Sarah's Sober Second Thought Series: A Slow Death

[Primetimer]

Death is Buffy's gift -- and the writers gave it to themselves to end Season 5.

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[tv-is-addicting]

Highly anticipating a Sarah D. Bunting take one S6 S7. Especially knowing there will be no holding back on noxon. Although it wasn't entirely her; Maybe (?) partially the fact there was no standards and practices dept at UPN. No one accuses a network of improving a show's quality creatively but perhaps CW execs could've have maintains its original focus (I'm no prude but S and P would've kept the Spuffy intercourse less graphic/revolting). Cannot believe how much I enjoy A Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce armed with the knowledge MN is the showrunner

[tv-is-addicting]

to keep on topic; if I had known what the switch to UPN would create for the next two seasons - I would've stopped watching/or they could've ended on a high (low/sad) note with 'The Gift'.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Yeah, it's not going to be pretty. But interestingly (...I guess that's the term; heh), I'm finding in this Rewatch that certain things don't bug me as much anymore and other things drive me nuts that I never noticed before, etc. -- and it's becoming sadly clear that I don't so much care for Espenson episodes. Wish I hadn't looked under that rock, but here we are. (And the fact is, after this Rewatch, the chance of my revisiting this show again are slim to none.)

[tv-is-addicting]

You're absolutely dead on as usual. Jane's are always better on initial viewing - smart move to only go back once. Thanks to F/X and SMG's need for residual checks many of us have seen them 5 or or 6 times :(

[paramitch]

Beautiful look at Season 5, Sarah. You spotlighted so many of the moments that really were genuinely lovely or moving, as well as so many of the inconsistencies that drove many of us absolutely bonkers.

The season also held a promise of this kind of daffy humor that the show really needed more of (I still laugh just thinking about Buffy staking Dracula repeatedly because he kept recorporealizing until she got exasperated).

I agree that the lack of definition for Glory, as well as a lack of the Scooby Gang taking any kinds of its traditional thoughtfully researched or planned measures against her, was a major flaw. And it was such a cool idea for a villain! I especially loved the Janus-like nature of Ben/Glory -- I really think the writers could have done so much more with that. I remember being so interested in her as a villain and then she just never really happened. Ironically, in the end, I thought Joel Grey was far more interesting, scary and multifaceted as a villain (the scene in which he cuts Dawn while soothing her all the while is just horrifying).

The main thing I still resent with this episode (which I actually liked a lot, and which remains a high point for me for the show overall) is that they sneaked in such a huge retcon for Buffy -- "Dawn is the Key; the monks made Dawn out of me, so therefore I can serve the same purpose" -- when simply resolving it earlier with better writing would have been so much more satisfying! And taken very little extra work! Just a little thought and planning to make it all work. That's the part that bugs me.

And I just felt that the integration of Dawn with the storyline was, especially in retrospect, a huge mistake. I appreciated it as a creative gamble but as time went on I got more and more nervous as it became apparent they were never going to take it back, and we would be stuck with Skipper forever. And I just didn't think she fit -- I thought it was a really strange choice to bring in this "kid-sister" character just when the storylines started to get really freaking adult, making Dawn seem more like tacked-on audience bait than ever.

I don't mind the Spuffy stuff as much as many in S5, although I really hated where they took it (well, that, and most storylines) in Season 6. I'm really looking forward to your revisiting 6, since even thinking about most of it to this day still makes me insane.

 

ETA: Typos! Ack!

Edited February 13, 2015 by paramitch

[Zuleikha]

I really think the writers could have done so much more with that. I remember being so interested in her as a villain and then she just never really happened.

 

I'm not up on my behind-the-scenes Buffy stuff like I was in the height of fandom, but it always seemed like there was an intention for the season that got derailed and never fixed. I remember the rumor was that Ben and Glory were brother and sister gods, and I vaguely recall Ben having a line that explicitly suggested that relationship. It seemed like there was going to be some kind of Ben/Glory and Buffy/Dawn sibling parallelism that would be interesting, but then it never happened and Ben was just an unlucky victim. And of course, the pacing ended up being super weird with stakes never getting heightened until too late, and the final resolution never being set up. 

