School Hard

... and I mean literally! James Marsters said during an interview that the way his character is introduced is the classic stage entrance method he was taught at Julliard, but I digress.

Joss Whedon meant for Spike and Dru to be vampire equivalents of Sid and Nancy. Spike is so named because he is known for driving railroad spikes through his victims. He has killed two vampire slayers in the past and has it in mind to kill the current one - Buffy. He's been obsessed with slayers from the moment that he found out about their existence. You can see his obsession in his posture and facial expression as he watches Buffy dancing at The Bronze.

Where does Spike choose to kill the slayer? At the Sunnydale High School Parent Teacher night. The title comes from the fact that this episode is supposed to be like the movie "Die Hard" from about ten years before where terrorists invade a company Christmas party. This time it's vampires invading the high school.

On top of being important for introducing the character Spike, this episode is crucial for establishing some character points and relationship dynamics. One of my favorite scenes is when Buffy tasks Xander with getting a stake out of her purse, and his shock and terror at discovering a tampon as he digs through her bag. It's a subtle indicator of the fear the genders have of each other in youth, and it conveys the awkwardness so perfectly.

Attempting to coagulate the dual life of the duel life, slayer Buffy finds trouble day and night. With full commitment, trouble goes down sooner rather than later. Story kicks ahead a little bit as those who surround Buffy find out more of what she's made of while the baddies have an equally sudden power shift.

Action abounds, a few quick jokes, some unexpected folk step up to empowered roles. A few head-scratchers for me as the show 'course corrects' like there was a scrapped script somewhere and a writer said, "I've got a better idea!" Development of characters continues and intrigue is sufficient to grip watchers, especially in suspenseful moments.

Finally, he's hereeee! This is a very good episode with Buffy's mom being in on the action and the comedy that comes from people either trying to explain away supernatural elements or the reveal that they may know more than we realized. The Spike/Angel/Xander scenes are great. This is the point where season 2 REALLY begins!