Just when you think you know what is going to happen on this show, the writers find a way to completely throw a curve.
There have been signs of a growing addiction to more and more powerful magic within Willow for a long time now, going back as far as the end of the fourth season and the unforeseen consequences of the spell to channel the primal origins of the Slayers. For about as long a time, Tara has been portrayed as the one person keeping that addiction in check. Just as it was Tara’s mental incapacitation at the hands of Glory that began Willow's current path into darkness, Tara’s departure sets Willow even farther on that road.
In a wonderful example of the kind of continuity that exists on this show, the character of Amy, a witch with powerful magical abilities who turned herself into a rat in the middle of the third season, has her humanity returned by Willow. After a bit of recovery from her experience as a rodent, Amy looks to make up for lost time and have a little bit of naughty fun with Willow. And since Amy wasn’t the most moral individual in Sunnydale before exploring her wildlife options, Willow soon finds herself reveling in the casual manipulation of the crowd at the Bronze.
Meanwhile, the gang is trying to figure out why someone would freeze a museum security guard to near-death while stealing a diamond. As we are shown, it is the end of “Phase I” of the plan concocted by the three incredibly annoying nerds who have been popping up as the rising crimelords of Sunnydale. The fact that their activities are being shown over the long term suggests that whatever they have planned, it is going to cause a lot of trouble. This I can believe, because even if they are extremely annoying, the Trio of Evil have a knack for inventing some very effective weaponry.
But this episode is not about the plans of the Trio of Evil, even if they do impact on the plot in a minor fashion. This episode is about obsession. In particular, dark and seductive obsessions. And while the episode seems to be about the growing darkness within Willow, that plot thread soon pales next to the larger issue of Buffy’s own descent into darkness as expressed in her relationship with Spike.
This is an amazing bit of writing, because this has been slowly and subtly building since Buffy’s return from the dead. While it is true that they revealed the fact that Buffy was torn from what appeared to be heaven as a result of Willow’s spell, they have largely underplayed that plot thread. It was dealt with to a certain degree in the musical episode, but even then, the aspect of her inability to deal with her problems were taking on more obvious forms in her financial situation and Dawn’s increasingly wild behavior.
But now that her experience is out in the open, we begin to see the real toll that it is taking on Buffy. She was torn from heaven and considers herself to be living and existing in hell. There are more problems than she can deal with, even under the best of circumstances, and from her perspective, the one person that she could rely on has abandoned her. Dragged into hell by those who claim to love her, and then left to fend for herself, how could she not begin to see herself as worthy of anything better?
Having been torn from the light, she is being lured by the prospect of embracing the darkness within her own nature. And because she is the Slayer, and there have always been hints that the Slayer has some kind of demonic origin, there is quite a bit of darkness there to play within.
Feeling that emptiness and privation of the light within, Buffy is both repulsed by that lack and obsessed to the point of attraction to it. Spike is simply the most readily available substitute for the darkness that threatened to overwhelm Buffy completely. So long as she had Spike around, neutered by the chip that prevents him from attacking humans, she could feel some sense of control as she gave in to her obsession.
Only without knowing it, she is sliding down the slippery slope into the darker side of being the Slayer. There was a line that she has crossed, and now she is channeling enough of her demon heritage that the chip in Spike’s head is no longer activating if he chooses to attack her. And even though Spike has come to believe that he is in love with Buffy and trying to be something more than the demon he is, he is smart enough to know that he has never been treated as an equal because he was no longer a threat.
The episode creeps towards a confrontation between Buffy and Spike, with Spike now able to give as good as he has gotten over the past couple of years. But more than that, this is a the moment that both characters have been carefully brought to in equal measure. As long as Buffy was unwilling to let herself fall as far into the darkness as Spike has come into the light, Spike could only take what he was given. But now Buffy is meeting him halfway, and in the same moment, Spike is made her equal again. Naturally, they fall into patterns, and then the requisite fighting gives way to a dark and feverish physical lust.
The writers for “Buffy” have never been afraid to portray this kind of decadent and destructive sexuality in the past, and they certainly do not shy away from it now. Buffy’s sudden act of driving Spike into her, taking control even as she gives in to her own lack of it, is easily one of the most erotic moments in the series to date. Her complete abandon as they continue to demolish their surroundings as Spike takes her against the walls is, for lack of a better word, memorable.
What makes this a shock is that we are talking about Buffy. In the past, Buffy has been the eternal good girl, with her sexuality reflected in romantic interludes or ill-fated flings. And perhaps for that reason, even an episode where Buffy is coupling with Riley again and again with nothing but a sheet covering them had little effect. Her sexuality was, in many ways, sanitized by the emotions behind it.
But this time, there is little more than raw, primal need reflected in her actions, and the writers know how stirring that can be to the audience. There was a reason why Faith was such a memorable character, and it wasn’t just the skill with a stake. Everything about Faith reflected that same raw expression of her sexual desires, from her wardrobe to her wanton flirtations to her carefully crafted semi-gothic style. Buffy’s behavior here is an even more explicit look at the kind of amorality that Faith’s various trysts with Xander revealed in the third season. The result is something that strikes the audience as both deeply erotic and deeply disturbing in the same moment, then and now.
What begins with another look at Willow and Spike’s respective obsessions masterfully twists into a candid and memorable revelation as to how far Buffy herself has fallen. Now the question is, how far are they going to fall before they realize what is happening...and will it come before one of them is lost?
Some other thoughts:
- Given how thrown I was by the sudden and violent tryst between Buffy and Spike, I’ll be generous and ignore the fact that Tara is still hanging around, even after she supposedly left for good...
- It was totally Xander to be reading a D&D manual and not realize that it wasn’t one of the various reference books in the magic shop!
- Spike’s little speech before trying to attack the girl was just funny enough that it was easy to miss how it was just a reflection of Buffy’s similar rationalizations with Spike earlier in the episode.
- OK, even seeing the re-runs of the early seasons lately, I don’t recall Amy being that hot! That outfit at the Bronze...yum!
- Then again, the darker Willow gets, the more attractive she is...and there is my drooling over Faith to consider...maybe there’s a trend here....
- Spike using the Boba Fett figure as a hostage was priceless!
- As was his reaction to the prattle about “Dr. Who” and “Red Dwarf”...I think there have been mad hell gods that have freaked him out less!
- I know I was going to ignore Tara, but could she have looked more like a walking cadaver in this episode?
- I know I mentioned this after one of the previous episodes this season, but it’s scary when Dawn is turning out to be the most normal one in the bunch...and she’s not even a real human being!
- All these reminders about Anya’s origins is getting me nervous...could a return of her demonic origins be in the cards?
- I also don’t see how either Willow or Buffy will wind up coming back from all of this without a price, and certainly with a darker edge for some time to come.
- Then again, I’ll admit, I see that as a good thing. Buffy’s always been attractive, but ever since the third season, she’s been too bland and goody...she didn’t really strike much interest. The Buffy at the end of this episode would have me around her little finger...
Overall, this episode took a predictable premise and took it in a very unexpected direction. One gets the sense that Willow and Buffy are both only starting their descent, and it ought to be damned interesting seeing how far the writers take them. Lowered slightly for Tara’s waste of a scene, and the Trio of Evil is always a drawback.
