Here’s the podcast for Season 6, Episode 4 – Flooded

The new villains in town

Download: Flooded

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The next podcast will appear on Monday 29th April 2013 for episode five of Season Six: “Life Serial.” That’s the one where the trio throw obstacles in the path of a job seeking Buffy.

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You can get your voice on the podcast by leaving a message on our voicemail 206-338-7832 (It’s a US number, so add 001 if you are elsewhere).

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Synopsis: The Summers home needs new pipes and between that and mounting debts Buffy feels overwhelmed by her financial situation. Giles returns to comfort her and issue a stern rebuke to Willow. Meanwhile a demon causes chaos at the bank while Warren, Jonathan and Andrew steal money. Xander admits to Anya that he has been stalling over announcing their engagement because he is scared of commitment.

The Good: As with last episode this gave us more good characterisation coupled with a poor demon and bad comedy.

Buffy cuts a pretty tragic figure right now. As if being pulled from heaven to fight demons wasn’t bad enough now she has to be the financial provider. Understandably she seems depressed and even Giles’ return can’t solve all her problems. Spike is still the only one she can confide in (recreating their seated positions at the end of ‘Fool for Love’, 507) as the others irritate with their desire to make sure she is ok. The burden was well portrayed and SMG was on top form as usual. The end of the episode was underplayed as Buffy gets a call from Angel and rushes out the door. It was kind of a big moment because despite Giles’ attempts to get her to deal with pressing problems she couldn’t get out fast enough. We’re so used to seeing Buffy suck it all up and do the right thing that to see her make a selfish choice and escape was a genuine surprise. Her return from the grave has so far been handled in an impressive and consequence-rich fashion.

The reunion with Giles was emotive and sweet as you’d expect. Again though there was no joy. Giles sees that Buffy is not happy (or well) and gives Willow a much needed dressing down. That confrontation was terrific (see Best Moment) and revealed to us the depths of Willow’s denial about what magic is doing to her. For Giles this is all quite a blow. He had clearly found closure with his life as a Watcher and is also unhappy to be dragged back into the same role. It’s a mature decision by the writers, whether it was enforced by Anthony Stewart Head’s wishes or not. Being a Watcher was a calling and unlike Buffy’s, it wasn’t for life. He made his peace with it but now is forced to become father to Dawn as well as mentor to Willow.

The Bad: The demon M’Fashnik was a slight improvement on the nameless demon from last episode. However he essentially served the same purpose, giving Buffy something to slay, while presenting almost no actual threat. The way Warren managed to get rid of him without suffering undermined M’Fashnik’s credibility as a demon.

A plot hole that needs to be closed is why the Watcher’s Council aren’t paying Buffy’s expenses. I can imagine they would attach strings and she wouldn’t like that but it’s awkward to not bring them up given that Anya suggests the Slayer be compensated for slaying.

The Unknown: The men who paid him represent a more complicated trio. So far this season comedy has been a problem. The writers decided that the answer was to contrast the gloom amongst the Scoobies with broad in-your-face gags from three geeks playing super villains. I know many people enjoyed “Superstar” (417) while I ranked it as one of the worst Buffy episodes. This was far from that bad but some of the same problems were present. The comedy fell flat repeatedly because our point of view on the three guys was that they were inherently silly. If you are already silly, it’s hard to then be funny by being silly. It didn’t help that they were meant to be funny in every scene.

On the surface geeks making pop culture references might feel like a very Buffy thing to do. But it’s actually the opposite of how comedy has worked well on this show. All the best jokes on Buffy have been about the very human, ordinary reactions of the Scoobies to the very serious, dark, supernatural realities of life on the hellmouth. The new trio seem like ‘TV geeks’ rather than real people. They are implausibly intelligent and capable while simultaneously being cowardly and foolish. They also know about demons already and their reactions undercut the threat they are now apparently a part of. This is still very much an “Unknown” issue until we see more of them but no part of their introduction was good. The moral dilemma they had which allowed them to steal but not kill makes it hard to see them as a threat to Buffy and seemingly a bizarre choice as the new Big Bad (if they are).

Elsewhere the comedy was equally broad. The opening visual gag as Buffy’s basement flooded was cartoon-like while her tight skirt at the bank preventing her from kicking M’Fashnik was very believable. The final battle in the house as Buffy tried to avoid breaking too much furniture didn’t sit well with her very real depression over her financial problems.

Xander’s admission that he is a bit afraid of the commitment he made when the world was about to end (522) gave me mixed feelings. It makes sense of why Anya was presented as irrationally pushy over the last few episodes. She was not meant to seem unreasonable. Instead it was a setup to reveal that Xander has some worries. That’s all fine if Xander becomes a featured character again. He hasn’t been for over two years though and so to show us these brief snapshots of him maturing and then suddenly remind us that he is a very young man was abrupt.

