2.09 What's My Line I

[Clare]

2.09 What's My Line I - Episode #021
Buffy faces The Order of Taraka

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

[cyclica]

Its hard for me to seperate this episode from the next, 2 parters tend to blur together for me. So if I mention something that happened in the next episode, please forgive me.

I loved this episode. It was full of great scenes, like when xander makes a joke in a tense situation and giles shouts at him. It really gave the impression things were worse than they ever had been before, for giles to do something like that. And it was the first appearance of willy, and the minion vampire with glasses, its hard to beleive he only appeared in a couple of episodes, looking back at season 2 it seems like much more than that.

My only real problem is with the order of taraka. So some are demons and some are humans? Since when were humans good enough to fight in an elite mystical gang alongside powerful demons? And how is it that if you kill them, there will always be more? Are there an infinite number of members in this elite gang?

That aside, its still a great episode. I give it a 7.

[jennf10]

The pointless hell of Career Week looms over the Scooby Gang, and Buffy is reminded once more that her career is likely to be unpaid, antisocial, and short. Angel suggests the two of them go ice skating to cheer Buffy up. Well, she'd skate, he'd brood. Spike and Dru are planning something big, but they need to keep Buffy occupied, so they send for the Order of Taraka, deadly semi-human assassins. Oz and Willow meet, over canapés. The first assassin attacks Buffy and Angel at the ice rink, but is stopped by a Buffpowered ice-skate to the jugular. The second is a man made of bugs, who is let into Buffy's house by Cordy, while she and Xander look for Buffy. Angel tries to beat information on the Tarkans from Willy the Snitch, but Kendra appears and locks Angel in a cage, with the sun rising fast. She then attacks Buffy, and the episode ends with her telling Buffy "Me name is Kendra: The Vampire Slayer."

My Review:

This, along with What's My Line, Part 2" are two of the best episodes of season 2. What will Buffy be when she grows up? Nobody really knows. However, 3 assassins, hired by Spike, are trying to stop Buffy in her tracks. In the process of tracking down these killers, we also meet Kendra, who claims to be a Vampire Slayer.

Kendra and Buffy clash at first. Kendra is a book learned Slayer with very good moves. She knows about what being a Slayers is, however does not know how to have a simple conversation with a boy. Over time, Buffy and Kendra start to understand each other, and learn to work together.

The rise of Drusella in this episode makes the season. Drusella is nuts, but is even more dangerous when at full strength. It is interesting to see her and Kendra clash at the end of the season.

Overall, excellent episode. I give this one and the 2nd volume 9/10.

[cyclica]

This is going to be a fairly short review, because a lot of what I wanted to say I've already said, both above and (concerning kendra and oz) in the next review.

I stand by my 7 rating. I enjoyed this episode just as much on rewatching as I did before. One nice little scene I'd like to mention is the one where angel is injured and pulls away from buffy, because he doesn't want her to see him in vamp face. She says she didn't even notice he was in vamp face. Aww.

This is also I beleive the first episode where the name 'scooby gang' is used.

Nitpicks-
- When willow was approached by a software company during career week, there is a butler handing around a tray of food. A butler? I understand that they want to get willow (and oz) to join the company and will use any means to do so, but a bulter? Come on!
- The software company guys say they've been following willow around for some time. This was never explained, nor was is followed up on. Why didn't willow take the job? Why would the writers even put in a storyline about willow being followed by some company, and then just drop the story right there?
- Angel can easily break out of the metal cage he is put into at the end of the episode.
- And it's meant to be a big threat that sunlight could come in through the windows and kill him when he's trapped... but he could just cover up the windows with his jacket, or stack up the boxes in the room. Or even just sit with his back to the wall which has the windows on it, since indirect sunlight is apparantly harmless (in later episodes certainly, and also in the harvest, when he meets buffy for the second time at the entrance to the master's lair, he's standing in indirect sunlight).

As a bonus, here's a funny screencap from the episode.