Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “When She Was Bad" Review (2x01)

Brief Synopsis: “Buffy returns from summer vacation with a much different attitude than before and recurring nightmares involving the Master. At the same time, the Anointed One and his followers plot their revenge...”

"Prophecy Girl" (1x12) quick link here                                                                   "Some Assembly Required" (2x02) quick link here


Two quick notes before we get started...

1)    I will be reviewing the episodes in bullet point form. This is because it makes the reviews simple to read, and helps break up the text.
2)    If you are watching the show for the first time along with these reviews, please be warned that there may be a few spoilers for things that haven’t happened yet.

With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



•    We’ve now reached Buffy season two! In my opinion, Buffy season two is where the show starts to get consistently great. Season one was good, but it certainly had its share of poor episodes and pacing problems. With the arrival of Spike and Drusilla, Angel losing his soul, and the increase in the quality of writing (welcome, Marti Noxon), this season is a huge step-up. However, before getting to a string of fantastic episodes, we first have to wade through some shit. “Some Assembly Required”, “Inca Mummy Girl” and “Reptile Boy” are all in my five least favourite episodes of the season, and all take place in the first five episodes. With that being said, this episode starts the season off on a positive note.
•    This episode may as well be called “Buffy’s Mental State After Killing The Master”. It’s all about the fallout from “Prophecy Girl”. Firstly, Buffy is having trouble adjusting to life after being killed at the hands of The Master. It’s almost like a trial run for Buffy’s catatonic state in season five’s “Weight Of The World”. I completely understand why Buffy is breaking down in this episode. SHE DIED. That’s bound to make anyone question a lot of things. The difference is that Buffy can’t escape. She can’t take a year or two away from slaying in order to refocus her life and get into a positive mental state again. She’s the only Slayer in the world (well, she’s not by this point, but we don’t know that yet)! If she needed time away to fix her head, who would fight back the vampires and the forces of darkness? So, you see the predicament that Buffy is in during this episode (and in general). Buffy is stuck.
•    Another “Prophecy Girl” fallout plot is that The Anointed One has now taken The Master’s place with the disciples that remain, and he is trying to resurrect The Master using his bones.

•    I both love and hate the opening scene from this season. Firstly, why is there now major sparkage between Xander and Willow? Why are they all flirty and about to kiss? Xander showed zero interest in Willow last season! ZERO!  Suddenly Buffy disappears for a few months and Xander wants Willow? That makes no sense! On the flip side, if you take away the almost-kiss, I love these two together. The sheer adorableness of the scene leaves me a pile of manly goop on the floor. Their friendship is my favourite from the entire Buffyverse, and getting to see them hang out just the two of them for a while is wonderful. At this point in time I would have loved to see Xander and Willow date. I was craving it! After Willow meets Oz (and then Tara), and after how atrociously Xander and Willow’s fling was handled in season three, I realised that these two characters were never meant to be anything other than best friends.
•    ...don’t you just hate it when you’re about to kiss your best friend and a vampire shows up out of nowhere and vamp-blocks you?...
•    I am highly disappointed in the fact that we didn’t get to see Xander, Willow, and Giles bury The Master’s bones whilst wearing robes and chanting. This should definitely have been a flashback.

•    This episode sparks the beginning of the end for Hank and Buffy’s relationship. Hank confides in Joyce that he has no idea how to relate to Buffy - "There was no connection. The more time we spent together the more I felt like she was nowhere to be seen." From this episode Hank becomes more distant. He cancels on Buffy for her 18th birthday, and soon thereafter is barely mentioned again. He didn’t even show up to support Buffy and Dawn after Joyce’s death! Hank is as much a ‘Big Bad’ as the others...more so than The Trio and Adam...I look at Hank, and then I look at Giles, and the contrast between the two of them when it comes to Buffy is apparent. Giles is Buffy’s father, not Hank. It helps emphasise the point that you don’t have to be blood to be family. This is a message that’s repeated over and over again on both “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”.
•    Cordelia was beach-less for an entire month! How did she survive the summer?! She’s clearly having the toughest time out of everyone in this episode.
•    I still maintain that The Mayor forced Snyder to become Sunnydale High School’s principal to keep an eye on Buffy and the Hellmouth. This is canon in my head.
•    Xander: “Yo, G-Man!”
Giles: “Nice to see you...and don’t ever call me that.”

