Dead Things

Dead Things
Written by Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by James A. Contner

Original Airdate: February 5, 2002

Plot:Warren, Andrew and Jonathan build a device to make any girl their willing sex-slave and the first target is Warren's ex, Katrina. However, when the affects wear off, Warren accidentally kills Katrina as she tries to leave. The trio then decides to kill two birds with one stone by framing the Slayer for the murder. Meanwhile, Buffy continues to grow farther from the Scooby gang and be drawn more and more to Spike. Also, Buffy asks Tara to investigate why Spike can attack her and if she's been "brought back wrong."

Review

Warning: All the evidence points to the fact that there are major SPOILERS just ahead for the latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Dead Things." If you've not yet seen it and want to go in unaware, please turn back now.

In short: A solid set-up, but the ending was a bit off.

Watching "Dead Things" I was reminded of season two's "Some Assembly Required."

SAR started off well with some good character development, an interesting mystery and a sense of direction for the where the script might be going. However, but the end of the second act, a lot of this early strength had been swept aside to focus on Frankenstein's monster plotline--at the expense of the elements that made the first fifteen or so minutes of the story so all-around great.

And while I don't thing "Dead Things" had quite the drop-off that SAR did, it still reminded me of it.

It started strong but it just trotted home to finish the race.

Perhaps this was intended. The script may have been designed to do exactly this--I don't know. All I know is that I found myself intrigued by the events unfolding on screen in the first act of the show, only to find the ending seemed a bit rushed.

Maybe what "Dead Things" needed most was to do what Scrubs did this week--to Supersize the show. Allow it to go a few minutes extra so that we really get the resolution necessary to the events unfolding on-screen without it feeling completely rushed.

It's a shame the ending felt so rushed because there was a lot of really good stuff brewing in this script.

It's certainly no secret that Buffy has dealt with abusive relationships before. We saw that back in season four with "Beauty and the Beasts." But whereas that relationship dealt with a physically abusive relationship, this script chose to turn the focus on relationships that aren't always based on the most solid of foundations and the desire of one party to have a sense of power over the other.

In a lot of ways, the two relationships that we saw on screen paralleled each other rather effectively.

On one hand, we have Buffy and Spike. Spike has openly admitted he loves Buffy and we've seen her admit time and again that she doesn't love him. Yet, she is still drawn to him and does take advantage of him physically. However, each time we see Spike trying to connect with Buffy on more than just a physical level, she withdraws from him, leaving him angry and frustrated. However, he keeps coming back again and again to her. At one point Spike states that Buffy seems to like how he makes her feel on a physical level. And it certainly seems as though Buffy enjoys their little sessions together. And on some level, she knows that she can get away with treating Spike horribly, using him for her pleasure and then tossing him aside because he keeps coming back to her over and over again. Why? Because he's admitted he cares for her. In this relationship, Buffy has the power. She says when and if they will be physically together and shuts down emotionally when Spike tries to give her more that. It's intriguing to watch this play out and I've got to wonder if this isn't some sort of pattern for Spike. He seems to choose women who give him what he wants, but not all that he needs. Certainly we saw this with Dru, who was there for Spike when Angel was on our side, but turned on him and went back to Angelus, thus leading Spike to have to betray her to win her back. At some point, I wonder if Spike will get tired of all of this and simply realize he can take on Buffy and possibly win and attempt to do so.

But we also saw Buffy's side of things--where she wants Spike, but everything inside of her knows that it's wrong. Her desperation is starting to show--she wants to believe that she is not responsible for her actions. The scenes with Tara, where Buffy tries to figure out what might have gone wrong with the spell and to hope that it's brought her back wrong so she can justify to herself her actions were superb. And the final scene where Buffy broke down sobbing hysterically because there is nothing wrong with her--well, except that her molecular structure is a bit different that the rest of us, leading to why Spike can hit her. I really like that the writers didn't take an easy way out here--instead of giving us an excuse for Buffy's relationship with Spike, there is not easy out. And it will certainly be interesting to see how this continues to develop and if Buffy can step away from her addiction to Spike as Willow has stepped away from her addiction to magic.

