Where did it turn the corner for you?

VisionGirl

VisionGirl

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Where did BTVS turn the corner for you from a corny show about a blonde ex-cheerleader to something incredible? I always thought it was Prophecy Girl, but tonight I was watching Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, and thought the scene toward the end (with Buffy & Owen and then Buffy & Giles) was really poignant. It's the first time we sense the kind of choices Buffy has to make. She gives up the possibility of a relationship with Owen (a nice guy who she likes) because she fears he'll get himself killed. She is not going to have a normal life, nor normal relationships. There were hints in there of what the show was going to become.

Buffy: Sacrifice, huh?
Giles: (looks toward Owen) Seems like a nice lad.
Buffy: Yeah. But he wants to be danger man. You, Xander, Willow, you guys... you guys know the score, you're careful. Two days in my world and Owen really *would* get himself killed. Or I'd get him killed. (faces Giles) Or someone else.
Giles: I, I went to the funeral home of my own free will.
Buffy: And I should've been there.
Giles: Buffy...
Buffy: I blew it!
Giles: I have volumes of lore, of prophecies, of predictions. But I don't have an instruction manual. We feel our way as we go along. And, I must say, as a Slayer, you're, you're doing... pretty well.
 
The first episode that I ever watched all the way through was "Once More With Feeling," and I was hooked immediately. The blond girl and the guy in the black leather coat kissing at the end was so hot that it almost melted my TV screen. The greatest match up since John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
 
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. What can I say, I barely remember my initial reaction to episodes like Prophecy Girl or Lie to Me (which upon rewatch are much more of turning points) but I distinctly remember how much I loved B, B, and B. Upon rewatch, Never Kill A Boy on The First Date really seems like the episode to drive the point home. If you miss that, Prophecy Girl. If you still don't get it - Lie to Me. Then Innocence. If you don't get it by Passion you should just stop watching right there and then. Which is exactly what my brother did to my absolute bewilderment. 🙂 Well, it's his loss.
 
VisionGirl
VisionGirl
Totally agree with your last few comments- especially Lie to Me.
"Welcome to the Hellmouth." First episode I ever saw, and the first episode where I saw Buffy was more (or could be more) than a blonde ex-cheerleader.

Buffy: Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?
Giles: Because you are the Slayer. Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt--
Buffy: With the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah... I've heard it, okay?
 
See, for me, I think it was always going to be Prophecy Girl. It's the episode that I use when I'm trying to bring new fans into the fandom and get them interested in the show, because it's the empowerment of the theme as it starts in the background and gets louder, it's the image of this young blond in this pretty white dress with a vampire and a best friend behind her 100%, it's the sound of her heels on the pavement and the slowness as the camera pans out and moves up and you get the full view.

That's when I knew this show was going to be something special. That's the episode that I tell people to start with and then go back to the beginning and watch that first season all the way through to the end, and dare them to tell me the show won't be amazingly amazing. 🙂
 
Well I never got the impression it was a corny show about a blonde ex-cheerleader... I watched it from the straight up beginning... so Welcome to the Hellmouth was my first episode and I thought it was cute... the ending the first episode on the cliffhanger was a great idea and I HAD to go on to The Harvest... but The Witch is where I fell in love. So episode 1 I knew there was something special about this show, episode 2 confirmed it and episode 3, I knew there wasn't just something special about this show... I was in love with it. I'm going to say sometime at the beginning of season 2 as we were getting to know Spike and Dru Buffy became "the one" in terms of television for me.
 
For me, it the scene in "Prophecy Girl" with Willow discovering the bodies in the Computer Room. That's when Vampires stopped being mean guys with scary faces and really truly evil monsters. It was when I started to BTVS really seriously as a show. The rest of that episode is wonderful too.

Innocence was a real turning point too. It wasn't just monster of the week they had to fight it was own their own. It was around this episode where I noticed just what a freaking evil genius Joss Whedon is. And that's not a term I just give to anyone that kills off a character.
 
S
soulunsung
Ooh, you bring up a good visual with Cordy and Willow finding the bodies in the computer room. Everybody always forgets Cordy was with her. lol. Poor Cordy.
For me, it the scene in "Prophecy Girl" with Willow discovering the bodies in the Computer Room. That's when Vampires stopped being mean guys with scary faces and really truly evil monsters. It was when I started to BTVS really seriously as a show. The rest of that episode is wonderful too.
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Good point. I would also add the "I am sixteen years old, I don't want to die" scene. Those two scenes are just so...real. I can't describe it in any other way.
 
