What's My Line, pt 2

Buffy Episode Review

In which there is another Slayer.

What Happened

Buffy deals with the arrival of Kendra, another Vampire Slayer, while Spike gets his hands on Angel, who is the key to Drusilla's cure.

The Good

• Buffy's scenario: talk first, kick later. Any other show would have fought it out through the credits, at the very least.
• Buffy: "We got that part, honey. He means your name."
  Kendra: "Oh."
  Condescend much, Buffy? Loved Kendra's response.
• "What's the flum?" Buffy clearly expects Giles to defend her more strenuously. When he starts stammering about Buffy needing special handling, she gets a little pissy.
• "I don't feel sorry for myself. Why should you?" Kendra skips the pity party.
• "And pomegranates." Drusilla torturing Angel, followed by him trying to taunt Spike into killing him. Wholesome family fun.
• "Two Slayers." "No waiting." Kick ass fight scene.
• "I have my hippo dignity. And the monkey's all 'I mock you with my monkey pants.' And there's a coup in the zoo." OZ.
• "I don't hug." Kendra stayed cool by never entirely folding into hero worship, even as she appreciated what she could learn from Buffy.

The Bad

• I like Kendra, but she has got to decide what accent she wants to use.

The Cliche

• Xander/Cordelia's over the top "I hate you" passion, even though it never took itself entirely seriously.
• TV shows will often pretend their hero is extra special and unique, only to pull out another whatever when things get dull. Early Edition and The Pretender did the same thing.

What Did I Think?

Two parters often suffer from only having enough story for an episode and a half, resulting in a good first part, followed by a second part that is mostly filler (or vice versa). "What's My Line" totally gets it right by taking advantage of the relationships set up in part one. Xander/Cordi, Buffy/Kendra, Spike/Dru/Angel, and Willow/Oz all get scenes that take the time to go deeper, making the inevitable Big Fight Scene more interesting because we care who wins.

And on top of that, rather than toss away the most interesting villains yet, the show keeps them around, only now with Dru in charge. Fun.