Act Three
2X) "It's just me." (00:25:04) WILLOW AS EEYORE: This short line is a perfect encapsulation of Willow's lack of self-esteem and self-confidence this early show. She doesn't see herself as important enough to be wanted, despite the amazing help she has been in this episode, to Buffy and Giles, in getting information via the internet.
2Y) "Great! I mean, not great in a good way..." (00:25:25) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "Giles excitement at all the monsters he's going to face is always a source of amusement for us. He's always having just a little bit too much fun in the midst of all this direness."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary See 3L.
2Z) "My blood is your blood." (00:26:35) DEGREDATION MOST HOLY: "The little scene...where Luke drinks...[the Master's] blood and becomes the vessel is quasi religious. The words 'my blood is your blood. My soul is your soul' has an echo of the ritual of Holy Communion. The Master annoints him with his blood."--Rahael, Sat, 04/13/02 at 10:28:15 See 1AA, 1BBB, 2B, 2C, 2NN, 7V, 7XX, 15L, and 25BBB.
2AA) BUFFYVERSE MYTHOLOGY: "The Harvest is an event which comes one night in a century. The Master draws mystical power at a distance from one of his minions ('the Vessel') while it feeds on human blood. This will give the Master enough power to break free of the portal. The Vessel is bestowed with a mystical link to the Master in a special ritual. If the Master fails to get the energy he needs from the Harvest, he cannot use this method to free himself for another century...Giles says that The Harvest was "pre-ordained". Does this mean that the Master was destined to get himself stuck in the Hellmouth portal, and destined to get out? Or is the The Harvest simply a predictable centennial event used by the Master for his own purposes? The Harvest took place, as predicted. It just didn't end as the Master thought it would. He did not escape his mystical prison. But Buffy didn't kill him, either."--Masquerade, "The Harvest" Analysis at http://www.atpobtvs.com
2BB) "I don't like vampires. I'm gonna take a stand, and say they're not good." (00:27:49) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "The idea of saying something that is funny...about something that is really tragic. For him to exhibit genuine grief about the death of a friend, and, at the same time say something that is actually kind of clever...is a fine line to walk tonally...and that's something these guys deal with all the time--how to express grief in a way that feels real to them, but might actually be funny to the audience. In the episode where they thought Willow had died [Doppelgangland], Tony, Nick, and Sarah all had to do that. They all had to play at two levels at once."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary
'2CC) Roughly translated--Hellmouth." (00:28:20) BUFFYVERSE MYTHOLOGY: "Giles calls Sunnydale a 'center of mystical energy' or a 'mystical convergence.' By this he means that supernatural energy is concentrated more strongly here than elsewhere, due to the proximity of the Hellmouth, a point where the wall between our world and hell ('the demon dimension(s)') is thinner than usual. Its exact location is right under the Sunnydale High School library, which explains the unusual preponderance of supernatural activity at the high school."--Masquerade, "Welcome to the Hellmouth" Analysis at http://www.atpobtvs.com
2DD) "The tapes all say I should get used to saying it. No." (00:30:20) JOYCE: Again, Joyce refers to her parenting tapes. Joyce is sweet person, and a good mother, but obviously does not understand Buffy, at this point. Further, she is probably not used to being a single mom. She is at a strange time in her life, just as Buffy is. The tapes she listens to and books she reads are probably attempts, on her part, to overcompensate for her uneasiness in being a single parent. She doesn't have all the answers, so she hopes these books and tapes do. This is a recurring theme in the early seasons--Joyce desperately wants to be the perfect mom.
2EE) "Everything is life or death when you're a 16-year-old girl." (00:30:32) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "This scene...embodies very primally the message of the show, which is the difficulty of being a teenager, and the fact that parents can't understand or can't remember how difficult it is. And...we played it with a kind of broad, on-the-nose joke, but one that completely registers in terms of Mom saying, 'That's right. If you don't get to go out, the world will end,' when, of course, in fact, it will, because when you're a teenager, that's how it feels..."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary
2FF) Buffy's trunk. (00:31:10) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "[This is a very] primal images...the idea that, in this trunk we see a very normal girl's life...and then we see what lies beneath, and that's a literal, visual metaphor for the way we feel when we're young."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary
2GG) "Oh I love this song!" (32:44) MUSICALLY SPEAKING: As in the last episode, the song we hear at the Bronze has lyrics that are meaningful to the theme of the show: "You fight the good fight/ you fight the good war..."
2HH) "Shut up." (00:33:45) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "...[a]fter Jesse has become a vampire, he suddenly has some kind of charisma (no pun intended), some kind of sexual magnetism, and sort of experience that makes him completely different than the dork he was five minutes ago...Again, that's something that just feels extremely real from high school experience, because that confidence, that knowing that you have something is really a lot of what it took to sort of become something more than the dork that we are. It's just that getting that confidence is nearly impossible. Jesse had to die to do it."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary
2II) FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT: "Jesse walks in, a new man. A cool, subtle swagger in his step."--"The Harvest" by Joss Whedon, available from Pocket Books, Inc. as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book, Season One, Volume 1
Act Four
2JJ) "Don't go Wild Bunch on me!" (00:36:15) POP CULTURE TIME: "[The Wild Bunch is a 1960's movie about]...a group of outlaws...[who] choose to make a completely desperate last stand in a Mexican village--there is no hope of them getting out alive, their hope is just to slaughter as many enemies as they can before they're taken out."--Jon, Wed, 3/27/02 at 10:20:50
2KK) WILD BUNCH REDUX: Other Wild Bunch references crop up on the show. The next appears in Bad Eggs (see 24U). --Paraphrased by Rob from a post by d"Herblay, Wed, 03/27/02 at 10:20:50
2LL) "You're looking at the thing that killed him." (00:36:36) WHAT IS A VAMPIRE?: "Many of the vampires we will get to know in the Buffyverse seem almost exactly like their human predecessors, except with blood-lust and no pulse. Others seem strikingly different, but in ways that are an extrapolation of the human we once knew. The mix of similarities and differences between vampires and their human predecessors raises a perplexing metaphysical quandary about 'who' a vampire is--is it still the same 'person' as we knew before, or is that person gone completely, replaced by an uncanny, evil, doppelganger who took over their body at death? Jesse was an awkward young man with a dry sense of humor, probably not unlike Xander. He had enough self-confidence to persistantly pursue Cordelia, but each time she gave him the brusque brush-off, he backed off until he had the courage to fumble through another lame come-on again. VampJesse, on the other hand, is full of self-confidence. He approaches Cordelia directly, doesn't take no for an answer on the dance floor, and later knocks her to the ground in anticipation of feeding on her. Certainly not the old Jesse with some blood lust. But a completely new man? Or a perversion of old Jesse with his potential as a stalker fully realized?"--Masquerade, "Vampires" page at http://www.atpobtvs.com See 2MM, 7NN, 7OO, 21O, 33UUU, and 35F.
