Season 5 of Buffy signals a drastic tone shift for the series, as it switches from a light supernatural school show with some drama to a far darker supernatural drama that deals with being an adult, and it starts by making one of the gutsiest plot twists I've ever seen in a show, ultimately pulling it off.
The season premiere of Buffy's fifth season is pretty much genius, as it mostly seems like your average Buffy fare. There's no overarching villain or big resolutions, it's just a fun episode with Dracula and some witty banter. However, at the very end, we learn that Buffy suddenly has a sister, setting the stage for a drastically different season with a focus on family. While suddenly giving Buffy a sister may seem like a dumb continuity error, this was all intentional, as we learn that Buffy's new sister Dawn was cosmically inserted into reality, and is being pursued by the villainous hell god Glory. As a character, Dawn can be a bit annoying like any younger sister, but she does become more compelling as she learns more about her origins, and eventually I did start caring about her just like any other character. As for Glory, she's probably the show's best villain. Glory is one of those villains who just seems to enjoy being evil, her fight scenes with Buffy are great, and her larger-than-life personality is so much fun to watch. As for the rest of the cast, the show starts shifting away from college (and Riley), as the characters' relations to each other get far more focus. The season explores Anya's adjustment into the Scoobies, Giles' role as Buffy's watcher, Tara's relationship with Willow and the Scoobies as a whole, and especially Buffy's mother Joyce, who gets an entire storyline to herself culminating in her heartbreaking death.
Despite the generally darker tone, Season 5 of Buffy still knows how to have fun. There are plenty of goofy characters and moments like the Knights Of Byzantium, the Buffybot, Spike's crush on Buffy, and the aforementioned fight with Dracula. Similarly to Season 3, there's a great balance between creative standalone episodes and dramatic plot episodes, and the pacing is generally pretty strong. And as you'd expect from Buffy at this point, it manages to bring everything together for a stellar final episode, which even works fairly well as a series finale due to this originally being the final season. As for the weak points, Riley is probably the most glaring issue with the season. He was fine during the Initiative arc, but now, he just feels useless and I'm glad he was written out. On the other hand, I'm glad Anya got a lot more focus during the season, as she's an incredibly entertaining character who has a strong dynamic with the rest of the team.
Season 5 is chock-full of amazing episodes, so here are the highlights:
Family: This is only Tara-centric episode in the series (which kinda sucks), but at least it's a great one. It's always a compelling struggle when your parents want you to be something you're note, but all of Tara's friends coming to her defense against her parents is one of the sweetest moments in the show and pretty much solidifies her as member of the group.
Fool For Love: I have my issues with Buffy and Angel's flashback episodes as they tend to lack much plot progression or insights that warrant the usage of a flashback, but Fool For Love is my favorite because of its intriguing premise: How did Spike manage to kill two slayers? After his fairly light-hearted portrayal in Season 4, this is one of Spike's most badass episodes and serves as an impactful reminder that even though he's part of the team, he's still a vampire who can do whatever the hell he wants.
Blood Ties: This was probably the episode that made me warm up to Dawn, as seeing her reaction to learning she wasn't supposed to exist is easily one of the most heartbreaking moments in the show. Even if you found her annoying, you can't help but feel bad for the poor kid. It also solidifies Dawn's entertaining dynamic with Spike.
The Body: The Body probably isn't my favorite episode of the show (that's next season), it's definitely the best one for sure. After all of the supernatural melodrama, there's still nothing more devastating or terrifying than a natural death, and the exploration of how everyone deals with Joyce's death is as hard to watch as it is fascinating. Not to mention just how many iconic and impactful moments there are, there's that fifteen-minute-long take at the start of the episode, Tara and Willow's first on-screen kiss, that one terrifying vampire in the hospital, Xander punching the wall, and most heartbreaking of all, Anya's "fruit punch" speech that nearly drove me to tears. Easily one of the greatest episodes of TV ever made.
Intervention: Compared to later seasons, Spike's feelings for Buffy was played for a lot more comedy this season, and the Buffybot subplot resulted in just so many hilarious interactions. It was also super cool to see the First Slayer return, resolving some of the mysteries set up back in Restless.
Spiral: I liked the whole road trip aspect of this episode, and as goofy as the Knights Of Byzantium are, I'd be lying if I said the car chase with them wasn't insanely thrilling. I also loved the gut punch of an ending which had Dawn kidnapped, the knights brutally slaughtered, and Buffy left comatose.
The Gift: Another top-notch season ender that pretty much has it all. The final battle with Glory is easily one of the largest and most bombastic setpieces in the show, and Buffy's sacrifice for Dawn was a beautiful and heartbreaking scene to end of the season. Not to mention, Giles's shockingly brutal killing of Glory's counterpart Ben and Xander's heartwarming proposal to Anya.
Overall, Season 5 is hands-down one of the strongest seasons of the show, taking a bold move that paid off fairly well, while maintaining a nearly perfect balance of comedy, drama, and character.
5/5 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment