Buffy - Season 6 impressions (episode 5)
Life Serial
For a summary click here.
- This is an episode that I found amusing during the first scenes, but that later on made me cry with laughter. Started laughing during the scene in the Magic Shop when Buffy has to sell the mummy hand and from then on found pretty much everything hilarious. A couple of days later, I actually rewatched it with my boyfriend who also enjoyed it.
- Of course, there's a lot more to this episode than just the fun factor: Buffy tries different lines of work - and doesn't succeed anywhere. Not only does she feel like a failure, she also feels alienated from nearly everyone in her life.
- In the beginning of the episode, Buffy returns from her meeting with Angel.
She has brought back dinner for her friends, but it turns out they've already eaten. As Dawn says Uh, we didn't know when you'd be coming back. - To me, this remark shows that Dawn and the Scoobies have realised that Buffy is keeping her distance. When Buffy is trying to get close (by buying dinner for example), they are a bit surprised. However, they do want to rebuild the connection to her: In the end, they accept the offering of dinner despite the fact that they've already eaten.
The gap between Buffy and her friends is reopened almost immediately when they want to know what her meeting with Angel was like. Buffy refuses to give them any details and when she thinks she sounds to rude backtracks a bit and actually states that the meeting wasn't important. Dawn in particular is annoyed by Buffy's behaviour.
DAWN: So ... how was it? (nervous) Seeing Angel ... him seeing you. (Giles stands up) Was it weird?
Buffy looks uncomfortable. Dawn, Tara, and Willow look expectantly at her.
BUFFY: Um ... it was ... intense.
Giles goes to the back of the room to do something at a side table.
WILLOW: Well, i-if you wanna talk about it...
BUFFY: I don't. I-it's ... not important. Past. I'd just ... rather keep this one to myself, if that's okay.
DAWN: Sure, whatever.
I totally sympathize with Buffy here. I've got a collegue at work who just doesn't respect my boundaries. I say I don't want to talk about something and she gives me the "Come on. Surely it's not that private" routine. Well, maybe it's not a big thing to her, but to me it is. - I really hate that kind of pushy attitude.
- I really like how these two scenes follow one another.
BUFFY: Yeah, that ... sounds like a good plan. (looks across the table) What do you think, Giles?
Giles nods and looks as if he's searching for words.
JONATHAN VOICEOVER: The Slayer always knows what she's doing.
It's obvious that Buffy is no longer the way Jonathan remembers. In fact, she had already lost many of her certainties by mid season 5, but now that she's been resurrected her insecurities have taken over.
And as if her own fears aren't enough, three immature boys have decided to test her.
While the three geeks are entertaining so far, I still want to kick them. All three are intelligent and extremely talented. They could easily become rich and respected by founding their own company and earning money with their inventions. Instead they waste their talents on the goal of becoming super-villains who take over Sunnydale. Go figure.
They also never think about the consequences. Aren't their experiments rather risky? E.g. the demons at the building site could easily have hurt one of the workers there. Never mind that Buffy doesn't deserve to fight demons for the amusement of some boys.
- LOL! I bet Andrew also likes the prequel trilogy. He's daring enough to give new things a chance whereas Jonathan is more of a classicist.
They come around to the other side and find Andrew spray-painting a huge Death Star on the side of the van.
WARREN: W-what the hell is that?
ANDREW: Death Star, dude! Wicked, huh?
JONATHAN: (scornfully) Thermal exhaust port's *above* the main port, numb-nuts.
ANDREW: For your information, I'm using the Empire's revised designs from Return of the Jedi.
JONATHAN: That's a flawed design!
- Buffy goes back to UC Sunnydale where she goes through the first test: Due to some "evil lint" designed by Warren, life is speeding up all around Buffy with her being left behind.
I really like how this test brings up one of Buffy's fears:
Life has moved on without her when she was dead. (Um, so I-I was thinking about re-enrolling, but I missed the registration cutoff. Busy being dead and all.) Now that she's back, she's no longer used to the speed of life. Every little thing she does, takes an effort, so she gets easily distracted. (E.g. Buffy staring at the water going down the drain in Flooded.) When she's going to class with Willow and Tara, questions and answers are exchanged extremely quickly and she is unable to follow the lesson.
