Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1, Episode 12 'Prophecy Girl'

"Bite me!"

Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: Joss Whedon

What’s the sitch?

*SPOIILER ALERT*

Xander finally asks Buffy out to the upcoming Spring Fling dance…only to be knocked back by the “I don’t think of you that way” line. Later on, Buffy overhears Giles and Angel discussing a prophecy Giles has just discovered in the Codex: the ancient book Angel supplied him with. The prophecy tells of how The Master is about to rise and that Buffy will die at his hands. Buffy is devastated. She tells Giles she quits and runs off home.

The next day, Willow and Cordelia discover the bodies of students in the school's audio/visual room. They’ve been brutally murdered by vamps working for The Master. Buffy goes to see the traumatised Willow at her home to offer comfort. Seeing what this has done to her friend and realising that Willow and Xander may well be next, Buffy decides to face her destiny and seek out The Master before anyone else gets hurt. So wearing the dress her mum bought her for the dance plus Angel’s leather jacket, our brave slayer tools up and makes for The Master's lair looking for a showdown.

But in the ensuing battle with the ancient vampire, Buffy does indeed die at his hands by drowning in a shallow pool of water. And The Master, having now killed the Slayer, fulfils the prophecy and rises from his underground prison, arriving on the surface, triumphant in his victory.

Meanwhile, Xander and Angel get to The Master’s former lair only to find Buffy face down in the water, dead. Xander gives her CPR...and eventually she splutters back to life feeling stronger than ever. The reinvigorated slayer then heads up to the surface to seek out The Master for what will be their final battle.

And on the roof of the school library, as the Hellmouth beneath starts to open, Buffy and The Master fight once more.

But this time our girl is too strong for him and the risen vampire, soon bested, plunges down through the skylight to be impaled on some broken wood, killing him outright.

The Master dead, the Hellmouth immediately closes. All is well once more.

Reunited, the gang decides to go on to The Bronze for the Spring Fling dance.

“Sure!" remarks Buffy. "We saved the world. I say we party. I mean, I got all pretty.”

And they all head off for some well deserved fun.

What’s the sitch beneath the sitch?
This is all about fate, destiny and sacrifice. And above all friendship. Despite being traumatised by the prophecy and what it means for her, Buffy puts the safety of her friends and others before her own life. Luckily things don’t turn out quite as she’d expected.

Who’s giving us the wiggins this week?
The Master and the seemingly inescapable pull of fate.

Why it rocks
1. Joss writes and directs. This is the big season finale that pays off everything that has been set up in the prior eleven episodes. The story is tight, well structured, character driven, emotional and has impact. It’s also a lot of fun in a bleak kinda way and is ultimately a highly satisfying finale to the first season.

2. Sarah Michelle Gellar. She slays all before her. Watching her portray such an epic emotional journey in just one episode is something to behold. She starts as happy schoolgirl, then goes to embarrassed, uncomfortable teen, to devastated and terrified child, then to compassionate friend and finally to calm and focussed warrior. When she dons her pretty dress and leather jacket and tools up with stakes and a crossbow the icon has most definitely arrived. It’s like watching Batman put his costume on. Kristy Swanson donned more or less the same gear in the movie but it never had the same impact that it does here…mostly because the film was rubbish and didn’t take itself or the character remotely seriously. Plus Swanson lacked the petite vulnerability, emotional range and sheer acting chops of Gellar.

3. “I quit.” The entire scene where Buffy reacts to the fatal prophecy and quits her slaying gig is one of the finest pieces of writing and acting in the entire seven seasons of the show. And it ends with that most heartbreaking of lines: "Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die."

4. Subvert and die. Joss pulls one of his usual tricks and subverts the audience’s expectations. Even with the prophecy we don’t really expect Buffy to die at the hands of The Master. But die she does.

5. Xander the hero. It is fitting that Xander is the one who saves Buffy by insisting that Angel takes him to The Master’s lair, showing that he truly loves Buffy despite her not feeling the same way for him. And finding Buffy dead, it is Xander who brings her back to life. Angel, the one she does love, is the one who’s reluctant to go and help her and is also unable to save her life having no breath for CPR. Along with Buffy, Xander is the true hero of the piece. He steps up to the mark and puts his own fears, hurt feelings, and his own life aside to save someone he really does love. It’s the theme of this episode. And it works beautifully.

