Buffy 4.11: "Doomed"
Written by Jane Espenson, David Fury, and Marti Noxon
Directed by James A. Contner
In which an earthquake portends the arrival of another apocalypse, which complicates the relationship issues between Buffy and Riley, while Spike discovers a hidden ability…
Status Report
Coming on the heels of “Hush”, this episode was already fighting its way uphill. So it didn’t help when it became clear that one writer wouldn’t be able to pull it together in time. Reasons were never given, beyond the demands that “Hush” put on everyone involved, but the end result was a script effectively written in thirds, each third with a different writer. Since there was little time to ensure that the script had a consistent voice, it’s actually not hard to tell that three different people were writing the various scenes.
When stories are written by committee, the lack of consistency is typically the first sign of trouble. Take, for example, a series like “Boston Public”, which would typically assign each one of the several plot threads per episode to a separate writer. The result was usually uneven at best and hopelessly muddled at worst. It helps that Joss Whedon has a better track record with writing staff choices. Overall, this is a “Buffy” episode, and not some bizarre mishmash, but it’s not a seamless as it could have been with a little more time.
Jane was probably responsible for the scenes with the cruel humor, while Marti is usually the one to cover relationship issues. David manages the exposition and continuity fairly well. There are scenes that excel in some of these areas and not at all in others, so even if someone came along afterward and tried to give the episode one voice, it wasn’t quite enough.
It also doesn’t help that the writers had little or no time to consider the logic of the story. The overall premise feels completely out of place, as though someone wanted to ensure that this episode had high enough stakes to remind the audience that the season consisted of more than “Hush”. But the whole apocalypse angle was already sidelined in favor of character development once in “The Zeppo”, and that episode had the benefit of focusing entirely on one character’s momentary epiphany. This episode tries to use the apocalyptic events in play to further the character threads from “Fear, Itself”, and while it works on paper, it doesn’t quite come together as clearly as it could have.
The episode begins on a high note, exactly where “Hush” left off: Riley and Buffy unsure what to say to each other, now that the truth is out. Riley is still in awe, while Buffy is actually closer to disappointed. After all, Riley was the mostly normal guy that could help her set aside the Slayer life for a few hours at a time. But now she knows the truth, and it’s not what she wanted. This begins an interesting look into Buffy’s psyche, which has been battered and bruised all season long.
Things begin to make less sense by the end of the teaser, however, when Buffy and Riley react to the earthquake. Riley claims never to have experienced one before, and Buffy acts like this is the first earthquake since the one that occurred in “Prophecy Girl”. Here’s the problem: this is Southern California. Minor quakes happen often enough that it shouldn’t be a shock to either of them. Granted, this is more than a minor quake, but if Riley has been around long enough to work with the Initiative as long as he has, it shouldn’t have been his first.
Very shortly, there’s a very odd scene with Giles that has some of the worst overdubbing work in the history of the series. It’s hard to know why they wanted to re-record Giles’ dialogue, but it doesn’t come close to matching the cadence or tone of the scene. It’s incredibly sloppy, and it speaks to the limited amount of time that the producers had to get this episode in the can. But it’s also very distracting, making it hard to follow the exposition.
Equally bad is the scene within the Initiative, where demons begin to go crazy with the impending doom and one gets free. The fight is horribly blocked, and it looks like they filmed the last run-through instead of the real take. Whatever the case, it’s another sloppy moment that says more about the timetable than the usual quality of the series.
Meanwhile, character development continues at an “Aftershock Party”, where Willow waits for Buffy to show up and runs into an old Sunnydale High acquaintance. In short order, Percy’s date gives Willow the cold shoulder, and Willow overhears Percy describing her as a nerd. Already still dealing with Oz and his departure, she begins to question herself, letting the memories of her high school days erode her self-confidence. This is all well and good, except that it then leads to an uncharacteristic moment where Willow decides to slip into someone’s bedroom and lay down. Somehow, she misses that the bed is occupied, and when she does realize it, there’s a dead man in the room, a symbol carved on his chest. Sure, it moves the plot along, but it’s definitely out of character.
