Resurrection in the Night

“It’s like evolution, only in reverse.”—Anya, “Afterlife”

“This is Hell.”—Buffy, “Afterlife”

“It’s something unpredictable but in the end is right.
I hope you had the time of your life.”—Green Day “Good Riddance”

The sixth season brought about a heap of change for Buffy. The show that ushered forth the WB switched to the new fledgling affiliate, UPN. Marti Noxon, a veteran on Joss Whedon’s eclectic and creative staff, partnered with Whedon as executive producer.

And the show as the fans knew it changed forever by showing one of the most controversial and debated about seasons for any television program in recent history.

For you newbies, the show relates the story of one Buffy Anne Summers, a shallow airhead of a valley girl who discovers her destiny as a Vampire Slayer. A Slayer is a girl chosen to fend off the forces of darkness in the forms of, oh, vampires, demons, monsters, ogres, wtiches, and succubi. Together with her friends Willow, Xander, her guide, Rupert Giles and a host of other human and non-human allies they battle evil in Sunnydale, California. Unfortunately, Sunnydale is conveniently located on top of an opening to Hell. A Hellmouth.

Season Six debunks the myth and hero’s journey of the Slayer. It was as if the premise of showing Spider-Man as an average joe struggling with his amazing powers was taken to its most extreme scenario. Even the season villain was not a powerful supernatural enemy but three inconsequential, but gifted geeks. However, in true irony that creator Joss Whedon is notorious for, they cause more damage and heartache than any villain Buffy has faced.

When last we left the Slayer, she sacrificed herself to save her sister, Dawn, and in effect the world. Her mission was complete. The mythical journey had reached its end in a triumphant and grand conclusion.

But in Season Six she is rudely torn from the permanent solace of death and thrust into the middling details of adult life. Paying the bills, finding a job, and acting as Dawn’s guardian. In a moment of true black humor, the vaunted, intrepid warrior struggles the most with stuff we’ve all gone through, making dealing with these mundanities ironically all the more heroic. Coupling with the invasion of adult life is Buffy’s denial of her being brought back to life. The Slayer is in a morose, self-loathing funk through most of the season, and the unintentional consequence was the alienation of most Buffy fans.

Buffy’s not the only one disaffected as the other Scoobies are debunked as well. In fact, we see the Scoobies worst tendencies in full blown Technicolor. Again, this surprised and shocked avid viewers seeing their beloved characters in such an unfavorable light.

But Whedon’s mission statement for the season was growing up. Not romantic, mythical rites of passage. Not Luke Skywalker’s or even Season Two Buffy’s loss of innocence. Growing up is the sudden, uncomfortable, and at times painful facing of disturbing truths about the self and the world. No more illusions. No more myths. And no more distancing magic spells.

If one goes back and watches the past episodes even from the ages ago beginning, the signposts were there but not addressed directly. But each of the characters as heroic and admirable as they are, had all been heading in this very direction. Buffy and her friends spent more time in the past five years facing external demons and monsters that the internal demons were allowed to fester. We see the Scoobies being eaten away slowly from the inside out, represented by the dissolution of the Scooby Gang in both the abstract spiritual and more concrete physical sense.

So the audience and the characters reveal their darker natures. Buffy’s hypocrisy between her Holier-Than-Thousim and her primal Slayer sexuality is mercilessly brought to the fore. We see Xander at his bigoted and prejudiced worst, revealing himself to truly be son of the father. Willow’s magical use and her insecurities and self-doubt finally bear bitter fruit. And Giles, as any responsible and loving adult eventually must, throws the birds out of the nest, only to see them crash..

And then there is Spike, the irredeemable vampire who had fallen in virtuous love with the beautiful Slayer and become a valued protector of her sister, Dawn. He is confronted with the harshest, ugliest truth of all—his own doomed nature and existence. It makes for compelling, passionate, and bile-swallowing viewing when we see his unattainable fair lady and him engage in self-destructive and spiteful sex for the one and the fulfillment of the other’s deepest and purest desires.

So what is the point of all this pain? In point of fact, it is a night journey. Season six is a trip into the shadows that all heroes must eventually face. What ultimately elevates season six is a stripping away of stultifying preconceptions and assumptions, like the axiom says, sometimes you need to cut to cure. Buffy and her friends each learn something about themselves that they may not have wanted to know, but needed to for growth. Buffy and the Scoobs have always been good.

Season Six forces them to become better.

