The Body

The Body
Written & Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: February 27, 2001

Plot: Buffy returns home to find her mother dead on the sofa. After she calls for help, Buffy and the rest of the gang must find a way to each cope with the loss of Joyce and how to break the news to an already emotionally fragile Dawn.

Review

Warning: There's no good way to tell you this, so I'll just come right out and do it. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Body." If you've not yet seen the episode and want to see it SPOILER free, please turn back now...

In short: Brilliant, stunning, amazing...I could go on all day.

One of my most vivid memories from my teenage years was when my paternal grandfather died. I remember the phone ringing early one morning--a morning he was due to have surgery--and thinking to myself, "Please don't let it mean the surgery went badly." The surgery had not gone badly--it just hadn't happened at all. I vividly remember every emotion, every moment of that day and the days beyond that. It was the first time I'd really had to deal with the death of a close family member. It wasn't easy.

I've got a lot of memories of that time in my life. All of them extremely vivid and ones that I don't usually bring up and think about on a regular basis.

I rarely, if ever, think about them when I'm watching TV.

That is, until I saw the latest installment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Body."

Simply put, this is stunning television. It was an hour that was, at times, extremely painful to watch. I was on the brink of tears and breaking down with the characters more times than I care to admit. There were a lot of moments that hit home for me and hit home extremely hard. It was an hour of television that I will not soon forget. I've always been impressed by the emotional resonance Buffy has a pop culture television show. But this was the first time that the show has put me through such an emotional wringer. The last time I was this moved by a piece of television was back in season three of Quantum Leap with the phenomenal "The Leap Home."

This is an episode of Buffy that, quite simply, was amazing. From beginning to end, it was superb. It's an episode like this that confirms just why Joss Whedon signed a six figure deal to develop new shows for Fox studios and why a network like ABC is eager to put his next series on the air and, if possible, steal Buffy away from the powers at the WB. In the past, Whedon has delivered some phenomenal work. He gives us an entire episode that featured 45 minutes without dialogue. He gave us an episode that dealt with a dream world and showing us the internal workings of the characters we've come to know and love over the past five years. But he surpassed both of those with his writing and direction here. In "The Body" Joss Whedon looked into the darkest part of the human experience--dealing with the loss of someone we care about it.

They'd better just start engraving the man's name on the Emmy for best writing and best directing. If he doesn't get at least one of the two, there is no justice in this world.

Doing a story like "The Body" at this point in the season is a huge departure--and risk for a show like Buffy. Certainly, we've seen in the past that Whedon isn't afraid of breaking the rules of conventional television. After all, this is the man who lets events happen when they need to in the course of the story and isn't necessarily cornered in by the logic of holding huge, sweeping events for sweeps months. But the choice to have "The Body" ends February sweeps is a dramatic and interesting one. Since January, we've learned a great deal about Glory, we've had Dawn discover her true nature and we've had Spike profess his love for Buffy and see the consequences of that revelation. In the midst of all that, Whedon makes a sweeping change that tops them all--the death of Joyce Summers. But instead of having it played out for high drama--indeed, it might have been easy to see Buffy go off on a tear to hunt down Glory in a fit of rage--Whedon plays the action inward. He gives us an episode that solidly examines the reactions of a lot of people who knew Joyce in the hours following her death.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

It's amazing because all of the reactions were dead-on and superb. From Buffy's initial shock to her denial to the hopeful daydream of her mother being OK (which were two of the most painful scenes in the show to watch...not just the contentment and joy that all of the characters had at finding out Buffy had made it in time...but also the shock when we are jolted back to realty) to the memories of Christmas dinner to the reactions of Giles and the rest of the Scooby gang, it all clicked. Willow's desperate need to want to be strong for Buffy and obsessing on the little details was nicely done. Xander's sense of denial and pent up rage, which he then takes out on a dorm wall (as was Xander's line, "I suddenly decided it was the wall's fault."). There was also Dawn's reaction, which was nicely done. Finally, we had Anya's reaction, which I think was the most profound of the entire show. Namely, we see Anya not knowing exactly how she should react to the death of someone she knew and cared about. Indeed, Anya's dialogue about not understanding why no one could answer her questions about what had happened and that Joyce would never drink fruit punch again were superb. Also, her words of attempted comfort to Buffy at the hospital was nicely done. I liked that they were able to keep within the character of Anya in terms of her saying what is on her mind but also they were tempered with a bit of concern and true sorrow over what had happened. And Buffy's reaction to them was just superb.

