This felt like another episode written to delay things for the finale, since it mostly involved all the characters stuck in neutral. Buffy is out of it, the Scoobies are struggling to do anything of any use, and Glory can't move forward with her plans because of Ben. It's not successful at all as a pre-finale episode because everything feels so inconsequential, but there are some interesting ideas floating around. I kind of wish the writers would have made these last couple of episodes a little more frantic and exciting, though. Buffy shouldn't be like this.Continuing from last week, there's that palpable sense of Buffy's world imploding. The dream sequences are fascinating, particularly her belief that, when all is said and done, she kills everybody around her -- and that killing Dawn is the only way out of the situation she finds herself in right now. Coupled with that is the vague message from the first slayer, and here we see Buffy trying to interpret how exactly death is her 'gift'. I also enjoyed the repeated shot of Buffy in the Magic Box, that exact moment when her forward momentum hit a brick wall and she realized she couldn't win. It's a really sad little scene.
While the Glory/Ben stuff goes on way longer than it easily could have been, I enjoyed Glory's little monologue to Dawn about the world she's currently stuck in. It's hard to disagree with her opinions, seeing as this world is so horrible and filled with people slowly killing themselves. Of course it's easy to enforce the 'perception' of happiness onto a world ruled by a dictatorship, but I still liked the concept being explored with this.
The Weight of the World has a couple of neat moments, but struggles to find an identity as a whole episode. It feels a lot like something thrown together to pad out the story, which seems to have reached a plateau long before the writers had assumed it would. Blah. I'm kind of eager for the finale right now... C
Credits
Guest stars Clare Kramer (Glory); Charlie Weber (Ben); Dean Butler (Hank Summers); Lily Knight (Gronx); Bob Morrisey (Crazy #1); Amber Benson (Tara Maclay); Joel Grey (Doc); Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers)
Writer Douglas Petrie Director David Solomon
I've always liked this one actually. As a pre-finale, I actually feel like it works wonders, and the delaying tactics you talk about don't bother me that much, because I always feel like an episode that builds up tension is one that should be enjoyed for what it is. Some wonderful insight into each of the characters too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Max on this one. I would probably even give it a D as it's one of my least favorite episodes ever. I just find it so boring and slow-moving (and not in a good way) that it destroys all the momentum (disagree with Max here) that came before it! I think this is the first time in a while we have 3 completely different opinions concerning one episode :)
ReplyDeleteWhat!, no! I don't know if it was the whole rush of new information but I really enjoyed it, the labyrinthine enclave of Buffy's mind, the trust between all of the gang- the slapstick of Xander being hit by Spike and both of them crunching in pain, brilliant! It felt really exciting as well as moving. And creepy doc, that tongue was so horribly epic! but he's an intriguing character, sort of who I imagine Giles would've tried to outwit in his Ripper period.
ReplyDeleteBuffy's glitch was really well played for me, insights into Buffy's psyche always feel rewarding, I'm really starting to understand her character as a whole. Just wish Giles could have something similar! :)
Yeah, I suppose the Ben thing was a bit of a dance, especially on Glory's side but I enjoy the casting of Ben/Glory too much to mind- they match so well! The minions were a bit too calm about the whole thing, more drama could've been added there but I would say that that new seemingly female one should get a mention, hilariously bizarre. Glory's script was well written, and that little insert of 'girl talk' was great!
Panda's intellectual analysis is really what I'm trying to say :-) I like waiting to see what they bring out the bag!
I also like how they've made Dawn round out gradually more and more as a person as her jeopardy grew closer and closer, perhaps that's through Buffy's perception.. I thought her input into the Glory scene and the last episode was nice, her screaming and raging of before makes the tender moments now she's saner feel heartwarming, like when she thanked Buffy for everything she's done for her.
Did you think Dawn remembering Ben's change into Glory was a non-human thing? I'll probably have to watch it again (noo, I want more excitement!) to see how that all went down with all the characters, supernaturally tinged or not (Giles was as usual, perfect in that scene).
A lot of differing opinions here! I can totally understand why this episode is liked. Maybe I just got a little tired of the general storylines at this point. Buffy fatigue? Is that even possible?
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point, Maya, about the parallels between Doc and Giles. I had never thought about that before. And I agree that Dawn has become a better character after a while of being pretty awful. She continues that for the next two seasons, though. Sometimes she's really sweet and then other times she's insufferable.