The DVD set includes director and writer commentaries for six episodes, including two season six masterpieces, "Once More, WIth Feeling" and "Dead Things." Plus extras, cast commentary, season analysis. All 21 episodes ("Bargaining" is two parts) are on six discs. And what's a DVD without outtakes and bloopers? Hey , they're only human, after all!

Essential Episodes:

Bargaining I: Season Six’s uneasiness and darkness is introduced at the onset as the Scoobies deal with life A.B. (After Buffy). But just as the gang limps into a comfort zone, Willow disrupts it with a bold plan to bring Buffy back, the consequences of which impact everything that happens from this point on. Highlights: The refreshing imperfection the Scoobies have to deal with on their patrol, with Willow overseeing everything from above. The first of many changes, ominous and otherwise. Spike’s efforts at providing himself with a hair shirt in the aftermath of his beloved Slayer’s death. The first: Becoming Dawn’s primary protector. Spike’s reaction as the Buffybot voices her admiration for him, an arguably foreshadowing moment. Giles going home at last and his emotional farewell. The disturbing imagery of the resurrection spell, but Willow’s cold-blooded killing of a fawn should be a tipoff of her dark fall. Buffy’s graphic return. Not a fairy tale. Not happy. And not painless.

Bargaining II: Demons have invaded Sunnydale. But a sadder invasion is visited upon a resurrected Buffy as she is brought back to the violent world she thought she had left behind for good. Meanwhile, the gang flees from the demon biker horde. Highlights: Sarah Michelle Gellar’s shell-shocked Buffy and her painful (yet triumphant) moment when she comes back to herself as the Slayer. Spike’s sadness at the destruction of the Buffybot. “Is this Hell?” The ambiguity of Dawn and Buffy’s embrace. Again, Season Six’s ambivalence comes through. It should be a moment of happiness when the sisters embrace, but Buffy’s vacant, blank look says different.

After Life: Willow learns first hand about the consequences of bringing Buffy back as they deal with a pesky demon (and their own internal ones). Meanwhile, Dawn and Spike deal with Buffy’s traumatic return. Highlights: Season Six really gives the cast their finest moments to shine, and the anchor is provided by Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters. The way the two of them play off each other is masterful, as demonstrated when Spike sees the real Buffy again. Beautiful. The demon plays on the Scooby guilt in frightening ways, from Willow hallucinating an angry, vengeful Buffy to Anya laughing while slicing her face with a knife. Spike’s wonderfully conflicted reaction to Buffy’s return, which is stilled—at least temporarily—when he admits to her his guilt for failing her. And then there’s the ending, devastating in its subtlety of emotion as Buffy tells Spike what really happened while she was dead. Gellar plays this with a brilliant mix of sadness and unrealized anger, as if she wants to be angry at her friends but can’t. And after it is over, Buffy walks into the light leaving Spike stuck helplessly in the shadows, a symbolic sum-up of their reluctant relationship. The usually light-humored Jane Espenson scored with an atypically dark piece that is also one of her best scripts ever.

Flooded: Buffy’s reintegration into living (or at least making like she’s living) begins as she deals with leaky pipes, bank loans, the return of the Watcher, and the heretofore unseen presence of the Big Bad…in the form of three brilliant geeks with too much time on their hands. Highlights: The teaser: Wherein a Slayer learns about the painfulness of house care. The story: Wherein the Slayer learns about the reality of payments and bank loans. Buffy’s touching reunion with Giles. The confrontation between Ripper and Willow(!) Alysson Hannigan just kills as Willow’s darkness creeps to the surface. Buffy and Spike sitting on the back porch in a very purposeful mirror and visual commentary for last year’s “Fool for Love.” Same composition, different tone. But just as wonderful. The Three Stooges make their unforgettable entrance. The sad thing is I know about 90% of what they’re talking about! And finally, the clever reference to UPN and WB’s fallout when Buffy mentions meeting Angel halfway between Sunnydale and L.A.

Life Serial: Buffy doesn’t want to talk about what happened between her and Angel, but she’s forced to deal with what she’s going to do now with her life. The trio’s machinations don’t help as she is put through trial after thankless trial. A funny episode tinged with serious malaise, a common theme for Season Six. Highlights: Gellar’s gifts as a comic actor come to the fore as she energetically jumps into Buffy’s trials. The Magic Box sequence is a particular favorite to come back to. The interplay between the Trio, using everything from Star Wars to Monty Python. Oy. A lot of fans cringed at the dark turn that Buffy and Spike took, but it is prefigured ever so subtly in the crypt scene as Spike introduces Buffy to his world with thoughts of bringing Buffy into the dark with him, a darkness that only the Slayer really knows. Buffy drunk off her booty is worth getting the DVD alone. Giles’s troubled look as Buffy’s dependence upon him becomes apparent. Again, humor with an undertone of sadness.