So, yes, Buffy being stuck in time with life speeding along beside her, must feel to her at first as if she was going mad. That she finally figures out that this is something that's being done to her shows how strong she is.
- Buffy works with Xander on a building site. This time around, Andrew presents the second test: He calls some demons.
Whereas Buffy felt she was too slow to follow classes at UC Sunnydale, it now turns out that she's too strong and fast to work at the building site. At least, the other workers don't approve when they realize how strong she is. (Hey. We get paid by the hour. (Buffy looks surprised) You wanna ruin it for the rest of us? Slow down.)
The second test also has its reflection in Buffy's life: She fights demons on a regular basis, but there's never any reward. On the contrary, usually her Slayer duties make life harder for her. The one exception to this rule is Buffy's class protector award that was presented to her by Jonathan...
- After being fired from the building site, all that's left to Buffy is helping Giles and Anya at the Magic Box which was her least favorite job option.
In the meantime, Andrew and Warren begin to realize that Jonathan's take on Buffy is no longer correct:
ANDREW: Why is the Slayer here anyway? She's a student, she's a construction worker, and ... now she's some kind of ... selling stuff person?
WARREN: (shakes head) It's like she's completely without focus.
Buffy is tested by Jonathan: This time around she has to satisfy a customer with a task that resists solving.
The entire scene is extremely funny due to SMG's comic talent. My favorite moment is when she takes Giles' glasses and stomps on them. This and Anya's comment Retail is a, is a fast-paced and exciting world.. Oh, and the antics of the mummy hand.
The bitter irony is that Buffy already feels stuck in life: Either it's moving too fast or too slow. And there's no acceptable way out for her, she's stuck and has to make the best out of her second life.
Buffy working in the "Doublemeat Palace" in episode 12 also has as one theme how time can slow down when you feel trapped/are bored.
- Have to admit that this line made me laugh every time: JONATHAN: Stop touching my magic bone!
- After spending the longest hour in her life in the Magic Shop, Buffy quits her job in retail. All her attempts, to work along side the Scoobies in acceptable jobs have failed. So she's now going to see the one person with who she can be herself: Spike.
- SPIKE: You're not a schoolgirl. You're not a shop girl.
Buffy pours from the flask into her glass again, emptying the flask.
SPIKE: You're a creature of the darkness. Like me. (Buffy looks at him) Try on my world. See how good it feels.
This comment shows the interesting dynamic between them:
Spike has tried to become part of the Scoobie gang in season 5 in order to be around Buffy. He was accepted temporarily, but has been made an outsider again when Buffy returned from the dead.
For him, the only way he can see to be around Buffy is therefore to pull her down to his level. Rising to her level didn't work after all.
What he says to her isn't completely untrue - Buffy is neither a schoolgirl nor a shop girl, she is the Slayer - but she is definitely more that a creature of darkness. Spike also has shown that he can be more than that.
My take on their relationship: Either they both fall into darkness or they both rise from it. I've seen up to episode 14 by now and this opinion still stands.
- SMG is great as drunken Buffy. Her "blaaaa" sounds from the background whenever she takes a drink, cracked me up.
- Buffy sums up her problems in this extremely eloquent speech:
Tonight sucks! And, and look at me! Look at, look at stupid Buffy! (pulls jacket back up her arm) Too dumb for college, and, and, and freak Buffy, too strong for construction work. (finishes putting on jacket) And, and my job at the magic shop? I was bored to tears even *before* the hour that wouldn't end! And the only person I can even stand to be around is a ... neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker.
- Demon!Jonathan is beyond words. Especially his final words: I am well struck! (voice breaking) I call on the misty portal to my demon dimension, where I will lay my head and gently die.
- Giles comforts Buffy and gives her a substantial sum of money so she can pay all the outstanding bills.
This money makes things *a lot* easier for Buffy, it gives her back some freedom. What's even more important to her is Giles' support. Next to Spike, he's the only person she feels close to - and unlike Spike, Giles is a stabilising influence in her life.
Unfortunately, we can see that Giles is not happy about Buffy relying on him so much...
BUFFY: I just ... wanna tell you ... that, um ... this ... makes me feel safe. Knowing you're always gonna be here.
Giles gives her a smile and a nod. But as soon as Buffy turns to leave the room, his smile turns to a worried frown and he sighs.
