Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 6

If you haven't seen any previous episodes or season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I don't expect this review will make much sense. It is easier to start at the beginning with season one and progress because one thing that sets Buffy and it's counterpart, Angel the series, adrift from most programming is that it is written for intelligent viewers. By saying that, I mean no disrespect to anyone. I merely mean that there's not a lot of exposition or back-tracking. Series creator Joss Whedon and his writers expect us, the viewers, to keep up. There are always references to past episodes, but not enough to help if you have no idea what they're talking about.

Season one introduced our heroine, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), to her new school and life in Sunnydale, California. Season two saw Buffy deal with high school on the Hellmouth, her first real love and the tragic consequences of that love. Season three introduced a new Slayer and dealt Buffy another harsh blow by losing the love that returned to her yet again. In season four, Buffy and gang face government monster hunters and find that college life in Sunnydale isn't so different from high school. Buffy's fifth season brought a surprising family addition, the loss of another family member and Buffy's toughest challenge yet: saving the world from an insane Goddess. Season five also saw the end of Buffy's incredibly successful five year run on the WB network. It went out with a bang.

Buffy was a show well-known for a season-long story arc that culminated in one heck of a showdown. After Buffy's sacrifice in season five, season six offered the darkest and, for some viewers, most unappetizing view of life. Buffy is resurrected from the dead by her well-meaning friends and is suddenly thrust back into the life that went on without her.

Despite the darkness, the trademark humor of the series is still very much in evidence. All of our gang are adults, making decisions that will have heavy consequences and this season presents life itself as the true "big bad". There are huge errors of judgment on the part of every character, and this season delves into those errors with gusto.

Bargaining I and II: The opener of the season was a two-parter, dealing with Buffy's resurrection from the dead. While Willow (Alyson Hannigan), Xander (Nicholas Brendan), Anya (Emma Caulfield) and Tara (Amber Benson) plot to bring Buffy back from whatever Hell dimension she's trapped in, her Watcher, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), plans to return to England. Buffy returns, unsure of what has happened and quietly tries to adjust to Sunnydale once more.

After Life: As Buffy struggles with her return, a side effect of the spell that brought her back begins to menace the gang. We begin to see that all is not quite right with Buffy, but while the gang suspects she just needs time to adjust to life outside of Hell, we wonder if that's all it really is.

Flooded: The Trio is introduced: Jonathon (Danny Strong), Warren (Adam Busch) and Andrew (Tom Lenk). While The Trio plot their takeover of Sunnydale, Buffy finds that while she was busy being dead, life went on and now she must deal with the responsibility of running a household on almost no money and raising Dawn. Giles returns from England, happy to see Buffy but angry with Willow for using dangerous magicks.

Life Serial: Buffy attends some college classes, works for Xander and the Magic Box while trying to decide what to do now that she's back. Unfortunately, The Trio decide to throw several annoying tests at her to see what they're up against. When the pressure gets to her, she gets drunk with Spike and watches him play kitten poker.

All The Way: Xander finally announces his engagement to Anya while Dawn sneaks out with a boy who turns out to be a vampire. When Willow and Tara fight, Willow puts a spell on Tara to make her forget her anger. This episode is a strong foreshadowing of the season to come: one bad decision that will have resounding consequences on several characters.

Once More With Feeling: The undisputed masterpiece of season six, Joss Whedon presents a musical episode of Buffy that brings a singing/dancing demon to Sunnydale and the gang are forced to sing songs that tell all the secrets they've been hiding from each other. Buffy reveals that she wasn't in Hell but in Heaven, Xander and Anya reveal their secret fears about marriage, Spike sings about his love for Buffy, Tara discovers that her mind has been messed with and Giles realizes that his presence is more of a hindrance to Buffy's progression than a help. The episode is brilliant, funny and heartbreaking in turns and begins the codependent and unhealthy relationship of Spike and Buffy.

Tabula Rasa: After the revelations of OMWF, Willow attempts to erase the pain of Buffy and Tara by casting a spell that backfires horribly, causing amnesia for all the Scoobies. This leads to some hilarious conclusions drawn by our amnesiacs (Giles and Anya assume they're engaged to be married, Spike assumes that Giles is his father, etc.) before the spell is broken. When Tara realizes what Willow has done, she makes the decision to leave. Giles returns to England, to stay.