Will we find out what Angel wants to talk about or do we have to watch Angel for that?

Best Moment: Giles is predictably furious with Willow for raising Buffy. The story was told so well that we knew this was coming. He points out the danger to everyone from using magic so powerful and says that those with similar power are all evil. Willow responds to that with a threat which she then instantly backs down from. But she’s not backing down (“I was amazing”) from what she thinks is right. And clearly that extends in her mind at this point to a might makes right scenario. It was a moment we’ve been expecting given the trajectory of the story and it was well executed. I particularly liked the childish way she described the spell. It felt like Willow was falling back into her old dynamic with Giles. Around him she plays up her cutesiness in the hopes of a pat on the head from her old mentor. It was a great contrast to the very adult way she behaved when brow beating Xander and the others into going through with the spell (601). The new trio of villains are presented as little boys who don’t realise the moral consequences of their actions. Now Willow is in a similar position which is an unpleasant contrast for her.

The Bottom Line: This was a very entertaining episode but not necessarily a good one. Season 5 was built on episodes where Buffy’s story held things together and the rest was poor. This felt just like that even though the Scooby dynamics were very strong.

63/100

Flooded
Season 6, Episode 4
Original airing: 10/16/2001

My Rating: 56

The Good: I’m really glad the episode showed us Buffy and Giles’ reunion. It was touching and heartfelt and completely underscored by the following awkwardness in the rest of their scenes together. Giles is still the person pours her heart out to, but it has a different tone now.

The scene in the kitchen between Giles and Willow was amazingly complex and well written, shot, lit, acted, etc. Seriously good stuff. I loved Giles trying to impress the seriousness of the situation on a rather care-free Willow. It made her sudden threat to him feel all the more shocking and powerful.

Spike had a wonderful scene with Buffy as well. They are developing a comfort level with each other that feels incredibly right and natural. I just love seeing them interact.

The Not-So-Good: It’s good to have Buffy struggling with money issues in her post-college, adult of the house life, but it did raise some logical questions concerning Tara, Willow, and what they have been doing the last six months financially. I also liked her attempt to get the loan, but I don’t understand why her first reaction to “I need money” wasn’t to try and get a job. She managed school and slaying at the same time, so why couldn’t she manage work and slaying at the same time?

One thing I really struggled with in this episode was Xander and Anya’s issues. I’m not sure who I’m supposed to be feeling bad for here. To me, if someone decides marriage isn’t for them at the moment, they should not be pushed into it. But I also wish that Xander would talk to Anya about why he’s stalling, instead of just trying to placate her. Neither of these characters comes off well.

The Bad: I was not a big fan of the demon or the geeks in this episode. They all felt silly and rather stupid. I liked how the show reintroduced the characters of Jonathon and Warren, but overall these guys were trying too hard. It felt like the jokes and characterizations were way over done.

I was really disappointed with how this episode ended. Buffy running out after Angel called felt really abrupt and made me wonder if I needed to go watch an episode of the show Angel. There was nothing satisfying about the end and it left me very sour.

Favorite Moment: I really love the big hug between Buffy and Giles. The part that strikes me most is Buffy’s face. She closes her eyes and looks for just a moment as if she gets lost in the safety Giles used to be able to provide for her.

The Bottom Line: I like a lot of the stuff in this episode surrounding Buffy, Giles, Willow, and Spike. But the Xander/Anya problems and the geeks really let me down.

Here’s the podcast for Season 6, Episode 3 – After Life

They can never know

Download: After Life

RSS Feed: The Buffy Rewatch

The next podcast will appear on Monday 15th April 2013 for episode four of Season Six: “Flooded.” That’s the one where three villains set up shop in Sunnydale.

Comment on this post to get your views on the podcast.

You can get your voice on the podcast by leaving a message on our voicemail 206-338-7832 (It’s a US number, so add 001 if you are elsewhere).

You can email an audio clip to thetvcritic@gmail.com

Or you can tweet us by following the links to our twitter on the right of the page.

Synopsis: Buffy returns home seemingly in shock. Spike is amazed to see her and then angry at being left out of the loop. Buffy goes to bed but soon appears screaming at Willow and Tara. The apparition scares them into calling Xander who then sees his own as Anya appears to cut her own face. The Scoobies gather and realise that in bringing Buffy back they’ve created a demon who hasn’t yet found a body to live in. They work out how to kill it as Buffy confides in Spike.

