Buffy: Killed by Death (2.18)

I've written before about the annoying stop-start feel to season two's major arc, and as we inch closer to the finale it's even more noticeable. Killed by Death is filler material of the highest order, an episode that features little of the spark that make everyday Buffy hours so compelling. You always know you're watching a below-par Buffy episode when you could easily swap out so much of the action and dialogue with any other fantasy series from the same era. Dean Batali and Rob Des Hotel as writers always seem a little unsure of what tone they're reaching for, like they're out of their comfort zone (presumably sitcoms, judging by their IMDb pages) and pasting together a bunch of random horror movie elements. Meh.

The episode's story isn't particularly absorbing. Buffy is sick, a Freddy Krueger-lite demon roams the corridors of a hospital, and the lives of a bunch of annoying kids are at stake. An attempt to make the hour a little more personal for Buffy reads as majorly shoe-horned in, with some mishandled flashback sequences to the death of Buffy's cousin when she was a kid. I'm never a fan of random pieces of character history being introduced purely to service a standalone storyline. And it never usually works.

Angelus' involvement in the story is incidental, at best, but he does have a neat scene with Xander. I'm not sure I like the attention given to their rivalry (Angelus could eat Xander for breakfast, yet the show kind of wants us to believe they're on an equal playing field), but there's a sinister undertone to Angelus tormenting him in such a public setting. Like last week with Angelus appearing in Sunnydale High, it adds an additional touch of suspense when he can just breeze in and out of public buildings.

Killed by Death is an underwhelming hour that's pretty much Buffy-by-numbers. It feels a lot like Buffy of old, with annoying touches of the worst aspects of episodes like Nightmares and The Pack. Bonus points for making Cordelia pretty funny, though. She has some great lines here. But it's not enough to save the whole thing from being a major drag. D-

Credits
Guest stars Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers); Richard Herd (Dr. Stanley Backer); Willie Garson (Security Guard); Andrew Ducote (Ryan); Juanita Jennings (Dr. Wilkinson)
Writers Rob Des Hotel, Dean Batali Director Deran Sarafian