Improving Season 2

[LadyLavinia]

How could one improve Season 2? I realize that it is considered one of the best seasons of the series, but I have been aware of its major flaws for years. Probably its biggest flaw is that even with the presence of Drusilla and Spike, its storyline came off as disjointed, unlike the other seasons.

 

[Abby27]

Hmm. I don't know. I really love season 2 and I don't know what I would do to improve it. I liked how you thought you knew who the big bad was going to be (Spike and Drusilla) but it really ended up being Angel. What would you consider major flaws? The only real flaw I see is if the gypsy's really wanted to make sure Angel suffered, why put in the happiness clause in? Or at least tell him so that he knows to avoid being happy.

 

[xaphania]

I like season 2 overall. To improve it perhaps get rid of some of the poorer one-off episodes, like Bad Eggs or Go Fish. Oh and move Go Fish from its position in the series... way out of place in that final arc.

Also, get rid of the stupid "When I kiss you I want to die" line.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

Umm. I don't know, I don't think season 2 needs improvment. I like absolutely everything about it. Even episodes we can't call awesome, are still fun and insteresting.

 

[caitaintdead]

There are definitely a few things I would happily change about Season 2.

- Less Angel angst. Passion was great (one of my favourites!), but at times I felt like they went a little overboard on teen angst.

- As Xaphania said - less crappy one shot episodes. Yes they were still fun, but they seemed a little subpar next to the more excellent episodes.

That's about all I can think of. Despite the 'When I kiss you I want to die and listen to bad music that is sung by guys with long black fringes' stuff it's definitely one of the best seasons.

 

[Gotham]

Yeah, I'd go along with the idea that the one shot episodes could have been better. Then again, when you're making a 22 episode season, it's tough not to have filler episodes. The only shows I've ever seen have a truly great season without one bad episode are the shows that have short seasons, like 12-16 episodes.

 

[The Unspoken]

When people say they like a season, do they mean just the biggest arc (in this case Angelus) or the season in its entirety? Because upon closer inspection, the Angelus arc is focused on in only 6 episodes (Surprise, Innocence, Passion, I Only Have Eyes for You and Becoming I & II). Apart from the awesome Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered I find the rest a little too uneven.

Oh, and Go Fish was worth it just for Xander in a speedo.

 

[Anya2012]

How could one improve Season 2? I realize that it is considered one of the best seasons of the series, but I have been aware of its major flaws for years. Probably its biggest flaw is that even with the presence of Drusilla and Spike, its storyline came off as disjointed, unlike the other seasons.

I have to disagree with you there. Spike and Dru's storyline is one of the best of the season. Season 2 is the best season I think.

But I do agree about some of the one shot episodes.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

When people say they like a season, do they mean just the biggest arc (in this case Angelus) or the season in its entirety? Because upon closer inspection, the Angelus arc is focused on in only 6 episodes (Surprise, Innocence, Passion, I Only Have Eyes for You and Becoming I & II). Apart from the awesome Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered I find the rest a little too uneven.

Oh, and Go Fish was worth it just for Xander in a speedo.

No, I like the whole season. Everything.

Buffy and Angel in their dating phase, Oz in the show, Oz and Willow, Xander and Cordelia, Dru and Spike coming to the show, I love Whistlers quotes, and I do love Angelus arc. Probably the only thing I don't like in S2 is Inca Mummy Girl, although it's special because of Oz seeing Willow and ' Who is that girl?' 🙂

 

[Nikita]

Season 2. I love it so much and I even love some of the stand-alones.

The Good Parts:
- Sprusilla. I've mentioned before that this, season 3 and 4 are the only seasons in which I'm a fan of Spike, and I love Drusilla.
- Woz. I love Tillow more but I mean, Woz was the main power couple beside Bangel at the beginning.
- Phases and Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered are the best stand-alones in the second half of the season and I would not want to get rid of them ever.
- Lie To Me, The Dark Age, Ted and Halloween are EXCELLENT episodes and I thoroughly enjoyed each one of them. These are the better stand-alones of the first half and I'd say Lie To Me was the best episode of the season (apart from Passion and Innocence).
- Passion. This was just a great piece of writing that I just love to watch every single time I come through it, it's also the end of a great character (other than in the finale and Amends.)
- Innocence. Rocket Launcher, anybody? This whole episode was also well written and amazingly well acted by SMG and DB. The scene where Angel demeans Buffy is just hard to watch ):
- Becoming 1 and 2. I think the second part of this episode is better simply because it has my favourite performances from DB and SMG. This episode is quotable for so many reasons but I'd like to pick my favourite:

Angelus: No weapons... no friends... no hope. Take all that away and what's left?
Buffy: Me.

There are many more good parts, but lets leave it there before the season gets overpraised 😛

The Bad Parts:
- Inca Mummy Girl, Reptile Boy, Go Fish and Bad Eggs. These are the worst episodes of the season and I don't even think they need a description, they're so ludicrous and in the wrong place. Go Fish should be scrapped for a third part of the Becoming Arc.

...That's it.

 

[LadyLavinia]

What's really bothersome about Season 2 is what does Spike and Drusilla have to do with the emergence of Angelus? Nothing. If they had truly been responsible for Angelus' emergence, then Season 2 would not have struck me as so disjointed. But Buffy was the catalyst of that event, not them. If it were not for the continuing presence of Spike and Drusilla, Season 2 would have consisted of TWO major story arcs for the season and not one.

And the emergence of Angelus was sooooo anti-climatic that it became one of the most disappointing moments - at least for me - I have ever seen during the series' entire run. I mean . . . really! He and Buffy has sex. Angel loses his soul. He LEAVES Buffy to say hello to Spike and Drusilla as Angelus. He returns to Buffy, insults her lovemaking skills, and LEAVES. WTF????

And I don't want to rehash "Becoming" again. I don't want to rehash the fact that Xander failed to tell the police that Buffy was not responsible for the mayhem inside the Sunnydale High library. But I guess I just did.

 

[AustCF]

Season 2 was so fun. I wouldn't change a thing. I couldn't imagine any frame of it being different, or an episode being "scrapped."

 

[Anya2012]

The Bad Parts:

- Inca Mummy Girl, Reptile Boy, Go Fish and Bad Eggs. These are the worst episodes of the season and I don't even think they need a description, they're so ludicrous and in the wrong place. Go Fish should be scrapped for a third part of the Becoming Arc.

Those episodes were pretty much pointless but I do like Bad Eggs.

 

[Abby27]

Season 2 is my favorite season, but I think there are some valid points here.

Inca Mummy Girl - ...I just can't get into this episode. It seems very contrived and doesn't make sense. What about the real Ampata? Getting someone to live in your house for a foreign exchange program is more complicated than picking someone up at the train station that say they are who they say they are. And then the mummy girl stuffs hi corpse in the truck? Wouldnt Buffy had smelled a decomposing body? Ehh, just not a good one in my book. The only redeeming thing is when Xander eats the Twinkies and getting to see Oz fall for Eskimo-Willow.

Spike/Dru - I think it was imperative to have Spike and Dru there for Angelus to fall back with. He wasn't just evil, but he had his evil gang too. Otherwise, it would have just been Angelus going around by himself which wouldn't have been as fun to watch or as interesting. We don't have the whole back story of Dru, Spike, Darla, and Angelus quite yet in the show, but when we do, it makes the whole season 2 thing more meaningful: the old gang is back together wreaking havoc and chaos. I loved that about season 2! Plus, seeing Angel and Spike have that tension from almost the get-go was simply fantastic.

Go Fish - cute episode. And I am big fan of any of the episodes that are really tied in with the school or school activities (The Witch, Some Assembly Required, School Hard...) because I was in high school when I started watching Buffy so it was easy to relate. But yes, I also felt like it was an awkwardly placed episode between the serious string of episodes from Passion, Killed By Death, I Only Have Eyes For You, and Becoming parts 1&2. But it's possible that Joss and the writers wanted something more fun and less angsty amidst the terribly serious and depressing events of the episodes around it. Yes, Angel was killing again and Jenny had died, but these kids were still only 17y/o and still wear dealing with "normal" high school problem.

 

[xfivebyfive]

I'm not a huge fan of this season. I find it so boring. It's actually the reason I almost gave up on Buffy. I was too bored to continue on my first watch. And the first time around I didn't even mind B/A I just found it boring, found them a bit boring. There are too many bad episodes, and this from someone who likes standalones.

The Angelus arc was great but like already stated its really on 6 episodes. The end of the season is good though I love Killed by Death, Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, and Passion.

