Reviewed by Sanguine

The pithiest comment in last week's episode, Life Serial, written by David Fury and Jane Espenson, came from the unlikeliest source. Warren--a poster boy for arrested development--watches Buffy leap from occupation to occupation (student, construction worker, customer service). He observes, "It's like she's completely without focus."

Yup. It sure is. And this comment doesn't just apply to Buffy, the character. It also rings true for Buffy, the show.

Life Serial, while highly amusing, brought everything that has been wrong with BTVS this season into sharp relief. In the past, BTVS has been a unique blend of humour and horror, of glibness and profundity. At the end of Season 1 Buffy died for a few moments, but rose again to kick the Master's ass with witty aplomb. In Season 2 she dealt with the dire consequences of her first sexual experience. After sending her lover to hell, Buffy needed some time out and fled to LA. But the mope-fest ended upon her return to Sunnydale. Sure, Season 3 was filled with Buffy and Angel angst, but it didn't undermine the overarching tone of the show or bog down the pace. Even the much-maligned Season 4 with its all-Riley all-the-time approach, was balanced by the humourous plight of the newly-defanged Spike. In Season 5 the show made a decisive shift away from a metaphorical representation of the pitfalls of growing up (with demons and vampires being symbolic of the hell of adolescence) to a more realistic approach. Dawn's supernatural identity crisis notwithstanding, many of the "demons" presented in Season 5 were all too real. Buffy's mother was really sick. Buffy's mother really died. And there were no easy solutions. In the tragic denouement of Season 5, Buffy had to face an untenable situation that she believed could only be solved by her death.

So in Season 6, we have a problem. Buffy has faced the ultimate tragedy--being unceremoniously yanked from heaven by her friends. This trauma is not one that can realistically be overcome in a few episodes. And Joss has said in numerous interviews that Buffy's return wouldn't be "easy". But presenting the emotional problems experienced by a post-resurrection Buffy significantly changes the tenor of the show. And the inclusion of so many real-life dilemmas (unpaid bills, leaky pipes) places the inhabitants of Sunnydale more firmly in the "real world." As BTVS focuses on the repercussions of Buffy's resurrection, any other plot developments (Dark!Willow, Xander and Anya's wedding, Dawn's delinquency, Spike's moral progress) are put on the back burner. In short, after two episodes of filler (albeit rather amusing filler) the writers appear to lack focus. If I were watching BTVS for the plot I would be incredibly bored.

Life Serial, as indicated by my little rant above, was not a plot-filled extravaganza. It was, however, an interesting examination of the issues faced by many on the brink of young adulthood (and the theme for this year, "Oh grow up" was hammered home with all the subtlety of a lead pipe to the head). At the beginning of the episode, Buffy is asked what plans she has for her life. Buffy looks appropriately stunned. Gee, she hasn't considered that. During her little confab with Angel she figured out how to put off the bill collectors, but she didn't get to the whole "planning out the rest of my life" thing. Jonathan says to his cohorts as they plot their next geekishly malevolent act, "A Slayer always knows what she's doing."

As if.

Buffy flits aimlessly from one vocation to the next. First, she attends classes with Willow and Tara. She attends a sociology class where the topic of discussion is social construction--in short, how identity is shaped by external forces, forces that can't be controlled or overcome. (Gee, a Slayer might know something about that, huh?) Buffy, feeling overwhelmed by the high-level theoretical conversation, is tagged in the hall by Warren, who plants a chip on her that will cause major time displacement. Willow told Buffy to just "go with the flow," but now she is unable to do that. Everything speeds up, leaving her behind, unable to catch up, a reflection of the anxiety many young adults feel about being perceived as stupid (slow) or inexperienced. Buffy only partially passes this test. Her first impulse is to hide under the table. But eventually she comes to her senses. She destroys the chip and the time displacement disappears. Life returns to normal speed and she can once again comprehend her world.

Lesson the first: don't be intimidated by the intellect of others. Use your own resources and strengths.

