Favourite Episodes
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
The Body.
Season 5, Episode 16.
(Does Contain Spoilers)
This is the episode about Buffy finding her Mum lying dead on the sofa. It could of gone for the ER style of death, have some important lesson and have some piano laden music to really pull the heartstrings. This does the complete opposite, there is no important lesson and there is almost no sound. Ambiance is the main source of sound for this episode. This is the most honest reflection of death I have ever seen on screen. Along with great direction from Joss Whedon and amazing acting from everyone. This is by far one of the best Buffy episodes, no its one of the best episode ever to be shown on screen. This deserved to get an Emmy, but like all great shows (cough, House, cough) it got snubbed. (fuck you Emmy’s!!)
For a show that focuses on fantasy and the supernatural, it contains the most realistic scene I’ve ever seen. Let’s start with Joss Whedon’s direction. He uses every camera trick that a student gets taught at film school. The skewed angles, the long takes, the misplaced shot. It’s all there and all these shot types add to the nerving impact this episode is suppose to go for. This is evident in the first scene of the episode with the 3 minute long take of Buffy finding her Mum’s body. The lack of sound and the distorted nature of this scene (which is filmed by a handheld camera). Every detail of this scene has an amazing effect, the large buttons on the phone, the ambiance of outside inferring that normal life outside of Buffy’s is still going on, the alternate dream Buffy has of her Mum waking up and being Ok, contributes to this impact of death of a loved one. It just feels so real and me as the audience I became so intertwined in the episode and I felt what Buffy feeling. It was traumatic and brilliant at the same time.
This is also an episode that does provide some truly amazing acting depth and every character in this episode raises their game and each of them deserve an Emmy for this. (But none of them got one, not even Sarah Michelle Gellar!! Fuck You Emmy’s) Sarah Michelle Gellar portrays Buffy here with the most realistic acting I’ve seen of her ever. I was blown away by how good of an actress she is. This is her finest moment so far in this series acting wise. Alyson Hannigan plays the grief stricken with so much “believability” and when she was crying about what she would wear to the morgue, I started too cry and at that point I knew that this episode would be an emotional ride and god I was right. Another outstanding moment is the Anya monologue (Picture above) played by Emma Caulifield is one of the most beautiful and emotional things I’ve ever witnessed in this show. I’ve always loved the Anya character but this childlike reaction to death set me off again and I started to cry. Every member of the cast in this episode shows how good of an actor they really are and this is an outstanding episode in an outstanding show.
This episode shows how different Buffy the Vampire Slayer is and how amazing Joss Whedon is. This doesn’t show that death makes you stronger like other American TV shows, it shows that it pulls you apart and makes you feel isolated. I love this episode and I cannot stressed how much I cried and was overwhelmed of how good this episode is. This is truly a remarkable episode that shows that death in it’s true light. Absolutely brilliant.
