Ben Blacker

Buffy standing over the Master’s skeleton, about to work out her “issues.”

201 feels like a pretty hard re-establishing of the format, which makes sense. It’ll be interesting to see when the show starts to become more serialized and how that kind of storytelling it handled. For now, I’m just excited for a 22 episode season!

It’s all a bit too bluntly executed. I think later seasons, and shows inspired by Buffy, would be more nuanced about this sort of thing. It’s also very dark—visually, mostly. There are scenes that are just hard to see what’s happening. (Other scenes are just hard to watch…)

Unfortunately, season 2 feels more like an extension of season 1 than an exciting new start. Though not a great episode 201 should be admired for dealing with the emotional fallout of “Prophecy Girl.” This kind of emotional continuity was so rare.

I wish I could explain to some of you how exciting it was when TV premiered shows in the fall. You’d wait to see how all of your friends looked after a summer away. “When She Was Bad” leans into this, with Buffy literally having been away from Sunnydale for the summer.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

Hey, I know time’s are tough, so it’s all there for free, but if you’re looking to spend a few dollars on #bandcampfriday, I can always use the support!

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I mean, she’s a legend.

I get it. (And I’m grateful!)

Hahahaha. It’s an amazing look. I had the action figure!

Three frames from Prophecy Girl episode. Top is Buffy saying "Giles, I'm sixteen years old." Second is Buffy in a silent beat. Third is Buffy saying "I don't wanna die."

I know I said this before, but I can't stress enough how there was nothing like this on TV. I loved teen TV (at this point, for me, it was just MSCL, Party of 5, Doogie Howser, Wonder Years) and I loved horror. I had no idea I'd get to see them combined, without condescension. It was an earthquake.

I'm sure I'll have to think harder + grapple with his influence as I continue this rewatch, both on me + on TV. But for now, I'm enjoying that this thing came together at all in the late 90s. That it had opportunity to find its true voice (+ true writing staff, whose influence can't be understated).

Not all of it works. He's not there. That "I'm still pretty" line, while in character, feels flimsy + sexist. But there's a throwaway line at the end, after Angel compliments Buffy's dress, that is both so Joss and so perfectly delivered by Gellar:
"Yeah, yeah. Big hit with everyone."

It hurts to look closely. All that putting Willow in danger? Picking on the "weakest" person/character. That's the sickness of the guy. But it's also great writing. Of COURSE you threaten the most sympathetic character. You have to go hard, for the audience, at every chance + this show always did.

It's frustrating that he's such an empathetic writer and such a pathetic human. Buffy never sounds like a 16 year old girl written by an adult man. And yes, a lot of that is SMG embodying the character. But a lot of that is Joss (and the writers).

Gif of Buffy saying "I may be dead... But I'm still pretty." A very Joss, and not very clever, line.

112 is where you have to contend with the Joss of it all though. If the pilot was a mission statement, "Prophecy Girl" is where his vision is realized. 102-111 don't sound particularly "Jossy," so it's easy to gloss over that this is his show. But 112 sounds like the show we'd come to know + love.

Close up of the Hellmouth Spawn which is NOT Audrey 2 from Little Shop of Horrors. it looks like tree roots come to life. With teeth.

Mark Metcalf as the Master gives great villain, really sets the bar for any that would follow. And this episode blows the budget with effects, with an earthquake cracking open the library set, a few dustings, and that really fun practical Hellmouth monster at the climax.

Angel holds Buffy's dead body in the Master's lair.

Also Angel is in this episode.

Willow encountering the aftermath of a vampire killing scene. Dead bodies in the foreground, room trashed.

It's clear too that the writers love Willow. She gets a bunch of great scenes here. She's adorable mooning over Xander when he practices asking Buffy out. And her upset at walking into the aftermath of a vampire killing spree really works. The show really weaponizes how sympathetic Hannigan is.

Gif of Xander in profile saying "I’m just going to go home, lie down and listen to country music. The music of pain”

Xander gets pushed a bit into incel territory again, but I think he's pulled back enough to redeem him after Buffy rejects his proposal to go to prom. That scene reminded me that this show comes a few years after My So-Called Life, which set the standard for teenage realism on TV. It can't compete.

Gif of Giles saying "Giles: I don't care what the books say. I defy prophecy, and I am going. There's nothing you can say will change my mind."

Everyone is really giving season-best in this episode. Giles's fear and anxiety at learning the meaning of the prophecy feels true. And at the end, after Buffy says she died, the way Head delivers "I should've known that wouldn't stop you." is genuinely moving.

Buffy in her prom dress and leather jacket standing in a tunnel with a crossbow

Well damn. "Prophecy Girl" is even better than I remembered. It's for sure the realization of everything learned by every department in the first season. What's amazing is that as brilliant a performance as SMG gives in this episode, she would go even deeper in subsequent seasons.

AND we've got a great new DEAD PILOTS SOCIETY on Sunday afternoon to attend live or stream! Starring @gingergonzaga.bsky.social Ed Weeks, Patty Guggenheim, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer @bryansafi.bsky.social Jessica Sula + lots more great folks.
Tix: www.elysiantheater.com/shows/deadpi...

WGFestival logo

PLUS, the @wgfoundation.bsky.social Festival is this week and you should attend virtually! Benny will be there, as will @quintabrunson.bsky.social Nia DaCosta @michaeldfuller.bsky.social @notthatgroff.bsky.social + more great folks.
Info: benblacker.substack.com/p/benito-ski...

A great chat w @iambennydrama7.bsky.social for today's Writers Panel about the fun and horny OVERCOMPENSATING, creating an authentic coming-out story, translating his stand up to a TV pilot, gray areas, inhabiting characters, the state of TV comedy + more.
benblacker.substack.com/p/benito-ski...

Congrats!

That said, they do get a nice thematic exchange out of it around the fact that Angel has no reflection// Marcy is invisible and what that does to a person.

Giles and Angel in a scene together

I think it’s really funny when you can see the writer’s room at work. Like, in this one, they needed someone to rescue the gang while Buffy + Cordelia were captured. Who else is on the show? Angel. How do we get him in there? Can he go see Giles? What does Giles like? Books! He brings Giles a book!

Xander replying “maybe it’s a vampire bat.” Which is objectively hilarious.

Some great lines in this one! And most of them land! Snyder muttering “There are no dead students here - this week.”
Buffy describing monsters as “pretty much crush, kill, destroy.”
And of course Xander’s response to Giles saying he’d never heard of someone “attacked by a lone baseball bat before.”

Cordelia tied to a chair at the Bronze

111 is strong. The main characters finally don’t feel over-styled and have what is closer to their usual looks. Director Reza Badiyi is unobtrusive and keeps it modern feeling. And this is a killer spotlight for Charisma Carpenter. You get why the show has loved her since the pilot.

The writers smartly explored simple, relatable themes and high school feelings and then worked the metaphors hard into horror territory in this first season (probably second too). I just can’t explain how TV was just not this clever or thoughtful at this time (generally speaking).

Buffy and Cordelia walking side by side in the hallway, almost bonding in the episode

“Out of Mind, Out of Sight” is as strong an episode as I recalled. I always thought of it as the one where everything—character, look, metaphor, dialogue—came together. But the fact is that the show just gets sharper with every episode, and this is the penultimate ep of season 1.