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Buffy season 7
Last whole month was excessively busy at work, we ended up working even during weekends and the national holiday... This week's much easier, I took Wednesday off and decided to get paid for the other days I had worked extra (rather than use them as additional holidays).
Anyway, I hadn't had the chance all last month to write my commentary on the final season of Buffy -- here goes.
Thoughts (and ways to improve) on Season 7 of Buffy -- MAJOR SPOILERS
Season 7 of Buffy suffered IMO from several plotting issues. Plot points were either underused, overused, and above all they were unconnected with each other.
I don't have any problem with the story direction as a whole -- the very opposite: the First Evil, the destruction of the Watcher's Council, the awakening of hundreds of Slayers worldwide, tying all this with the creation of the First Slayer, the closing of the hellmouth and Sunnydale's destruction. These are all perfect as concepts. But as I said, major badness in the way the writers connected them. This season was under-plotted.
Examples given below, alongside with the way that *I* would have chosen to do them, if I was plotting the season:
- SPIKE
The main problem with Spike in this season is that they've added too many unconnected elements affecting him -- He has his soul, he has the microchip, he has the trigger implanted in him by the First Evil.
Here's where the multiplication of needless unrelated plot points begins, to such extent that they end up treating it as a joke even within the series. The trigger should have been bloody well implanted him by the Initiative *via* the microchip. That would have perfect sense as the Initiative wasn't only seeking to restrain monsters but to actively control them. The First Evil ought have merely been *activating* the trigger that the Initiative installed: that the First Evil is dependent in such a way on using the evil that humans commit would not only have made perfect plotting sense, it would have made thematic sense as well -- and put an ironic twist on the idea of the First Evil being, you know, the *First* Evil. It may have been First but its persistence is only because the million other evils committed by people after it.
Plus you know -- further irony: The microchip that had been forcing Spike not to do evil when he was lacking a soul being the very same thing that was leading him to do evil when he now possessed a soul and no longer needed it.
Speaking of souls, a second problem with the portrayal of an ensouled Spike, is that the writers had been pretty much writing him as if he had had a soul from at least the 5th season onwards, where he was already prepared to risk unlife and limb for the sake of Buffy and Dawn. So, unlike the Angelus/Angel contrast, this simply isn't. Of course it's not even meant to be -- even from the 2nd season we knew that while Angelus was "pure" in his demonicity, Spike was "tainted" with love.
But still. The presence of a soul in Spike is very weakly perceived in the 7th season in comparison to what had come before. Some great lines of course: "Angel should have warned me [...] They put the spark in me, and all it does is burn!" but on the whole it's just bleh. When near the end of the finale, the amulet is activated and he says "My soul - I can really feel it!" this is pretty much meaningless, because he hasn't been doing much of anything that indicated its presence.
Here's how I would partially rectify this part of the finale (besides rewriting the whole of seasons 5 & 6 to make Spike more dangerous, more demonic, and more all-around psychopathic): In the final fight, have one or two of the slayers (perhaps even Faith herself) tumble over the edge -- when Spike catches them just in time. As they dangle, Buffy is stabbed (same as in the actual finale) the First Evil taunting her and one of the uber-vamps going for the kill. Spike sees all that but he can't go to Buffy's rescue because he can't let the people he's holding drop to their deaths, these strangers. Anguish, etc for a handful seconds, should he let them drop -- and then he makes the correct choice and turns his attention back to the people he's holding and helps them up.
And with that action, the action he *couldn't* have made without a soul -- namely sacrificing the life of one he loved for the sake of the life of stranger -- the amulet is activated, and the ubervamps are destroyed.
It's the only really meaningful sacrifice the writers could have had Spike make -- showing him willing to let Buffy die. His own "death" was meaningless because he was bloody well willing to let himself die for Buffy's and Dawn's sake even back when he was *soulless*, in season 5.
- WATCHER'S COUNCIL, SLAYER LORE, and CALEB.