All the Way: Michelle Trachtenberg’s acting showcase in Season Six as a naughty Dawn meets and falls for a teenage vampire. Xander finally tells the gang of his engagement, and then regrets the whole thing. And as for Buffy, she wants to go on patrol on Halloween—when supernatural activity is traditionally low. Highlights: Spike inadvertently invades Buffy’s personal space, but she doesn’t mind that much to her surprised chagrin. Xander’s pirate getup. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but its importance becomes very apparent next season. What is it with Summers women, vampires, and chemistry? “I’m gonna marry that girl.” “Grandpa” Giles showing a younger vampire some old school slaying moves. Buffy and Spike snarking as she recruits him to team up with her to find Dawn. I love how harmless her comments seem, but they hint at how she really sees him—or thinks she should see him. Willow and Tara have their first fight. It should be something Tara won’t forget, but a rapidly descending Willow has other ideas.

Once More, With Feeling: Already the most talked about Buffy episode ever and Joss Whedon’s undisputed masterpiece. A loosed demon causes the Scoobies to loose their deepest secrets and desires in song and dance, Broadway musical style. Whedon wrote the music and lyrics and the cast steps up to the plate to produce a television classic. You can buy the script and soundtrack at Border’s, for goodness sake! Highlights: Gee, let me think. The songs! Catchy, clever, with some classic Whedon wordplay. That stuff is a given. But the undertones, man! Brilliant. Everything takes another meaning and the tone gets progressively darker and existentialist. Suddenly it’s not just about wanting to live for Buffy. It’s about ending the pain of living, until Spike heroically reminds her that it’s all anyone has got. What can’t we face if we’re together? The Scoobies find out. Everything changes for the gang from this point on. Relationships end, especially in the case of Willow and Tara when Tara discovers Willow’s betrayal. Loved ones take their leave as evidenced by Giles and his heartbreaking song. And in the case of Buffy and Spike, the musical ends with a soul-searing kiss and the beginning of a tumultuous and torrid affair.

Tabula Rasa: Tara confronts Willow and gives her an ultimatum in the aftermath of Sweet’s song and dance visit to Sunnydale. More fallout as Buffy learns of Giles’s intentions to go back to England. More reluctant lessons for Buffy as she and Spike try to get a handle on what’s happening between them. Well, more like Spike as Buffy acts like she wants nothing to do with him. It’s times like these when you just want to forget everything. Which is why it’s a good thing Willow has a forgetting crystal handy. Highlights: First and foremost, the gang with hilarious and illuminating amnesia thanks to Willow. Some revelations not so surprising, like Buffy instinctively seeing herself as the heroic leader. And others very surprising and foreshadowing, like Spike seeing himself as a heroic and noble vampire. Perhaps like a vampire with a soul… And through it all both of them acting like partners and being protective of the other, regardless of their antagonism. Strange, huh? Anya and Giles hooking up. Hey, it could work! But where the real resonance lies is in its ending as more changes are afoot with leavings of loved ones and desperate and dangerous embraces of the darkness, figuratively and literally. But could the amnesia reveal true colors thanks to the blank slate? Only time will tell.

Smashed: Things come to a head as the season hits its emotional climax. The Trio steals a diamond and freezes a guard. Buffy continues to freeze Spike out, even after the heat they generate. Willow turns to the one thing she can count on, her magic. And Spike gets his teeth back, while Buffy discovers she might not have come back quite right. Highlights: The return of Amy! In the human flesh Amy! Buffy’s denial comes out in violent ways, but it’s Spike’s reaction that gets the uneasy feelings rolling. The funny yet frightening way in which Amy gets Willow to lighten up, taking the sane reality of the Bronze with it. The Trio, a freeze ray, and the stupidest word code imaginable. Spike reunites with Warren and practically screams in a panic when he has to deal with questions about when Doctor Who is coming out on DVD. But it’s the ending that everyone remembers as Joshua ain’t got nothing on Buffy and Spike crumbling their walls down and getting it on. The most erotic scene on Buffy with Marsters and Gellar acting the hell out of it. Prepare to have your screen fogged up.