Continuing with the season’s theme (self-identity), Spike finds himself standing in Xander’s wet basement, having destroyed his own clothes in the wash, wearing some of Xander’s worst fashion choices. At this point, even Xander has little reason to fear Spike, and for someone who values his reputation as a stone cold killer, this is devastating. Spike is definitely questioning his self-worth, which considering his demonic nature, is rather amusing.
For Buffy, once the end of the world is again on the table, things get easier. As much as she hates the fact that her life is not her own, she takes comfort in focusing on something relatively straightforward. It helps her ignore the troubles of the real world, and as the series would eventually explore, this is something that has always been a long-term issue for Slayers. Slayers that follow the precepts of the Watchers’ Council never deal with the real world, so it’s not an issue, but a few have remaining outside of the norm, and they have serious trouble balancing the duties of the Chosen and the demands of the world at large.
In particular, there’s the issue of relationships. It makes perfect sense for Buffy to linger over the wounds caused by Angel’s departure, and to believe that it was a mistake to let business and pleasure mix. Riley puts it rather bluntly, largely because he doesn’t know her history to understand her point of view, but he’s quite correct: she doesn’t have to let the past dictate her life in the here and now. That’s not something that Buffy finds easy to accept.
Unfortunately, the writers turn from a logical and timely psychological assessment of the Slayer to another plot convenience. As far as the Scooby Gang goes, it’s business as usual (with better overdubbing for Giles, thankfully). But Riley’s little speech to the Initiative doesn’t make sense at all. Most of the conversation is devoted to the fact that they know nothing about the demon in question, so they assume it’s a simple seek and destroy scenario. But then he mentions that they can track the demon by its pheromone signature. If they don’t know what kind of demon it is, how can they track it by its pheromones?
Before the audience can consider what the writers forgot to explain (that Riley might have been carrying the pheromones himself), the psychological analysis continues. The writers demonstrate the value of having Buffy’s boyfriend be a psychology graduate student, because if anyone needs day to day therapy, it’s Buffy. Not only does Riley understand Buffy, but he provides a nice bridge to the overall message of the “Angel” series: it’s not about defeating evil, but how and why you fight evil. By going it alone, Buffy loses sight of why it was never a good idea to isolate the Chosen One in the first place.
But Buffy also has a good point. Riley chose the life he’s living, and so he could theoretically decide at any time to return to a more normal way of life (or so he believes at this point in the series). Buffy has no such luxury, because it’s a job for life. Her recent experience with Faith in the third season showed her that letting go of the Slayer lifestyle is not an option, and with Faith as the one now holding the future of the Chosen line in her comatose soul, there’s no replacement in sight. (In fact, Buffy is all too aware that if she dies, there will be no Slayer until Faith dies as well, placing even more unwanted doom and gloom on her shoulders.)
What Buffy forgets, rather conveniently, is that she makes a lot of other choices that run counter to the logic that this obligation means giving up the concerns of the real world. She’s going to college, which would not be an option for most Slayers, and she’s steadfastly trying to have friends. It’s really just the question of romance that gets complicated for her, and as Riley points out, it’s safer to fall back on her “destiny” as an excuse when she doesn’t want to deal with something.
Buffy’s argument, because it has validity, strikes at the heart of what Spike says to Willow and Xander. Xander has always been concerned about his role in Buffy’s life, especially now that high school is no longer binding them together in common social cause. For that matter, Willow gave up the chance to go away to a superior university so she could learn more about magic and help Buffy fight evil. Their role in Buffy’s life, or their perception thereof, is vital to who they are. Spike plants the seeds of doubt about that self-identity, and that plays into the overall season arc, which is all about Buffy remembering that her friends are a unique strength, something most Slayers never have.
It only makes sense that the story would bring them back to high school, since the characters are questioning whether or not they’ve changed for the better since graduation. With demons trying to open the Hellmouth again (causing all kinds of evil, like Spike’s magically manifesting jeans), it’s almost like the old days. Which, thematically, is the point, since going back to the old days is something they can’t do. The fight scene is rather standard, at least until Spike has a moment of pure epiphany. He discovers that he can fight demons without pain, and so of course, he revels in the ability to transfer his self-loathing onto something else.