Smashed: With Tara gone, Willow continues her misuse and abuse of magicks beginning with changing Amy (see season three) back into a human from a rat. The Trio begin to put their plot into action and Spike realizes that he can hurt Buffy without activating the chip in his head. The ensuing fight brings the house down, literally, and culminates in a passionate night of sex for Buffy and Spike.

Wrecked: Willow and Amy go on a magical rampage, finding a way to get "dosed" with magicks that leaves them high and impaired. While under the influence of dosed magicks, Willow nearly kills Dawn and Buffy realizes that Willow has a very real problem. Buffy is also shaken by her night with Spike and both Slayer and witch decide to go cold turkey.

Gone: The Trio accidentally turn Buffy invisible with their invisibility ray after a social worker threatens to remove Dawn from Buffy's care. Buffy enjoys the invisibility as a means of escaping responsibility, indulging in more sex with Spike and buying time with DHS. She also becomes aware of The Trio for the first time. "So, you three have what? Banded together to be pains in my a**?"

Doublemeat Palace: Desperate for cash flow, Buffy takes a job at the local burger joint where the workers have a nasty habit of disappearing without warning. While Anya plans her wedding, she gets a visit from a demon friend who questions her relationship with Xander and Amy pays a visit to Willow and doses her against her will.

Dead Things: Worried that she came back wrong, Buffy is relieved to discover that nothing is wrong with her after all, but still can't understand her attraction to Spike. The Trio use magicks to make Warren's ex a sex slave, but Warren murders her when it backfires and uses it as an opportunity to frame Buffy.

Older & Far Away: Feeling ignored by the adults, Dawn unwittinly makes a wish that will make them spend time with her on Buffy's birthday. While the gang is trapped within the Summers' home, Dawn's secret life of larceny is revealed.

As You Were: An almost throw-away and possibly the worst episode of the season, Riley Finn returns to Sunnydale and requests Buffy's help. Buffy is happy to see him, thinking he's still interested but he neglects to mention that he brought along his wife.

Hell's Bells: The big day has finally arrived: Xander and Anya are set to get married when a mysterious stranger gives Xander a glimpse of the hell his life will be if he goes through with it. While the vision isn't necessarily the truth, Xander realizes that he is not ready to get married and leaves Anya at the church. Watching Anya's tear-stained, shocked face as she walks down the aisle alone is one of the most heartbreaking moments ever and she is offered her old job as a vengeance demon once again.

Normal Again: When Buffy is stung by demon venom, she begins to hallucinate that her life in Sunnydale is merely an illusion and the real her is locked in an asylum somewhere. The saddest part of this episode is that Buffy is so unhappy with her current situation, that the illusion is actually enticing and she nearly destroys her friends and Dawn in order to live in it.

Entropy: Anya returns to being a demon and tries to curse Xander. When she finds she can't curse him herself, she goes on a quest to find someone to do it for her and settles on Spike. Unknown to them, The Trio have outfitted all of the Slayer's haunts with cameras and Buffy finds a camera and Willow traces it's signal. Anya is distraught over being left at the altar and Spike is trying to numb the pain of Buffy shutting him out and while commiserating, Anya and Spike seek solace in each other...which is captured on camera and relayed back to the Summers' home.

Seeing Red: Willow and Tara reconcile while Buffy fights Warren and wins. Warren leaves Andrew and Jonathon behind and comes up with a plan to take out the Slayer on his own: with a gun. Unfortunately, while shooting Buffy, he also takes Tara's life.

Villains: Tara's death sends Willow over the edge, seeking revenge with the darkest magicks. She saves Buffy, but then fueled by grief, anger and magicks, she sets off to find Warren. As Xander, Buffy and Anya race to stop her and save her soul, Willow finds Warren and begins her revenge. This episode sparked huge controversy by showing an attempted rape scene, as Spike makes a misguided attempt to get the Slayer to give in to her feelings.

Two To Go: Now that Warren has been disposed of, Willow sets off to finish the job by killing Jonathon and Andrew. As Buffy, Xander and Anya try to protect Jonathon and Andrew, Willow begins to turn on Buffy and Dawn. Spike sets off on a quest to "give the Slayer what she deserves" and Giles returns in an attempt to stop Willow.

