It's
Very Messy, but Buffy Season 7 Ends Right
by
Kristin Battestella
The
seventh and final 2002-2003 twenty-two episode season of Buffy the
Vampire Slayer certainly has its ups and downs with new slayer
potentials creating multiple storylines amid the nostalgic series
reflection. Most of the year is uneven at best with too many
characters and a plodding pace. However Buffy's big finale
remains a sentimental must see for long time fans.
Vampire
Slayer Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is hired by Principal
Wood (D.B. Woodside) at the new Sunnydale High school where her
sister Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg) attends. Unfortunately, there's
little time for construction manager Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendan)
to work or reformed witch Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) to
return to college, for ex-watcher Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head)
reports that potential slayers all over the world are being killed by
The First Evil. The Hellmouth beneath the high school is stewing,
putting vengeance demon Anya (Emma Caulfield) on the outs with the
evil community and testing vampire Spike's (James Marsters) inability
to deal with his newly earned soul. As the public abandons Sunnydale,
the small Scooby army is joined by former Trio hostage Andrew (Tom
Lenk) and Slayer bad girl Faith (Eliza Dushku) to fight against the
ancient Turok-Han vampires and The First's ruthless disciple Caleb
(Nathan Fillion).
The
seventh season opener “Lessons” is a pleasing re-introduction to
Sunnydale High School, its creepy basement, and the suspicious new
principal with an office directly above the Hellmouth. There's
certainly some residual energy on the grounds, and it might have been
interesting to stay with this renewed school paranoia. Let Buffy be
the occasional adult as new school evils and fresh characters arrive
to replace those departing. Scenes from the earliest seasons haven't
been in the opening credits for some time, but numerous references to
prior Buffy years pepper the foreshadowing, soul revelations,
and demons under pressure. Although the plot is convenient, “Same
Time, Same Place” perhaps admits last season skewed too dark –
the gang is down to Buffy, Xander, and Dawn before the Scoobies come
together again for more yellow crayon reminders. Our main girls help
each other heal in similar but parallel separations, and this unique
episode with no billed guest stars shows what Buffy can do
with a total bottle episode. “Help” also mirrors Buffy's
beginnings with invisible girls unnoticed and hanging at the
morgue on a school night. The bullying and suicide conversations are
slightly after school special, but in Sunnydale, it's easier to
consider the slayer way or something spooky rather than normal human
resolutions. There are demonic twists for sure, but the cryptic
predictions build real world life and work better than all the dark
metaphors. “Him” does the high school love spell again, complete
with the old Sunnydale High cheer leading uniform and A Summer
Place music. Despite annoying Dawn moments and dated then cool
lingo, this is a self-aware revisit with all involved in the crushing
gone awry. In contrast to these lighthearted back to Buffy roots,
“Conversations with Dead People” halts the paranormal life moves
on potential with a solid mix of supernatural catharsis and
deceptions. The isolated vignettes layer multiple foundations while
the tension, possessed house, and too good to be true afterlife
conversations remain intimate angst and personal horror.
Sadly,
most of this season Buffy is
disjointed with anonymous potentials detracting from the core gang.
With only one big bad lacking the usual Buffy
seasonal structure, this
could have been a much shorter year, yet the previouslies each
episode get longer. That two minute recap eats into an already short
forty-three minutes with credits, providing less time for the
important things amid ominous cliffhangers and toiling games.
Cluttered characters and too much exposition add to the increasingly
messy timeline – some episodes continue right where the action
leaves off while others never acknowledge gaps in time. Continuity
also plays willy nilly with a non-corporeal baddie touching people or
objects, leaving viewers to weed out what is fact, error, important,
or meh. It's tough to appreciate the taunts and changing face of The
First as actual badness thanks to tired scripts and an over it
apocalypse feeling. Such convenient even lazy writing is surprising
when Buffy is
usually so well interwoven. Season Seven is undecided on whether this
is a reset with the global youths or an inward goodbye wrap. Buffy
is welcome to do either,
but the apathy on choosing makes it easy to tune out now just as it
did when the season originally aired. “From beneath it devours”
mantras come up empty, and “Beneath You” is a filler attempt at
combining good character conversations with monster of the week
unnecessary. This is supposedly the bad before bad was even bad, yet
it hasn't been mentioned since Season Three and Buffy doesn't realize
this is The First until “Never Leave Me.” Pieces of episodes have
great scenes, but “Bring on the Night” is all talk. Real world
school cancellations and residents leaving town finally come in
“Empty Places,” but Faith takes everybody to the Bronze, Giles
doesn't trust Spike, Spike doesn't trust Giles, and peeps be
disrespecting Andrew by stealing his Hot Pockets!