The final confrontation is flawed in several ways, but two stand out as the most obvious. First of all, it seems far too easy for the demons to bring on this particular apocalypse. Taken in context with the massive plot arc developing in tandem on “Angel”, where Angel’s role in the apocalypse seems to be key, this situation is obviously not a big deal. And yet, the audience is meant to believe that it is. (And of course, when the end of the world is a minor footnote in the middle of the season, it puts an unbelievable amount of expectation on the resolution to the season arc, which was already up against a mighty tall wall.)
But the biggest problem comes with the very end of the battle, when Buffy uses a steel cable to jump into the Hellmouth and grab a demon that jumped in moments earlier. Never mind the fact that the demon and Buffy would drop at roughly equal rates, making it impossible for Buffy to catch up and grab said demon. There’s simply no way that Riley could hold that cable in his bare hands, snaking it out, without ripping his fingers and palm off. For that matter, he shouldn’t have had enough strength to pull up both Buffy and the demon, especially without a pulley; the angle of the weight, the edge, and Riley’s position would have made it impossibly hard.
Of course, the apocalypse is largely a pretext for exploring the uncertainties revealed after “Hush” and for setting up elements for later in the season. The Scooby Gang knows all about Riley now, and as this episode indicates, this begins a major crisis for Riley. Since the characters are supposed to be questioning their assumptions about themselves this season, Riley’s presence and personal journey is key to pulling that theme together. The fact that Buffy is willing to overcome her deeply conflicted emotions to pursue a relationship with Riley demands an equal level of commitment from him; this sets the stage for his slow but steady personal conflict over the rest of the season.
Even setting up as much as it does (Spike’s future role in the gang, Riley’s character arc, the further divisions in the gang as the season plods on, etc.), this episode just doesn’t come together very well. As previously mentioned, this is the inevitable consequence of the various factors that stymied the writing/production prep time. With three writers trying to make a story come together, there are always flaws, and this episode suffers many of those flaws in classic fashion. Under the circumstances, it’s actually amazing to think that the episode came together with any degree of competence. It’s a credit to the strength of the Mutant Enemy writing staff that it did.
Memorable Quotes
RILEY: “What are you?”
BUFFY: “Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius. You?”
BUFFY: “I’m the Slayer. Slayer? Chosen One? She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries? You’re kidding. Ask around, look it up: Slayer, The.”
BUFFY: “Ah, this from the dorm that brought us the ‘Somebody Sneezed’ party and the ‘Day That Ends in Y’ party…”
RILEY: “What’s a Slayer?”
FORREST: “Slayer? Thrash band. Anvil-handed guitar band with delusions of Black Sabbath.”
BUFFY: “Wow…I wasn’t sure where the party was, and then I saw the flashing lights and the ambulance, and I was like, ‘Right, of course…death carnage, it’s a Buffy party!’…”
GILES: “It’s the end of the world.”
ALL: “Again?”
GILES: “I’m so very sorry. My contrition completely dwarfs the impending apocalypse.”
XANDER: “Think of the happy. If we don’t find what we’re looking for, we face an apocalypse.”
SPIKE: “Really? You’re not just saying that?”
BUFFY: “Wow…with sweet tale like that, you’ll definitely melt my reservations…”
GILES: Oh…as usuall…dear.”
RILEY: “Don’t I know you?”
SPIKE: “Me? No…no, sir. I’m just an old pal of Xander’s here.”
RILEY: “Oh…that’s nice…”
SPIKE: “Come on! Vampires! Grrr, nasty! Let’s annihilate them! For justice, and for the safety of puppies and Christmas, right? Let’s fight that evil! Let’s kill something! Oh, come on!”