6. Play that rockin’ theme. Newly revived and stronger than ever, our girl gets back up and strides off to find The Master for some serious payback as the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme blasts out. Love it.

Why it sucks
1. The rubber Hellmouth monster is crap.

2. How come the Master’s bones remain after he dies? Surely they should turn to dust with the rest of him.

3. Not much humour to be found here; it's mostly angst and death and mayhem.

It’s Buftastic
Buffy learns of her prophesied fate and rails against Angel and Giles before running away. Her subsequent conversation with Willow shows us the moment where she decides to face her destiny and save her friends no matter the cost to herself.

Dialogue to die for
Xander: “I'm just gonna go home, lie down and listen to country music, the music of pain.”

Angel: “By the way, I really like your dress.”
Buffy: “Yeah, yeah. Big hit with everyone.”

Buffy (to The Master): “You have fruit punch mouth.”

Buffy: “Sure! We saved the world. I say we party. I mean, I got all pretty.”

And another thing
Prophecy Girl marks Joss Whedon’s debut as a director. And a darn good job he does too.

Cast and crew had no idea if the show was going to be picked up for a second season when this was made as the entire first season was shot and finished a few months prior to it being aired. And so Prophecy Girl is designed as not just a season finale but a show finale too. Luckily for us Buffy hit big and season two (this time a full 22 episodes) was soon greenlit.

How many stakes?
I prophesise five for this girl. 5 (out of 5)

And so ends my Buffy season one recap. I'll move on to season two soon.

Being a Buffy-holic

Being a Buffy-holic

I recently rewatched the 2008 Paley Television Festival event honouring Buffy the Vampire Slayer that was attended by most of the cast as well as Joss Whedon and many of the writers. Once More with Feeling was screened and then the cast and crew did a long Q&A with the moderator and the audience. The moderator was Matt Roush of TV Guide. Roush, a long time fan of the show, got up at the start and quipped, "My name is Matt and I'm a Buffy-holic." I laughed and nodded in understanding. He wasn’t joking. I know how he feels.

I first watched Buffy the series on Sky TV back in 1998 despite my not exactly liking the original movie it was based on. Word of mouth and critical reaction made me give it a go. I’m glad I did. Season one was great. I really, really liked it. And then it moved in to season two. Spike and Dru arrived. Yay! And about half way through that season the show went and pulled the rug out from under the audience. That’s when I started to truly love it. There was simply nothing else this weird, this witty, this bold, and this emotional on television. And nothing with characters so damn vibrant and likeable who were put through so much endless pain yet kept coming back for more. By the time season three had finished I was forever smitten by this smart, often hilarious, often daft and sometimes incredibly moving show. Season three is still my favourite for two big reasons: Faith and The Mayor. Oh, and Doppelgangland (vampire Willow rocks!”)

Anyway, I realised upon rewatching the Paley Fest thing that, like Mr Roush, I am a Buffy-holic. I admit it. There it is. There has not been a time since the show ended in 2003 that I haven’t been watching it either on reruns on TV or on old taped off the TV videos or latterly on DVD. A couple years back I caved in and bought all seven seasons on DVD as the price had finally dropped to an affordable level. Since then the various seasons have been on continual rotation on my player with only a few short breaks in between. Also, for the past few months the Sci Fi channel has been showing Buffy on weekday evenings (they seem stuck with seasons one, two and three only at the mo) It’s on just after I get home from work. Perfect. A mug of tea. A choccy biscuit. The Slayer. I’ll watch them even though they are heavily edited for language and violence. I’ve also recently finished watching season five on DVD again (though I had to skip The Body this time for personal reasons) and have literally just finished season six. I wasn’t intending to, I swear. I just had a hankering to rewatch the season five opener Buffy vs. Dracula after finishing reading a great new Dracula comic adaptation. And I did watch it. And it was fab. But Whedon & co. pulled me in, so I just kept on going. Then when I got to the end of season five and the Bufster does her sacrificial swan dive from Glory’s Tower I just had to rewatch the start of season six (Bargaining parts 1 & 2) to see her return to the land of the living. And so I did watch it. But – again – Whedon & co. pulled me in. And I rewatched that whole darn season. Grr Argh!

Jeez! I nearly forgot how messed up season six is.

