TV Meme: Day 6

[fray_adjacent12]

Day 06 - Favourite episode of your favourite TV show:

The Gift (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

My brain isn't functioning on the higher levels this evening, so I'm gonna make a list of reasons why this ep is my favorite.  We'll see if I can manage to turn that list into paragraphs with transitions and complete sentences.  (Hint: if you're reading this, I didn't.) SPOILERS for the first 5 seasons below.

• The teaser: takes us back to the original mission statement of the show, about a girl in an alley who faces a monster and kills it.  But it also reminds us, with Buffy's sorrowful response to "but you're a girl" ("that's what I keep saying"), how far the show, and the characters, have come.  And how very at the end of her rope she is.
• The "we're bloody well talking about this" scene.  I just want to HUG EVERYONE.
• The scene between Buffy and Giles in the training room.  Neither of them changes their mind, but they come to an uncomfortable understanding.  Plus, Buffy's monologue about when she killed Angel, and why she's not that person anymore.  MORE HUGS.  This is actually possibly my favourite scene in the whole show.  *clings to scene*
• Everyone gets a moment: Xander the bricklayer, Giles the killer, Anya the stick-arounder and problem-solver, Willow the witch but also Willow who loves Tara.  Spike's "you treat me like a man" speech.  Dawn's willingness to die to save the world.
• Willow and Tara's reunification, of a kind.  One of my favourite moments for that couple.  Oh!  And the callback to Hush, when the two hold hands to share power, and part the crowd.
• On the other hand, this is a pivotal moment for Willow's magical development.  The Weight of the World is the first time she delves into getting into other people's head, but there it's in order to help them.  Here, she's not only Buffy's Big Gun -- she is unquestionably one of the most powerful characters -- but she's also specifically learning how to get into people's heads in order to hurt them.  *shivers*
• Sarah Michelle Gellar's face.  Oh my god that face.  She's so sad and my heart hurts for her.
• Buffy is clearly wrong, but I'm overwhelmed with love and sympathy.  Like Buffy herself, part of me doesn't care that she's wrong.
• Giles, on the other hand, makes the right call killing Ben.  I actually find this to be a lot less morally ambiguous than many people say.  But it's still a chilling moment, especially since Giles doesn't know that Ben turned Dawn over to Glory.
• The gorgeous directing and editing.  And music and lighting.  Is it just me or is the Magic Box especially gorgeous in this ep?
• The humor.  Not as funny as some eps -- even some very dramatic eps like Becoming II have more memorable comedy.  But there's still the trademark BtVS humor that I adore in this episode.
• And the biggest single reason: that Buffy simultaneously fulfills and surpasses the "death wish" that Spike claimed she'd come to once she'd lost her connections to the world.  On one hand, her death is, to some extent a suicide.  She doesn't "know how to live in this world, if these are the choices."  "The hardest thing in the world is to live in it."  But rather than dying because she's lost everything worth living for, she dies as an expression of love, and of her connections to the world.  This makes me so happy and so sad and did I mention I JUST WANT TO HUG MY GIRL?
• Also speaking of hugs and Buffy's face, the way that SMG can so perfectly express what I just wrote, only so much better, with a fucking facial expression as Buffy decides to jump.  Who are you SMG?

Day 01 - A show that never should have been cancelled:
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching:
Day 03 - Your favourite new show (aired this TV season):
Day 04 - Your favourite show ever:
Day 05 - A show you hate:
Day 06 - Favourite episode of your favourite TV show:
Day 07 - Least favourite episode of your favourite TV show:
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch:
Day 09 - Best scene ever:
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving:
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you:
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times:
Day 13 - Favourite childhood show:
Day 14 - Favourite male character:
Day 15 - Second favourite female character:
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show:
Day 17 - Favourite mini series:
Day 18 - Favourite title sequence:
Day 19 - Favourite TV show cast:
Day 20 - Favourite kiss:
Day 21 - Favourite ship:
Day 22 - Favourite series finale:
Day 23 - Most annoying character:
Day 24 - Favourite quote:
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new):
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale:
Day 27 - Best pilot episode:
Day 28 - First TV show obsession:
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession:
Day 30 - Saddest character death:

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