I saw it in 2010 because of re-runs, and I instantly fell in love with the incredible dialogue and actors. I didn't realize how deep the show was until the season 2 premiere where Buffy was dancing with Xander
 
Icarium said:
Good point. I would also add the "I am sixteen years old, I don't want to die" scene. Those two scenes are just so...real. I can't describe it in any other way.
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Yes, because how could you NOT sympathize with a sixteen year old girl who has the weight of the world on her shoulder's, and just wants to lead a normal life like any teenager her age would be doing. Srsly.
 
It never was a silly show for me. The first ep I saw was Becoming part II and at that I just caught the last 5 minutes. At that point the show couldn't have been less silly if it tried.

When I went back and watched season 1 there is a point where I felt like this isn't going to be like any show I have ever watched and that ep is Angel. The show had Buffy and Angel perfectly set up to coast a very predictable relationship, I mean what could go wrong? They were clearly crazy about each other!

What could go wrong? Well...just about everything. By making Angel a vampire with a soul and having Buffy and Angel fall in love...it was a genius move. The show graduated from "I like to watch" to "I must see this" with that ep.
 
I was watching it while it was aired, and I liked it but I wasn't really following it, you know? I could miss episodes and not mind. I mostly liked the fight scenes. But to me, it became more with The Gift. That episode changed everything, and it's from that moment I really started LOVING it and not just for the fights, but for the emotional depth of it!
 
For some reason, I'm not sure why, I'd have to say for season 1, like zobothehobo, the witch, it's not technically brilliant or as dramatic and action-packed as welcome to the hellmouth and the harvest, but its a really quirky little episode that shows you there's going to be much more to this show than merely action and drama. (Buffy singing macho man is one quirky bit that stands out in my memory!)

But it's obvious the show steps up a gear from this in season 2 with episodes like innocence, passion, i only have eyes for you and becoming, for they add a serious and genuine romantic element to the show.

So pretty much I'd say it was good from the start and just kept getting better, with the odd filler episode here and there that you can excuse 🙂
 
S
StarSlayer
Completely agree that it just got better from the start.
Z
zobothehobo
Exactly.
The first episode I ever really saw was the one where Faith comes to town. In fact the first scene I ever saw (as I was channel surfing) was Faith kicking the crap out of some vampire. I stopped channel surfing and decided to watch. And the rest of Season 3 was so great I was hooked.

But having re watched the entire series in order, I think Buffy "turned the corner" sometime in the 2nd season. The development of Angel/Angelus and the death of Jenny turned it into something approaching a serious drama rather than a campy (if entertaining) romp through Horror High School.
 
I never saw it as a "silly" show, either. But I suppose that it seemed to get more serious with Season 2, starting with When She Was Bad.
 
After seeing a few episodes here and there of Buffy S2, I saw Passion and that was it. Hook, line and sinker. From that episode I am now one of the biggest Buffy fans in the world, MWAH! As I hadn't seen much at the time I hadn't the best bond with the characters but Passion was so beautifully done, it didn't take long for me to love many of the characters. I burst my eyes out, and Passion now sits with me as one of my favourites of BTVS. It's defiantly a big turning point I think.
 
Hmmm... well, for me, I'm going to say Becoming part 2. I watched the first ep, Welcome the the Hell mouth and stopped for about a week. Now, I'm like 'How could I have done that at such a cliffhanger?' lol, but I dunno it wasn't all that good in my opinion *at first*. But I remember as it went on, I began to like it more and more, til I got the the end of season 2 (which was the only season aside from season one that my friend owned) then, I was hooked!! I had to go to Hollywood video every time I finished, it took a week after I watched season 2 and I was having some SERIOUS withdrawls... lol, then I went to Hollywood video as much as I could to keep on getting them (which was kind of hard since I was in a group home at the time). But yeah, what got me was definitely season 2... by the end of s2 I couldn't go a day with out it for a while.
 
I never saw it as a corny show. Sure it had it's moments, which I won't name because I'm sure a few Bangel fans will hurl turds at me LOL.

Idk, I guess it's different for me because I can enjoy corny movies and tv shows to a certain point. Sure BtVS was a bit silly at first but it only got better as it progressed.
 
Abbeycat
Abbeycat
[No message]
I was way too young when I first watched Buffy to even think about it outside of itself, if you see what I mean? I was like 7/8 so I wasn't really at the age where I'd think 'wow this show is like no other' I was more like 'oh girl who fights, I want to be a girl who fights' lol.

Looking back at it now I'd say 'Angel' is the episode where I think it showed some real premise, backed up further by Prophecy girl. I hadn't thought about the importance of the scene where Willow is crying about the boys who were killed but after someone mentioning it, it's a hugely significant scene.

But I'd still have to say that the point at which I think it showed consistent potential was Surprise/Innocence.
 
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