Welcome back to our Summer chat on Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Here are my thoughts on episode two, “The Harvest.”
1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Vampire Mythology is Introduced
In episode two, “The Harvest,” we are filled in on more of the mythology behind the vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. According to Giles, vampires are just demons who feed by sucking blood. This explanation of what vampires are given by Giles cleverly teases other supernatural villains/characters and will eventually lead to an interesting discussion on if a vampire is still the person they were before they were turned. Giles does comment on that question in this episode. Giles says that once a person is bitten and turned into a vampire, the person is no longer in that body. So basically, a vampire may look like a person you know, but it’s not and their body is now just a vessel for the demon that killed them.
Giles’s explanation doesn’t explain why a vampire might still have the personality of the past person and that’s okay because this topic will definitely be brought up again.
What’s important for now, this early in the series, is that viewers are told the basic rules about the vampires in this world. Vampires in stories, besides the fact that vampires feed off of others via blood or energy, can drastically differ so it’s essential that the rules of the world are established early on and “The Harvest” accomplishes this in a simple manner. Moving forward viewers now know what hurts vampires, what most vampires can and cannot do, and how a person is turned into a vampire.
With all that being said, The Master is a bit more of a different beast. What he is exactly isn’t as simply explained. We find out in “The Harvest” that he is trapped because of an earthquake from when he tried to open the Hellmouth and the only way for him to get free is through a chosen vampire. The chosen vampire then goes through a ritual. When the chosen vampire feeds, the energy will be transferred to The Master. This has to happen on the night of an event called The Harvest, which is the night of this episode takes place. All of this information about The Master’s predicament isn’t easily understood on the first watch, or at least for me. From the first watch, I just knew the simple message of The Master. He’s a stronger vampire who is trapped and because it’s the night of The Harvest, a group of vampires is going to try to set him free. Revisiting “The Harvest” for a second time helped me fully register everything going on in episode two.
2. Willow, the Computer Genius
Much like Oracle in “Batman,” Willow is useful with computers. In “The Harvest” she hacks into a database in order to get a map of the underground tunnels. We don’t know exactly how she does this except for the fact that she just knows how to. The simple explanation is that Willow is highly intelligent and knows her way around a computer. Willow could easily just be a boring character trope, but like the aforementioned Oracle, her charm along with her brain is what makes her special to the team. This is something we know from episode one, but “The Harvest” is the first time Willow’s talents are on display.
She also has a moment of heroism when she saves Giles by splashing holy water in a vampire’s face.
3. Xander to The Rescue (Not Really)
In episode two, like Willow, Xander’s usefulness is on display here too. He may not be as smart as Willow, but he does have the same amount of desire to help Buffy out. Also, he’s really close to Jesse, who was taken by the group of vampires in episode one and is turned into a vampire in this episode. Since he’s close pals to Jesse it is fitting that he’s the one to kill him. Even if it’s in a goofy, accidental kind of way.
4. The End of The World is Easily Stopped
Spoiler Alert: Buffy saves day. She saves it in an easy fashion, almost too easy. But hey, she is The Slayer and well, The Master’s group did underestimate her.
Continued below5. No Exciting Cliffhanger
Episode one had an exciting cliffhanger to entice viewers to watch more, but this episode of “Buffy the Vampire” slayer closes out with a moment of victory, for now.
Join me next week for my thoughts on episode three, “Witch.”
