R E V I E W S
"Flooded"
(Season 6, Episode 4)
Written by: Eric Teall
Ah, comedy! Has it ever been more true than in Buffy The Vampire Slayer that dying is easy, but comedy is (sometimes) hard? Buffy realized the necessity of her sacrifice and it was easy for her to jump, but she still has yet to realize the necessity of her return (she doesn't know that she has a show named after her, after all), and that makes it tough for her to crack jokes. I understand that. Still, I am awfully glad that something lighter has been injected into this show, especially with some very serious issues being brought up right along with the funny stuff. Jonathan et al. as the masters of Sunnydale? I sure am glad they're introducing this in Episode 4, because that means that these three will probably not be the major menace of the season (more on that below). That means that we can take their hijinks as just that, and laugh at them.
"Action is his reward." Line of the year already. It makes me wonder how many people actually got this Spider-Man joke (a reference to the old 60's theme song). As soon as these wonderfully perfect words wandered out of Xander's mouth, I started screaming with laughter, "This is why I love this show!"
This episode rectifies the lack of balance that I was complaining about in the last couple of reviews by mixing comedy with serious drama. The Buffy-Spike thing is further developed here, and since it has already been discussed in this column and will certainly be discussed again, we'll simply check it off as good development here and move on.
Hooray! Giles is back, and he does what he always has, what he is needed for: acts like an adult. Joss has said that the theme for this season is going to be, "Oh, Grow Up!" and despite Tony Head's desire to spend more time in England, his presence is needed as a model for adult behavior as the Scoobies begin to make their own mistakes.
In no place is this more needed than with Willow, and in the kitchen scene both Hannigan and Head prove why they both deserve the cushy end spot at the end of the credits. Willow's shift from threatening, blossoming bad-ass to apologetic, well, Willow is clear and unmistakeable. Giles' frustration and exasperation is frighteningly real for any of us who have had a student or child behave in a consciously irresponsible way. I know that I have used that exact tone with some of my students (although the British accent would have made me sound cooler), and Giles is right to be upset. In fact, this whole storyline addresses something that I have had trouble with for a long time with this show.
I am not particularly conservative or religious, and so Willow's dabbling in witchcraft never really bothered me in principle. However, as she started calling on more and more deities and entities, the more I wondered at the morals that the show was portraying. After all, when I discuss the show with students (especially in the conservative small town where I work), I am always quick to point out that, while the show does have demons and devils and the like, they are always bad (except when they're not), and Buffy is there to kill them. Symbolically, then, Buffy shows us the worst evils around and shows why they are bad.
Except for Willow's use of magic, which has grown increasingly selfish over the years, and especially when she reached for the "Darkest Magick" tome last season, I thought to myself, "there have to be consequences for this kind of action." And now there are: Willow's "warning" to Giles that "maybe you shouldn't piss me off" is truly frightening and horrifyingly realistic. It is clear that Willow is drunk on her own power and a danger to everyone around her. It kind of makes me wonder what she would answer if D'Hoffryn were to show up now and offer her Anya's old job, and it shows Buffy's courage that it is willing to truly allow one of its main characters to cross over to the Dark Side (Angel's conversion was an unfortunate accident-he didn't actually "go" bad in the way most of us do). The consequences of Willow's eventual betrayal of the Scoobies will depend largely on how daring Joss is willing to be with one of the core characters, and I literally cannot wait to find out what happens. (Did anyone else think that she seemed almost possessed when threatening Giles? Note the way she "deflates" right before she says, "I don't want to fight." Hmmm.)
"Flooded" is more than the sum of its parts. It has ridiculous master villains commanding a rather boring demon (my power: I'm strong and angry!) to cause garden variety mayhem through bank robbery. It has money problems-tough, to be sure, but hardly what I think of as the stuff of high drama-that come from insurance and medical bills. It has several characters dealing with the exact same problems with which they've been dealing for three or four episodes now. And yet, it also has Spike's deepening love for Buffy and her possible softening towards him. It has Willow in serious trouble-the kind that can literally take one's soul. It has Giles finding that his sacrosanct role as mentor to all of them is no longer the unassailable tower it once was-believe me when I tell you that, as a teacher, a serious threat from a student is far more unnerving than a similar one from a stranger on the street. It has Buffy finally making some jokes while not completely reverting to her pre-"Gift" self. In short, it has all of the things we love in this show.
I am really looking forward to the rest of this season.
Rating: 5/6 Stakes
| Return to Weekly Media |