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was an inevitable letdown after the previous episode, but the difficult position was made worse by scheduling issues that required three writers to tackle a single script. Important season arc elements are here and there, but the logic of the story is lacking, thanks to the lack of one unifying voice. While it has its moments, this is also one of the sloppiest episodes of the season, if not the series.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Style: 0/4
Final Rating: 4/10
Directed by James A. Contner
In which an earthquake portends the arrival of another apocalypse, which complicates the relationship issues between Buffy and Riley, while Spike discovers a hidden ability…
Status Report
Coming on the heels of “Hush”, this episode was already fighting its way uphill. So it didn’t help when it became clear that one writer wouldn’t be able to pull it together in time. Reasons were never given, beyond the demands that “Hush” put on everyone involved, but the end result was a script effectively written in thirds, each third with a different writer. Since there was little time to ensure that the script had a consistent voice, it’s actually not hard to tell that three different people were writing the various scenes.
When stories are written by committee, the lack of consistency is typically the first sign of trouble. Take, for example, a series like “Boston Public”, which would typically assign each one of the several plot threads per episode to a separate writer. The result was usually uneven at best and hopelessly muddled at worst. It helps that Joss Whedon has a better track record with writing staff choices. Overall, this is a “Buffy” episode, and not some bizarre mishmash, but it’s not a seamless as it could have been with a little more time.
Jane was probably responsible for the scenes with the cruel humor, while Marti is usually the one to cover relationship issues. David manages the exposition and continuity fairly well. There are scenes that excel in some of these areas and not at all in others, so even if someone came along afterward and tried to give the episode one voice, it wasn’t quite enough.
It also doesn’t help that the writers had little or no time to consider the logic of the story. The overall premise feels completely out of place, as though someone wanted to ensure that this episode had high enough stakes to remind the audience that the season consisted of more than “Hush”. But the whole apocalypse angle was already sidelined in favor of character development once in “The Zeppo”, and that episode had the benefit of focusing entirely on one character’s momentary epiphany. This episode tries to use the apocalyptic events in play to further the character threads from “Fear, Itself”, and while it works on paper, it doesn’t quite come together as clearly as it could have.
The episode begins on a high note, exactly where “Hush” left off: Riley and Buffy unsure what to say to each other, now that the truth is out. Riley is still in awe, while Buffy is actually closer to disappointed. After all, Riley was the mostly normal guy that could help her set aside the Slayer life for a few hours at a time. But now she knows the truth, and it’s not what she wanted. This begins an interesting look into Buffy’s psyche, which has been battered and bruised all season long.
Things begin to make less sense by the end of the teaser, however, when Buffy and Riley react to the earthquake. Riley claims never to have experienced one before, and Buffy acts like this is the first earthquake since the one that occurred in “Prophecy Girl”. Here’s the problem: this is Southern California. Minor quakes happen often enough that it shouldn’t be a shock to either of them. Granted, this is more than a minor quake, but if Riley has been around long enough to work with the Initiative as long as he has, it shouldn’t have been his first.
Very shortly, there’s a very odd scene with Giles that has some of the worst overdubbing work in the history of the series. It’s hard to know why they wanted to re-record Giles’ dialogue, but it doesn’t come close to matching the cadence or tone of the scene. It’s incredibly sloppy, and it speaks to the limited amount of time that the producers had to get this episode in the can. But it’s also very distracting, making it hard to follow the exposition.
Equally bad is the scene within the Initiative, where demons begin to go crazy with the impending doom and one gets free. The fight is horribly blocked, and it looks like they filmed the last run-through instead of the real take. Whatever the case, it’s another sloppy moment that says more about the timetable than the usual quality of the series.
Meanwhile, character development continues at an “Aftershock Party”, where Willow waits for Buffy to show up and runs into an old Sunnydale High acquaintance. In short order, Percy’s date gives Willow the cold shoulder, and Willow overhears Percy describing her as a nerd. Already still dealing with Oz and his departure, she begins to question herself, letting the memories of her high school days erode her self-confidence. This is all well and good, except that it then leads to an uncharacteristic moment where Willow decides to slip into someone’s bedroom and lay down. Somehow, she misses that the bed is occupied, and when she does realize it, there’s a dead man in the room, a symbol carved on his chest. Sure, it moves the plot along, but it’s definitely out of character.
