[MENTION=12297]SlayerPrincess[/MENTION]
Awww Joyce. I love her! I like when it was just her and Buffy, before Dawn came along (rolls eyes)
I know this is a ways off, but I like Dawn, so... we'll get into that in... months.
[MENTION=11975]Always Bangel[/MENTION]
I liked this episode. After "Angel", it's probably my favorite episode of the season. There are however, some pretty big holes in it that I hadn't really thought of prior to this re-watch.
I'd probably put it third behind Angel and Nightmares, which says a lot to how much I like the season in general if I don't really like this episode. I'd probably put Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest right behind it, but those could actually pass this episode up depending on... I don't know, mood or something. But yeah.
I have to get this out of the way, because it drove me crazy watching the episode. Buffy, Angel and Giles all hear this prophecy that Buffy is going to die facing The Master, and not one of them stops to think that maybe Buffy just...shouldn't follow the little kid? I mean hell, she follows the Anointed One to The Master's underground lair. Why go in? Why not dust the kid and leave? There was zero evidence whatsoever that anything would happen if she did nothing. This happens sometimes with Buffy, and it drives me insane every time. Buffy encounters some seemingly insurmountable problem, and instead of thinking about it she just blindly rushes in and hurts herself or someone else, or escapes by the skin of her teeth. Sometimes she thinks things out brilliantly, but other times the writers seem to just ignore logic to get a certain theme across, and instead of seeming brave and heroic, it just seems idiotic. There's zero, ZERO, tactical thought at times. Entering that cave like that was one of those times (I mean for Christ's sake, she brought a crossbow to a one-on-one fight. A crossbow, the single hardest weapon in human history to reload. Why not a longbow? Why not a sword?). Give me tactical command of the Scoobies and things would be different...
If they knew that her blood would set him free, then yeah, but it seemed like they didn't know that, making it death by irony. Though they should've been at least somewhat smarter. And Buffy seems to not be smart enough for pragmatism in fights -- she just thinks crossbows are cool.
Anyways, with that tangent out of the way, I thought most of the episode was strong. The metaphor of the "Nice Guy Syndrome" with Xander was really well done I thought. SO many guys do that. Make friends with a girl solely to get with her, and then get pissed off when she just wants to be friends, and get angry because the guy thinks he'd be the perfect boyfriend. It's a dick move that a lot of guys do without even knowing they're doing it. Xander fits that perfectly. Thankfully, he grows up and matures out of it (eventually).
That's... actually the clearest outline of the whole "Nice Guy" thing I've ever heard. No one ever explained it clearly enough to me for me to figure out why everyone hates it so much.
The Master is a very good, and very underutilized, villain. In fact I'm glad they went into further depth with him a few years down the road in Angel. He's cool, and Mark Metcalf does a great job at making the character unique and not just your stereotypical evil monster. I wish he'd had more space to shine throughout the season, or been the big bad of a full length season.
Yeah, he's a little down the list of my favorite Big Bads, which has a lot to do with the way he's used rather than the character himself. Also, keep an eye out for when Mark Metcalf comes back later on Buffy -- I didn't realize it was him at first, but it's hilariously awesome.
On to Angel. I think [MENTION=12230]Mischlings[/MENTION] had a very good point about too much story being crammed into one episode, and how that ultimately constricted what they did put in. Angel had to be there, but he should have had a far bigger role. His scenes with Xander were excellent, but I would have liked to see him in the final fight more.
As an aside, I thought Cordy was great here too, even though like Angel, her role was limited. She develops slowly, but it's always recognizable when she does.
It's not just the two of them -- I just feel like pretty much nothing in this episode had enough time to develop. It kind of reminds me of the trip to Iraq in Season 3 of Arrested Development or the Head of Rossum storyline from Dollhouse (those are the first that came to mind, I'm sure there are more) -- there could've been so much more there, but they had to compress it to get an ending. (I think Dollhouse handled it the best of those I mentioned, but that's another topic entirely.)
I liked S1, and I enjoyed watching it again. It certainly has its flaws, but it has strong points that many of the post-S3 years lack. The main plot with The Master is fairly simple, but it works. Xander's seasonal arc with his interest in Buffy couldn't have been executed any better, in my view. S1/S2 is probably the best of Willow, where her character charms the audience and adds to the story every episode without overstepping, as she does badly later on. The Giles/Buffy relationship is developed very well, and you can see the evolution from disgruntled student/annoyed teacher to daughter/father. And I thought, while he wasn't a huge or overbearing part of the season, Angel had a great role on the show as a recurring character. He maintains the mystery that makes him cool right off the bat, and I found myself wanting to know more about him right away, which I think was the goal. I liked that his relationship with Buffy moved slowly, but steadily, and left a lot open to the future.
I still think Season 1 is the worst -- we'll see if that's still the case once this thing finishes in... one eternity. I'm REALLY looking forward to rewatching Season 2, if only for episodes 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, and 22 (proof that almost half that season is crap). I'll agree that it's simpler than things tend to be after Season 3 -- the problem is, 2 and 3 took simple ideas and added nuance and complexity to make them truly memorable, while Season 1 lacked that almost completely. As for Buffy and Giles (I can't type it with a slash, as the mental images... just no), I don't think that you really see that relationship fully in place until relatively late in Season 2 (Passion, to be specific) -- this is a turning point in it, but it feels a little rushed, really getting the time to develop and feel natural.
As for Angel, I'm completely neutral on him through this point in the series -- he hasn't given me a reason to like him or to hate him yet. That'll change over time, however.
[MENTION=2271]SMG14Fan[/MENTION]
I think it's because they believed that The Master was going to rise on that night regardless, so they thought the only way to stop it was for Buffy to go underground and kill him before it did. They misunderstood the prophecy. Then The Master says, "Prophecies are tricky creatures. They didn't tell you everything. You're the one that sets me free." It does kind of annoy me too how Buffy just goes to fight The Master without thinking of another plan, even though the prophecy says she will die. But I do understand that she went to keep him from rising, since she had no idea that her blood is what actually sets him free.
That's pretty much what I think was going through their heads, so Buffy suffered from death by irony, which The Master says, except with different words.
