Characterization In The Buffyverse — ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ Season 6, Episode 1

This is part of a bi-weekly series concerning the characterization of Buffyverse characters. Arguably the best place to begin reading this series is at the beginning, but that is up to each reader. As a reminder: this column will cover major and some minor characters from the shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004). Other Buffyverse media, such as the graphic novel Spike: Into The Light (2014), are not pertinent to this series. Also there will be no references to real world events that have direct relation to either program. That said, references to things that have no direct relation to the show in order to examine certain elements, such as metaphors and literary analogues, will appear.

This week: The Scoobies try to resurrect Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Meanwhile demon bikers plan an assault.

(Warning of spoilers from this point on!)

(Trigger warning for mentions of manipulation)

Buffy is a corpse for almost every moment of this episode. There is nothing one can say about her as a character.

Buffybot (also Gellar) has a range to its abilities mimicking Buffy. It acts similar to its two prior appearances while differing depending on the needs of a moment. Case in point: the robot moves and talks very much like Buffy before the bottle damages it. Yet, in the school settings, it reacts to things in the same manner as when first meeting the Scoobies. Thus, one can argue that the Buffybot is a rather poor puppet controlled by the needs of the plot.

Dawn Summers (Michelle Trachtenberg) is still mourning her sister while almost all the Scoobies ignore her. One can say that her sleeping next to the Buffybot is a way of coping with the neglect and loss.

Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) uses magic to lure a fawn for a sacrifice. After doing this, she lies about it being a spell ingredient from Sunnydale’s supernatural black market. Thus, she not only murders an innocent creature, but also manipulates her found family in order to get her way. There is also a possibility of magical manipulation when she states that no one in the group can back out of resurrecting Buffy. However, any spellwork by Willow against the Scoobies would presumably occur before the beginning of this episode. She obviously fails to do proper research since she does not know where Buffy’s essence actually is residing.

It is also worth mentioning that Willow’s formerly extremely noteworthy computer skills (Season 2, Episode 10, “What’s My Line? Part Two”) are unable to fix the Buffybot. This fact is important since it suggests that she is more into magic and fixing things quickly than technology and being thorough.

Tara Maclay (Amber Benson) has trouble with a sleep spell in this episode. This is odd since she is a healer type magic user.

Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) is like the rest of the Scoobies when it comes to dealing with grief over Buffy’s death — failing at it. Giles uses the Buffybot as a proxy in his attempt to delay the grieving process. Leaving for England is another way to evade the pain of the former Slayer’s death. Before doing so, though, he lies to Dawn about being there for her regardless of physical distance. Yes, he might mean this promise in the moment, but when he comes back to Sunnydale (Season 6, Episode 4 “Flooded”), he will fail to back up his words.

Spike (James Marsters) almost has a moment of camaraderie with Giles and Tara near the beginning of the episode. Unfortunately, Willow’s telepathic intrusion sees the ending of this potential positivity before its impact can truly occur.

Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) exhibits fear for both magic and marriage at different times throughout this beginning of this two-parter.  Also, his jokes are unimportant with the exception of the one about trying to get Giles a bottle of alcohol. This one has slight importance since it reminds viewers that Xander is still in his early twenties. Thus, his anxiety about his engagement and the pending marriage reflect the possibility of rushing to failure. His concerns about the resurrection spell appear to be a fear of the worst case scenario since he lacks understanding about magic. Therefore, one can argue that he is displaying small signs of developing in both positive and negative ways.

Anya (Emma Caulfield Ford) intentionally stops Giles from noticing her use of the magic box funds to procure the urn. While her method of distraction is rather improvisational and immature, it is effective. She tries to be the voice of reason on magic and marriage, but no one listens to her. Her desire to avoid offending the others stems from a want to fit in to society and please Xander. It is a cause of stress for her throughout this episode. Additionally, she is overly reasonable about Xander continuing to hold-off on announcing their engagement. Not speaking out more about the resurrection spell or Xander’s obvious excuses makes her seem less mature than a thousand-year-old being should present.

Razor (Franc Ross), Klyed (Mike Grief), and Mag (Geoff Meed) are demon bikers who are members of a group that call themselves the Hellions. These demons appear to be criminal motorcyclists terrorizing towns that are defenseless.

Mr. Davis (Bru Muller) and Ms. Lefcourt (Joy DeMichelle Moore) are Dawn’s teachers. They are apparently average citizens of Sunnydale since they believe the Buffybot’s poor impersonation of the real deal.

Shempy Vamp (Paul Greenberg) is a plot device to expose the lack of a Slayer in Sunnydale. As far as stock characters go, this vampire is only slightly more important than Dawn’s teachers.

The entirety of this episode is rather debatable when it comes to the level of manipulation that Willow is committing. Still, there are some interesting bits of characterization within it.