Wrecked: Buffy’s in an aroused and alerted state as she deals with events Post-Big Bad Boffing. But this is Willow’s episode as Alyson Hannigan brings a heavy-handed if effective portrayal of the witch’s descent into magic dependency. Highlights: China Beach’’s Jeff Kober returns to Mutant Enemy-land as the lecherous warlock Rack. His magic rape of Willow has to be seen to be believed. Then there’s Willow high off of the dark magic and going through tear-shedding in the shower. And if that weren’t enough, Willow the junkie begging Buffy and Dawn for forgiveness on her knees in a grungy alley Not pretty. If that metaphor’s a bit on the obvious side, the wonderfully conflicted relationship between Spike and Buffy gathers steam. I knew they had sex, but I didn’t know that it amounted to a devilishly kinky image of a naked, scratched, and hickied up Slayer. Buffy’s hinted at kinkiness gets surfaced big time. And it would only get more so.

Gone: The Trio creates an invisibility ray and the first victim (if accidentally) is Buffy. And if anyone wants some time as a non-person it’s her as Spike soon finds out. Willow goes through withdrawal pains and pangs. And Xander and Anya get down to some wedding-type planning. Highlights: David Fury’s direction of InvisiBuffy is hilarious. From the social worker getting Shininged to Spike getting his spike worked on, the visual humor is used very effectively throughout. And as for the Slayer and the willing slave, they have their moments of heat as well as Spike tempts a very willing Slayer in the comfort of her own home. Check out Buffy’s look when he presses close. In fact, the nasty truth comes out about her feelings about the affair. She wants it, but she doesn’t want to deal with the consequences.

Dead Things: The darkest Buffy episode, the turning point, and the one that Sarah Michelle Gellar supposedly hated. Nevertheless, the second-best episode of the season. Layers are added to everything. Buffy and Spike’s relationship reaches whole new levels of disturbing, yet delicate. Warren proves how far he is willing to go in his scheme to take over Sunnydale. But it is Buffy who discovers how far gone she has become. Powerful, gut-wrenching stuff. Highlights: The way everything starts light and ends dark. Not unusual. But it’s truly shocking to see two clandestine lovers who are now becoming used to each other, end up with one of them beating the hell out of the other. But the beauty is in the ambiguity. Spike having sex in the balcony is arousing and disturbing at the same time. Yet, the positiveness of the coupling is strongly suggested with the passionate scene with Buffy at Spike’s door while Bush’s “Out of this World” frames the lovers. Incidentally, James Marsters and doors should come with a warning.

Still, darkness shrouds the action. The murder of Warren's ex-girlfriend, Katrina, forever taints the Trio. Spike taking the words and fists of Buffy while the Slayer voices a vindictiveness and loathing that she has never felt before, only to recoil in horror when she realizes who she was directing this hatred to. And what she was doing to him. What she has been doing to him. Marsters sells Spike’s masochistic martyrdom so well here. In any case, the final devastating scene with Tara is much earned. And “Dead Things” can proudly stand as one of Gellar and Marsters’s finest, most heart-breaking performances.

Older and Far Away: Buffy’s got another birthday to celebrate. Old friends have gathered. New friends are invited. While some undecideds decide to crash. But it is Dawn who is the center of attention thanks to a vengeance demon and spell that makes everyone party all night long and ever after. Highlights: Halfrek finds a new home in Sunnydale. Spike tries to get Buffy to clandestinely blow out his candle, but Tara offers humorous cover for Buffy's evasions. Dawn's spell produces panic in the gang, a surprisingly harsh revelation of Anya's claustrophobia, and Buffy and Spike making like Moonlighting with a lover's spat. Finally, Buffy hears her sister's pleas after all and stays with her sister in a somewhat ambiguous ending.

As You Were: Buffy's less than ideal life of Doublemeat wages and undead double-time boinking takes its toll on Buffy, made worse when Agent Riley Finn returns with his life in order and a military wife taking orders from him. Highlights: The title hints at a return to former roles as Marc Blucas returns as Riley Finn, Buffy returns to an impressionable young woman smitten with military types, and Spike returns to his role as amoral vampire. Arguably, the sloppiest episode plotwise, it is redeemed by two moments of impeccable acting by James Marsters. Spike's moment of confused dejection as Marsters speaks in the tormented voice of William. And the final scene where Buffy breaks up with Spike, aided admirably by Sarah Michelle Gellar's compassionate portrayal, the warmest Buffy would act toward Spike the whole season.

