Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Second Season

DVD Release Date: Available Now

Rated TV-14

Review by Tom Johnson(tomjohnson@thecinemasource.com)

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete First Season, viewers were introduced to Joss Whedon's dark fantasy world and taken on a memorable trip to Sunnydale over the course of 12 episodes. With Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Second Season, the real story begins to be told, and over the course of 22 episodes the show transforms from clever send-up to a bold, visionary epic before the viewer's eyes. For that reason, this is my personal favorite season of the show. While the third season may be considered the definitive one, Season Two is just a brilliant story told from start to finish, even while indulging in the occasional monster of the week shenanigans. Despite the stunning story arc, however, Season Two still feels like the first half of a two year Epic. Maybe it's because, for all the threads tied up in the jaw-dropping finale, there are twice as many freshly cut, waiting to be resolved a year later. It is because of this that I consider Seasons Two and Three to be one giant, cinematic novel, which I would boldly say, budgetary issues aside, measures up to and even bests the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings of the world through character depth and pure storytelling magic. While Season Three featured the show at the height of its commercial success, it was the feverish buzz over Season Two that raised the interest of all the bandwagon jumpers in the first place. Season Two also features the villainous trio of Spike(James Marsters), Drusilla(Juliet Landau) and "Angelus"(David Boreanaz) in the "Big Bad" spot vacated by Season One's Master(Mark Metcalf). Together, they are arguably the best and most devilishly entertaining menace the show has ever produced. These three are considerably more successful than the Master was when it comes to hurting Buffy(Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends, and by the end of the season, not a single character is left unscathed. Season One was a cakewalk compared to this.

DISC ONE: "When She Was Bad", "Some Assembly Required", "School Hard" and "Inca Mummy Girl"

The season opens on an unexpected note in "When She Was Bad" with Buffy returning from a summer in Los Angeles depressed, angry and distancing herself from her friends and family. Halfway through, we learn her actions are in response to unresolved emotions over her brief death at the hands of the Master in Season One's "Prophecy Girl". Buffy will react similarly to her second, considerably more dramatic death a few years later, but here the bad mood swing thankfully lasts one episode instead of the better part of two seasons(6&7). The episode also subtly sets up the season's main theme when Buffy

consciously isolates herself from everyone important to her. While she quickly regains their love and support, by the end of the season she will be alone again for very different reasons. In the season premiere, an isolated Buffy proves too weak to make it on her own, but by the season finale, it's a different story. In "School Hard", the season gets a wicked shot in the arm when Spike and the weakened Drusilla, Sid and Nancy of the vampire world, arrive in Sunnydale. Spike takes control of the Master's old gang and sets his sights on restoring Dru's health, while planning the death of the Slayer to pass the time. Spike becomes an instant fan favorite with his cool and evil demeanor, but it's the character of Drusilla that truly commands the screen. As psychotically deranged as she is wicked, as pathetic as she is powerful, Juliet Landau plays Drusilla as a spoiled, child-like princess on heroin. Here, she entertains herself by lining antique dolls in a row and speaking to them like children. As she feasts on a young girl, she punishes one named "Miss Edith", for "speaking out of turn" by blindfolding her so that she cannot watch the violent death with the other dolls. Despite her hysteria, Drusilla possesses a sixth sense, able to predict Buffy and Angel's strength at all times. This becomes vital to Spike in his quest to destroy Buffy and friends for good. Also of note is "Inca Mummy Girl", which marks the first appearance of subdued, philosophical bass player Oz(Seth Green), who finally becomes a non-demonic love interest for Buffy's best bud, Willow(Alyson Hannigan).

DISC TWO: "Reptile Boy", "Halloween", "Lie to Me", "The Dark Age"

As the season continues, creator Joss Whedon continues to mine the formula that made the first one so successful: over-the-top metaphors for teenage life in the form of monsters and demons (Frat boys worship a demonic snake for power in "Reptile Boy", Xander(Nicholas Brendon) falls for an energy-sucking Ms. Wrong in Disc One's "Inca Mummy Girl") as the show continues to seamlessly mix horror and comedy. However, without warning, the show is suddenly taken to unpredictable dramatic heights with the episode "Lie to Me", where Billy Ford(Jason Behr), a grade school friend of Buffy's, comes into town with a tragic secret and a sinister agenda. While the episode has its fair share of humor, mean spirited but well-deserved jokes toward the Anne Rice goth sect in particular, the overall tone is grittier and more emotional than anything the show has produced to this point. Buffy learns that "good" people can do just as much evil as "bad" people, and the black and white world of the show's moral compass is quickly made greyer. In addition to a creepy

