Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)For this collection of a half-dozen episodes from the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon has decided to focus on the story arc combining the Faith the Rogue Slayer and Mayor's Ascension plot lines. In providing six of last nine episodes from that year's Buffy, The Slayer Chronicles includes both of the episodes that the WB delayed airing after the tragedy at Columbine High School.
The first volume starts the with "Bad Girls," scripted by Douglas Petrie, in which the Mayor's minions are seeking an amulet of invincibility while Faith's attitude about slaying rubs off on Buffy. After a night of dancing together at the Bronze (an all-time Buffy highlight) the two Slayers are caught in a robbery and Faith stakes a mortal, Deputy Mayor Finch, thinking he was a vamp. The episode ends with a chilling scene in which Buffy confronts Faith for having killed a living being only to have the unrepentant Slayer declare, "I don't care." In "Consequences," written by the prolific Marti Noxon, the Mayor sends the police after the Slayer killed his assistant. Faith continues her blind run towards the edge, blaming Buffy for what happened, attacking Xander and eventually joining the Mayor. Whether you know the outcome of the tale or not, either way Eliza Dushku's portrait of Faith's descent into psychosis is gripping. Buffy and the Scooby Gang are just along for the ride at this point.
The second volume offers "Enemies," written by Douglas Petrie, in which the Mayor arranges to steal Angel's soul as a way of distracting Buffy. The plan appears to work, especially when Angelus takes a liking to Faith and the pair begins torturing a captured Buffy. "Earshot," by Jane Esperson, was the infamous episode that the WB decided not to air the day after the Columbine tragedy. The plot has to do with Buffy killing a demon and ending up with the power to read minds. Before all the voices start to drive her insane she hears someone planning to kill everybody at Sunnydale High. However, the reason the network was nervous about the episode, which Sarah Michelle Gellar picked as one of her favorites because of what it says about surviving the horrors of high school, was Xander's off handed comment about sometimes thinking about opening up on the school with a gun.
The two-part "Graduation Day" season conclusion written and directed by Josh Whedon provides the final volume in The Slayer Chronicles. Part 1 has Faith shooting Angel with a poisoned arrow. The only cure is the blood of a Slayer, which sends Buffy after Faith for a fatal duel to the death. Part 2 finds Buffy having to deal with the consequences of her battle with Faith and the Mayor's Ascension, when he will turn into a 60-foot demon serpent. Also on the agenda is graduating high school, if only Buffy, the Scooby Gang and the rest of their class can survive the ceremony. The final note of fun is that after the dust settles, Angel will be leaving Sunnydale for good. After ending the second season of Buffy with the two-parts of "Becoming," wherein the series reached its absolute height, it is still impressive to see what Whedon was able to come up with for season three. The idea of Faith as a Rogue Slayer was a good one all by itself, but putting it together with the Mayor's quest for eternal power was a masterstroke. We should stop being surprised by such things from Whedon, but we should not stop being appreciative of his efforts. The man does quality work. As always, you have to wish there was more commentary from Whedon on the story behind the episodes.
After the failure of the initial Buffy video tape set to provide the resolution to the Master storyline from the first season, it is certainly gratifying that Joss Whedon has provided complete story arcs with both last year's The Buffy & Angel Chronicles and The Slayer Chronicles. Still, it would have been nice if one of Marti Noxon's Vamp Willow Episodes, "The Wish" or "Doppelgangland," had been included. But even though "Earshot" is not important to the Faith/Mayor story arc, it deserves to be included because of its status as a footnote to what happened at Columbine. Perhaps Whedon could produce a series of video tapes each having a couple of episodes focusing on Willow, Xander, Giles, etc., just like the Buffy novelization books. Just an idea of something to tide us over until the rest of Buffy is released on DVD, Joss (hint, hint, hint).
Click Here to see more reviews about: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Slayer Chronicles (1997)
Get 82% OFF
Click here for more information about Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Slayer Chronicles (1997)
No comments:
Post a Comment