Episode Reviews- Season 6 Episode 7
First of all, Wonderful episode!!!!! I LOVE musicals and the songs were soooo good. It's been playing in my head all day. I figured, instead of giving a normal review, I could do song analysis for this one. It's basically the same thing except for the format.
"Overture"/"Going Through the Motions" - This song perfectly captures Buffy's depressive mood ever since she came back from Heaven. "Will I stay this way forever?/ Sleepwalk through my life's endeavours" is such a beautiful lyric to convey how she's feeling. Buffy had accepted her decision and processed her death in the time she was in heaven. She had no regrets (that we know of) or no urge to come back. So now that she is back, she has changed. Too mature to fit back into her old personality. "I can't even see/ If this is really me/ I just wanna be alive" I interpret this line as imposter syndrome. She feels like she's an imposter for being back in his body when all the things she has experienced when she was dead, changed her.
"I've Got a Theory"/"Bunnies"/"If We're Together" - This one was super fun tbh. I really love the running gag about Anya's fear of bunnies. "The same old trips/ why should we care?" from Buffy is another example of her finding her life a little bit repetitive. I mean, it's interesting for me as a viewer to watch it but I don't think it's exactly pleasant for Buffy or any of the other characters to live in a place like that everyday. Also, side note, their voices are so fucking incredible, I'm literally in awe! like WOW!
"Under Your Spell" - The title is a wonderful choice. This is one of my two most favourite songs from the first listen. I liked all the songs but this one and another one was so incredible, I had it on repeat! This song is sooo well written, I can't cover everything in this post. But maybe I'll do a separate post for this one after I finish the series. The song is full of Tara's insecurity about how she is perceived, by Willow and by others. She talks about how Willow was a literal sunshine in her life. Also loved all the magic metaphors that can also be interpreted literally "I always took for granted/ Like I was the only one there/ But your powers shone/ Brighter than any I've known." This is literally how they met. I remember the conversation about how in the entire Wicca group only Tara and Willow were real witches. She got someone to share her magic with. Also, don't think I didn't catch the innuendos in the song. It was so fun, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
"I'll Never Tell"- The irony of Anya being all "our song will never be a radio hit" and everything, this is my other fav song in this episode<3 I loved this song so fucking fun you have no idea. I love the premise, the way its written and the way its sung. I love how this song captures two people being in love but both equally being terrified of commitment. Xander is scared that things are moving fast and his insecurities regarding his "ordinary" personality comes into play. Anya being scared that her relationship with Xander would end like all the bad relationships that she has witnessed over her thousand years of existence. Also her fear of mortality also affects her life. They are great for each other, one is afraid of moving too fast and the other wants to move as fast they can before they die. Yet they are the closest to non-toxic and normal relationship we have in this season (or maybe even the entire series, tho Oz and Willow come close I would say.)
"Rest in Peace" - This song surprised me so much. It was soooo good. I'm giving the same reaction for every single song but it's trueeee. It was sooooo good. Though its completely sung by Spike it also speaks about how buffy feels towards Spike, or how Spike thinks buffy feels. He thinks she is ashamed of whatever their relationship was (mind you they haven't even kissed yet. It's just unresolved tension). Since this spell kinda works like a truth spell, Spike sings from his heart about how this will-they, won't-they tension has been killing him. He's in an entire dilemma of whether he should give up or not. It hurts him to hold onto Buffy when she gives him nothing to hold onto but also letting her go hurts him more. I love this lyric where he says "There's a traitor here beneath my breast/ and it hurts me more than you've ever guessed/ If my heart could beat it would break my chest/ But I can see you're unimpressed." which completely sums up the current state of their relationship. Also, I found it funny where at the end of the song he ends with asking her to leave and let him rest in peace but the moment the song ends, he's like "so you're not staying?" with proper confusion... Like bro😭😭😭
"Dawn's Lament" - This is a very short song but it sets up something that I hope the writers explore in the future. "Does anybody even notice?/ Does anybody even care?" That's very teenager of her but also it's so true. The poor kid must be traumatised with all that happened. I hope they explore more on how she's dealing with life with all that supernatural occurrences in her life.