For a summary click here.
- This is an episode that I found amusing during the first scenes, but that later on made me cry with laughter. Started laughing during the scene in the Magic Shop when Buffy has to sell the mummy hand and from then on found pretty much everything hilarious. A couple of days later, I actually rewatched it with my boyfriend who also enjoyed it.
- Of course, there's a lot more to this episode than just the fun factor: Buffy tries different lines of work - and doesn't succeed anywhere. Not only does she feel like a failure, she also feels alienated from nearly everyone in her life.
- In the beginning of the episode, Buffy returns from her meeting with Angel.
She has brought back dinner for her friends, but it turns out they've already eaten. As Dawn says Uh, we didn't know when you'd be coming back. - To me, this remark shows that Dawn and the Scoobies have realised that Buffy is keeping her distance. When Buffy is trying to get close (by buying dinner for example), they are a bit surprised. However, they do want to rebuild the connection to her: In the end, they accept the offering of dinner despite the fact that they've already eaten.
The gap between Buffy and her friends is reopened almost immediately when they want to know what her meeting with Angel was like. Buffy refuses to give them any details and when she thinks she sounds to rude backtracks a bit and actually states that the meeting wasn't important. Dawn in particular is annoyed by Buffy's behaviour.
DAWN: So ... how was it? (nervous) Seeing Angel ... him seeing you. (Giles stands up) Was it weird?
Buffy looks uncomfortable. Dawn, Tara, and Willow look expectantly at her.
BUFFY: Um ... it was ... intense.
Giles goes to the back of the room to do something at a side table.
WILLOW: Well, i-if you wanna talk about it...
BUFFY: I don't. I-it's ... not important. Past. I'd just ... rather keep this one to myself, if that's okay.
DAWN: Sure, whatever.
I totally sympathize with Buffy here. I've got a collegue at work who just doesn't respect my boundaries. I say I don't want to talk about something and she gives me the "Come on. Surely it's not that private" routine. Well, maybe it's not a big thing to her, but to me it is. - I really hate that kind of pushy attitude.
- I really like how these two scenes follow one another.
BUFFY: Yeah, that ... sounds like a good plan. (looks across the table) What do you think, Giles?
Giles nods and looks as if he's searching for words.
JONATHAN VOICEOVER: The Slayer always knows what she's doing.
It's obvious that Buffy is no longer the way Jonathan remembers. In fact, she had already lost many of her certainties by mid season 5, but now that she's been resurrected her insecurities have taken over.
And as if her own fears aren't enough, three immature boys have decided to test her.
While the three geeks are entertaining so far, I still want to kick them. All three are intelligent and extremely talented. They could easily become rich and respected by founding their own company and earning money with their inventions. Instead they waste their talents on the goal of becoming super-villains who take over Sunnydale. Go figure.
They also never think about the consequences. Aren't their experiments rather risky? E.g. the demons at the building site could easily have hurt one of the workers there. Never mind that Buffy doesn't deserve to fight demons for the amusement of some boys.
- LOL! I bet Andrew also likes the prequel trilogy. He's daring enough to give new things a chance whereas Jonathan is more of a classicist.
They come around to the other side and find Andrew spray-painting a huge Death Star on the side of the van.
WARREN: W-what the hell is that?
ANDREW: Death Star, dude! Wicked, huh?
JONATHAN: (scornfully) Thermal exhaust port's *above* the main port, numb-nuts.
ANDREW: For your information, I'm using the Empire's revised designs from Return of the Jedi.
JONATHAN: That's a flawed design!
- Buffy goes back to UC Sunnydale where she goes through the first test: Due to some "evil lint" designed by Warren, life is speeding up all around Buffy with her being left behind.
I really like how this test brings up one of Buffy's fears:
Life has moved on without her when she was dead. (Um, so I-I was thinking about re-enrolling, but I missed the registration cutoff. Busy being dead and all.) Now that she's back, she's no longer used to the speed of life. Every little thing she does, takes an effort, so she gets easily distracted. (E.g. Buffy staring at the water going down the drain in Flooded.) When she's going to class with Willow and Tara, questions and answers are exchanged extremely quickly and she is unable to follow the lesson.
