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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
As Sweet said, "Showtime!"
"Once More, With Feeling"
Episode 6.07
Score by Christopher Beck
Choreographer Adam Shankman
Original Songs, Music & Lyrics by Joss Whedon
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
Where to begin? How about, I've been dreading this episode ever since I found out about it.
They were what? Going to sing? The sheer arrogance it took to think that you could take a six-year old drama and put it to music without deeply embarrassing everyone involved...
But they did it. By God, they did it. This is as good as it gets, people.
When you think about it, this is the ideal show to do as a musical. In real life, people don't normally burst spontaneously into song. It's not natural. There needs to be a reason - and what better reason than a supernatural one?
The story follows the classic weirdness-in-town-caused-by-demon plot: people are being overcome by the compulsion to burst into song and dance. Sometimes they dance so fast that they burst into flames. It's all been caused by a tap-dancing demon, who kidnaps Dawn and plans to take her back to Hell as his queen. Buffy goes to confront him, and...
Hold on, I'm forgetting the music. Let's get one thing out of the way. It took real bravery for the actors to do a song-and-dance episode, and some of them were, well, a lot braver than others. So how do you write songs for non-singers? Make the music as strong as you can but don't rely on the vocal delivery, and concentrate on the lyrics instead. Luckily, spoken dialog has always been a chief strength of this show, so it should be no surprise that the words, set to music, are just as intelligent, witty, original and fun as ever. Only now they rhyme!
The first song had one responsibility: be so good that people are drawn in immediately, and sure enough it was. We've known all season that Buffy was suffering from depression, and now the dancing graveyard ghouls confirmed it: "She does very well with fiends from Hell but lately we can tell that she's just Going Through the Motions." Hat trick: get the story moving, give us a taste for the fun to come, and surprise! Sarah Michelle Gellar is a pretty good singer.
The next songs were pretty cute, too, as the team debated the reasons for their sudden urge to sing ("I've Got a Theory"), discovered that the whole town was affected ("They Got the Mustard Out!") and learned that the singers are being compelled to reveal secrets and feelings best left hidden ("I'll Never Tell"). The one song that didn't hold my attention was Tara's love song to Willow - it was sweet but unmemorable, and although necessary to the B-story (Tara finds out later on that Willow erased her memory of an argument), for once the lyrics were nothing special. On the other hand, I have to grin when I think of the way the song ended. Did I mention bravery? I wasn't just thinking about music.
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Spike. He also has a big number, and like Tara's, it was necessary for plot development, and, like Tara's, the music wasn't all that compelling. But the lyrics were dead-on (no pun intended) in dissecting his strange relationship with the Slayer. Reminding her that he is, essentially, deceased, there was nothing cute or funny about his words. All season long Buffy has been confiding in Spike, and he's let her use him, but he's getting fed up. "I'm telling you to stop visiting my grave and Let Me Rest in Peace!"
One absolute necessity for a great episode is a great villain, and in the devilish Sweet they had a remarkable guest star. There's a reason why Hinton Battle has three - yes, three - Tony Awards under his belt. He doesn't have much screen time, but he completely owns his scenes. He has the best-written song of the evening, and his powerful delivery does it full justice and more. Add to that the extraordinary dance talent that just pours out of every movement he makes, and we get an utterly charismatic performance.
Battle deserves much more than a single paragraph, but this format is limited. I can't talk about his scenes, however, without at least mentioning Dawn. Last week I dissed Michelle Trachtenberg's acting skills, but - this girl can move! Both in the mini-ballet he did with Sweet's minions and the short little turn she had with Sweet himself, you could see the complete control and precision that marks a true dancer, and she held her own with the Broadway pro.
They also had a great director for this one: Joss Whedon himself. Take Anthony Stewart Head's big solo. It's more than just a musical number - it's a pivotal moment for his whole character. While in a training session with Buffy, Giles has come to the conclusion that Buffy is too dependent on him, and that he needs to stop "Standing in the Way." He is a pretty good singer to begin with, and his delivery of the lines is made all the more potent by the sight of Buffy performing various leaps, kicks and punches, all in slow motion. She is the picture of youth and potential, and the contrast with the mournful words of the older man made the scene a little bit heartbreaking.
Then there was the big number where everyone marches down to confront Sweet and rescue Dawn. The cuts back and forth between each character took a so-so song and turned it into a big climactic moment, capturing a snapshot of each character - "She came from the grave much graver" (literal Anya), "First I'll kill her then I'll save her" (frustrated Spike), "Everything is turning out so dark" (betrayed Tara), "Will this do a thing to change her? Am I leaving Dawn in danger" (concerned Giles), "These endless days are finally ending in a blaze" (uncaring Buffy), and the Scoobies' group "We'll see it through it's what we're always here to do." Towards the end of the song, the characters' voices are combined in a complex harmony that is paralleled by the expert editing, while themes from earlier numbers come back into play. The perfect conclusion? Buffy bursts through the door to the Bronze and Sweet smiles. "Showtime!"
The final stand-off between Buffy and Sweet wasn't your standard fight - instead of attacking her with violence he forced her to sing, in front of her friends, about what was really bothering her and why she lost all interest in life ("Don't give me songs, give me Something to Sing About!"). If you've been watching the show, you'll know why this secret would devastate her friends, particularly ring-leader Willow. As Buffy begins to dance wildly, and is about to incinerate like the earlier victims, it takes the one person who already knew her secret to pull her out of it. Which leads to...
Where do we go from here, indeed.
I suppose I should give equal time to folks who didn't like this episode. Some people will never like musicals, and just don't enjoy the format. (Kind of like me and wrestling.) Other people were so outraged by a plot development in the last five seconds that they put this entire episode in the negative column. I have to admit that the Defeat of Sweet (oh, no, now I'm rhyming too) was a little anti-climactic once it was revealed what really brought him to town. But that's a minor quibble, and as to the rest, damn it, this is MY column, I love musicals, and whoo-hoo for Spike!
Episode rating: 10 out of 10 (yeah, like you didn't see THAT coming)
And yes, that was Marti Noxon trying to get out of a ticket.
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