Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Series 1-7 - Complete (DVD)

...From the word go, Buffy herself, is an outsider, and she's not used to it. At her previous school she herself was the centre of attention, the spoilt and precious teen-bitch. That was before the responsibility of being the Slayer was handed to her.

A beautiful counter-point to the fantasy adventure of the Slayer's activities is the notion of Buffy being a reluctant heroine, who wants only to have a normal life, and be a normal girl. ...
...by her supernatural duties, Buffy would be at the core of the 'in' crowd, and the loss, to her, is continually painful. Yet we also have a young, irresponsible girl coming face to face with responsibility. Part of the show's success lies with her occasional failure in this regard. What really counts though is not her success or failure in any individual attempt, but her effort, which is constant, if begrudging. As such, the season's prime metaphor ... more

'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' was originally commissioned as a mid-season replacement for a show that was cancelled in the States (damned if I know what the ill-fated cancelled show was - anybody else?). As such, the season runs to only twelve episodes, rather than the usual run of twenty-on/twenty-two. Yet in those few episodes, the season establishes itself with a confidence and ability that many debuts haven't reached by the end of a full season.

In retrospect, one of the fine things about so short a season is that it all fits on the one three video boxed set, rather than being broken into two. It's a fine, self-contained introduction to the series if you haven't yet had the pleasure, and I can't recommend that you try it too strongly.

Before I go on, I should mention that this is a specific review of this particular season of 'Buffy' - I've written an overview elsewhere at Ciao that will introduce you to the characters, actors and so forth. I'll also warn you that there be plot spoilers coming, which I specifically avoided during the general review…

Many of the episodes, given the season's brevity, are an introduction to the range and variety of themes and storytelling styles the show can handle, and it's an impressive display. Of course, there are some arcing themes that play off the development of the characters too - much of this season is about the mixture of hormonal emotions young teenagers experience regarding the areas of teen romance and social alienation. From the word go, Buffy herself, is an outsider, and she's not used to it. At her previous school she herself was the centre of attention, the spoilt and precious teen-bitch. That was before the responsibility of being the Slayer was handed to her.

A beautiful counter-point to the fantasy adventure of the Slayer's activities is the notion of Buffy being a reluctant heroine, who wants only to have a normal life, and be a normal girl. Were it not for the weirdness forced upon her by her supernatural duties, Buffy would be at the core of the 'in' crowd, and the loss, to her, is continually painful. Yet we also have a young, irresponsible girl coming face to face with responsibility. Part of the show's success lies with her occasional failure in this regard. What really counts though is not her success or failure in any individual attempt, but her effort, which is constant, if begrudging. As such, the season's prime metaphor is nothing less than the strange transition period between childhood and adulthood. I can't remember another show that has better captured this nebulous period. Buffy and her friends are neither little adults nor big children - they're genuine teens.

As regards romance, Buffy sees little of it, again because of her great responsibility - parallel with real young people who have to grow up too early (perhaps because of ailing parents, personal illness, bereavement and more). Where she does make an effort to date a boy, it goes almost tragically wrong. What does begin to grow is her interest in the 200-year old vampire with a soul, Angel. More on that in a moment.

In Xander and Willow we have many of the same problems reflected, offering at times a counterpoint and at times a further enhancement of the theme. Through these characters the season looks frequently at the romance Buffy is getting no time to experience. Xander is a typically hormonal young man, fantasising constantly about women and sex, and at the same time utterly terrified of both. From the first episode of the season, his attention fixates on Buffy as the potential woman of her dreams, yet she sees little of his true his true feelings, thinking of him as just a friend. How many men have been in this position? Come the season's climax, when he finally admits her feelings and she rejects him, the writers of the show avoid the easy route of them 'staying friends', and instead show with some accuracy the pain this causes him.

Of course, while Xander fantasises about the unattainable Buffy, Willow in turn is fantasising about him. It's an ironic set-up, for she's the person Xander is most likely to turn to for comfort and advice. Her own source of comfort is Buffy herself, creating a gorgeous vicious circle of unrequited love with the distracted Buffy at the centre. Even friendship, when you’re a teen, is alarmingly complex.

One factor of the series that is surprisingly successful is the role of the adult in a teen's world. Buffy's own parents are separated, with her dad living in Los Angeles. Joy, Buffy's mother, is an engaging parent. Unsure what to do with her daughter, who always seems to be in trouble, yet means so well, her own struggle to do right is ably portrayed. The mother/daughter relationship is genuine and touching in so far as it is portrayed. While it would be easy to keep the mother distant and controlling, to stereotype the mother, the writers work hard to bring a sense of genuine involvement to the relationship, which pays off in spades. Utterly oblivious to Buffy's secret, Joy's efforts to deal with the mystery of her daughter's life reflects very well the struggles of every parent who suddenly discovers a stranger living under their roof. 'Buffy' does not just speak to teens.

With the father missing, the father role of Buffy's life is taken on by Giles, the school librarian and Buffy's Watcher (trainer, teacher and mentor). Utterly out of touch with young people and their culture, Giles is constantly entertaining. While attempting to teach Buffy both the skills she needs to survive, and the responsibility of her role, he strives hard to understand her. No tyrant, his bafflement at the complexities of his charge's life is the flip side to Joy's attempt to understand and identify. By having an Englishman present, the show also succeeds in pointing out the strangeness of American culture when viewed from the outside. Where Joy has been there and done that (in her time), Giles has no frame of reference for life in a Californian High School. When he does try to identify, he has a complete inability to factor in the fact that Buffy is a girl. Repressed to the nth degree, he spends a good deal of effort in this opening season treating her as the Slayer, rather than a developing girl.