Fortunately,
the girl power confrontations and women in charge conversations about
much more than boys increase the Hellmouth consequences in “Get It
Done.” Who The Slayer is and how the job can be redefined finally
get back to the First Slayer roots – although such good pieces can
be tough to swallow when the obvious First Slayer answers from
earlier seasons are selectively ignored. Past slayer angst, vampires
both friend and foe, period William the Bloody flashbacks, and
motherly conflicts do right in “Lies My Parents Told Me” with
deep seeded memories and oedipal mother/slayer sons kink. Not to
mention the self-aware jokes on the speeches and confusions about the
chip, a trigger, a soul, which one the military gave Spike, and which
one is off, on, or making him kill again but not anymore. The wasting
time arguing on how to argue comes to a hilt with “Touched,” but
not before a speech from Spike interrupted by a speech from Willow
cut off by a speech from Faith saying the time for speech giving is
done. Thankfully, this entry is about each couple having their
moments before the end, and it is indeed touching as well as
groundbreaking with steamy interracial sex scenes and equal lesbian
action unheard of on American television lo these fifteen years ago.
Though commonplace now, it's another reminder of how important Buffy
The Vampire Slayer really
is, and “End of Days” takes up the mantle with Sword
in the Stone inspiration
and Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade old lady
guardians. The bombs and magic weapons are slightly episode of the
week for Buffy rather
than penultimate heavy, but old friendships are reconnected and
everyone has their time with what's really important – like
explaining what happened to Mr. Kitty Fantastico! The series is able
to say goodbye with a message on whether you win or not being up to
you, but there's a chuckle. too: “What's your name?” “Buffy.”
“No, really.” The prophetic gems and potentials come full circle
in the “Chosen” finale by facing the fear of being alone with an
eponymous army changing the call to fight against evil. Naturally, it
wouldn't be a Season Seven drinking game without one more speech, but
a course of action is finally taken and Dungeons
& Dragons is played in
the calm before the battle. While some fighting and effects are hokey
or crowded, there's also a cinematic flair with superb moments from
the original Scooby Gang – save the world and go to the mall. The
slayers make the rules, take it to the evil, and kick ass. It's an
excellent culmination to the series with huge tearjerker moments and
a totally fitting goodbye to the Hellmouth, “Welcome to Sunnydale”
sign and all.
Kind
of sort of counselor Buffy almost has a real job, yet she looks like
she did in the first season – just with better symbolic white
clothing. High school is a familiar setting, but she's older, wiser,
able to deal and admits to dating hottie dead guys. Buffy has some
undead therapy, too, a sit down examination on her inferiority
complex about her superiority complex. The Slayer must always isolate
herself, and Buffy feels unqualified for any proper life position.
Good thing she has bigger Hellmouth concerns! She doesn't want any
legacy, for what she does is too important for the world to know
about it, and Buffy becomes increasingly snotty and defiant despite
doing little to fight The First. Her catatonic breakdown late in
Season Five seemed a better crack under pressure with less
roundabouts and rogue fighting getting people killed, and this
disservice pulls Buffy a touch too far astray. Deep down she's still
not over killing Angel way back when, and it understandably takes
Buffy some time before trusting Spike again. Luckily, she comes to
defend and rely on him, inadvertently confessing she previously had
feelings for Spike. The audience has to conveniently forget that
Spike told her about Nikki Wood in great detail as Buffy also seems
to forget, but amid all the apocalypse crazy, these relationship
pauses give Buffy the clarity she needs. Yes, it is a speech about
unbaked cookie dough, however it's easy to forget how young Buffy
really is because she's been through so much. This time the end of
the world is coming round and Buffy realizes she has her whole life
ahead of her and it's okay to not be ready for whatever else there
is. She doesn't want to be the one and only, so she faces her self
doubt, embracing a new comfort in her own skin alongside a mature
frankness with Spike. Of course, Buffy never was much with the
damseling, but now she has to learn how to be just like everyone
else.
