#btvs talk

In the grand scheme of things, Chosen is a pretty good ending for the show. It does what every Buffy season finale accomplishes by providing a satisfying conclusion to the season with some cool fights and even better emotional beats. But it also has to function as a finale to the show as well, and that’s whole lot of pressure.

And for the most part, it works. There are some nice moments in here, like bringing back Angel for that conversation with Buffy, Dawn calling out Buffy on the whole sending her away bullshit, and refusing a goodbye, Giles, Xander, Andrew and Amanda playing Dungeons and Dragons the night before the battle, that short talk between the OG Scoobies about what they’ll do after the battle, with Giles’ callback line of “the Earth is definitely doomed”… It’s a nice send-off overall.

Then there’s the ugly with Anya’s death. With earlier Buffy deaths, I talked about the two aspects of fictional deaths that I consider: the story and the social impact.

Anya is by far the worst execution of a character death on the show by that first criteria. Maybe even in all of Whedon’s work.

You see, pretty much every Joss Whedon show has the Shocking Series Finale Death of a main character. Despite how killing someone in your show’s last episode is pretty much the worst move, as there’s no time or opportunity for you or the characters to deal with it properly.

But, fine. It can still work to some degree. You can achieve a certain emotional impact, or even some poignancy. It’s fine.

Except Anya’s death doesn’t even do that much?? Anya dies randomly, Andrew barely reacts, Xander later makes a relatively sad face… That’s it.

This character was in 85 episodes of 5 different seasons of the show?? I’m---

Compare this to Dollhouse, which has a similar sudden, unexpected character death (and even a heroic sacrifice-y one) at the end. Now, Dollhouse is certainly not a show without its own mistakes (although, hot take, it does a lot of interesting things that get dismissed), but at the very least, it recognizes that there should be some kind of pay-off or follow-up to killing off a main character. Eliza Dushku’s character has a big emotional moment afterwards, and the end of the episode even adds some more weird resolution. It’s not a lot, but it’s something.

Anya couldn’t even get that much.

So, yeah, I’m definitely staying salty about that. Still, like I said, on the whole, Chosen works. It’s a decent series finale for the show.

What elevates it though is the twist. The way they defeat The First.

Buffy changes the rules. She changes the world.

For contrast, if you look at a lot of popular modern superhero media – which is a category that could arguably apply to Buffy –, the hero, more often than not, ends up defending or reinforcing the status quo. The way of life as it is with the current power structure, and their position in it.

Of course, this isn’t always the case. Black Panther for instance is a great example of something in the genre that makes this one of its core themes, and have the villain’s ideology influence the hero to make a radical change. But there’s a reason why that was part of the conversation with that movie too, as it was a deviation from the norm.

Buffy isn’t quite the same, as it always took a bit of a different approach to what we now consider as standard superhero media. The show clearly had a lot of comic book influence, but it was more concerned with Buffy’s coming of age story than her powers. Ultimately, it was all just a metaphor, a representation of the trials Buffy would have to face in life as an adult.

Slayers were also always seen more as cogs, tools in the system they were part of, and less as the force that was actually moving the machine. Well, according to the council at least.

Buffy of course ended up rebelling against those notions, and challenged the Council on their views on workers… I mean, Slayers. She did get some concessions out of them too, and gained independence of them, but she was unable to change the system itself. Even with the Council all blown up, the rules remained. One girl in all the world.

(I’d even go as far as to say that if Buffy had died, and the new Slayer had been called upon, the remaining Watchers would’ve inevitably surfaced, re-building a new council. Maybe with different rules, but the foundations would’ve been all the same regardless.)

Buffy always struggled with this responsibility and the loneliness that came with it. She made the choice to fight, but she could never choose to give up or share her power with anyone. Being a cog in a system that’s been running for thousands of years, it didn’t even occur to her that she had a say in changing that either.

Up until this episode.

BUFFY:  “So here's the part where you make a choice. What if you could have that power… now? In every generation, one slayer is born... because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman *points to Willow* is more powerful than all of them combined. So I say we change the rule. I say my power, should be our power.”

God, this is such a great speech, and such a cool way to end the series. It also made me realize that there’s actually a strong thematic resonance between Buffy and a later show’s protagonist: Korra.

Except in the Legend of Korra, Korra makes the decision that would radically shift the world around her as it is at the end of season 2, and we see the effects of that choice reverberating through the rest of the series. In Buffy’s case, we only see the repercussions of empowering all the potential Slayers in one Angel episode, and in the comic book continuation of the series.

But it’s an excellent note to end this show on regardless. It also reminded me of The Wish, and the last scene between Giles and Anya in the alternate reality.

