Posted on Wed, Nov 7 2007 @ 23:15
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The One With Buffy

"In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer."



These words, oddly enough, became one of the trademarks of the last decade of the 20th century within an almost unreasonably short period of time. Funny to think that they are little more than the opening words of a pilot episode for a TV show not many people really wanted to be made, and bearing in mind the disastrous film whose title it bore dating back to the beginning of the decade, could anyone really blame them? But Joss Whedon didn't give up. Even after they butchered his movie script and created the shame that was the Buffy movie, he pulled himself back together and started from scratch allover again. He never wanted Buffy to be a movie in the first place as he knew it was unfilmable as a movie; there was simply too much to tell. But in movie-business you have to make compromises, and the first time he did. The second time, he refused, and the pilot was born, called "Welcome to the Hellmouth".



Looking back at everything, it is somewhat amazing people watched it at all. Not to mention the fact that a title like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", particularly bearing in mind its movie-precedent, is more than enough reason not to watch something, and then there is the fact that the actors, with the exception of Sarah Michelle Gellar, were completely unknown, the special effects and battle scenes almost pitiful (next to what Buffy brought us in the years to come). But still, people tuned in. They tuned in because the promo sparked interest in them even when they should have remained indifferent, because Joss' incredible talent with words won over them for the first time in seven years and he breathed life into characters he only just placed on screen for the first time. For whatever reason, people gave it a chance.



"This world is older than any of you know. Contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it their home, their hell. But in time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for, for man. All that remains of the old ones are vestiges, certain magicks, certain creatures. The books tell the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected by the demon's soul. He bit another, and another, and so they walk the earth, feeding... Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out, and the old ones to return."



These words, given to Giles in "The Harvest", the second part of Buffy's pilot, were the beginning of a new and original mythology that span almost out of control and soon became a history in itself. The Mythology of the Slayer is still, without a doubt, the richest to be ever written for a TV series, so rich in detail and reference that it almost makes you wonder – why did he bother? But Buffy would not be Buffy if he didn't. It was not just a TV show like the others. It was his dream, his vision, his creation. Many fans called Joss Whedon 'God', and while this term clearly referred to that his whim dictated the direction of the show, behind it lay the undeniable fact that he, like only few geniuses before him (namely Tolkien) created a whole universe (in fact, more than one), with not only original characters, but with history, mythology, past, present and future. He revolutioned not only the face of television, but the face of storytelling alike, and it did not take long for this show, that you would not admit to your best friend you were watching, to suddenly come out of hiding. Buffy spread like cancer through the worldwide web probably faster than it did through any other form of media and by the time the show reached its prime, the amount of websites, big and small, that were devoted to it could be counted in tens if not hundreds of thousands, setting a record others have yet to break.



Books began to appear about the show as early as in its first season, and surprisingly, the companion books (that were little more than written versions of aired episodes) formed up the smallest part of Buffy literature. The show produced novels; full-fledged novels and series' of novels, all set within the Buffy universe, and by the time it ended, the show left behind it a trail of possibly hundreds of such novels, some of which are still being written today, years after the final episode aired. The best of these books, of course, were the ones personally approved by Joss Whedon (he made sure all novels were put through him, but only few authors received privileges such as consultation and visits to the set). But having conquered the world of literature was not enough, and soon the show invaded the academic world as well, as books of different kind began to surface, textbooks about the aspects of philosophy, sociology, psychology and fantasy in the show, with the analysis of human nature according to Buffy taking centre stage as well as Joss' use of fantasy to mirror reality. And the same books were soon used in classrooms and in universities, not only in filmmaking and writing courses (Joss' writing and use of language broke records of its own), but also in human science. The show was everywhere, and although it never won any prestigious awards (the most common excuse were that it did not fit into the acceptable criteria of a TV show), it was under constant critical scrutiny, with seemingly everyone following Joss Whedon's every move, wondering what boundaries he would break next.



