Entry tags:
Bring On The Night & Showtime.
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stormwreath, and very snaggable. 2 more icons here if you want one! (One by ibmiller and one by _jems_.)
Anyway, I am utterly incapable of doing 'short'. This thing just ballooned, but it couldn't be helped. I hope you find something interesting in amongst all my thoughts. 3 different parts btw, focussing on different aspects. Enjoy!
I don’t think I’ve actually watched ‘Bring On The Night’ since it first aired. Which was nice, because I could look at it with ‘fresh eyes’ so to speak. But it was something AOQ wrote at the beginning of his ‘Showtime’ review that made things click for me:
After thinking about "Showtime" a little. I've realized that I see it as something of a series of snapshot moments, attempts at iconic images of Buffy and the state of her series. This starts from the beginning, with the arrival of a new character (Rona) who's pretty much guaranteed to either die or be rescued at the last minute by Buffy from the moment the episode begins. This exists to show Buffy, veteran world-saver, taking a new kid under her wing and welcoming her to the Hellmouth. That's snapshot #1. The episode is like a string of attempts at memorable images loosely strung together by a plot.
Because it isn’t just ‘Showtime’ that’s constructed like this - it’s ‘Bring On The Night’ as well. It’s all of BtVS in a tiny 2 episode format. A way of reminding everyone just who and what Buffy is. See we have not seen Buffy fight a monster that could apparently beat her since Glory in S5. In S6 there was a run of vamps and other assorted nasties, but the main battles were internal, and it was Xander who saved the world. So now we get this little refresher - or maybe homage - of what it means to be a Slayer. Because this season is all about the Slayer.
First - in ‘Bring on the Night’ we get all of Buffy’s defeats - summarised by hayes62:
The episode includes several interesting visual quotes: Spike's baptism resembles Buffy's in Bad Girls; Buffy struggling out from the First's underground lair recalls the time she escaped from the Master's in The Harvest and, most striking of all, the Scoobies finding her broken body on a pile of rubble is similar to the ending of The Gift. Buffy's distant past coming back to haunt her along with the Vampire-that-time-forgot.
At the end of the episode, Buffy is more beaten and bruised than we have ever seen. Physically, mentally and emotionally she’s pretty much wiped. And then she reaches inside and finds that incredible power that has always kept her going. That’s what being a Slayer is - to never give up.
And then in Showtime she delivers. She meets the Turok-Han barehanded, relying on nothing but herself:
“It's about power. Who's got it. Who knows how to use it.”
And Buffy’s power shines out of her at that moment, just like it did when she made her speech:
“There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us.”
They’re odd episodes, these two, at times awkwardly paced and with Potentials arriving and taking up time, and cutting back and forth to Spike-being-tortured... but - it makes perfect sense metaphorically!
Spike, who I guess represents Buffy’s emotional strength, her power to do good, is taken away to be tempted and tortured, and she has to fight to get him back. And at the same time we have Potentials crowding in, questioning her physical strength and her ability to protect.
Notice that we cut straight from Spike’s declaration of faith to *everyone* questioning Buffy’s power - and then she does her speech.
“I'm beyond tired. I'm beyond scared. I'm standing on the mouth of hell, and it is gonna swallow me whole. And it'll choke on me. “
As AOQ put it re. Buffy’s fight with the ubervamp:
Triumph not through outsmarting the enemy so much as out-determined-ing it.
That’s our Buffy.
But - I had some more specific thoughts on ‘Bring on the Night’ as well. I really wish I had more time, because it could do with some in-depth analysis. There are a lot of themes in it - a lot of connections.
This one is about Buffy - front and centre. And this is the episode when *everything* gets dropped in her lap:
- Get Spike back.
- No magic help (Willow freaks out).
- Keep Potentials safe.
- Fight ubervamp.
- Go to work.
- Plan a war.
There is a lot of talk about pressure, about tiredness and sleep and day and night and time’s relentless forward momentum. More mentions of sunset than anywhere else I think.
Thematically it’s wonderfully coherent, and I’m going to give in and do a huge amount of quoting:
JOYCE
You can't win against this thing. Not if you don't rest. I don't want to scare you. But I want you to take care. You need to wake up.