Oy, the poor watchers' council, glimpsed only to see it go kaboom, without even a proper sendoff. The underuse and misuse of the Watchers' council has been horrible throughout much of the series, but it's *especially* not made any sense at all since season 5. There was one particular bad episode in season 5 when Buffy and the Watchers' council reestablish their alliance - on Buffy's own terms. Did that episode somehow drop out of reality? Is it non-canon? Hopefully! Because if the Watchers' Council had been since that ep again an ally of Buffy, it'd make no sense at all that she'd have the monetary problems in season 6 we saw her have.
The watcher's council, underused and misused - both before their destruction and after it, alas, alas. I've already described in my last Buffy post of one major way the Watcher's Council ought have been used -- with their traditional task of fighting supernatural evil throughout the world to protect humanity, it'd have made perfect sense if in season 5 it had been a splinter group of the Watchers' Council that had been hunting after Dawn (instead of the Knights that said Key).
And in season 7, what would have made perfect sense was if Caleb had been a member of the Watchers' Council. *That* would have explained a) how the First Evil was able to know of the locations of potential Slayers (to be murdered) throughout the world, b) that Caleb was able to plant the bomb that took it out, c) that Caleb both knew of and had managed to secure a Slayer artifact (the Scythe) that even the Slayers themselves didn't know of.
Just one tiny tidbit: Caleb being a member of the Watchers' Council, and it'd have explained all those plotpoints that currently stand a) unexplained, b) unexplained c) bizarre, deus-ex-machiney, and unexplained.
After the Council's destruction, have Caleb alone escape with the half-buried Scythe (he chooses to salvage the tool of power from the council's vault) and have Giles salvage that shadow-theater thingy instead (he chooses to salvage an instrument of *knowledge* instead).
- THE AWAKENING OF THE SLAYERS
There's no sense in Buffy figuring out that all the slayers can be awakened at the same time. She has no real knowledge of how the scythe's magic works whatsoever.
It ought be Willow that realizes this thing can be done, or at least Willow in combination with Buffy. And it ought be made possible only through the Scythe as it is shedding Willow's willing lifeblood, a requirement that Willow didn't let Buffy know was necessary.
Blood activated the statue in the finale of season 2; and Angel's life demanded to close it. Blood was what opened the dimensional gates in the finale of Season 5 and closed them up again. Blood is what opened up the door to the hellmouth in season 7. As Spike said it's always about the blood. And as *I* say, it should always be about the sacrifice.
Willow doesn't need to die. But in order to unlock the Slayer's power she need be absolutely convinced that she's going to die. So, here's the rough draft of how I'm sort of envisioning this scene:
(Willow with her hands on the scythe, mystical energy coursing through her, she chanting over it, etc... suddenly she seems to slow down and pause)
Kennedy> (Worried) Is something wrong?
Willow> (sad) Nothing's wrong. Nothing. Prevent! (magical barrier appears around Willow)
Xander> Wil!?
Willow> Don't blame Buffy for this. She had no idea this would be necessary. But it's always about the blood.
Xander and Kennedy together> Wil, NO!
(as Willow suddenly impales herself on the scythe, a magical burst of energy floods the room -- followed by Buffy's flashback explanation of awakening Slayers worldwide -- after some scenes of fighting down in the hellmouth, we return to Willow -- where Kennedy and Xander have been trying to take the scythe away from Willow but the force-field repels them)
Willow> I love you guys. (To Xander) You taught me to love. (To Kennedy) You showed me I hadn't forgotten. Thank you.
Kennedy> We would have found another way, damn you!
Willow> No other way. Too much power needed. Too much power in me. Never used to balance it properly. I killed a deer for Buffy's resurrection. That's where the whole thing started. My fault.
Xander> (pacing frantically, and his voice verging on hysteria) Willow -- it was Buffy! I'd have made that choice in a heartbeat!
Willow> (voice fading) My point exactly... too easy a choice... but only life we're allowed to sacrifice... is our own... (she seems to be dying, her eyes rolling backwards, and the shimmer of the force-field fading)
Kennedy> Willow!
Xander> No. NO! (He rushes forward and impales himself on the scythe as well from the other side -- there's another burst of light and both Willow and Xander are knocked backwards, the scythe dropping on the floor in the middle)
Willow> (Looks at her wound closing) What?
Xander> (Who looks unharmed as well) I'm alive?
Willow> You're an idiot.
Kennedy> You're both idiots!
Willow> (Smiles) And you're a vampire-slayer. (Nods towards the scythe) Take that to Buffy. I think we'll be okay.
Anyway, I hadn't had the chance all last month to write my commentary on the final season of Buffy -- here goes.
Thoughts (and ways to improve) on Season 7 of Buffy -- MAJOR SPOILERS
Season 7 of Buffy suffered IMO from several plotting issues. Plot points were either underused, overused, and above all they were unconnected with each other.
I don't have any problem with the story direction as a whole -- the very opposite: the First Evil, the destruction of the Watcher's Council, the awakening of hundreds of Slayers worldwide, tying all this with the creation of the First Slayer, the closing of the hellmouth and Sunnydale's destruction. These are all perfect as concepts. But as I said, major badness in the way the writers connected them. This season was under-plotted.
Examples given below, alongside with the way that *I* would have chosen to do them, if I was plotting the season:
- SPIKE
The main problem with Spike in this season is that they've added too many unconnected elements affecting him -- He has his soul, he has the microchip, he has the trigger implanted in him by the First Evil.
Here's where the multiplication of needless unrelated plot points begins, to such extent that they end up treating it as a joke even within the series. The trigger should have been bloody well implanted him by the Initiative *via* the microchip. That would have perfect sense as the Initiative wasn't only seeking to restrain monsters but to actively control them. The First Evil ought have merely been *activating* the trigger that the Initiative installed: that the First Evil is dependent in such a way on using the evil that humans commit would not only have made perfect plotting sense, it would have made thematic sense as well -- and put an ironic twist on the idea of the First Evil being, you know, the *First* Evil. It may have been First but its persistence is only because the million other evils committed by people after it.
Plus you know -- further irony: The microchip that had been forcing Spike not to do evil when he was lacking a soul being the very same thing that was leading him to do evil when he now possessed a soul and no longer needed it.
Speaking of souls, a second problem with the portrayal of an ensouled Spike, is that the writers had been pretty much writing him as if he had had a soul from at least the 5th season onwards, where he was already prepared to risk unlife and limb for the sake of Buffy and Dawn. So, unlike the Angelus/Angel contrast, this simply isn't. Of course it's not even meant to be -- even from the 2nd season we knew that while Angelus was "pure" in his demonicity, Spike was "tainted" with love.
But still. The presence of a soul in Spike is very weakly perceived in the 7th season in comparison to what had come before. Some great lines of course: "Angel should have warned me [...] They put the spark in me, and all it does is burn!" but on the whole it's just bleh. When near the end of the finale, the amulet is activated and he says "My soul - I can really feel it!" this is pretty much meaningless, because he hasn't been doing much of anything that indicated its presence.
Here's how I would partially rectify this part of the finale (besides rewriting the whole of seasons 5 & 6 to make Spike more dangerous, more demonic, and more all-around psychopathic): In the final fight, have one or two of the slayers (perhaps even Faith herself) tumble over the edge -- when Spike catches them just in time. As they dangle, Buffy is stabbed (same as in the actual finale) the First Evil taunting her and one of the uber-vamps going for the kill. Spike sees all that but he can't go to Buffy's rescue because he can't let the people he's holding drop to their deaths, these strangers. Anguish, etc for a handful seconds, should he let them drop -- and then he makes the correct choice and turns his attention back to the people he's holding and helps them up.
And with that action, the action he *couldn't* have made without a soul -- namely sacrificing the life of one he loved for the sake of the life of stranger -- the amulet is activated, and the ubervamps are destroyed.
It's the only really meaningful sacrifice the writers could have had Spike make -- showing him willing to let Buffy die. His own "death" was meaningless because he was bloody well willing to let himself die for Buffy's and Dawn's sake even back when he was *soulless*, in season 5.
- WATCHER'S COUNCIL, SLAYER LORE, and CALEB.
Oy, the poor watchers' council, glimpsed only to see it go kaboom, without even a proper sendoff. The underuse and misuse of the Watchers' council has been horrible throughout much of the series, but it's *especially* not made any sense at all since season 5. There was one particular bad episode in season 5 when Buffy and the Watchers' council reestablish their alliance - on Buffy's own terms. Did that episode somehow drop out of reality? Is it non-canon? Hopefully! Because if the Watchers' Council had been since that ep again an ally of Buffy, it'd make no sense at all that she'd have the monetary problems in season 6 we saw her have.