ANYA:  “You trusting fool! How do you know the other world is any better than this?” GILES:  “Because it has to be.”

Change is scary. You might make some things worse. But doing nothing means that there’s no chance for things to ever get better, and you’ll be stuck in a world where the Master won. Forever.

How’s that for scary?

So, go ahead! Challenge the rules! Uproot the system! Be radical and open to change! Convince Joss Whedon to stop killing characters in his series finales and be more self-reflective of certain aspects of his work!

Fun fact, Grave is the only season finale that wasn’t written by Joss Whedon. Well, depending on whether you count Primeval or Restless as the finale of season 4, since the former was also penned by David Fury instead of Whedon.

But this episode has many other distinctions as well. It comes at the heels of an already subversive season, that was meant to deconstruct the very structure of the show, as well as its characters.

Deconstruction however is tough. If you don’t do it well, your audience will rightfully call you out on needlessly pulling your story in an often darker direction to seem fake deep or interesting.

And I feel like season 6 has plenty of criticisms on that front. This certainly wasn’t one of my favorite seasons on my first, or even second go at it. It’s hard seeing characters you love hurting and acting against their own self interests. It’s even harder to see them hurt each other.

This time around however, I wanted to not only look past those previous misgivings I had, but appreciate them and what they mean to the story. Because truth be told, I’m not sure season 6 is actually more flawed than any other season of Buffy.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t issues – Willow’s drug addiction metaphor was pushed way too hard and took away from the themes of power and control surrounding her narrative for one –, but every season has its hurdles and strengths. Season 2 had an excellent arc, but a lot of confusing fillers. Season 4 meanwhile had great standalones, but a weak overall Big Bad. Every season had its missteps, and a lot of those are subjective to begin with. One girl’s Go Fish is anothers Beer Bad.

There are no wrong answers on this quiz.

So yeah, I went into season 6 not only knowing what to expect, but expecting to gain a new, more favorable perspective on it. And that’s more or less what I got.

Sure, there are things to criticize. But what I’ve been enjoying about this Buffy rewatch in particular, is the opportunity to write long paragraphs of nonsense rather than just saying “Thing Bad”.

Look at Tara’s death. I am perpetually ready to fight Joss Whedon over that in a parking lot, but it also gave us one of the most memorable examples of a hero going dark. And people’s been coming up fixes to that storyline for years (Xander being the one to die is a popular alternative among some fans, but also time travel if you go by fanfics), but it only goes to show that that story itself still worked.

…it’s just that it works in a horrible cultural context that’s rightfully criticized for perpetuating harmful notions, especially for some of the most vulnerable of our population, and the role of media in our society as both a reflection and a model can’t be ignored and should be discussed in order to call attention to these patterns.

Anywho. Grave.

As mentioned before, this is a rather unconventional season finale. Buffy doesn’t even get to fight the Big Bad, aka Willow in this one. Instead the initial showdown happens between Giles and Willow, at least up until the moment Willow breaks free.

That doesn’t mean that Buffy doesn’t fight though. She runs to save Dawn and Xander (and also Jonathan and Andrew I guess), and then when she gets stuck underground with Dawn, she fights to get out. And then she fights some magic zombie skeletons.

More importantly though, Buffy fights her own depression. She’s fighting to see that beauty and meaning in life that she failed to convince Willow of in the last episode.

She even talks to Giles about this. She tells him that she doesn’t understand why she’s here, why she’s alive, and Giles’s response of how she has a calling feels unsatisfying.

Others would’ve taken her place. She was done.

Then why is she here now?

And Giles doesn’t have an answer to that. Because they both know that there isn’t one. There isn’t a purpose to life, no all-encompassing explanation. We all have to find our own answers to get us through the day.

And by the end, Buffy finds hers in Dawn. Seeing life through her eyes, her future, the many things that’s yet to come. It’s arguably a bit clumsy, and I wish we built more on this theme between Buffy and Dawn this season, but it does tie into another aspect of the episode.

While season 6 in itself is a deconstruction of the show, this finale, and Buffy’s arc in particular, is clearly a subversion of the end of season 5. And in true Buffy fashion, a very unsubtle one at that.

In The Gift, the sun coming up marked the turning point for Buffy, the realization that she can save Dawn by sacrificing herself.

In Grave, the sun comes up right after Giles confirms that Willow’s going to end the world.

In the season 5 finale, Buffy jumps to her death. At the end of season 6, she crawls out of the ground to live.

I could go on, but you get my point.

This is also just a great moment for Dawn, as she interrogates Buffy on why she didn’t tell her what Spike did, and reminds Buffy how she can’t protect her from the world. Tragedy happens either way.