Is Joyce The First? Or Buffy’s subconscious? Or both?
PRINCIPAL WOOD
Buffy. If you are feeling better - I'd like you back at work. I've been wait-listing students who want to see you.
More work. And they all want to see Buffy. No one else can do her work.
GILES
To defeat it... (at a loss) Honestly, I don't know... (then) but we have to find a way. [...] It falls to you, Buffy. We'll do what we can - but only you have the strength to protect these girls - and the world - against what's coming.
XANDER
But no pressure.
...one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill etc. They sure re-enforce that point here!
GILES
Then until sunset, Buffy, you should rest. A few hours sleep will make a world of difference.
BUFFY
No sleep today. Can't.
GILES
But you're exhausted.
BUFFY
Comes with the gig. I don't think taking on prehistoric evil involves nap time.
Work, work, work, and no rest. She keeps her head held high, but... And here begin the mentions of sunset as the time of importance. In the night, the monster comes out. It ties in with very old and primal feelings about safety and fear.
Now this bit might be my favourite - Buffy’s second dream about Joyce. It’s so very, very well done and incredibly disturbing:
JOYCE
Buffy, you have to heal.
BUFFY
I don't have time.
JOYCE
Are you worried about the sun going down? Because some things you can't control. The sun always goes down. The sun always comes up.
BUFFY
Everyone's counting on me.
JOYCE
They do that. And I'm sorry, but these friends of yours put too much pressure on you. They always have.
BUFFY
Something Evil is coming.
JOYCE
Buffy, Evil isn't "coming." It's already here. Evil is always here. Don't you know? It's everywhere.
BUFFY
I have to stop it.
JOYCE
How are you going to do that?
BUFFY
I, I don't know. Yet, but...
JOYCE
Buffy. No matter what your friends expect of you, Evil is a part of us. All of us, it's natural. And no one can stop that. No one can stop nature. Not even...
Talk about trying to get someone to give up... why bother trying if you’ve lost already? Can I say again how much I love The First as a villain?
(Oh and there’s a extra bit in the shooting script:
JOYCE
Are you worried about the sun going down? Because some things you can't control. The sun always goes down. The sun always comes up.
(beat)
Except in L.A., just of late.
Heh.)
But - on with my quoting:
WILLOW
Um, Buffy, I just, I want you to know that I'm really sorry for letting you down. [...]
BUFFY
No one expects you to make everything right.
[No they don’t - they expect *Buffy* to make things right.]
WILLOW
But you need help, Buffy. I know you. And I know you'll never admit it. But you need help.
Willow searches Buffy's face as Buffy wonders how much to let Willow in, here and now. She settles for brave face.
BUFFY
I'll be okay. Okay or better. It's like my guarantee.
And right here begins (or rather continues) Buffy’s thing of cutting out her friends. This is all examined very well in CWDP - her fear of commitment, her superiority/inferiority complex. But there is a lot more to this in the script, and this bit here shows that it’s also fear of rejection that makes Buffy pull away:
BUFFY
The relationships, I know it's not their fault. I'm not really sure how they put up with me. The last guy I was with, it got really... I behaved like a monster. Treated him like... and at the same time I let him just take me over, do things to me that... if anyone knew what really went on between us, they'd never look at me again.
HOLDEN
I think they would.
BUFFY
You don't know.
HOLDEN
And you don't either... 'til you tell someone.
BUFFY
I couldn't...
The other thing is, that Buffy is actually struggling with the same issues that Angel is - is she doing good because she is the Slayer, or because she is a good person? Another bit that was cut:
BUFFY
I have friends, they do it [fight the good fight] with me -- sometimes they do it in spite of me, but they do it 'cause they're decent people. I do it 'cause I was chosen.
I think this is another reason Spike’s speech in ‘Touched’ is so important - he’s talking about *her*, all of her, not just the Slayer. And he is the person who knows her best, who has seen it all - and he still has faith in her. It’s an incredible moment, and something the show builds up to beautifully.
GILES
Sunset should be any minute now. We've done all we can. Don't worry, everyone here understands it's you calling the shots.
BUFFY
Just hope I'm calling the right ones.
GILES
You have all my faith. And they're depending on you.
Buffy looks down.
