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butterflySo, I'm rewatching Season Six of Buffy, which I adore.
Something that really struck me about After Life is how it really shows (as opposing to telling) just how much Buffy loves her friends. In her point of view, they have ripped her out of heaven and placed her into a hell, and yet she still wants to protect them, to make them happy. Dawn tells her that "all they want is to see you happy", so she goes and tells them how happy she is so that they'll be content. All throughout this episode, she gets told how important it is that she's there, how much they need her, so she tries to bury her anger and pain.
It's not healthy and I am so happy that the truth came out, but wow. They all love each other so much, but the Scoobies' love is so clouded by their need that they can't see past that to Buffy. They need to be right about Buffy being in a hell because they need Buffy back so badly that it has to be true -- so she lets it be true.
Spike wants Buffy back even if she's wrong (in fact, as we see later in the season, her being wrong is almost a good thing for him -- yes, he wants the 'really real' Buffy, but he also wants to touch her, which complicates things because he already knows Buffy's stated opinion on that). Dawn won't even let Willow and the others talk about sending Buffy back, no matter what the consequences.
Willow convinces herself that Buffy was in a hell so that she doesn't have to feel guilty about needing Buffy so very much. Xander buries his doubt (and it's stressed in both Bargaining and After Life that he is doubtful) because "it's Buffy". Tara and Anya are pulled along by the strength of their lovers' needs to have Buffy back in their lives. Tara does think that it's wrong and Anya thinks that it's a bad idea, but they go along because they can see how incredibly important it is to Willow and Xander.
"When you were gone... it was bad." That's what Dawn says. We see it, in uncomfortable kitchen talks and a bloody hole that hasn't closed despite the time passing.
Because they couldn't have closed it, not with the BuffyBot there to make the pain pulse and beat anew each time she acted more like a robot than their friend. Giles has to leave, Dawn sleeps near the robot and forgets and calls it 'Buffy'. Willow's been working up a fantasy where she can be the one to save her hero. And Xander may appear to be the best adjusted of those four, but he and Spike are the ones who are always aware, every moment, that the BuffyBot will never be Buffy, can never be Buffy.
"Don't tell me that wasn't the happiest moment of your existence."
Spike loved Buffy so much that he dreamed over and over that he saved her -- he fought for her every night, never letting her memory dim. Giles loved her so much that he trained with the robot, fell into the illusion that it was really Buffy.
Willow and Xander loved Buffy so much that they couldn't let her stay buried. Think of Angel and the question that the Oracles posed about Angel wanting Doyle back -- "To what end? To nullify his noble death?"
"It's Buffy."
Those were the words that made Xander acknowledge that they've already made their choice. They aren't ready to live without Buffy -- it's a selfish, hurtful love, but it's such a strong love, filled with such need and hope, that it works. They will bring her back and they will live with the consequences.
"Here lies the Warrior of the People -- let her cross over!"
And cross she does. Not a fallen angel, but a bird that has had its wings clipped. Forcibly grounded and trapped in a place that she used to know. She loves them so much that she tries to pretend that her pain has vanished, instead of being inflicted by her friends. Buffy's love here is admirable and selfless, but still broken and unhealthy, because she did not make the choice to return. She has been forced back into a slavery of a kind -- a life of pain and danger and so much need.
In Season Six, Buffy is in hell, until she once again chooses to live, to see her life as filled with gifts rather than burdens, opportunities instead of obligations. Then, her world will open up again, and she will make it a heaven once more.
Something that really struck me about After Life is how it really shows (as opposing to telling) just how much Buffy loves her friends. In her point of view, they have ripped her out of heaven and placed her into a hell, and yet she still wants to protect them, to make them happy. Dawn tells her that "all they want is to see you happy", so she goes and tells them how happy she is so that they'll be content. All throughout this episode, she gets told how important it is that she's there, how much they need her, so she tries to bury her anger and pain.
It's not healthy and I am so happy that the truth came out, but wow. They all love each other so much, but the Scoobies' love is so clouded by their need that they can't see past that to Buffy. They need to be right about Buffy being in a hell because they need Buffy back so badly that it has to be true -- so she lets it be true.
Spike wants Buffy back even if she's wrong (in fact, as we see later in the season, her being wrong is almost a good thing for him -- yes, he wants the 'really real' Buffy, but he also wants to touch her, which complicates things because he already knows Buffy's stated opinion on that). Dawn won't even let Willow and the others talk about sending Buffy back, no matter what the consequences.
Willow convinces herself that Buffy was in a hell so that she doesn't have to feel guilty about needing Buffy so very much. Xander buries his doubt (and it's stressed in both Bargaining and After Life that he is doubtful) because "it's Buffy". Tara and Anya are pulled along by the strength of their lovers' needs to have Buffy back in their lives. Tara does think that it's wrong and Anya thinks that it's a bad idea, but they go along because they can see how incredibly important it is to Willow and Xander.
"When you were gone... it was bad." That's what Dawn says. We see it, in uncomfortable kitchen talks and a bloody hole that hasn't closed despite the time passing.
Because they couldn't have closed it, not with the BuffyBot there to make the pain pulse and beat anew each time she acted more like a robot than their friend. Giles has to leave, Dawn sleeps near the robot and forgets and calls it 'Buffy'. Willow's been working up a fantasy where she can be the one to save her hero. And Xander may appear to be the best adjusted of those four, but he and Spike are the ones who are always aware, every moment, that the BuffyBot will never be Buffy, can never be Buffy.
"Don't tell me that wasn't the happiest moment of your existence."
Spike loved Buffy so much that he dreamed over and over that he saved her -- he fought for her every night, never letting her memory dim. Giles loved her so much that he trained with the robot, fell into the illusion that it was really Buffy.
Willow and Xander loved Buffy so much that they couldn't let her stay buried. Think of Angel and the question that the Oracles posed about Angel wanting Doyle back -- "To what end? To nullify his noble death?"
"It's Buffy."
Those were the words that made Xander acknowledge that they've already made their choice. They aren't ready to live without Buffy -- it's a selfish, hurtful love, but it's such a strong love, filled with such need and hope, that it works. They will bring her back and they will live with the consequences.
"Here lies the Warrior of the People -- let her cross over!"
And cross she does. Not a fallen angel, but a bird that has had its wings clipped. Forcibly grounded and trapped in a place that she used to know. She loves them so much that she tries to pretend that her pain has vanished, instead of being inflicted by her friends. Buffy's love here is admirable and selfless, but still broken and unhealthy, because she did not make the choice to return. She has been forced back into a slavery of a kind -- a life of pain and danger and so much need.
In Season Six, Buffy is in hell, until she once again chooses to live, to see her life as filled with gifts rather than burdens, opportunities instead of obligations. Then, her world will open up again, and she will make it a heaven once more.
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Date: 2004-12-05 06:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 07:00 am (UTC)Yes, I completely agree. Normal Again is Buffy's turning point, where she chooses the world of danger and fear and violence over one where she would be the one protected (and one that seems more 'normal' in any case). She still has some rough times after NA, but she's made the choice to live.
She's decided once again to be part of the fight (now I want to compare and contrast her with Daniel, who fell because he made the choice to join the fight and the essential differences between the guardian and the seeker archetypes... hmm. Perhaps another night.), because, in the end, she loves her friends so much that she would rather risk living a lie than see them die. I love the ambiguity of NA's ending, because I don't believe that it matters which reality is real -- Buffy's choice is what matters, and she will not let her loved ones die because of her actions. Not ever.