It should be noted I hate musicals. I mean I really don’t like them. Let me just provide you with what MUST go on in the head of someone writing a musical, “Hmmm, I could have meaningful character development here, or maybe an amazing unforeseen and yet perfectly sensible plot twist. WAIT I know! I will put in another song!” And so it goes. But the Buffy episode Once More With feeling had me humming the tunes and loving the episode well after I was deeper into the series. It was so corny and over the top, it all worked. Like everything else the series does it does to perfection. The other amazing episode from this season was “Normal Again” in which Buffy hallucinates that she wakes up in a mental institution and all of Sunnydale is just the delusions of her sick mind. She is torn between her Sunnydale life, one she hates, and the possibility of a better life where she is cured. As an added nice touch the doctor even mentions that early in the year she came out of the delusions but her friends pulled her back in, reference to Buffy dieing and being in heaven until the Scoobies pulled her back. Slick. What made the episode for me were two main things, the commentary on the Buffyverse itself and the ending. I don’t like to go all post-modern here, but the fact that the doctor talked about how lame some of the series was about how “Dawn came and rewrote the entire history, and now Buffy has went from fighting the apocalypse to fighting a trio of nerds, how desperate can you get…” That all was really funny. The ending though is what got me. After Buffy had made her choice to stay in the Sunnydale world, just prior to the credits the scene jumps back into the insane asylum universe. The doctor is conducting tests on a catatonic Buffy with Buffy’s parents (together and both alive in this universe) looking on. He announces, “We lost her again.” It was so well played and unexpected that you are left wondering if all of it really is in some delusional girls head. The episode where Willow’s forget spell goes array and everyone forgets who they are also had me roaring, much like “Spin the bottle” did in the Angel series. A great trio of episodes!
I really liked the 6th series. I liked it for no other reason than I am a bit of a quote buff-y (hehehehe) and I was reminded of William Yeats’ quote “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold\ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” I loved the Trio as villains go. I am glad they were not really the TRUE villains of this season’s and then Willow really fills the role in a big bad kinda way. The whole progression of events is so slickly done, leading towards a very impressive climax. The characters are human and they do bad things. They are super heroes but they are not really heroes at all. It makes them all the better. Buffy is utterly without passion for life and falling into shadow, Dawn is falling apart, Willow is a junkie and then big bad and evil, Anaya and Zander’s love collapses, and Spike swinging from light to dark and back again. Yet in the end the series ends on a high note. Zander’s “use” is confirmed. Buffy regains faith, Spike gets a soul (eat that Angel!) It all works out very well. I wish the Warren hadn’t been so evil though, Willow flipping out and killing Warren would have made her a bit more complex. Those last episodes with Willow loosing it really makes this season. Whedon really knows how to end a season with a lot of power, energy, and grace. The last couple episodes of every season of Angel and so far every season of Buffy have all been amazing, carrying the needed energy right to the last few moments. Season 6 next, and then the final season. It is sad to think it will all be over soon. I have so enjoyed Buffy and Angel. I will have to have the DVDs the series are worth having saved.
