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Buffy Sundays! Season 5 Episode 16 First Time Reaction! (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-01 19:48:03
Edited:
2024-09-01 20:13:32
Imported:
2026-08
Tags:

Content

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kGYJBDTehSq6PFdnJEzsB7KXgtAY_rOQ/view?usp=sharing

####### EPISODE SPOILER REVIEW BELOW! APPARENTLY SOME OF YOU ARE WATCHING FOR THE FIRST TIME ALONG SIDE ME, SO PLEASE DON'T READ BEYOND THIS POINT UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN THE EPISODE YOURSELF! ######

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Absolutely amazing. This is my first 'technical' 2nd time watching in this series, but I only really remember the first scene (one of the best scenes every in the show) and a couple of smaller parts thrown in here or there.

The acting is perfect in this one. The direction is perfect. The script is perfect. It is hard to think of anything that could be improved in it.

Dawn's school held off being shown until now was a master stroke. The entire scene felt.. 'uncanny' and off. I don't remember the scene in the collage campus at all, but it was amazing too.

Anya is brilliant here, and I fully get what she is struggling with. How none of it makes sense, but she is being expected to do 'everything right'.

Love the Tara backstory, and what she says to Buffy is perfect, IMO. There is little else I can say, so enjoy the reaction. WARNING, the intro is long (I think I was just trying to avoid the episode), so feel free to skip to around 11 minutes in. The outro gets a lil personal, sorry.

Hope you guys are having a great weekend!

As always, if you click the video just after this post, you may need to  download it first.  This should be fixed in a couple of hours!

Files

Buffy 5 16 Done small.m4v

Comments

Jake M

Two cool things to note about this one.: -As you noticed, there was no incidental music at all. Really makes a difference! Very haunting. - First on-screen kiss of Terror and Willow! Show runner didn't want to make it a big deal, so included it in this episode when there are far bigger (vegan) fish to fry.

CeNedra

Before I watch, Tara's name is Tara, Americans just pronounce it differently 🤣

CeNedra

I just didn't know if you realised it was Tara 🤣

Giorgia M

Oh! I wasn’t sure we’d get this today! Yay!

Gary Marshall

Written and directed by Joss Whedon and very much based on his feelings about the death of his mother. He does an amazing audio commentary in which he explains his thought process during the writing and filming of this episode. The opening Christmas scene was purely there to 'get rid of the onscreen credit' so they don't appear during SMG's emotional scene (the first 3 minutes of which was a one-shot). He also mentions that during the dorm room sequence there was not a dry eye on the set when Aly was acting. Willow focusing on the clothes to wear was apparently based on Joss trying to find a black tie for a friends funeral.

Gary Marshall

Glad you noticed Tara, very much the unsung heroine of this episode, as she is able to help every one of the Scoobies come to terms with their grief. Their is a small moment at the end of the dorm room scene when Xander says 'the Avengers need to assemble', you can see Willow mouth 'I love you' to Tara as a thank you for calming her down. Very easy to miss (I didnt see it until someone pointed it out) but very effective and brings a(nother) tear to my eye!

Jordan McLaren

This is a fantastic episode, undoubtedly one of the finest episodes of TV ever made, but it never gets easier to watch. It's deliberately crafted in such a way to consistently deny the audience any traditional form of catharsis and leaves me feeling hollow and miserable, whilst simultaneously having the inverse effect and providing a shaping tool for my own grief; all the perspectives of the characters are like different lenses on a telescope. I'm autistic, and I've always related to Anya in this episode, who I've always seen as a bit autistic-coded, and her monologue never fails to make me cry. Thank God for Tara: she's such a rock of support 💜 There's lots of analyses of this episode, and I could talk for hours about the incredible filmmaking that went into it, but I find the emotional much more important than the technical, and on both counts this is a masterpiece. Never feel the need to apologise for your feelings or sharing them Veggie 💜 Sending lots of love your way

Jake M

I thought it was an intentional meme at this point.

