Season 6 is an incredibly messy, divisive, and dark season, as it deals with depression, splits up its cast, and generally has some of the darkest moments in the show. Not all of it works, but when it does, it works brilliantly.
Buffy's sixth season mostly revolves around Buffy being dragged out of heaven and the depression that comes with having to lead such a complicated adult life on her own. Buffy spends most of the season depressed, and it can be hard to watch at times, but Sarah Michelle Geller acts her heart out here and her general character arc of overcoming depression is incredibly powerful and resonant. She also needs to get a job and start taking care of Joyce's house, which is fairly compelling but could still have been explored more. Buffy ends up dating Spike early on in the season, but their relationship is abusive on both sides, and its ugly fallout causes Spike to realize he needs a soul like Angel and Buffy to realize that Spike had been dragging her further down into depression. I like that Spike and Buffy's relationship was as much of a disaster as it was, but it left me completely abandoning my interest in them getting together. Willow has a character arc about getting addicted to magic which was fairly Anvillous at times, but it results in her becoming the villain in the last few episodes after Tara's death causes her to snap. Personally, I loved this Dark Wllow story arc, even if Tara's death was pretty blatant Bury Your Gays. There's also Giles leaving Buffy alone, Xander realizing he's not ready to marry Anya, and Dawn's kleptomania, which all show that this season is far more character-driven than the others. Not all of these storylines are handled the most gracefully, but I like that the defacto villain of the season is life itself. As a result, to this day, I think Season 6 is still one of the best depictions of how difficult it can be to adjust to adulthood.
While I did say that the conflict of Season 6 is based around the characters, there is still a technical villain in The Trio, a group of nerds from previous seasons that band together to do crimes. I don't love The Trio, but I admire just how well they aged. The kind of toxic masculinity and sexism that Andrew, Jonathon, and especially Warren show throughout this season was rarely addressed at the time, so it's neat to see such a negative depiction of them. Despite not being world-ending threats, they're still just as terrifying as any other villain, especially when Warren waltzes onto Buffy's backyard with a gun. Generally, Season 6 is dark and grim and tough to watch, but the show does a solid job of adding in some humor every once in a while. Not all of the attempts work (Doublemeat Palace especially), but Season 6 still manages to include some of the show's best and funniest episodes, especially the one-two punch of Once More With Feeling and Tabula Rasa. Speaking of which:
Once More With Feeling: Easily one of the best musical episodes of time, Once More With Feeling's music, while not spectacular, is entirely original and packed with witty lines and memorable moments of humor. The whole episode is just so much fun throughout, though they also manage to progress the plot by having everyone reveal their secrets in a similar fashion to Hush.
Tabula Rasa: Tabula Rasa is my favorite Buffy episode of them all, or at least it's more rewatchable than The Body. I'm not a fan of amnesia storylines, but the collective amnesia in this episode leads to thirty minutes of pure, unadulterated hilarity, both in the dialogue and everyone's acting. But I also love how all that humor was just a distraction for that gut punch of a final montage. Oh, and there's a literal loan shark. Comedy gold!
Normal Again: Is Buffy really hallucinating the events of the series? No, of course not. But it's fun to imagine, and it's rare for a show to explore these bizarre theories just for the hell of it. I also like how the storyline factors into Buffy's depressive state, along with the ambiguous ending just to have extra fun with the audience.
Seeing Red: Seeing Red is probably, objectively, the most reprehensible episode of Buffy. Not only does it have a very hard to watch attempted rape scene, but it also Buries A Gay with Tara's death. I totally understand if you utterly despise this episode, but I always had a fondness for Seeing Red, at least thematically. It's a really relentless episode with a rapid fire of devastating moments, wild twists, and a complete and utter destruction of the status quo. The aforementioned rape scene didn't really feel like it was there for shock value, it was a necessary moment for Spike to really crosses the line, really hammering home that his relationship with Buffy is completely toxic and unsustainable, and that the best thing for both of them is to stay far away from each other. As for Tara's death, it's definitely up there as one of the most shameless "Fuck you, Whedon" moments in the entire Buffyverse, and sets up one of my personal favorite character arcs in the series (the Dark Willow arc). So for all its flaws and clunkiness, Seeing Red is and has always been a bit of a classic.
Villains: Even though Willow snapped last episode, I like how Villains doesn't just have her immediately switch to a villain. Rather, she slowly isolates herself from her friends and seeks darker and darker methods of punishment until that shocking final scene where she flays Warren alive, solidifying her turn to a bad guy and etching the term "bored now" into my brain for the rest of my life.
Grave: This is generally one of the messier finales, but it's still a pretty strong ending to the season. Giles returns, The Magic Box is destroyed, and we learn that Spike's goal was to get a soul. I'm not a fan of how it sidelined Buffy herself, but the fact that it was Xander who defeated Dark Willow through friendship alone was such a great moment for the character. And between Willow finally facing her grief and Buffy finally overcoming her depression, this was a fittingly satisfying and heartwarming finale.
Overall, Season 6 is a bit of a mess, but it's a compelling mess with tons of creative storylines, mature themes, and a hell of a lot to say. Not all of its risks end up paying off, but the fact that most of this season manages to resonate as well as it does is a testament to its quality.
4/5 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment