Buffy 5.6: "Family"
Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
In which Tara’s family comes to Sunnydale, intent on bringing her back to her childhood home, prompting Tara to take desperate measures to conceal the truth about her nature…
Status Report
This is an episode that divides the fandom quite a bit, not the least because Joss himself wrote and directed. The issue at hand is Tara and the explanation for her behavior in the fourth season and early fifth season. Specifically, why has she sabotaged spells meant to detect demons, and why does she seem to have something to hide? The strong suggestion was that Tara had a demonic ancestry, or was herself a demon trying to live in the human world.
Joss goes against the grain and ultimately has this demonic legacy turn out to be a cruel deception, thrust upon Tara by her father and the rest of her family to keep her “in line”. The implication is fairly simple: Tara fled this oppressive atmosphere and strove to find her true voice through alternative expression (the goth look, primarily). In the right environment, Tara can flourish, and Willow has been the key to that growth.
All well and good, but a number of fans felt cheated, because the possibility of a demonic legacy was one of the elements of Tara’s character that kept her from being utterly mundane. Tara was brought in to serve a story purpose in the fourth season (facilitating Willow’s self-discovery), and her ultimate purpose was to trigger Willow’s dark side later down the line (initially the fifth season, then extended into the sixth season). Like many latter-day “Buffy” characters, the writers struggled with the question of how to take a plot-driven character and make them something more. Riley and Dawn are other examples.
Ripping away the possibility of a darker legacy might have prevented overlap with Anya’s character, but it also stole away much of the mystery. Tara went from someone with a secret to Willow’s girlfriend, regardless of what this episode might otherwise imply. Beyond providing the trigger for Willow’s fall later in the series, the character had little purpose. One could argue that her normal human nature made her vulnerable enough to be the victim later in the story, but it wasn’t a requirement.
On the other hand, many fans applauded the fact that Tara was a normal person, because they could identify with her desire to fit in and find a place in the world. Tara didn’t have innate powers or some keen insight. She was a normal person trying to do her best to help make a difference. Considering that Xander’s role as the “everyman” had slipped to some extent, Tara was a strong replacement.
Joss is also a self-proclaimed feminist, and he wanted to provide a compelling and positive example of a homosexual relationship, at least so long as the story allowed for it. Willow and Tara become a symbol of how a lesbian relationship could be depicted without resorting to stereotypes, with all the strengths and weaknesses of a normal couple. This episode makes it clear that Tara’s life is far better with Willow than it would be without her.
This is one primary reason why many scenes that deal with magic (and the disapproval of its practice by the Maclays) are a thin metaphor for reactions to homosexuality. The Maclay men are disgusted by the taint of “demon” within Tara, and they use it as an excuse to put her down. There is the implication (largely from Mary Beth) that any woman who resists authority is seen as tainted by witchcraft and the “demon in her”, thus linking female empowerment and self-awareness to evil. There are men who would accuse any strong woman as being a lesbian (especially in politics), so the metaphor is hardly a shock.
Also, the question of Tara’s identity, whether human or some kind of hybrid, pertains to the season’s theme. Just as Buffy is trying to find where the human stops and the Slayer starts, Tara has been suffering with the notion that there is some part of her that is unnatural. Tara gets a sense of closure in this episode that Buffy wouldn’t find for some time. The knowledge that she is fully human resolves one source of psychological stress.
So both sides of the equation, those pleased and those disappointed, had good reasons for supporting their interpretations. Had Joss stuck with his original plan to have Tara die at the hands of Glory, thus unleashing Dark Willow at the end of the fifth season, perhaps Tara’s somewhat mundane nature wouldn’t have felt like a liability. With all that in mind, there is an interesting element introduced in “Chosen”, the series finale, that may place this episode in a slightly different context.
One big question left unanswered by the episode was the nature of the “demon”. For all that the Maclays were horrible people, using the threat of a demon ancestry as a bludgeon, the implication has always been that Tara has some degree of affinity for magic and that it comes from her mother’s side of the family. It can’t all be manufactured by the Maclay men, and it actually makes more sense (and works within the metaphor better) if Tara and her mother did, in fact, have something about them that was unusual.
As seen in “Chosen” and the episodes leading to that finale, the true source of the Chosen Line is not the demonic power inflicted upon the First Slayer by the First Watchers, but rather, a source of pure white magic. Willow has the ability and the power to tap into that source, and it is strongly feminine. It is implied that the First Watchers (and those to follow) feared this feminine power and sought to control it. Thus the paternalistic Watchers controlling the choices of the Slayers under their wing.
Looking at this episode, the Maclay men are quite similar to the Watchers in that regard. Tara and her mother could have been the descendents of those with a connection to the Goddess power behind the Chosen. It would explain her modest abilities, and might even explain why the First Slayer chose to use Tara as an avatar in “Restless”. For that matter, it could explain why Tara and Willow had such a quick affinity for combining energies to accomplish magic together.
While this would give this episode another positive and surprising layer, it also would expose the writers to further criticism. After all, this would result in a character aspect that was never explored by the writing staff, even in terms of building the relationship between Tara and Willow. Instead of noticing Willow’s descent in terms of behavior and choices, Tara might also have noticed that Willow was dabbling in the wrong kind of magic. By retroactively applying the idea of a “Goddess source” to Tara’s legacy, it becomes more and more clear that the writers did very little to develop Tara on her own.
It should also be noted that any criticism of the character of Tara is not a reflection on Amber Benson. Amber did a great deal with the material that she was given, and she brought a unique flavor to the character’s portrayal. In this episode, she manages to convey the depth of psychological duress brought on by her family, and the love between Tara and Willow really shines through. Much of that is Joss and his desire to make that relationship more romantic than romantic (especially in that final scene), but it takes Amber and Allyson to make it work.
The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Joss and the writing staff, because they began making decisions on “Buffy” based on a love of the characters and a desire to keep them around as long as possible. Everyone beyond the four core characters had a function, and when that function was fulfilled, they should have left the stage. Like Riley before her, Tara was kept much longer than her “normal” nature could realistically sustain. This is one of the episodes that ripped away much of what might have made her viable on her own, unfortunately.
Joss doesn’t just touch on Tara, however. “Family” is definitely the theme, and it plays out with Giles and Buffy as well. With Joyce suffering medical issues, Buffy is beginning to depend on Giles more as a father figure than an actual Watcher. This would play into his concerns about his role in Buffy’s life in later seasons. Riley is also searching for his place. Just as Tara begins to feel like she has a new family, Riley is becoming more isolated. And of course there’s Spike, who struggles with his growing obsession with the Slayer.
For all that, the decision to render Tara completely human is the make-or-break quality of the episode, and looking back at the series as a whole, that was a bad decision. Tara never managed to be a fully-realized character, and once relegated to the support role, she was mostly a living barometer for Willow. One can only watch this episode and wonder what might have been, had Joss resisted the urge to cut against the grain and make all that previous foreshadowing all a big misunderstanding.
Memorable Quotes
BUFFY: “Giles, I noticed you’re doing the smallest amount of helping that can actually be called helping.”
GILES: “Well, I saw myself in more of a patriarchal sort of role. You know, lots of pointing and scowling…”
GILES: “You can’t be more specific about what she’s like?”
BUFFY: “She was kinda like Cordelia, actually. I’m pretty sure she dyes her hair.”
GILES: “Right! That one, of course. Our work is done.”
BUFFY: “Tara’s birthday. We’re at a loss.”
GILES: “You’re in a magic shop, and you can’t think of what Tara would like. I believe you’re both profoundly stupid.”