Continuing with the season’s theme (self-identity), Spike finds himself standing in Xander’s wet basement, having destroyed his own clothes in the wash, wearing some of Xander’s worst fashion choices. At this point, even Xander has little reason to fear Spike, and for someone who values his reputation as a stone cold killer, this is devastating. Spike is definitely questioning his self-worth, which considering his demonic nature, is rather amusing.
For Buffy, once the end of the world is again on the table, things get easier. As much as she hates the fact that her life is not her own, she takes comfort in focusing on something relatively straightforward. It helps her ignore the troubles of the real world, and as the series would eventually explore, this is something that has always been a long-term issue for Slayers. Slayers that follow the precepts of the Watchers’ Council never deal with the real world, so it’s not an issue, but a few have remaining outside of the norm, and they have serious trouble balancing the duties of the Chosen and the demands of the world at large.
In particular, there’s the issue of relationships. It makes perfect sense for Buffy to linger over the wounds caused by Angel’s departure, and to believe that it was a mistake to let business and pleasure mix. Riley puts it rather bluntly, largely because he doesn’t know her history to understand her point of view, but he’s quite correct: she doesn’t have to let the past dictate her life in the here and now. That’s not something that Buffy finds easy to accept.
Unfortunately, the writers turn from a logical and timely psychological assessment of the Slayer to another plot convenience. As far as the Scooby Gang goes, it’s business as usual (with better overdubbing for Giles, thankfully). But Riley’s little speech to the Initiative doesn’t make sense at all. Most of the conversation is devoted to the fact that they know nothing about the demon in question, so they assume it’s a simple seek and destroy scenario. But then he mentions that they can track the demon by its pheromone signature. If they don’t know what kind of demon it is, how can they track it by its pheromones?
Before the audience can consider what the writers forgot to explain (that Riley might have been carrying the pheromones himself), the psychological analysis continues. The writers demonstrate the value of having Buffy’s boyfriend be a psychology graduate student, because if anyone needs day to day therapy, it’s Buffy. Not only does Riley understand Buffy, but he provides a nice bridge to the overall message of the “Angel” series: it’s not about defeating evil, but how and why you fight evil. By going it alone, Buffy loses sight of why it was never a good idea to isolate the Chosen One in the first place.
But Buffy also has a good point. Riley chose the life he’s living, and so he could theoretically decide at any time to return to a more normal way of life (or so he believes at this point in the series). Buffy has no such luxury, because it’s a job for life. Her recent experience with Faith in the third season showed her that letting go of the Slayer lifestyle is not an option, and with Faith as the one now holding the future of the Chosen line in her comatose soul, there’s no replacement in sight. (In fact, Buffy is all too aware that if she dies, there will be no Slayer until Faith dies as well, placing even more unwanted doom and gloom on her shoulders.)
What Buffy forgets, rather conveniently, is that she makes a lot of other choices that run counter to the logic that this obligation means giving up the concerns of the real world. She’s going to college, which would not be an option for most Slayers, and she’s steadfastly trying to have friends. It’s really just the question of romance that gets complicated for her, and as Riley points out, it’s safer to fall back on her “destiny” as an excuse when she doesn’t want to deal with something.
Buffy’s argument, because it has validity, strikes at the heart of what Spike says to Willow and Xander. Xander has always been concerned about his role in Buffy’s life, especially now that high school is no longer binding them together in common social cause. For that matter, Willow gave up the chance to go away to a superior university so she could learn more about magic and help Buffy fight evil. Their role in Buffy’s life, or their perception thereof, is vital to who they are. Spike plants the seeds of doubt about that self-identity, and that plays into the overall season arc, which is all about Buffy remembering that her friends are a unique strength, something most Slayers never have.
It only makes sense that the story would bring them back to high school, since the characters are questioning whether or not they’ve changed for the better since graduation. With demons trying to open the Hellmouth again (causing all kinds of evil, like Spike’s magically manifesting jeans), it’s almost like the old days. Which, thematically, is the point, since going back to the old days is something they can’t do. The fight scene is rather standard, at least until Spike has a moment of pure epiphany. He discovers that he can fight demons without pain, and so of course, he revels in the ability to transfer his self-loathing onto something else.
