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Post by Clare on Sept 23, 2008 8:41:55 GMT -5
2.19 I Only Have Eyes For You - Episode #031
Buffy and Angelus fall under a love spell
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 26, 2008 10:40:51 GMT -5
I was bored. And I'm giving it a 4.
Buffy and angel face each other yet again, I didn't want to see another emotional scene, especially one that doesn't amount to anything.
The whole plot with the ghosts didn't make much sense to me. I understand them reliving the same event from when they died, but from where do we get the snakes, or the arm in the locker, or the wasps, or the quicksand floor? If random stuff just happens when ghosts are around, you can't blame giles for thinking its jenny. And that book on the fifties popping out of the shelf was just annoying and silly, its as though the ghosts wanted buffy to research them.
This ep has the first mention of the mayor (very subtle laying the groundwork for next year's villain) and the first indication that spike is faking his injuries, waiting for his moment to make a move against angelus.
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Post by partcynic on Nov 16, 2009 8:02:05 GMT -5
2x19 “I Only Have Eyes For You”
Episode Rating = 8
Continuing S2’s distinguished state as the only year to have its arc eps also be its best, “I Only Have Eyes For You” is a welcome rebound from the lacklustre “Killed By Death”, and capitalises on the ongoing tragedy and romance inherent to the Buffy/Angel story. Serving as the series’ first venture into ghost tales (a subject area that appeared surprisingly infrequently, making the episode stand out in the process), it’s a wonderfully macabre narrative that maintains a grim atmosphere with heavy emotion and provides some excellent character development for Willow, Giles and Buffy. The theme, plot, dialogue and pacing are all excellent, concluding Marti Noxon’s top-notch S2 run and marking her as one of the series’ strongest writers.
What I Liked about “I Only Have Eyes For You”:
- The opening scene at the Bronze sets the tone nicely, with a neat guest vocal appearance from Angie Hart (who’d return in "Conversations With Dead People”). The writing did a good job of outlining Buffy’s newfound approach to men and relationships, and I liked seeing Willow encourage her to see someone new. Her response to the suggestion that she be more impulsive is a classic, and Willow’s statement that love could be nice was in great contrast to the following scene.
- The first school attack introduces the main plot in a startling way, and it’s unique in being one of the few times we’ve seen a gun featured on the show. On first viewing, it was creepy when Buffy broke up the fight only for the couple to have no idea what was going on, and I understood how thrown she was by the vanished firearm.
- This episode is paced incredibly well, with something significant happening in every single scene. Tension-wise, it was fitting that the supernatural events went from fairly innocuous (James pushing the yearbook out for Buffy to see) to spiteful (the decaying hand and the snakes), and then to murderous (sucking Willow into the vortex), and the progression made sense in terms of the emotional arc. The plot took a few liberties with its supernatural phenomena, but they were generally cool, and the fact that they all occurred in Buffy’s presence added credence to James’ fixation with her.
- While not receiving much focus, Xander and Cordelia continue to be beacons of humour, with all of their lines being great (such as Cordy learning she’d be scarred and swollen and wishing the snake had just killed her, and Xander’s glee at the prospect of blowing up the school, as well as the discussion about poltergeists and “I’m done with the book learning!”)
- Following nicely from “School Hard”, the moment with Snyder and the police chief gave another strong bit of set-up for S3, and it remains thrilling to watch the characters discuss the Hellmouth in secrecy, even when you know the full truth about Sunnydale’s founding.
- Overall, the ghost mystery in interesting and satisfyingly developed. I enjoyed how James’ and Grace’s final conversation was gradually unravelled as things progressed, with the audience not hearing the full version until the Buffy/Angel confrontation. The argument itself was wonderfully written – and as the emotional centrepiece of the story, it needed to be.
- I really appreciate how Jenny’s death is being treated – due to its recent occurrence, it’s weighing heavy on the characters, but isn’t consuming them. Willow giving Giles the rose quartz was a sweet moment demonstrating her thoughtfulness, and Giles’ later insistence that the ghost was Jenny’s effectively showed just how grief-stricken he is.
- Besides her nice chat with Giles, Willow gets some material that will prove crucial to her ultimate development. By having the character take Jenny’s place as teacher and investigate her old possessions, the episode provided a legitimate reason for Willow to take a personal interest in magic, and this sets the stage for her arc for the rest of the show’s run. It was particularly good to see her take charge in planning the exorcism (and making those scapulas), and the event itself was fairly disturbing.
- Despite only having a few scenes, the vamp trio move forward nicely, changing residence after Giles’ factory attack in “Passion” and heading to the mansion (which will become a focal area in S3). Their parts also did a fine job of lining the pins up for “Becoming”, with Spike having secretly recovered from his injury and being more than a little angry with Angelus.
- I love the theme of forgiveness and redemption that’s present here, with Giles’ line saying that they’re about compassion being a fantastic one. It was interesting to see the (appropriate) difference in maturity between he and Buffy, and the latter’s stubborn refusal to feel any sympathy for James pointed out how she was using him as a scapegoat for her own inability to make peace with herself (her speech at the Summers house demonstrated this perfectly, and I smiled at how the writers had Cordy lampshade the obvious connection with her “Gee, over-identify much?” quip). I also liked how even after she was privy to the lovers' reunion and had felt the full extent of James’ regret and self-hate, she still couldn’t understand why Grace would forgive him. It may not have been the tidiest ending, but it was a good one, and introduced a character flaw for Buffy that would manifest again later in the series.
