It's What's On The Inside That Doesn't Count

With each season comes a new Big Bad, and season 5 brings Glory, a blonde haired beauty with a god's powers and a lunatic's temperament. Glory has a secret, however. She is also unassuming Ben (from the hospital.) As we learn later (after the episodes we've watched so far), Ben is an innocent in all of Glory's evil plans and doings. Unfortunately, Ben's innocence doesn't protect Buffy or Dawn. When Dawn confesses her identity to Ben ("Blood Ties"), she opens herself up to danger (and not just from the soon-to-appear Glory.) Once Ben knows who Dawn is, he is faced with a choice of how to proceed.

Dawn's storyline also progresses in these three episodes. With Riley gone, Buffy can focus her attention on protecting the Key (Dawn) from Glory. In the season 5 featurette on the DVD, the writers talk about how Dawn is Buffy's love interest in season 5, and Buffy certainly does shift most of her emotional energy to sister, even as she tries to take care of her ailing mother. Buffy sees Dawn as an innocent, regardless of the fact that she isn't really her sister. The origins of Dawn's inner power are irrelevant to Buffy. She sees only the innocent young girl.

Both Dawn and Ben are beings created to house a powerful force. Neither is completely aware or understands the power that they contain. Regardless of what their inner force does (in the case of Ben's inner Glory) or is capable of (Dawn as the Key), Dawn and Ben are seen as separate from the forces. Dawn and Ben possess no free will regarding the forces inside them and, therefore, are not held responsible for the actions/repurcussions of these inner beings. This seems to be a recurring theme in Buffy: Actions/appearances can only be judged as evil if you intentionally choose evil for evil's sake. The flip side of this rule is applied to Riley, who despite his conflicted feelings about Buffy, is judged in the wrong by the Slayer because of his choice to be serviced by vampire prostitutes. Even though Xander convinces Buffy to show him mercy, Riley is ultimately judged guilty by the gods of the Buffyverse (or at least the writers) as he and Buffy miss each other, and he flies away.

The Hard, Crunchy Shell With A Soft, Gooey Center

In BtVS, things are rarely how they appear. Angel is a vampire, but he's good. The mayor embraces a surface morality, but he's bad. It is not simply that the line between good and evil is blurred. Good and evil are often reversed in that appearances mean very little. In the Buffyverse, it is not so much who you are or what what you do, as it is what your motives are and whether or not you have free will.

Initially, in "Buffy vs. Dracula," the Scooby Gang is slightly star struck by the appearance of the infamous Dracula. Upon encountering him, they seem not so much afraid as wanting to ask for an autograph. Whether their awe is strictly from Dracula's mind trip or actual hero worship remains unclear. Whatever the case, Buffy and Xander are soon in Dracula's "thrall." Before the episode is over, Xander has led Buffy to Dracula, and she has not only allowed Drac to bite her, but also sucked his blood. Ultimately, however, she comes to her senses and defeats him. Neither Buffy nor Xander is held accountable for their actions since they were under the control of the legendary blood-sucker. The fact that they (or at least Buffy) did the "right" thing in the end seemed to erase her earlier wavering allegiances (a fact that it might serve Buffy to remember later with Riley (see 5.10 "Into The Woods.")

In "No Place Like Home," Buffy learns that Dawn is not really her sister. It is not revealed to her whether the "Key" (Dawn) is actually an evil force or good. Buffy, instead, looks at the surface innocence of the young girl/sister that she sees. This would seem to fly in the face of what I said earlier about appearances and motives, except that Dawn, in essence, lacks free will. She had no choice in becoming the human embodiment of this force. Her lack of choice equals innocence in the Buffyverse, and Buffy decides to protect her at all costs.

The final episode for Tuesday, "Fool for Love," explores the history of Spike, arguably the most morally ambigious character in Seasons 4 and 5. From the beginning of the series, we have been told that Spike was evil, highly entertaining, but evil. Since the addition of the Initiative's chip into his brain, however, he has lost the ability to commit physical acts of violence against humans. Though he can still cause michief (see "The Yoko Factor"), his efficacy as top vampire baddie has slipped. With the revelation of Spike's past, pre-vampire life, his actions (even the evil ones) become tempered by his personal hardships. As we learn more about what makes Spike tick, we become less convinced of his baddie status. Even when he decides to brave the pain and kill Buffy, he is completely disarmed when he finds her in a puddle of tears. So is Spike bad? His latest actions say "no", but his black leather duster says "yes."