BUFFY
Oh, Giles. Not what I really needed to hear right...
I think as much as anything, Giles needs Buffy to be able to cope. Buffy sees this, but wants him to be the one for her to depend on. But he’s not - he’s the one who’ll send her out to fight, and possibly die. That’s the job of a Watcher.
GILES (O.S.)
We could make plans as we always do, but the truth is, Buffy was our plan. There is no back up.
This line I think more than any other is the key to Giles in S7. Buffy is the world’s only hope, and although he has great faith in her (as well as a lot of affection), he is also far too aware of her limits and (what he perceives as) her weaknesses. The thing is, he is pretty much useless, and he knows it. Which of course is something else that ties back to the beginning:
Buffy: Why don't you kill 'em?
Giles: I-I'm a Watcher, I-I haven't the skill...
Buffy: Oh, come on, stake through the heart, a little sunlight... It's like falling off a log.
Giles: A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher...
Buffy: ...watches?
Giles: Yes. No! He, he trains her, he, he, he prepares her...
He cannot research The First, because there is next to nothing written about it. He cannot train Buffy further, or prepare her more than she already is. He also knows that his love for her can be used as a weapon, and could be fatal if so employed. This is why I think he distances himself so very sharply, knowing that he might have to do anything, and that love might be a hindrance:
Quentin: Your affection for your charge has rendered you incapable of clear and impartial judgment. You have a father's love for the child, and that is useless to the cause.
Giles is The Council now, and although he might have disliked them intensely, and not trusted their judgment or methods, he believes in the cause. As mariposas said in one of the AOQ threads: The Council was made for war, and it has to be viewed in that light.
Wesley: You're the one who said take the fight to the Mayor. You were right. This is the town's best hope of survival. It's your chance to get out.
Buffy: You think I care about that? Are you made of human parts?
Giles: Alright! Let's deal with this rationally.
Buffy: Why are you taking his side?
Giles and Wesley came together here, briefly, in their shared belief of always doing what’s best for the majority. It was only a moment, but it came back in The Gift, and caused a huge rift between Buffy and Giles, one I think he’s more aware of than ever in S7:
GILES: If the ritual starts, then every living creature in this and every other dimension imaginable will suffer unbearable torment and death ... including Dawn.
BUFFY: Then the last thing she'll see is me protecting her.
GILES: You'll fail. You'll die. We all will.
BUFFY: I'm sorry.
[...]
GILES: But I've sworn to protect this sorry world, and sometimes that means saying and doing ... what other people can't. What they shouldn't have to.
S7 has that moment stretched out over most of a season. Giles is worried that Buffy will let her heart rule over her head - and that because of that she’ll fail. And die. And doom them all. It’s not nice, but it’s not out of character.
Having had these episodes stuck in my head for a couple of days now, something dawned on me. Sorry for repeating a few things from above, but I just wanted to elaborate a bit.
The showdown against the ubervamp is effectively Buffy repeating the lessons Spike taught her in FFL. Except instead of being ‘How a Slayer dies’, it’s ‘How a Slayer stays alive’. Follow me...
Lesson the first: A Slayer must always reach for her weapon.
Buffy arrives at the arena weaponless. This shows perfectly that it’s not weapons that make a Slayer effective or dangerous - it’s who she is. As she said to Dawn in ‘Lessons’:
“The stake is not the power.”
The Slayer is the power, and the Slayer has to use that power:
“I'm the thing that monsters have nightmares about.”
She has strength and speed and resilience and she can kill things with her bare hands. The Slayer is a weapon.
Lesson the second: Every Slayer has a deathwish.
Buffy doesn’t give up. The ubervamp almost kills her, but the only way to guarantee its victory would be for her to stop fighting. Despairing is the sure way to defeat - and what Buffy shows them in the fight, what Buffy gives them as they watch, is hope:
“If we all do our parts, believe it, we'll be the ones left standing.”
Faith, self-reliance, the will to keep fighting even when everything seems hopeless, that’s what she knows how to do:
“No weapons, no friends - no hope. Take all that away... and what’s left?”
“Me!”
Buffy has learned the hard way what’s most important to a Slayer - herself. And now she can share that knowledge.