I love it. But, boy, do things (and a certain red headed Wiccan) go to dark places. Destructive and depraved sexual relations, ‘magic’ addiction (the drug metaphor is not well hid), attempted rape (on more than one occasion), cold blooded murder…and the list goes on. What starts out as potentially jokey and very silly with the Trio of villains Andrew, Jonathan and Warren soon gets very nasty indeed. These three regular human beings descend into sub-humanity after initially setting out to just have fun. It’s in this season that Buffy the series develops what is truly its worst villain of all. Warren. He is a human being, not a demon or a god or a vampire or a cyborg. He is a selfish, messed up, misogynistic and utterly despicable human being. Just like the ones that really are out there in the world. He is happy to rape and murder if it makes him feel better about himself. A true monster. And then there is episode 6.19 Seeing Red – probably the darkest and most disturbing episode of the entire show. There is a shocking attempted rape scene that’s very uncomfortable to watch. And there’s the attempted and the actual murder of two main characters that happens in a sudden, brutal and very human manner. The last heartbreaking words of a much loved character being, “Your shirt…?”

Yep, grim stuff indeed. But I understand why.

Joss always said that as the characters grew up then the problems and dangers they’d face should change accordingly. Season six is about adulthood, responsibility, dealing with the big bad that is life in the real world. And so we get Buffy having to work as a wage slave at The Doublemeat Palace to pay the ever growing mound of bills but still having to be bailed out financially by Giles after her house gets flooded by a burst pipe. “Full… copper… re-pipe! No… more… full… copper… re-pipe!” she cries while beating a demon to death in her flooded basement. We also get her being forced in to the mother role to Dawn, taking responsibility for her little sis’s behavioural problems. And other characters are dealing with similar things. Xander and Anya are getting married and talking about having kids and building a life…all of which is starting to freak the Xan Man out. And Willow has to deal with a dangerous addiction that threatens to destroy everything she cares about. Yep, season six is dark, dark stuff. So much so that SMG went to Joss at the time and said she had lost the character. She didn’t know who she was anymore. Which I guess was kinda the point. But Joss agreed that they had gone far enough and needed to pull Buffy back from the darkness and give back to her much of what she’d lost.

So what is it about Buffy? Why am I especially addicted to this one particular show? I mean, there are plenty of other TV shows I love and will happily re-watch from time to time. Just not with quite the same yearning I get for the Bufster’s adventures, that feeling of needing to revisit much-missed friends. The closest is probably Babylon 5. If it ain’t a season of Buffy on rotation them it’s likely to be JMS’s epic sci fi myth spinning in the disc tray. Even classic Trek doesn’t pull me in this much. And I adore classic Trek.

So why Buffy?

I blame that sod Whedon. It’s all his fault. Why did he have to create such brilliant characters with lives and issues that can resonate so well either directly or indirectly? And why did he (and his writers) have to be so damn witty and clever? And why oh why did they have to hire such perfect actors – especially for the core roles? As Buffy, SMG IS perfect. She can go from cute and littlegirlsh to troubled woman (in stylish yet affordable boots) to witty kick-ass super chick in an eye blink. As Xander, Nicky Brendan is a natural comedian with perfect comic timing and an inherent warmth and geekiness that you can’t help but love. Xander is also the everyman, the one with no powers or abilities except for his loyalty to his friends and his quick wit. Alyson Hannigan is never less than adorable as Willow the Witch – except perhaps when she’s veiny Dark Willow or S&M-y Vamp Willow. Mmm…Vamp Willow! Tony Head is stalwart and true as Buffy’s watcher and father figure, Giles, but who has his own dark and troubled side to contend with. Emma Caulfield as Anya, the 1000-year-old ex-vengeance demon turned love interest for Xander, is pure comedy gold. She says what she thinks and what nobody else is ever willing to say. The pause control most people have in their brain to stop themselves from saying something blunt or undiplomatic no matter how truthful it might be is entirely missing from Anya. Her love of money and fear of bunnies only makes her funnier. Even Michelle Trachtenberg as the much maligned Dawn is spot on. Sure, the character is often whiny and annoying, but that’s not Michelle’s fault. She does a great job playing a troubled and angsty teen.

And then there is James Marsters as Spike.

