Gone

Gone
Written and directed by David Fury

Original Airdate: January 8, 2002

Plot: After a disastrous visit by a social worker (looking into Dawn's decline in grades and school attendance), Buffy sets out to make some changes in her life--the first of which is getting a new haircut. However, before she can show off her new cut, Warren, Andrew and Jonathan accidentally zap her with their invisility ray. As the gang investigates what has happened and why, Xander and Anya discover they are in a race against time to make Buffy visible again before the ray causes her permanent damage and possibly kills her.

Review

Warning: SPOILERS for the latest episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will not be invisible just ahead. If you've not yet seen the latest episode of Buffy, "Gone" and would like to go in SPOILER-free, I suggest you turn back now....

In short: Good, but a bit uneven.

Before Christmas, I had read reports in various on-line discussion groups and on some of the news sites around the Web, that the musical episode had really taken a lot out of Sarah Michelle Gellar and she was looking for a bit of break in terms of filming. Hearing that, I figured there would have to be at least one or two Buffy-lite episodes on the way. This raised some mixed feelings in me. On the one hand, I was encouraged because if any show on TV can carry an episode that focuses on characters other than the title character of the show, it's Buffy. The show has proved this time and again in the past when it focuses on Willow, Anya, Spike or even Giles. Part of me was even hopeful that we might get a Xander-centric episode, since while I like what they're doing with Xander, we haven't really had a good story that focuses on him in a long time.

But I will also admit that hearing the news of a Buffy-lite episode filled me with a bit of sense of dread. The biggest reason this occurred is that in season four, when Sarah Michelle Gellar had to cross-over to Angel and we got a Buffy-lite episode, it was Where the Wild Things Are, which, honestly, isn't a strong example of what you can do without Buffy as the focus of the story.

So, I went into Gone with mixed emotions. I had high hopes for it, but I was also cautious about just what we might get.

And coming away, I must say that I liked most of what we saw in Gone.

One of the first things that really stuck out in my mind was the direction. For the most part, having a character become invisible is not a new concept--heck, we saw it way back in season one's "Out of Sight, Out of Mind." (And let me just say that it was enjoyable to see that episode referenced here by several of the characters who were there). But David Fury's first directing effort on the show was one that must have been difficult to achieve--but yet he did it pretty well. There were some nice moments achieved through the use of the blue screen--probably the most noticeable being Jonathan on the swiveling chair. But the fight scene at the end worked pretty well. For a scene that was really nothing more than establishing shots with sound effects dubbed over it, I thought it worked remarkably well. Don't get me wrong, it's not something I want to see every single week, but it was nicely done here and worked as a nice little gimmick for the episode.

And I will admit that the invisibility plotline worked pretty well because of what it tried to do for the character. It was interesting to see just how Buffy reacted to the fact that no one could see her. Yes, she didn't run for the guy's locker room--as apparently Jonathan, Andrew and Warren were ready to do--but she did take advantage of it in interesting ways. Seeing Buffy go to Spike and be able to be with him, because no matter what, no one will see what she's doing with him and then tormenting the social worker was nicely done. Indeed, I found there to be some interesting parallels in the scenes with Spike, pre and post invisibility. The biggest and most interesting was that Xander was the one who walked in on them both times--an interesting twist and one that I hope comes back to Xander once the news of Buffy and Spike being more than just friends sees the light of day. Indeed, if anything, Xander's verbal abuse of Spike could come back to him in huge ways--especially the "Get a girlfriend" comment.

Another aspect of the plotline that worked was the parallels Fury tried to draw between Buffy and Dawn's relationship pre and post invisibility. I liked that before Buffy literally disappeared, that she might as well have been invisible to Dawn. And then to see how Dawn reacted when her sister really did vanish worked well. I wonder if part of that reaction might have been some fear on Dawn's part due to the presence of the social worker. In many ways, the social worker could make Buffy disappear from Dawn's life on a permanent basis. So, I can understand why Dawn reacted so emotionally to Buffy's little joke with the pizza box.

I also liked that Gone continued the plotline of the stolen diamond and what Jonathan, Andrew and Warren wanted with it. It also moved that plotline forward because we saw them finally confronted by Buffy. This will bring up some points in coming weeks--namely now that Willow knows where they are, will they move? And will Buffy feel more threatened by them or just plain annoyed? Also, I liked seeing Buffy's reaction to Jonathan, who she has saved on numerous occasions. I understand why Warren is motivated to dislike her and maybe even Andrew, but Jonathan's need to be a supervillian has eluded me a bit this season. I'm hoping maybe this is the beginning of exploring why he felt the need to turn on Buffy--other than his jealousy that we saw in Superstar over her apparent "perfect" life compared to his.

So, I have to admit that I liked the fact that David Fury took the limitation of Sarah Michelle Gellar's on-screen time as being limited and used it as an advantage in his script. It was nice to see some good work done there.

On the other hand, there were some negative things.

I liked the social worker plotline, but it ended up being a set-up to a joke. Yes, it was interesting to see Buffy get her petty revenge on the social worker, but at what cost. Also, the social worker did bring up some interesting issues--Buffy still has no job and she isn't really being the adult role model that Dawn needs. I am hoping this wasn't brought up as a one-time thing and will be forgotten. There is so much potential to be explored here that it almost screams out. I know you can't resolve it all in one episode, but I really hope that the ball isn't dropped on this one.

Next, I found Willow's plotline to be interesting but not as involving as Buffy's. Allyson Hannigan did a nice job of portraying the temptations of Willow and of seeing her strung-out from going cold turkey. But the performance wasn't up to the usual standards of excellence we've seen from Hannigan over the past couple of years. And that's a shame because she did really well in the last episode. I am hoping this is a one-time thing and she'll get back on track.

Finally, I am sad that we missed an opportunity to have Xander more in the plotline. Yes, he did have some integral part, but it seems the only time he's on-screen is planning his wedding with Anya or at a Scooby-gang meeting. Xander is one of the most interesting characters on the show--heck, watch any of season one or two and you'll see this--and deserves to have some more development time. I am longing for an episode like "The Zeppo" where we get to see Xander as the focus of the story. (And for me, this is saying a lot as I'm not a huge fan of "The Zeppo").

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

--Hearing Buffy wonder about what it might mean that she's brought back wrong is interesting. I hope we see more of this and soon.

--Wow, James Marsters will do anything for the role. The Spike scenes, once again, just rocked. I loved the intensity and the performance. Seeing him slam Buffy against the wall and take back is lighter was great as well as the in-bed scene with invisible Buffy. He just gets better and better all the time.

Well, I guess that's about it for now. All-in-all, Gone is a good episode to start of the new year. And it just makes the next two weeks seem a bit longer as we wait for new episodes.

My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Well, two weeks of repeats--but at least it's two hour blocks of repeats. And next Tuesday, we get season one on DVD.

"Xander and Anya are Mulder-ing it out."

--Buffy