A reminder: These threads altered *his* reality! Get it? I... never
mind.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Season Six, Episode 15: "Hell's Bells"
Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Director: David Solomon

Because clearly we haven't talked this one to death, yet. Okay, so
"Hell's Bells" has a few pleasant moments among the core cast (the
expressions of affection between Buffy and Xander are particularly
nice to have; we don't get enough of that, and it leads us into the
next part of the season). There's also an unexpectedly powerful
depiction of a nightmare-fantasy, and some painfully bad humor. But
the last three minutes or so are the core of the show, and how much
one appreciates that part more or less shapes one's opinion of the
whole exercise. As has been discussed at great length, I pretty much
hate it, because I continue to not buy Xander's decision at the end
(or the way it leads us to the nearly un-twist-able cliché of the
bride left sobbing at the alter). A comment that I found helpful from
the original thread (from Michael) is that Xander's choice is
[supposed to be] an epiphany, not a moment of panic. It doesn't play
that way at all, though. Meanwhile, I don't think that camouflaging
Anya's part of the story by putting the decision in Xander's hands was
the right way to play it - HB never feels like it's as much about Anya
as Xander, and that's backwards, given that their "crimes" are far
from equivalent. Yet whether it's on screen (Dawn comparing Xander to
our favorite rapist vampire in "Him") or off (the recent post
suggesting that Xander deserves to have his heart literally ripped out
for the horrible thing he's done to Anya), I'm always reminded of what
a mess this episode makes of its story and characters.
Rating: Weak

Season Six, Episode 16: "Normal Again"
Writer: Diego Gutierrez
Director: Rick Rosenthal

And then we get this entry. It uses a vintage sci-fi stock plot and
loads of meta to build a crushingly depressing world unlike anything
else in the series, and make it one of the most important moments of
Season Six rather than a one-off novelty. (And yes, there's a bit of
a retcon with Buffy's parents hearing about vampires, but easily hand-
waved away.) As has been commented, we get so used to Sarah Michelle
Gellar being great in her role that we almost take it for granted, but
I'm in awe of her acting in this particular episode - chick can do
more using only her eyes than many actors manage in a lifetime. I
appreciate the pacing more rather than less with re-watching.
Originally I was a bit thrown by the fact that our hero doesn't logic
her way home, but just takes a leap of feeling, and neither the
character (or the audience, given the ambiguous ending) can
definitively say that Sunnydale is the real story. Thanks to our
discussions afterward, I soon came to see that ambiguity as one of the
show's greatest strengths. Buffy has no way to dodge the moment that
the whole season has been leading up to: she has to see the easy path
contrasted with the harder life, and say, using only her heart, "I
choose to live." You've come a long way, kid. In a likely futile
attempt to stir up a little bit of extra discussion/controversy, I was
considering arguing for "Normal Again" as the best episode of S6, but
it might have some difficulties holding up against the greatest greats
in terms of scene-by-scene quality. In any case, it's really good.
Rating: Excellent

Season Six, Episode 17: "Entropy"
Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Director: James A. Contner

I've never been a huge fan of "Entropy," despite the fact that it's
full of good ideas and has a few big moments (hmm, I wonder who the
writer might be...). The conclusion brings us a very well played
falling out at the end (and a sweet coda that's intentionally jarring
for the contrast with the other storylines). Until then, well, the
necessary checklist of interactions and revelations happen that are
needed to get us there, and the jokes work just frequently enough to
keep the viewer on board. (I like William's idea of how the Anya-
recruiting-people sequence could be trimmed to end with a montage of
punchlines, but then how'd they pad out the hour?) So the episode
does its job in an adequate sort of way, I guess.
Rating: Decent

Season Six, Episode 18: "Seeing Red"
Writer: Steven S. DeKnight
Director: Michael Gershman

One thing that jumped out at me is an indication of what kind of
series this is. We've just gone through an episode that tends to be,
shall we say, on the dark side, including some brutal acts of
violence. Then we have a big cathartic fight that tilts the pendulum
back to fantasy with Buffy smashing the villain's "balls..." and then he
takes off with a freakin' jet-pack. It's so amazingly silly that what
can you do but say 'oh, come on?!" I don't know why I didn't
appreciate it, but even in an episode like this, BTVS can turn die-
laughing hilarious on a dime, and then turn back to brutality for the
ending just as quickly.

There's a lot to like about the way the pieces of the season snap
together for its climax, and I appreciate the craft in the way Spike
is forced to confront head-on how hopeless his predicament is, the way
the episode explores how grounded in humanity Warren's evil is, and
the excellent B/X exchanges. But does everything have to be so
extreme and unpleasant to watch (I don't find dark or depressing
things to necessarily be unpleasant viewing, but parts of SR are - the
rape attempt more so than the death scene)? Does the volume need to
be turned so high up - Spike's evil becoming clear in the most stock-
evil way, with Buffy spending so much time loudly begging him to
stop? Do characters always need to be killed off within a day of
becoming their very happiest? (Apparently so, if you're Joss.) All
in all, of all the episodes in the series, including the ones I hate,
"Seeing Red" is the hardest one for me to watch. As I'm sure you can
tell, I haven't quite figured out whether or not that's a good thing,
but just like last time, I'm leaning towards "mostly."
Rating: Good

Additional comments on S6D5: One of the commentaries I was warned
about was the one for "Hell's Bells." Yeesh. That may be my pick for
worst commentary track. In particular, compare it others on the
Season Six set. Ideally, an audio commentary is a chance for a writer
to directly address contentious points. "Many people took issue with
this choice, and I think I may have gotten it wrong, but what I was
trying for was..." "Some thought that this didn't make sense, but I
believe it works, and it's entirely in character, because..." Most
don't actually go that far, but most of the S6 commentators do at
least manage a passing mention that he was surprises that opinions
varied so widely about this scene, or whatever. But Rebecca and David
just vapidly mumble away, apparently in blissful ignorance of the fact
that they've created one of the most hated, or at least one of the
more controversial episodes of the series.

Adam Bush must be a good actor, at least in this particular role (I'm
not so fond of his work as Willow in TKIM, though), given that I have
a weird mental block that keeps me from not getting a hostile reaction
when he shows up in featurettes and such. There's some conscious
effort that has to go into even a routine "okay, this is not Warren,
who is a fictional character. This is the actor who plays him, and
does not share his personality or opinions in real life." Also, after
months and months to get used to the idea, the notion of Amber Benson
and Bush as a real-life couple is still hard to grasp.

Speaking of whom, I do have to echo the question of whether the
writers intentionally dressed Tara in unflattering outfits. The
character isn't as attractive to me as most of the other hot chicks,
but Benson appears just sitting in a chair in street clothes in some
of the interviews on the bonus disc, and she is so beautiful.

Thoughts?

-AOQ
~out of town for a few days, BTW~