 

I think Clare Kramer's acting takes unfair heat for what was really bad writing. I thought she was appropriately scary and good in her scenes where she had something to do (like her mindsucking of Tara scene).

 

I appreciated it as a creative gamble but as time went on I got more and more nervous as it became apparent they were never going to take it back, and we would be stuck with Skipper forever.

I remember at the time having that same sinking feeling. I actually liked Dawn a lot during s5 and wanted her to stay (although s6 would soon make me regret that!), but I couldn't believe the writers never undid the memory spell. That was just too much for me to have to accept that the characters were okay with fake memories and everything I saw over the past four seasons would be different from what they remembered. I don't understand the choice either because it would have been so easy to do both, given Dawn's undefined key powers.

[Fat Elvis 007]

I actually never had a problem with the Scoobies never getting back their Dawnless memories. It never seemed like Dawn's insertion really changed that much about what we saw for the first four seasons. And it seemed right that the Scoobies wouldn't want to lose their memories of Dawn. To them, this person has always been around, so it makes sense to me that they wouldn't want to give that up.

[manbearpig]

Yeah, I don't think including Dawn in their memories changed that much, really. Probably the equivalent of that episode of Scrubs where Elizabeth Banks is introduced and she's just placed in the background of previous scenes because JD never noticed her before. Like Buffy, Willow and Xander's memory of the time they watched that Bollywood movie is probably pretty much the same, except with Dawn bugging them once and a while throughout the night. Maybe there were a lot of differences though.

 

A bit more focus on how everyone felt to have their mind altered would have been nice, but maybe they already planned on the Willow/Tara season six storyline and thought that would have made Willow look even worse. Y'know, not just horrible for violating Tara, but hypocritical because she didn't like having Dawn inserted into her own memories...

Edited February 17, 2015 by manbearpig

[satrunrose]

 

Ironically, in the end, I thought Joel Grey was far more interesting, scary and multifaceted as a villain (the scene in which he cuts Dawn while soothing her all the while is just horrifying).

 

While I agree that Joel Grey's character is a lot more frightening and impressive than Glory, his appearance is one of the big reasons why I really dislike "The Gift". There are a lot of really great moments in that episode. "We few we happy few", Giles killing Ben (a big moment that has no payoff or fallout in season 6), Joel Grey's creepiness and the excellent shot when the Scoobies find Buffy's body (ASH and JM are particularly amazing). These really cool moments just highlight the flaws though. The plot makes very little sense and "Doc" appearing out of nowhere (for the last 10 minutes of the episode) when we saw him for all of 5 minutes mid-season and wanting to pull the world into Hell comes for reasons unknown is just so random I can't enjoy the good parts as much. 

[cheezwhiz346]

"Why is it okay for Giles to kill Ben, doing it because Buffy "can't," because she's a hero..."

Yeah, even without all the slain knights, I don't get this. I mean, I love when Giles kills Ben, and I think that's totally in-character for Giles to do. I just don't get how 'Buffy can't kill Ben because she's a hero'--especially on top of her statements about protecting Dawn from the other scoobies earlier in the episode--is an actual line of reasoning. Yes, Buffy is a superhero and there's a mythology there and stories to be told, but so much of BtVS was about breaking down the aspects of mythology that didn't make a lot of sense, and undercutting them in a way while still telling a compelling superhero story with its own mythology. Maybe Giles just meant that Buffy had a part to play in this battle and killing an innocent was not meant for her, but still... again, even without the knights, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I'm fine with Giles killing Ben and Buffy refusing to do so, but Giles' reasoning just didn't need to be in there (though it did add creepiness to the overall moment, I thought).

[AndySmith]

I think it's because Ben was "pretty". Pretty people can only be killed when they become evil. Uglies can be killed whenever, because, well, they're fug.