The creative milestones and achievements of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are too many to count. In fact, I remember that it used to be the subject of much debate among the show's loyal fans – how do you rate the episodes, which ones are the best, the most exceptional? Funny, but even after all these years, there still is no answer to this question. Buffy has been analyzed to death from every possible angle; every movement, every action, every word has been given psychological and philosophical attributes, and yet there still is no answer. But although there is no particular order, there is a list of several episodes that everyone agreed belonged in that informal hall-of-fame, and I really do believe they are Joss' greatest achievements (and still there is the hovering guilt of excluding so many other worthy episodes).



"Prophecy Girl" - the first season finale; a season that wasn't really a season as it only consisted of 12 episodes and was more a filler for the WB network after another show had been cancelled. Nonetheless, this finale, after the rather shaky season, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the show was capable of so much more. Buffy's unforgettable speech ("Giles, I'm 16 years old, I don't want to die!") in face of the helplessness of the two most important men in her life; her then unrequited lover who unlike her, would live forever (Angel) and her Watcher who slowly crosses the line and begins to love her as a daughter (Giles) was ironically only the tip of the drama iceberg the show would unleash in the seasons to come. The finale gave a new definition to the term cliffhanger even though everything seemed to have been resolved. It started a long tradition of Buffy finales that lasted all the way into the end. It was the first to take the importance of psychological consequences to a whole new level.



"Surprise" and "Innocence" - the highlights of the second season before "Becoming", including Joss' reportedly favorite episode. No one tore hearts out the way Joss did, no one destroyed fairytales the way Joss did… no one but life. His destruction of Buffy and Angel added hundreds of new layers to the show and the characters and touched absolutely everything and everyone. It was too early in the show to know that although he tore them apart, he still believed in true love and he would not end this show without a promising future for them, but the impact of that blow was second to none. It changed Giles, Willow, Xander, and especially Buffy and Angel irrevocably, for the rest of their lives. It showed like nothing else that in real life love did not conquer all, that rather true love was one's worst enemy. It showed like nothing else why true love in the world of Buffy was true love in its rawest, most powerful and most destructive essence.



"Becoming" - the finale of the second season, the one that explores Angel's past as it gradually leads to his ultimate destruction as his true love, a 17 years old girl, knowingly sends him to eternity in hell and she does not have a choice. It was the episode that raised the bar on 'powerful' after in "Innocence" we had thought we'd seen it all. She told him she loved him, she kissed him, she asked him to close his eyes… and when she suddenly thrust the sword through him, the blade pierced every single one of us simultaneously. This episode tested the endurance and limits of love, friendship, loyalty, destiny, grief, family, life… it was a new embodiment of tragedy in all its aspects of destruction. "There's moments in your life that make you, that set the course of who you're gonna be... Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are."



"The Wish" - Buffy's version of the concept behind "It's A Wonderful Life" as we get to see what her world would have been like without her, except Joss' genius brings that concept to a whole new level where he takes a look not only at what would the world be like without Buffy and what the people that are closest to her would be like having never met her, but also what would Buffy be like, having never met them. Every single person is important, every single person is priceless, our part in this world touches and changes so many others, and in turn, they touch us. No man is an island, and this is one of the show's greatest lessons – we are all connected, we are nothing without the others around us, without our loves and friendships… we cannot exist. Not only is this new world slowly falling into decay, but this Buffy, who has never known the love of Angel, the friendship of Willow and Xander, the support of Giles and her mother is both powerless and unwilling to save it.



"Amends" - is in a sense, a follow up to "The Wish", in which Angel attempts to rid the world of himself, and not only does it explore the nature of potential suicide and its impact on the people one leaves behind, but it also raises the inevitable question – against all odds, against all hardships and trials, is there anything at all in this world worth fighting for, and how much inner strength does one need to prevail? And even more importantly, it explores the true nature of forgiveness, of compassion and of redemption, all things that had been touched upon once before in the second season return so much more powerful in "Amends". How does one deserve forgiveness and why, what must one do to earn it? Giles once said that "to forgive is an act of compassion, it's not done because people deserve it, it's done because they need it." But is it really that simple, however complicated it is, and what happens when one finds himself unworthy of forgiveness and cannot forgive himself?



