This is part two of the series premiere, picking up right where "Welcome to the Hellmouth" left off. Buffy's trying to stop the Master and his minions from "harvesting" lives and freeing the Master from his underground prison. This is an okay episode that is still working to build the series' back story. The Master isn't my favorite villain,(I like Angelus, Spike & Dru, the Mayor & Faith, Glory and the Trio & Dark Willow all better), but he does have a certain evil glee that's pretty entertaining. The episode also establishes Willow's talent with computers, gives Angel a name and introduces us to Harmony. Before Harmony was Angel's unicorn loving secretary or Spike's ditsy girlfriend, she was terrorizing Sunydale High at Cordelia's side. This is Harmony's first episode and even though she's not technically evil... She's still pretty evil. Watching Harm and Cordy bad mouth Buffy and Willow and Willow's sweet "push the deliver key" revenge is pretty fun. And Sunnydale's willful blindness towards super-natural happenings is illustrated for the first time at the end of the episode. Xander's right, it's no wonder property values in that town are so low.
On the downside, why is Jesse never mentioned again? You'd think his death would be worth at least a comment or two somewhere along the line. It could have been another reason for Xander to hate Angel and Spike. A "vampire killed my friend and now Buffy's dating one?!?" sort of deal. I even sort of hoped that Jesse'd be brought up again in season seven, as a image of the First and all, but no. He gets dusted and that's the end of it. Poor Jesse.
My favorite part of the episode: Buffy tricking Luke about sunrise at The Bronze, "It's in about nine hours, moron."
On the downside, why is Jesse never mentioned again? You'd think his death would be worth at least a comment or two somewhere along the line. It could have been another reason for Xander to hate Angel and Spike. A "vampire killed my friend and now Buffy's dating one?!?" sort of deal. I even sort of hoped that Jesse'd be brought up again in season seven, as a image of the First and all, but no. He gets dusted and that's the end of it. Poor Jesse.
My favorite part of the episode: Buffy tricking Luke about sunrise at The Bronze, "It's in about nine hours, moron."
