“The Harvest”
--The first time I saw “Hellmouth”/”Harvest,” it was rerun as a 2-hour movie on the WB during the summer. You’d think that would make it easier to follow, but stupid WB cut out the opening of the following show! So it went from Buffy in the crypt, nearly getting bitten, to “Previously…” (which was completely unnecessary, since we just saw that part) and the opening theme song to . . . Giles talking to the Scoobies in the library. Big-time “huh?”
So, as usual: Average ape – more intelligent than network programmer.
--I always thought that the cosmology that Giles expounds here doesn’t really work. If the demons were here first, isn’t it their right to come back and to stay? Doesn’t that mean that humans are just squatters? So how is what Buffy is doing in any sense good? I try not to think of this speech in the rest of the series.
--I didn’t find anything specifically to comment on about Willow last week, and I feel bad about that. Just so we’re clear: I adore Willow. Right from the beginning. Love, love, love her.
--Another note from last week I forgot to mention: Willow mentions that Giles is a new librarian, and that he “was a curator of some British museum. Or the British museum, I’m not sure . . .”
For some reason, I had gotten it into my head that Giles was always the librarian there, and that he became the Watcher on call when Buffy moved to the area where he was living. So why was Giles sent from England? I would think there would be some other potential Watchers living in the States.
Also, Giles as a museum curator? That is such a fanfic waiting to happen!
--One thing I really love about this series is that Buffy’s identity as the Slayer doesn’t stay hidden from the people around her for long. This isn’t Smallville, where every week is about Clark lying to his friends and family, and when they find out, he eventually wipes their memory or something. And for what? To protect them? How does he protect anyone if dangerous people might be coming after him (and them, by extension) and they don’t know about it?
At least Spider-Man struggles with the question of whether or not to tell, and depending on which version you’re reading, he often does end up telling anyway. With Superman, it’s just treated as super-important that no one know, and it’s treated as un-ironically good.
Here, though, Giles already knows, Xander quickly finds out, and Willow isn’t far behind. Cordelia and Oz will learn within the next year. It takes a long time for Joyce to find out, but that particular plot point was deliberately held out for maximum, painful, emotional impact.
I heard a fan-made audio commentary for “Hellmouth” where the guy complained about Buffy having a secret identity from her friends. That guy was an idiot.
--Willow has her first bit of helpfulness in this episode, when she breaks into the government computers to find the city plans (even though it turns out to be unimportant in the long run). Hooray for Willow!
--More than once in this episode, when SMG had on those rockin’ glasses and the awesome cross with that great hair (somehow she even manages to rock that plain white tee), the phrase that popped into my head was “hottie Nancy Drew.”
--I miss Stephen Toblowsky (Groundhog Day, Memento, Sneakers, Glee), who played Principal Flutie in the unaired pilot. There’s nothing wrong with Ken Lerner; I’m just a big fan of Toblowsky. Then again, I might have been ticked if Toblowsky bought it six episodes in.
--Angel claims that he won’t go down where the Master is because he’s afraid. But he plays the line with a laugh! Is Angel really afraid? He seems more smug than anything. There’s no note in the script about him playing that as sarcastically as he did.
--The banter between Buffy and Angel at this point seems reminiscient of Moonlighting. David would go back to that kind of banter for Bones.
--The act breaks are great right from the beginning. They’re usually great twists and cliffhangers, and they’re always related to what the episode (and/or series) is centrally about.
--Man, it’s hard to see some of the scenes in the sewers because they’re so dark. I tried to turn up the contrast on the DVD-ROM software, but I had to stop the DVD in order to adjust it (so how am I supposed to see the image to adjust it?). And now, having stopped it, my DVD-ROM refuses to play the Buffy disc or anything else.
I agree with Giles’ reference to the “dread machine.” Computers are evil.
--Xander catches up with Buffy in the tunnels. Did he jump the fence that Flutie locked, too?
--Love the camera transition from the crypt to the library.
--I adore the scene where Willow tells Cordelia to hit the “Deliver” button. First, it’s hilarious that Cordelia actually expects that Willow will help her after she’s just verbally thrashed Willow to within an inch of her life! That totally fits the “entitled” side of Cordy’s personality. In her mind, it’s: Of course everyone wants to help her—even the losers. She’s Cordelia, after all!