Grave: Giles faces off with Willow, using borrowed magicks. Willow takes his magicks and sets off to destroy the world, while Buffy finally realizes that she wants to live. Spike finally gets what he went after and in a surprise move Xander saves the world.

Several fans expressed a profound dislike for season six finding the sexual relationship between Buffy and Spike distasteful and the overwhelming darkness of the season too disturbing. They complained that the "Dark Willow" storyline seemed too much like the tale of a drug addict that kind of chickened out in the end. It was felt that the story focused too much on Spike and his apparent inability to stay clothed and the series had retreated from it's original mission statement of "girl power".

The fact is, season six is full of pathos in large, heaping doses. If there is one thing any Buffy fan can attest it's that as soon as someone experiences happiness on the show, you may as well get ready for the heartache because it's coming. It's as if Joss and company are saying, "Enjoy the brief moments of happiness that come in between the pain, because that is life, folks." I don't know about anyone else, but that is surprisingly accurate for a lot of people. The point of season six is simply this: life ain't all grand, and we still have to deal.

Each character goes to a dark place in season six. Buffy struggles with being pulled out heaven, losing the only peace she's ever known, and fighting her way back to a place where she sees that life does have it's moments and it's those moments that make it all worthwhile. She comes to the realization that being there for Dawn and being there to see Dawn reach adulthood is worth all the sacrifices she has had to make. She also falls into a sexual relationship with Spike, mostly because he is the only other person who has some insight as to how she feels and what she's going through. It's an example of the unhealthy relationships people find themselves in when they're at a low point in their lives and accept what's right there because it's easier than getting out there and finding something better.

Willow struggles with power issues and abuse of what one might call a controlled substance. Her desire for control and power cause her to lose sight of what is truly important: friends, family and love. Rather than work on her problems, Willow seeks a "quick fix" in the form of magick and quick fixes are usually anything but, as most of us have discovered at some point in our lives.

Marriage is a huge step for even the most together couples, couples who come from fairly solid backgrounds and good parentage. Xander looks at his parent's horribly dysfunctional relationship and fears that is what awaits him. Forever seems like a very long time when he is suddenly confronted with the actuality of marriage and he simply cannot overcome his fear that his life will mirror his parent's. Xander has always been somewhat the class clown of the Buffy group, and when faced with real, grown-up decisions, Xander fears he cannot trust in his ability to make a clear decision without leading himself down a path that will change love to hatred.

Giles is represenative of a patriarch who has raised his brood as best he knows how, and decides to set them loose on life. He hopes they will make the right decisions, yet he can do little more than watch as they screw up time and again. He offers what sage advice he can and apologizes for what he fears may be his own shortcomings, failing to pass along to his charges the skills they will need to appropriately deal with whatever life throws their way.

The Trio are perhaps the most pathetic villains the show has offered, three nerds who represent all the annoying things in life that sidetrack us. They are quite funny in their nerdiness, whether they're literally coming to blows over who was the best Bond or spouting lines like "Darth Willow will make Jawa burgers of us all and not one of you has the midichlorians to stop her!" But that's kind of the point. Often, life sidetracks us in the most mundane ways and there's not always anything you can do about it. Most of the time, you don't even see it coming but there it is.

Spike is a character that fans either love or hate and while it would be easy to see him as a villain in season six, the truth is that he is as lost as the rest of them. He truly loves Buffy but she continues to use him for companionship and sexual gratification because he's there and available. When she cuts him off, his confusion takes him to a dangerous place where he becomes convinced that she feels as deeply for him as he feels for her. The attempted rape was horrifying, to hear Buffy's cries and see the determination on Spike's face. He is horrified with himself once he realizes what he's done and while that doesn't make it okay, he does feel genuine remorse and wants to make things right.

Season six is somber, dark and disturbing. It's life, plain and simple. Minus the dramatic license, season six represents how scary it is to be an adult and face decisions and consequences from which no one can shield you. It's a question of sink or float, and after a few times of sinking, our gang finally floats. Life is somewhat trial and error, nobody has all the answers and you just do the best you can. Buffy and her friends walk away from season six, not unscathed but wiser and hopefully better equipped to deal with the rest of their lives. Growing up is tough in any world, just be thankful we don't live in Buffy's.