Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Introduction

The fourth season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" had been a turbulent time. With the loss of two of the show’s most prominent characters, the introduction of a couple of controversial relationships, and a universally reviled main story arc, the show’s ratings had dipped. As such, the fifth season shows the writers trying to push them back up. The main characters are pulled back together with a new main cast member added, unifying everyone under a central concept of ‘family’. The year also evidences a notable change in the show’s theme and style, moving from an episodic structure to a ‘chapters-in-a-book’ feel, with a far heavier soap-opera slant than before. These factors combine to make season five an interesting year, albeit one that is notably weaker than its predecessors.

Episode List
(Highlights in bold, lowlights in italics)

1) Buffy Vs Dracula; 2) Real Me; 3) The Replacement; 4) Out of My Mind; 5) No Place Like Home; 6) Family; 7) Fool For Love; 8) Shadow; 9) Listening To Fear; 10) Into The Woods; 11) Triangle; 12) Checkpoint; 13) Blood Ties; 14) Crush; 15) I Was Made To Love You; 16) The Body; 17) Forever; 18) Intervention; 19) Tough Love; 20) Spiral; 21) The Weight of The World; 22) The Gift

Brief Discussion

If the first three “Buffy” seasons are the outgoing and sunny children of the family, season four is the shy kid, with season five being the good-hearted one... that just isn't that bright. Although the show was still capable of pulling impressive emotional punches (the stunning "The Body"), rich character exploration ("Fool For Love"; "Intervention") and clever metaphorical standalones ("The Replacement"; "Family"; "I Was Made To Love You"), it's also the first season to show significant burnout.

Much of this comes from the focal character of Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), who is abruptly introduced as the never-before-had sister of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar). By far the shallowest character the writers ever created, Dawn’s an obnoxious, whiny and petulant brat who embodies every unimaginative teen cliche going. As such, it's nearly impossible to care about her (or understand why anyone else would), causing major problems for the main story arc. Similarly, the year's villain (Glory; played by Clare Kramer) proves a one-trick pony, being mildly humorous but poorly acted and impossible to take seriously as a major threat. The general plot includes some high points (such as finale "The Gift"), but is generally contrived, slow and poorly thought-out. It falls to the standalones to do the rescuing, but they're also weaker than normal, relegating important characters to token episodes, dumbing them down (“Triangle”), and evidencing a few worrying slips which would haunt in the show en masse in its final years.

However, the major flaws in the season don't sink it, and it’s only compared to its predecessors that the year starts looking bad. Compared to almost all other television, the material here is great, and the best stuff (“Fool For Love”; "The Body") should be mandatory viewing for any aspiring writer. Overall, season five is worth investigating, and proves the last "Buffy" year to deserve a viewer's time. Recommended.

Detailed Discussion

The season opens with Buffy beginning to question the source of her Slayer power. Her curiosity is piqued when she encounters none other than Dracula, in the hilarious and appropriately titled “Buffy Vs Dracula”. Although Buffy emerges the victor, her sudden craving for the hunt leads to her requesting that Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) be her Watcher again. The single biggest shock in the series comes at the end of the episode, where Buffy returns home to encounter her sister Dawn… except she never had a sister.

The purpose of Dawn is spelled out instantly in “Real Me”, which she narrates through her diaries. The episode is an obvious attempt at getting young teen girls to watch the show, and features some truly obnoxious whining and screaming. Thankfully, it’s buoyed by a fun subplot with Giles becoming the proprietor of a magic shop, and the great follow-up Xander (Nicholas Brendon) story “The Replacement” is a perfect exploration of what it’s like to reach adulthood and wonder if you can really handle it.

Other episodes keep up the good work, with the relationship between Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Tara (Amber Benson) falling under the spotlight in “Family”, which acts as the show’s ‘Gay? Okay!’ episode. The character development is lovely, with a heart-melting performance from Amber Benson and a great moment where the gang unites to protect one of their own. The kaleidoscopic “Fool For Love” is even better, a powerful, passionate and vibrant look in the violent history of the vampire Spike (James Marsters) with fascinating flashbacks and a moving finale.