opening scene with Drusilla and a lost child("What will your mommy sing when she finds your body?") and a stand-out performance by Jason Behr(which impressed the WB enough to give him a starring role in the cult favorite Roswell), I'm man enough to admit that I actually got misty-eyed during the somberly worded speech Giles(Anthony Stewart Head) gives Buffy at the episode's end. This is the beginning of the show's transformation to greatness, as it takes damn good writing for me to get emotional in the slightest. Giles becomes the featured character on this disk's episodes, as his romance with computer teacher/aspiring witch Jenny Calendar(Robia LaMorte) blooms and his backstory is expanded considerably. We learn that behind the stuffy librarian façade lurks a hard-boiled anti-hero waiting to be unleashed. No, seriously.

DISC THREE: "What's My Line?", "Ted", "Bad Eggs"

On the two part "What's My Line?", the unseen consequences of Buffy's death and resuscitation are finally felt when “Kendra the Vampire Slayer" arrives in town, the slaying powers passed onto her during Buffy's 30 seconds of straight-lining last season. Her shock upon finding her predecessor very much alive, coupled with the shock of finding her locking lips with a vampire, soul or no soul, creates instant friction between the two. It's just too bad Kendra couldn't be a more interesting character, not that we really get the chance to know her. While Joss Whedon may write the occasional weak character(at least compared to the rest of the stellar bunch), he is exceptionally good at killing them off, not to give anything away"¦"¦.the episode also marks an end for Spike's quest to restore Dru's strength and defeat the Slayer. At least one objective is met before everything comes crashing down on him. An interesting fact learned from Disc Three's Whedon interview reveals that this is where Spike was to be killed off originally, until the writers saw James Martser's engaging performance. Also during the two part episode, Geeky Xander and bitchy Cordelia(Charisma Carpenter)'s animosity for each other finally turns into uninhibited lust, and the most entertaining romance of the show is born. The other episode of note here is "Ted", a hilariously twisted tale that any child of divorced parents can probably relate to. John Ritter guest-stars as the future stepfather from Hell(or, more accurately, a killer robot lab). All things considered, however, Disc Three is basically the calm before the storm. The episodes here fit the fun, carefree tone of Season One more than any others in the set. The Buffy/Angel relationship heats to a boiling point, but at times is a bit overdone. Of course, as far as my slight boredom over the romance is concerned, I'm in the minority. But at this point in the show, it just

doesn't do that much for me. Luckily, things are about to get a lot more interesting.

DISC FOUR: "Surprise/Innocence", "Phases", "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered"

In the classic "Buffy Two Night Event" episodes "Surprise" and "Innocence", the Buffy/Angel romance at the center of the show is proven to be more dangerous than anyone, save Jenny Calender, thought. Here, Jenny reveals information and a secret past that exiles her from the group in shame. Despite her efforts based on this information, she fails to keep Buffy and Angel apart and disaster ensues. In "Surprise", we learn that Drusilla is still alive and well, while Spike is alive and wheelchair bound. With the caretaker role reversed, Drusilla nurses Spike back to health, while assembling an all-powerful demon known as The Judge, who has the power to burn the humanity from his victims. After Buffy and Angel barely escape from the Judge's clutches, they find themselves alone, wet(from rain, of course) and shivering. What better time to consummate a relationship and finally seal the deal, right? Unfortunately for Angel, what no one but Jenny knows is that the curse placed to gave him a guilt-ridden soul is lifted the second he achieves, ahem, "true happiness". At the end of "Surprise", Angel runs outside, feeling his soul slip away, and at the beginning of "Innocence", it's gone, replaced with the demon spirit that caused him to commit unspeakable acts of sadism and torture in the first place. Now soulless again, Angel joins Spike, Drusilla and the Judge as a shattered Buffy realizes what she's inadvertently done. With help from her "Scooby Gang", she rebounds to send the Judge back to Hell, but can't bring herself to kill Angel when she gets the chance, refusing to accept that he's really gone. With this two-parter alone, the show instantly doubled its fanbase, and for good reason. Besides presenting another brutal metaphor(After sex, he changes. Men can be such pigs!), the events that transpire show that Whedon is not afraid to take his characters deep into the woods, so to speak. While "Lie to Me" showed the dramatic level Buffy was capable of achieving, "Surprise" and "Innocence" meet that level again and use the dramatic force conjured to propel the story forward in a wholly unexpected and exciting direction. It is interesting to note that while the Evil Angel is actually a demonic spirit, preferring the name "Angelus", as he is referred to in future appearances, during this season he is still referred to as "Angel", keeping as thin a line between the two characters as possible. Instead of feeling like a beloved fan favorite has had his body stolen by a demon for half a season, it feels more like a beloved fan favorite has made a

