Once More With Feeling

Once More With Feeling
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: November 6, 2001

Plot: People in Sunnydale suddenly find themselves bursting into song and musical numbers, that cause them to reveal their inner most feelings. Musical moments included Xander and Anya's concerns about their future, Buffy's feeling as though her life has no direction and the truth of where she was before she returned and a love song from Tara to Willow. The cause of all this--a demon that one of the Scooby gang summoned. And the downside to the singing--if one sings too long, they will spontaneously combust...

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Review

Warning: It won't take a demon to make me sing out the twists, turns and all-around SPOILERS for the latest episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, "Once More With Feeling." If you've not yet seen Buffy's musical extravaganza, I highly recommend you turn back now....

In short: Oops! He did it again!

Is it just me or is it just a tiny bit ironic that the week that the Emmy's finally aired, honoring the "best" television has to offer, Joss Whedon and company once again step up to the plate and show just what a crime it is that Buffy has not yet garnered an Emmy nomination for Best Drama series?

Just as the West Wing is stepping up and accepting the Emmy for best drama for the second year, Buffy is out there with a much-hyped, heavily-anticipated episode that quietly and completely shows why Buffy is up there as one of, if not THE, top show on television today.

Why?

Because it's willing to take risks.

OK, let's get one thing clear here. When I first heard the idea months ago that Joss wanted to do Buffy, the musical, I was highly skeptical. I thought at first that Joss was yanking our chains and just throwing out one of his usual witty asides to give us all something to speculate about--sort of like last year's rampant rumors that the season-finale would be two hours and feature every guest star Buffy had ever featured. But as the summer went along and the plans became more and more a reality, my disbelief turned into a sense of excitement--and let's be honest here, misgiving.

Yes, Joss had shown that he could do "experimental" episodes of television and carry them off with style, wit, grace and intelligence. But could he do it here? Would a musical episode prove to be more than Joss and company could handle? Could the cast and crew carry it off? Would it fall flat on its face as a great experiment that failed?

Well, I've seen "Once More With Feeling" now and I will once again drop to my knees and worship at the altar of Joss. I was a doubter--but I am doubter no longer.

Joss Whedon can do ANYTHING he sets his mind to. And he can do it well, which is probably the main reason that Buffy has continued to be one of the most consistent and intelligent shows on TV after five and a half years.

I think the thing that set Buffy's "event" episodes apart from other shows "event" episodes is that Joss and company make the best use of the events to not just be about the lack of dialogue or the fact that everyone is bursting into song. It's about the characters and Joss takes the chance to take risks with them. The idea of having everyone burst into song is a good one, but it's carried over into the realm of the songs taking on a deep, personal note for everyone, bringing to the surface some of the underlying tensions and feelings that have been hidden or glossed over all season long.

And that's why "Once More With Feeling" is such an utter treat.

All season long, things have been simmer under the surface and it's nice to see them brought into the light of day here. Hearing Spike confess his confusion at the Slayer's hot and cold treatment of him, Xander and Anya's fears about their future together and their out-in-the-open sharing of the little things about each other that they love but yet drive them completely and totally crazy, Tara's love for Willow and then how the nature and meaning of her song changed when she finds out Willow is using magic on her in a negative way and hearing Giles confess how he feels he's standing in the way of Buffy growing up, all worked and were welcome. Indeed, the first six episodes of season six have set all this up admirably. And it's nice to hear them come out.

There were so many turning points in this episode that it may be almost impossible for me to list them all and not miss one or two. However, a few that really stuck out at me were:

--Spike's confessing to Buffy that he can't handle her coming by and teasing him so.

--All of Buffy's songs, expressing her discontent with her life and her return. I have read some reviews that stated that they felt Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice was a beat weak, but I didn't really find that to be true. I found that she and the rest of the cast did very well. I credit that to Whedon for writing and tailoring the songs specifically to the actors and actresses involved. Yes, there were times when Nicholas Brendon's voice wasn't as strong or assured as the others, but I took that as being part of the character of Xander.

--Dawn's singing about her stealing things.

--Giles looking at Buffy and realizing he's a stumbling block between her making the transition into adulthood.

--The show-stopping song when Buffy sings that she was in heaven and is none too happy about returning to this mortal coil that she considers her own personal form of hell. (And the look of stunned horror on Willow's face was perfect. I give Allyson Hannigan a world of credit for that small scene. Her facial expression showed everything from shock to horror to the "Oh my god, I did this to my friend!" in just a few seconds.)

--OK, it's not pivotal to the plot, but I did find the short burst by Anya confessing her fear of bunnies and why she hated them to be just out and out hysterical. Again, it's not a huge turning point, but I loved how when the gang is going over the multi and varied sources of evil, Anya once again brings up bunnies.