Does anyone else get the impression that Giles dislikes Xander a great deal until season four? He always seems to be annoyed with Xander. He certainly doesn’t show the same love to Xander that he shows to Buffy and Willow. Even after season four Giles and Xander aren’t particularly close, I just feel that they bond over being the two characters who are not in college. Giles doesn’t even go to Xander’s not-a-wedding! I’ve got a lot to say about Giles and Xander’s relationship, but I’m saving it for when it’s relevant.

•    Buffy’s training session with Giles was intense. The musical score really helped you see into the mental state that Buffy’s currently in. Buffy’s brain is scattered. She’s having post-traumatic stress disorder after being killed a few months previously. I’m a big fan of the fact that Buffy is having issues in this episode. She should be having issues. It’s realistic that Buffy isn’t completely fine after being killed. My only criticism of Buffy’s PTSD is that it only plays out for one episode. This should have been a story that was more long-term. I don’t mean that Buffy should have been a bitch for a long time. She still should have had her breakdown at the end of the episode, but the PTSD shouldn’t have disappeared just because of Buffy’s breakdown. Perhaps it’s my love of psychology, but I think that Joss did the character of Buffy Summers a disservice by eliminating this story after one episode. In Joss’ defence, he does go for a long-term mental health issue story with Buffy in season six (depression).
•    When I first watched this episode, I LOST MY MIND at the dream scene where ‘Giles’ attacks Buffy. Buffy ripped Giles’ face off!  I also love that Xander says “Dreams are meaningful” in the dream. I was waiting for it to go all Inception on us.
•    While I can appreciate that Buffy is battling a lot of internal struggles in this episode, she treats the people around her terribly! Why doesn’t she talk to Giles about how she’s feeling? Why not talk to Xander or Willow? Instead she bottles everything up and pushes the people around her away. Look at how she treats Angel when he goes to visit her! Angel went to visit Buffy because he missed her, and Buffy throws it back in his face!
•     I am not a fan of Buffy’s outfit the morning after the scene with Angel (white top tucked into high-waisted green trousers). While I don’t consider myself a fashion-oriented person by any stretch of the imagination,  and while I can appreciate the fact that this is the ‘90s, that outfit is hideous. Perhaps Buffy’s bad mood is reflected in bad clothing choices?
•    Buffy: “You won’t tell anyone that I’m the Slayer, and I won’t tell anyone you’re a moron.”

Ouch. Someone buy Cordelia some E45 cream for all that burrrn. The single biggest reason why this episode is successful is because of Sarah’s acting. The way Sarah plays the subtlety of her horror whenever The Master is mentioned is pure genius.

•    Willow putting the ice cream on her nose...poor Willow. Willow’s in a difficult predicament in this episode. On the one hand, she’s glad to have her friend back in her life. On the other hand, now that Buffy is back, Willow has completely disappeared off of Xander’s radar. It was obvious to see how much Willow was enjoying having Xander’s attention for once.
•    I adore the musical score when the vampires are digging up The Master’s bones. It’s so gothic. Have you noticed that I LOVE the music scores on Buffy? I’m fairly certain that I have every single score from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”.
•    Buffy: “I’ve moved on....to the living.”

What a ‘bitca’!...Angel should have bitten her.

•    The infamous dance between Buffy and Xander at The Bronze. What can I say? It’s an incredibly sexy scene, but this is the first moment in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” up to this point where I want to throttle Buffy. The scene is so uncomfortable. She’s being a complete cow to Xander (who she knows loves her), to Willow (who she knows loves Xander), and to Angel (who she knows loves her). The Xander part of the equation is the worst. Let’s not forget that in the last episode of season one, Xander asked Buffy out on a date and Buffy rejected him. We all know that Buffy doesn’t have romantic feelings for Xander at all. She does this for no other reason than because she can. Buffy is channelling her inner Faith’s philosophy of “want-take-have.”
•    I don’t think this episode does a good enough job of explaining why Buffy is being such a bitch to everyone. Is it because she died? Is it because of some weird Master powers? He had the ability to disable Buffy with his mind, after all.
•    Buffy: “Did I ever thank you for saving my life?...Don’t you wish I would?”