sharp swerve to the dark side, always a more powerful scenario. Regardless of name, Angelus quickly establishes himself as Buffy's sickest and most dangerous nemesis to date, taking the top villain slot in the show's universe with ease. Not satisfied with killing to just to feed, Angelus takes orgasmic pleasure in torturing his victims to the fullest potential before finishing them off. Even by demon standards, Angelus is one evil bastard, who plans to make Buffy's pain his sadistic masterpiece. As he puts it to Spike and Drusilla, "She made me feel human. That's not something you just forgive." While the two-parter is obviously the most memorable of Disk Four's offerings, "Phases" is an important episode for storyline progression; particularly for Oz, who discovers he's a werewolf, and for Willow, who discovers she's dating a werewolf. In the midst of this new chaos, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" is a comic touchstone for the show, as Xander accidentally puts a love spell on all the women of Sunnydale. Needless to say, madness ensues. Xander even gets the chance to fulfill his Buffy fantasy, but unfortunately passes. This episode is evidence that with well-developed characters in place, great comedy can appear effortless. From this point on, the pace of the season speeds on, pushing with all the restraint of a runaway train. And that's a good thing.

DISC FIVE: "Passion", "Killed by Death", "I Only Have Eyes for You", "Go Fish"

Even in the midst of an incredible season, "Passion" still manages to be a showstopper. What I consider to be one of the darkest and most stunning hours of television ever aired, "Passion" succeeds on every devastating level. Seeking to redeem herself for inadvertently helping that whole soulless thing happen, Jenny recovers the original curse put on Angel by her people centuries ago. Unfortunately, with Drusilla's help, Angel catches wind of her plan before she can finish the spell, and commits his most heinous act yet in a scene that proves the show really has no fear. Afterwards, I believe that no single moment of the season hits as hard as the split second Anthony Stewart Head's expression goes from romanced to blank as Giles follows a trail of rose petals to his bedroom, champagne in hand, the final act of La Boheme playing over his speakers, only to discover the most horrific present imaginable waiting in bed. The only moment that comes close to this is later on in the very same episode, where we see Angel's grin of childish delight while watching his sick work discovered. The emotional impact of these moments feels like a punch to the face, and Anthony Stewart Head and David Boreanaz fire here on all cylinders. With his performance, each actor takes

his character and, by effect, the show to a new level. While Giles has always been presented as a father figure for Buffy, this is the first episode where Buffy truly plays the daughter in return. One of the best episodes of the season, and a defining one for the series. Good writing can go a long way, but as "Passion" ultimately proves, it is Buffy's cast that really takes the show to the creative limit. The rest of the episodes on Disc Five feature menace-of-the-week plots, but despite sometimes shifting the focus from the main conflict, they're never presented as detours or tangents from it. The underrated "Killed by Death" and the ghostly "Eyes" are the best pure horror episodes in the set, exploring a creepy hospital and a doomed love affair, respectively. In "Go Fish", Disk Five's gory final episode, keep an eye out for Shane West's cameo as ill-fated swimmer Sean Dwyer, not to mention a tongue-in-cheek sewer fight that topped FHM's list of "Top Ten Buffy Moments"(take what you will from that). Each episode, especially "Eyes", manages to advance the main plot and the various sub-plots while exploring stand-alone territory as well. This is a trick that shows like The X-Files can rarely, if ever, pull-off, and the result is a continuous, serial-like experience that still allows for sightseeing along the way.

DISK SIX: "Becoming"

