Season 2, Episode 10

“What’s My Line? Pt. 2”

The following is an excerpt taken from the journals of Kendra the Vampire Slayer. (For the full effect make sure to read this with a Jamaican accent.)

November 24^th, 1997

Today I came face-to-face with Buffy Summers, a girl I first believed to be a vampire based on very good evidence. Come to find out she is also a Slayer. It seems that she died for a minute and that was long enough for me to be activated into a Slayer. After knowing her for only an hour, I understand how she died. She pays little attention to what her Watcher has to say and instead chooses to do things her own way. I was taught early on that my Watcher knows best and I should always obey his command.

Speaking of my Watcher, I explain to Buffy’s Watcher, Mr. Giles, that I was sent by mine to Sunnydale because a dark power is rising. Apparently a vampire named Spike is attempting to revive his lover Drusilla in some sort of ritual. Come to find out later that this ritual involves killing Drusilla’s sire, which is also Buffy’s boyfriend.

This Buffy the Vampire Slayer is far different from any Slayer I have ever heard of. First of all, she has no regard for rules. She is not focused on slaying enough to deserve a Watcher as knowledgeable as Mr. Giles. She has never even read the Handbook! She does not understand what the meaning of “secret identity” is, since she has several friends that know about what she is. They even assist her in research and fighting. I have never heard of such a thing. I think that they lead to more of a distraction than anything else with their petty worries. It seems that Xander and Cordelia have some strange relationship where they constantly fight with each other, but I can tell that there is something else going on. Some boy takes a bullet for Willow, but instead of continuing the fight Buffy goes to help them.

The most troubling thing that I have learned about Buffy Summers is that her boyfriend is a vampire! This goes against everything I was taught. I locked him up expecting him to be dusted by the sun when it rose high enough, but somehow he managed to get out or was taken. After learning that he is the key to this ritual, Buffy’s main concern is saving him instead of stopping the ritual! I don’t care that he supposedly has a soul; he is a vampire and should die. Nothing good will come of this.

While preparing for battle, I do start to understand Buffy a bit better. I was always taught that friends, family, and school distract me from my calling. I am not even allowed to talk to boys, which makes my conversations with Buffy’s friend Xander slightly awkward. Buffy agrees that my fighting technique is flawless, but contradicts this by saying she could beat me! While I know that I could easily defeat her in a fight, I understand her point about using emotion to empower my slaying abilities.

I know that I am a better fighter because I have to save her several times and help fight the foes that she is battling. I fight the blonde vampire Spike while trying to get to Drusilla in order to stop that ritual that has already been started. We are able to kill all of the Order and stop the ritual before it is completed. I am not sure how much of it worked. I was very impressed with Buffy’s creativity when she destroyed an organ that came crashing down on Spike and Drusilla. I am not sure if it was able to kill them, but hopefully it was enough.

I must say that I am taken aback with the obvious love that Buffy has for Angel. The way she comforts him after she saves him shows me that. I decide that it would behoove me to help her save him from the building, which has now caught fire. Not to mention the fact that he is pretty cute, for a vampire.

November 25^th, 1997

I am glad to be returning home to my Watcher. This time I will be riding in the actual cabin of the plane with an official ticket. Strange. I had a nice conversation with Buffy. She helped me see how being a Slayer isn’t just our job; it’s who we are. I’m surprised that she hadn’t seen this for herself. I think I will miss it a little here in Sunnydale. While Buffy’s style of slaying is too radically different for my taste, it was nice having someone that was like a friend for the first time in my life.

Maybe sometime in the future I will return to just visit, hopefully no new evil will rise that will require me to help fight. I’d like to just come back to visit my new friend Buffy and even talk about girl things, like her boyfriend. Yes, I’m sure my next visit will be fun!

-Kendra the Vampire Slayer

Side Note: Kali’s favorite line didn’t fit in the post. It was Oz and his adorable conversation with Willow, especially "I mock you with my monkey pants." and "All monkeys are French, you didn't know that?"

-Kali!

Sarah's Notes
While Kali was delving into the mind of the newest Slayer, I was watching the commentary on this episode. Here's what I learned:

 

-Apparently all the writers decided they wanted Kendra to be foreignn and have an accent and the dialogue coach got a little too excited about this idea. He tried getting so specific into the exact place Kendra would be from that her accent ended up sounding very fake and no one really has any idea where she's from. Marti kept calling the dialect coach a "complete character" which in my book means he was on the insane side. -A lot of talk about Drusilla and how she was meant to represent the epitome of Angel's bad behavior. This got me to wondering what would be the epitome of Angel's good behavior. My first instinct is to say loving Buffy but, um, well more on this in a few episodes...
-Totally Gross Fact of the Day: the worms on Cordelia's sweater while Xander is spraying her with water are REAL! Marti kept laughing and saying how Charisma was not happy with the worms or the water. REAL WORMS! (the one's the showered on her in the house were fake; Marti pretty much says which scenes had real, fake, or CGI worms.)
-More epitome talk now. Marti also says that Joss used Kendra to show the epitome of someone raised to be a weapon. Basically, throughout this episode Buffy feels trapped and Kendra helps show her all of what she has going for her that most Slayers don't have. Poor Kendra. Also, Joss really likes the idea of humans used as weapons thing (See Also: River in Firefly and sleepers in Dolhouse)
-Last interesting tidbit, as Willow and Oz walk away together talking they are ad libbing their dialogue. This basically just gives us another reason as to why Alyson and Seth are freaking hilarious.
-This isn't from the commentary but LOL about Danny Strong being credited as "hostage kid." Man has he come a long way on this show...

Favorite Line: "Kendra, you slay, I'm going to Disneyland." - Buffy. Basically because I really like the idea of Buffy at Disneyland. Or me at Disneyland. *Sigh* I miss Disneyland...

-Sarah