elisi | Thoughts about 'Help'.

I'm not going to attempt to write down any thoughts as I do my S7 re-watch, but the discussions after AOQ's review of 'Help' really made me think, and helped crystallise something about why Cassie's death was such a big deal to Buffy. (A few points nicked from

molly_may's excellent review.)

Having pondered Buffy's reaction all day I think I've pinpointed why this is such a big thing for her. It seems an odd, obvious sort of ending, because if there's anything that Buffy knows it's that you win some and you lose some:

- She could lose every night fighting random vampires (and came very close in FFL) - she slipped up. She's only human after all, and she makes mistakes.

- And sometimes she makes the wrong call - like being fooled by Angelus' ruse in 'Becoming I' which led to Kendra's death and Giles' capture and torture. Or - even more poignant - if she'd come home half an hour earlier she *might* have been able to save her mother. Perhaps.

She knows this, and lives with this every day. She screws up, people die - and she's learnt to live with that, because she has to.

But Cassie is different, because Buffy did everything right. She unravelled the plot, killed the demon, caught the arrow. Buffy (with the help of Xander, Willow, Principal Wood, Dawn and Spike of course) did her best - and it wasn't enough. That, I think, is what's eating her at the end. How can you fight something when you lose even when you do your very, very best?

And yes there's a good bit of 'Epiphany' in the last scene (Buffy goes back to work), although it was formulated first in 'Gingerbread':

ANGEL: Buffy, you know I'm still working things out; there's a lot I don't understand. But I know it's important to keep fighting and I learned that from you.
BUFFY: But we never --
ANGEL: We never win.
BUFFY: Not completely.
ANGEL: We never will. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there's things worth fighting for.

I think the problem with Cassie is, that maybe Buffy wondered if she was worth fighting for...

BUFFY: See? You can make a difference.
CASSIE: And you will.

And then she falls down dead, as if to prove that she was wrong. ("What do you do when you know maybe you can't help?")

In the last shot, Buffy keeps working - because you have to keep fighting, she knows that - but we see her through the glass, not from inside the office. A wall has gone up.

This marks the start of Buffy's fatalism in S7, which I think is tied to how the odds are stacked. Buffy is used to the odds being uneven, but if there is just the tiniest chance of success (even if it is only 0.01%) she has something to work with. When it's taken away, she doesn't know how to cope (see 'Weight of the World'). In S7 she lives with this for months - as far as she can tell, The First is impossible to defeat. She can fight, and she does, but it makes no difference. There is still the big heart attack waiting to happen, and nothing in her power can stop it.

Until the end. Until she sees that sliver of a chance that is all she ever needs; the thing that can unsettle the balance.

It really is very well put together!

ETA: Obviously, there are also very strong links back to 'Prophecy Girl'. Buffy knows exactly what it's like to find out at 16 that you have to die, no matter what:

Giles: ...this is the Codex. There is nothing in it that does not come to pass.
Angel: Then you're reading it wrong.
Giles: I wish to God I were! But it's very plain! Tomorrow night Buffy will face the Master, and she will die.

But Buffy discovers that in accepting her fate, she inadvertedly made it come to pass, and that there *was* another choice:

The Master: But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don't tell you everything. You're the one that sets me free! If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. Think about that!

It's a lesson Buffy takes to heart. But come 'Help' it gets turned on its head...

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Plus, IMO, the fact that Buffy "died" at 16 and she doesn't want anyone else to go through that terror at such an early age if she can prevent it.
Like so many of the Buffyverse episodes, there are layer on top of layers.

Oh of course - Cassie's speech about all the things she won't get to do echoes Buffy's in 'Prophecy Girl' a lot!

And there are a couple of cut lines that emphasise this point (from the end):

WILLOW
Buffy, you tried to help.

BUFFY
And I couldn't, I didn't.
It's... there're all these kids, you
know, and they hurt so bad. I almost
forgot, somehow, I almost forgot how
much high school hurts.

I *love* the layers upon layers! :)

Besides even Buffy doesn't have (apparently) perfectly healthy girls drop dead in front of her all the time.