Everyone involved with this episode delivered fine performances. Emma Caulfield continues to show new depths as Anya, as I've noted. Amber Benson, Nicholas Brendon, Allyson Hannigan and Anthony Stewart Head were all up to their usual levels of excellence. Indeed, each one brought something new to the table--from Willow's almost hysterical crying done so well by Hannigan to Xander's barely controlled rage and then embarrassment at punching the wall by Brendon (and somewhere deep in the evil part of my mind, I was thinking--it's a good thing Xander has turned into a good handyman so he can repair that hole in the drywall for Tara and Willow).

But the two best performances in the episode were given by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Michelle Trachtenburg. Both of them delivered superb performances that really were the emotional center of the show. I really liked the side of Dawn we saw before she got the bad news. I liked seeing her get to be a normal person--who did the things normal girls her age do. From going to class, to being upset at being teased to flirting with the guy, I liked it all. Also, Dawn's outrage at no one understanding why she'd cut herself and teasing her about it was nicely done. I also loved the line about her older sister being able to beat up the person who was tormenting her. That line had me laughing out loud.

But that all changed in one quick moment. Seeing Dawn lose it and collapse to the floor with the news of Joyce's death was nicely done. And indeed it became that one moment Dawn feared--namely that she'd be the focus of the entire school's attention at a low point in her life. I wonder if we'll see any kind of follow-up to this in the coming weeks. On some level, it would be interesting to see this. I also liked Dawn's refusal to believe that Joyce was gone until she saw Joyce's body for herself. Indeed, one of the things that I remember from when my grandfather passed away was this deep part of me that refused to believe this could be happening and that we'd get to this house and it would all be some huge misunderstanding and that everything would be OK. It was not until I saw him that I believed. I was about the same age as Dawn and so I can find this reaction in her believable. And it gave Michelle Trachtenburg some great material to work with. She has proven time and again this year that she was the correct choice to play Dawn. I was uncertain at the start of the year, but she's won me over every week.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out how great Sarah Michelle Gellar was. I sometimes feel like a broken record when I do this, but she just really delivered. Indeed, this was highlighted most by the juxtaposition between the Christmas dinner scene and the scenes when Buffy discovered Joyce and after wards. Indeed, seeing Buffy so happy and content with her family--both blood kin and her close friends--was a real kick in comparison to how she was on the phone with 911 and with the paramedics.

So, the writing was great, the performances were great...and the direction was great . Joss Whedon really stepped up and delivered a visually stunning story and he made some great choices.

--Having no incidental music was a great choice. Indeed, last year I noted that Hush was highlighted emotionally by the incidental music. This year, "The Body" was highlighted by the lack of music and the choice to emphasize the background noise. Indeed, hearing the wind chimes and the background noise as Buffy opened the door was superb. Also, the idea to have this background noise slowly fade in after each commercial break was nicely done.

--I liked the sequence with the paramedics explaining to Buffy that her mother is gone. Indeed, I liked the way the focus was not on the paramedics face, but his mouth. The camera didn't move and the cuts were both from exactly the same angle.

--The scene at Willow and Tara's was nicely done. Especially when Whedon showed us Anya, Xander and Willow all as the focus of the frame and each dealing with the loss and grief in their own way.

--Leave it to Joss to have Willow and Tara's first on-screen kiss be exactly what it needed to be. What I love about Joss is that he hasn't made this relationship sensational or over hyped or dramatic. Indeed, I remember when Ally McBeal featured two women kissing, that was all you heard about in the promos. Here, we got two women who love each other kissing. And it was so powerful because it showed the depths of love and feeling they have for each other. Indeed, I've been on a bit of a kick lately about how the Willow/Tara relationship has been one-dimensionalized at times for humorous affect. Not so here. That kiss was exactly what it needed to be and both Amber Benson and Allyson Hannigan should be commended for delivering the scene as they did.

--I loved the bit of symmetry between the scene at the hospital with the family of the Scooby gang framed almost like they were in "Family" from earlier this year.

--The final scene with Dawn reaching out to touch Joyce was a haunting and fitting image to end the show with.

Needless to say, I loved this episode. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of first-season episode of ER, "Love's Labors Lost." It's the one where Dr. Greene has to help deliver a baby--and things don't go well. I've only seen that episode once...namely because it was superbly done, but at the same time, it was profoundly painful and difficult to watch. I feel like that about "The Body." It was superb television and while it's easily one of the top episodes Buffy has produced, I'm not overly eager to watch it again, simply because of the emotional wringer that Joss puts us through in it. I have a feeling it's an episode I'll have to let settle a bit and mull over a great deal more in my mind before I'm ready to watch it again.

My rating: 10.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Well, it's repeats for a while. I'm wondering if Buffy and Angel will do like they did in January and split up new episodes of each show to make it seem like we're getting new episodes more often...

"I suddenly decided it was the wall's fault."

--Xander