All of the songs worked really well and they moved well enough. One of the things that I feared going in was that the musical numbers would go on too long. I've seen some musicals where the songs take over and bring the plot to a halt instead of continuing to advance the plot. That was not the case here. The songs were all perfect in length and all of them helped the plot to continue to move forward. (And on a side note, seeing the unedited version, I simply cannot imagine where the cuts will come for the syndicated version, except to possibly shorten the Tara song to Willow, which would be a CRIME since Amber Benson has a wonderful voice and that song was nicely done.)

And the ultimate compliment that I can pay any song is that it's catchy. And Joss did a perfect job of making all of his song catchy. I'll admit I've got a few of them rattling around in my head today--even as I write this review. It's hard to not hum them or try to sing them. So, Joss--when does that CD come out again?!? Can I say that tomorrow is NOT soon enough?!?

However, the best thing that an event episode of Buffy can do is to move plotlines forward and this one did.

Of course, it's November sweeps and the cynical and jaded of us out there know we'll see episodes over the next couple of weeks on various shows that push plotlines forward in huge episodes designed to bring in large audiences and, thus, lead to increased ad revenues. I've always been glad that in the past Buffy has had big November episodes but it hasn't limited itself to plot revelations in sweeps months. It started in season two when Angel went to the dark side in January, Hush was a mid-December episode and we found out Glory was a god in January last year too. All of those were event episodes in their own way--and so was "Once More With Feeling."

We got some movement forward. I will say the biggest revelation was Buffy's kissing Spike as passionately as she did at the end.

But we did get some other things moving forward as well. I think we'll see more about Xander's fear of being a husband, Willow's betrayal of Tara, Giles' feeling that his role in the Scooby gang is decreasing or gone and Dawn's stealing come up more in the next couple of weeks. This episode served to bring these issues to the surface and it will now be interesting to see just how they are dealt with in the next couple of episodes. The two most immediate issues I see being dealt with are Willow's use of magic and Giles' wanting to depart Sunnydale. (OK, so I saw the previews...)

But the most interesting thing about the musical episode was the moral of the story--this is life, we've got to live it. You've got to play with the hand your dealt. It was certainly interesting to see this come from Spike, who's lived the longest. If anything, Spike has the most experience of telling them that while life is dark and sometimes not fair, it's how you deal with it and live it out that matters most. These really struck home because I was discussing the Becoming with someone the other day and Spike's words here were a throw-back to his desire to not have the world sucked into hell because despite the fact that it wasn't always fair, there were things to like about the world. You just had to look for them and find them. And sometimes they were standing right in front of you.

I also liked how this came out of a dark moment for Buffy. She was ready to give up on the world in an attempt to get back to the place she was. (I doubt that by killing herself she would have got back there...but you never know). To see Spike come in and tell her that each person has to create his/her own happiness based on what the world gives you was nicely done. And it's why the passionate kiss she and Spike share as the curtain drops was so utterly and completely perfect--and exactly the thing that could and should have occurred at that moment.

Whether or not I think there should be a long-term Spike and Buffy relationship is something I can go either way on. I'm intrigued to see if and how it plays out over the next few episodes. I wonder if it will play out that Spike has wanted Buffy for so long and now that he has her, will he be satisfied? Or will it be one of those things that burns brightly for a while but quickly burns out?

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

--I loved how there were certain musical conventions such as the characters directly addressing the audience. I know we saw Buffy do this once during her big song and the line about Dawn being in trouble was nicely done.

--Willow and Tara....interesting scene there, especially in the bedroom. Joss is once again the master of showing without showing...

--The songs about getting the mustard out and the parking ticket were utterly inspired and hilarious.

--The choreography was all superbly done. I loved the opening of the story with the prologue as it were. That fits in exactly with the musical theme of the episode.

--I can see why Sarah Michelle Gellar could say she was exhausted after this episode. She had a lot of dances and choreography to learn.

--Another well choreographed scene was the dance number with Xander and Anya.

--I figured going in that Anthony Stewart Head and James Masters would be good singing. But I was pleasantly surprise by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Emma Caulfield.

--The singers who just blew me away were Amber Benson and Michelle Trachtenburg. Both have GREAT voices and really carried their songs extremely well.

--So when's that soundtrack come out?!?

--Why not a DVD, with an isolated music track?!?

So, wrapping it up--"Once More With Feeling" is yet another hit for Joss Whedon. Is there anything (besides get the Emmy he so richly deserves) this man can't do?!? At this point, the answer is no....

My rating: 10.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: The fall-out begins.

"Dawn's in trouble? Must be Tuesday night."

--Buffy