Wild thing

6.7: Once More, With Feeling

6.13: Dead Things

6.14: Older and Far Away





OK . . . Let me just say that "Once More, With Feeling" is an extremely, extremely special episode and I deeply enjoyed it every time I've watched it. Not only was it laugh-out-loud funny (or, in my case, guffaw in a most un-ladylike fashion) and random, so much happens across the arc of episode that it's an exceptionally pivotal point in the season and in the series as a whole.





A few weeks ago, we were discussing what the writers and directors were doing in "The Body" where there was an obvious lack of music. This episode sort of "makes up" for it by seeming to go a bit overboard on song-and-dance numbers, but they're not all clever lyrics and cute choreography. While some of the numbers are definitely quite reminiscent of Spamalot!, it is through the music and the singing that each character learns a great deal. Not one is left out of the back-to-back epiphanies that form the structure of this show. The music seems to be a kind of "truth serum," under whose influence everyone, from Anya to Giles to Willow, spill their secrets and move the storyline forward at a rather dizzying rate.





Of course, when one thinks of the form of the ACTUAL musical (Broadway or created for the screen), this IS the function of a song. As in its ancestor the opera and singspiel, where recitative is more "everyday" dialogue—where stuff actually happens, as in action—and the arias are chiefly for reflective, emotional, and expressive purposes, the songs in musicals are opportunities for characters to more fully express their feelings in a language that the audience and other characters have come to expect. While it is completely NOT normal for most people to just randomly burst into song (unless they happen to be me), the songs in a musical ARE completely normal and are a type of dialogue higher on the totem pole to the spoken lines.





Operas and musicals are strange animals, because they are art forms that blend the realistic (how people feel) and totally unrealistic (sudden songs happening)—but anyway, that IS yet another angle ON the Buffyverse. As they often do, they're playing with aspects of what is real and what is not. Although the concept of a musical staged by the residents of an entire town is as implausable as it is bizarre, the purpose and aftermath of this show are very real. Anya and Xander describe their insecurities and fears about their future to one another; Giles finally lets himself realize that his Slayer really doesn't need a Watcher anymore; Buffy reveals to her friends and family that she had been in Heaven, and for the rest of their lives, they will remember the moment they discovered the truth in confusion and pain. Even though she had tried with all her might to keep them from knowing, even though she had make Spike vow that he would never tell, she was no match for the power of the music and when the opportunity presented itself, she simply HAD to sing about it. Tara discovered Willow's abuse of magic over her mind . . . Buffy finally recognized that there was something there with Spike, and at last they made out . . . No one had any choice BUT to tell the truth about themselves—with the ironic cheeriness of catchy music, witty rhymes, and interesting choreography.









Oh, and P.S.: "They got the mustard . . . OUT!!!"