Vampire
Spike is on the case trying to unravel what's happening in his own
head in “Sleeper.” Double Spikes and The First's non-corporeal
switcharoos are confusing, but Juliet Landau's Drusilla disguise
helps make The First feel more real as Spike isn't handling the
remorse of his newly acquired soul too well and hanging out near the
Hellmouth for The First's taunts add to his torment. Spike's crazy
basement talk comes in handy however, and his brief past with Anya is
addressed amid multiple questions about his chip, evil brainwashing
triggers, and his soul reprieves. His previous attack on Buffy is put
front and center to start the season, as Spike knows he has no right
to ask for help from her. It's eerie to see him biting people again,
reminding the audience his struggle over his previous villainy will
get worse before it gets better. Does he still need to be on a leash
or should his chip be removed? Spike drinks to avoid all the
household's human temptations but insists he be there to become good
enough and do what Buffy wants. The Initiative chip was done to
him, but he sought his soul, and Spike feels good fighting bad
guys. He wants Angel's pretty charm that calls for a champion strong
enough to wield it. Spike, a hero, whodathunkit?! He remains loyal to
Buffy, literally sniffing her out when she's tossed from the house,
and he's not fooled by her seeming acceptance of defeat. Spike and
Buffy have it out once and for all, coming to a deeper understanding
on who each is and what they are together. Even if you aren't a
Spuffy fan – I love both characters but still don't know if I like
them together – there are some endearing late season moments
between them.
Unfortunately,
I don't feel sorry for Willow learning her lesson via a mystical
English retreat, and it's incredibly frustrating that this uber
powerful witch who can poof anything better is knocked out of the
fight and made awkward again over contrived can't or won't magic hang
ups. Let her face the bad memories at home and get back into a
lighthearted academic usefulness as in the earlier seasons, for
Willow has no right to distrust anyone or call out others for any
evilness. If potential slayers are making ready, then where are all
the other magic experts and trainees for Willow to host or join? If
all these characters are doing nothing, why not school other
magically inclined people like Dawn, Anya, or Andrew to Wicca power?
It's as if Buffy doesn't
know what to do with Willow's magic beyond the lesbian sex metaphors,
but at least her relationship with Iyari Limon as Kennedy can be
realistically portrayed without that wink. Sassy Kennedy acts tough,
but the superior potential attitude feels try hard, and the spoiled
rich girl is taken down a notch after pushing Willow to do more
non-sex magics. Likewise, the uneven “The Killer in Me” is
riddled with unnecessary Initiative throwbacks and a repressed grief
Willow as Warren hex due to the new lady romance. Been there, done
that, and still “So, so tired of it!” Thankfully, Xander has
mellowed in his old age, becoming a single parent figure comfortable
with himself, his job, and driving everyone to school. His past jerk
behavior isn't forgotten and Xander objects to still being called
Buffy's boy, however he's a firm voice of reason, fortifying the
house in construction as well as alleviating fears with humor. Xander
relates to the potential girls waiting to be chosen, knowing their
struggle to be so near but just outside the spotlight. He repairs his
relationship with Anya and trusts Buffy even as he pays a hefty price
for his loyalty and refuses to let Willow magically heal him. Through
it all Xander's in good spirits and ready to be there at the end –
if only because it is his job to bring Buffy back to life after each
apocalypse.
Anya
isn't doing too well as a vengeance demon and spends the early
episodes as a magical support plot point before the bemusing Old
Norseth speech, subtitles, and period flair of “Selfless”
complete with a cute revisit to “Once More with Feeling” and an
explanation about the bunnies contrasting her dark and gruesome
vengeance deeds. Demon fun with Kali Rocha as Hallfrek and
consequences from Andy Umberger as D'Offryn or not, Anya must decide
which side she is on with wild spiders, lingering feelings for
Xander, and head to heads with Buffy coming to the hilt. I'm not sure
where in the series, but we should have had her backstory episode
much sooner instead of Anya as merely Xander's girlfriend who
admittedly does little but provide sarcasm. She uses her demon
connections, gets into the interrogations, and applies her poor
bedside manner when telling how ripe and overcrowded the house is.
