A reminder: I think it's pretty safe to say these threads are not
going to see anybody that's invisible.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Season Seven, Episode 1: "Lessons"
Writer: Joss Whedon
Director: David Solomon
And Season Seven begins with... The Adventures Of Buffy And Dawn Going
To School. I know they wanted SHS to be a big part of the show again,
but it seems to have gotten largely lost in the shuffle. The result
is a ghost story that feels fairly standard, apart from the
potentially intriguing but misconceived Buffy/Spike meeting. I mean,
I enjoy "Lessons" pretty well for a few of the scares and all the
Jossian one-liners and of course the cameos in that final sequence
(which is itself a pretty good "crescendo of ominous"). But outside
the teaser and last scene it doesn't set the thematic stage for the
year as much as some season premieres, and I have to side with those
who count it as on the thin side, simply settling for being a pretty
good minor episode.
Rating: Good
Season Seven, Episode 2: "Beneath You"
Writer: Douglas Petrie
Director: Nick Marck
This one doesn't entirely do it for me, and it's in part because
"Beneath You" is BTVS at its most into itself. That's very rarely
something I mind in the heavily insular continuity-heavy TV series I
tend to favor. But here I'm not so into the show being so into itself
(now I know how Dave Matthews feels:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39670
). It takes some time to sit around and discuss Spike's opening
attempt to help while throwing a veneer of changelessness over his
issues. But beyond that, there's also several hours available to have
him hump a cross while obliquely referencing a whole bunch of whatever
from throughout his life and the history of the universe. The
straightforward monster story serves as an excuse to have the
characters sit around and argue and discuss their shared history. No
matter how energetically it doesn't happen, not a whole lot really
happens, and one has to wonder whether the show's going anywhere at
this point. I'm not denying the energy of some of those insular
moments, like the chaos in the Bronze, but that's one of the only
times the episode really steps all the way back to achieve a good look
at the wild Scooby in its natural social habitat. I remember BY for
Spike; the fact that it's also a bit of an Anya episode is
overshadowed by a bigger one coming up. I go back and forth on
whether or not this is a required step on the way to "Selfless,"
telling Anya that she'll have to take responsibility for (and by
extension, be) herself before the episode in which she has to learn
it.
Rating: Decent
Season Seven, Episode 3: "Same Time, Same Place"
Writer: Jane Espenson
Director: James A. Contner
So it's time to re-integrate Willow back into the main cast without
throwing aside the extreme places things went last season. That means
slotting off yet another week for a quieter story that takes its time,
and you know what? S7's good at that. Even the biggest episode of
the first half of the year (CWDP) is slow and touchy-feely, and the
show seems more comfortable in that realm than it does with epic good
and evil at this point in its life. STSP is a bit cerebral until the
explanations of what's going on, but it's not a dry intellectual
exercise. There's a sense of longing that follows the core trio
through the episode that's a major component of Anya and Spike's
appearances as well. That longing for each others' company is what
will be most important for both the characters and the viewer in
welcoming Willow back as uncritically, relative speaking, as happens,
and STSP sells me fully on that reunion. How well Gnarl works depends
a lot on what sort of mood I'm in (you'll remember I loved him the
first time around), Paralyzed Willow is consistently one of the hour's
few weak spots, and Posable Dawn almost always gets a laugh out of me
at some point in the sequences. Whether or not one likes Gnarl's
attitude, his method of killing is certainly disgusting, and I think
that kind of grotesqueness works for me in any mood. There was some
discussion last time around about whether Willow is being punished by
an unimaginative and literal-minded sadist of a writing team. I think
the opposite is true - Gnarl is the doubts whispering in her ear that
even the people she loves think she should be punished, getting
skinned and dying alone. But it's the relief of the end that's always
been what everyone needed.
Rating: Excellent
Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Director: Rick Rosenthal
When I first saw this, I assumed it would be a major story, and I'm
not quite sure why. "Help" does some minor development of the Buffy/
Soul!Spike relationship, but mostly it's a stand-alone about trying to
save a dying girl, and taking up the Protector's mission when people
don't want you around and/or doubt it'll do any good. Knowing where
the year goes, it's almost like it's picking up the parts of the
"season premiere" slack that were left behind by "Lessons." Like
"Lessons" it's one of the year's few real high-school based episodes.
Almost Season One-like in its focus on one of the other kids in the
class and her supernatural streak. I've never had much to say about
it, but Cassie's an engaging personality, Dawn gets an actual role,
and the gang works on a case together like in younger times (some
quality Xander/Willow time too). I didn't see where things were going
- the string of rapid reversals near the end could've come from a good
S1 episode too - and the closing shot is a killer. So I'm pretty
happy with it, even with Chris's medical record gaffe and a little
dragginess (for what it's worth, it dragged less this time, which is
usually a good sign).
Rating: Good
Additional comments on S7D1: David Solomon is a commentary track
chameleon (or possibly a mushroom), taking on the traits of his
immediate companions. He's vapid and scattershot when paired with
Rebecca, detail-oriented and geeking on interesting facts when with
Tim Minear, and a chatty storyteller when doing his track with Joss
here.
There's one aspect of this exchange from STSP I never noticed before.
It's surprising, once you know where to look, how much time the show
is taking to show the way Buffy's friends buy into and feed her
exclusivist mentality.
BUFFY: I have a confession. I thought it might be you. With the
flaying.
WILLOW: I know.
BUFFY: I want to be the kind of person that wouldn't think that.
Xander never thought that.
WILLOW: He did, a little. Heck, *I* did, a little. Xander has the
luxury of not saying it. But you're the Slayer. You have to say
stuff like that. It's okay.
If the writers were trying, as some suggested in the reviews of later
S7 episodes, to do a running gag based around Buffy being a bit of a
shit counselor, it's weakened by the fact that they didn't seem to
have come up with it yet when they first gave her the job.
Thoughts?
-AOQ
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