However, problems brew beneath the surface. “No Place Like Home” is a ‘hook’ episode that works only once, revealing the truth about Dawn and introducing the insane villainess Glory, but being slow and contrived in the process. As the foundation of the main story, it slips in making no logical sense and failing to stand up to any kind of scrutiny. Elsewhere, new writer Rebecca Rand Kirshner debuts with two weak episodes, the turgid macho whinge-fest “Out of My Mind” (with a truly horrid ending where Spike realises he loves Buffy and always has done – bad soap opera, anyone?) and “Listening To Fear”, which boasts a ‘killer snot monster from outer space’. Sigh.

More issues arrive in the midsection of the year. “Into The Woods” has some great Xander moments but a slow and dull plot seeing the much-needed departure of Buffy’s boyfriend Riley Finn (Marc Blucas), while “Triangle” is incredibly silly and displays a worrying lack of insight into the characters from the writers. “Checkpoint” acts as an improvement with some funny humour and an excellent theme about the nature of power, but “Blood Ties” is a painful melodramatic mess full of Dawn whining and screaming without any hint of real emotion. Thankfully, “I Was Made To Love You” ups the ante; being the show’s last real metaphor episode with a massively underrated theme and plot about the nature of perfection in relationships.


One of the better ideas of the year sees the sickness and hospitalisation of Buffy’s mother Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), allowing for compelling performances from both actors (“Shadow”) and resulting in the truly disturbing, heartbreaking “The Body”. Opening with Buffy returning home to a horrifying find, it’s one of the best explorations of death committed to celluloid, with a dreamlike tone that belies the knife-sharp severity of its emotions. Even if you’re not a “Buffy” fan, this one is worth watching. The follow-up “Forever” explores the gulf between Buffy and Dawn, dragging for most of its duration but climaxing with a beautiful catharsis and a great performance from Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The main Dawn/Glory story dominates the last few episodes of the year, to mixed effect. “Intervention” is alternately hilarious and moving with excellent exploration of Spike’s character, while the audience is treated to an ominous hint to the year’s end as Buffy goes on a vision quest. Unfortunately, “Tough Love” lets the side down with its opening twenty minutes being tedious daytime soap trash, although the closing half is stupid but enjoyable, with Willow embracing black arts to seek a terrible revenge. “Spiral” and “The Weight of the World” are even worse, the former being a mind-numbingly stupid tale (Knights! On horseback! In the California desert!) The emotion is forced, with the bulk of the year’s exposition vomited out in one unpleasant go. “The Weight of the World” is less silly, but makes up for that by being incredibly boring, with no plot to speak of, no good dialogue and one unfunny joke repeated ad nauseam. Finale “The Gift” is much better; although it’s certainly overrated in “Buffy” fandom, the character relationships and exploration are spot on, drawing to an emotive and powerful climax straight out of classic hero myths. It’s a solid ending to a spotty season, and is probably the best way for the show as a whole to have closed.

DVD Extras

As standard on the “Buffy” box sets, the 22 episodes are complemented by a series of commentaries and featurettes. Show creator Joss Whedon’s discussion of “The Body” is well worth listening to, and writer Jane Espenson gives thoughtful insight into “I Was Made To Love You” (watch for massive spoilers for season six there, though). “Fool For Love” gets a great commentary and its script included, with other scripts for “Into The Woods” and “The Replacement” also available. The closing features detail the main story and themes of the season, with Dawn getting her own brief talk while “The Body” once again stars in its own examination, dubbed “Natural Causes”. The extras here are notably better than for the previous seasons, and help make up for a few of the weaknesses in the actual episodes nicely.

Conclusions

Overall, Season Five holds the distinction of being the last good “Buffy” season, although it was the starting point for many of the problems that would destroy the show in its last two years. The heavy reliance on soap opera pandering, simple plots dragged out and bizarre characterisations are all present and correct, but the writing still has enough wit and spark to make it tolerable. In all fairness, I would say that season five is incredibly enjoyable upon first view, because it’s so fun to uncover all of the character and plot secrets – it’s just that they don’t stand up to scrutiny or repeat viewings because the writing is so much shallower. I would recommend this box set to fans of the show or even more casual viewers, although it would also be advisable to check out a couple of episodes on TV or from a friend if possible, to see if you like the change in style. A fun and diverting guilty pleasure.

More “Buffy”:

Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Six
Season Seven

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age