#buffy guide

I was awaiting the Buffy guide for this episode for such a long time that I think I maybe anticipated it too much because I was left slightly disappointed in the analysis conclusion as I honestly thought TPN would bring up something I’ve realized for quite some time now about it. Something I’ve found to be very profound about it but could never quite put into words in the way I know he could because he is much more articulate than me.

I assumed many people have already made the connection about The Dawn and Dawn in that it “dawned” on Buffy in that moment that she could sacrifice herself over Dawn as they shared the same blood. But it’s not just blood that is the ties that bind these two sisters. It’s also humanity. Human nature itself is represented through Dawn in exploring and questioning her own existence. Her reason for being.

She is human. She may not be born human with being the incarnation of ‘The Key’ that closes the portal. But everything about her goes back to her humanity. The people that love her and the people that she loves back. The way they know her, learn her and care about her regardless of her not really being part of their real lives. The fact they just seem to disregard that information on account of FEELING the way they do about Dawn.

Therefore, when the revelation of this hits Buffy via the thematic visual of The Dawn, she immediately knows and understands what she can do. Not what she must do. What she CAN do. There is a clear distinction in this because Dawn could sacrifice herself and it’d still work. The portal would close. The Universe wouldn’t collapse. They may have to do some clean up of the mess of the realities colliding with each other but otherwise, they’d be relatively safe again. Dawn knew this as her purpose. Not just what she was made for but why she exists at all. Why she even has a human existence in any case. Because she will possess the consciousness to act. To FEEL like she has to act in exactly the way Buffy would. A random inanimate physical object would possess no such quality unless it is wielded by that of which did because a weapon doesn’t commit a crime of violence. That of whom intends to cause violence is what does. Glory. The same goes for the opposite: In healing pain. Administering medicine. That’s why we have doctors. Ben. That duality and dichotomy that gets lost in the confuddle of the back-and-forth switch-arooing them because they can’t share the same space as Ian said in his ‘Weight Of The World’ analysis - that I agreed with.

But Buffy prevents Dawn from fulfilling her purpose knowing how hard and unfair it is to be chosen for something and have no say in it yourself. No agency. No right to self-government and maintenance. To have no autonomy either in a bodily way or in a mentality way. To be just a vessel with which to conceal what has more power within you and leave you to just be the passenger in a flesh vehicle that has been entirely driven for you.

And to just be a martyr for the so-called “greater good”. More than a thing - a thing with self-consciousness and therefore a thing that can also decide its fate or destiny.

Buffy realizes in that moment that it’d work with her too. Therefore, she literally becomes ‘The Gift’ in her death. And she’s ‘The Gift’ in several different ways which all seamlessly work to emphasise each other.

Firstly and most significantly she’s ‘The Gift’ to Dawn by taking her place and allowing her to live a full free human life in a way that she never really got to have.

She’s ‘The Gift’ to her family of Scoobies so that they could cut their losses before more could happen to them. More loss or harm. Especially if it’d all be in vain as the portal couldn’t be closed once it was opened.

She’s ‘The Gift’ to the world or the universe itself by directly closing the portal to all the other dimensions.

But most poignantly and importantly:

She’s ’The Gift’ to herself by letting go of everything. Not just her life. But her destiny. Her obligation. Her burden. Her pain. That of which she gave no consent to ever go through in the first place. ‘The Gift’ to herself is both in her defiance of the Slayer system that she’s been unwillingly thrust into as well as adhering to it. She finds the loophole. The back door. Another way - while simultaneously relieving herself of her suffering.

It’s perceived as self-sacrifice/suicide. It is that. I’m not denying that it’s not. But there’s just much more to it. More nuance and complexity. It’s well thought out. It’s well-written. It’s well-acted. It’s my preferred ending because I have learned so much more from it and all of what leads up to it than I ever could in ‘Chosen’s’ end.

