Every season of BTVS has it's high and low points. And I think that a convincing argument could be made for just about any season being the "best" one the show produced. Personally, though, season five is my favorite. It's got everything. It's funny and tragic. It has unexpected twists and character driven plot lines. It has heroes who end up villains and villains who end up heroes. You just can't beat it. Just about every episode builds into the larger story arc this season, so it's pretty hard to skip any. Also, it really helps you to follow the story if you watch the episodes in order. "Buffy v. Dracula" isn't the best episode of the season, but you really can't miss it. The last 3 seconds of this episode set up the whole season to come.
The plot of "Buffy v. Dracula" is pretty evident by the title. Dracula comes to Sunnydale to meet Buffy, and also to turn her into his un-dead bride or something. (Really, his actual plan seems a little vague.) Anyway, the Scoobies are delighted and starstruck by his appearance in their town. When he bites Buffy, though, and puts Xander under his thrall, the situation becomes more serious. Riley is jealous with Buffy's obvious attraction to Dracula. It reminds him of her past with Angel and he and Giles set out to kill Drac before anyone can get hurt. Meanwhile, Buffy confronts Dracula alone and drinks some of his blood. Coming out of her enchantment with him, she starts to fight back against his power and, of course, in the end she saves the day. She also decides to explore her Slayer calling and asks Giles to be her Watcher again. Just when you think that the episode is over though, it flashes back to Buffy's house where the Summers' family has an inexplicable new addition. Buffy's little sister, Dawn.
There are some good parts to this episode. The Scoobies excitement over meeting Dracula is pretty fun. Even Giles is impressed. Anya is preoccupied with whether or not Dracula remembers her, Willow is reminiscing about his commanding presence, Buffy is sighing dreamily... It's hilarious. And I love Xander's being Dracula's new Renfield. His spider snacking and "Dark Master.....bator" bits just crack me up. Also, I like Spike's jealous muttering about how "Drac" still owes him eleven pounds. "Ooooh, 'The Count's' gotta have his special dirt and bug eaters." And it makes perfect sense that Spike would have contempt for "gypsy tricks" after his experiences with Angel regaining his soul because of them.
Taking a second to get side tracked here, in season five of "Angel" there is a very cool character name Illyaria who can alter the flow of time. When she and Spike fight, she sometimes "zaps" out and then "pops" back in again behind him. Once when she does it, he snaps, "Hey, that's cheating!" In "Buffy v. Dracula" Dracula tries a similar move on Buffy and she says the exact same thing. "That's cheating." Buffy and Spike both tend to prefer fair fights and face-to-face style combat. They take pride in their abilities. But, I think it's especially interesting that they're identical responses to the situation are to label it "cheating." They see their battles are games or contests, where there are rules that everyone should follow. In fact Spike and Buffy only really get into trouble when someone comes along and ignores, changes or forgets those rules. (For examples of this see, "Seeing Red," in season six of BTVS, where Warren suddenly tosses aside the "gladitorial" style confrontations that Buffy is used to and attacks her in a very human way. Or "Damage," in season five of "Angel," where Spike confronts a deranged Slayer who has no intention of following the normal Slayer/vampire code of fighting hand-to-hand.) Buffy and Spike each have their problems, and they're certainly both willing to adapt to new situations, but they don't "cheat." They have their own code of conduct in their minds and they live by them, even in regard to each other. Buffy won't stake Spike if he can't fight back. (Which also brings to mind Spike's unwillingness to stake Angelus when his back was turned in season two.) And Spike won't try to get around his little chip problem by just poisoning Buffy's drinking water or something. The two of them have a lot in common, as they will discover as the series wears on.
On the down side, I'm just not comfortable with introducing Dracula to the show. It seems a little cheese-y.
My favorite part of the episode: Xander mocking Dracula in the Count From "Seseme Street" voice. "Van, tw-ou, th-reeee victims. Bwhahahaha."
The plot of "Buffy v. Dracula" is pretty evident by the title. Dracula comes to Sunnydale to meet Buffy, and also to turn her into his un-dead bride or something. (Really, his actual plan seems a little vague.) Anyway, the Scoobies are delighted and starstruck by his appearance in their town. When he bites Buffy, though, and puts Xander under his thrall, the situation becomes more serious. Riley is jealous with Buffy's obvious attraction to Dracula. It reminds him of her past with Angel and he and Giles set out to kill Drac before anyone can get hurt. Meanwhile, Buffy confronts Dracula alone and drinks some of his blood. Coming out of her enchantment with him, she starts to fight back against his power and, of course, in the end she saves the day. She also decides to explore her Slayer calling and asks Giles to be her Watcher again. Just when you think that the episode is over though, it flashes back to Buffy's house where the Summers' family has an inexplicable new addition. Buffy's little sister, Dawn.
There are some good parts to this episode. The Scoobies excitement over meeting Dracula is pretty fun. Even Giles is impressed. Anya is preoccupied with whether or not Dracula remembers her, Willow is reminiscing about his commanding presence, Buffy is sighing dreamily... It's hilarious. And I love Xander's being Dracula's new Renfield. His spider snacking and "Dark Master.....bator" bits just crack me up. Also, I like Spike's jealous muttering about how "Drac" still owes him eleven pounds. "Ooooh, 'The Count's' gotta have his special dirt and bug eaters." And it makes perfect sense that Spike would have contempt for "gypsy tricks" after his experiences with Angel regaining his soul because of them.
Taking a second to get side tracked here, in season five of "Angel" there is a very cool character name Illyaria who can alter the flow of time. When she and Spike fight, she sometimes "zaps" out and then "pops" back in again behind him. Once when she does it, he snaps, "Hey, that's cheating!" In "Buffy v. Dracula" Dracula tries a similar move on Buffy and she says the exact same thing. "That's cheating." Buffy and Spike both tend to prefer fair fights and face-to-face style combat. They take pride in their abilities. But, I think it's especially interesting that they're identical responses to the situation are to label it "cheating." They see their battles are games or contests, where there are rules that everyone should follow. In fact Spike and Buffy only really get into trouble when someone comes along and ignores, changes or forgets those rules. (For examples of this see, "Seeing Red," in season six of BTVS, where Warren suddenly tosses aside the "gladitorial" style confrontations that Buffy is used to and attacks her in a very human way. Or "Damage," in season five of "Angel," where Spike confronts a deranged Slayer who has no intention of following the normal Slayer/vampire code of fighting hand-to-hand.) Buffy and Spike each have their problems, and they're certainly both willing to adapt to new situations, but they don't "cheat." They have their own code of conduct in their minds and they live by them, even in regard to each other. Buffy won't stake Spike if he can't fight back. (Which also brings to mind Spike's unwillingness to stake Angelus when his back was turned in season two.) And Spike won't try to get around his little chip problem by just poisoning Buffy's drinking water or something. The two of them have a lot in common, as they will discover as the series wears on.
On the down side, I'm just not comfortable with introducing Dracula to the show. It seems a little cheese-y.
My favorite part of the episode: Xander mocking Dracula in the Count From "Seseme Street" voice. "Van, tw-ou, th-reeee victims. Bwhahahaha."