Hell's Bells: Anya and Xander begin the longest march of their lives into the world of wedded bliss. But a mysterious stranger form the future may derail the nuptials. Highlights: Nichalos Brendon and Emma Caulfield shine bitterly in a series of vignettes showing the doomed future of Xander and Anya's spiteful marriage. Buffy and Spike meet post-breakup in a sweetly sad scene. Tara and Willow do some flirting amidst flower girls and trains. And the devastating scene where Xander reveals his deepest fears about marriage to Anya, being unable to avoid his own parents loveless marriage. Anya's tear-streaked, dazed face is simply tragic.

Normal Again: Sarah Michelle Gellar has her tour de force in this mindbender episode. After getting injected with a demon serum, Buffy begins hallucinating that her mother is alive and well, that she's together with her mom and dad--and that she's in a mental institution. Highlights: Gellar's shiftiness as an actor comes into play here as we see Buffy as a troubled mental patient who would give anything to make the memories of Sunnydale go away. From her slow descent from Slayer to stalking her friends in a an attempt to stay "normal", it is chilling to watch. Xander and Spike go hunting demon. The inconclusiveness as the Slayerverse is held into question, like a more disturbing “Matrix.” And the ending will put your hairs on end. Brilliantly uneasy episode.

Entropy: Anya returns for vengeance for being spurned by Xander, Spike attempts to move on after being spurned by Buffy, and both find solace in each other--as their spurning exes shockingly find out. Meanwhile, Willow and Tara try to cautiously begin their relationship again. Highlights: Nicholas Brendon has one of his finest acting showcases as Xander goes to exact ashy vengeance on Spike, and then he finds out who else has been finding solace with Spike. Buffy inadvertantly lets slip about the fourth boyfriend. And Willow and Tara is the only couple that makes it out in one piece in the touching ending.

Seeing Red: Arguably the most controversial and divisive Buffy episode has the Trio go after two ancient orbs that will give them the strength and power to finally defeat the Slayer. Spike attempts to make amends to Buffy until it all goes horribly wrong as the year-long flirtations with dark passion ends in gut-wrenching pain. And a Scooby discovers how far in the dark you can slip when you lose a loved one in a tragic instant. Highlights: The stark reality of the traumatic events. Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters bring a lot of uncomfortable verisimilitude to the attempted rape scene. It is harrowing and heartbreaking to watch, and it’s rumored that it was even worse to perform, so much so that it impaired the two actors’ friendship for a time. But both actors acquit themselves admirably in very brave performances. And, of course, the sudden death of Tara as we see Willow’s tenuous hold slip completely. Hell to watch.

Villains: Continuing where Seeing Red left off, Willow descends into darkness after finding she can’t resurrect Tara and the Big Bad of the season makes her appearance. And first on her agenda is very violent vengeance for the Trio, namely Tara‘s killer, Warren. Buffy and Xander desperately try to reach their friend. And Spike begins the trials that will make him what he once was. Highlights: Alyson Hannigan shines as Dark Willow. The eerie imagery o of Willow absorbing the black magic and transforming her. Her malevolent persistence in chasing down Warren is chilling. Buffy‘s poignant reaction when she learns that Spike‘s left. And the horrific death of Warren as Willow sadistically skins and flays him. .

Two to Go: One down. And Willow’s gunning for the two left: Jonathon and Andrew. Buffy and the gang protect them from Willow’s relentless wrath. Sunnydale’s two most powerful women fight at long last, as repressed jealousy comes out. And just when things are at their most dire, an old friend comes back to turn the tide. Highlights: Hannigan’s performance as Dark Willow just gets stronger and stronger as Willow reveals a cool detached evil under the innocent exterior. The desperate flight of Jonathon, Andrew, and the Scoobs. The “Strawberry“ pays Rack back in kind--with interest. Slayer versus Witch in a battle of the titans. And Daddy Giles is home at last.

Grave: The finale finishes Season Six in fine fashion. Unable to deal with the grief any longer and bombarded by the magics, Willow tries to destroy the world. Buffy deals with what lies beneath and discovers just how ready her sister really is to face the world. A humble carpenter tries to stop his best friend with the only weapon he has. And Spike finishes his trials to get what Buffy deserves. Highlights: The emotional reunion between Buffy and Giles. His unexpected reaction when Buffy unburdens herself. Buffy and Dawn reconciling while facing, what else, zombies. A Slayer finds new life when she discovers she doesn’t want to protect her sister, she wants to prepare her. And the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will never be the same again thanks to the actions of one William the Bloody. What this means for Spike--and Buffy--will change everything forever. For one last time…