2.02 Some Assembly Required

[Clare]

2.02 Some Assembly Required - Episode #014
Cordelia nearly goes to pieces

Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.

[cyclica]

Another great filler story. No real flaws this time, although it is one of the most disgusting episodes.

I liked daryl choosing to burn to death then go on without anyone to love him, that scene with him hugging the headless body was touching. And there's more on the genny relationship front, which is always good.

I give it a 6.

[jennf10]

This is one of my least favorite episodes. I rarely actually watch it from my DVD set.

This episode is a bad Frankenstein filler that just did not work for me. A guy who had been put together by his brother convinces his brother to steal body parts from dead girls in order to build him a girlfriend. Buffy tracks the missing body parts to find the kid.

This episode was filler only and really had no plot development for this season.

3/10

[partcynic]

2x02 “Some Assembly Required”

Episode Rating = 5

For both "Buffy" and "Angel", second-of-the-season episodes are rarely anything to write home about (“Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been” being the massive exception), but “Some Assembly Required” manages to break from the general trend a little. Featuring the show’s first nod to Frankenstein and non-vampire forms of the living dead, it spins an entertaining (if generic) plot amidst plenty of good lines, as well as great development for the budding Buffy/Angel and Giles/Jenny relationships.

What I Liked about “Some Assembly Required:”

- It was good to see that Buffy’s behaviour in “When She Was Bad” continued to have repercussions, and the tension between she and Angel was believable. Besides the novelty factor of seeing the usually unflappable vampire acting jealously, it was cool to see a conflicting edge to their dynamic, and the plot thread was resolved quickly and without any undue angst. The closing conversation between the two was nicely romantic, and marks the first appearance of the gorgeous Buffy/Angel love theme (what a difference a talented score composer makes).

- I really enjoyed the majority of the early plot. It was eerie when Buffy fell into the open casket, found the girl’s shoe and deduced that she’d been dragged from her grave, and the story implied that Chris was responsible without immediately limiting the potential explanations. It was fun to see the gang puzzle things out (with Giles’ misplaced glee at having a new case being amusing), and the witty interplay between the core four was a delight to watch.

- Despite being in need of some work, the series’ homage to Mary Shelley’s classic is a good one, and the reveal that the much-mentioned Daryl had been reanimated gave a little more edge to the story. Chris was a passable one-episode character who managed to be creepy and sympathetic, and his friend was easy to hate (and thus an effective villain). I liked how the photographs from the start of the episode played a significant role as the narrative progressed, and it was easy to feel Cordelia’s horror upon learning what Daryl was planning to do to her (though my ears still hurt – she can certainly scream well!)

- A minor thing, but I’m particularly fond of the grave-digging scene. Willow and Buffy having doughnuts and gossiping while the guys dig up a corpse a few feet away is a quintessential “Buffy” moment, and a great example of how the show can mix realism and absurdity so amazingly well.

- As is the general rule, all of the Giles/Jenny interaction is superb. Giles’ flustered rehearsal with the chair is humorous (as is the way Buffy and Xander tease him about it), and I love how it’s actually Jenny who ends up initiating the date. Their later talk at the football game is charming (particularly Giles’ quip about American football and their ‘exasperated parent’ looks when Xander and Willow muscle in on their time together), and the final moment where they decide to go on a second date is quite sweet.

- Moving slowly but steadily, Cordelia is making hesitant steps towards respectability, fitting in with the gang while simultaneously providing an outsider’s perspective on them. Her line about every conversation they have involving the word ‘corpse’ is my favourite in the episode, and her antagonistic interactions with Xander are a great prelude to their eventual relationship. Of additional note is the extra depth she gets in her post-rescue gratitude, and Xander’s dismissing her before wondering why he doesn’t get dates is a very funny moment.

- For some reason, I used to think of this episode as being slowly paced, but it moves at a good clip, with an interesting twist at every act break. I was actually surprised when I got to the end, as it felt like I hadn’t been watching that long.

What I Disliked about “Some Assembly Required”:

- I know that Angel likes to perpetuate his broody mystique, but if he was uncertain as to whether the girl at the school parking lot was Cordelia, why didn’t he just call out to her? It would have made more sense (and been a lot less intimidating) for him to do what any normal person would in that situation.