"What You Feel"- This is a fun one too. It explained why this guy came and everything, which I appreciated. I love a few lyrics here that was such a fun one to see. Like characters being self aware of what's going on. for example, "What I mean, I'm 15, so this queen things illegal" Like she was giving him a reality check. I was so grateful that she acknowledged the illegalness of that.
"Standing"- Anthony Head is such an amazing singer, I'm like so fucking serious. I loved this powerful song about his fears regarding buffy. "Wish I could play the father/ and take you by the hand" explains so much about Buffy and Giles' relationship. He wishes that he could lay it all out for her but he also wants to prepare her for the world. He wants her to take the steps to be a proper responsible adult but he also can't bear seeing her hurt. It was beautifully written. There are more lyrics about slaying her demons for her which, again, can be taken metaphorically and literally. I still love that Giles in s1 was fully willing to take on the master in Buffy's place so that Buffy doesn't die. Whatever he may think, He really was the father Buffy deserved.
"Under Your Spell"/"Standing"- it's the continuation of the old songs but I love that this time, Tara is realising with sadness and perhaps anger that she was in fact under Willow's spell. There is this one lyric that I want to mention because it plays a bigger role in the next episode, that is "Playing with my memory/ You know I've been through hell/ Willow don't you see there'll be nothing left of me." This was devastating actually. Tara went insane for a good chunk of the last season because Glory fucked with her mind. Imagine the trauma it would've caused Tara when she found out the love her life has been casting memory alteration spells on her. I don't think I'll ever forgive Willow for this one. I understand her addiction with magic but casting spells on her loved ones is insane and cruel. On another note, the overlapping duet of Tara and Giles was simply piling on the devastation. "Believe me I don't wanna go/ and it'll grieve me cause I love you so" sung by both Tara and Giles...stab me and it would hurt less.
"Walk Through the Fire"- This song is such a good metaphor of what the characters want this season and fire represents something different for all of them. For Buffy it's the spark that she misses in her life, for spike its the passion thats burning him. I haven't figured out for the other characters but towards the end of the song they start walking towards the "fire" fully determined to find what they've been searching for even if it burns them.
"Something to Sing About" - This is an extremely important song for not just this episode but for the entire season. "Give me something to sing about" is such a powerful lyric. Buffy literally asks Sweet for a reason to keep going. "Well, that depends/ On if they let you go/ On if they know enough to know/ That when you've bowed/ You leave the crowd" Her anger and disappointment can be clearly seen in these lyrics. She is literally asking why they didn't know better than to bring her back to life. Oh the part where she says "There was no pain/ no fear, no doubt/ till they pulled me out of heaven" I literally sobbed when she said that and the way SMG sings the word HEAVEN!!!!! Oh God that was painful. I love that she screams at Sweet and basically everyone to give her something to sing about but nobody answers except for Spike. Him saying ""You have to go on living/ so one of us is living" followed by Dawn saying, "The hardest thing in this world is to live in it." literally quoting Buffy from s5 finale.
"What You Feel"- He came, caused chaos and then went out with a banger!
"Where Do We Go from Here?" - The beautiful sounding awkward number where they deal with all that they've said under the spell. I loved the group singing and the lyrics where so fun too.
"Coda" - "This isn't real but I just wanna feel" "But you make me feel" is such an insane thing to sing in an overlapping duet!!! SPIKE AND BUFFY KISSED!!!!!!! I know I heard her say that it isn't real but still!!!! I would say more about the kiss but I've seen the next episode so I know that she's gonna take it back. I'll explain my feelings and thoughts on that later but for now lemme enjoy the fact that SPIKE AND BUFFY KISSED!!!!!!!!
Quick things to say. I love that Xander randomly decided to summon a demon who forces people to sing and dance just so they could solve their issues. I'm currently really disappointed with willow for how she'd treated Tara. Willow honey, fix this mess please! I really, really hope Xander and Anya make it. I love them sooooo much and I want them to be endgame.