The Good: This was like part three of the Buffy resurrection story and was very good in that respect. We definitely needed to hear that she was pulled from heaven to explain her miserable appearance as she stares at the life she thought she’d left behind. The concept of returning from paradise to the everyday struggles of Earth is not something we can relate to directly but with a typically good performance from SMG and clear writing of the expectations of the Scoobies we were able to understand the basics of what she’s going through.

Buffy’s despair at being dragged home is an excellent payoff to the foreboding of Bargaining part one where it seemed clear that something bad was going to happen. Now we can see the whole story and how it has led to no good for anyone, at least right now. Willow crossed many moral lines to make this happen and although Dawn and others are thrilled to have Buffy back, Willow has allowed some darkness in. She clearly didn’t consider the consequences of her action fully (e.g. not digging up the grave) and appears to lie to Tara when the demon yells about the lamb she sacrificed. When the two of them cast a spell on that demon, Willow’s eyes go dark (as they did when she attacked Glory in 519). From Willow’s perspective though, she is the hero. She rescued Buffy from a fate worse than any they’ve faced before and all she wants is a big thank you. It’s a very intriguing and awkward position to put the Willow character in and it’s amazing to think that this story has been building since Jenny Calendar passed away (217) leaving an unfinished spell that Buffy’s best friend couldn’t help but carry out for her.

Meanwhile the writers have pulled off quite a fear by turning Spike into both a sympathetic character and Buffy’s confidant. The latter makes a lot of sense given the acknowledgment in “Fool for Love” (507) that only Spike understands death in the way the Slayer does. That is doubly so now and only Spike reacts to her as if she has been through a trauma, the others stand around waiting for her to begin quipping and smiling. Despite this new intimacy and Spike’s admirable guilt and honour over protecting Dawn, he is still a vampire. He is still unstable. It’s a delight to see this not be forgotten as he laughs hysterically in his crypt (looking fancy by the way) or when he admits that every night he saves Buffy in his mind. The creepy stalker is still in him.

The Bad: The initial apparition (in the form of Buffy) was pretty freaky and given the words she used, impactful. After that though the newly created demon became a plot device who popped in and out of the Scoobies quickly to forward the plot but never felt remotely threatening.

Anya has spent the first three episodes being a bit all over the place. The writers keep trying to make her the source of comedy in ways which don’t always click with her character. She tells Dawn she will soon have dry mouth after being possessed which actually seemed appropriate given she too had suffered the same experience. But she then adds that she means because of the fire Dawn just spat across the room which was just a cheap joke instead of insight.

The Unknown: It’s a slight surprise that Giles didn’t react with anger or more shock on the phone but we only got Willow’s perspective and doubtless his in person reaction will be worth the wait.

Best Moment: Buffy telling Spike that she was in heaven suddenly clicked everything into place from these first three episodes.

The Bottom Line: Another solid episode moving Buffy’s return forward with a real sense that the show has now changed.

66/100

Cordia’s Second Look
After Life
Season 6, Episode 3
Original airing: 10/9/2001

My Rating: 66

The Good: This episode is a great example of how the characters drive this show so much more than the action or the horror aspect. Buffy’s return to the land of the living leaves her and everyone around her confused, hurt, desperate, and unfocused. This experience has effectively changed Buffy’s relationship with every other character on the show.

Spike and Buffy were the stars of this episode, in my opinion. Their three scenes together were an awesome exploration of their relationship and how Buffy’s death affected both of them. The first meeting had several tender moments as Spike recognizes Buffy from Buffy-bot almost instantly, and then holds her hands on the couch. He also empathizes with her about having to break out of her coffin, something he has also experienced.

The second scene was Buffy reaching out to Spike. She goes to his crypt, perhaps in a quiet plea to spend time around the only other person who’s been through death and back. It also gave Spike a wonderful chance to open up and showcase some of his feelings in a completely pure and organic manner (see Favorite Moment).

Finally, we get the painful scene where Buffy admits to Spike she wasn’t in hell. In fact, now life feels like hell to her. And without even asking, she swears him to secrecy. This is a truly powerful and well done scene. It’s one that completely changed my perspective on the show when I first saw it. The knowledge that Buffy was forced back into her life of sacrifice and pain from an existence of pure love and completion is shockingly painful. It puts everyone’s behaviors in a different light, especially Willow’s.

If there’s a character to dislike here, it’s Willow. She’s presented as rather selfish in this episode with her desire to be thanked and her focus on wanting Buffy to experience the emotions Willow was expecting. She doesn’t know how to deal with the Buffy that came back and just wants things to be like they used to be. It’s a very naïve approach to the situation.

