The Weight of the World

The Weight of the World
Written by Douglas Petrie
Directed by David Soloman

Original Airdate: May 15, 2001

Plot: Now possessing the key, Dawn sets her plans to return to her dimension in motion. However, the barrier between her personality and Ben begins to break down, leading to both halves fighting for control. Meanwhile, Willow performs a spell that allows her to enter Buffy's consciousness to retrieve the catatonic Slayer...

Review

Warning: If SPOILERS will make you feel like you've got "The Weight of the World" on your shoulders, I strongly suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

In short: Amazing.

Last year, Douglas Petrie was given the opportunity to write an episode that wrapped up the season-long Initiative arc. And while he did a fairly decent job with the plot elements he was given, I left that episode feeling a bit unsatisfied. A lot of that can be contributed to the fact that the entire Initiative arc really collapsed on itself mid-season and Petrie did a masterful job with the pieces he was given.

I'll be the first to admit that while I'm quick to jump out and say I adore the works of Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon, Douglas Petrie isn't a name that usually jumps out at me when he crops up on the credits. That is, until this year. This year, Petrie gave us the instant classic "Fool For Love" and, just like last year, he was given the chance to pen the penultimate episode of the season with "Weight of the World." But whereas last year's penultimate episode of just a stand up double, this year's was an absolute home run.

And I've got to attribute a lot of that the fact that this year, there is a season finale beyond this episode. And that we've a chance for Petrie to wrap up some of the emotional arcs that have been playing out all year--and that he was given a chance to give us the huge payoff that for the scenario he set up way back in November with "Fool For Love."

Over the course of the past few episodes, everything that Spike told Buffy made her different from the other Slayers has been slowly taken away from her. First, she alienated Riley and forced him to leave town, thus once again losing a man she loved. Next, she lost her mother. Finally, last week, she lost another connection to the world--her sister, Dawn, who she was sworn to protect. Based on all of that, it was absolutely the perfect time for Buffy to attempt to retreat.

However, Petrie wasn't content to leave it there. Instead of just having Buffy enter into extreme denial and retreat, we instead based on her conversation with the First Slayer a few weeks back and an isolated incident earlier this year--where Buffy admitted to herself for a second that just might not be powerful enough to stop Glory and for one instant thought she might not succeed--we got an insight into her character and just exactly how deep the responsibility she feels is. All of that worked and was superbly realized by the sequences inside Buffy's head. I really loved the repetitive nature of the scenes. I liked that we started seeing a young Buffy face the fear of having a new sister and then slowly realizing she wanted to help take care of (which was even more of an emotional hit based on Buffy's guilt over losing Dawn to Glory). We then saw it carryover into the scenes in Joyce's bedroom, Buffy's conversation with the First Slayer and Buffy feeling the need to use her "gift" on Dawn. Each time, when we saw Buffy close the book and put in on the shelf, at first, I assumed it was because Buffy was done facing that moment and closing the book on it--thus cutting herself off from thinking about it anymore. And I loved that Petrie took a scene like that and played with my assumptions. He took it to a new level where it meant something far greater and it helped to bring to a head a lot of the emotional character arcs that have been in play all year long.

And I loved the way in which Buffy talked to herself when confronted by Willow about what she was doing and what was going on. And I loved the editing of the sequences--seeing each Buffy talk to herself, completing sentences and then, occasionally seeing outside with Willow and Buffy.

There was certainly a lot of internal monologues going on externally in the episode. There is the Buffy monologues and then there's Ben and Glory talking to each other. And these sequences were masterfully directed, acted and edited. I haven't been overly impressed with Ben as a character until the last few episodes but he really showed up here. I cannot even begin to imagine the hours and shoots and retakes it must have taken to get the scenes as Glory and Ben fight for control of their body and argue with each other. Nor can I imagine the process that it took to edit that together. All I can saw is that on-screen it was flawless and a real labor of love. And I thank the director, David Soloman and the editors.

But the scenes were also interesting based on what was being said. It was interesting to watch Glory bleed over into Ben and Ben into Glory. Indeed, I think this explains why Ben is willing to betray his ideals of preservation of human life in the end. At that point, Ben and Glory have, in a lot of ways, merged. Glory is getting Ben's humanity--his guilt and his feelings--while he is getting a bit of her selfishness and will to survive. And that really worked. I think just having Ben betray Dawn would have been a big mistake. But seeing how the personalities merged over the course of the conversations really made Ben's decision to turn Dawn over to Glory and allow her to complete the ceremony made a lot of sense.

Another thing that I enjoyed out this plotline was that it answered one of my big questions from last week--namely why didn't Dawn remember that Glory and Ben are one in the same. And I enjoyed the small humorous moments of Spike trying to convince the gang of this and their slowly realizing. I loved Xander's realization and then his stating as many times as possible to whoever would listen.

And I also liked the forceful, take charge side of Willow. The dark determination as she told the Scooby gang exactly why they would do and how it would fit into the plan to move forward was just great. Allyson Hannigan's performance in those scenes was superbly done. She had a dark, calm, restrained menace to her that I found utterly compelling. And I wonder if we'll see more of this side of Willow in the future.

So, I guess you can say that I really enjoyed this episode. And you'd be absolutely correct. It answered a lot of questions, did some nice character development and it gave us a huge payoff on early season developments. All in all, it did everything it needed to. And it's certainly made the next six days as I wait the season five finale seem a lot longer than they need to be. To be honest, I haven't been this absolutely psyched about a Buffy season finale since season two. And I think we all know how well that turned out...

My rating: 10.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Buffy and Glory..the final showdown. (And the WB's final Buffy episode...which almost had me depressed until I heard rumors my area may be getting a UPN station next fall!)