In the two hour season finale, big pay-offs are expected from the extensive build-up, and big pay-offs are received; just not the happy ones viewers might expect. In the first part, an already tortured Buffy is powerless as what's left of her secure world slowly dissolves, leaving her alone. In the end, she learns, alone is what the Slayer always is. Midway through the finale, Buffy has been expelled, kicked out of her house and become a wanted fugitive. Giles has been captured, and another member of the Scooby Gang has been murdered, with the rest either injured or MIA. Buffy's last resort is an uneasy ally who tips her off to Angel's Apocalyptic designs. In the hospital, Willow uses magic for the first time and slowly begins to recite Jenny's discovered spell, hoping to restore Angel's soul before it's too late. Unaware, Bufy heads to the stronghold of the vampire trio and their followers to kill Angel once and for all. After slashing her way through the minions, a climactic swordfight of all things between the ex-lovers ensues. At this point, Angel observes, "No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take that away and what's left?" Sarah Michelle Gellar delivers Buffy's response with the kind of performance that sends chills down the spine. The worst possible scenario for our heroine(save for the world ending) then plays out in an emotional

scene even the most cynical observers of the Buffy/Angel romance(like me) should be deeply moved by. In the aftermath of all the carnage, the season's story is wrapped up beautifully, if not cheerfully. Any new fans of the show will then watch the credits, turn off the tv, and probably buy Season Three the next day. Not much more really needs to be said, other than MAN DOES THIS THING SUCK"¦.whoops, sorry, that must have been building up from all the lack of negativity here. In all honesty, there's nothing about this season to even nitpick once the final shot fades to black. This show rocks, plain and simple.

Show Score: 10/10

Included on the DVD are a total of five interviews with Joss Whedon, similar to the ones found on the Season One set, as well as three behind-the-scenes features. They run about half an hour each and are actually quite insightful, especially for long-time fans. The usual batch of trailers, scripts and art galleries is included on the last disk as well. But while writers David Greenwalt and Marti Noxon both supply respective commentaries for "Reptile Boy" and "What's My Line?", commentary from Whedon himself is strangely missing. The actual menus on the DVD are a lot fancier that the first season's menus, each one set to a dizzying 3D trip through the graveyard. They can also be a bit tedious to wait through at times, but are overall a huge step up from the last DVD's layout. The sound quality is much improved, and the picture is less grainy than Season One's, but the dark and the shadows could still use a few touch-ups. The overall picture and sound for the episodes, while not crystal clear, are more than adequate. The show looks better on DVD than it did when it originally aired.
DVD Score: 8.5/10

The Bottom Line: A humanist masterpiece of epic proportions, this is the season that turned millions of ordinary men and women, young and old, into slobbering cultists. This is the season that launched Buffy into the category of pop culture phenomenon. On this format, the tragic, beautiful story is told the way it seems meant to be told: uninterrupted and watched at the viewer's leisure. On DVD, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Second Season feels more like a grand, 900 minute film than an episodic television show. I've watched friends who were lukewarm on the show after only seeing a few random episodes converted into full-blown fanatics after viewing this season alone. If you've always been somewhat interested in the Buffy phenomenon but never really wanted to invest the time or energy to watch the show each week, this should be the next DVD on your wish list. Now that the show

has ended its run, there's never been a better time to take a glance. And if you only buy or rent one season, then this, without question, is the one to get. To hammer the nail in as hard as possible: If my room was on fire and I could only save one DVD from my disgustingly large collection, I wouldn't have to think twice about picking this one. I personally guarantee that if you watch this season from start to finish, you will laugh hysterically at least once, jump at least once, and yes, even get a little weepy at least once. What more could you possibly want from a show? More importantly, what more could I possibly say to convince you to watch it? I'm all tapped out of praises. Gee, I don't know. Did I get my point across at all? To summarize, let's just say: He likes it. He really likes it.
Overall Score: 10/10
*A Must Buy*

I'm Not Crazy. Other Critics Weigh In On Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Second Season"¦

From Entertainment Weekly's Best of 1998 issue, where Buffy ranked #1 on the list of Best in Television Shows for the Year:

"Like people who say they hate hip-hop without listening to it, those who disdain Buffy without watching it are to be pitied for their lack of open-mindedness. What fun they’re missing with the only teen show that manages to work on multilevels, nourishing adult viewers as well. Most episodes this year seized on a typical adolescent crisis — learning to drive, cramming for the SATs, having such an awful fight with your mom that you run away from home — and turned it with artful ease into the premise for supernatural deviousness and martial-arts horror splatterings. For me, the season was all the better for the low profile kept by the series’ most humorless character, Angel (David Boreanaz), during his near-death (near-life?) experience. The dizzying romantic quadrangle involving Xander (Nicholas Brendon), Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Oz (Seth Green), and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) is intricate and witty to the point of Shakespearean comedy. Indeed the show has proved remarkably deft at deepening nearly every character’s personality, while maintaining a slapsticky, cartoonish exaggeration that yields much bloody laughter. Not only the year’s best, but the most underrated."
-Ken Tucker