"Earshot" - How many times do we wonder, if only we knew what they were thinking, if only we knew what they were saying about us, if only we knew what was in their hearts. Well, Buffy gets to know. For one day, she gets to see what the others are truly like inside, she gets a small glimpse of their thoughts and feelings, of their fears and insecurities. She gets an insight into the insecure Willow, into the sex-obsessed teenage boy that is Xander, into the ever-philosophing Oz, Cordelia's mind that as it turns out reflects exactly what her words are saying, and Angel, her true love, who is like a mirror and his are the only thoughts she can't read as all she has to do is ask. The understatement of this episode is that not everything is meant for our knowledge. We do not need to know everything, and sometimes what we need to do is back off. This knowledge is not a blessing, it is a curse; a curse that verges upon insanity. "Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own," she tells Jonathan by the end of the episode. "The beautiful ones, the popular ones, the guys that pick on you. Everyone. If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness, the confusion. It looks quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening."



"I Will Remember You" - although not a strictly Buffy but an Angel episode, this one was the first crossover between the two, preceded by Buffy's "Pangs". No episode explored the true essence of the world's most powerful emotion – love – as this one did. This dream episode, one of Joss' most personal and that just so happens is reality in the Buffyverse, gives Buffy and Angel the chance they never had, gives them the opportunity to be a real human couple, making all the reasons to their separation no longer valid. Having realized what they have, their love defies all reason and they give in to passion, to living their dream, not even thinking of the consequences, until Angel realizes that his newfound humanity will be Buffy's downfall – he will not be able to protect her if he remains human. For her, he goes to the Oracles and makes a deal with them; he gives up his life as a human in return for more time for Buffy. They agree to erase the day from ever happening, but with a price. Not only does he lose the woman he loves, he alone will carry the memory of that day, and that burden will haunt him for the rest of his existence. He agrees, giving a whole new meaning to the concept of sacrifice for the person you love most. He tells Buffy the truth a few minutes before the day is due to be turned back, knowing she would not remember any of it anyway, and it would not be her burden to bear, her pain, however powerful, would not last. The scene of her holding on to him, crying that there is not enough time, while the clock is loudly ticking in the background was, I think, made to rip out the heart of the strongest of people. As the clock ticks away, every second is important…



"Hush" - Joss' creative genius in its finest hit us completely out of the blue in the middle of season 4. Although we should have been prepared for everything, a silent episode was not one of those things. This genius episode, completely unlike anything that has ever been done before, not only on Buffy, but on television as a whole, presents to us a world without sound. What would happen if we went to sleep one night, completely unsuspecting, and woke up the next morning, unable to speak, unable to make a sound? Apart from manipulating us psychologically into believing it could indeed happen, this episode explores what it would be like, knowing that we can speak, having words in our mind, but being unable to voice them. "Talking about communication," Prof. Walsh says in the beginning, "talking about language... not the same thing. It's about inspiration... Not the idea, but the moment before the idea when it blossoms in your mind and connects to everything. It's about the thoughts and experiences that we don't have a word for." But we have a word for everything, or so we think, how can we communicate when we are rendered speechless? We spend so long wishing for people to just shut up, and when they finally do… we realize we still have so much to say.



"Restless" - an episode seemingly completely out of context, the finale of the 4th season, in which we get to explore the dreams and innermost thoughts of Buffy and her friends. This is (and with very good reason) the episode that has the most papers and essays written about it, and so it is impossible to discus some of it without discussing all of it, but it's enough to say that the amount of riddles, hints and references that were included in this episode kept people awake for months after it was first aired. The episode is a mess of things that seem to have completely nothing in common with one another, much like the human mind, yet when you piece all those random pieces together, you discover an amazing harmony that makes us who we are. It brings the whispers of our subconscious onto the surface, raises the question of just how much do we really know about us, about who and what we are, where we were, where we are and where we're headed? "You think you know... what's to come... what you are. You haven't even begun."