Spike is possibly my favourite television character ever and one of my favourite fictional characters ever. From his first appearance in season two’s School Hard right up to his last on-screen showing in Angel’s final episode Not Fade Away, the platinum bad boy vamp has owned it all. Spike is a mass of contradictions. Starting out as a bloody awful poet called William in 19th century London, he meets Angelus, Drusilla and Darla (Mmm…Darla) and becomes a vampire with some decidedly icky mother issues. Later on he becomes the slayer of Slayers, until, years later, he arrives in Sunnydale where he tries to bag himself a third Slayer scalp before eventually falling in love with his deadliest enemy. Spike is a demon (until season seven anyway). He is a killer, a monster. And yet he feels love and appreciates beauty and things that are good and true…even if he feels compelled to destroy them. He seems to be at some level always at war with his demonic nature, as if the decent man he once was is always trying to get back out, which is something he finally sets out to achieve after the events in season six’s Seeing Red. Spike is also just bloody funny and has a strong anti-everything punk attitude. It is no secret that Spike and Drusilla were initially modelled upon Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Even after he is re-souled at the end of season six, Spike (after going mad for a while) still retains his punk attitude and sarky nature. And James Marsters is never less than awesome in the role. Even in outtakes you can see the ‘fuck you’ attitude he keeps about him while in character. The guy is great. And his English accent is impeccable. Upon first hearing him I thought he was English. Spike also gets many of the best lines in the show.

"Delivering melted cheese on bread, doing your part to keep America constipated."

"I love syphilis more than you"

“YOU MADE A BEAR!”

"I'm saying that Spike had a little trip to the vet, and now he doesn't chase the other puppies any more"

"Hey! What am I, a bleeding broken record? I'm bad. It's just... I can't bite anymore. Thanks to you wankers"

"Well, isn't this usually the part where you kick me in the head and run out, virtue fluttering?"

“Out. For. A. Walk.” (Pause) “BITCH!”

So, anyway, there it is. I’m a Buffy-holic. And I’m not alone. Far from it. Buffy may be gone from TV but she lives and breathes in pop culture fandom all around the world – especially with the continuing season 8 comic. The Paley Fest thing proves it. The show’s 800 plus tickets sold out in two hours flat. People came from all around the world including Asia and Europe with many camping out overnight just to get a good seat. Buffy is constantly being voted as one of the best TV shows of all time, recently making number two in Empire magazines poll. And the season five ender The Gift where Buffy dies to save her sister and the world was voted as the most memorable moment in TV history at the 60th Annual Emmy Awards in 2008. Go Bufster!

So, yeah, I’m a Buffy-holic.

And you know what? I love it.

THIS JUST IN (19/03/10): The UK's SFX Magazine's online poll for the top 25 TV shows of all time has Buffy at number two (Doctor Who is number one)


***

ANYA: (finishing lecturing the rest of the Scoobies) “…The workers are the tools that shape America.”

BUFFY: (off screen) “Good to know.”

We see her. The Slayer’s standing in the doorway, wearing red pants, a red-and-white striped shirt and a red hat with a cartoon cow’s head on top.

BUFFY: “I was kinda feelin' like a tool.”

The Scoobies look at her in shock

BUFFY: “And now I know why.”

Wolf howl. Opening credits.

- From the teaser of 6.12 ‘Doublemeat Palace’ written by Jane Espenson

Geek Happenings: Comics (with a vamp theme)

The Complete Dracula


The Complete Dracula is an excellently written (by Leah Moore and John Reppion) and beautifully drawn adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic tale. I haven’t read the novel for many years but I am a fan and own all the major film and TV adaptations including the 1931 film with Bela Lugosi, the 1958 Hammer version with Christopher Lee, the 1977 BBC series with Louis Jordan, the 1979 film with Frank Langella and the 1992 Coppola film with Gary Oldman. And of course…the 2000 TV episode Buffy vs. Dracula. I love it. The Dracula is actually very good and Xander makes for a hilarious Renfield. But the 92 Coppola version is my fave. It is so lush, visually creative and theatrical and Oldman is awesome!

However, none of these adaptations are especially faithful to the novel with the Hammer version and the 1979 Langella film doing almost an entirely new story (based on the original stage adaptation of the book.) Even the BBC show and the Coppola film, by far the closest to the book, change things, amalgamate characters, invent new story points or miss things out altogether. This comic book adaptation is - from memory of the book and the notes in the back of each issue – 99.9% faithful. A couple of lines here and there have been slightly altered to make character motivations clearer but all Stoker’s characters, their relationships, the geography of the story (something none of the films gets right) and the timeline is spot on. They have even included the book’s original opening chapter ‘Dracula’s Guest’ which was excised upon publication due to length issues.

