Buffy S7: A Half-Way Short Review

I've fallen somewhat behind on my reviewing of late, so here's my attempt to play catchup: A summary of my thoughts on the season as of 'Bring On The Night'. I probably will find room to say something about most of the episodes somewhere, but I'm not going to review each one because I don't have the time (or, to be honest, the inspiration). This is about how the season fits together, and how things are looking for the second half.

The summary of the summary: S7 is an improvement over S6 (oh, what an improvement!), and there are big piles of potential lying about all over the place...but there's still something missing. The episodes themselves have been remarkably consistent, with only one stinker - Drew Z Greenberg's 'Him' (2/5), complete with 'leaving someone at the altar is morally equivalent to rape!' nonsense - but the whole is less than the sum of the parts.

For me, the basic problem is one that has, to a greater or lesser extent, dogged Buffy for the last four years: Pacing. Buffy has a rigid season format - one long build towards an end-of-season climax. This means that the writers can't let things happen too early, and typically it means the introduction of a 'Little Bad' early in the season to keep the Scoobies occupied. At some point, this enemy is defeated and replaced by the true Big Bad. The timing varies; it happened early in S5, with the Dawn-to-Glory shift, and late in S6, with the Warren-to-Willow shift. Mostly, it falls in or around February sweeps. I should point out that I am far from the only person to notice this.

S7 offers what is, in concept, a neat twist on this idea. The Big Bad is introduced right up front, at the end of the first episode (whilst its identity is nominally unknown, it is hardly difficult to figure out for anyone familiar with 'Amends'), then deliberately introduces the 'Little Bad' - our friend the Ubervamp - as an obstacle for Buffy. It should work. Get all the benefits of the cool Big Bad early on in the season, but have a valid subplot to delay its defeat until the end of the season.

Unfortunately, for me it's not working. The constant repetition of 'from beneath you, it devours' early on is one reason (repeat after me: repetition is not a good replacement for development). November sweeps is the other.

Individually, as I said, the episodes are strong. Drew Goddard and Jane Espenson's 'Conversations With Dead People' (4.5/5)is easily the best of the bunch. Stylistically it is bold: an impressive opening volley for the First's campaign. The three story strands differ in quality, but the episode moves along so nicely that it doesn't really matter. Dawn's story has the least substance, but contains some effective scares in places. Willow's story is interesting, but almost as much for the speculation it inspires as for the scenes themselves. This segment was so, so obviously written for the return of Tara, and I can't work out whether the absence of Amber Benson is a good or bad thing. On the one hand, I do love Azura Skye, and I suspect the switch makes the early scene less saccharine than they would otherwise have been. On the other, the emotional impact when the First reveals itself is massively lessoned - plus, it doesn't actually make much sense for Cassie to be Willow's visitation.

It is Buffy's conversations with Holden Webster that shine, though. Based on his work to date, I have a reasonable amount of respect for Drew Goddard - but to me, these scenes play like classic Espenson. The dialogue is sharp, and the character insights are on the nose. It was the simple quality of these exchanges, rather than the revelations elsewhere in the episode, that excited me when I first saw 'Conversations...'

After that, things get a little vague. And that's the problem. My current standard for a run of arc episodes is Angel last season, from 'Waiting In The Wings' to 'Forgiving'. Five episodes that ran directly into each other, each with its own distinct feel, plot, and character development. You would be hard-pressed to confuse 'Couplet' and 'Sleep Tight', or 'Loyalty' and 'Forgiving'. I don't feel the same can be said of 'Sleeper' (David Fury; 3/5), 'Never Leave Me' (Drew Goddard; 4/5) and 'Bring On The Night' (Marti Noxon and Doug Petrie; 3/5).

Spike fares the best through the three episodes. We see him manipulated by the First, break free (maybe), and then captured and tortured. To a large extent, this is the plot that forms the backbone of the three episodes. The rest is elaboration, which seems to consist of (a) reiterating existing plot points - Willow's struggle with her powers, for instance, or the ambiguous nature of Principal Wood. These have been repeating unchanged all season - and (b) introducing new plot points and then doing nothing with them. Examples of this latter class are almost too numerous to list, but include Joyce, Giles, Andrew, the Ubervamp, the arrival of the Slayer candidates, and Spike being tortured. It is fine plotting to withold answers for a while - it creates tension. But it doesn't work for me when there are so many balls in the air, and when the answers we do get are so unsatisfying. The revelation that the First is killing Slayer candidates is a Big Deal, for instance, but doesn't play so well when the viewer has worked that out by the end of the season premiere.

Note that this is not a complaint about obvious plot developments, it's about balance. Mutant Enemy has a history of setting up a situation and then taking the most obvious route out - but doing it with a twist. This works fine for me when, as is usually the case, the obvious answer is one as cool as 'the First Evil is trying to wipe out the Slayer line.' But in such cases, pacing becomes all-important. Withold the expected plot development for too long, and it becomes anticlimatic. Fail to develop it when it happens, and the viewer becomes impatient. Angel's third season was treading very close to the line by the end - Connor's return all growed up was about the least-unexpected development of the year - but for me, the timing worked. Connor was gone for two episodes.

I don't want to sound too negative; there is lots that is good about S7 (starting with a personal preference: The supporting characters. Not their quality, so much as their number. The show is about people other than the Scoobies again, and feels the fresher for it), and I have extremely high hopes for the second half of the year, which is traditionally when things actually happen. My reason for going on at length is simply that the season is going down so well in fandom that I fear being jumped on if I am not very clear about exactly what my problems are!

(One additional nit-pick: What's going on with the timeline? 'Conversations...' was very, very specific about its timing. Internal to the show, only a few days have passed since then, yet in 'Bring On The Night' the characters are talking about christmas...)

Now we come to the fun part: Speculation.

First, there's probably a lull in the plot coming up. I would expect the next couple of episodes to see a concerted - and successful - effort to defeat the Ubervamp, and then a few standalone episodes whilst the First regroups. Then comes February sweeps, and probably revelations about the status of Joyce (I think she's genuine) and Giles (I'm on the fence, but leaning towards 'not the First'). After that there's a well-known casting spoiler, and the end of season spectacular.

I must confess to giving the ending a significant amount of thought, considering what we have in relation to mythology established in Angel and 'Fray'. The one thing I do not want to see is the First defeated; the idea that Evil is eternal and, indeed, part of every one of us, is central to the Buffyverse (and is a far more interesting philosophical statement than 'Evil can be beaten if you try hard enough'). Whilst I don't doubt the season finale will feature a climactic battle between the Armies of Light and Dark, at the end I want to see the First accepted as necessary, not banished - or at the very least, I want it replaced by another Power, one that is prepared to go on with the whole balancing act.

And that, as they say, is that. Hopefully I'll have more time for specific episode reviews in the new year; in the meantime, this will have to do.