Here endeth the lesson.
stormwreath, and very snaggable. 2 more icons here if you want one! (One by ibmiller and one by _jems_.)Anyway, I am utterly incapable of doing 'short'. This thing just ballooned, but it couldn't be helped. I hope you find something interesting in amongst all my thoughts. 3 different parts btw, focussing on different aspects. Enjoy!
Bring on the Night and ‘Showtime’
I don’t think I’ve actually watched ‘Bring On The Night’ since it first aired. Which was nice, because I could look at it with ‘fresh eyes’ so to speak. But it was something AOQ wrote at the beginning of his ‘Showtime’ review that made things click for me:
After thinking about "Showtime" a little. I've realized that I see it as something of a series of snapshot moments, attempts at iconic images of Buffy and the state of her series. This starts from the beginning, with the arrival of a new character (Rona) who's pretty much guaranteed to either die or be rescued at the last minute by Buffy from the moment the episode begins. This exists to show Buffy, veteran world-saver, taking a new kid under her wing and welcoming her to the Hellmouth. That's snapshot #1. The episode is like a string of attempts at memorable images loosely strung together by a plot.
Because it isn’t just ‘Showtime’ that’s constructed like this - it’s ‘Bring On The Night’ as well. It’s all of BtVS in a tiny 2 episode format. A way of reminding everyone just who and what Buffy is. See we have not seen Buffy fight a monster that could apparently beat her since Glory in S5. In S6 there was a run of vamps and other assorted nasties, but the main battles were internal, and it was Xander who saved the world. So now we get this little refresher - or maybe homage - of what it means to be a Slayer. Because this season is all about the Slayer.
First - in ‘Bring on the Night’ we get all of Buffy’s defeats - summarised by hayes62:
The episode includes several interesting visual quotes: Spike's baptism resembles Buffy's in Bad Girls; Buffy struggling out from the First's underground lair recalls the time she escaped from the Master's in The Harvest and, most striking of all, the Scoobies finding her broken body on a pile of rubble is similar to the ending of The Gift. Buffy's distant past coming back to haunt her along with the Vampire-that-time-forgot.
At the end of the episode, Buffy is more beaten and bruised than we have ever seen. Physically, mentally and emotionally she’s pretty much wiped. And then she reaches inside and finds that incredible power that has always kept her going. That’s what being a Slayer is - to never give up.
And then in Showtime she delivers. She meets the Turok-Han barehanded, relying on nothing but herself:
“It's about power. Who's got it. Who knows how to use it.”
And Buffy’s power shines out of her at that moment, just like it did when she made her speech:
“There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that's us.”
They’re odd episodes, these two, at times awkwardly paced and with Potentials arriving and taking up time, and cutting back and forth to Spike-being-tortured... but - it makes perfect sense metaphorically!
Spike, who I guess represents Buffy’s emotional strength, her power to do good, is taken away to be tempted and tortured, and she has to fight to get him back. And at the same time we have Potentials crowding in, questioning her physical strength and her ability to protect.
Notice that we cut straight from Spike’s declaration of faith to *everyone* questioning Buffy’s power - and then she does her speech.
“I'm beyond tired. I'm beyond scared. I'm standing on the mouth of hell, and it is gonna swallow me whole. And it'll choke on me. “
As AOQ put it re. Buffy’s fight with the ubervamp:
Triumph not through outsmarting the enemy so much as out-determined-ing it.
That’s our Buffy.
She, alone.
But - I had some more specific thoughts on ‘Bring on the Night’ as well. I really wish I had more time, because it could do with some in-depth analysis. There are a lot of themes in it - a lot of connections.
This one is about Buffy - front and centre. And this is the episode when *everything* gets dropped in her lap:
- Get Spike back.
- No magic help (Willow freaks out).
- Keep Potentials safe.
- Fight ubervamp.
- Go to work.
- Plan a war.
There is a lot of talk about pressure, about tiredness and sleep and day and night and time’s relentless forward momentum. More mentions of sunset than anywhere else I think.
Thematically it’s wonderfully coherent, and I’m going to give in and do a huge amount of quoting:
JOYCE
You can't win against this thing. Not if you don't rest. I don't want to scare you. But I want you to take care. You need to wake up.
Is Joyce The First? Or Buffy’s subconscious? Or both?
