he second season of a TV show is critical: It's the year that the seeds of ongoing story arcs are planted, relationships are forged, and the tone and style are set for the future. It is the make-or-break season in a series' life: If there's no momentum in the second season, that can be the death knell. Fortunately, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's sophomore year had no such concerns. In fact, for a clinic in the ultimate second season, look no further than the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Second Season DVD box set.
Season two is one to savor, as the different layers of clever dialogue and powerful acting slowly peel away to reveal the essence of what distinguishes Buffy when the series is at its best. The core cast, led by Sarah Michelle Gellar, is complemented by an equally-as-pivotal cast of recurring supporting players—starting with the delicious team of resident villains, vampires Spike (James Marsters) and Drusilla (Juliet Landau). But never mind the vamps' shenanigans: This is the year Buffy and Angel (David Boreanaz) take their relationship to lofty heights—and pay the price (in the moving and powerful "Surprise" and "Innocence"). Angel's subsequent return to his vampiric ways have terrible consequences in "Passion" and "I Only Have Eyes for You." Meanwhile, character development continues its evolution: This is also the year that the Scooby gang forms its bond, and the year that a torrid romance erupts between Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Xander (Brendon), and a more low-key amorous connection forms between Willow (Hannigan) and Oz (Seth Green).
Even the two-part season finale—"Becoming I and II"—pack a mighty, and moving, punch.
This is the season that in every way establishes the show's two fold mission of telling Campbell's mythical hero's journey (as seen through the experience of Buffy), often in the context of the very personal and human life experiences that we, as humans, are all familiar with.
A season of soaring relationships
In the context of a bigger punchline in his audio commentary, series creator Joss Whedon's words are a nod to some of the notoriously less-than-compelling director dronings on some movie DVD commentaries. However, there's no lack of compelling recitations to be found in the four audio commentaries contained in the season-two Buffy set. In fact, it's commendable that this set has audio commentaries at all—though typical on movie DVDs, such musings from writers and directors are more rare for television series.
The commentaries are scattered across the six-disc set, filed under the "special features" option of the specific episode they're attached to. Whedon's commentary on Innocence is quintessential Whedon—witty and fast-paced, yet filled with informative and enlightening information about the creative process. Aside from Whedon's waxing nostalgic about what it was like directing Gellar and Boreanaz during their love scene, producer David Greenwalt gives a similarly humor-filled commentary for the episode he wrote and directed, "Reptile Boy," and producer and co-writer Marti Noxon waxes on through both parts of "What's My Line?"
Audio commentaries aren't the only unexpected pleasure on this disc set: there are also several scripts (both parts of "What's My Line?," "Reptile Boy" and "Innocence"). Plus, you get a handful of approximately two-minute interviews (possibly recycled from previous video releases) with Whedon talking about episodes like "Passion," "Innocence," "I Only Have Eyes for You" and "Becoming."
The remaining extras are clumped together at the end of the sixth disc. There are three featurettes—including a fun 13-minute walkthrough of the sets with production designer Carey Meyer, and a 28-minute piece (interesting, but edited in a jarring fashion) on the villains and beasts of Buffy. The TV spots and trailers are mildly disappointing: seemingly random trailers and The WB promos, plus trailers for the DVDs, season one of Angel on DVD, and the Buffy season-two video release in the United Kingdom.
From the interface to the easy-to-remove, slick packaging, Fox did a nice job with Buffy season two overall. However, there are some minor quibbles. First and foremost, the menu interface for each episode is a bit too busy, and the red, white, orange and pink overtones of the text and the backgrounds frequently make text difficult to read. Furthermore, under the special features for episodes, it's sometimes hard to tell which feature has been selected. The blueprints and set photos are neat to see, but lack such basic context as what do they represent, and in which episode was that seen? Finally, the scripts can't be printed out, and the text for the scripts is in a Buffy-fied font that's difficult to read, whether on a TV or a computer screen. Hopefully, some of these interface issues can be addressed in time for the release of season three at the end of this year.
