Buffy - S01E01 - Welcome to the Hellmouth
Okay, I'm doing this.
Starting from the very first scene, when they trick us into thinking that Darla is the victim, perfectly setting the tone for the whole series: iconic.
I love how they introduce each character, and although I'm trying to be objective and think about how it is watching them for the first time, I'm mostly failing at it.
That being said, here are my "first" impressions:
- Darla is iconic and scary
- Principal Flutie is adorable
- Willow is also adorable
- Xander and Jesse are okay, regular teen boys
- Angel is hot and mysterious
- Cordelia is insufferable, but delivers great quotes
- Buffy's mom is a mom
- Giles is not yet a dad (I can't be neutral about him)
- Luke is disgusting in all the bad ways
- The Master is disgusting in all the good ways, and also iconic
- Buffy is cool and could fit with the popular kids, but she's also kind and chooses not to. We can see she's 1. in denial about being the slayer and 2. unable to not being the slayer. We also get to see how she delivers great banters before kicking some asses.
My favorite thing about this episode is the lack of subtlety of it all, I find it really amusing. How Buffy almost says "vampires" while talking to Principal Flutie, how Giles "casually" gives her the very "discreet" and giant book "VAMPYR" after a 5-second interaction, how she drops the stake in the middle of the school hallways and, of course, how later she basically attacks Cordelia with said stake. Which brings us to...
...the best quotes of the episode:
"what is your childhood trauma?" (Cordelia)
"excuse me, I have to call everyone I've ever met right now" (Cordelia)
"what kind of name is buffy?" (delivered by a girl named Aphrodesia)
"you're strong. I'm stronger. (disgusting Luke. I love how he delivered that line. he has a great voice, now that I'm thinking about. Darla also has a great voice.)
In conclusion, I give this episode 10/10 stars.