BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER S2 EP 19-20 FULL LENGTH REACTION
Added 2026-01-23 08:40:35 +0000 UTC
Comments
Ahh “I only have eyes for you” is one of my favorite episodes of the series!
Lisa
2026-01-24 23:45:46 +0000 UTCO yea it was superb!!!
Raymond Walker
2026-01-24 02:35:23 +0000 UTCI Only Have Eyes for You is a really interesting episode because one could say it romanticizes relationships that involve grooming and power imbalances just as easily as they could say it’s commentary on how harmful they are. Buffy sees herself as having killed Angel, and she’s haunted by that guilt the same way James is haunting the school. She can’t let go and she can’t forgive herself. Her anger at James is obviously projection of her anger at herself and on the surface the plot doesn’t do anything to argue her placement of blame and guilt when James choses to possess her. James is only able to find peace when Grace-possessing-Angel isn’t killed and the scenario is finally able to end differently. By that measure it’s a tragic romance, but the assurance that their love was true is what frees James from his purgatory and maybe gives Buffy a sense of closure that allows her to forgive herself. On the other hand, maybe James was drawn to Buffy because whether or not they want to acknowledge it, the reality is that James and Buffy were both underage victims of adults who should have known better. They also make a point in the episode of saying that it’s specifically James who is haunting the school and playing out the night of the murder/suicide over and over again. There’s never any suggestion that there are two ghosts, both James and Grace, so anyone who supposedly gets possessed by Grace is actually just acting out James’s idea of her. So their grand love confession in the music room acted out by Buffy and Angel isn’t what would have happened had Grace survived, it’s just James’s fantasy. Maybe for James, playing out the fantasy was enough to allow him to rest. But once the fantasy ends and James is gone, reality remains and Buffy is just as hurt by Angel as she was before. She forgives herself because she realizes she needs to in order to move on, but it doesn’t undo the damage. Honestly it might be both. Maybe the idea is that a teen would see the romance and an adult would see the commentary. Or it might be that the writers didn’t even know what point they were trying to make, which tbh seems to happen a fair amount with how Angel and Buffy’s relationship is written. Who knows? 🤷🏻♂️
Henry Leor
2026-01-23 20:25:28 +0000 UTCI forgot to mention but I also love in the scene where Angel and Buffy reenact the shooting, they’re gender-swapped but still in their correct placement in terms of that power dynamic!
nataly
2026-01-23 20:25:06 +0000 UTCI Only Have Eyes For You is such an awesome episode in my opinion, especially because of the way they portray another problematic relationship with an older person and a minor. It says so much imo that Buffy doesn’t even consider how wrong the teacher was to pursue her student. Buffy blames James for everything, and while he was obviously in the wrong for killing Miss Newman for rejecting him— nothing would have happened if she simply left the child alone. Likewise, she seems to punish herself for what happened with Angel, not considering that he never should have gotten into a relationship with her, even if he was a “good guy”. James, and Buffy, seek forgiveness because they feel guilty for ‘killing’ the person they loved, but they deserve forgiveness because they were just young people who were taken advantage of.
nataly
2026-01-23 20:21:32 +0000 UTCThe flip of Angel and Buffy in the first episode is well written I think
Penny
2026-01-23 17:46:49 +0000 UTC
