Buffy
Season 6 Slips
By
Kristin Battestella
On
my last Buffy: The Vampire
Slayer rewatch,
I was sidetracked and stopped midway through Season 6. That, however,
is no excuse – especially since now that I'm neck deep in another
Buffy marathon,
I can admit it's the disinterested sagging of Year 6 that bottoms out
the vampy viewings.
Sunnydale
without The Slayer just won't do, so witches Willow (Alyson Hannigan)
and Tara (Amber Benson) work a spell with Xander (Nicholas Brendon)
and Anya (Emma Caufield) to bring Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) back
from the dead. Her watcher Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) is leaving
for England, but vampire Spike (James Marsters) has remained loyal to
Buffy and helps care for her sister Dawn (Michele Trachtenberg).
Unfortunately, Buffy isn't glad to be back, Willow becomes addicted
to using magic, and relationship cracks show as Xander and Anya's
wedding approaches. Life is bad enough, but the nerdy,
self-proclaimed villains known as The Trio (Adam Busch, Danny Strong,
Tom Lenk) interfere with the Scooby gang, causing a spiral of deadly
divisions and end of the world rage.
Now
on the UPN network after departing The WB, Buffy
is
darker this season and
not as fun, understandably, perhaps, thanks to the hefty resurrection
in “Bargaining Parts 1 and 2.” It's an excellent start with
action heavy and questionable Scooby leadership – these bittersweet
departures and deadly transitions are nearly insurmountable for most
television series, but Buffy
pulls
it off in “Afterlife.” Distorted, in your face, camera whirlwinds
reflect the jarring as well as the intimate moments, tender returns,
and demonic consequences. Sure, your friends meant
well! These early bottle shows are strong in Year 6, for there's no
need to divert with weekly villains when you have so much
raising from the dead angst. The gang isn't exactly up to fighting
demons, and their internal problems make for a more interesting pain
than any supernatural catalysts. A more horror styled filming is
indicative of this bleak Buffy can't handle – such as the bills and
broken pipes in “Flooded,” and more risque language and saucy
details reflect this mature tone. “Life Serial” is fun as a one
off episode with bemusing trials in the more expected Buffy
humor.
However, the episode has the unenviable task of fleshing out The Trio
as mini bads for the season – rather than say, leaving them as an
obnoxious recurrence or two amid all the other break ups, allegory,
and torment.
Of
course, “Once More with Feeling” has everything Buffy
needs
for the bitter developments in Season 6, and this longer musical hour
works as both a unique takeaway and a deeply involved game changer. I
hum these tunes or refer to the lyrics more often than I should
admit, and while you can't watch it with your parents thanks to the
naughty gay sex innuendo in 'Under Your Spell,' that suggestive wink
has held up well. 'Bunnies' is a fitting little rock moment, and
'Rest in Peace' sums up Spike's romantic edge – even if he doesn't
sing with his British accent. Whoops! 'I’ll
Never Tell' is a fine throwback that foreshadows relationship
troubles to come, and each song's tone is smartly tailored to match
the characters regardless of genre or revelation. The actors who
aren't really singers still have catchy moments – Sarah Michelle
Gellar's flat notes appropriately match Buffy's off-key state of mind
– and the tongue in cheek whimsy makes for self aware set changes
and breaking the fourth wall moments. Rather than the shorter
syndicated edition, viewers must see the full length episode with its
lyrical subtitles to appreciate how the smiling mid century musical
direction perfectly belies the unhappy truths. Slow motion training
montages are intermixed with serious reprises, progressing the hour
from lighthearted to explosive. Indeed, the 'Where Do We Go from
Here' finale wonderfully surmises all of Buffy's
metaphors, leaving the
house of cards fallen and our players facing rocky, unknown futures.
All their secrets are made known – maybe life will be okay, maybe
it won't. Going out on a high note jokes aside, I must say, this
episode could have been a superb series finale.
Whew!
Though not as big a production, “Tabula Rosa” is an excellent
coda. Their souls have been sung, so now let's wipe everyone's memory
and see if anything is happier. The switcharoos are humorous yet
serious, and it is important for our wayward Scoobies to rediscover
themselves. The pairs with the strongest ties remain, and whelp,
that's that for the rest. Michelle Branch's appearance with 'Goodbye
to You' is also the best use of a concert montage on Buffy,
ever.
The early episodes this season are largely solid, even spectacular.