- It goes without saying that you shouldn’t take ninety-nine percent of this ep’s plot seriously, but I prefer it when “Buffy” and sci-fi stay away from each other. Most shows that specialise in sci-fi at least attempt to give plausible explanations for their events, but “Buffy”’s existing structure doesn’t cover it. I can believe in vampires, demons et al in the show’s universe, but not that a pair of high school seniors can reanimate the dead and theoretically transplant a human head to create a new, functioning being.

- As Chris and his co-conspirator had their ‘project’ at the Epps home, why did they dump all of the body parts at the school? Did they take the bodies from the graveyard, transport them to Sunnydale High for carving and stitching, and then take the patchwork girl home? How did they manage to do all that without being discovered? And couldn’t they at least have made an effort to conceal the body parts? They looked like they’d been thoughtlessly chucked in the dumpster, where they’d have been easily found (the smell alone might alert people that something strange was inside). Also, given the distance between the graveyard and school (and the likelihood of people reasoning that the perpetrators were somehow connected to Sunnydale High), wouldn’t it have been smarter to choose another dumping site, totally unconnected to them?

- The attempts at an emotional connection between Chris and Daryl (and the stadium scene with the latter watching the game from under the bleachers) didn’t really work for me. Since I didn’t feel like I knew Daryl, I didn’t feel bad for him, and the corny dialogue between the brothers didn’t help either.

- It’s too coincidental that Daryl grabs Cordelia at the exact moment that the Sunnydale team scores (thus ensuring a jubilant crowd reaction that prevents her screams from being heard).

- Why would Buffy assume that the pom-poms at the water fountain were Cordelia’s? Granted, she seems to be the only cheerleader absent from the group, but it’s not like the pom-poms are named, labelled and in short supply. For all Buffy knows, Cordy could have just taken a trip to the bathroom.

- It’s a common problem for most TV shows, but Buffy’s sense of heroic timing is immaculate. She always makes her arrival at the most precise, tense moment possible, and it comes across as an obvious plot device.

Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?

I actually like it more, albeit not enough to change my score. I don’t tend to think about this episode when considering the series, but it’s an appreciable example of “Buffy”’s ability to take established horror plots, put a new spin on them, and create something incredibly engaging in the process. Thanks to its wit, solid pacing and good character development, I’m therefore awarding “Some Assembly Required” a respectable rating of five out of ten.

[cyclica]

This story is ok. It's a filler ep, which I usually don't mind, but this one is just ... well it's ok. It's not really boring, just not engaging. There are no great scenes, nor any really bad ones, just a few nice scenes and a few minor problems. For me this is a total middle-of-the-road episode, and as such I'm finding it hard to review.

It's a pretty disgusting story, but there's also some emotion behind it (like I said before daryl choosing to die with the 'girl' he loved was touching in a way). I can't hate daryl too much, nor his brother, since he wasn't willing to commit murder, and everything was done out of a twisted kind of love (chris wanting to help his brother, who didn't want to be alone, he wanted someone to love who would accept him). The other kid (whose name I forgotten, so I'll just call him slimy kid) was the only one who came across as truly evil.

They never did explain how it was possible to bring someone back from the dead, but I guess there's a hellmouth, and it's sunnydale, people come back from the dead all the time, it didn't stick out as a big plot hole. They never did explain why there was such urgency to reanimate someone if they could just bring someone back from the dead at any time like how daryl was brought back (especially if daryl and slimy guy are willing to commit murder), but I guess daryl not wanting to be alone any longer was reason enough. They never did explain how daryl was as strong as buffy (in the fight at least), surely he should be weaker than when he was alive, but I guess zombies are stronger, it's a mystical thing like with vampires.

There were a few good lines (buffy- "I didn't come here to fight... oh wait, yes I did"), the gang teasing giles about his nervousness around jenny was fun to watch, and I liked the subtle forshadowing for the events of 'killed by death' (buffy- "I know what it's like to loose someone you're close to") but all in all this episode is only ok. I give it a low 6, if only because of a few good lines.