On the other side of the coin, we had Warren, who we all knew wasn't the most stable guy to start with. (Most guys don't create robotic sex slaves for themselves while in a loving relationship...well, you shouldn't be creating them for yourself EVER, but that's a whole other issue). It's interesting to see that in the times we've seen Warren dealings with relationships, they have all boiled down to one thing--sex. He created the robot to be his sex-slave and he seeks to do the same thing to the woman he loved, Katrina, this time around. Warren is not the most well-adjusted guy and I think we're beginning to just barely scratch the surface of just how truly disturbed he could be and is. Indeed, he showed little or no remorse at killing Katrina and he was quick to come up with a solution on how to dispose of the problem. Indeed, Warren's entire MO seemed to be--if you hurt me, I'll hurt you back. The scene at the end of the story when Warren realizes that he has gotten away with murder was chilling. That scene made me sit up a bit more because suddenly the Legion of Doom has upped the ante. They've gone from a simple pain in the butt for Buffy to something far more deadly and sinister--well, at least two of them have. Andrew was far too willing and eager to go along, while I still have hope for Jonathan. I think if there's a voice of conscience left it may be Jonathan. I've got to wonder if we're not being set up for him to go to Buffy in an attempt to stop just how bad Warren and Andrew will become. Taking over Sunnydale may be one thing, but killing innocent girls and then getting away with it may be too much for Jonathan.

I hope that I'm not reading too much into a look or a moment. I

I also find it interesting that Warren's paralleling Faith in some ways. He's become truly evil because he's killed someone. Until that point last night, he was a villain yes...but he wasn't really what I'd say was out and out evil. He had his good moments and maybe he didn't always act with the best of intentions. But he now he's taken on a whole new level and he's leading the other two down the primrose path. At some point it should be interesting to see how this develops.

If anything the spirit of Faith was all over this show.

Buffy's discovery of Katrina's body and then feeling that she had killed her was superbly realized--though there wasn't enough of it! Seeing her torture herself over killing an innocent--in exactly the way Faith didn't--was nicely done. Once again, Sarah Michelle Gellar delivered a solid, strong performance. I loved the scene in Dawn's bedroom and the sequence where Buffy broke down to Tara was solid work. And yet, no Emmy recognition. It's a crime, a crime I tell you!

And it was interesting to see Spike try and stop Buffy from turning herself in. Seeing her beat the living tar out of Spike was a chilling scene. Spike it appears has decided to be whatever Buffy wants him to be and be contented with that role--whether it be sex toy or punching bag. But I think he's trying for a greater connection--certainly the times he showed up whispering in Buffy's ear were evidence of that. I wonder at what point he gets frustrated and writes her off or worse tries to hurt her back.

And was it just me or did anyone else think it might have been more effective to have had Spike's whisperings to Buffy not be him, but something her mind was doing? I felt it might be some bit of internal dialogue shown on screen. I don't want to deny James Marsters screen time because he always does so well with what he's giving. But I felt there was some potential there to get inside Buffy's head and see what she was thinking. I guess it's having seen bits and pieces of Amends recently with Angel hallucinating about seeing things that made me think of that.

But, while all this was good, the ending wasn't the best. I think the thing that bugged me most was the sheer amount of coincidence to it. Buffy decides to turn herself in but is averted at the last second by the phone call she overhears. I don't know how I'd exactly get her out of the situation she's in, but there should be a better way than the usual cliché. Also, the fact the pacing seemed a bit off. Again, I think if we'd had an extra eight minutes or so like we did with Once More With Feeling, the ending might have been stronger. It just felt forced a bit and as if the writer was having to rush the conclusion--which is a shame because for the most part all of what we'd seen to that point was clicking.

So, I guess that's about it for now, except for some small things...

--Anyone else tired of seeing Dawn be nothing more than a whiny teenager? I guess I'd like to see this plotline actually go somewhere new. It's the same thing happens every week.

--It's interesting to Buffy turns to Tara for help in this situation. Also interesting that she confides to someone who has little or no contact with the Scoobies anymore. Is this Tara's opening to possibly return? I sure hope so as I've missed Amber Benson.

--I loved the scene of Jonathan and Andrew fighting with light sabers while Warren took Katrina off to have his way with her.

--I was glad that the aspect that what Warren was doing was actually raping Katrina was brought up. That's hugely important.

--Did anyone else think for a moment that when Jonathan disguised himself as Katrina in the woods that at first it might be Amy helping them out? Man, talk about a great potential team up for evil there.

--I like the direction of the out of time events happening in the woods. I just saw Memento over the weekend (great film, BTW...if you've not seen it, I highly recommend it!) and so a lot of what happened there reminded me of that and questioning the order in which things were happening.

Well, that's about it for now. Overall, I liked most of "Dead Things" but a few issues with the ending kept it from the realms of greatness.

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Buffy's birthday...and we all know this is usually never a good day in the life of the Slayer. And this year looks no different.