Three is Company, Four is a Scooby Gang

From the beginning of BtVS, we have seen the Scoobies unite as a gathering of loners. Prior to Buffy's arrival in Sunnydale, each was a loner in his or her own way. Buffy was alone because of her secret. Willow and Xander, though friends with each other, were still loners in that they were on the outside socially. Giles was alone in a country that wasn't his own, working in a job(s) that facilitated an isolated lifestyle (Watcher and librarian.) After the core Scooby group was formed, it became clear that there was power in their union. Alone each became smaller and unsure, but together they defeated every Big Bad that came through Sunnydale. Repeatedly, we've been shown that what each one seems to fear most is separation from the group and the connection and identity it provides.

The three episodes we watched for Thursday echo the theme that there is power in the Scoobies' numbers. Beginning in "The Yoko Factor," Adam and Spike recognize that Buffy's weakness is in separation from the group, and Spike works to divide them by playing on their insecurities. When the four quarrel, work comes to a standstill, and the bad guys make headway. Buffy is left baffled by the group's strange behavior and in a temper exclaims that she now understands why there's no prophecy about a slayer and her friends (a reference that comes into play in "Restless.")

The feuding Scoobies are reunited in "Primeval" when they finally recognize Spike's whisperings for what they are: clever plays on their tender places. As the fight against the Initiative culminates, it is only by uniting in a powerful spell that they are able to defeat Adam. Buffy alone was unable to fight him. Despite her friends' worries that they were superflous or irrelevant, they were, indeed, necessary and invaluable.

Their moment of sublime (or demonic) union arouses the spirit of the first Slayer, and "Restless," the season 4 finale, follows the four Scoobies' dreams as they fight the first Slayer's attempts to kill them. Though each has very different dreams, they spend much of their time searching for each other within their dreams. Once again, it is only through the dreams' internal conversations between the friends that Buffy is able to decipher the dream and fight off the first Slayer. While I am certain that the creepy, crazy guy with the cheese slices was suggestive of something that is to come, he also seems significant in that he was in all four dreams. Even in their separate dreams, the Scoobies are united. Together they are an unstoppable force that gives Buffy her distinctive power. After all, she has lived longer than the other previous slayers mentioned in the show.

Monsters Inc.

The three episodes we watched for Tuesday share the common image of the monster within. Regardless of how good or innocent someone might seem, their appearance is only a veneer. They are still capable of evil. In "A New Man," Giles' inner monster comes out, and soon he is loping around Sunnydale, hiding his new demon form and speaking in a demon tongue. His transformation serves as a metaphor for his checkered past returning to haunt him in the form of past pal, Ethan Rayne. Giles may be Buffy's goody-two-shoes, former watcher, but he has also dabbled in dark magic. His new demon self is forced to form an alliance with the ambivalent Spike, their kinship another symptom of his transformation. Ultimately, Giles is unable to save himself and must rely on Buffy to recognize him and save him.

In "Goodbye Iowa," Riley must face the monster within as he comes to realize that he has been Maggie's pawn. She has been pumping him full of drugs that have been manipulating him. Not only is his inner monster emerging, but he has for some time been unaware of his own complicity in the process. Later, Adam says that he and Riley are the same. It's not until a later episode that Riley is able to "extract" the monster from within. Unlike Giles, he is able to save himself.

Oz returns in "New Moon Rising." Perhaps no one better emobodies the metaphor of monster within than Oz, with his struggle to control his inner werewolf. When he gets back to Sunnydale, he explains to Willow that he can now control his monthly werewolf flares. When he realizes that Willow and Tara are a couple, he loses control and transforms, nearly killing Tara. Once again, Whedon and his writers revisit the idea I discussed in a previous blog entry where the tenor of the metaphor (Oz's jealousy of Willow) is more frightening or dangerous than the vehicle (Oz as werewolf).

The Sound of Music And Other Evils...

The first paragraph of my blog is specifically for Dr. Berry. He mentioned that he wanted us to comment on the music in "Hush." Since there was no speaking through most of the episode, music became an even more important part of the show than usual. I thought that the whole episode had a very Tim Burton feel, and the music certainly had that same eerie effect that Danny Elfman always achieves in Burton's films. Lots of strings, lots of pizzicato. I wonder why plucking a stringed instrument makes the music sound creepier? I also loved that Giles played Saint Saens' Danse Macabre during his overhead projector presentation.

The four episodes we watched for Thursday share a common underlying element: the Initiative. Once again, the writers seem to be pointing to a distince distaste for forced hierarchies. The Initiative could easily stand in as a metaphor for organized religion or any form of enforced morality. Buffy seems to managing the usual Sunnydale influx of evil just fine when the Initiative moves into town. Immediately, the viewer is confronted with the ethical questions surrounding the Initiatives' practices. The standard Buffy blurring of good and evil occurs as we see bad guy Spike at odds with his captors. We root for his escape. Never mind that he's tried to kill Buffy countless times. He's being imprisoned, and we feel the wrongness of it. What makes it feel so wrong? Perhaps it is the experimentation that goes on in the underground lab.

