Episode Report Card Ace: A+ | 20 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT The Harvest (2)
By Ace | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 03.09.1997
Xander and Willow walk down a Sunnydale High hallway discussing items for their Internet search. Xander complains that he'll just be standing aside, not helping, and I reflect on just how far we haven't come in the past four seasons. Willow tries to assure Xander that Buffy can handle whatever is hiding in the tunnels, but Xander doesn't seem convinced.
It's still daylight as Buffy sneakily enters the mausoleum from the night before. It seems deserted, and Buffy inspects the walls, finding a gate locked with a large chain. Behind her, Angel steps from the shadows. Buffy senses his presence and asks if he has a key. Angel fiddles with the ridiculous droopy cuffs of his shirt as he mangles his line: "They really don't like me dropping in." The two trade clichéd snarky barbs, and Buffy finally gets a formal introduction to the lurking smirker, which is a relief to me since now I can call him Angel and not feel I'm spoiling things for people who have been living under a rock for the past four years. Buffy prepares to open the chained gate, and Angel, a little panicky, tells her not to "go down there." Not something you hear from most high-school boys, so maybe that's why Buffy is so taken with the obviously-quite-a-bit-older Angel. Angel explains that tonight is the Harvest, after which the Master will walk free. Haven't we established that like six times already? For a lurking wisdom-bearing guy, Angel sure is behind the rest of the script. Buffy asks why Angel doesn't stop the Harvest and he laughingly sneers, "Because I'm afraid." If someone has a good explanation as to why Boreanaz chose to deliver that line like it was a put-down of Buffy, I'd love it if you'd drop me a line. Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like the worst piece of acting I've seen since that high-school performance of Godspell my boyfriend dragged me to last month. But good move, David, on getting those crooked choppers fixed before you got your own spin-off. Where was I? Oh yeah -- Buffy says she's going to save Jesse; Angel warns her that the bad guys will be waiting for her. She asks if he knows what it's like to have a friend, and Angel looks shifty and sad. He gives her some instructions on how to find the Master and after she leaves, he whispers, "Good luck." To which I can only say, "Whatever." Oh, that and, "Joss Whedon is pretty damn lucky Boreanaz learned to act."
Buffy makes her way through the deserted tunnels under the city, dodging rats and drippy pipes. A figure looms behind her and Buffy spins to find -- Xander. He's followed her out of a desire to help save Jesse, and also get out of chemistry class. There were times in high school when I would have hunted vampires rather than attend chem class, so I can sympathize with Xander on that one. They creep through the tunnels as Buffy regales Xander with a story of the time she killed a vampire by beheading him with an Exacto knife. The scene then does a cool little sliding split-screen thing as we hear Giles reading about the Harvest in the library. He realizes that the Harvest will happen tonight. Yeah, we GOT IT.