Unfortunately, the magic
is the drug elements in “Smashed” and “Wrecked” are too much
together. Our beloved ladies are going to the dark side, nobody's
friends, no one gets along, and it's all too unlikable and tough to
watch. Dumb decisions are made and “Gone” uses invisible gags to
lessen the sour, but half the episodes in Year 6 could have been
axed. “Doublemeat Palace” uses the stinky of normalcy in its
conspiracies with askew camerawork to match while “Dead Things”
goes too far with Spuffy sex and disgusting Trio behavior. Important
character developments may happen and pieces of these shows are
memorable, but the framework is too depressing or forgettable. “Older
and Far Away” is the one where they can't leave the house, right?
“As You Were” is the one where Riley Finn comes back, really? And
we care because?
Fortunately,
“Normal Again” is a much nicer dark alternative with its
superhero delusion and mental institution possibility. Which tale do
we tell ourselves to keep us miserable or happy? This illusion versus
reality twist is a much more tantalizing theme compared to the over
the top bitter this season, as is the seemingly innocuous credit
addition in “Seeing Red.” Again, rather than an expected monster,
a real world drive by cuts the rug out from under the audience – we
should know Buffy well
enough by now to see too much good was in need of some ruin. Sadly,
this critical episode is also uneven with Trio filler and an
unnecessary, crossing the line motivation for Spike. His love isn't
cause enough for his quest? Why even show his motorcycle flight –
just let him leave and give us that surprise next year instead of
intercutting the life versus death symmetry in “Villains.” Who
can or can't be brought back from the dead and what happens when you
choose to take a life instead? All the ills come full circle with a
surprising spiritual touch in “Grave,” and a good laugh over a
simple, embarrassing recap of the season's icky events breaks the
gloomy. Unfortunately,
Buffy doesn't
quite come round right, and
it's
just a sigh of relief that this season is finally over.
Well,
well, Buffy wanted a regular life beyond being The Slayer, but a
feeling meaningless resurrection, fast food job, and paying the bills
isn't so fluffy, is it? Our super gal is flawed, disturbed, and
unhinged – and getting drastic ala that rogue slayer Faith. Slaying
used to be what made Buffy Buffy, but now she must find her place in
this cruel world without her responsible routine. She can't go back
to college and has to put up happy pretenses or tell everyone what
they want to hear rather than hurt her friends' feelings. She raises
Dawn and does the right thing while everyone else is too busy with
their own lives to help her – even though Buffy is unwillingly back
from the dead because of them. The bringing down the house metaphors
are a bit obvious, but her discomfort over using someone she loathes
such as Spike is an important experience. It's abusive, unlikable
behavior when she takes out her self hatred on him. Buffy is an
inherently good person doing what she perceives as wrong – and
unlike Faith, it tears her up. Sadly, it takes horrible human
interactions for Buffy to get back to sticking to her guns after this
year's drab, but by the end Buffy is ready to live and intends to see
justice served, whether her friends are right or wrong.
Spike's
relationship with Buffy, however, is a little weird. Such kinky,
uncomfortable, and unhealthy physicality is a bit too much for
younger viewers yet Spike has grown in emotion and loyalty. He has a
chip in his head but not his soul, and that restrained, misplaced
prowess helps him relate to Buffy the way the rest of the Scoobies
cannot. He works alongside them but remains at arms length, an
outsider just like she is. Spike enjoys making Buffy feel both
pleasure and pain, and “Smashed” shows the inseparable nature of
those seemingly opposite feelings. Is Spike a man in love or a
monster playing poker for kittens? This ongoing struggle provides
some wonderful character movement even whilst Spike dresses sexier,
goes in the buff, and is treated like a drug for Buffy's fix. He's a
powerful influence that threatens to harm her but the violence feels
too extreme. Can Spike yet be redeemed? We'll see. Likewise, Dawn is
understandably trying to find her way now that the Key elements
served their purpose in Season 5. Unfortunately, Dawn is also an
inverse Wesley Crusher with nothing to do but steal, get rescued, or
be really
shrill, and we've been through all this erstwhile youth before on
Buffy. Slowly,
she joins the research or alleviates the tension with jokes, but
Dawn-centric retreads like “All the Way” remain cliché and
uninteresting. The audience has been rolling our eyes over her all
along, so when the rest of the cast doesn't notice her petty crime
and actually forgets about Dawn after the bullets fly...ouch. Losing
the character completely admits to a Dallas
dream
season mistake, but this year Dawn may have worked better in a
reduced recurring capacity as the sisters' mother had been.
