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Buffy 7.19: Empty Places
Through seven seasons of "Buffy," the last shot in the opening credits has always been a variation on the same pose: Buffy staring into the camera, with a tough, take-on-the-world look on her face.
Except this season.
This season, Buffy isn't staring into the camera at the end. Instead, she's looking at something else, something we can't see. She's looking on.
She's watching.
Buffy has finally become a Watcher.
It didn't have to be this way. In fact, it wasn't supposed to be this way. Earlier in the season, at the end of "Bring on the Night," she gathered the troops and said:
I'm done waiting. They want an apocalypse? We'll give 'em one. Anyone else who wants to run, do it now, because we just became an army. We just declared war.
Remember that? That was cool as all get-out. This was the show we knew: Buffy rocks. She shows resolve and optimism and steely determination, she gives a kick-ass speech, and, of course, she wins. We were innocent and peppy and rarin' to go. We were ready to picnic on the hilltops and watch the Battle of Bull Run.
In the next episode, "Showtime," she staged a battle with the Turokhan underneath the klieg lights, for everyone to see, just like a Roman gladiator. And the junior slayers saw her kill it.
And then what did she do? She gave another speech. "Here endeth the lesson," she said.
Then there was another speech. And another. The speechifying intensified, until even Andrew was able to roll his eyes and make fun of them.
Buffy became a parody of herself.
She's seemed cold lately, icy. We haven't been inside her head. She's been keeping everything to herself. Her superiority/inferiority complex has got the better of her. She hasn't been sharing with the Scoobies, with the Slayerettes, or even
with us. And in return, some of the fans have turned on her: her holier-than-thou attitude, her obsession with Spike. Those fans have been in the same boat as the Scoobies.
It feels postmodern. It's as if all the characters have risen up against Joss himself, against all the writers, and said, "Look, we're sick of this. We're sick of our main character. She's never wrong. We're sick of the conventions this show has created for itself. You think that once again, we apply brute force and kick ass and we win? We're not gonna take it anymore. Give us something new."
And so, once again, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has bucked conventional TV. It's jettisoned its hero.
It's about power. The power's gone to her head. Buffy's always perfect. She never loses. Sure, she's
died, but she's never lost. ("I'm here to kill you, not judge you!") But if you don't lose, if you don't screw up, you never learn anything. Buffy's surrounded by characters who have screwed up, learned from it, and grown; she's the only one who hasn't done it.
She's not one of them.
But Faith is.
Faith didn't even
need to tell the Slayerettes to fight for her at the Bronze. They just did it. Because they like her.
We're paradoxical in what we want from our leaders. We want them to be different from us, yes. But we also want them to be the same as us. We want them to be just like us, but better. And if they screw up too much, we turn on them
really quickly.
I hate to read current events into "Buffy," because the show is supposed to be timeless. But when Anya spoke up, I couldn't help it:
Buffy: "Look, I wish this could be a democracy. I really do. But democracies don't win battles. It's a hard truth, but there has to be a single voice. You need someone to issue orders, and be reckless, and not take our feelings into account. You need someone to lead you."
Anya: "Automatically you. You really do think you're better than we are... but we don’t know. We don’t know if you’re actually better. I mean, you came into the world with certain advantages, sure, I mean that's the legacy... but you didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. You've never had anybody come up to you and say that you deserve these things more than anyone else. They were just handed to you. So that doesn't make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us."
Read into it what you wish.
Politics aside, though, Anya brought up something that came to my mind during "Conversations With Dead People," when Buffy was talking with Holden. Sure, Buffy's the Slayer, and that makes her different. But why Buffy? And who chose her?
I wonder if we'll find out.
Meanwhile, in northern California:
"It is not for thee; it is for her alone to wield."
Presumably, "her" is Buffy, but this being the Jossverse, I'm not going to
steak stake any bets on it.
As for the episode itself:
It was beautifully acted. Hats off to everyone, but especially to Emma Caulfield and Nicholas Brendon.
It was beautifully written. Drew Z. Greenberg did something amazing: in 41 minutes, he managed to give each of the characters enough screen time. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Anya, Spike, Dawn, Faith, Andrew, Wood, even Clem(!) -- each of them had a moment. Color me impressed.
I was also impressed by the First, who is so good at impressions that it, um, even nailed Buffy's hoarse voice. Apparently the First Evil had the First Frog in its First Throat.
Dawn's speech at the end was a bit contrived, but I'll overlook that.
"My name is Andrew, and I'll be your bad cop this evening." He continues to slay me.
When Kennedy and Faith were talking in the kitchen, I swear there was a lesbian vibe. I wonder if Faith's bi? Buffyslashers, go for it. (And I say this as a gay man.)
"For seven years I've kept us safe by doing this, exactly this." You know a series is coming to an end when one of the characters alludes to how long the series has been on the air. (But someone should let her know it's really only been six years and two months... I'm just saying.)
I can't believe there are only three episodes left. I'm excited but sad.
I can't wait to see how this all turns out.
(P.S. If you're reading this and you are Joss, or a writer, director, or cast member of the show, or Joyce Millman, I would be totally thrilled to hear from you. I'm not counting on it, but I thought I'd ask.)
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