"The Body" - otherwise known as the episode without the score, and the interesting thing is that throughout the entire episode, you don't realize there is no musical score in the background. It is one of Joss' most personal episodes as his own mother is the inspiration for Buffy finding Joyce's body. But Joyce died from cancer, or medical complications; it was not supernatural, it was not magical. Her mother's death was a demon Buffy couldn't fight. She thought she could fight anything, but she could not fight this. Her only true link to reality, her mother, the source of everything unrelated to her being the Slayer, is now gone, and there was nothing she could do. Overshadowed by the catatonic effects of grief, Buffy's own dealing is explored, as well as that of the people around her, and her own coming to grips with her death when she suddenly refers to her mother as 'the body'.



"The Gift" - the season 5 finale that opens with Buffy's life flashing before our eyes and we already know how it's going to end. It begins with the entrance of the most important people in her life into her life: Angel, Willow, Xander, Giles, and then we see these people left behind after her death. Three years ago, Buffy faced the same choice she is facing now, she had to sacrifice a person she loved to save the world, and three years ago she did. Three years ago, Angel's blood stood between the world and its destruction, and now it is her sister's blood. There is only one problem – she can't do it again. Killing Angel scarred her for life and no matter how many oaths she takes to protect the world, killing Dawn will not be another thing on her conscience, and so… she goes for the other option, and she jumps. But the worst part is that she does not jump for the world, she jumps for herself. Her act of suicide renders the world without a Slayer and her loved ones without Buffy and it is as selfish as it gets. So the question that rises is… how much can we take, how far can we go before we burst, do we have the right to give up? "I sacrificed Angel to save the world," she tells Giles, "and I loved him so much. But I knew... what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world if these are the choices, if everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point."



"Once More with Feeling" - one of the first of season 6, it was an episode like no other. A musical with original songs and music written by Joss and co. and set within the Buffy universe, this episode even received its own premiere with attended guests. Once again filled with undertones, riddles and a heaven for psychoanalysis, this episode combines tragedy with comedy when the cheerful songs turn to discuss matters of death and darkness. These songs express everyone's innermost feelings and when too much is let out, the people spontaneously combust, and no one is immune, not even vampires or demons. This episode forces repressed issues out into the open and sets up the stage for the darkest season on Buffy. It explores death, heaven, hell, friendships, betrayals, selfishness, desire and despair. This would be the season of death and self-destruction not only for Buffy, who came back from the dead after being ripped out of heaven by her friends and is now psychologically a walking corpse, but also for Willow, and for Xander. Giles will be gone, and for the first time these children, now adults, will have to stand alone. And they will make mistakes, they will fall more times than they will rise, they will drift apart and cause each other pain and suffering, and all that is to be is discussed in a few cheerful original song numbers. "Say you're happy now… Once more with feeling."



"Normal Again" - a more psychological than most Buffy episodes, it deals with psychology and state of mind upfront rather than between the lines, like others do. In this one, due to circumstances, Buffy has retreated into a world of her own and is trapped in her own mind, in which she is in an asylum, to which her parents committed her after she told them who she was. While her friends try to bring her out of her unusual state, she continues to live a whole different life in the world of her mind, in which she thinks the real life as we know it is the result of her insanity, and all she has to do to be free is to admit there are no vampires, no demons, no Slayers. But without realizing what is happening, soon the lines between what real and what's not become more and more blurry and we are no longer sure which world is real – the one with the insane Buffy or the one with our Buffy? Even Buffy doesn't know as she repeatedly tries to sabotage her friends' attempts to heal her even up to the point where she really believes getting rid of them will bring back her sanity. "What's more real? A sick girl in an institution... or some kind of supergirl Chosen to fight demons and save the world?" The key is Buffy's death – one of the Buffy's has to go, they cannot coexist. The two worlds only break apart when the insane Buffy finally admits she was wrong and peacefully dies, only then our Buffy is released from the power of her mind, but still we are left with the inevitable question… which world was the real one, which one was in her mind and which one was outside her mind? There is no answer.