PRINCIPAL WOOD
Buffy. If you are feeling better - I'd like you back at work. I've been wait-listing students who want to see you.
More work. And they all want to see Buffy. No one else can do her work.
GILES
To defeat it... (at a loss) Honestly, I don't know... (then) but we have to find a way. [...] It falls to you, Buffy. We'll do what we can - but only you have the strength to protect these girls - and the world - against what's coming.
XANDER
But no pressure.
...one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill etc. They sure re-enforce that point here!
GILES
Then until sunset, Buffy, you should rest. A few hours sleep will make a world of difference.
BUFFY
No sleep today. Can't.
GILES
But you're exhausted.
BUFFY
Comes with the gig. I don't think taking on prehistoric evil involves nap time.
Work, work, work, and no rest. She keeps her head held high, but... And here begin the mentions of sunset as the time of importance. In the night, the monster comes out. It ties in with very old and primal feelings about safety and fear.
Now this bit might be my favourite - Buffy’s second dream about Joyce. It’s so very, very well done and incredibly disturbing:
JOYCE
Buffy, you have to heal.
BUFFY
I don't have time.
JOYCE
Are you worried about the sun going down? Because some things you can't control. The sun always goes down. The sun always comes up.
BUFFY
Everyone's counting on me.
JOYCE
They do that. And I'm sorry, but these friends of yours put too much pressure on you. They always have.
BUFFY
Something Evil is coming.
JOYCE
Buffy, Evil isn't "coming." It's already here. Evil is always here. Don't you know? It's everywhere.
BUFFY
I have to stop it.
JOYCE
How are you going to do that?
BUFFY
I, I don't know. Yet, but...
JOYCE
Buffy. No matter what your friends expect of you, Evil is a part of us. All of us, it's natural. And no one can stop that. No one can stop nature. Not even...
Talk about trying to get someone to give up... why bother trying if you’ve lost already? Can I say again how much I love The First as a villain?
(Oh and there’s a extra bit in the shooting script:
JOYCE
Are you worried about the sun going down? Because some things you can't control. The sun always goes down. The sun always comes up.
(beat)
Except in L.A., just of late.
Heh.)
But - on with my quoting:
WILLOW
Um, Buffy, I just, I want you to know that I'm really sorry for letting you down. [...]
BUFFY
No one expects you to make everything right.
[No they don’t - they expect *Buffy* to make things right.]
WILLOW
But you need help, Buffy. I know you. And I know you'll never admit it. But you need help.
Willow searches Buffy's face as Buffy wonders how much to let Willow in, here and now. She settles for brave face.
BUFFY
I'll be okay. Okay or better. It's like my guarantee.
And right here begins (or rather continues) Buffy’s thing of cutting out her friends. This is all examined very well in CWDP - her fear of commitment, her superiority/inferiority complex. But there is a lot more to this in the script, and this bit here shows that it’s also fear of rejection that makes Buffy pull away:
BUFFY
The relationships, I know it's not their fault. I'm not really sure how they put up with me. The last guy I was with, it got really... I behaved like a monster. Treated him like... and at the same time I let him just take me over, do things to me that... if anyone knew what really went on between us, they'd never look at me again.
HOLDEN
I think they would.
BUFFY
You don't know.
HOLDEN
And you don't either... 'til you tell someone.
BUFFY
I couldn't...
The other thing is, that Buffy is actually struggling with the same issues that Angel is - is she doing good because she is the Slayer, or because she is a good person? Another bit that was cut:
BUFFY
I have friends, they do it [fight the good fight] with me -- sometimes they do it in spite of me, but they do it 'cause they're decent people. I do it 'cause I was chosen.
I think this is another reason Spike’s speech in ‘Touched’ is so important - he’s talking about *her*, all of her, not just the Slayer. And he is the person who knows her best, who has seen it all - and he still has faith in her. It’s an incredible moment, and something the show builds up to beautifully.
GILES
Sunset should be any minute now. We've done all we can. Don't worry, everyone here understands it's you calling the shots.
BUFFY
Just hope I'm calling the right ones.
GILES
You have all my faith. And they're depending on you.
Buffy looks down.
BUFFY
Oh, Giles. Not what I really needed to hear right...