CeNedra

I wondered if it was a meme too but my OCD made me mention it 😃

Giorgia M

Okay, immediate thoughts. Here’s a few things I’ve picked up on over many rewatches that I love about this episode: The silence, as you say, or lack of music throughout. It leaves me with this disoriented, out of body sort of feeling. It perfectly captures how I felt after similar situations. Your senses are dulled with some random things jumping out at you. You just feel so dazed. After Buffy vomits, she goes outside and listens to the school children outside. It’s such a great moment to put in the episode because it captures something about death where there’s this dissonance or disconnect or contrast between you and everyone else/the world, something so life changing is happening to you and everyone else is just going about their day. Life goes on without you. Choosing this moment to have Tara and Willow’s first kiss. Not a moment of heat or passion like many shows might have done. Sexualised a homosexual relationship for views/excitement/shock value. It was this quiet moment of comfort during grief. Beautiful. Obviously Anya’s speech is so impactful now that she’s seeing death from the other side. She’s inflicted so much pain and death herself but never bore the pain of human grief. The stupid lottery of mortality. However, her line where she wishes Joyce didn’t die is the most significant to me now. As an ex-vengeance demon, she knows how significant and sacred a wish is yet she says aloud her own wish. Joyce to be alive again, it’s so clever and shows the depth of her feelings for her. I love it. Buffy killing a vampire at the end. What a cool moment, it’s something we usually see and it looks cool and there’s quips and music so it’s interesting to see it so sad, quiet and hollow. It actually feels much more like a killing than usual, the rawness of it. It’s interesting in light of the episode events. But I also think it’s important to show that life does go on, we all have responsibilities, we have to go to work. Sadly, the world doesn’t stop when someone you love dies, even if it feels like the world has stopped. And the Slayer can’t even take sick leave. The world keeps turning. It’s all so tragic. Just to quickly circle back on a few things (I was trying to do it in order of the episode events), SMG acting in particular is just phenomenal. The fact she never won an Emmy for this is beyond me. Tara saying, “It’s always sudden.” Is my favourite line from this episode. It’s so poignant. It’s so true. No matter if it’s a long process, no matter if it’s a long fight, no matter if you know it’s coming, no matter if you accept it, no matter if you are given a timeframe. It’s always sudden. It’s always painful, it’s always a shock, you can’t believe it until it really happens and even then it can take a lot of time. It’s always sudden. Anyway, I find this episode incredibly cathartic. The hollow reality of it all is a relief to me. There’s something so beautiful about feeling seen by this and it helping you understand your own life and grief. I love it. I’m not saying I stick it on often but I am so glad that it exists. I hope it didn’t leave you feeling too low. Thanks for persevering!! I know it’s been a bit of a weight on you, waiting for it 🖤

Garry (Not Jerry)

“She’s cold” “The body’s cold?” “No, my mom!” Wow. 😭

Superplin

I think this episode is cathartic for anyone who's lost a loved one because the emotional authenticity is so strong it makes you feel seen in a way that almost never happens with portrayals of death in media. Thanks for a wonderful reaction. Sending a hug.

Nyssa Rawther 🍉🔻

Oh, Veg. I'm gonna need some comfort ice cream to watch your reaction after work later. I sob every single time I watch this episode. It's such a tough one but so brilliantly done that it's in my top 10 Buffy episodes of all time. Hope you're well!

Claire Eyles

Just about to watch the reaction, but I want to say how grateful I am that this episode exists. I was very close with my Grandma, and when I was 8 years old she dropped dead in front of me and my Mum (massive heart attack, part of her heart wall ruptured, totally non survivable event). For years afterwards, even when I was old enough to understand better, I had this nagging feeling that my grief reaction at the time hadn't been right; like there was some sort of 'grief reaction test' and I'd flunked. At the time the only real example of grief after a major death that I'd seen was through television and movies, where it was all very sanitised, and everyone just cried and there was catharsis and coming together, and so on. And that wasn't my experience at all. This episode was the first time I had seen anything even remotely approximating what I went through with my Grandma death's, and watching it for the first time was a really strange experience. On the one hand I was absolutely devastated at the episode itself, and on the other I was so stupidly happy that I was finally seeing my own grief reaction being reflected in a TV show.

The Ginger Historian

This episode is amazing and so difficult to watch. And Anya's monologue is so poignant and relatable to neurodivergent people who have been subject to specific neurotypical expectations during a crisis.

Lime Pie

I don't know about female reactors, but I know I myself am definitely guilty of talking during emotional scenes to distract myself from the actual emotion (even when I'm alone). I don't remember my first watch of this episode that well (partly because it made me so numb), but I probably did it a lot.

Claire Eyles

In regards to the ambulance guys leaving Buffy with Joyce's body, I'm not sure about the protocols in the US, but in my experience at least that doesn't typically happen in Australia. I can remember everything about my Grandma's death in minute detail (even though it happened almost 45 years ago), but my memory gets fuzzy from the point where she was declared dead. I do remember the ambos covered her over with a sheet, wheeled her out, and then came back. I also remember they stuck around for quite some time until another person showed up (I'm assuming coroner). I don't know if they transported the body, or if it was transported by the coroner. I do know the ambos didn't just pronounce death and then leave. My understanding is, in Australia at least, when it's a death situation that particular ambulance is offline until all the medico-legal stuff has been taken care of and/or they are no longer needed on scene.

esme

i love this whole comment, though i will say that this was willow and tara's first on screen kiss because it was literally the only situation where the network wouldn't turn it down for being "too salacious". i love that joss basically said fuck you to the network and was like "yeah, try and reject this one for being too sexy! you fucking can't." but i hate that this HAD to be the direction they went. i'm sure you didn't know, but for future reference this was not a choice on joss whedon's part, and probably not something to revere. i would also just like to address that you said giving them a very heated kiss would've been sexualizing, yet the kiss we got was the one that resulted from sexualization, and the kiss you're describing would've been the one treating them normally. most other characters get steamy makeouts, specifically keeping willow and tara from having them is the kind of attitude that actually sexualizes them, not a kiss where they treat them exactly like the other characters by making it passionate.