BUFFY:  “Dawn, I'm trying to protect you.” DAWN:  “Well, you can't! Look around, Buffy. We're trapped in here! Willow's killing and people I love keep dying! And you cannot protect me from that.”

At the center of it all though is Willow. I’ve already been through the broad strokes here; basically, Willow’s rampage is about avoiding feeling her pain and grief.

And Giles understands that. I absolutely love Anthony Stewart Head’s performance in this one; Giles is focused and cautious, but there’s also genuine pain and concern in his expression as he’s talking to Willow. I also love this exchange around the end of their fight:

GILES:  “Your powers may be undeniably greater. But I can still hurt you if I have to.” WILLOW:  “Boy, you just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me now. This? *heals a cut on her face* Is nothing. It's all... nothing.” GILES:  “I see. If you lose someone you love, the other people in your life who care about you become meaningless. I wonder what Tara would say about that.”

Yup. Giles definitely knows how to hurt Willow. Willow’s line of “it’s all… nothing” is also a lot, especially that little melancholic tint that Alyson Hannigan delivers it with.

But apparently this was all part of Giles’ plan to get Willow to take his magic away, so it would open up her to feel again. However, his line to her afterwards about how “she can make it stop” naturally backfires.

Willow’s been doing all this in order to stop the pain. Giles wants her to feel it to get through it, but Willow predictably would rather see the whole world burn than feel it anymore.

I’m not a super big fan of the narrative choice to have Giles comment upon what’s happening through his link to Willow after that, especially by the end as Xander shows up with her. But I do like those initial lines when he first feels what Willow does, and you can see the pain through him.

Giles later says that the magic she took from him tapped into Willow’s remaining humanity, but I’m not sure I would use that wording. Willow tried to avoid and shut off her pain through her murder trip, but that was still her. Her humanity, her pain was there underneath all along – Giles’ plan just made it harder for her to repress those emotions.

So, hence why she decided to go full apocalypse in order to stop feeling them anymore.

It definitely made it easier for Xander to get through to her in that moment too. But maybe he didn’t even need the extra supernatural help for that.

Willow spent the last three episodes trying to get away from herself. She didn’t want to come back, and she made sure to burn all her bridges in the process. Knowing that what she’s done would cost her friends only strengthened her resolve.

And here comes Xander, out of nowhere. Xander with his familiar, signature jokes, the ones that he cracks in order to cope with life.

More importantly, Xander doesn’t blink. He doesn’t fight or argues with Willow. Doesn’t try to convince her to stop. And that, paired with the familiarity momentarily disarms Willow. So she counters that by lashing out, hurting Xander.

But Xander, once again, doesn’t blink. Because he’s not bluffing. When he says that he’s okay with the world ending as long as he gets to be with his best friend, it’s because he means it.

This is a difference that I’ve been alluding with Buffy for a while now. Buffy can’t do what Xander does here. She can’t put the whole world aside to be with her best friend. That’s not who she is.

It’s definitely who Xander is though. Right or wrong, he always goes with his heart.

So, that’s what he does. He does exactly what Willow mocks him for, and tells her that he loves her.

Even if she kills him, he’ll still love her.

The fear of being unlovable is ingrained into us all on some level. It creeps in when we least expect it. Fear that we’re not good enough. Fear that we can never live up to others expectations of us. Fear that we won’t be accepted. Fear that we can’t be forgiven.

That’s why there’s so much power in unconditional love. Being told that we’ll be loved, no matter what.

We often don’t even realize the anxiety and fears we have about it and how deep they go; so the sheer relief upon hearing those words can be unexpected and overwhelming. And Willow’s no exception.

Again, she tries lashing out, telling Xander to stop, hurting him, but it’s of no use. All he does is repeat those words, even while suffering through the pain that was inflicted on him. By her. “I love you. I love you.”

And when Willow breaks, she breaks hard. Letting herself go in her best friend’s arms, feeling all of her grief at once.

Platonic love saves the day, as the show once again invokes Sarah McLachlan in its final moments. It’s a less memorable song choice than Full of Grace was at the end of season 2, but it’s a nice callback to that.

Oh, and Spike’s got his soul back, after the last few episodes aggressively tried red-herring that he went to remove his chip.

Overall, as I said, I enjoyed this season. As with all seasons, there were things that worked less so, but I generally liked the deconstruction that we’ve got around to. Instead of a Big Bad representing a metaphor for Buffy to overcome, we’ve made those struggles real. The Big Bad of season 6 was Buffy’s depression, Willow’s addiction and need for control, Xander’s baggage, and so on.

We also didn’t need to turn the characters inside out to have these turns and conflicts. The season built on well-established character flaws, and guided us through a journey full of ups and downs, culminating in an emotionally cathartic finale.