Her hair changing stir crazy leads to some fun moments with Andrew,
who agrees her hospital supply robbery with Jaws
quotes
makes her the perfect woman. Sunnydale is all kinds of screwed, but
Anya isn't leaving town for this apocalypse. Besides, she's spot on
in saying Dawn isn't good for anything. The teen still needs to be
rescued or babysat a few times, but she does seem to find her place
as a junior watcher style researcher. Of course, that doesn't mean
her information is well received, and her idea on developing a demon
database based on detective work rather than last season's out of
hand use of magic is ignored. She's growing up and has some humorous
moments, but it makes no sense how her mystical same blood of Buffy
means she is not a
potential slayer. Despite wise youth observations about no one asking
for help when they need it or that is isn't evil that makes vampires
with or without souls love or hate slayers, there are just too many
people making speeches already, and if Dawn was mentioned as being
secreted away to safety with the unseen good witches coven in
England, her absence would not have been noticed.
D.B.
Woodside's (24) Principal Wood is quite interesting for Buffy,
a character not quite friend or foe who should have been used more –
even as a suspected mini bad for the first half of the season. Wood
knows more about Buffy than he admits, calling her school record
checkered while he describes himself as a snappy dressing, sexy
vampire fighting guy. He knows Spike is a liability but lets his
personal history with the vampire cloud his judgment as they
begrudgingly fight alongside each other. Sadly, Wood ends up just
kind of there, with too much busy and inconsistency in “First Date”
interfering with his revelations. I still also want more of Eliza
Dushku as Faith, an inexplicably late arrival to Season Seven who's
right that she should have gotten the FYI on The First. Faith opines
that Buffy protecting vampires makes her the bad slayer and now she
is the good one who chose to serve her time. It's delightful to see
her really meet Spike not exactly for the first time, and their
bantering about who is the more reformed bad – not to mention
Faith's chemistry with Spike and Wood – was spin off worthy for
sure. The best parts of “Dirty Girls” are the ones without Buffy,
and the good and evil religious parallels add to the saucy and
Faith's kinky reminiscing. Buffy should have used the
lingering resentment between who is the real slayer in charge to the
fullest, and The First appearing as Harry Groener's Mayor Wilkins
helps Faith face her past. She admits she enjoys being part of
something bigger, even if a weapon that could be hers of course
really belongs to Buffy, and in the end, Faith goes from defensive
about her slayer burden to encouraging the man interested to “have
a little faith.”
I
recall Nathan Fillion's (Firefly)
Caleb as being more important than he actually is, and his evil
priest with the dirty slayer girls metaphors also could have been a
mini bad face to The First early in the season instead of a mere five
episodes late. Caleb has some great warped sermons with evil
reversions on the Last Supper, communion, wine, and blood. His
misplaced righteous defines who's good, bad, clean or bad folk.
Unfortunately, the hammy quips are too tired, and explanations on his
mergings with The First to gain his super strength are almost an
afterthought in the second to last episode. So, The First wants to
make all humans soulless with such merges but needs a buried ancient
weapon to do this slayer mojo reversion. We could have used that
information just a little
bit sooner. Likewise
annoying, sorry not sorry to say, are the potential slayers –
Amanda, Annabelle, Molly, Kennedy, Rona, Vi, Chao-Ahn, Chloe, Eve,
Colleen, Shannon, Laverne &
Shirley. Even Buffy can't
remember the names of what is said to be thirty odd cardboard
placeholders with iffy accents and terrible style. Their number,
abilities, who they are, where they sleep, and who did or didn't tell
who what and when remains ridiculously confusing. The potentials
admit to having squat in “Showtime,” and the desperately
unprepared girls are a terrible little army with entire scenes of
fearful debates on their said unpreparedness. Buffy
takes too long to realize
the slayer line changes and First impostors infiltrate the unknowns
far too easily. By “Potential” Spike's trigger is still in doubt
yet he gets neck and neck with these girls during their little slayer
boot camp. School and training are unrealistically balanced, as are
bruises and injuries so serious one episode but gone the next. As the
first episode aired after the series' winter break, “Potential”
also resets any strides made with more round and round vampire
studies that ultimately go nowhere.