So, yes, Buffy being stuck in time with life speeding along beside her, must feel to her at first as if she was going mad. That she finally figures out that this is something that's being done to her shows how strong she is.
- Buffy works with Xander on a building site. This time around, Andrew presents the second test: He calls some demons.
Whereas Buffy felt she was too slow to follow classes at UC Sunnydale, it now turns out that she's too strong and fast to work at the building site. At least, the other workers don't approve when they realize how strong she is. (Hey. We get paid by the hour. (Buffy looks surprised) You wanna ruin it for the rest of us? Slow down.)
The second test also has its reflection in Buffy's life: She fights demons on a regular basis, but there's never any reward. On the contrary, usually her Slayer duties make life harder for her. The one exception to this rule is Buffy's class protector award that was presented to her by Jonathan...
- After being fired from the building site, all that's left to Buffy is helping Giles and Anya at the Magic Box which was her least favorite job option.
In the meantime, Andrew and Warren begin to realize that Jonathan's take on Buffy is no longer correct:
ANDREW: Why is the Slayer here anyway? She's a student, she's a construction worker, and ... now she's some kind of ... selling stuff person?
WARREN: (shakes head) It's like she's completely without focus.
Buffy is tested by Jonathan: This time around she has to satisfy a customer with a task that resists solving.
The entire scene is extremely funny due to SMG's comic talent. My favorite moment is when she takes Giles' glasses and stomps on them. This and Anya's comment Retail is a, is a fast-paced and exciting world.. Oh, and the antics of the mummy hand.
The bitter irony is that Buffy already feels stuck in life: Either it's moving too fast or too slow. And there's no acceptable way out for her, she's stuck and has to make the best out of her second life.
Buffy working in the "Doublemeat Palace" in episode 12 also has as one theme how time can slow down when you feel trapped/are bored.
- Have to admit that this line made me laugh every time: JONATHAN: Stop touching my magic bone!
- After spending the longest hour in her life in the Magic Shop, Buffy quits her job in retail. All her attempts, to work along side the Scoobies in acceptable jobs have failed. So she's now going to see the one person with who she can be herself: Spike.
- SPIKE: You're not a schoolgirl. You're not a shop girl.
Buffy pours from the flask into her glass again, emptying the flask.
SPIKE: You're a creature of the darkness. Like me. (Buffy looks at him) Try on my world. See how good it feels.
This comment shows the interesting dynamic between them:
Spike has tried to become part of the Scoobie gang in season 5 in order to be around Buffy. He was accepted temporarily, but has been made an outsider again when Buffy returned from the dead.
For him, the only way he can see to be around Buffy is therefore to pull her down to his level. Rising to her level didn't work after all.
What he says to her isn't completely untrue - Buffy is neither a schoolgirl nor a shop girl, she is the Slayer - but she is definitely more that a creature of darkness. Spike also has shown that he can be more than that.
My take on their relationship: Either they both fall into darkness or they both rise from it. I've seen up to episode 14 by now and this opinion still stands.
- SMG is great as drunken Buffy. Her "blaaaa" sounds from the background whenever she takes a drink, cracked me up.
- Buffy sums up her problems in this extremely eloquent speech:
Tonight sucks! And, and look at me! Look at, look at stupid Buffy! (pulls jacket back up her arm) Too dumb for college, and, and, and freak Buffy, too strong for construction work. (finishes putting on jacket) And, and my job at the magic shop? I was bored to tears even *before* the hour that wouldn't end! And the only person I can even stand to be around is a ... neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker.
- Demon!Jonathan is beyond words. Especially his final words: I am well struck! (voice breaking) I call on the misty portal to my demon dimension, where I will lay my head and gently die.
- Giles comforts Buffy and gives her a substantial sum of money so she can pay all the outstanding bills.
This money makes things *a lot* easier for Buffy, it gives her back some freedom. What's even more important to her is Giles' support. Next to Spike, he's the only person she feels close to - and unlike Spike, Giles is a stabilising influence in her life.
Unfortunately, we can see that Giles is not happy about Buffy relying on him so much...
BUFFY: I just ... wanna tell you ... that, um ... this ... makes me feel safe. Knowing you're always gonna be here.
Giles gives her a smile and a nod. But as soon as Buffy turns to leave the room, his smile turns to a worried frown and he sighs.