...and on that day, a thousand fanfics were spawned.

•    Cordelia: “Get over it.”
Cordy should be a motivational speaker with sound advice like that. Her autobiography can be called “I’ll Only Be In Here As Long As I Can Hold My Breath: The Cordelia Chase Story”. All joking aside, when Cordelia from Buffy season two is the voice of reason in your life, you know that something is wrong. This is the first occasion I can remember where I’ve sided with Cordelia over Buffy in anything. The problem is, it’s not easy to “get over it” when you’ve been through the trauma that Buffy has. It takes time. There’s a lot of emotion that you have to work through. Buffy does this in the most stupid, destructive way possible, but she needed to work through the emotion nonetheless.
•    Willow: “I mean, why else would she be acting like such a b-i-t-c-h?”
Giles: “Willow, I think we’re all a little too old to be spelling things out.”
Xander: “...a ‘bitca’?”

I love how Giles says “issues”.  It sounds so cool. I’m English, so I might be a little biased, but has anyone noticed how cool English people sound on American TV shows? Also, I refuse to believe that Xander is that stupid. Why is everyone so stupid in this episode?! Did someone contaminate the water supply?! Here are some other gems...

Giles: “Trout....is a fish.”
Smooth, Giles. Glad they taught you stealthy-speaking at the Watcher’s Council.                                                                                           ..............................
Snyder: “There’s some things I can just smell. It’s like a sixth sense.”
Giles: “No actually that would be one of the five.”                                                                                                                  ..............................
Buffy: “*reading the note* come to The Bronze before it opens or we make her a meal.”
Xander: “They’re gonna cook her dinner?”

•    Angel to Buffy: “Why are you riding me?” Talk about foreshadowing for later in the season....
•    I’m so glad that Xander told Buffy off after Giles, Jenny, Willow, and Cordelia were taken. It’s about time someone did! Also, “If they hurt Willow, I’ll kill you”. Yellow crayon mind-flash! I don’t care what anyone says, Xander & Willow are closer than Buffy & Willow.
•    In the end it turns out that after pushing all of the people close to her away in this episode, she needs them in order to stop The Master being resurrected. Buffy ignores everyone in this episode and goes off by herself. Her actions result in four of her friends being kidnapped and another one of her friends being attacked. Buffy is stronger when she is with the Scoobies. It’s what keeps her alive for so many years longer than your average Slayer. This is one of those episodes that hammers home that point.
•    Creative torture technique spotted: Cross in the mouth. Good call.
•    That double-kill by Buffy when she stakes one vampire and burns Absalom is tremendous. One of the best death scenes up to this point.

•    Buffy grinds The Master’s bones to make her bread, has a breakdown, and suddenly feels like her old self again. While I appreciate the tender Bangel moment just after she smashed The Master’s bones, I must reiterate how ridiculous it is that Buffy snaps out of her PTSD the second she destroys The Master’s bones and has a good cry. It’s a lost opportunity.
•    Sarah’s acting during the scene where she smashes The Master’s bones is superb. Sarah’s acting during season one was very good, but since the beginning of “Prophecy Girl” she’s been flawless.
•    The episode ends on a positive note. It’s a testament to how close the ‘core four’ are that they all instantly forgive Buffy for her actions without an apology necessary. They understand why she was acting the way she was. That makes Buffy’s actions more confusing in a way! Buffy has an understanding father-figure and two understanding close friends, why didn’t she talk to them?!
•    Overall, this episode worked as a season opener. It didn’t just forget about the events that transpired in “Prophecy Girl”, which was nice to see. We got some resolution on the end of season one, The Master is truly gone, we’ve explored Buffy’s mental state, and now we’re ready to delve into the next season. 


Quote Of The Episode

Xander: “Are we overlooking the idea that she may be very attracted to me?!...she’s possessed.”

It’s nice to see that Xander’s self-esteem has improved over the summer.



FINAL SCORE: 7/10



So what are your thoughts on "When She Was Bad"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!