BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, SEASON ONE: A RETROSPECTIVE ON THE GRANDEST VAMP KILLER WE'VE EVER SEEN
Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 8:11PM | Christy Admiraal 
Ah, Buffy. A pop cultural phenomenon around which graduate classes and pop philosophy books are based, the revival of an idea from the early 90s ramped up and camped up ended up as one of the most beloved television series of the late 90s and early 2000s. Buffy and Co. dealt with paranormal activity unseen on TV, except on The X-Files and other minor series like Moonlight and Tru Calling. What Buffy the Vampire Slayer had going for it was a strong supporting cast, a fresh take on the supernatural and the tender loving care of Joss Whedon, cult hero and sweetheart in geek culture.
Whedon’s devotion to the series was obvious. He helmed the best episodes, and he loved the idea of the Buffyverse enough to aid in comics and a spinoff series, Angel. Although some might argue that Angel is an altogether better series, with a tighter concept and a lower threshold for camp, among Whedon’s catalog, Buffy will always be first in my heart, and season one alone solidifies that love.
In the first episode, we are introduced to a motley crew of Sunnydale High students and staff: Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), the beautiful and fierce chosen one; Willow (Alyson Hannigan), a delightfully awkward, gentle and off-kilter nerd; Xander (Nicholas Brendon), a clownish sort with a love for puns and the ladies; Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), the school’s most popular wench; and Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), a librarian assigned to watch over Buffy and guide her through Slayer activity.
As soon as we see our first vampire attack in the pilot, “Welcome to the Hellmouth,” we realize that this is a show unlike most others. The fights are over the top, the characters are too bright for their own good and their pack mentality and reliance on each others’ strengths for success is a bit cloying. But soon enough, these characters can’t be separated. Individually, they are good, but together, they are great. Willow couldn’t be Willow without her bumbling crush on Xander, Cordelia couldn’t be as terrifically bitchy without her more normal peers to mistreat, and neither Buffy nor Giles could step forward in their separate occupations without each other’s aid. The characters carry each other, and there’s nothing so satisfying as watching them conquer vamps together.
A high school comedy drama is incomplete without a romance, but Buffy refuses the normalcy of a jockish guy falling for the strangely alluring, kickass new girl. It feels completely natural to have Buffy fall for the most attractive undead she’s ever seen, Angel (David Boreanaz). This leads to the season’s best episode, actually one of my favorites in the entire series: “Angel,” in which Buffy finds out her prospective boyfriend is a vampire with a delicate and deadly past. She’s still drawn to him, and Angel sticks around for several seasons, much to the delight of female viewers.
Despite the strength of “Angel,” the pilot and the season closer, “Prophecy Girl,” there are some real clunkers in season one. I’d hazard a guess that most viewers consider “I, Robot ... You, Jane” one of the series’ worst, a failed techno thriller that sees Willow fooled by a computer virus or something like that. If I were to re-watch this season, I’d skip this episode, along with the one in which Xander falls for a substitute teacher who’s actually a giant praying mantis (not making this up). And yet, these episodes have their advantages. At least, the former does: It introduces us to Giles’ terrific love interest, Miss Calendar (Robia MaLorte). She’ll become fairly instrumental in one of my favorite episodes a while from now, but we’ll get to that soon enough.
Overall, I’d give the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer an average grade of a B. My guess is that I won’t be handing out As until the second half of the series. But the season is such a strong start to what turns out to be a modern classic, and I don’t think that can be denied by anyone, even those who find Whedon’s apparent genius overrated. Gems await in season two, especially when my very favorite character is introduced. Stay tuned.
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