Finally, I enjoyed again seeing Dawn doing something other than whining and screaming Buffy’s name. She tries really hard in this episode to take care of and protect Buffy. I especially like her insistence that the Scoobies not overwhelm Buffy when they find her at the house.

The Bad: This episode did not need a villain. It was chockfull of awesome Scoobieness and Buffy/Spike yumminess. And yet, someone decided to shoe-horn in this weird, floating, guilt demon. I just don’t think it was at all necessary and it turned into more of a distraction than anything else. Its complete lack of a plan until it learns it should kill Buffy makes me question why it was throwing things at Willow and Tara and why it possessed Anya and Dawn. What was it trying to achieve if it didn’t know it needed to kill Buffy? This issue is never addressed and why should it be, when the demon doesn’t matter?

Favorite Moment: I would have totally chosen the last scene where Buffy reveals she was in heaven, if this was my first viewing. As is, I found myself really drawn to the scene where Spike tells Buffy how much he missed her and how he saves her every night in his dreams. It’s nice to see Spike have the opportunity to genuinely open himself up to Buffy. There’s no anger, demands, sarcasm, or wit in this monologue. He’s just telling her straight up how sorry he is that he couldn’t save her.

The Bottom Line: If you’re a fan and invested in Buffy’s return from the dead, this is a pretty darn good episode. Looking past the demon, it explored a lot of Buffy’s newly evolving relationships with her family and friends. I look forward to seeing how Giles handles all this too.

Here’s the podcast for Season 6, Episode 2 – Bargaining (2)

Buffy sees her own grave

Download: Bargaining (2)

RSS Feed: The Buffy Rewatch

The next podcast will appear on Monday 8th April 2013 for episode three of Season Six: “After Life.” That’s the one where a mysterious force begins taking over the Scoobies.

Comment on this post to get your views on the podcast.

You can get your voice on the podcast by leaving a message on our voicemail 206-338-7832 (It’s a US number, so add 001 if you are elsewhere).

You can email an audio clip to thetvcritic@gmail.com

Or you can tweet us by following the links to our twitter on the right of the page.

Synopsis: The Hellions capture BuffyBot as the Scoobies scatter and make their way to the Magic Box. Buffy digs herself out of her grave. Spike steals one of their bikes and takes Dawn to safety. Buffy comes across the Hellions tearing BuffyBot apart and begins fighting them. She escapes and runs into the Scoobies. She can’t seem to talk but recovers well enough to destroy most of the demon gang. She then flees to Glory’s tower where Dawn finds her.

The Good: To see Buffy wake up in her own coffin in distress was certainly creepy. And her emergence from the ground, just like so many of her vampire victims, was quite the moment. Her confusion and fear were well portrayed and her question about whether she was in hell was a fascinating response to the surreality of Sunnydale. The town was a disaster zone but it seemed like a query which fit her state of mind as she was drawn moth-like to the last moments of her life.

It was sad to see the BuffyBot being brutalised. She has been a far more valuable part of the show than she might have been. Spike reminded us of his dark side by acknowledging that the anarchy “looks like fun.” I couldn’t help but smile at Xander’s claim that he was a Man-witch.

The Bad: This suffered a lot by being broken across two weeks which I acknowledge is not how most people will see it (including me the first time). However there would have inevitably been some come down as there was a lot of weaker material in the second half. For a start there was repetitive dialogue between the Scoobies as they trekked through the woods. The dire situation they were in killed most attempts at comedy with Anya (trying to bring up the engagement) and Xander (complaining about a lack of male friends) both falling flat.

The action sequences didn’t add much to proceedings either. The Hellions quickly became as useless as generic vampires despite occasionally wielding baseball bats (which should be vicious, even on Buffy). Their leader talked too much, allowing Buffy time to recover and then gave us a desperately unneeded comment about how his men would rape the Scoobies. The move to UPN may have allowed us the amazing shot of the torso of BuffyBot talking to Dawn but that line was totally unnecessary and gross.

Speaking of Dawn, I find it so hard to like her when she runs away from Spike in the middle of a town riot. I understand her desperation to get Buffy back but it’s not like Spike would have refused to take her to the tower. Once there the tower rocked around as if California was experiencing an earthquake and it didn’t seem very plausible that Buffy and Dawn would survive tumbling off it.                                                                                                                

The Unknown: It’s not clear what Buffy remembers or how her discombobulation will affect her going forward. I assume Giles will be on a plane soon right?

