Buff
Well, as the more observant among you will have noticed, I got a little confused with my Radio Timess a couple of weeks back, and prematurely announced the final 3 episodes of Buffy, when there were in fact 6 to go. Apologies to all of you who stopped watching because of me, and felt let down by the abrupt and puzzling ending.
As I said a couple of weeks ago, Buffy was one of the Golden Age programmes, and you frankly wonder if you'll ever see its like again. Like all the best shows, like ER, like NYPD Blue, Buffy was able to live with the arrival and departure of new/old characters and not only survive, but prosper. In a show that was so much about sex and death, there was also more humour than you'll find anywhere outside of Woody Allen: Standup Comic, and that includes shows that are supposed to be comedies.
Even at the last, in the final episode, which featured many moving moments, there were enough laffs to satisfy your average sitcom writer. It worked so well, just because the ethos of the show was about living out your emotional life in all its fullness, with all the metaphors and similes we use to describe our emotions taken literally, and the humour that we all find in life intact. The biggest mistake a drama writer can make is to forget that life, on the whole, is hilarious. Sometimes unintentionally.
A mildy unhappy teenager from a lower-income-bracket broken home, Buffy was Everygirl, and such a great role model, showing how strength and resolve could get you through the worst of your high school experiences - with spirit, determination, and the love of two or three good friends. And after high school, she coped with not really fitting in at college, with dropping out, with the paucity of decent jobs for college dropouts, the death of a family member and the increased responsibility that brings, the changes in her closest friends, in their personalities and circumstances; and finally with the realisation that, even in her 20s, she's not quite "done." And still with the humour:
Even the death of Anya, one of the main characters, was touched by the trademark joke. The last word she speaks is, "Bunnies," which as we all know were Anya's greatest fear. So. Some of the best acting, the best writing, the best television, there has ever been. With the bravest dramatic decisions, the funniest lines, and most disturbing moments. And, all the time, the constant play with genre conventions, with long-running drama conventions, with soap conventions.
Who can ever forget the episode where Dawn first appeared, the sister out of nowhere? Guaranteed to lead to letters from the less bright members of the audience, of course there was a point to it all. And (possibly its most moving moment), the death of Joy Summers, and the stunning moments after, as Buffy zoned out to the drone of the paramedic's comforting words; or the episode called "Hush," or the musical one, or the one in which Buffy confesses she is my secret girlfriend.
Surefooted to the end, the last few episodes were superb, and pitch perfect. "I love you," she said to Spike, and he said, "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it."
As I said a couple of weeks ago, Buffy was one of the Golden Age programmes, and you frankly wonder if you'll ever see its like again. Like all the best shows, like ER, like NYPD Blue, Buffy was able to live with the arrival and departure of new/old characters and not only survive, but prosper. In a show that was so much about sex and death, there was also more humour than you'll find anywhere outside of Woody Allen: Standup Comic, and that includes shows that are supposed to be comedies.
Even at the last, in the final episode, which featured many moving moments, there were enough laffs to satisfy your average sitcom writer. It worked so well, just because the ethos of the show was about living out your emotional life in all its fullness, with all the metaphors and similes we use to describe our emotions taken literally, and the humour that we all find in life intact. The biggest mistake a drama writer can make is to forget that life, on the whole, is hilarious. Sometimes unintentionally.
A mildy unhappy teenager from a lower-income-bracket broken home, Buffy was Everygirl, and such a great role model, showing how strength and resolve could get you through the worst of your high school experiences - with spirit, determination, and the love of two or three good friends. And after high school, she coped with not really fitting in at college, with dropping out, with the paucity of decent jobs for college dropouts, the death of a family member and the increased responsibility that brings, the changes in her closest friends, in their personalities and circumstances; and finally with the realisation that, even in her 20s, she's not quite "done." And still with the humour:
"I'm cookie dough. I'm not done baking. I'm not finished becoming whoever the hell it is I'm gonna turn out to be. I make it through this, and the next thing, and the next thing, and maybe one day I turn around and realize I'm ready. I'm cookies. And then, you know, if I want someone to eat— or enjoy warm, delicious cookie me, then...that's fine. That'll be then. When I'm done."
Even the death of Anya, one of the main characters, was touched by the trademark joke. The last word she speaks is, "Bunnies," which as we all know were Anya's greatest fear. So. Some of the best acting, the best writing, the best television, there has ever been. With the bravest dramatic decisions, the funniest lines, and most disturbing moments. And, all the time, the constant play with genre conventions, with long-running drama conventions, with soap conventions.
Who can ever forget the episode where Dawn first appeared, the sister out of nowhere? Guaranteed to lead to letters from the less bright members of the audience, of course there was a point to it all. And (possibly its most moving moment), the death of Joy Summers, and the stunning moments after, as Buffy zoned out to the drone of the paramedic's comforting words; or the episode called "Hush," or the musical one, or the one in which Buffy confesses she is my secret girlfriend.
Surefooted to the end, the last few episodes were superb, and pitch perfect. "I love you," she said to Spike, and he said, "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it."
posted by Anonymous at
Friday, December 19, 2003
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