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was the source of much disappointment, snatching away some of the more interesting aspects of Tara’s character in the pursuit of an easy metaphor. One of Joss’ few missteps, this episode did much to sideline Tara as a viable character in her own right, and the character never fully recovered. Still, there are good aspects to the episode, so it wasn’t a total loss by any means.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 0/4
Final Rating: 5/10
Directed by Joss Whedon
In which Tara’s family comes to Sunnydale, intent on bringing her back to her childhood home, prompting Tara to take desperate measures to conceal the truth about her nature…
Status Report
This is an episode that divides the fandom quite a bit, not the least because Joss himself wrote and directed. The issue at hand is Tara and the explanation for her behavior in the fourth season and early fifth season. Specifically, why has she sabotaged spells meant to detect demons, and why does she seem to have something to hide? The strong suggestion was that Tara had a demonic ancestry, or was herself a demon trying to live in the human world.
Joss goes against the grain and ultimately has this demonic legacy turn out to be a cruel deception, thrust upon Tara by her father and the rest of her family to keep her “in line”. The implication is fairly simple: Tara fled this oppressive atmosphere and strove to find her true voice through alternative expression (the goth look, primarily). In the right environment, Tara can flourish, and Willow has been the key to that growth.
All well and good, but a number of fans felt cheated, because the possibility of a demonic legacy was one of the elements of Tara’s character that kept her from being utterly mundane. Tara was brought in to serve a story purpose in the fourth season (facilitating Willow’s self-discovery), and her ultimate purpose was to trigger Willow’s dark side later down the line (initially the fifth season, then extended into the sixth season). Like many latter-day “Buffy” characters, the writers struggled with the question of how to take a plot-driven character and make them something more. Riley and Dawn are other examples.
Ripping away the possibility of a darker legacy might have prevented overlap with Anya’s character, but it also stole away much of the mystery. Tara went from someone with a secret to Willow’s girlfriend, regardless of what this episode might otherwise imply. Beyond providing the trigger for Willow’s fall later in the series, the character had little purpose. One could argue that her normal human nature made her vulnerable enough to be the victim later in the story, but it wasn’t a requirement.
On the other hand, many fans applauded the fact that Tara was a normal person, because they could identify with her desire to fit in and find a place in the world. Tara didn’t have innate powers or some keen insight. She was a normal person trying to do her best to help make a difference. Considering that Xander’s role as the “everyman” had slipped to some extent, Tara was a strong replacement.
Joss is also a self-proclaimed feminist, and he wanted to provide a compelling and positive example of a homosexual relationship, at least so long as the story allowed for it. Willow and Tara become a symbol of how a lesbian relationship could be depicted without resorting to stereotypes, with all the strengths and weaknesses of a normal couple. This episode makes it clear that Tara’s life is far better with Willow than it would be without her.
This is one primary reason why many scenes that deal with magic (and the disapproval of its practice by the Maclays) are a thin metaphor for reactions to homosexuality. The Maclay men are disgusted by the taint of “demon” within Tara, and they use it as an excuse to put her down. There is the implication (largely from Mary Beth) that any woman who resists authority is seen as tainted by witchcraft and the “demon in her”, thus linking female empowerment and self-awareness to evil. There are men who would accuse any strong woman as being a lesbian (especially in politics), so the metaphor is hardly a shock.
Also, the question of Tara’s identity, whether human or some kind of hybrid, pertains to the season’s theme. Just as Buffy is trying to find where the human stops and the Slayer starts, Tara has been suffering with the notion that there is some part of her that is unnatural. Tara gets a sense of closure in this episode that Buffy wouldn’t find for some time. The knowledge that she is fully human resolves one source of psychological stress.
So both sides of the equation, those pleased and those disappointed, had good reasons for supporting their interpretations. Had Joss stuck with his original plan to have Tara die at the hands of Glory, thus unleashing Dark Willow at the end of the fifth season, perhaps Tara’s somewhat mundane nature wouldn’t have felt like a liability. With all that in mind, there is an interesting element introduced in “Chosen”, the series finale, that may place this episode in a slightly different context.
One big question left unanswered by the episode was the nature of the “demon”. For all that the Maclays were horrible people, using the threat of a demon ancestry as a bludgeon, the implication has always been that Tara has some degree of affinity for magic and that it comes from her mother’s side of the family. It can’t all be manufactured by the Maclay men, and it actually makes more sense (and works within the metaphor better) if Tara and her mother did, in fact, have something about them that was unusual.