Amanda S

Always such a hard one to watch, but definitely one of the best made episodes of any series, ever.

Claire Eyles

Another thing with this episode. I don't know if you remember what the general attitude of critics to Buffy the Vampire Slayer was when it first aired (it wasn't all that positive), but it was kinda great watching them all getting metaphorical whiplash when this episode dropped and nearly all of them started doing a complete 180. Prior to this episode Buffy had tended to be dismissed as 'that silly teenage vampire show', something not to be taken as a serious piece of work, and when 'The Body' aired critics were like, "OMG this is one of the finest hours of television we've ever witnessed, and it's freakin' Buffy the Vampire Slayer that did it?!" Buffy got a lot more respect after that.

Claire Eyles

I'm not sure if it was done on purpose, or just a coincidence (although I can't imagine such a well crafted episode not doing anything on purpose), but go back to season 3 episode 20 (The Prom) and look at the scene where Joyce visits Angel; there's a brief moment where she touches a statue. Now look at that statue, and look at the drawing that Dawn does in this episode, before Buffy tells her about Joyce's death. The resemblance/potential reference is uncanny.

JenM

I just wanted to say I think it is very brave to be so emotionally vulnerable on camera (I don’t think I could do it) and I really admire you for being able to do this. Especially so soon after the big loss you had this year. I hope you’re taking extra care of yourself right now. I lost my dad in June of 2023, and Tara’s “it’s always sudden” hits so hard. After a five year battle with cancer, with his last 6 months being a steady decline, his death was no surprise. He got to be at home his final week. The day he passed, I knew it was going to be his last day. I could just feel it. I was even at his side when he took his final breath. Still sudden. Always sudden.

esme

the vampire part seems really necessary to me. you find yourself thinking "god this is so not needed, why now.." and that's EXACTLY why it's needed. it's so unfair. so so unfair. it's bad timing, it's a departure from what the characters are going through, and it's unnecessarily cruel.. but instead of those characteristics making it a bad writing choice, it makes it a very effective writing choice. it makes you lament the world the characters are living in and the unfairness of buffy's duty more than ever before in the show. that "this is just cruel" knee-jerk reaction is the fuel for the message of "life goes on." we all know life goes on, but having to actually feel the harshness of that reality is a completely different beast. that's what joss was going for. to make the viewer genuinely irrational.

Will Sofer

Unfortunately, that’s not the case in the United States or Canada. Or really anywhere in the Western hemisphere, that I’m aware of. Emotional support, as it were, is not typically built into our public services, aside from Child Protective Services. I wish it were. But there’s a general cultural attitude of “you’re an adult. We have a job to do. We’re not here to coddle you” (no one would ever say this to someone in this situation, of course, but it is very much a thing). Plus, most ambulances, unless they’re attached to a fire department, are actually private business, trying to make money. That varies a bit (there are some municipalities that pay for it, but it’s rare). Even with the majority of them being money-making enterprises, we still actually have a shortage of emergency services pretty much everywhere in the United States, so it wouldn’t really be feasible for the EMTs to stay with the families. But as private businesses, they’d also be missing out on tons of revenue (ambulances rides literally cost thousands of dollars here, which is why many Americans opt to drive to hospitals themselves; the risk of incurring massive medical debt drives a lot of peoples’ healthcare decisions).

Giorgia M

Thanks for the info!! Just to make it clear, I don’t think giving them a heated/passionate kiss would be sexualising. What I meant was, the majority of tv shows previous only included a lesbian relationships as some sort of sexual, risqué, taboo thing. Not deep, meaningful love. An experimentation. A kiss between women as something to please men. Jokes about girls kissing each other to please men. Something that was objectified. In that way, I’d seen very little scenes (up until this point) like this where it was humanising, every day, common place comfort and love. Not a spectacle. That’s what I’m appreciating. A passionate kiss would not be something inherently sexualised. But a lot of writers at the time made that choice to only present lesbian relationships in a sexualised way, these writers didn’t. I understand that networks sexualisation resulted in this choice, but the writers wrote them in a loving, compassionate way that I think was important for the time so that now gay characters can be whatever, sexual, prudish, passionate or comforting, like anyone else. Rather than as some over-sexualised thing treated as if queer people can’t love, only lust (which likely stemmed from religious judgement surrounding sinning and was also reflected in all laws regarding same-sex sexual activity only being repealed in 2003, around this time.) Anyway, good chat, have a nice day!!!