Buffy's next test is at a construction site. She arrives on the scene, Gidget-hair and all, ready to do some heavy lifting. Naturally, she encounters piggish chauvinism. Then Andrew plays a funky tune on his pan-pipes and summons some nasty demons. The demons attack the construction crew, and it's Buffy to the rescue! She saves the guys asses, and then is repaid by being fired. Her strength, her stamina, her aptitude for destruction, coupled with the lack of evidence of demonic activity (in essence, it's her word against the guys) spells doom for the Buffster. This little scenario presents a common one faced by many women in the workplace, particularly a male-dominated workplace. A woman must walk a fine line between being competent and being threatening. And sometimes a woman is faced with a situation (i.e., sexual harassment) where it's her word against the man's. Buffy fails this test, but it wasn't her fault. And guess what?

Lesson the second: Life isn't fair. Deal.

Buffy is then tested by the wonderful and challenging world of retail. Blech. Jonathan casts a spell so Buffy will be in a time loop until she satisfies a particularly demanding customer. In a hilarious sequence reminiscent of Groundhog Day (and, as the geeks point out, Star Trek and The X-Files) Buffy finally figures out how to appease the customer's appetite for a mummy hand. Major kudos to Sarah Michelle Gellar. I was on the floor, laughing, as she crushed Giles's glasses beneath her dainty little heel. Besides the comic genius of this scene, it also made an interesting point.

Lesson the third: jobs are not always fun. Sometimes you have to do incredibly tedious things to make ends meet.

Buffy then faces her next challenge, and it isn't an exterior one, a test set up by the adolescent trio of geeks. She creates the next mess all on her own. After her horrible experience with the wonders of retail, she escapes to Spike's crypt and seeks solace in a flask and later a bottle. Don't you remember what happened in Beer Bad, Buffy? Guess not.

Anyway, she tells Spike about her bad experiences. He is disturbed by Buffy's lack of a plan for defeating her new enemy. Spike suggests that they hit the demon world--his world--for info. In a vivid demonstration that Spike is perfectly capable of delusional thinking he tells her, "You're a creature of darkness, like me." The drunken high-jinks that transpire belie the veracity of his statement on more than one count.

Buffy and Spike "try on [his] world" by going to a demon bar. They head for the back room, where the "real action" is. Buffy's hoping for bloodshed, to pummel demons for information. Instead, Spike wants to play kitten poker with his buddies and have a nice chat. Oooh. Creature of darkness, indeed. So Spike plays cards and Buffy gets even more sloshed. Even Spike seems embarrassed by Buffy's behaviour. Spike. Embarrassed. You know it must be bad. Eventually, the situation comes to a head. Buffy frees the kittens and runs out of the back room. Spike stops her and she sums up the disaster that is her life. "You're completely lame," she tells her companion. "You were gonna help me. You were gonna beat heads and fix my life. Tonight sucks. Look at me. Look at stupid Buffy. Too dumb for college. And freak Buffy, too strong for construction work. And my job at the magic shop? I was bored to tears even before the hour that wouldn't end. And now the only person that I can even stand to be around is this neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker."

Kinda puts it all in perspective, doesn't it?

No one can fix Buffy's life but Buffy. Not Spike, not the Scoobies (not that she would go to them for help). That's what makes Buffy's behaviour in the last scene of Life Serial so annoying. For all of the trials and tribulations, she doesn't seem to have learned much. In the final moments of the episode, Giles gives Buffy a large check, solving her immediate money problems. A still-inebriated Buffy shakily rises to her feet and declares, "I'm gonna show this to Dawn. She loves it when things get easy." Well, apparently Buffy and her sister have quite a bit in common. If Buffy were mature, she would attempt to solve her problems herself and would not have accepted the money. Instead, she retreats to the cocoon provided by Giles's misguided generosity. She can now postpone the hard work of being an adult. Sweetly, she smiles at Giles. "This makes me feel safe. Knowing you're always gonna be here."

Don't speak too soon, sister. It's time to grow up, and Giles won't be there to hold your hand.