Buffy 2x3 - School Hard

BTVS Episode 2x03 "School Hard" Review

Rating: 9/10

I was so excited for this episode because I knew it's where Spike first appears and I was not disappointed. I was kinda surprised at how much happened in this episode since it's only episode 3. It almost felt like it could be a season opener in a way, and ep 1 and 2 were just transitioning us. I still dislike the principal, and I find it hard to believe that Buffy actually gets into as much trouble as the characters act like she does. The show just keeps mentioning the fire at her old school, but I wish they'd just show her do something at her new school to justify why her teachers dislike her. I swear, if Snyder isn't nicer to her after this I'm gonna crash out. Also, she had a line like, "Do you think any other Slayers had to go to high school?", which made me wonder, are Slayers not usually that young? I guess they never specified what age you had to be. I really liked the vampire crusade attack at the school, cause it gave Buffy a chance to show her quick thinking in a crisis. It does feel a little like they're pulling these random vampire holidays out of their ass though. Spike's relationship with Drusilla makes me very uncomfortable, but mostly because she just immensely creeps me out. There has to be something going on with her, because she seemed like she was ill or something, but you'd think that vampires couldn't get ill. Excited to find out more about Spike, especially since I actually have no idea how long he is going to be evil for. All in all, I really enjoyed this episode, and it was consistently entertaining from start to finish.Characters:

- **Spike:** MVP! First of all, I'm just glad to have a more interesting villain than the Master or Anointed especially since I don't particularly enjoy broody, serious villains. As a character, I just think he's entertaining and funny. I feel like they summed it up pretty well with his line, "We're gonna have a little less ritual and a little more fun around here." I thought it was kinda funny how he just killed the Anointed like that, because realistically, yeah, he's a child, you can just pick him up LOL. His British accent did lose me a little to start with but it actually was pretty good for like 80% of his lines I'd say, so it doesn't bother me much.

- Angel: Really interesting to me that Angel and Spike have prior history, and I'm taking "sire" to mean that Angel is the one who created Spike, which is really intriguing. I don't know why Angel just refused to give Buffy and Giles any helpful information about him though. Like he really just walked into the library to say Spike is super scary, then got distracted by romantic drama and left. Priorities, please. Also, the way he completely risked Xander's life was kinda crazy.

- Buffy's Mom: It's upsetting to me that she still doesn't have a name. I know I could just find it out but that feels like cheating. I'm kinda disappointed because I really thought this ep was leading up to Buffy telling her mom that she's the Slayer, but instead it was just spun as Buffy being really good in an emergency. I absolutely loved that her mom ending up saving her life though, that was a really cute moment, and so was her mom saying she doesn't care what Snyder says about her because she's brave and resourceful, and thinks of others. Ultimately it's nice her mom finally got to see Buffy act as a hero, even if she doesn't have the full story yet.

- Cordelia: Just consistently hilarious.Out of context notes:

"i kinda love Xander's shirt" "HES HEREEEEEEEE, HES FUCKING BRITISH???" "ew not the bda (bloody display of affection)" "why do they call it a mace"