"Who would’ve thought that an adaptation of a flop teensploitation flick would turn out to be one of the most artistically ambitious series on TV? Buffy bounces between genres-comedy, horror, romance-with an otherworldly grace."
-Bruce Fretts

-Entertainment Weekly, December 1998

From Salon.com's Best Television of 1998 special edition, where Buffy also ranked #1:

"Buffy is the best.
This past season (its first full one), the horror/romance/drama/comedy increased its viewership by 41 percent, even though WB moved it from

9 p.m. Mondays to an early 8 p.m. Tuesday slot to anchor a new night of programming. The show increased its profile, too, with the direct, melting gaze of star Sarah Michelle Gellar looking out at us from the covers of Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly and, most recently, from one of those milk mustache ads. But because many Serious Adult Viewers have yet to get beyond that silly title, and because not every city in the country has a WB affiliate, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” still qualifies as a cult pleasure. So, in the interest of keeping it Our Little Secret, I must insist that you eat your computer upon finishing this article.
As “Buffy” fans know, Buffy Summers is a fairly typical teenage girl (broken home, bored with school, wears a lot of pale violet lipstick and ’70s-retro hip-huggers and baby T’s). But she’s also a vampire slayer, pre-ordained to kick armies of undead butt. Her qualifications: superior demon-sensing intuition, impressive ability to throw and take a punch and tons of lethal sarcasm. Plus, she can run really fast in chunky platform shoes.
Buffy only came to understand her destiny when she was summoned to the vampire-infested suburb of Sunnydale, Calif. (Her divorced mom thinks she was expelled from her old school for fighting, and welcomes this relocation as a chance for a fresh start.) There, Buffy met up with her “watcher” (handler and portent interpreter), tweedy school librarian Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), who told her Sunnydale sits atop the mouth of hell and it’s up to her to keep a lid on things. Vampires and other assorted monsters keep swarming to Sunnydale like it’s the Woodstock of the Undead (no, wait — that’s the Page/Plant tour); over the past season and a half, Buffy must have used up a whole forest of stakes.
Taken separately, the elements of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which creator/writer Joss Whedon based on his (not as good) 1992 movie of the same name, aren’t really new. Athletic and confident, Buffy is a kickboxing TV warrior heroine in the Xena mode. The supernatural angle puts the show squarely in the tradition of female-magic series like “Bewitched,” “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” except those are sitcoms; and, while “Buffy” has plenty of ironic humor, it can be very, very dark. There’s the Anne Rice/”Dark Shadows” vampire element, of course, and the Gothic romance/star-crossed lovers theme — headstrong Buffy and brooding vampire-with-a-conscience Angel (David Boreanaz) make a beautiful, tortured pair. “Buffy” has the addictive quality of a daytime soap. And it’s partly a tribute to those old ’50s drive-in flicks about teens hormonally transformed into monsters, and partly a modern, knowing coming-of-age drama like “My So-Called Life.”
But Whedon energizes his metaphors — high school as horror show, adolescents as lonely outcasts or predators in

packs — with a storytelling style that is both intensely emotional and devastatingly flip. “Buffy” approximates, perfectly, the mood swings of adolescence.
Much of the show’s charm (and humor) comes from the way the kids on “Buffy” shrug off the creepiness around them. There is no morose conspiracy theorizing or earnest attempts at scientific explanation. Some things just are, whether they’re vampires or werewolves or cruel, yet popular, cheerleaders. They’ve got to be dealt with. Whatever. “Buffy” succeeds in large part because Gellar plays the role with just the right balance of bravado and sadness — nobody else, not even her mom, can know what she’s feeling inside. The writers give her great lines, expressed in “Clueless” meets pseudo homegirl teenspeak. When her punky vampire nemesis Spike (James Marsters) proposes that they form an alliance to get rid of the bad-again Angel, who has stolen Spike’s girl, Buffy punches him in the mouth and snarls, “You’re pathetic! The whole earth may be sucked into hell and you want my help because your girlfriend’s a big ho? Well, let me take this opportunity to not care!”
Indeed, one of the wonders of “Buffy” is how each member of Buffy’s posse — sweet computer nerd Willow (Alyson Hannigan), horny, unhip Xander (Nicholas Brendon), shy, bookish Giles, as well as the vamps — has his or her own voice, unlike WB’s higher-rated teen drama "Dawson's Creek, on which everybody sounds exactly the same. You feel like you know the kids on “Buffy.” You’ve been there. Well, except for the vampires and stuff.
Buffy is the classic misfit, the misunderstood rebel. She has amazing reserves of courage and self-respect and a highly developed sense of social responsibility, but her mother thinks she’s just a boy-crazy troublemaker who gets bad grades. Buffy is saving the world, for heaven’s sake, and her mom is grounding her. Buffy is literally a freak, and Willow, Xander and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), the snob who lost face with the in-crowd when she started making out in broom closets with Xander, are shunned by their classmates. One of the sweetest (and most heartening) things about “Buffy” is how the outcasts and alleged bad seeds save the day. They’re the only ones in town who really know what’s happening, and they’re smarter, deeper and more important than their self-involved peers or clueless parents know.
Early on, “Buffy” was more obvious and jokey with its metaphors (“You’re a 16-year-old girl who thinks her problems are the end of the world,” Buffy’s mom prattles). And it was a little too light-headed, with prissy Brit Giles not at all hip to the ways of American teens. This season, the show got creepier and kinkier, its vision more mature and daring, with the addition of the very cool British bloodsuckers, Spike and his dolly, Drusilla (Juliet Landau). Platinum-haired Spike is a

