After "After Life" --SPOILERS!!!

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Warning, in this post I will discuss not only tonight's "After Life"
(Buffy ep 6.3) and events that took place in last week's "Bargaining,
Part 1 and 2" (eps 6.1, 6.2) but also what I think these eps might mean
in terms of the three most prominent rumors I heard over the summer. I
have no knowledge or information as to whether any of these rumors are
true; I merely class them as spoilers because some people might not
have heard the rumor and would consider themselves spoiled by knowledge
of its existence. Sort of a "where there's smoke, there's fire" thing,
and therefore some people may not want to see the smoke.

However, people won't know whether they already know what the rumors
are, since just because somebody heard a rumor, that doesn't mean it's
the same one I'm referring to. So I'm going to go with the
triple-decker spoiler space:

First, I'll give a little space and then just generally classify the
rumors I'm referring to. Then I'll give some more and specify the
rumors, in case someone wants to know, but doesn't want to go to a
discussion of them. And then more spoiler space and the actual
discussion of the ep and its possible consequences.

Got that? I barely do. Anyway, let's go:

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Hi. The three big rumors I heard over the summer (remember, no
knowledge, just stuff people were saying on the 'Net) are:

1) A romance for Buffy
2) A change in the status of one of the show's existing couples.
3) A major character development for a supporting player.

Want to know what I'm talking about, specifically? Well,

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Hi again. Okay, the three rumors are

1) Buffy and Spike date, shag, whatever.
2) Willow and Tara go splitsville
3) Willow turns evil.

How do I think the Season so far indicates what may happen? Go past the
last spoiler space and find out.

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Hello. Accent on the "hell." Yep, it looks like all the bad rumors are
true, and B/W shippers of the world, we're fucked.

Only the fact that Aly has a 2-year contract keeps me from frettng that
after Willow turns evil, Buffy and her "beloved" Spike will have to kill
her.

If you saw "After Life", you know that the responsibility for Buffy's
return has been put squarely on our beloved redhead's shoulders. And
with the big revelation that Buffy was happy in heaven and is now living
hell on Earth, this makes Willow our designated scapegoat.

Let's review. The demon yelled at Willow for sacrificing the fawn
(EVIL! Bad Willow!); Willow's keeping her sacrifice of the fawn a
secret, even from Tara (liar! guilty conscience!); Willow's doing the
spell that Tara called "wrong" is no longer an act motivated by love for
Buffy (as was implicit in "Bargaining"--such motives anyway would be a
case of the Road to Hell being paved with good intentions). No, now she
wants applause, credit, Buffy to say "thank you" (Vanity! Evil!) And
of course, Black-Eyed Willow was back (Dark magick, absolute power
corrupting absolutely).

To make this even more clear that Willow wasn't acting for any reason as
noble as love, both Spike and Dawn doubt her commitment to Buffy in the
episode. Yes, it's Buffy's new best buds, the Angel?-What Angel?
vampire boyfriend and the Instant Sister (just add Key!) trashing the
Scoobs and specifically the head Scoob, our darling W. Rosenberg. Spike
bleats to Xander about how Willow cut him out of the spell because she
knew it might go wrong and they'd have to destroy Buffy and Willow knew
Spike wouldn't let them do it. Because you see, Spike really loves her,
not like her worthless stupid friends, who rip Buffy from heaven and
leave her in her grave. And when it's mentioned in Act 3 that the
spirit would go away if the spell were undone, Dawn claims Willow is
considering this and berates her for it ("You can't mess with people's
lives this way!"). The implication again being that Willow doesn't
REALLY love Buffy like S & D do; she's just in it for the power and
glory because she's evil.

And let's not forget those early scenes where Willow is in denial,
saying that Buffy is fine. See, she doesn't really know Buffy, she
didn't contact Buffy's spirit--the demon yells at W/T "Did you even ask
her?"--she's selfish and greedy. Not like Spike, who's such a
sweetheart he's stayed good even without a soul (see, Buffy can hump
this vamp without Angelus-esque consequences). Spike, who was the only
one who thought to ask Buffy how much time passed where she was, who
knows what it's like to dig out of a coffin (BTW, William, it's not such
a big deal for vamps, since you don't have to breathe), Spike who goes
out in the daylight to see her and can tell that, group hug or no, she's
really upset. Spike, who is tempted to violence now that the chip is no
longer stopping him--you all DID notice him slam Xander against the
tree with absolutely zero pain, right?--but doesn't, because he values
the gang's peace of mind more. Spike whom Buffy tells the truth to, and
whom she trusts to keep the secret.

Yep, this year is going to be all about Spike. What a load. One vamp
was interesting, two's a rerun. And Angel was a temptation, the triumph
of love over duty (sadly, it turned out, a bad idea). But since Buffy
would rather be dead and Spike, even though soulless and chipless, is so
goody-good he's no threat to anyone, it's hardly that unstoppable
attraction between light and dark that we had in Season 2, is it?

As for the annual November "somebody breaks up" bit, normally, I'd be
glad to see Tara kicked to the curb, but since they're making her
ultra-nice now (even I sort of enjoyed her), obviously the break-up
won't be two people drifting apart, but bad Willow hurting poor Tara.
And during the summer, I thought that some momentary darkness would be
okay for Will, that Buffy would stand by her when nobody else would (as
Buffy did, twice, for Faith), that Buffy nursing Willow back after her
harrowing experience would bond them tighter. But now that the status
quo is hostile enough to change the names of these lists to
BuffyBlamesWillow and BuffyHatesWillow (did you catch the bitterness
when Buffy said "friends" to Spike at the end? Buffy may be protective
enough not to let the gang know how she feels, but how she feels ain't
pretty), now any darkness in Willow wouldn't be something for Buffy to
cure, it would be the final betrayal. Forget romance, the friendship is
practically dead, and that makes me truly sad.

Oh, I suppose they wouldn't wreck the friendship for all time, but it
may end up forever tainted, like with Angel. And Angel has the "I
misplaced my soul" excuse and Buffy was in romantic love with him. A
"mere" friend who went evil of her own accord seems to be much harder to
reconcile with.

BTW, what is the deal where sacrificing the fawn is treated like Willow
selling her soul to the devil? It's an animal, a creature essentially
like the thousands that are being killed for food or clothing as you
read this. I thought the scene was shocking because it was an unusual
act for Willow, not because killing one deer is the ultimate evil.
Heck, that fawn died to bring Buffy back, which is a lot nobler death
than being turned into a Big Mac and a pair of Capezios.

Lastly, what does this say about last year's theme? I thought the point
was that Buffy is pummeled by life, that she loses Riley, Joyce, dating,
college, everything that matters so that she has nothing left to give
but herself. But if her "Gift" wasn't a desperate, despairing act but
rather Buffy's ticket to paradise, then are we supposed to be happy for
all the heartbreak Buffy suffered in Season 5, because it freed her to
find peace and heaven? Gee, I'll have to put "The Body" on again and
cheer when the EMT pronounces Joyce dead. After all, if mom was around,
Buffy wouldn't have met her destiny and found the perfect bliss which
that evil bitch Willow ruined. What happened to "The hardest thing in
this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live?" Is the theme of the
show now that life is bad and heaven awaits, so die and find God?
Yeccccch.

Quite bummed,

Dan

"Why don't we start with 'Hi, I'm Buffy'?"--Buffy, to Willow ("Welcome
to the Hellmouth")

"The best human ever"--Xander, re Willow ("Ted")

"I need my Willow"--Buffy ("The Zeppo")

"I love you so much"--Willow, to Buffy ("The Body")

"I know"--Buffy's reply ("The Body")