Having that agency in WHEN and HOW I leave the stage matters to me more so in storytelling than continuing to perform when I feel no joy in the many roles I must play.

I love this episode and specifically this ending so much. I love the dark awareness and truth in it. The tragedy. I love how it’s a quick flick of the switch transition from desperation and confusion to complete utter clarity in Buffy knowing what she can do to save the world again.

That is the profundity of “Death is your gift” and as interesting as I think Ian’s points are in this Buffy guide, I feel like he really missed out on explaining that insight. I was really looking forward to him addressing this line and put clear concise logic to how I feel inside about The Dawn. Which is oddly positive and enthralled considering it is literally a death scene. However, a death scene with so much vitality in it. So much life because it both arrives and departs with such grace.

“No one is birthed into the world complete and we don’t cross a line somewhere in our 20’s to find that we’ve arrived at adult. We shape ourselves into the people we are by making choices or circumstances will do the shaping for us. Which brings us to Willow…

This episode is a significant one for the Rosenberg and I realized watching it that I’ve suffered something of a Mandela Effect when it comes to her. Specifically I’ve been misremembering the very first episode where Willow’s eyes turn black upon casting a spell. In ‘Becoming Part I’ after Giles tells Willow that casting a soul restoration spell might open a door she’d be unable to close. She insisted. But his warning implies that casting magic potentially leaves an indelible mark on the caster and while being watched by Cordy and Oz something channelled through her and I was sure that she looked up, looked forward and had black eyes during the remainder of the spell - but no. Still, the door was open, and in Willow’s case what that has meant so far is magic becoming her number one coping mechanism. Magic has been a metaphor for a few things, but one of it’s analogues set up early on by Giles’ abuse of it to get high in ‘The Dark Age’, was drugs. A metaphorical connection between magic and alcohol was made in ‘Something Blue’ when Willow first tried to deal with her grief over Oz by way of a sick bud-light dance party. She has resorted to magic to cope with her lust, to cope with her anger, to cope with her grief,… and in ‘Tough Love’, her rage.

Historically there has usually been a scene afterwards where she suffers guilt for the spell’s misfire and bakes a round of apology cookies, but the episode always stops just short of her learning the actual lesson. Her regret is never specifically for the use of magic to solve her problem, but for the fact that she wasn’t capable enough to pull the spell off the way she wanted to and everyone tends to let it slide. On to the next episode. Heck, Buffy said more to Jonathan in ‘Superstar’ than she has ever said to Willow… because Willow is just… in pain, angry, lonely, lost. That’s all. It’s a familiar pattern with abuse-based coping mechanisms given there always tends to be a lot going on for that person. Big things that their friends and family members see as what actually drove their loved ones to this and that big thing feels more important right now than confronting their loved one about their little problem. Now is not the time, now is never the time and then time slips past.

But Willow has continued to become more powerful with every passing season and in ‘Tough Love’ her breaking into the Magic Box and channelling actual black magic I think represents a turning point. This is the first time her eyes actually turn black and if every spell leaves an indelible mark upon the caster, there is something in her now that she will always have to carry. But in keeping with Willow learning the wrong lesson or none whatsoever, the final scene in the episode follows the pattern we’ve seen to this point. Scoobies feeling bad for what Willow must be going through, conversations about consequences not being had and Willow feeling defeated and depressed. If the pattern fits not just because of Tara’s state, but because Willow wasn’t strong enough to wield the necessary power to properly take her revenge. Wasn’t strong enough,.. yet.”

Once again, nice job, Ian. Hit some points that I’ve never really thought about myself as you often do.

About your comment on the final scene of the episode being confusing because of the location they’re in.

Hmmm Ian. I think for the first time I actually disagree with you. I DO think the Oz or Tara conflict of the episode pays off. I DO see it as an informed choice. I think it’s perfectly possible for Oz to still be around Willow even after this episode revealing that Oz can just basically wolf out now whenever he gets angry. I feel like that’s something she could deal with and it’s Oz that can’t accept it. But she accepts it along with him because she’s actually chosen to be with Tara and probably finds it easier if he just disappears as to not come between them.

