I really like your observations on Jesse switching from Xander-status to Angel-status. Angel is very obviously coded as a vamp in these episodes, isn't he? And Cordelia/Jesse is interesting (though probably incidental) in that Cordy herself will, at various times, fall for Xander and Angel.
Your observation about the Xander POV is something I've though about before. I think in your American History thread I went on a tangent about The Zeppo, and how that marks the end of the era in which Xander's POV is prioritized second only to Buffy's, and his POV is more explicitly external to the main story. (Some Xander fans don't like the episode, probably for related reasons--I think King of Cretins has gone on about how The Zeppo 'falsely' portrays Xander as useless in order to set up the ending, but I think it's more complicated than that.) Later seasons have Xander as frequent observer but not the story centre. In season eight, where the X/B/A triangle has resurfaced, Xander's POV on Buffy is not emphasized--Xander POV scenes are more about Renee and later Dawn than about Buffy. (Turbulence, I think, remains in Buffy's POV throughout.)
Buffy & Luke: the scene where Buffy beats Luke is also a bit of the show's genre commentary. Crappy horror movies (and Luke is essentially a character from a crappy horror movie) are crappy, and it wouldn't be that unusual for it to be, really, dawn after like two hours of night. Luke lives in these bad movies, and so falls for Buffy's ploy--and the audience does too, because we're conditioned to groan and roll our eyes but accept ludicrous plotting like that. Buffy the character uses her genre to her advantage, on the meta-level. (One of the ironies, of course, is that Joss' plotting isn't significantly better than the horror movies he's mocking. But I think that's largely incidental.)
Willow: Note also that while Willow was already hacking, her revenge on Cordelia follows Willow speaking up to defend Buffy. We saw in WttH that she basically remains silent and runs away when Cordelia is mean to her. For Willow to speak up is a big change for her, and reflects how quickly Buffy is influencing her. And this ties into what I mentioned last week: Buffy is a model for Willow, and this leads to both good and bad, since Willow has, at this point, locked up a lot of potential for both and Buffy's presence helps release it. Her revenge on Cordelia also (someone else has made this observation before) has particular resonance for season six: "delete." Willow deletes whatever is in her way come season six: Tara's and Buffy's memories, all magic items in the house, Warren, and, nearly, the world. ("I'll make it go away!")
(Incidentally, it has always bothered me unreasonably that Cordelia presses the delete key that is on the period on the numpad. Why not just press the other delete key? The period probably would just, if the numlock is on, type a period. I don't know why this bugs me, but it does.)
Jesse: Incidentally, I almost take Jesse as non-canon for the show from "Witch" to "Chosen" (and season eight), he's so quickly forgotten by Xander and Willow. He shapes our view of the mythology, and Xander's hatred of vampires, but is otherwise never mentioned. There's a sense in season one fairly often that while Joss et al. had high ambitions, they also didn't quite anticipate the show would be good enough later that emotional continuity early on would be very important.
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Your observation about the Xander POV is something I've though about before. I think in your American History thread I went on a tangent about The Zeppo, and how that marks the end of the era in which Xander's POV is prioritized second only to Buffy's, and his POV is more explicitly external to the main story. (Some Xander fans don't like the episode, probably for related reasons--I think King of Cretins has gone on about how The Zeppo 'falsely' portrays Xander as useless in order to set up the ending, but I think it's more complicated than that.) Later seasons have Xander as frequent observer but not the story centre. In season eight, where the X/B/A triangle has resurfaced, Xander's POV on Buffy is not emphasized--Xander POV scenes are more about Renee and later Dawn than about Buffy. (Turbulence, I think, remains in Buffy's POV throughout.)
Buffy & Luke: the scene where Buffy beats Luke is also a bit of the show's genre commentary. Crappy horror movies (and Luke is essentially a character from a crappy horror movie) are crappy, and it wouldn't be that unusual for it to be, really, dawn after like two hours of night. Luke lives in these bad movies, and so falls for Buffy's ploy--and the audience does too, because we're conditioned to groan and roll our eyes but accept ludicrous plotting like that. Buffy the character uses her genre to her advantage, on the meta-level. (One of the ironies, of course, is that Joss' plotting isn't significantly better than the horror movies he's mocking. But I think that's largely incidental.)
Willow: Note also that while Willow was already hacking, her revenge on Cordelia follows Willow speaking up to defend Buffy. We saw in WttH that she basically remains silent and runs away when Cordelia is mean to her. For Willow to speak up is a big change for her, and reflects how quickly Buffy is influencing her. And this ties into what I mentioned last week: Buffy is a model for Willow, and this leads to both good and bad, since Willow has, at this point, locked up a lot of potential for both and Buffy's presence helps release it. Her revenge on Cordelia also (someone else has made this observation before) has particular resonance for season six: "delete." Willow deletes whatever is in her way come season six: Tara's and Buffy's memories, all magic items in the house, Warren, and, nearly, the world. ("I'll make it go away!")
(Incidentally, it has always bothered me unreasonably that Cordelia presses the delete key that is on the period on the numpad. Why not just press the other delete key? The period probably would just, if the numlock is on, type a period. I don't know why this bugs me, but it does.)
Jesse: Incidentally, I almost take Jesse as non-canon for the show from "Witch" to "Chosen" (and season eight), he's so quickly forgotten by Xander and Willow. He shapes our view of the mythology, and Xander's hatred of vampires, but is otherwise never mentioned. There's a sense in season one fairly often that while Joss et al. had high ambitions, they also didn't quite anticipate the show would be good enough later that emotional continuity early on would be very important.