Best Moment: The moment which captured the same depth of characterisation as part one was when Willow realised that the Urn of Osiris was broken. She was very distressed by this and said that “Buffy is gone.” It was only then that I realised that Willow hadn’t grieved for Buffy. Her determination to bring her back was in part a coping mechanism for the loss of her friend and suddenly it hit her that she was really dead. A touching if ironic realisation.

The Bottom Line: A terrific part one followed by a stumbling part two would still be an accurate description whether you review Bargaining together or separately. But the faults in this episode don’t seem consequential to me. We have a fresh dynamic amongst the Scoobies and I’m looking forward to more of that.

54/100

Bargaining – Part 2
Season 6, Episode 2
Original airing: 10/2/2001

My Rating: 67

The Good: I really appreciated how Buffy’s return was handled in this episode. She’s lost, disoriented, confused, shocked, and scared. All things might reasonably be if awakening from a five month rest in a coffin buried six feet down. I like the blurred shots from her perspective to show how confusing the world is to her. I wonder if she recognized the Buffy-bot, or thought she saw herself being torn apart. All in all, I think it makes exceptional sense that she ends up on the top of the tower contemplating ending it all again. Her heartbreaking situation is compounded by her confession to Dawn that she thinks she’s in hell. Especially when everyone keeps telling her she’s home. Buffy’s the kind of person who, despite saving the world a lot, might think she would go to hell. Might even expect it.

I also really liked the in-between bits of Buffy’s journey through the town. All the fires and the screaming demons would seem quite hellish. And her encounter with the Scoobies felt a bit like people looking in on a zoo creature. There’s a wonderful, feral element to the presentation that helps express Buffy’s situation. What I really, really liked, was how Buffy didn’t snap back fully to being Buffy. She steps up to fight the demon when she has to, but she runs away again afterwards. And her face certainly looks less than thrilled to be home when Dawn is hugging her at the end of the episode. I say a strong kudos to how Buffy’s return was done.

Season Six has already shown us it intends to be darker and bloodier. We get more of that here with knives and poles going gruesomely into demons. I think it sets the tone well for this to be a season that really focuses on darkness in a way the show hasn’t yet. It was touched upon in season five with Dracula’s appearance in the opening episode and the many appearances of the First Slayer, but it feels like it’s going to be even more open to exploration in this season.

I enjoyed the Scooby stuff as well, except for Anya (see The Bad). Xander, Willow, and Tara all had strong moments to show off their resourcefulness, care for each other, and willingness to take on anything to protect the legacy Buffy has left behind. Spike got to shine as Dawn’s protector, going about it in his rather rough manner.

And Michelle Trachtenberg got to do something other than scream Buffy’s name, although she did do that at the end. From her conversation with the limbless Buffy-bot to her pleading on the tower, she portrayed her denied hope for Buffy to be alive very well. She’s shocked and disbelieving, but wants to so badly, she can’t help but literally run off into the dark to find Buffy. And Buffy’s decision to stay and help Dawn fits perfectly with all of her protectiveness from the last season. She threatened to kill anyone who tried to hurt Dawn (S5E22), so she certainly can’t leave Dawn to die on a collapsing tower.

The Bad: My main complaint in this episode is Anya. I’m generally a fan of her quirkiness and not-quite-human understanding, but harping on her engagement to Xander is starting to feel really, really scripted and non-organic. Her concerns in the last episode seemed justifiable, but by now (and in the midst of a demon invasion), it just seems beyond petty. She’s more worried about her store and the engagement, then about Xander, Willow, Buffy, or the destruction of the town. While I think her characterization as someone who doesn’t get the niceties of human society is really fun, she hasn’t been this emotionally cold since her introduction in season three and it really doesn’t fit her anymore.

Favorite Moment: I liked quite a few things in this episode, but I definitely noticed the Buffy-bot and Dawn scene the most. I was completely impressed with the presentation of limbless Buffy-bot. It was super well done and also worked as a wonderful way to pass off the news of Buffy’s return to Dawn.

The Bottom Line: This episode was far from perfect, but I really appreciated the show taking the time to begin fully exploring Buffy’s return and what that would mean to her psyche.

Here’s the podcast for Season 6, Episode 1 – Bargaining (1)

Dawn seeks comfort with BuffyBot

Download: Bargaining (1)

RSS Feed: The Buffy Rewatch

The next podcast will appear on Monday 1st April 2013 for episode two of Season Six: “Bargaining” (Part 2). That’s the one which picks up where this left off.

Comment on this post to get your views on the podcast.

You can get your voice on the podcast by leaving a message on our voicemail 206-338-7832 (It’s a US number, so add 001 if you are elsewhere).

You can email an audio clip to thetvcritic@gmail.com

Or you can tweet us by following the links to our twitter on the right of the page.