Oh yes. That in itself must have been a devastating moment.

I love Help - it has a degree of thematic unity which makes it a true joy to watch all the pieces fall together. Plus, all the characters are likeable in this episode.

I never thought about Buffy being fatalistic - interesting point, especially considering my interest in that kind of thing.

it has a degree of thematic unity which makes it a true joy to watch all the pieces fall together.
::nods:: It's seemingly so straightforward, but has so much going on underneath the surface. :)

interesting point, especially considering my interest in that kind of thing.
I'm looking forward to an essay now...

Erm, I already wrote that essay - on free will, prophecy, and stuff. :-(

Two essays in the works, hopefully to be written in the next two months - one responding to Ducks, and one on good and evil in the Buffyverse.

I already wrote that essay - on free will, prophecy, and stuff.
Of course! What I meant was that it sounded like you were going to write more in that vein.

Anyway, looking forward to the Ducks essay especially, and really hope I'll be able to keep up a bit better - I'm forever skimming my flist and not commenting. I'm a bad LJ friend I'm afraid. :(

Well, unfortunately, not planning on more at this point - especially since no one said anything to promote discussion. Thusly, I don't really have more to say. The essay was kinda long anyway.

But I do have some stuff to say tonight - not all on Buffy, but at least a bit is. Hint.

Ducks essay should be up in a few days.

especially since no one said anything to promote discussion
It's funny, because you can never tell what might do it. Sometimes it's an offhand remark that'll spark long, long threads, and other times really exciting ideas just sit there with no one saying anything at all. It's very strange.

Looking forward to any and all posts! :)

*crosses fingers that the internet conenction will keep up*

I remember a discussion very similar to this going on over at TWoP after the episode aired, and yes, the consensus was that Buffy discovered that even doing everything right, solving all the mysteries, killing the demon, and stopping the bad boys, doesn't mean that you change the inevitable.

They did an episode in The Dead Zone where Johnny got a vision about one of his closest high school friends dying in a car crash and he tried to prevent it and every time he thought he came up with a solution, his visions showed him that something worse would happen instead, and finally he realized that in this case, his friend had to die, there was no other solution. It was a very sad, but painfully good, episode.

I remember a discussion very similar to this going on over at TWoP after the episode aired
Funny how these things repeat themselves. Although it helps a lot to be able to view it as a part of a whole.

It was a very sad, but painfully good, episode.
Sounds like it. There was one on Tru Calling where she got a vision about a firefighter. In the end he died, but saved a little girl's life. Very nice - and sad - twist.

I would also note the differenrce between Buffy's reaction here to cassie and her reaction to the ghosts' chiding in Lessons. Then, on their angry "you didn't save us!" She just shrugged "get used to being dead" - but of course, they attaced her and Dawn first. ;) Still, all these are reflections on one of the main themes of the seasons - What to do if you cannot save everyone.

Buffy's reaction here to cassie and her reaction to the ghosts' chiding in Lessons.
Ah yes, that's a good one. But again I think it ties in with Buffy knowing that she slips up - as she did with what-ever killed the zombie ghosts. With Cassie she didn't - except she couldn't stop actual death of natural causes.

I like the themes of S7. :)

I wouldn't say she slips in not saving them - I never got the feeling that Buffy is supposed to save everyone - she saves the world, and the people in it, but she is quite happy to lower the death rate in Sunnydale High - and doesn't cry that she didn't save everybody in it. She is just one dirl in the world, after all - Faith nonwithstanding, so she cannot be in every place - So, when she is confronted with "You didn't save us!", her answer is "tough luck, get over it", not "my bad, woe me". With Cassie it is different, of course, because Buffy here did everything to save her, and it still wasn't enough.

I wouldn't say she slips in not saving them
Ah no, that was bad phrasing on my part. And actually something that gets addressed quite well in 'Gingerbread' - why do those children suddenly matter more than every other victim?

A lot depends on whether Buffy knew about the threat beforehand.

Thoughts about 'Help'.

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