Buffy: The Body

Buffy: "It's not her. It's not her. She's gone."
Dawn: "Where'd she go?"

This episode was written and directed by Joss Whedon. I cried through the whole thing and I don't want to watch it again. It is probably impossible for me to do an objective review of this episode since my sister and my mother both died suddenly and unexpectedly, my mom just last year, and it just hits too many of my personal buttons. But maybe that was what Joss was going for.

I must give Joss credit for capturing a lot of what people experience in a time like this (at least what I experienced) -- the numbness and confusion, because we don't know how to act when something like this happens; the sense of unreality (Buffy staring at the paramedic's shirt, the surreal buttons on the phone, the too bright sunlight and chirping birds); the obsessing about details (Willow and the clothes -- I can remember doing something similar when trying to figure out what to wear to my sister's funeral).

What really hit me about this episode was, the last time I saw my mother alive (we talked on the phone every week but we lived a few states apart), it was Thanksgiving. Like Buffy flashing back to Christmas, I kept thinking of that Thanksgiving after my mother died.

Of course, like we all do when someone dies and like Buffy did, I did a lot of that "if only" fantasizing. If only I had been there, I would have known it was going to happen and I would have gotten her to the hospital. And even -- if only I had been there, I could have said goodbye to her.

Death is depersonalizing. Buffy and the paramedics say that Joyce is cold. Joyce is referred to constantly as "the body." She has suddenly become an object; they're putting her in a bag and taking her away, cutting off her clothes with scissors so they can cut into her flesh. In art class, Dawn is drawing the space around the object, the body. That's what she and Buffy and the others are; you take the person out, and there's a space where that person was. No more fruit punch. No more eggs. We don't know why. Everyone hugs, because that's what you do; you see people do that.

Buffy says she's never done this before. She's right about that, because there are things you do when someone close dies, and once you've been through it, you know what to do the next time. I saw my mother take care of things when my sister died, and then I knew what to do when my mother died. Tara knows; she lost her mother at 17. As Tara says, it's always sudden. You're never ready. And you feel like everyone should know that you've lost someone very important, they should see it on your face, and of course, no one does unless you tell them.

I thought the way the gang reacted to Joyce's death was touching. Especially Anya. And Xander putting his fist through the wall.

Bits and pieces:

-- Willow and Tara kissed on-screen for the first time in this episode. It's about time.

-- In the Xmas sequence, Buffy reminded Joyce and Giles about their encounter in "Band Candy."

-- In the Christmas scene, the pie was burned, and then it fell to the floor. BtVS is big on symbolism.

-- Did you all catch what the doctor said? In the middle of his gentle talk with Buffy about Joyce not suffering, he said, "I have to lie to make you feel better."

-- Gellar was wonderful. Trachtenberg was also very good.

-- John Michael Herndon played the vamp at the end. He strongly resembled Jeff Kober, who was in "Helpless."

-- No Spike in this episode.

Quotes:

Joyce: "I think we're just about ready for pie."
Xander: "Then I'll be pretty much ready for barf."
Buffy: "Xander!"
Xander: "No, no, barf from the eating. 'Cause all was good, and too much goodness..."
Joyce: "I'm taking it as a compliment."
Giles: "Yes, uh, everything was delicious."
Anya: "Yes, I'm going to barf too."
Joyce: "Everyone's so sweet."

Tara: "There's a Santa Claus?"
Anya: "Mm-hmm. Been around since, like, the 1500s. He wasn't always called Santa, but you know, Christmas night, flying reindeer, coming down the chimney, all true."
Dawn: "All true?"
Anya: "Well, he doesn't traditionally bring presents so much as, you know, disembowel children, but otherwise..."

Anya: "I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's, there's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore. It's stupid. It's mortal and stupid. And Xander's crying and not talking, and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why."

Four out of four stakes,

Billie