What doesn’t work for me about this episode is that Oz wolfs out because of the information that Willow and Tara are involved. That to me seems like violent masculinity and therefore doesn’t exactly put Oz in the best light since he now just seems like an aggressive and jealous asshole and therefore Riley is actually in the right about him being dangerous. But nevertheless, Willow has handled danger like that before and she will again. So Oz’s inability to control ‘the beast’ is not the issue here, although it very much should be. The issue is that she’s with someone else. With Tara. So I believe she does very much make an informed choice because Oz driving back into her life asking for her back is something she still has to consider regardless. It would make it easier to just go back to the man she still has feelings for, right? There’d be less stress and fear.

Maybe the right word for it isn’t “choice”. I think “affirmation” works better. And I think to truly understand this as an “affirmation”, you need to have personally been in the predicament Willow is in in the episode which is probably why you don’t have much to say about the confession scene. It’s not something you can relate to or resonate with on the level of a closeted lesbian or WLW. Willow has an affirmation to continue her relationship with Tara - a woman - even though her previous lover - a man - has come back into her life specifically to ask for her back as a lover. It’s a validating affirmation.

5. “I wish I had the blue.”

“My least coherent thoughts of the episode are probably about the dorm room sequence which begins with Willow struggling to keep it together. We haven’t spent very much time in the dorms but it was around this point in the series where I started to wonder ‘Where is Miss Kitty Fantasico?’. There are so many cool details here but before getting into any of them, the most obvious thing that still needs to be said anyway is Alyson Hannigan’s performance is wonderful. I well up the second she starts talking every single time. But the writing for Willow’s character here is terrific. Both she and Xander share Buffy’s fixation on the small details they can control and both fit within the bounds of their metaphorical relationship to her.

Willow - the metaphorical Spirit - is grief and empathy run amuck. The moment when she remembers Dawn and what she must be going through crushes me. And Willow’s fixation in the sequence is on what she’s going to wear. Trying to find the perfect, most compassionate, most supportive outfit to wear for the day. This makes perfect sense as the expression of how Willow would try and deal with her pain.

Going back to ‘Restless’e’s’ exploration of her subconscious we saw the way in which the First Slayer reduced Willow to her most vulnerable was by stripping away the fashion she’d adopted in later high school and college as she gained confidence. Clothing is a vital part of safety and identity for Willow. Even if we saw in ‘Restless’ that a part of her still worries clothes hide her authentic self rather than help reveal it. And there’s a wonderful motif with colour here and her obsession over an article of clothing she can’t find.

Oz left in ‘Wild At Heart’. Two episodes later in ‘Something Blue’ Willow casts a spell to try and manifest her desire to get over him. That episode title’s most direct connection is to Buffy and Spike and the traditional rhyme which says that a bride on her wedding day should have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. But as with most Mutant Enemy episodes, titles often have a few interpretations and within English folklore, the purpose of the ‘something blue’ was to ward off the Evil Eye. A curse brought on by a malevolent glare usually given to a person when one is unaware. The Evil Eye is an iconic symbol present across various religions and cultures. But most importantly - witchcraft. So in ‘Something Blue’, Willow, sans an Oz, is manifesting the Evil Eye. It’s a neat structure I missed back in Season 4 but caught by accident when watching ‘The Body’ when I realized that Willow, at this point in her life, has her ‘something blue’ to ward off the Evil Eye. It’s Tara, who is wearing principally blue throughout the episode.

