Graduation Day, Part 2

Graduation Day, Part 2
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: July 13, 1999

Plot: Buffy and the gang race against time to spoil the Mayor's ascension.

Review

Warning: If you're looking to ascend beyond SPOILERS, I suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the long awaited season-finale of Buffy, "Graduation Day, Part 2"

In short: Everything it needed to be...

Rarely in my history of being a TV junkie have I been this excited about an episode. In fact, I don't think I've been this anxious to see an hour of TV and, yet, remain SPOILER free about it since TNG's "Best of Both Worlds, Part 2" or the X-Files, "The Blessing Way." And I'll be completely honest with you...it's been hard waiting to find out what happens.

But, what I think was even harder, at least for me, was to look beyond the hype, the speculation and, quite frankly, the controversy that surrounds this episode and judge it purely on its own as an hour of television. Indeed, the two-month wait for the final battle between the part one and part two has, at times, been painful. And there were times I doubted that this episode would even see the light of day (in much the way I'm beginning ot seriously doubt that Earshot will ever been seen...)

But, that's another matter for another time... Anyway, as I sat down to finally watch Gradation Day, Part 2, I've got to admit I was a bit apprehensive and nervous. I honestly wondered if it could live up the build-up not only from part one, but also from the entire season and the intense hype surrounding it. It also had big shoes to fill because, let's face it, comparisons are going to be drawn between it and "Becoming, Part 2."

So, what the wait worth is?

Once again, we need to just go ahead and declare Joss the annointed one because one again, he delivers the goods that he's promised all season long. Indeed, Joss takes the theme of graduation and gives it new meaning on a lot of levels. We see the Buffy is graduating from the need to be controlled by the Watcher Council (an issue I expect to see a great deal made of next year! If not, I will be disappointed!); we see, of course, our heroes graduate from high school, we see the Mayor graduate to his new state of being and we see Angel graduate enough to realize that he is needed elsewhere and leave Sunnydale.

All of these themes of transition and change worked really well for me.

Indeed, this episode was just plain packed full of action.

In the course of the hour, we have Buffy curing Angel, Angel saving Buffy, the Mayor's transfomration and the final battle. It would have been very, very easy for one of or any of these plots to get the short end of the stick in terms of screen time, but Joss balances them rather well. OK, so yes, the first time I saw it, I wanted to get right to the battle royale with the Mayor, but upon further reflection, I see exactly what Joss was doing--building the suspense so the battle would be that much better. Also, I think a long, knock-down, drag-out fight would have been a bit dull. And we had it last year with the Becoming, so why revisit past successes?

On the whole, I found the Angel plotline to be the least interesting, but those of you who read these reviews on a regular basis should't be too surprised. I've not been quiet about my feelings that Angel has pretty much been a useless, wasted character this season. Yes, he's had his moments and he did shine a bit here. But I've got to say that at times, David Borenaz's performance seemed a bit flat for me. It's not any particular scene that I can put my finger on and say, "Yes, that's it." but it's an overall type of thing.

Otherwise, I found all the performances up to their usual level of excellence. Even Eliza Dushku did well with the limited scene she was in.

Again, I say if Emmy nods don't come for at least SMG, ASH, and AH then there is no justice in this world.

As for wrapping up all the plotlines of the season, Joss did a very nice job. I've got to give his a great deal of credit for what he did here. All of it worked. Lots of it worked because of the relationships we've seen devleoped all year and seeing payoff. Easily the creepiest one was the bizarre relationship that's developed between the Mayor and Faith. In part one, you could almost see it as a father/daughter type of thing, but here it takes on an even more creepy, sexually charged one. The Mayor's reaction to Faith's appearent death is on one level one of a father, but on another one of a lover who has lost the one he loves. On a lot of levels it's creepy and you wonder if Joss intended that to be in there or not (given his reactions to the unintentional lesbian overtones that many of you brought out at the end of Dead Man's Party) It was also nice to see the Faith would turn out to be his Achille's heel in the end, though, honestly, I figued it would be his ego. (Or his fear of germs).

And I've got to admit it--I think I'm going to the miss the Mayor....or let me put that another way, I'm going to miss the Mayor we saw the last half of the season. Once we saw how deeply maniuplative and dark he could be, I've got to admit I enjoyed the Mayor a lot more than I did in the early goings. I'm glad he came out of the shadows to provide the central emphasis the last part of the season needed.

On other levels, Graduation Day did well also. Seeing some resolution to the whole Cordy/Wesley plotline was nice. Cordy's reaction was nicely done....I loved the fact that she kissed him twice and realized he wasn't all that sheÕd hoped he would be. That was nicely done. I will admit that I'm going to kind of miss Wesley as he brought an outsider's tension and dyanmic to the group in certain episodes. But, I think the character as a whole, has run his course. He may be interesting to see pop-up once or twice next year, but please don't add him as a series regular...

But while Graduation Day, Part 2 was a well done hour, I find myself coming away feeling a bit disappointed in some ways...and namely it's when I compare GD, P2 to The Becoming, Part 2. I think part of it is the long wait for GD2 as compared with a week for Becoming, Part 2. But I think itÕs more than that. GD2 left you feeling like you'd been put the wringer emotionally and while GD2 does have some good moments, it's nothing like the punch in the gut seeing Buffy kill Angel was last year. Not that I'm saying each season has to end on a depressing note--far from it. But somehow I was left at the end of GD2 feeling like we might have seen the end of the series, whereas Becoming 2 definitely mapped out the first two or three episodes of season three.

Of course, I'm more than willing to give Joss the chance to prove me wrong. After all, when I first saw When She Was Bad, I had no idea how much it foreshadowed all of season two. Maybe we got hints of what's to come in season four from Graduation Day. We just don't know it yet....

Ah, it's going to be a long wait until September....

Well, that's about it for now, except for a few small things...

--Willow and Oz's barely being able to keep their hands off each other was really, really funny and a nice touch...

--In the hospital sequence, why didn't somebody call Joyce?

--I liked Xander's reaction when he found out Angel had drained Buffy....

--Poor Armin Shimmerman--first DS9 ends, now he's out of Buffy...and it looks like there's little chance Snyder can come back as a demon as I'd heard rumored...

--Angel's departure was nicely done. I like the fact that we didn't have a long, drawn out goodbye sequence.

Well, that's about it for now. All in all, it was a fun wrap-up to the year and well worth wait....

My rating: 10.0 (out ot 10.0)

Next up: Well, if Earshot ever sees the light of day, I'll post my thoughts on it......if not, a long summer of waiting...between now and the season premiere, my year-end wrap-up should appear....

"We survived..."

"The battle?"
"No, high school."

--Oz and Buffy .