom (which I am sort of surprised isn’t actually called that, given that Buffy’s group refer to themselves as the Scooby Gang), prolific Slayer killer Spike and his mysteriously creepy girlfriend Drusilla have moved into town, and have taken over, which turned out was rather easy to do. These two villains are such a cool addition to the series. Whilst the Master focussed heavily on tradition and prophecy, Spike simply doesn’t care about any of that, and is solely out for the fun of causing havoc. Drusilla meanwhile isn’t as loud or as shouty as Spike, but still comes across quite threatening, with her quiet whisper like voice, and dictionary of incomprehensible sentences. Both of them have their own approaches to problems, with Spike choosing muscle, whilst Drusilla chooses more subtule ways through visions and hypnosis, plus her voice is wicked cool.
But the villains do have a weird arc, as the direction chosen is a lot like a Hydra. The Master has been defeated, so the Annointed One (Andrew J. Ferchland) hires not one, but two vampires to solve the Buffy issue. Much like the Hydra, one head has been cut off, only to be replaced by two more. But then, Spike slays the Annointed One, and in a small sense of irony, a third head is later grown, this time featuring the head of Angel (which Spike begins to detest almost immediately).
Whilst the second season Buffy The Vampire Slayer still has plenty of room for fun, new introductions, and more air time for already introduced characters (although still holding back Amy (Elizabeth Anne Allen) for some uneplored reason), it is also a very dark season. But the kids are growing up, and unlike Harry Potter where everyone commits to total celibacy, here relationships are a lot more rife, as it is a part of the school culture. The decision to go down this route does provide positives, and negatives, as characters can experience the highs of a relationship, whilst also the deepest lows of heartbreak. But this does fill up the show’s longer length, as well as provide cool narratives to keep the audience interested to the very end, which is something they’ll want to do given the amount of adrenaline the two episode finale creates (and also to discover which football team Spike supports)!
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