2MM) "Jesse, I know there's still a part of you in there." (00:40:42) WHAT IS A VAMPIRE?: This statement is arguable. Xander soon comes to decide, that, no, there is no part of Jesse left in there, and that is how he is able to justify staking him. In his mind, he must completely separate his friend from this demon standing in front of him. Later, when Xander finds himself incapable of liking Angel, even when Angel helps Buffy and him, it is, in all likelihood, a result of Giles' earlier statement that this is the thing that killed his friend (see 12VV). "If Xander admits that vampires...[can] have some humanity, he is also admitting that he...[possibly] could have done something else to help Jesse."--Lurker Becoming Restless, Fri, 8/31/01 at 2:45, with some additions by Rob See 2LL, 7NN, 7OO, 21O, 33UUU, and 35F.
2NN) "Master, taste of this, and be free" (00:40:40) DEGREDATION MOST HOLY: Yet another religious inversion. When Luke says this, as he prepares to bite Buffy, it is "another echo of Holy Communion...the idea that the blood and body of Jesus Christ sets the worshipper free."--Rahael, Sat, 04/13/02 at 10:28:15, with some additions by Rob See 1AA, 1BBB, 2B, 2C, 2Z, 7V, 7XX, 15L, and 25BBB.
2*1) "Get off of him!" (00:40:56) WILLOW: It's very important to note here that Willow harms her first demon here, to protect Giles, wounding Darla with holy water. Even Xander is not as bold. Yes, he kills VampJesse, but he requires a (literal) push from a passerby. You can't fault him too badly here, of course, since this is one of his best friends, whereas Darla was nothing ever to Willow but a villian.
2OO) "It's in about nine hours, moron." (00:41:40) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "...[This was a great] example of Buffy being smart, and outwitting her opponent as opposed to just being...[a good-looking girl] with powers."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary
2PP) "She did it! I'll be damned!" (00:42:29) FROM THE MOUTH OF THE ALMIGHTY JOSS: "[This short scene is important, characterwise, because we see Angel's] regard for Buffy increasing at the end of the show." And do I really need to point out the ironic foreshadowing in Angel's "I'll be damned" statement?--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary, with a short addition by Rob
2QQ) "Did we win?" (00:42:41) BATTLE'S END: One of the things that separates Buffy from other tales in the same genre is the idea that, even a battle in which the hero emerges victorious, may not be cause for celebration. Yes, they are happy they won, but this is mixed with a great deal of sadness at the loss of their friends. Some later episodes even have moments that suggest that some victories in battle don't feel like victories at all. At the end of Once More, With Feeling, for example, Sweet, the musical demon, is defeated, but no one seems very happy about it. Giles sings, "The battle's won, and we kinda won, so we sing our victory cheer," but there is no enthusiasm or happiness in his voice.
2RR) "Well, we averted the Apocalypse. We get points for that." (00:42:47) JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE HERO'S JOURNEY: "Buffy successfully...stops the Harvest from occurring. This places her on the road of the Hero's journey, but the stage of Separation is not yet complete. In keeping with the mythological tradition, the Hero must find allies and prepare for the journey before completely leaving the World of Common Day behind. The remainder of Season 1 consists of just such a process."--Rattletrap, Tues, 12/11/01 at 09:21:16 See 1Q, 1S, 1Y, 1JJ, 1TT, 2T, 3FF, 11GGG, 12LLL, 27CCC, 35XXX, and Appendix A.
2SS) "I wish I'd been there!" (00:43:10) REWRITING HISTORY: The idea that people have a tendency to rationalize away what they can't explain is a common theme in the early days of Buffy, and is very helpful as a plot device to keep too many people from knowing about Buffy's superhero status. If they had, she would not be "uncool" and thus not need to form her own small family with the other Scoobies. Later on, in the show's run, however, it is implied that people realize some of what is going on, when she receives her "Class Protector" Award in The Prom, even if they don't get the full implications of what or who she is.
2TT) "I can hardly wait." (00:43:50) OTHERNESS AS SPECIALNESS: "The idea of this band of...outcasts being the heart of the show, and sort of creating their own little family is very much...the mission statement. To me, high school is so much...that band of...we few people that nobody really understand exist on a level that they don't, and your friends seem so terribly real to you, and everybody else seems so fake and strange."--Joss Whedon, DVD Commentary
2UU)"Cause a lot of schools aren't on Hellmouths." (00:44:04) HELLMOUTH: This is the first indication on the show that this is not the only Hellmouth on earth. See 43Dx4.