BtVS season 2 short form and ranking
Jun. 17th, 2022 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsI watched through this season so fast at the time, and then posting about it took a lot longer. Plus I’m running low on built up episodes, so I really need to get back to watching this show.
-Notes
In the recap post about season 1, it hadn’t been that long since I finished watching the season, and I had been getting a good bite into s2. This is a rather different setting, since I finished watching s2 quite a while ago (relatively) and while I am about halfway into s3 I have kind of stalled on watching more episodes. So for good or ill, I feel a lot more removed from what I was feeling when I wrote these reviews. In a way it’s given my opinions more time to settle from what they might have been when I first wrote the reviews, but my ability to rethink them is bit further away too.
-General review
This is a much better season than s1, which shouldn’t be all that surprising. S1 had major teething problems and had more potential than even promise, but here it’s starting to deliver. It definitely has some low points, but it also some of the highest highs of the series. It’s hard to say if this is the best season, because it is pretty uneven, but it’s going to have a lot of entries on anyone’s top ten episodes list, so it’s deceptive in some ways.
-Grades
(reminder that I consider a B- to be an average episode)
2x01 – When She was Bad
Better in theory than execution and probably too short/wastes too much time
Grade: B
2x02 – Some Assembly Required
To say this is a barely average episode is more a comment on how good other ones are. It’s fine but nothing special
Grade: B-
2x03 – School Hard
Good episode somewhat tainted by having seen the rest of the show
Grade: B+
2x04 – Inca Mummy Girl
Pretty forgettable, but not a bad watch
Grade: B-
2x05 – Reptile Boy
Also forgettable, but more in the sense that you want to forget about it
Grade: D
2x06 – Halloween
Awesome with good character work for basically everyone
Grade: A-
2x07 – Lie to Me
Very good, but also…kind of not
Grade: A-
2x08 – The Dark Age
This is my jam and a pretty good episode to boot
Grade: A-
2x09 – What’s My Line 1
Highly flawed and not a favorite, but has some good parts
Grade: B
2x10 – What’s My Line 2
Most notable for being when they should have killed Spike
Grade: B-
2x11 – Ted
An underrated gem of an episode
Grade: A
2x12 – Bad Eggs
Mildly relevant if you like Buffy/Angel; as I do not, this is just not good
Grade: C-
2x13 – Surprise
A good start to an excellent story and story arc
Grade: A-
2x14 – Innocence
Excellent, with one glaring problem that you may not notice at first and can sort of be pretended away, but definitely there
Grade: A
2x15 – Phases
Good but not exceptional
Grade: B
2x16 – Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
Clunky, but with plenty of good moments
Grade: B
2x17 – Passion
Brilliant and tragic; unfortunately slightly cheap looking
Grade: A (just barely missed an A+ though)
2x18 – Killed by Death
Not that good, but enjoyable enough, if also forgettable
Grade: C+
2x19 – I Only Have Eyes for You
Thinks it’s deep but doesn’t work at all, kind of offensive, and really dumb
Grade: C
2x20 – Go Fish
An after school special with just a little bit of Buffy twist
Grade: C-
2x21 – Becoming 1
A little sloppy, and Angel might be creepier than Angelus, but sets up the finale well
Grade: B+
2x22 – Becoming 2
When it’s good it’s really damn good; but it has some not so good bits baked in
Grade: A
Season average: B. We’re up a rank from last season, but I expected it to be a bigger jump. There’s a lot more I’d call good, but there are still enough clunkers to narrow the gap overall
Average length of review: 1200 (definitely up from last season, but a few short ones keep the average from shooting up)
Shortest review: Bad Eggs. For a second I thought I was going to have to do shortest and then shortest not starting a two-parter, but this took it on its own
Longest review: Becoming 2. That is not surprising, although I was surprised how long Halloween looked like it could hold on if only I hadn’t been so wordy about the finale
Most common ship:
Buffy/Giles kind of ran away with it once I got going. I’ll say again that I didn’t expect it to hit so strong this early.
Then it’s kind of a log-jam of who I ship Willow with; Xander, Oz, or Buffy. With a side of Giles/Jenny managing to sneak into the top five. (The Fang Gang might have sneaked in higher if I’d counted all sub-class of it.)
Buffy/Angel came out with a negative score. And while I wasn’t tracking Spike/having died in 2x10, it could have probably given B/G a run; that’s somehow even more of a surprise actually. I knew at some point B/G was liable to become my big ship again; but I thought I would make it through s2 before I hated Spike this much, even if he is still good in 2x22.
