Primevil

Primevil
Written by David Fury
Directed by James A. Contner

Original Airdate: May 16, 2000

Plot: With the Scooby gang at odds, Adam sets the final phase of his plan in motion. He intends to create a human/demon hybrid army by using parts of those who fall in a battle between the Initiative and the demons they've captured...

Review

Warning: This warning is not a Trojan horse. I will tell you straight up that a full up frontal assault of SPOILERS are just ahead for the latest episode of Buffy, "Primevil." If you've not seen it yet and want to see it unawares, please turn back now....

In short: A lot of wrap-up--some satisfying, some not so satisfying...

One thing that has separated Buffy from other influential science fiction shows of the 90s such as the X-Files is the fact that each year Buffy has had a central arc for not only the plotline but the characters and the fact that each year, Buffy attempts to wrap-up the plotline in an interesting, satisfying way. (Which if you're an X-Phile like myself, you know that there is no way on God's green earth they will EVER be able to make any sort of coherent sense of the entire alien mythology plotline, much as I may enjoy watching it) It's been one of the things that has satisfied me most about watching Buffy over the the past four years and one of the things that has kept me on the edge of my seat all year long with the Initiative plotline on the show.

I'll be the first to say that I liked the plotline, from our first hints of it all the way back in "The Freshman" up until the last few weeks when it kicked into overdrive and barrelled toward the inevitable showdown between the Scooby gang and this paramilitary orginization. I was even willing to go along with Adam, who at times was utterly convincing and seemed to be an interesting enough villian. Namely because he could have been a David Koresh type character to the demons and vampires of the world.

And after last week's superlative set-up, there was some major potential for the entire Initiative plotline to finally reach some sense of resolution in an interesting, stylish and surprising way.

So, that's why I've got to admit that on that front I'm a bit disappointed here. Namely because there was so much potential for the producers to pull the rug out from under us and give us a slam-bang finale but instead we got a pretty much by-the-numbers, cliched-finale that didn't really push the envelope too much.

I think part of it is the surprising amount of unoriginality that went into Adam's plan. After lurking in the shadows for most of the second half of season four, Adam seemed like he'd have been a better strategist that this. Yes, he's virtually unstoppable due to his superior strength. But he should also be virtually unstoppable due to the fact that he's that much better a stategist than Buffy or the rest of the Scooby gang would be. I can fully accept that he wouldn't plan for the Scooby gang to use magic to stop him, but I can't imagine that the rest of his plan would be that transparent.

In many ways, the Scooby gang's participation with not only Adam but also with Col. Haviland and the rest of the Initiative seemed like something right out of an episode of the X-Files. Namely, our heroes know the truth, but the powers that be don't believe them because a)they find the truth too hard to believe or b)they just are too set in their ways to do so. Both of these elements had a large portion to play in the episode, as well as the ability to have us go, "Well, look how much smarter than the military our heroes are." While I can accept that the Scoobies have different access to information and are more open to it than the Initiative, I still can't accept the Initiative would be that closed off to ideas. It makes them seem a bit more stupid than they really should and one of the points this year is that the Initiative, while being a military structure, is actually someone intelligent and resourceful.

I also felt that at certain points in the script, things were being thrown in merely for the jaw dropping factor. Oh dear, Professor Walsh has been kept alive, Borgified by Adam. Oh no, it looks like Forrest has been Borgified as well, but not as much as Walsh. Oh dear, Riley's got a chip in him that makes him pretty much Adam's slave. All of these plot twists were thrown in for an emotional point, but a lot of them failed to make much of an emotional impact. Yes, I suppose that it was nice to see Riley go to such extremes to get rid of his chip and to save Buffy and that sequence certainly worked pretty well. But overall the other major plot developments weren't as much of a shock as they felt like a manipulation of the viewers.

And while I liked certain portions of the final confrontation with Adam, (which I'll get to here in a few minutes), overall I didn't find his being taken out that satisfying. First of all, someone on the staff has seen "The Matrix" a few too many times. I guess it's a backlash against all the shows this year that have in some way or other done their own version of "The Matrix." Yes, it's a fine sci-fi film and I have a feeling will be continue to be very influential on movies and television for years to come. But does that mean I want to see it on Buffy?

The other part that bothered me was in the past few weeks how unstoppable Adam had become. If you watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, it's a similiar sort of problem that the writers came upon with the Borg (before Voyager de-clawed them, anyway). Namely you had an enemy that is virtually unstoppable that any way a writer pulls out to stop the enemy is going to be a bit of a disappointment. (For you Next Gen viewers, I remind you of the famous "sleep subroutine"). Same thing here. Adam has proven to be a virtually unstoppable foe all season long, taking Buffy to task and challenging here. Certainly she didn't have as much of an emotional stake as she did taking out Angel two years ago. But, Adam seemed to be dispatched a bit too easily and almost like we had to kill him for the sake of ending the plotline.

And that really disappointed me.

As did the coda to the plotline of a bunch of government types sitting around discussing the Initiative in clinical terms. For some reason, I expected there to be a shot of someone who was really behind the Initiative shown. A pull-back of sorts. I'm not sure if there is really a character that jumps out that would made that sequence seem a bit better. The only one that really jumps to mind is Ethan.

Again, it may be X-Files spoiling me on these types of governement conspiracy things...where things are never quite what they seem.

But while there were large portions of the Adam plotline I didn't like, there were other portions of the rest of the story I did.

Namely, I really enjoyed the look at the characters and the fact that the strength of Buffy, as well as the rest of the story, came from the Scooby gang's interaction. I liked the fact that the tension was still evident in the early goings and that the Scooby gang put it together that Spike had set these events in motion. I also liked the fact that the gang acknowledged that it wasn't just Spike that had created this problem--they all had and that they needed to work together in order to not only stop Adam but also repair some bridges between them. Hopefully, next season we see the Scooby gang functioning more as the team we saw in early going that worked so well.

But, it was nice to see them work well here. It was nice to see that everyone contributed to stopping Adam and that Buffy drew on the strength of her friends to stop him. I also liked the fact that she acknowledged that she is stronger with the Scooby gang and that she needs them as much as they need here.

And the scene in the elevator shaft with the Willow/Buffy apology as well as the Xander hug and his reaction was probably the best sequence of the entire show.

The exception to the rule was Spike, who seemed a bit off this week. I find it hard to believe that the manipulative, far-thinking Spike of old would be that easily stopped by the Scooby gang. It could be desparation to get the chip out of his head, but I don't by that. Spike's been desparate before, as we saw with his attempts to win back Dru from Angelus in season two. And he's been manipulative in the past to a point where he gets what he wants. And I think that was why his constantly sucking up to Adam and going, "But jeez, boss, take my chip out..." got annoying after a while.

So, overall while the character interaction was well done, the entire wrap-up left me a bit cold. I'm not going to out and out declare it a disaster, just a disappointment. And also I'm going to add that we haven't yet seen Joss's wrap-up and so I've still got faith that the season will end on a high note.

Well, that about wraps it up for now except a few small things...

--Anya's confession that she is in love with Xander was nicely done. Is this the first time she's said that? If so, how long does that give them before forces conspire to tear them apart?

--I understand that Tara didn't want to interefere and the main point of the final assault was that the Scooby gang work together again to stop Adam. That said, it makes logical sense that Tara go along to help with the spell. She does have strong powers.

All in all, a satisfying character effort, but not so satisfying wrap-up to the arc. I do have hope that Joss gives the season a great send-off next week...

My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: I dream of Sunnydale.....