tep back in time with the third set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
videos. The three-video Slayer Chronicles package is a solid
representation of episodes from the series' third season. These six episodes
provide a bird's-eye view of the story arc involving
Faith--another slayer who was summoned after Buffy's (Gellar) brush with
death--and the Ascension of the mayor (Harry Groener).
The first tape pairs "Bad Girls" and "Consequences," a two-episode arc
which follows how Faith's disdain for authority takes her down the path to
evil. Faith's general sense of lawlessness and superiority starts to rub off
on Buffy, until she sees Faith's true colors after she accidentally stakes a
man while on evening patrol. While having to deal with a renegade and
uncaring Faith, Buffy also has to contend with a new, tighter-than-a-violin-string watcher (Alexis Denisof) sent straight from England to replace Giles (Head).
The second volume's first episode, "Enemies," continues to build on the
tension between Buffy and Faith. Faith is now back on the active
slayer-roster, but now she's playing both sides of the fence. She
double-crosses both Buffy and Angel (Boreanaz) , and then plots to steal
Angel's soul, so she can put him to work to help do away with Buffy once and
for all. However, the second episode, "Earshot," is just as detached from
the general arc of events in the Buffy universe here on video as it was when
the episode first aired.
"Earshot" offers a clever look at what might happen if Buffy temporarily
gained telepathic powers.
The final tape in this third season wrap-up is, not surprisingly, the two-part "Graduation Day," which concluded the series' season--and the Mayor's
Ascension story line.
You've got to have Faith
While "Earshot" may seem out of place given that the other five episodes
selected for this set revolve around the Faith/Mayor arc, it is a refreshing
break that reminds viewers just how multilayered Buffy can be at times.
What starts out as a joke--Buffy being able to hear the thoughts of those
around her--including the unrelated, lustful musings of Xander (Brendon) and
her mother--turns serious when Buffy is unable to cope with the cacophony of
voices in her head.
"Enemies" is also intriguing, thanks to a plot twist that makes you wonder
whose side Angel is on. And while "Graduation Day"--which was written and
directed by series creator Joss Whedon--may have had its sluggish moments,
the chaotic end sequence is nicely choreographed and filled with irony. Look
carefully and you can see the origins of how Harmony, a vamp who resurfaced
this season, got her start.
At the end of each video is a short interview with Whedon and writers
Douglas Petrie and Jane Espenson. The emphasis, though, is on short: The
interviews run just over five minutes, and, annoyingly enough, rely far too heavily on episode footage roughly cut
together to supplement the comments being made. Also viewable on each disk is a short behind-the-scenes
snippet with monster makeup meister John Vulich. Oddly, the five minute look
at monster-making covers the episodes on all three tapes, and is repeated in
its entirety at the end of each tape. It would have made more sense to
put only the episode-specific, relevant parts of Vulich's sneak peak on each
tape--this way, you wouldn't have to scroll through everything just to learn
about the making of Balthazar the obese demon.
While the interviews are generally vague and lack much in the way of new
information, they do offer a few interesting insights into Buffy. Take this
example: "Every car alarm in Torrance went off, and they're still not really
happy about it," Whedon revealed when describing the 40-second blowout of
Sunnydale High in "Graduation Day."