I think as much as anything, Giles needs Buffy to be able to cope. Buffy sees this, but wants him to be the one for her to depend on. But he’s not - he’s the one who’ll send her out to fight, and possibly die. That’s the job of a Watcher.
GILES (O.S.)
We could make plans as we always do, but the truth is, Buffy was our plan. There is no back up.
This line I think more than any other is the key to Giles in S7. Buffy is the world’s only hope, and although he has great faith in her (as well as a lot of affection), he is also far too aware of her limits and (what he perceives as) her weaknesses. The thing is, he is pretty much useless, and he knows it. Which of course is something else that ties back to the beginning:
Buffy: Why don't you kill 'em?
Giles: I-I'm a Watcher, I-I haven't the skill...
Buffy: Oh, come on, stake through the heart, a little sunlight... It's like falling off a log.
Giles: A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher...
Buffy: ...watches?
Giles: Yes. No! He, he trains her, he, he, he prepares her...
He cannot research The First, because there is next to nothing written about it. He cannot train Buffy further, or prepare her more than she already is. He also knows that his love for her can be used as a weapon, and could be fatal if so employed. This is why I think he distances himself so very sharply, knowing that he might have to do anything, and that love might be a hindrance:
Quentin: Your affection for your charge has rendered you incapable of clear and impartial judgment. You have a father's love for the child, and that is useless to the cause.
Giles is The Council now, and although he might have disliked them intensely, and not trusted their judgment or methods, he believes in the cause. As mariposas said in one of the AOQ threads: The Council was made for war, and it has to be viewed in that light.
Wesley: You're the one who said take the fight to the Mayor. You were right. This is the town's best hope of survival. It's your chance to get out.
Buffy: You think I care about that? Are you made of human parts?
Giles: Alright! Let's deal with this rationally.
Buffy: Why are you taking his side?
Giles and Wesley came together here, briefly, in their shared belief of always doing what’s best for the majority. It was only a moment, but it came back in The Gift, and caused a huge rift between Buffy and Giles, one I think he’s more aware of than ever in S7:
GILES: If the ritual starts, then every living creature in this and every other dimension imaginable will suffer unbearable torment and death ... including Dawn.
BUFFY: Then the last thing she'll see is me protecting her.
GILES: You'll fail. You'll die. We all will.
BUFFY: I'm sorry.
[...]
GILES: But I've sworn to protect this sorry world, and sometimes that means saying and doing ... what other people can't. What they shouldn't have to.
S7 has that moment stretched out over most of a season. Giles is worried that Buffy will let her heart rule over her head - and that because of that she’ll fail. And die. And doom them all. It’s not nice, but it’s not out of character.
Welcome to Thunderdome Fool For Love
Having had these episodes stuck in my head for a couple of days now, something dawned on me. Sorry for repeating a few things from above, but I just wanted to elaborate a bit.
The showdown against the ubervamp is effectively Buffy repeating the lessons Spike taught her in FFL. Except instead of being ‘How a Slayer dies’, it’s ‘How a Slayer stays alive’. Follow me...
Lesson the first: A Slayer must always reach for her weapon.
Buffy arrives at the arena weaponless. This shows perfectly that it’s not weapons that make a Slayer effective or dangerous - it’s who she is. As she said to Dawn in ‘Lessons’:
“The stake is not the power.”
The Slayer is the power, and the Slayer has to use that power:
“I'm the thing that monsters have nightmares about.”
She has strength and speed and resilience and she can kill things with her bare hands. The Slayer is a weapon.
Lesson the second: Every Slayer has a deathwish.
Buffy doesn’t give up. The ubervamp almost kills her, but the only way to guarantee its victory would be for her to stop fighting. Despairing is the sure way to defeat - and what Buffy shows them in the fight, what Buffy gives them as they watch, is hope:
“If we all do our parts, believe it, we'll be the ones left standing.”
Faith, self-reliance, the will to keep fighting even when everything seems hopeless, that’s what she knows how to do:
“No weapons, no friends - no hope. Take all that away... and what’s left?”
“Me!”
Buffy has learned the hard way what’s most important to a Slayer - herself. And now she can share that knowledge.
Here endeth the lesson.