BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, SEASON ONE (1997)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological, sociological*                                                                                                                                                                                                        Though the first season of BUFFY is a quantum leap in storytelling compared to the 1992 movie, the season's twelve episodes are fairly simple fare next to the involved mythology of the ensuing seasons. The mythicity never rises above fair, but none of the stories are actively poor, either. I tend to think of Season One as providing the scaffolding used by builders as they construct a more lasting edifice.                                                                                                                                    

WELCOME TO THE HELLMOUTH/ THE HARVEST-- Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), only tangentially based upon the character from the 1992 film, transfers to the California town of Sunnydale, accompanied by her divorced mother Joyce. The change in locations allowed creator Josh Whedon to imagine Buffy's new school, Sunnydale High, as the nexus of many supernatural phenomena, aka the Hellmouth, thus allowing "the Slayer" to take on a lot of non-vampiric menaces. That said, vampires are the menace for this two-parter, a clutch of them commanded by a road-company Nosferatu named The Master. Against these foes, Buffy is aided primarily by Xander (Nicholas Brendon) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan), who become her aides more out of friendship than from any desire to fight monsters. Buffy's middle-aged librarian/advisor Giles plays a very circumscribed role in this season, rarely doing more than rendering advice, while the character of Cordelia is merely used as an occasional comic foil. She and Buffy's potential love interest Angel (David Boreanaz) occupy something like a secondary ensemble in that they don't appear in all episodes.  WITCH-- This is the first episode not to involve a vampire menace. Buffy makes what may be her only attempt to resume her cheerleading career, only to discover than some of the girls are falling victim to peculiar fates, such as going blind or losing the power to speak. All indications are that one of the cheerleaders is responsible for the curses, though there's a good twist involved regarding the witch's identity.                                                                      

TEACHER'S PET-- While Sunnydale residents are losing their heads to a new head-hunting menace, Xander seeks to deal with masculinity issues, not least because Buffy puts him in the "friend zone." Then new biology teacher Natalie (Musetta Vander) seems to be very interested in Xander-- or is just that she's a mantis-monster, obsessed with her unique way of "getting head?" Since the story includes a regular vampire as well, this counts as a monster- mashup. NEVER KILL A BOY ON THE FIRST DATE-- Buffy tries to have a normal date with a nice classmate named Owen, but she's forced to put him out of her life to save his. The Master plans to unleash a new vampire-menace, The Anointed One, and despite the heroes' efforts he succeeds. Unfortunately, the producers' casting of a grade-school boy in the role of the Appointed One proved to be a misstep that wasn't corrected until Season Two. THE PACK-- This time Xander's masculinity issues are aggravated by his falling in with a bad crowd, made up of teen boys infected by the spirits of hyena-shapechangers.                                                                                 

    ANGEL-- From the character's first appearance, the characters remark that he has an "older man" appeal for Buffy, but here she finds out that he's much older than she imagined, as well as a "good vampire" dedicated to fighting evil. The thin plot involves the Master sending vamp-assassins after Buffy, which results in Angel saving her and various romantic complications. I ROBOT, YOU JANE-- It's Willow's turn to experience an unhappy romance, as she falls for a guy she met online, who just happens to be an archaic demon who got translated into the Internet. Xander shows himself unduly perturbed at Willow's budding romance, despite not being willing to date her himself. The episode introduced "techno-pagan" Jenny Calendar, who becomes a later romantic interest for Giles. THE PUPPET SHOW-- It's a minor accomplishment that this is a show featuring a snarky puppet possessed by a dead man's spirit, but he's NOT the monster of the week. The menace is less interesting than the hilarious attempt of Buffy and company to perform a scene from "Oedipus Rex" for the school talent show.                                       

  NIGHTMARES-- This time everyone at Buffy's school is besieged by horrific dreams, which may have something to do with a small boy hanging about. Though some of the dreams, like Xander's, are played for humor, others are more harrowing than any demon or vampire, since they stem from the dreamer's deepest insecurities. Buffy gets not one but two evil dreams, one centering upon her father (only seen in four episodes in the whole series), who tells Buffy's dream-self that she was responsible for his divorce from Joyce. Buffy also dreams of being infected by vampirism, which was certainly a foreshadowing of the events of the season finale. OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND-- A high-schooler named Marcie is so relentlessly ignored by the other students that she becomes literally invisible and thus is a perfect position to exact revenge on the popular crowd. One might call the preachy theme of this episode rather-- transparent. A wry ending shows Invisible Marcie being recruited by a secret agency. PROPHECY GIRL-- Buffy learns of a prophecy that she's doomed to die when the Master breaks free at last, and so she seeks to refuse the "call to action" and return to being an ordinary girl. But her desire to protect the innocent overpowers her natural self-defensiveness. The prophecy is proven half-right, when the Master overcomes the Slayer and drinks her blood, albeit without vampirizing her, and leaves her to drown to death. However, Xander and Angel find her and revive her, though I thought Xander's use of CPR to purge Buffy's lungs of water didn't exactly explain her survival of massive blood loss. Buffy recovers, confronts the Master and kills him, putting an end to the first of the show's season-long "Big Bads." This is the strongest episode of the season, and Buffy's temporary demise would become a source for further plotlines later on. One interesting touch is that Giles, who's been something less than paternal throughout the season, announces his intention to take Buffy's place in facing down the Master, forcing Buffy to knock him out to save his life. Later seasons will do a much better job depicting the father-daughter relationship of Slayer and Watcher, encouraged in part by the disappearance of Buffy's real father from her life.