- The final ghostly playthrough with Buffy and Angel is one of my favourite moments in the series. Sarah Michelle Gellar nails James’ desperation, anger and loneliness, and to his credit, David Boreanaz gives signs of really progressing as an actor. While he won’t be winning any major awards any time soon, he’s come a long way since his awkward performances at the start of S1, and he was able to believably portray Grace without hamming things up. The segment was also beautifully filmed, scored and edited, with the transitions between the past and present moving seamlessly and conveying the emotion to its full extent. It was elegant to have the story conclude with the ghosts possessing the opposite gender (especially with Grace/Angel being able to survive the shooting thanks to their vampirism), and it emphasised the strong parallels between James and Buffy.
What I Disliked about “I Only Have Eyes For You”:
- While I found the transition from the initial Bronze scene to the first argument at the school effective, I think something could have been done about the timing. Cutting to the school right after Willow’s statement implied that the attack was happening as they spoke, so when Buffy appears at Sunnydale High, it’s almost like she teleported there.
- When the gang returns to the school to go after Buffy, you can see some reused footage if you look closely. When the camera pulls back and views them from behind, there are five pairs of legs there when there should be four (due to Buffy’s absence), with the shot being reused from the gang’s initial escape from the wasps.
- I didn’t think much of the voices that whispered to Giles and Buffy at certain points. They were too corny for me to enjoy, and weren’t necessary in directing or progressing the plot/characters.
- I wouldn’t have minded a slightly different order to the ending scenes. While closing with Spike’s rise from his wheelchair was a fine choice, his story’s comparative unimportance to the events of the episode ended up detracting from its power.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it?
In my very first rating list, I think I gave this one a nine, but later moved it to a more comfortable eight – and that’s where my mark stays. After being a little overexposed to this episode, the long break I took between watches served me well, and I enjoyed it just as much as I did on my very first viewing. Besides dealing with one of my personal favourite supernatural story ideas, “I Only Have Eyes For You” is a pacing and development masterwork, with a rich, meaningful theme, superb acting and some tasteful, appropriate comedy moments. It’s another classic to add to the already-long S2 list, and performs strongly both as a standalone and a precursor to the season finale – in all, a job well done.
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Post by cyclica on Nov 23, 2009 16:49:34 GMT -5
This is one of those episodes where I believe we've already had a long discussion about it. Is that thread still around? Because I'd hate to have the same conversation all over again. Anyway, here's my thoughts upon rewatching. It was ok. I liked how giles believed the ghost was jenny, despite all the evidence to the contrary. It was sad and touching how he wanted to believe she was still around in some form. I also loved the revelation at the end that spike was healed. It made me eager to see what would happen next with the spike/dru/angelus triangle. As for the main plot, well I wasn't a big fan. It felt a little too bogged down with emotion, and like I said before I have issues with some of the ghost aspects (snakes, wasps, locker monster etc) having nothing to do with the actual events of james/grace's death. Though I do remember partcynic saying these were all things that have happened in real cases involving ghosts, which made things a bit better. My favourite part of the ep has to be the end, where james possesses buffy and angel fills the grace role. When I watched this for the first time I remember thinking how unexpected this was, and I still think it was a cool idea. Overall though, let's just say I only watch this ep during season marathons. It wasn't a bad episode, but I just find it too dark I guess. And while there was some humour, I can't remember any funny lines at all, and bear in mind I just got straight onto the computer after watching this ep. I'm giving this one a slight bump to low 5. Nitpicks- - I liked the scene where snyder reveals he knows about the hellmouth, but it just occurred to me- who is that guy he's talking to? Why did he never appear during season 3? - I don't mean to sound like a jerk here, but willow's joke to her class wasn't funny. "I bet you'll think coding is pretty cool. I mean, if you find two-digit, multi-stacked conversions and primary number clusters a big hoot"... the whole class wouldn't be laughing at that, and they certainly wouldn't be sitting perfectly still while canned laughter plays.  - Is there a reason the spell didn't work? I know james wanted forgiveness and that's what made him leave, but on a mystical level, surely the spell would have worked? |
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Post by cyclica on Nov 25, 2009 17:15:59 GMT -5
- Besides her nice chat with Giles, Willow gets some material that will prove crucial to her ultimate development. By having the character take Jenny’s place as teacher and investigate her old possessions, the episode provided a legitimate reason for Willow to take a personal interest in magic, and this sets the stage for her arc for the rest of the show’s run. It was particularly good to see her take charge in planning the exorcism (and making those scapulas), and the event itself was fairly disturbing. I wonder, if jenny had survived and it was oz who was killed, would willow have ever taken an interest in magic? The more I think about it, the more it becomes apparant to me that if the original ending for passion had taken place, it would have become a totally different show. - When the gang returns to the school to go after Buffy, you can see some reused footage if you look closely. When the camera pulls back and views them from behind, there are five pairs of legs there when there should be four (due to Buffy’s absence), with the shot being reused from the gang’s initial escape from the wasps. I didn't catch that the first few times watching. Buffy is standing in front with the other four side by side behind her. From behind it's hard to tell she's there. |
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Post by partcynic on Nov 28, 2009 8:21:04 GMT -5
I like the humour in this ep. The lines that have always stuck with me are Cordelia's "I've seen that movie! Even the priest died!" and "I'm [going to be] scarred and swollen... why couldn't it have just killed me?"
He was taking to the police chief. I'm sure the policeman's role could have been reprised in S3 when dealing with the death of the deputy Mayor, but they opted to have the detective from "Ted" return instead.
Perhaps Willow got something wrong with the spell - after all, it was the very first one she'd done. Or it could have been that since none of the gang had any magical power or experience, their combined effort wasn't enough to overcome an angry spirit aided by the Hellmouth.
Definitely. It's one of the more interesting 'what if'-s in the series.
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