This is a wonderful adaptation of a beloved work of classic fiction. A great deal of research, love and care has gone in to its making including the writers and artists having worked closely with respected Dracula scholars to make sure everything they were doing was correct or at least in keeping with Stoker’s intentions. A collected edition will be out soon. If you like Dracula or just excellent graphic novels then you need this.

http://www.moorereppion.com/comics/dynamite/dracula/

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8

Bet you guessed this one, huh? Yep, the Bufster lives on in comic books. This is the official Joss Whedon continuation of his TV show that ended in 2003 when Buffy defeated The First Evil, destroyed Sunnydale, and, using the magic of wicca witch Willow and a sacred Slayer artefact, turned all the worlds thousands of potential slayers in to full slayers.

“From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power, can stand up, will stand up. Slayers... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?”

Dark Horse Comic’s Buffy Season 8 has been running now since 2007 with issue 31 new out this week. It has been a big critical and commercial hit. So what's going on in Slayerland?

Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer…

Our gal Buffy Summers has been training an army of slayers who are now (for various reasons) the worlds public enemy number one. As such Buffy and her people are being hunted down by the masked bad guy Twilight (a dig maybe at another vamp thing?) and his US military cohorts along with other nefarious types including Amy and Warren, baddies from the TV show. The current plot has Buffy, her friends and the band of slayers hiding in remote Tibet fighting off Twilight’s forces and accidentally/on purpose releasing a trinity of ancient goddesses who are about to wreak havoc on the world. This new issue titled Turbulence is written by Joss himself. And it is excellent, filled with loads of his trademark witty, creative dialogue and character beats while moving the overall story along in to intriguing new places. The reveal of the identity of Twilight is about to happen in the books but has already leaked online. And I gotta say it is an odd one. But I go with Joss…after all Joss is Boss!

Anyway, Buffy Season 8 has been awesome from the start. Its been awesome for spinning some top notch stories, bringing back some great writers from the TV show, courting controversy (Buffy had a brief gay fling much to the horror of some fans and some of the media…twats!) But mostly its been awesome for just bringing back some much loved characters and giving them their proper voices courtesy of the god who be Whedon. Season 8 still has a while left to go and Season 9 is already being sketched out. Buffy Lives!

http://www.darkhorse.com/Zones/Buffy

Angel

The only other series I currently get every issue of is the IDW produced Angel, the official continuation of the Buffy spin-off TV series of the same name.

For those not in the know Angel was Buffy’s vampire-with-a-soul boyfriend from seasons 1,2 & 3 before he got his own show, relocating to LA where he gathered a team around him to fight evil and “help the helpless.” Angel the series was cancelled at the end of season 5 (not through poor ratings, just to save money so the network could make cheaper reality shows instead) and it finished on a cliffhanger in the brilliant episode Not Fade Away. At series end the evil demonic law firm Wolfram and Hart, the main villains of the show, had been defeated. Unfortunately that defeat led to all hell being literally unleashed on earth…well…Los Angeles anyway. The last we saw of Angel and his few surviving teammates they were in a rain soaked alley, swords and axes in hand, about to face down a huge demonic horde. There was even a giant dragon. Hopeless odds surely. But Team Angel was up for the fight with Angel’s last words on screen being the immortal, “Let’s go to work!” as he charged the enemy with sword raised high.

This comic series, also starting in 2007 and originally titled Angel: After the Fall but now simply Angel, picked up several months after that fight in the alley. A fight Team Angel didn’t exactly win nor lose. LA is still hell with demon lords running various sectors and Angel (sans team) still at large, fighting the good fight, trying to help and protect the surviving humans. The series has been good and fun to read…mostly. Its problem is that Joss Whedon hasn’t been directly involved ala Buffy Season 8, only commenting on overall story lines and offering advice. Nor have any of the shows original writers been involved. So, to me, it has lacked the wit and smarts and the charm that Season 8 has had by the bucketload. But having said that it is still a good read and they did bring in one of my fave authors Kelley Armstrong a while back to script several issues, which was great. Plus it has Spike as a regular character. And Spike was and is my favourite character in the entire Buffyverse and one of my favourite characters in fiction ever. That platinum punk vamp kicks so much ass.

http://www.idwpublishing.com/catalog/series/13/