Ultimately, Dawn is truly a supporting character more for how the
familial tug and pull affects Buffy rather than her own developments.
The
hints were there, but it's pretty stinky nonetheless to watch Willow
go off the magic junkie deep end with too many unlikable me me me
threats against her friends. Giles is right when he says she has some
in over her head amateur to resolve. Does Willow work? What is her
major at school? She's a selfish bully who raises the dead or kills
when it suits her but she can't poof away a bill for Buffy? Willow
does the resurrection spell because she wants to prove she can, not
because she should, and there's no need for the redundant magic ala
drugs antithesis because Buffy's making her own mistakes already.
Where magic was a positive empowering lesbian metaphor in Year 5, now
Willow is a very bad girlfriend becoming the abusive boyfriend. She
misuses magic and turns into some kind of stereotypical evil
angry lesbian filleting men.
The fury and pain are emotional moments the first time you see Buffy,
however
on repeat, you just want to skip these mixed magic metaphors all
together. As Xander
once said way back in “Something Blue,” 'So, so tired of it.'
Buffy
feels
run out of ideas with these head beating allegories, and when Dark
Willow's personal rage turns into wanting to emo end the world's
pain, it's just ridiculous. I would
be more angry that it is the lesbian relationship being treated so
problematic in Season 6, except all the pairings go to hell this
year. Fortunately, Tara remains a positive moral perspective and
solid center for the gang, and Buffy
confides in her away from the group. She looks out for the Scoobies
from a good place, something the rest of the gang learns the hard
way. Maybe the character
doesn't change, but her reliability as an independent woman not
moping over Willow is important to see alongside their more intimate
and naturally progressing romantic moments. They do live together
after all, and props to Buffy
for
not having the gay couple be chaste while other partners make
whoopie.
Before
their doubts about Buffy returning and their delayed engagement
announcement, Xander and Anya were already a complicated pair. Rather
than strengthening the character, Anya's blunt and impolite sass is
regressed this season to downright rudeness and a no longer cute
obsession with capitalism and money. While Xander is the Regular Joe
anchor for Willow from beginning to end, he is also 'So, so tired of
it' with Anya, and she only seems to care about what's really going
on once she finds out Dawn has stolen from her. She tries to make
Willow use magic and we feel for her being jilted in “Hell's
Bells,” but Anya's mixed empathy also makes us realize how little
we actually know her. “Entropy” tries to be humorous perhaps but
the admittedly interesting possibility of Anya and Spike is used for
hatred – another harshness thrown on top of the Year 6 heap. Xander
does some stupid and cruel bull headed things too on Buffy, but
the non superhero sidekick finale is meant to fix all that, I think.
And no, Giles, you never should have left and picked the worst
possible time to take flight.
There's
more new school bizarre in Year 7, but Kali Rocha as vengeance
demon/guidance counselor Halfrek and James C. Leary as fleshy but
friendly Clem are fun guest additions amid the dreary. Elizabeth Anne
Allen is a fine bad influence as rat no more Amy, but her taunting
Willow with selfish magic antagonism is inexplicably dropped.
Although The Trio is funny within themselves and it is nice to
already know their history, they are dumb, unlikable, try hard
villains that go round and round too long. We're disappointed in
Jonathan – who hasn't learned his lesson and finds his moral
conscious too late – and weak Andrew's latent crush on Warren is
mistakenly played for humor. The Trio's fan service pop culture quips
become too obnoxious to enjoy the geekdom, and surely this plot would
be done differently today now that nerdism reigns. Simply put, Warren
is an asshole and gets everything he deserves. Of course, in order to
do that, you have to become more evil than he is, and Buffy is right
that it is better to leave The Trio to the authorities rather than
loose yourself in such rage.
Hokey
ghost effects, repeated monster designs, visually darker schemes,
dated 2001 laptops and payphones – this season of Buffy
feels
older than it is thanks to all this depression. Despite the regular
Buffy
writers and production team being here to run the show into the dark
ground, was it creator
Joss Whedon's larger than usual absence that let this season slide
into common life addictions, character separation, internal evils,
and one too many cliches? Perhaps. I'm tired of saying unlikable
metaphor I
know that. While casual
fans may simply give up on Buffy
halfway
through here, completists
will need to see Season 6 at least once to appreciate the player
progressions – as well as their regressions and transgressions.
Those familiar with Buffy
can
pick and choose their favorites, but the writing is on the wall for
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 6.
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