Buffy S7-01: The Short Review

'Lessons'

Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Buffy is back.

I really can't put it any more simply than that. It's not firing on all cylinders - not yet, anyway. But the pieces were all there, and they fit. I knew I had a good feeling about S7.

I wasn't entirely spoiler-free (I'm still not, not quite). I knew Sunnydale High was coming back; I knew the Big Bads were coming back. I was, and still am, uncomfortable about the show trading quite so heavily on its past (right down to Spike taking the Master's place). Going back to High School is a cheap trick.

And yet...and yet, it gives the show back its focus. It gives it back its original purpose, its original meaning. And it was so insanely good back in the day that I can't help but hope we could see those heights again. So for now, I'm OK with it.

On the other hand, I hadn't realised how deep the bitterness about last season went. I have been looking forward to this episode with almost unreserved optimism for the past couple of months, since I began to get a handle on the direction the show was heading in...but as I was watching the start, all I could think about was how I didn't care about anyone except Xander. By the end of the episode that was changing. All credit to Joss for managing it (especially in the case of Dawn), but still. It took me by surprise.

Next up, Spike. I knew about the vision he had ahead of time, but it still rocked. I adore the fact that they turned the lack of Angelus into a strength of the sequence - Drusilla is, after all, far more appropriate for Spike - rather than it being a weakness. And I love the fact that what's actually going on is ambiguous; it could, after all all be in Spike's head (except - did he ever meet the Mayor?). Oh, and anyone who still thinks Warren wasn't a misogynist needs their brain checked.

Setting out my predictions stall, I think we're seeing the return of the First Evil, or some primal force along those lines. And I think it's trying to kill slayers-in-training before it moves on to Buffy - I think that's what the sequence in Istanbul was all about. I also think it will, at some point, consider Dawn to be a slayer-in-training and make a concerted effort to kill her. Whether or not it will be correct in this belief, or whether it will be key/buffy induced confusion...well, I suspect that may depend on fan reaction to what they do with Dawn over the next few episodes.

As a season premiere, then, I'd probably put 'Lessons' about on a par with 'Buffy vs Dracula' and 'When She Was Bad', a smidge below 'The Freshman' and 'Anne'. As an episode, it had its ups and downs; I don't think we really needed to see Willow this week (especially given the audacity of the way magic addiction was dropped entirely. I think that's as close as we're going to get to a direct admission from JW that out-and-out addiction was the wrong way for the series to go). But, oh, it was about something - about escaping your past, about who you are, about what you become. About lessons. It had a monster of the week that underlined and was related to that theme - nothing spectacular, but (and I don't wish to get too melodramatic about things), it was like air to a drowning man. Welcome back, Buffy. We've missed you.

The Council of Watchers rating: