Thursday, December 16, 2010

Episode 2: The Harvest

Before we begin
A little piece of housekeeping. Because Kali and I apparently both share one mind, we've decided to try out, at least for the first season, having one of us post about the meaning of each episode while the other will mock it's hilarious moments. We're going to take turns on who writes which post so mine today shall be the importance of...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Episode Two
The Harvest

We begin very anti-climactic with Buffy shockingly not dying at the hands of Luke, the fiercely stupid vampire!

She however is only able to save Willow and Xander before returning back to school where she goes to the library where her and Giles explain what's happening. Not too much to say with this part, expect for the amazingly awesome Willow dialogue of her telling everyone that she needs to sit down. Buffy informs her she is sitting down to which she replies "oh, good for me."

After this bit of hilarity ensues, everyone rushes into research mode trying to figure out how to stop the plans that ultra stupid Luke told them about the harvest. Buffy continues being stumped by how to find everyone and save Jesse when she begins yelling at Giles about how unprepared she is. During this rant, she discovers what she needs to know which is that Luke "came from nowhere" meaning that there was an entrance behind her that he must have used. With this bit of information, Buffy leaves to go and rescue Jesse.


Creepy Giles is creepy

Still at school, Willow and Xander are each dealing with all of these changes in very different ways. First, we'll start with Willow because I love her.

We see Willow in computer class. Or whatever the hell this was; there was no teacher to be found and Willow was surfing the net while Cordelia tries learning html coding and Harmony tries as hard as she can to understand words.

Side note:

Before I continue, I must discuss this guy! He is the weirdest character EVER. I don't know anything of what him, Cordelia, or Harmony were talking about because I can pay attention to nothing else besides how ridiculous he looks. Seriously, can anyone look at him and not laugh? No offense, long-haired guy...

Now, back to Willow...

During this scene, Cordelia is making fun of Buffy and saying what a freak she is when Willow shockingly talks back to her. She tells Cordelia that she doesn't even know Buffy and that what she is saying about her isn't right. Obviously, Cordelia being Cordelia ignores her and then Willow does something epic. When she's having issues on the computer, Willow tells her to hit "deliver" to which Cordelia presses "del" and all her work is deleted.

What I believe this scene shows is a drastic change in Willow. For once, she is actually treated like a person with feelings who is not only needed, but wanted. Sure, she's to it with Xander and then Jesse (who I am assuming fell in with Xander who in essence came with Willow as a package deal) but now she is befriended from another girl. Not only another girl, but a cool girl who could have been with Cordelia and instead chose Willow. This one tiny move changed a lot for Willow and opened the door for her to blossom into an amazingly wonderful person.

Xander's transformation, unfortunately, is not so great quite yet. Within the course of his day, everything he knows comes crashing down. Not only does he lose his best male friend, but he gains a superhero female friend and has to deal with losing the male superiority society has given him since he was young. Throughout the next few seasons (I would argue up until the episode The Zeppo) he knows Buffy and Willow wouldn’t be the same without him, but they’d be able to survive. This bit of news would hurt any adolescent male, however, Xander will soon come to terms with the importance of his role as "the heart," as he was coined within Primeval, of the scoobies. 

Anyways, wrapping up with this episode I'll point out the importance we learn about Buffy. This episode shows us our first glimpse into why we care. Why, are centuries of Slayers, we are now hearing of Buffy. Every chosen one is strong and equipped with the skills necessary to hold their own against vampires and other demons. However, what makes Buffy different? What makes her a great Slayer, I would argue, is that she is crafty and uses, not only strength, but creativity and iingenuity  in order to defeat her opponents. She proves this by ultimately defeating Luke, who we are told has not been beaten since the 1800's, not by strength but by tricking him into thinking he was in danger of sun rise when it was nighttime.  
"It's in about 9 hours, moron"

So, in summation, I will leave you with my favorite line of the episode. 
Cordelia: (talking to Willow) Who gave you permission to exist? 

Check back tomorrow for Kali's mockery of this episode.

-Sarah

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