I wish I had more to say about Willow and Tara’s kiss. It is one of the most significant cultural events of the episode - about which volumes have been written. Definitely not the first queer kiss on TV, if still the first that many got to see - Tara and Willow were remarkable for other reasons. Willow’s sexuality was typically played as a footnote to her character rather than the feature. And she and Tara had a protracted, long-term same-sex relationship that was as complex as any the straight characters had. And their intimacy wasn’t played as headline-grabbing, sweeps week fodder or for controversy. The kiss is not even featured in the original promos. It’s just here. A rare moment of warmth and light in a tapestry of grief. 20 years on, there may be a lot to say about how long it took to get here or about problems yet to come but THIS moment… this moment is gorgeous.

Xander was once able to explain to Riley that, after her mother’s diagnosis, Buffy was distant because she was looking for a problem she could hit. I think he has that insight as her metaphorical Heart. And, as the Heart, his reaction to Joyce’s death is to do the same - find the one responsible and go after them. And I love the beat where Willow helps put him at peace.

Anya’s inability to read social cues and escalating inappropriate questions leads to her monologue which, I know, is precious to many people. Everyone in the episode reads as being at a different stage along their own journey with loss, with Anya and Tara as the bookends to it. It’s never really clear how the vengeance demon transition worked exactly. But whether because vengeance demons are soulless, insulated from their feelings, or just don’t have any, Anya is essentially having the toddler’s experience of death. She’s been human for right around 2 years now. Hers is the naked perspective of the episode. Everyone grasping for understanding and answers in darkness doomed to remain a mystery until they each pass into it.

Unable to find a better culprit close by, Xander decides to hold the wall responsible for what’s happening. Though everyone chastizes him for it, they all look relieved to have something else to focus on. To emphasize that focus the camera hangs on his bloody hand for a second or two longer than normal. Xander almost smiles - physical pain offering a relief from the emotional. And, as the Avengers gear up to assemble, Willow, now recovered from her tail spin and with other people to focus on, mouths ‘I love you’ to Tara.”

I knew that if there was anyone that could even come close to truly capturing the visceral experience that is ‘The Body’ - and therefore it’s pure brilliance - through the written and spoken word, it would be TPN. He has, of course, picked up on pretty much all the character details I did when I wrote my BUFFY REWATCH recap for ‘The Body’. Mentioning each specific Scooby character’s reaction to the death of Joyce Summers in the way he did put emphasis on the raw and real aspects of character representation and development that is woven so cleverly and seamlessly within a narrative that has you only ever focus on the negative space around a loved one’s passing rather than the person that died themselves. How it affects everybody else in both intimate and non-intimate connection to Joyce is what makes ‘The Body’ stand out among the myriads of other brave attempts in TV to capture the experience of death, grief and loss. I knew only Ian could truly do it because he doesn’t ever actually talk about ‘The Episode’. He only ever talks about the universal EXPERIENCE of the episode for all that watch it. And that’s the best way to talk about ‘The Body’ because the true genius of it is that it’s an incredibly in-depth character study that’s not about the character that died at all. Because if it was about that, the episode would be called ‘Joyce’ instead of ‘The Body’ and we wouldn’t get such gut-punching realistic and accurate reactions from the Scoobies that wallop me to the fucking floor every time I attempt to watch them.

I have been patiently waiting for this specific BUFFY GUIDE episode essay to drop for years. TPN absolutely fucking NAILED IT. But of course I knew he would. There was no way he wouldn’t when he is so passionate about the learning process in watching his most favourite art/entertainment as I am. Only deciding to drop it now feels like a Christmas present.

Yep. ‘Forever’ feels like a character-centric episode that never really centers around the character themselves in much the way ‘The Body’ does with Joyce. Except it doesn’t really work at all because it’s evidently not the point. If it was, we wouldn’t be following Dawn’s story with accepting death in it.

