Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest

Welcome to the Hellmouth/The Harvest
Written by Joss Whedon
Welcome to the Hellmouth directed by Charles Martin Smith
The Harvest directed by John Kretchmer

Original Airdate: March 10, 1997

Plot: Buffy Summers arrives in Sunnydale where she discovers a mystical portal known as the Hellmouth is opening. Good thing that Buffy is the Slayer--one girl in every generation chosen to stand up to the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness.

Review

Warning: You reap what you sew. I'm getting head to harvest some major SPOILERS for the very first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you've missed it and want to see it unawares, please turn back now.

In short: And so it begins...

If you watch Babylon Five, then you may recognize the line I used above. I do that delibarately. First of all, it sounds really good. But the other, far better reason is that like Babylon Five, I am quickly discovering that Buffy is a show that gains richness upon repeated viewings. There will be things that will make much more sense in the overall context of the show, once you see where Joss and company are going with the overall storyline.

Which may be one reason I enjoyed getting to see the 2 hour premiere of Buffy after having expereinced the entire second season as a whole. It gave me some perspective to enjoy the episode on differnet levels than if I'd just seen it back when it was first on. Not that I don't regret discovering the show until the season premire this season, mind you. Thankfully the WB is helping me get fully caught up season one this summer.

But, I'm rambling.

The reason we're here is to take a closer look at the the pilot episode of Buffy. I will have to say that for the most part pilot episodes are a curious beast. Looking back over the years at pilot episodes, it's hard to judge a series by them. At times you can see glimmers of hope for a series, at others the entire series changes afater that first episode. In my mind, what a pilot show do is give you a chance to meet most of the major characters, get the ball rolling on some subplots, and deliver an entertaining story that will interest you enough to want to watch beyond that first episode.

Welcome the Hellmouth/The Harvest does all three of these. I will admit the first thirty minutes of the show were a bit of a drag for me at times. But I think part of it is that I already know all these characters from having watched the show for a while. So, being introduced to everyone just doesn't hold as much interest for me as it normally would. That's not a major negative since it's pretty much a personal bias. I am not grading off for that.

What Joss really does well is bridging the gap between the movie and the show. It's nice to see some references to the film here, but also that he's willing to take the show in a new direction. Gone is the cramps Buffy gets when a vamp is nearby, which I think it good. That is far too great a weakness to have on the show week in and week out. Also gone is the notion she will only fight vamps. It's nice to see her slayer powers will be needed to battle the forces of evil that will be attracted by the Hellmouth. It gives the show a far bigger texture, scope, and context. It also allows Buffy to retell some of the old monster legends in new ways. New is good. As long as the old is done well.

And there's some amount of setup for the on-going plotlines. The Master's attempt to free himself, Angel and who is he?, Darla's prescence, etc. There is some interesting stuff set into motion here. I know precisely where some of it goes, while I only have a vague idea of how other bits will play out. I am interested to see how it all plays out this summer.

And Joss succeeds because there is a plotline that really grabs your intereted and holds it, once it starts. Buffy's trying to stop the Harvest propels the narrative forward, giving time to the rest of the introductory elements but also lending a sense of urgency to the overall story. One thing that really struck me here was how much more vicious the vamps seemed here than they did under Spike and Dru's leadership. It's nothing I can place my finger on precisely, and the vamps were still scary, interesting villains on the show this year, but for some reason they seemed more aggressive and scary. I chalk this up to a few things. One is that they have yet to really fear or respect Buffy and it's obvious that there hasn't been a slayer in Sunnydale for quite some time. So, why fear her just yet? Another is the Master seems to be far more gruesome and mean a leader than Spike is. Yes, Spike can be chilling (see Lie to Me for example) but you don't get the impression he's as bad as the Master is. At least in some areas.

I may have to review some vamp episodes from this year and see if I can some more positive proof to back up my feelings.

And I've got to admit that the final sequence in the Bronze was one of the best realized action sequences I've seen. The direction, the writing, and the acting were all first rate. It's easy to see where Joss might have got some of his "training" for his superlative work behind the camera here. There were times when the lighting, the direction, and the editing were just superb.

It's a fun pilot to watch. I had a great time. And it's really got me excited about the repeats of season one this summer.

So, I guess that's about it, excpet for a few small things.

--Why did WB have to run it as a 2 part ep? Why couldn't it have just been run as a two hour episode? It would have made more sense, at least to me.

--Because of that, did we miss anything? Was anything cut? Will I still need to buy this on video when it comes out for the lost footage? (I only say this since I know that Star Trek: the Next Generation has edited out some footage from the final 2 hour eps for syndication, so if you missed it the first time and want the whole story, you've got to buy it on video!)

--There are times when I just want to smack Cordy in this ep. But then I kept going, "Remember where this is all going..."

Well, that's about it for now. A great start to a great show. I love it.

Final Rating: 8.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: A re-run of "Killed by Death."