Second, brains over bullying. Hooray! That’s using your head, girl. But, also, as much as I like it, I have to admit it’s a bit vindictive. Considering the progression to Season 6, it’s fascinating to see just a hint of that now.
The script doesn’t mention the computer screen actually going blank and Cordelia’s reaction to it. Joss writes that we’re waiting for the reaction when the camera cuts away. Sometimes the gag plays better if we’re left in anticipation, but this time I think it would have been confusing. I’m glad that we see the results of Willow’s prank right onscreen.
--Hooray! First appearance of Harmony! She’s so funny (and easy on the eyes). She’ll be around for quite a while, too.
--When the vamps are further in the tunnel, you can see their eyes glow. That never, ever happens again.
--Buffy needs Xander’s help to shut the door. Ha! She’s like 100 times stronger than him. But the full extent of her power hadn’t been decided yet by the writers, clearly.
--On the other hand, a big theme of the show is that Buffy’s reliance on her friends is part of what makes her stronger and better than any other Slayer.
--Joss says in the DVD commentary that he was surprised that the homoerotic kiss on the hand between Luke and the Master didn’t draw ire from family watchdog groups. What I think he fails to consider is: 1) The Master and Luke can hardly be considered positive role models. 2) This was 1997 on the WB. Few enough people were watching, let alone any family watchdog groups.
--One vampire’s name was changed from “Lucien” in the original shooting script to “Colin” in the filmed version. I wonder why?
--“I don’t like vampires. I’m gonna take a stand and say they’re not good.” I always thought of this as a funny line, but Xander had just kicked a garbage can in frustration over Jesse being killed. There’s a darkness to this moment. And this particular character trait carries all the way through the series for Xander. I know he hates Angel and Spike, but it never occurred to me that Xander’s whole hatred stems from this moment.
--The symbol carved into Luke’s forehead always looked vastly different to me than the one that Giles draws on the whiteboard. Looking at it closely, I think it’s just that there’s a circle around the symbol on Luke’s head.
--Joyce is so right! That is, if it was anyone other than Buffy doing anything other than what she’s doing, she would absolutely right to ground her daughter. I feel sympathy for her so much! She is trying so hard, but she doesn’t fully understand what she’s doing.
When Joyce passes away, Buffy will have to actually discipline Dawn for doing all the same things, but without the good reason for them.
--Cordy doesn’t give Jesse the time of day until he pushes her around and tells her to “shut up.”Then all of a sudden, she’s willing to dance. (sigh) So unfortunate that many girls will only go for the bad boys. (I won’t say “most” or “all girls.” I have no idea what the actual ratio is. And boys have plenty of dumb hang-ups, too.)
--I think I developed something of a taste for grungy music from listening to what was playing at the Bronze.
--What’s fascinating is that Cordy is our face for the threatened people in the Bronze. Even though she’s been awful to the characters we care about, even this early on Joss is saying: She needs to be saved as much as anybody else.
I just saw the first episode of Angel again recently, and Cordy needed to be saved in that as well! We liked her a little better by that point, though.
--When Buffy sticks the pool cue in the vampire, he should have been dust immediately, and the pool cue should have clattered to the ground, instead of tipping backwards the way it does. But the pool cue tipping backwards is a much cooler visual, so no complaints!
--I love the fact that there’s already a twist when Buffy grabs the drum cymbal base, and Luke says, “You forgot, metal won’t hurt me,” and she says that he forgot something: “Sunlight.” But that isn’t even the full twist! It twists again with “It’s in about 9 hours, moron.” That was one of the I’m-gonna-love-this-show moments for me.
--I have a note here about how it bugged me that Jesse was never mentioned again, even though he’s supposed to be such a good friend of Willow and Xander. But, in light of the realization I made earlier about Xander’s hatred for vampires, maybe in a sense he wasn’t totally forgotten after all.
--“People tend to rationalize the things they can, and forget the things they can’t.” Not only an economical way of dealing with crowd scenes on the show, but what aspect of real life doesn’t that statement touch?
--I love SMG’s hippie headband in the final scene. Why did she never wear that again?
--I also really miss the end from the unaired pilot where Buffy says, “Trust me,” to a skeptical Giles, and then throws the stake through the Nosferatu poster. But then, Giles’ “The earth is doomed” here is perfect and even better. I wish there had been a way to include both somehow, but I guess not.
Another 9 out of 10. Next week: Amy!