There is of course the argument that it really centers around the theme of “grief”. But when a specific character is tied to a theme predominantly, then the theme should be explored through them, not at the expense of them. And as you correctly pointed out - there is no point in the episode where Dawn gets her subjective “look-through-my-eyes” moment that Willow gets in her character-centric ‘Something Blue’, and that’s given to pretty much every other character, including Willow, in ‘Forever’. We cannot feel sympathy for Dawn’s grief. We can only feel annoyed at her defensiveness. And that’s because the way the episode is written spends so much time affording that sympathetic character moment to everybody else but the centric character. And to be honest, the writing almost always does this with Dawn. It’s like their need to remind us that she is too young to understand her actions and choices overrides the requirement for the audience to better understand her. Thus, we get a character that largely remains a plot device than an actual living breathing human. Which feels weirdly and oddly ironic considering she began as a ball of green energy - something to use rather than relate to and resonate with. Which much of the season tries it's best to tell us is not true and does successfully. It’s the same sort of thing that’s the problem for me with Tara’s character. And perhaps that’s why they’re both the target in Season 5.

'Forever' honestly feels like a contradiction of this more than support and evidence for it. It's a shame.

“Mostly people tend to think of their identity as a static thing. The sum of a great story we keep in our heads with many chapters of memories that tell us in no uncertain terms who we are, incorporating all the details of our setting. I am a teacher. I am a student. I am a soldier. And I am in love. But the unexamined conclusions we drew about ourselves from those previous chapters are often flawed at best, and we are not static but beings trapped in the flow of time - always moving forward. The voyage has a way of stripping from us things we took for granted. Losing a job you’ve had for years. The loss of a defining love. Discovering that the truths you were taught were of someone else’s construction. The end of a chapter and no idea of how to start the next. And in the ebb and flow of each passing year, during those evenings when we stand at the top of the hill deciding whether or not to head back down and get our rock, we’re often forced to ask ourselves a question we might’ve thought resolved decades ago: Who am I?”

This is precisely what saves Season 4 from being a complete monotonous waste of our valuable time.

All the best episodes of Season 4 of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ have nothing to do with The Initiative or Riley or Adam. Have nothing to do with the contrasting themes of Magic VS Science. The best episodes are to do with identity, sexuality. team work, communication and adulthood.

They’re actually always to do with character representation and development rather than plot.

‘Hush’

‘Pangs’

‘Restless’

‘Superstar’

‘Fear, Itself’

‘A New Man’

‘Who Are You’

‘Wild At Heart’

‘Something Blue’

‘The Yoko Factor’

‘New Moon Rising’

“In this episode Tara makes a decision, and tells Cousin Beth that she intends to stay in Sunnydale, which means that she thinks that the outcome of her spell to Blind Cadria will be that the rest of the Scoobies won’t see the demon part of her that emerges from her. That she will still appear as human. But the spell has a number of accidental or just poorly considered consequences. Unless the blinding spell had a point where it would wear off, making the Slayer blind to demons seems a bit... short-sighted  And I don’t think it works the way Tara actually intended. Spike is only part demon, and when he pulls the demon Buffy can’t see off of him and she runs out of the room without an acknowledgement, his “You’re welcome” is because Buffy can’t SEE him. Which means that Tara’s spell, where she half demon, would have made her totally invisible to them. The metaphor then is that we can’t actually be our authentic selves with other people when we’re keeping part of who we are locked away - “I was trying to hide.” And the beautiful irony of the episode of course, is that, the moment when Tara lifts her spell, is the moment where they get to really see her, in all her vulnerability. Both the lie that she was afraid of and who she is for all of them. Of course the impulsive use of magic as a coping mechanism is a trap that Willow has fallen into repeatedly over the seasons, most recently in ‘Something Blue’, where it was obvious Willow felt guilty. Yes, she made shame cookies and that experience is probably partly what gives her the compassion necessary to be so understanding of Tara in this moment.

‘She just did a spell that went wrong. It was just a mistake.’

But guilt is not the same thing as learning a lesson and it will be interesting to see where Tara and Willow’s, whom Whedon portrayed as ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’ in ‘Restless’, relationship will go having shared the same experience.”

Passion Of The Nerd talking about love, relationships and perspectives on life...