"Lies My Parents Told Me" - this episode explores the incredibly delicate affect our parents have on our lives from any given angle. Focusing on Buffy, who explores her relationship with Giles, her Watcher, mentor and unofficial father who loves her more than anything but like many parents, makes mistakes; on Spike, who explores his relationship with his mother who loved him with all her heart whom he turned into a vampire over a 100 years ago to save her and then killed her when he realized that as a vampire, his mother was gone and a demon was now wearing her face; and on Robin, the son of a Slayer who put her Calling above him and was eventually killed by Spike. These three different people grow up in the shadow of different types of parenting, and each leaves their mark on them in different ways, each, in a way, molds them into the people they would become, for better or worse. It raises questions of parental love, devotion, selfishness and selflessness; how far will a child go for their parent and how far will a parent go for their child, and most importantly, it explores the illusion of parenting and the things we refuse to see. It explored the lies our parents told us.



"Chosen" - the series finale, the final of the finals, the end of them all. Possibly the most powerful episode in the series, "Chosen" challenges everything the show has done before and, carried on the most powerful musical score and backed up by a memorable speech that encompasses 7 years of self-realization, the series ends in a bang. Bringing us back to "Welcome to the Hellmouth", mirroring the pivotal scenes of back when it all began, the episode reminds us that it has been 7 years in the making. Angel returns and the love that is still alive after all these years gives Buffy renewed strength and a promise of a joint future, as after 7 years of struggle she also finally makes her peace with herself and her Calling. Buffy thwarted prophecies before, she escaped inevitable death more than once, but now she takes on the very source of the Slayer power and challenges it in battle against the source of all evil. And according to her, we have the choice, every single one of us, and all we have to choose is whether we are ready to be strong. If we choose to be strong, we can face anything. Everyone comes full circle in "Chosen" and there are no more questions, no more uncertainties, except one; the only one that haunts each and every one of us every day of our lives, the one that comes with having a choice – "What are we gonna do now?"



So many episodes, so many unforgettable moments, and so much has been written about them all that me doing it again really has no point. Many are probably wondering, why didn’t I include this and this episode in my list, and the answer is – if I really put them all in, I would have over a 100, so I had to somehow narrow it down, even if I wish I could have included more. This blog is a tribute to the show as a whole, mostly because I've been thinking about it so much lately that I thought it was about time. I haven't really addressed it in years, so that was another reason.



It lasted for 7 years before it took its final bow. Not long for a TV show, some would say, but just long enough for Buffy because it was the amount of time Joss needed to realize his vision, and he realized it to the fullest and to the best. As for the world of filmmaking, it set records people to this day are unsuccessfully trying to break. It changed the face of the English language to such extent that not only repeatedly quoted until today, the show left numerous marks on everyday speech and even reshaped the Oxford Dictionary. Even people who have never seen a single episode will probably say they were affected by it one way or another. How could you not be affected by a show that mixed Shakespeare with demonology?



I was 15 years old when Buffy first aired in my place, only a year younger than Buffy herself, and so I grew up with her side by side, and after my parents, her life was my strongest influence. Like many countless others, this show taught me so much about life, love, myself, and everything in between, and it played an enormous part in forging the person I have become, a part I will always be grateful for, and I know I'm not the only one. I have Buffy to thank for learning to channel my creativity into web design, which eventually became one of my greatest passions, got me a job and money for college. I have Buffy to thank for expressing myself in writing for others to see because before I was writing serious original fiction, I was first writing Buffy fiction. But mostly I have Buffy to thank for making me a stronger and better person, one that doesn't give up even when the world sucks beyond any given imagination and one that fights for the things worth fighting for and chases dreams against all odds. I have Buffy to thank for me.

Mood: Nostalgic
Listening to: The Sundays - Wild Horses