Outside
of the perhaps understandably absent Oz and Tara, nearly everybody
who has ever been on Buffy has a goodbye moment, including
each Big Bad, Elizabeth Anne Allen as evil witch Amy, and James C.
Leary as the fun and floppy eared demon Clem. Special guest star
Anthony Stewart Head's authority as Giles is desperately needed,
but brief suspicions about him regarding The First are
unnecessary and hollow. His usual voice of information is mishandled
as well, with Giles' watcher wisdom cast aside for plot contrivances.
Fortunately, David Boreanaz's brief crossover as Angel has more
clarity with mystical tokens given and pissy jealously over his no
longer being the only vampire with a soul. Bittersweet moments come
with Kristine Sutherland as Joyce Summers and Danny Strong as
Jonathan, however I am completely over Adam Busch as Warren and The
Trio as villains. Tom Lenk's Andrew starts weak with lingering what's
his name Tucker's brother clichés, and my word Buffy gets
ridiculously finite with too many pop culture references and geeky
fan service, making this annoying character annoying indeed.
Thankfully, Andrew – a “guestage” who bakes as his reform from
evil – is not wrong when he says this season is Episode I
boring, and props to his Dalton as Bond appreciation! Though a
fun departure before the big final episodes, “Storyteller”
uses Andrew's video camera point of view for more meaning than it
lets on underneath the Masterpiece
Theatre ironies, retro
video style, and need to document the slayer legacy with embellished
liberties. Some B plotting out of the unique viewpoint loses steam,
but Year Seven could have opened with the in
media res here. This
hour captures Buffy's not
taking itself too seriously tone despite the demon bads – something
this toiling season often forgets – and everything gets up to speed
with revelations to the camera confessor as it should be.
But
say hey, it's 2003 and they have cell phones now! Well, one shared
flip phone that's left behind by teen girls and gets reception in the
basement – yeah right! – but it's those corded landlines where
you must remember the numbers to dial that are really scary.
Series from this era were probably the last ones where world building
could be so isolated with no newspapers or television reports
necessary. Online police scanners could have been handy, however
primitive internet searches result in nothing but unhelpful Geocities
web pages. People need to explain what Googling is, and looking up
“evil” on your work computer is never a good idea. The Bronze and
its hip music moments should have been retired a long time ago, and
certain fashions and weak monster effects shout Y2K. Buffy also
strays from its own style with borrowing from Vertigo or The
Terminator. Fatal opening montages featuring world wide
potentials strive for exotic edgy but end up mere Run
Lola Run copies. The
scoring is also embarrassingly noticeable, swelling for each of those
redundant speeches. There are some fun split screen effects to
visually accent the hysteria, but the perpetually beat up yet
unrealistically repaired Summers House is too crowded and
inadvertently symbolic of this busy Buffy season. Camping out
in the damaged Magic Box could have interesting, and maybe Xander's
apartment on that higher floor might have been a bit more secure
against the anonymous Bringers, lame Turok-Han vampires, or demon of
the week easy. At least they admit one bathroom in the house is a
problem, and hehe, Zima.
Today,
Buffy's final leg would have been twelve episodes tops –
eight with no punches pulled. I want to zoom over all the superfluous
with only a viewer sense of loyalty to carry through the forgettable
hours yet can only take so many episodes at a time. However, it's odd
to complain that Buffy doesn't know what to do with itself
this season since the series is must see exceptional television
overall. Year Seven makes me want to go back and marathon my
favorites, and I repeatedly stopped and started this rewatch several
times – only going forth with the last few shows once Buffy was
expiring from Netflix as a lazy excuse to continue. Season Seven
is both nostalgic good and rocky tough, but all the negatives know
when to take a backseat as Buffy The Vampire Slayer ultimately
ties itself together in one final, pretty bow.
