I love so much the idea here that it's about a closed system. The villains here? There's the gang. There's the Trio who are a shadow Scooby gang, and useless to boot. There's Amy, who is was in Willow's care. Stuart Burns is Anya's victim, Halfrek William's castoff and Anya's BFF, Wig Lady Buffy's customer, Sweet got summoned, the Loan Shark is out to collect Spike's debts, and then we're basically left with Dawn's vampire boyfriend, a second-rate druggy-magic dealer and a demon who cheats at kitten poker. Closed box. And it's also where instead of introducing new metaphors, new supernatural elements, they are exhausted until we're left with nothing but awful humanity, an attempted rape on the bathroom floor, a gunshot through the window and a woman's perfect order all collapsing into chaotic rage.
This is right after season five, in which Glory is a bit of a perpetual motion machine, feeding her way through humans. Dawn is added to the show and she contains a seemingly infinite amount of energy (and story potential), but it gets used up on that tower. (Adam was a 100% closed system, relying on nuclear decay to keep him running. Until he started upgrading.)
And you know, Giles gets out in Tabula Rasa--he shouldn't, maybe, but he does--Tara leaves but comes back, and after seeing where Entropy gets him Spike leaves town. Because Giles got out he can add a new element to the system at the season's end. He comes in with something new, imbues Willow with new magic, deeper power and connection. And Spike asks for something that he has never had. Buffy's crawling out of the grave into spring (spring brings new flowers, new life), Spike's soul and Willow's power are the new-element trifecta that leads to the slayer spell and the end of the Hellmouth.
I just love the image of Willow wrecking the Magic Box at the season's end, at any rate. And I love that the finale in three acts is basically just Willow tearing at and apart the tiny, tiny world they've built together. But it's like that house falling down in Smashed. Left to itself, it has to fall down. And you need that before you can build something else. And season seven begins with the high school being rebuilt.
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Date: 2011-03-31 12:16 am (UTC)This is right after season five, in which Glory is a bit of a perpetual motion machine, feeding her way through humans. Dawn is added to the show and she contains a seemingly infinite amount of energy (and story potential), but it gets used up on that tower. (Adam was a 100% closed system, relying on nuclear decay to keep him running. Until he started upgrading.)
And you know, Giles gets out in Tabula Rasa--he shouldn't, maybe, but he does--Tara leaves but comes back, and after seeing where Entropy gets him Spike leaves town. Because Giles got out he can add a new element to the system at the season's end. He comes in with something new, imbues Willow with new magic, deeper power and connection. And Spike asks for something that he has never had. Buffy's crawling out of the grave into spring (spring brings new flowers, new life), Spike's soul and Willow's power are the new-element trifecta that leads to the slayer spell and the end of the Hellmouth.
I just love the image of Willow wrecking the Magic Box at the season's end, at any rate. And I love that the finale in three acts is basically just Willow tearing at and apart the tiny, tiny world they've built together. But it's like that house falling down in Smashed. Left to itself, it has to fall down. And you need that before you can build something else. And season seven begins with the high school being rebuilt.