The Initiative's practices contrast sharply with Buffy's upfront killing style. She has a live-and-let-live attitude that means the demons are only in danger if they cause trouble. Somehow, Buffy's way of defending Sunnydale just feels more moral. When Buffy joins the Initiative in "The I in Team," her usefulness as the Slayer is hampered by their regulations and practices. The good/evil line is blurred beyond all recognition when Professor Walsh takes a walk on the dark side and attempts to have Buffy killed. Ultimately, forcing a structure/hierarchy on Buffy makes her less effective, not more.

All Grown Up And No Place To Go

The three episodes we watched for Tuesday emphasized Buffy's "in-between" status (not a child, not quite and adult) that was mentioned in our reading (Ch 16, Fighting The Forces.) Though Buffy is finally free from high school and the daily meddling of her mother, she seems trapped by a prison of her own making: insecurity. She may be a beautiful, demon butt-kicking Slayer, but she is overwhelmed at every turn by college life (both social and academic.) Our reading would seem to suggest, however, that her uncertainty as she navigates the path to adulthood is what keeps her aware of evil and how to defeat it. Though these episodes don't deal specifically with fairty tales like the examples in the reading, they do explore evils that Buffy must defeat specifically because she is in that in-between stage.

In "Living Conditions," Buffy must get pass the infamous college hurdle of The Roommate. While Kathy at first seems like a harmless, goody-two-shoes and Buffy like a spoiled, only child, it soon becomes clear that there is something darker going on in their massive dorm room. Though Buffy's reactions to Kathy are heightened by the soul-stealing process, the end of the episode shows that Buffy does, in fact, have a little trouble with sharing. If she had not possessed this arguably childish trait, she might have remained unaware of what Kathy (who is actually a demon) is up to during the night. Though Buffy has entered a form of the adult world (college), her connection to her still recent childhood is ultimately what saves her in this episode.

Buffy gets a taste of adulthood in "The Harsh Light of Day." As Willow reminds her, she is grown up and can do what she wants with regard to guys. She pursues and is pursued by Parker, who deceives her. After sleeping with him, she realizes that he is not what he seemed at first. Her disillusionment is a very adult experience. Her reaction, however, seems more childlike as she finds and questions and Parker, seeming more sad and hurt than angry. Her childlike vulnerability and willingness to blame herself serves as a sharp contrast, not only to her Slayer-self, but also to the adult situation in which she has placed herself.

"Fear Itself" seemed to me like a transitional episode in Buffy's personal development. The college Halloween party falls easily into the more childish end of the spectrum. The gang is dressed in costumes, and they are looking for fun. After the fear demon starts wreaking havoc, though, the adult ideas start to surface. The things they fear are far from childish (though some seem transitional, like Xander's fear of being invisible to his friends that have moved on.) Most significant, however, is the size of the fear demon once he is revealed. He is so tiny that Buffy simply squashes him with her foot. Could this signal a firm step into adulthood for Buffy?

If High School Is Hell, Then College Sucks

In the article we read for today's viewing, the writer explored the "high school is hell" metaphor that permeates the first three seasons of BtVS. It even gives specific examples about the first two episodes we watched, "Graduation Day Part 1" and "Graduation Day Part 2." It would certainly seem that the old idea of nothing ever being the same after high school was true for Buffy and her friends.

After watching the first episodes of season 4, however, I wondered if high school was hell, what is college? Once again the writers take common themes for freshman college students (loneliness, depression, feeling overwhelmed) and make those emotions the monster. Buffy, who is feeling a little disoriented and blue herself, realizes that other students like her are disappearing from campus, leaving behind nothing but a handwritten note. Though the vampire, Sunday, and her gang are the culprits in the actual disappearances, one could argue that as much blame lies with the overbearing professors (like Buffy's psych professor), the cliques, and the system in general for making these particular students more vulnerable to attack.

This metaphor of vampire-abducted students ties closely to the ideas in Little's article. She suggests that in BtVS, frequently the tenor of the metaphor is scarier than the vehicle (the monster). Certainly Buffy is more at risk from her funk about school than she is in danger from Sunday's vampire gang. In fact, it is her depression that seems to weaken Buffy in her first encounter with Sunday, a fight that she eventually has to flee. This unBuffylike behavior is brought about not by some super villain with new and surprising skills, but rather by a timidity of spirit resulting from a day of being a tiny fish in a very big pond.