As seen in “Chosen” and the episodes leading to that finale, the true source of the Chosen Line is not the demonic power inflicted upon the First Slayer by the First Watchers, but rather, a source of pure white magic. Willow has the ability and the power to tap into that source, and it is strongly feminine. It is implied that the First Watchers (and those to follow) feared this feminine power and sought to control it. Thus the paternalistic Watchers controlling the choices of the Slayers under their wing.
Looking at this episode, the Maclay men are quite similar to the Watchers in that regard. Tara and her mother could have been the descendents of those with a connection to the Goddess power behind the Chosen. It would explain her modest abilities, and might even explain why the First Slayer chose to use Tara as an avatar in “Restless”. For that matter, it could explain why Tara and Willow had such a quick affinity for combining energies to accomplish magic together.
While this would give this episode another positive and surprising layer, it also would expose the writers to further criticism. After all, this would result in a character aspect that was never explored by the writing staff, even in terms of building the relationship between Tara and Willow. Instead of noticing Willow’s descent in terms of behavior and choices, Tara might also have noticed that Willow was dabbling in the wrong kind of magic. By retroactively applying the idea of a “Goddess source” to Tara’s legacy, it becomes more and more clear that the writers did very little to develop Tara on her own.
It should also be noted that any criticism of the character of Tara is not a reflection on Amber Benson. Amber did a great deal with the material that she was given, and she brought a unique flavor to the character’s portrayal. In this episode, she manages to convey the depth of psychological duress brought on by her family, and the love between Tara and Willow really shines through. Much of that is Joss and his desire to make that relationship more romantic than romantic (especially in that final scene), but it takes Amber and Allyson to make it work.
The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of Joss and the writing staff, because they began making decisions on “Buffy” based on a love of the characters and a desire to keep them around as long as possible. Everyone beyond the four core characters had a function, and when that function was fulfilled, they should have left the stage. Like Riley before her, Tara was kept much longer than her “normal” nature could realistically sustain. This is one of the episodes that ripped away much of what might have made her viable on her own, unfortunately.
Joss doesn’t just touch on Tara, however. “Family” is definitely the theme, and it plays out with Giles and Buffy as well. With Joyce suffering medical issues, Buffy is beginning to depend on Giles more as a father figure than an actual Watcher. This would play into his concerns about his role in Buffy’s life in later seasons. Riley is also searching for his place. Just as Tara begins to feel like she has a new family, Riley is becoming more isolated. And of course there’s Spike, who struggles with his growing obsession with the Slayer.
For all that, the decision to render Tara completely human is the make-or-break quality of the episode, and looking back at the series as a whole, that was a bad decision. Tara never managed to be a fully-realized character, and once relegated to the support role, she was mostly a living barometer for Willow. One can only watch this episode and wonder what might have been, had Joss resisted the urge to cut against the grain and make all that previous foreshadowing all a big misunderstanding.
Memorable Quotes
BUFFY: “Giles, I noticed you’re doing the smallest amount of helping that can actually be called helping.”
GILES: “Well, I saw myself in more of a patriarchal sort of role. You know, lots of pointing and scowling…”
GILES: “You can’t be more specific about what she’s like?”
BUFFY: “She was kinda like Cordelia, actually. I’m pretty sure she dyes her hair.”
GILES: “Right! That one, of course. Our work is done.”
BUFFY: “Tara’s birthday. We’re at a loss.”
GILES: “You’re in a magic shop, and you can’t think of what Tara would like. I believe you’re both profoundly stupid.”
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was the source of much disappointment, snatching away some of the more interesting aspects of Tara’s character in the pursuit of an easy metaphor. One of Joss’ few missteps, this episode did much to sideline Tara as a viable character in her own right, and the character never fully recovered. Still, there are good aspects to the episode, so it wasn’t a total loss by any means.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 0/4
Final Rating: 5/10
posted by John Keegan | 14:25
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