The teachers of Sunnydale High school are also a varied bunch. Some try to reach out to the struggling Buffy, some want to dismiss her as a troublemaker. Most frequently seen are the headmasters. Principal Flootie introduces himself in episode one - a PC teacher for the modern age, wary of inappropriate touching, willing to be open and communicative, stressed t the difficulties of his position. When trauma occurs, a visit to the school counsellor is mandatory under this man. In his own attempts to understand his charges, to motivate them and set a good example, he fails utterly. He is the classic example of a teacher who wants to reach out, but mis-remembers completely how to do so, and ends up embarrassing both himself and his pupils. He doesn't last long. When he is replaced, it is with the cynical, tyrannical Principal Snyder (played brilliantly by Armin Shimmerman). Small-minded, utterly tyrannical, Snyder is the sort of headmaster who doubtless misses the days of corporal punishment. Somewhat sinister, he provides a far more valid counterpoint to the attempts to understand made by Giles and Joy. Understanding, in Snyder's world, is irrelevant. Discipline is all.

Okay, that's an overview of themes and so forth. What of the fun stuff? What actually happens? Even more spoilers below…

The season opens with a brilliant two-parter, which launches the plot-arc of the next twelve episodes marvellously. Buffy moves to Sunnydale, wanting nothing of her role as Vampire Slayer (the plot picks up from the end of the best-forgotten movie starring Kirsty Swanson, in which Buffy lived in Los Angeles and became the Slayer). Unknown to her, she has moved to a town situated directly over the temporarily closed Hellmouth. Beneath the city streets, stuck like a cork in a bottle, an ancient vampire known as the Vampire blocks the mouth to hell, and is desperate to escape. Over the course of the two-parter, Buffy is forced to stop his efforts, thwart an ancient prophecy, and accept that she is the only Slayer, the only one who can stand against the vampires. Come the conclusion, which sees the core cast teamed up (the reactions of Xander and Willow to the existence of vampires is priceless). Over the next twelve episodes, the Master continues his efforts to escape, leading us towards the season finale, in which ancient prophecy states that Buffy will die at the Master's hands. Something of a cross between the Dracula and Nosferatu vampire arch-types, the Master avoids cliché through a marvellously camp performance, which manages to be intensely sinister. It is, by and large, his vampire followers who provide the day-to-day slaughter of the Slayer's life.

Outside of the main story-arc, the stand-alone episodes allow the series to stretch it's wings a little, featuring the likes of Witches, possessed puppets, maniacal demon robots, praying mantis women, and more. Each works on various levels to expand the themes of the series, and each is worthy of individual comment. For me, the highlight of the season is the episode 'The Pack', in which Xander and a group of school bullies are possessed by the spirits of African Hyenas. Suddenly, the likeable Xander begins to draw away from his friends, to spend more time with the school bullies. Becoming increasingly cruel, the pack prey on the weak and helpless, including Willow. The episode really belongs to Nicholas Brendan, usually the comic stooge of the show as the Chandler Bing-alike Xander. His transition from likeable goof to school bully is intensely disturbing, and reflects so well the route chosen by so many young people in the quest to 'fit in'. It blows your conceptions of the series, and the actor, wide open, and makes you suddenly aware of just how good this cast is. Various scenes disturb on various levels - two standing out particularly. In one, the pack (minus Xander) attacks and eats Principal Flootie (leaving the way open for the introduction of Snyder). In an age where teachers are genuinely at risk of assault from their student's, the message of the moment is not lost. At the same time, Xander is trying to force himself on a confused Buffy. By using a core character to introduce the concept of rape to the show, the series gives an inkling of the risks it is prepare to take in the cause of good storytelling.

Another episode worthy of note is 'Angel', in which it is revealed that this character is a vampire. Previously appearing to offer cryptic warnings and clues to Buffy, unwilling to involve himself too much in the goings on around him, he at first embodies the mysterious stranger. As the series progresses though, Buffy and he grow closer despite their bickering. Unable to risk romance with her peers, for fear of endangering them through her lifestyle, she senses a kindred spirit in Angel. At their first, inevitable kiss, Angel accidentally reveals himself for what he is, and flees. As a viewer seeing this for the first time, the shock is intense. Buffy has fallen in love with the very thing she is sworn to destroy. The whole series is flipped on its axis in one moment, and everything you thought you knew changes. The big romance you though was coming has just become SO much more complex. Of course, it turns out that Angel is cursed by Gypsies to retain his soul. Though once the scourge of Europe, he now suffers daily the guilt of hundreds of atrocities. He murdered and fed off his family, killed thousands, and our view of him alters vastly. Afterwards, the pair of them cool off on the romance, but it's there, bubbling under, and is going to feature heavily in the second season.

The series conclusion, in which the Master escapes, kills Buffy, and opens the Hellmouth, is a brilliant piece of storytelling. Buffy's reaction to the prophecy of her death, which Giles and Angel were trying to keep from her, is fabulous, and the tone of the episode, with it's gloom and power, is superb. Of course, at the time of making, the producers had no idea whether or not the show was going to run to a second series, so the final episode concludes in such a way that everything could be wrapped up. It adds to the self-contained feeling of this particular boxed set, and again makes it an excellent starting point for your 'Buffy' addiction. And you will be addicted. Each episode is as satisfying as television gets, and watching the whole season is like reading a novel with dozens of layers to peel back. Check it out, whether fantasy TV is usually your thing or not.
 

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