The final confrontation is flawed in several ways, but two stand out as the most obvious. First of all, it seems far too easy for the demons to bring on this particular apocalypse. Taken in context with the massive plot arc developing in tandem on “Angel”, where Angel’s role in the apocalypse seems to be key, this situation is obviously not a big deal. And yet, the audience is meant to believe that it is. (And of course, when the end of the world is a minor footnote in the middle of the season, it puts an unbelievable amount of expectation on the resolution to the season arc, which was already up against a mighty tall wall.)
But the biggest problem comes with the very end of the battle, when Buffy uses a steel cable to jump into the Hellmouth and grab a demon that jumped in moments earlier. Never mind the fact that the demon and Buffy would drop at roughly equal rates, making it impossible for Buffy to catch up and grab said demon. There’s simply no way that Riley could hold that cable in his bare hands, snaking it out, without ripping his fingers and palm off. For that matter, he shouldn’t have had enough strength to pull up both Buffy and the demon, especially without a pulley; the angle of the weight, the edge, and Riley’s position would have made it impossibly hard.
Of course, the apocalypse is largely a pretext for exploring the uncertainties revealed after “Hush” and for setting up elements for later in the season. The Scooby Gang knows all about Riley now, and as this episode indicates, this begins a major crisis for Riley. Since the characters are supposed to be questioning their assumptions about themselves this season, Riley’s presence and personal journey is key to pulling that theme together. The fact that Buffy is willing to overcome her deeply conflicted emotions to pursue a relationship with Riley demands an equal level of commitment from him; this sets the stage for his slow but steady personal conflict over the rest of the season.
Even setting up as much as it does (Spike’s future role in the gang, Riley’s character arc, the further divisions in the gang as the season plods on, etc.), this episode just doesn’t come together very well. As previously mentioned, this is the inevitable consequence of the various factors that stymied the writing/production prep time. With three writers trying to make a story come together, there are always flaws, and this episode suffers many of those flaws in classic fashion. Under the circumstances, it’s actually amazing to think that the episode came together with any degree of competence. It’s a credit to the strength of the Mutant Enemy writing staff that it did.
Memorable Quotes
RILEY: “What are you?”
BUFFY: “Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius. You?”
BUFFY: “I’m the Slayer. Slayer? Chosen One? She who hangs out a lot in cemeteries? You’re kidding. Ask around, look it up: Slayer, The.”
BUFFY: “Ah, this from the dorm that brought us the ‘Somebody Sneezed’ party and the ‘Day That Ends in Y’ party…”
RILEY: “What’s a Slayer?”
FORREST: “Slayer? Thrash band. Anvil-handed guitar band with delusions of Black Sabbath.”
BUFFY: “Wow…I wasn’t sure where the party was, and then I saw the flashing lights and the ambulance, and I was like, ‘Right, of course…death carnage, it’s a Buffy party!’…”
GILES: “It’s the end of the world.”
ALL: “Again?”
GILES: “I’m so very sorry. My contrition completely dwarfs the impending apocalypse.”
XANDER: “Think of the happy. If we don’t find what we’re looking for, we face an apocalypse.”
SPIKE: “Really? You’re not just saying that?”
BUFFY: “Wow…with sweet tale like that, you’ll definitely melt my reservations…”
GILES: Oh…as usuall…dear.”
RILEY: “Don’t I know you?”
SPIKE: “Me? No…no, sir. I’m just an old pal of Xander’s here.”
RILEY: “Oh…that’s nice…”
SPIKE: “Come on! Vampires! Grrr, nasty! Let’s annihilate them! For justice, and for the safety of puppies and Christmas, right? Let’s fight that evil! Let’s kill something! Oh, come on!”
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was an inevitable letdown after the previous episode, but the difficult position was made worse by scheduling issues that required three writers to tackle a single script. Important season arc elements are here and there, but the logic of the story is lacking, thanks to the lack of one unifying voice. While it has its moments, this is also one of the sloppiest episodes of the season, if not the series.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Style: 0/4
Final Rating: 4/10
posted by John Keegan | 17:24
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