 

[Icarium]

I wouldn't really change much. I would put Jenny in all episodes before Passion and show more interaction between her, Giles and Willow. I would also have Buffy capture Angel in Innocence instead of just kicking him in the balls. Then he can somehow escape and the season to continue as it happened in canon, without making Buffy very much responsible for not stopping his reign of terror much earlier. I would have used Kendra more and not killed her off. I am tempted to say I would killed off Spike but I like him in S2.

And the emergence of Angelus was sooooo anti-climatic that it became one of the most disappointing moments - at least for me - I have ever seen during the series' entire run. I mean . . . really! He and Buffy has sex. Angel loses his soul. He LEAVES Buffy to say hello to Spike and Drusilla as Angelus. He returns to Buffy, insults her lovemaking skills, and LEAVES.

You mean one of the most devastating scenes I have ever watched? I don't ship Bangel in the slightest but Angel's "You were a real pro" speech was incredibly cruel and exquisite psychological torture, IMO. Angel didn't want to kill Buffy, he wants to torment her and he did just that. I really don't see what's so strange about that. Angel leaves Buffy not just to visit his old pals but to taste some blood along the way and most importantly to make Buffy feel hurt and confused when she realizes he is gone.

 

[LadyLavinia]

I wouldn't really change much. I would put Jenny in all episodes before Passion and show more interaction between her, Giles and Willow. I would also have Buffy capture Angel in Innocence instead of just kicking him in the balls. Then he can somehow escape and the season to continue as it happened in canon, without making Buffy very much responsible for not stopping his reign of terror much earlier. I would have used Kendra more and not killed her off. I am tempted to say I would killed off Spike but I like him in S2.



You mean one of the most devastating scenes I have ever watched? I don't ship Bangel in the slightest but Angel's "You were a real pro" speech was incredibly cruel and exquisite psychological torture, IMO. Angel didn't want to kill Buffy, he wants to torment her and he did just that. I really don't see what's so strange about that. Angel leaves Buffy not just to visit his old pals but to taste some blood along the way and most importantly to make Buffy feel hurt and confused when she realizes he is gone.

I would change a lot. I would have allowed Angel to attack Buffy as soon as he loses his soul, which would make her realize what had happened; instead of that very unsatisfying and anti-climatic moment in which Buffy did realize what happened. I would have liked Spike, Drusilla or both to be somewhat responsible for the loss of Angel's soul, so that their presence would have been more justified for the second half of the season. I would have liked Whedon to drop that stupid plotline that featured Buffy being hunted by the cops in "Becoming, Part 2", because it made no damn sense. Especially since Xander should have told the cops that she was not responsible for what happened in the Sunnydale High library.


The rest of you may wax lyrical over Season 2. For me, it is the MOST overrated season in the entire series.

 

[sylvanscribe]

I wouldn't change much, really. There were a few lame episodes mentioned already - but I can still watch them better than some stuff from later seasons.

On the whole I think Season 2 is when Buffy came into its own, and is exceeded only by Season 3.

 

[sosa lola]

I love S2, but I think there's room for improvement:

Take away Bad Eggs and include an episode in which Angelus kidnaps Xander and tortures him (maybe rapes him) and then leaves him naked and bruised on Buffy's bed as a present. The problem with Angelus is that he's not evil enough or creepy enough. He should have tortured the Scoobies more. It'll also make the scene in which Buffy wants to restore Angel's soul more effective seeing as Xander and Willow and Cordelia were tortured and hurt by Angel and the idea of giving him a free pass is so hard on them.

 

[Abby27]

I wouldn't really change much. I would put Jenny in all episodes before Passion and show more interaction between her, Giles and Willow. I would also have Buffy capture Angel in Innocence instead of just kicking him in the balls. Then he can somehow escape and the season to continue as it happened in canon, without making Buffy very much responsible for not stopping his reign of terror much earlier. I would have used Kendra more and not killed her off. I am tempted to say I would killed off Spike but I like him in S2.

I totally agree about Jenny, I really wished there was more of her, considering what an impact she had in the show and in Giles' life.

I think it was necessary for Buffy to consciously let Angel live instead of staking him at the mall. That made Jenny's death even more of a blow to her - knowing she could of prevented it. That's what really lit a fire under her to be all about killing Angel and getting it done. If she had captured him and he was let go, I don't think we would have seen that stony determination she possessed and needed to really take him down.