Also, I'm really sorry I haven't updated lately, it was a combination of laziness and exhaustion. I'll try to ignore those human weaknesses the next time they make an appearance.
Let's not waste any more time...
My 59th least favorite Buffy episode of all time:
Season 5, episode 21.
Buffy is at a catatonic state, so Willow goes inside her head to do some damage control. Meanwhile, Xander and Spike visit doc to see if he could tell them anything about Glory, A.K.A. Ben. Meanwhile, Glory - with Dawn as her captive - starts feeling human emotions as Ben becomes a more prominent part of her personality (and vice versa). Meanwhile, Tara is a nutcase.
It's always about the journey. The end result is just the bonus. The real satisfaction comes from being there when the characters are soaring up, crashing down, getting lost, finding their way. That's Joss' specialty, and that's what his loyal fans have come to expect from his shows. Don't get me wrong, the climaxes he displays at the end of each season aren't bad by any means, but that's just handing out the dessert, which is a nice thing but only if the main course was satisfying.
And season 5's main course was yummy. The story was strong, it was built slowly and with caution, it affected the characters in all the right places. "Spiral" raised the stakes and threw everything we thought we knew about how it's all gonna end out the window.
And then we had "The Weight of the World".
In theory, the episode did everything correctly. It moved the plot forward and set things up for "The Gift". It prepared us for Ben's murder by Giles, for Glory's weakness, for doc's part, for Buffy's desire to sacrifice herself \ commit suicide. It was all done by the book. And that's exactly the problem.
If there was ever was a 'Buffy' episode that felt like its only purpose was to get us from point A to point B, this was it. Spike and Xander needed to get the ritual text, Ben needed to hand Dawn over to the minions - so they did, in the most forced way possible. Even the part of the episode that was supposed to be artsy and insightful - the voyage into Buffy's mind - felt unnatural and pointless, and horribly paled in comparison to "Restless". Just like the other parts of the episode, it gave off vibes of "we have to go through it to reach the place we're headed" instead of the good "let's delve into this" vibes the show usually gives off.
It was just three or four plotlines that happened, with no fluidness, no grace, no nothing. It was like reading a manuscript (not that I ever read one, it seems boring).
The episodes gains points for its placement, though. That's not how you write an hour of television, but that's exactly where you place an hour of television - with the stakes high, and the atmosphere tense. The exploring of Buffy's sub-consciousness did produce some interesting moments, especially with Buffy's realization that she gave up on her responsibility, even if for a split second. But that isn't enough for me to forgive the writers for cheating us and taking the easy way of taking us somewhere, instead of just letting us get there.
High point: the running joke of nobody remembering Ben is Glory. It was especially adorable when Xander finally caught on and explained it to a frustrated Spike.
Low point: Glory and Ben changing into one another, with each of them voicing their agony in long, endless sentences. It quickly became tiring.
Quality Quote:
XANDER: How you doing?
GILES: Only hurts when I answer pointless questions.
Riddle: Little Buffy has blond hair in this episode. Big Buffy has blond hair in all episodes. Give four instances where we saw Buffy - little or big - with dark hair (and in only two of those instances was it actually a wig).
