Season 2, Episode 3

“School Hard”

I have to premise this by saying that Spike is my favorite character, so I will attempt to not fan-girl too much but I can make no promises. I’m also going to skip around the episode a bit to connect certain scenes that prove my points.

                       

The episode opens on Snyder being a hard-ass then being a dumb-ass. Putting your two “worst” students in charge of Parents’ Night is just not smart. We see how Sheila treats it as a joke and since Snyder sees Buffy as someone like Sheila, in reality nothing would get accomplished. Anyway, the trio is walking around school and Xander says that nothing bad will happen, which pretty much jinxes everything as both Buffy and Willow point out. Enter Spike in just about the coolest way possible. I think my notes sum up his entrance: “OMG SPIKE YOU ARE SUCH A BAD-ASS, I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES”

The Annoying One and minions are discussing plans for St. Vigeous and here comes Spike to point out how dumb all of them are. I think Spike is our first vampire villain that actually is smart and worthy of being alive…er, undead. First, he actually studies his enemy. (I gotta say him watching her dance is incredibly sexy) Sending a minion to battle her in order to study her fighting technique is a smart idea. Revealing yourself to her is not, but I will chalk this up to his arrogance. Next, he brings an entire army of vampires to attack Buffy. See, if you want to take someone down, attack when they are 1. unprepared and 2. outnumbered. She thinks he’s coming on Saturday so he shows up early and instead of sending 3 freaking vampires, he takes everyone. And when it comes down to it, his fight with Buffy is very equally matched. He even has the upper hand when Buffy’s mom hits him from behind. Then he does the smartest thing a villain can do- runs and regroups. The biggest reason why I say Spike is a smart villain is this; he doesn’t underestimate his enemy. Spike says what Buffy has that makes her a stronger opponent than the others, "A Slayer with family and friends."

Let’s talk about Spike and Drusilla for a second. In our first introduction to them as a couple, Spike’s face morphs from vampire to human. I think this is a great way of showing how human his emotions are, having him physically look kinder when he sees her. A testament to their acting abilities also is how when they are just talking to each other, they act as if there is no one else in the world but them. They just look into each other’s eyes in a completely intimate moment only while talking. They act so human around each other. Spike cares for her by giving her his coat, making sure she is eating, etc. I know they don’t have souls, but just from watching them you can see the love that they share.

Ok, I’ll stop with the Spike talk for a moment. Two of our side characters have some good scenes this episode also. Cordelia is helping them makes stakes, which got me thinking… WHY? I know she found out at the end of last season about all of this stuff, but she’s not really their friend, at least not in the sense that Xander and Willow help Buffy because they are her friends. This leads to the fact that Cordelia must actually care about fighting off demons and vampires. I think she does it partly for her own protection, but she still doesn’t have to help fight and does anyway. I still don’t like her, but I dislike her a little bit less.

The other character that has a great moment is Joyce. Not only does she save Buffy from Spike, but she then tells her she doesn't care what Snyder says, she is proud of her daughter. Joyce, you are a pretty awesome mom and I think you are a true Gryffindor.

Annnnnd back to Spike. I like all of the back-story we learn about Spike in this episode, other than the continuity error having him be over 200 when he’s really just over 100. How he went from William the Bloody to Spike by torturing people with railroad spikes. Although we later learn that it’s Spike himself that changes him name. I also enjoy the scene between him and Angel with Xander as the bait. I really believe Angel would have let Xander get bitten too. We learn that there is a connection between Spike and Angel "You were my sire man. You were my Yoda!"  Yeah, it might have been helpful for Angel to tell someone how he knows all about Spike, but I also understand why he would want to hide that. Again, a little bit of a continuity error since Angel is his grand-sire, but he is definitely his evil-Yoda.

I also need to say that after that scene is more genius Xander/Angel dialogue and they totes have the hots for each other, just sayin’.

Xander: "And if he bit me? What then?"

Angel: "We would have known he bought it"

Xander: "What's the deal with you being Spike's sire? What's a sire?"

Xander sounds a little bit jealous here.

The show ends with a bit of a surprise since I for one thought that this season’s Big Bad would be “The Annoying One”. Spike however decides he’s had enough of this crap (as have I). "From now on we're going to have a little less ritual, and a little more fun around here".

Favorite Line is from Spike (did you expect anything else?): "I fed off a flower person, and I spent the next six hours watchin' my hand move."

Sarah Steelman and the Abundance of Quotes

This episode has way too many amazing notes not to include them all on here. Enjoy:

“So, who do you kill for fun around here?”- Spike

“Do you like daisies?” – Drusilla. (This introduction also pretty much sums up why I like Drusilla so much. All the guys are having conversations about killing and she just asks the annoying one if he likes daisies.)

“Let me guess, he didn’t make balloon animals.”- Buffy

“You’re all slaves to the television”- Giles (Favorite line of the episode)

Sheila: "Who are you?" Spike: “Who do you want me to be?”

"Can we get a collar with a little bell to put on him." - Xander (I think they should actually take Xander’s suggestion seriously; Angel just keeps disappearing!)

Xander: "Does anyone else remember when Saturday night meant date night?” Cordelia: “I’m sure you don’t”

“It's kind of like oil and water and a third un-meshable thing” – Buffy

(In a sing-song voice) “Someone’s in the ceiling”- Spike

Cordelia: (praying) "And if you get me out of this I swear I'll never be mean to anyone ever again…you know, unless they really deserve it or unless it's that time of the month in which case I don't see  how you or anyone else can hold me responsible… Willow: "Ask for some aspirin" Cordelia: "And send us some aspi--hey!"