droll cut-up; he calls humans “Happy Meals with legs.” Dru is Ophelia with fangs, a sexy, mad, goth tart whose body vibrates with anticipation at the mere mention of blood.
But “Buffy” really showed its nerve this season when it went all the way with Buffy’s sexual awakening. In the two-part episode “Innocence” (written and directed by Whedon), Buffy loses her virginity to Angel on her 17th birthday. But she doesn’t know that he’s under that gypsy curse, which kicks in the moment he feels true love and robs him of his human soul. In a heartbreaking scene, after they sleep together, he turns into a taunting monster playboy who laughs at her inexperience, dumps her and dares her to slay him. Sort of like the “Afterschool Special” of every girl’s nightmares.
Buffy’s loss of innocence shadowed Buffy for the rest of the season. In the astonishingly moving two-part finale “Becoming” (also written and directed by Whedon), she doesn’t quite know how to deal with the pain of love and growing up. After she dutifully dispatches Angel, she runs away to punish herself and search her soul. Essentially, “Buffy” is about learning to accept the world — and people — as being more complicated than simply good and evil. She’s adrift now, and confused, nursing the fresh wounds of budding adulthood. But you can bet she’ll eventually snap out of it. She has to. She’s got to get her boyfriend back from hell."
-Joyce Millman, www.salon.com, June 8, 1998

Season Two's Official Synopsis, Courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

After her death at the hands of the Master and a summer vacation spent with her father, Buffy returns to Sunnydale in a strangely withdrawn and snappy mood. She's also determined to break off her relationship with Angel and seems a little too eager to renew her Slayer training. But getting Angel out of her blood proves to be harder than she thought. And as the two draw even closer together, their passion erupts into a danger neither of them could have foreseen "” affecting not only Vampire and Slayer but all of Buffy's friends and family, and even her Watcher"¦

Format: DVD
Rating (MPAA): NR
Originally Released/Aired: 1998
Run Time: 960 min
DVD Special Features:
– Full-screen format
– Disc 2: Audio commentary for “Reptile Boy” by writer and director David Greenwalt, script for “Reptile Boy”
– Disc 3: Audio commentary for “What’s My Line?” (part 1) by co-writer Marti Noxon
– Audio commentary for “What’s My Line?” (part 2) by co-writer Marti Noxon
– script for “What’s My Line?” (part 1)
– script for “What’s My Line?” (part 2)
– Disc 4: Interview

with Joss Whedon on “Surprise” (1:20)
– Interview with Joss Whedon on “Innocence” (1:50)
– audio commentary for “Innocence” by writer and director Joss Whedon
– script for “Innocence”
– Disc 5: Interview with Joss Whedon on “Passion” (2:10)
– interview with Joss Whedon on “I Only Have Eyes For You” (1:30)
– Disc 6: Interview with Joss Whedon on “Becoming”
– Featurette: “Designing Buffy” (13:42)
– Featurette: “A Buffy Bestiary” (29:21)Featurette: “Beauty and Beasts” (20:13)
– 2 UK TV spots
– 6 domestic TV spots: “Spectacular”, “Sensation”, “The Warrior”, “Ultimate Scare”, “Deadly Trap”, “Big Bad John”, “Angel” video trailer (1:00)
– season 2 “Buffy” DVD trailer (1:00)
– still gallery of set designs and monsters
– updated cast bios
– additional still photo galleries (150 stills)
– Number of discs: 6
Video: Full-Screen
Close Captioned: Yes
Color: Color

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