The watcher's council, underused and misused - both before their destruction and after it, alas, alas. I've already described in my last Buffy post of one major way the Watcher's Council ought have been used -- with their traditional task of fighting supernatural evil throughout the world to protect humanity, it'd have made perfect sense if in season 5 it had been a splinter group of the Watchers' Council that had been hunting after Dawn (instead of the Knights that said Key).
And in season 7, what would have made perfect sense was if Caleb had been a member of the Watchers' Council. *That* would have explained a) how the First Evil was able to know of the locations of potential Slayers (to be murdered) throughout the world, b) that Caleb was able to plant the bomb that took it out, c) that Caleb both knew of and had managed to secure a Slayer artifact (the Scythe) that even the Slayers themselves didn't know of.
Just one tiny tidbit: Caleb being a member of the Watchers' Council, and it'd have explained all those plotpoints that currently stand a) unexplained, b) unexplained c) bizarre, deus-ex-machiney, and unexplained.
After the Council's destruction, have Caleb alone escape with the half-buried Scythe (he chooses to salvage the tool of power from the council's vault) and have Giles salvage that shadow-theater thingy instead (he chooses to salvage an instrument of *knowledge* instead).
- THE AWAKENING OF THE SLAYERS
There's no sense in Buffy figuring out that all the slayers can be awakened at the same time. She has no real knowledge of how the scythe's magic works whatsoever.
It ought be Willow that realizes this thing can be done, or at least Willow in combination with Buffy. And it ought be made possible only through the Scythe as it is shedding Willow's willing lifeblood, a requirement that Willow didn't let Buffy know was necessary.
Blood activated the statue in the finale of season 2; and Angel's life demanded to close it. Blood was what opened the dimensional gates in the finale of Season 5 and closed them up again. Blood is what opened up the door to the hellmouth in season 7. As Spike said it's always about the blood. And as *I* say, it should always be about the sacrifice.
Willow doesn't need to die. But in order to unlock the Slayer's power she need be absolutely convinced that she's going to die. So, here's the rough draft of how I'm sort of envisioning this scene:
(Willow with her hands on the scythe, mystical energy coursing through her, she chanting over it, etc... suddenly she seems to slow down and pause)
Kennedy> (Worried) Is something wrong?
Willow> (sad) Nothing's wrong. Nothing. Prevent! (magical barrier appears around Willow)
Xander> Wil!?
Willow> Don't blame Buffy for this. She had no idea this would be necessary. But it's always about the blood.
Xander and Kennedy together> Wil, NO!
(as Willow suddenly impales herself on the scythe, a magical burst of energy floods the room -- followed by Buffy's flashback explanation of awakening Slayers worldwide -- after some scenes of fighting down in the hellmouth, we return to Willow -- where Kennedy and Xander have been trying to take the scythe away from Willow but the force-field repels them)
Willow> I love you guys. (To Xander) You taught me to love. (To Kennedy) You showed me I hadn't forgotten. Thank you.
Kennedy> We would have found another way, damn you!
Willow> No other way. Too much power needed. Too much power in me. Never used to balance it properly. I killed a deer for Buffy's resurrection. That's where the whole thing started. My fault.
Xander> (pacing frantically, and his voice verging on hysteria) Willow -- it was Buffy! I'd have made that choice in a heartbeat!
Willow> (voice fading) My point exactly... too easy a choice... but only life we're allowed to sacrifice... is our own... (she seems to be dying, her eyes rolling backwards, and the shimmer of the force-field fading)
Kennedy> Willow!
Xander> No. NO! (He rushes forward and impales himself on the scythe as well from the other side -- there's another burst of light and both Willow and Xander are knocked backwards, the scythe dropping on the floor in the middle)
Willow> (Looks at her wound closing) What?
Xander> (Who looks unharmed as well) I'm alive?
Willow> You're an idiot.
Kennedy> You're both idiots!
Willow> (Smiles) And you're a vampire-slayer. (Nods towards the scythe) Take that to Buffy. I think we'll be okay.