-Notes
In the recap post about season 1, it hadn’t been that long since I finished watching the season, and I had been getting a good bite into s2. This is a rather different setting, since I finished watching s2 quite a while ago (relatively) and while I am about halfway into s3 I have kind of stalled on watching more episodes. So for good or ill, I feel a lot more removed from what I was feeling when I wrote these reviews. In a way it’s given my opinions more time to settle from what they might have been when I first wrote the reviews, but my ability to rethink them is bit further away too.
-General review
This is a much better season than s1, which shouldn’t be all that surprising. S1 had major teething problems and had more potential than even promise, but here it’s starting to deliver. It definitely has some low points, but it also some of the highest highs of the series. It’s hard to say if this is the best season, because it is pretty uneven, but it’s going to have a lot of entries on anyone’s top ten episodes list, so it’s deceptive in some ways.
-Grades
(reminder that I consider a B- to be an average episode)
2x01 – When She was Bad
Better in theory than execution and probably too short/wastes too much time
Grade: B
2x02 – Some Assembly Required
To say this is a barely average episode is more a comment on how good other ones are. It’s fine but nothing special
Grade: B-
2x03 – School Hard
Good episode somewhat tainted by having seen the rest of the show
Grade: B+
2x04 – Inca Mummy Girl
Pretty forgettable, but not a bad watch
Grade: B-
2x05 – Reptile Boy
Also forgettable, but more in the sense that you want to forget about it
Grade: D
2x06 – Halloween
Awesome with good character work for basically everyone
Grade: A-
2x07 – Lie to Me
Very good, but also…kind of not
Grade: A-
2x08 – The Dark Age
This is my jam and a pretty good episode to boot
Grade: A-
2x09 – What’s My Line 1
Highly flawed and not a favorite, but has some good parts
Grade: B
2x10 – What’s My Line 2
Most notable for being when they should have killed Spike
Grade: B-
2x11 – Ted
An underrated gem of an episode
Grade: A
2x12 – Bad Eggs
Mildly relevant if you like Buffy/Angel; as I do not, this is just not good
Grade: C-
2x13 – Surprise
A good start to an excellent story and story arc
Grade: A-
2x14 – Innocence
Excellent, with one glaring problem that you may not notice at first and can sort of be pretended away, but definitely there
Grade: A
2x15 – Phases
Good but not exceptional
Grade: B
2x16 – Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
Clunky, but with plenty of good moments
Grade: B
2x17 – Passion
Brilliant and tragic; unfortunately slightly cheap looking
Grade: A (just barely missed an A+ though)
2x18 – Killed by Death
Not that good, but enjoyable enough, if also forgettable
Grade: C+
2x19 – I Only Have Eyes for You
Thinks it’s deep but doesn’t work at all, kind of offensive, and really dumb
Grade: C
2x20 – Go Fish
An after school special with just a little bit of Buffy twist
Grade: C-
2x21 – Becoming 1
A little sloppy, and Angel might be creepier than Angelus, but sets up the finale well
Grade: B+
2x22 – Becoming 2
When it’s good it’s really damn good; but it has some not so good bits baked in
Grade: A
Season average: B. We’re up a rank from last season, but I expected it to be a bigger jump. There’s a lot more I’d call good, but there are still enough clunkers to narrow the gap overall
Average length of review: 1200 (definitely up from last season, but a few short ones keep the average from shooting up)
Shortest review: Bad Eggs. For a second I thought I was going to have to do shortest and then shortest not starting a two-parter, but this took it on its own
Longest review: Becoming 2. That is not surprising, although I was surprised how long Halloween looked like it could hold on if only I hadn’t been so wordy about the finale
Most common ship:
Buffy/Giles kind of ran away with it once I got going. I’ll say again that I didn’t expect it to hit so strong this early.
Then it’s kind of a log-jam of who I ship Willow with; Xander, Oz, or Buffy. With a side of Giles/Jenny managing to sneak into the top five. (The Fang Gang might have sneaked in higher if I’d counted all sub-class of it.)
Buffy/Angel came out with a negative score. And while I wasn’t tracking Spike/having died in 2x10, it could have probably given B/G a run; that’s somehow even more of a surprise actually. I knew at some point B/G was liable to become my big ship again; but I thought I would make it through s2 before I hated Spike this much, even if he is still good in 2x22.