Mo

Interesting to hear you mention Spike didn't belong in this episode. James has said that Joss told him in advance he wasn't going to be in this one and handed him the script, after which James agreed that Spike didn't belong in this episode. I do think if you're going to be spoiled for any episode this should be it, it's the most "useful" spoiler in the sense that you've been warned, if you will. I hope that makes sense. It's such a cinematic episode in that it has to be experienced and every aspect of it is so thought out that the experience is still impactful. I do find it cathartic as a viewer, as well, the unfortunate relatability of it all.

Delia P

It’s a brilliantly done episode. 🥰

esme

this makes me fully understand your point and i agree! thanks for the discussion :)

Aurelius 19

Thank you for your reaction and thoughts about this episode. Don't feel sorry about talking about your personal experience. This episode sadly is universal. We all had to deal with the loss of a loved one during our lives and it's completely normal to relate to this episode in a personal way. Others commented on a lot about the behind the scenes for this episode and some aspects of it but I want to add something I haven't seen in the comments yet. Each character in this episode represents a stage of grief except for Giles (maybe because he is older and dealt a lot with grieving over the years). Obviously Buffy represents shock. As she said she is not sure to be really there and I want to highlight SMG's performance especially during the first act of the episode (when she uses the term "body" for the first time and thus realizes that her mother is dead). Dawn is denial. She doesn't believe Buffy at first and even at the hospital, she has to see (and touch) the body of her mother to be sure that she is dead. Willow is sadness. She is the one who cries the most during the episode and needs to be comforted, focusing on trivial details for not having to deal with her feelings. Xander is anger. He is searching for someone to blame and ends up using violence (against himself) when confronted to the fact that there is really no one to blame in such circumstances. Anya is bargaining. She is trying to find simple solutions for Joyce not to be dead and simple acts to do (wishing that Joyce wasn't dead, probably the easiest thing to do for her being an ex-vengeance demon) to not be dealing with her emotions. And finally, Tara is acceptance. She is the pillar that sustains everyone else. Of course she helps Willow and Buffy the most but is the first one to really take care of Dawn when they are all reunited in the hospital. Even the little smile she is making to Xander when she asks him if it hurts is a way to comfort him a little. She has the personal experience of her mother's passing and, even if it has to reopen some wounds in her, she chooses to use her suffering to help others during their time of need (Ok, have I mention that Tara is my favorite character?). Once again great reaction (as always) and I am eager to see what you will think about the end of this (spectacular) season.

Giorgia M

🏳️‍🌈🩷

Shiby23

So, if you can figure it out we could all use a pick me up video. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116493/ "Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. But when her friends find her secret notebook, the tables are turned on her. Can she win them back and still keep on going with the spy business?" Harriet the Spy is a SUPER young kids comedy staring Michelle Trachtenberg. might be fun to share a cheery young Dawn moment outside of the buffy world of course.

Nyssa Rawther 🍉🔻

It took me two bloody days to muster up the strength to watch this reaction...bloody hell. This episode is just so poignant, so brilliantly done...I can't believe it exists actually. Buffy's shock over finding Joyce was so realistically portrayed. I think "Mom? Mom? Mommy?", "I don't remember" and "Not the body, my mom" are three of the most powerful lines in that scene. And then, of course, there's "we're not supposed to move the body" and the utter shock that she'd uttered those words out loud. OF COURSE we get Willow and Tara's first on screen kiss during a moment of grief. "Can't I be a grown up!?" hurt. Anya's part was written and acted so brilliantly. She's an amazing example of a neurodivergent character. I think that's why I relate to her so badly. I've had relatives who'd passed and I, too, have no clue how to behave or feel or anything. It's INCREDIBLE that Anya's whole "I don't understand why" speech in the dorm room was done that way because they'd done it several times before and Joss Whedon just wasn't satisfied but the actress needed to pee so badly she kind of "rushed" the lines and we ended up with perfection. Dawn breaking down at the school was also so brilliantly done. I keep saying that but oh my God. The use of silence in this episode is incredible. There's no music and you can't hear what's being said but you can hear her cries 💔💔💔 A lot of reactors don't like that there was a vampire at the end but I've always liked that there was. It mirrored the scene after Buffy was ill at the house and she opened the door to see the world was happily moving along. Even on her worst day, Buffy can't escape who she is and what she has to do. She's so beaten down but the Slayer's job is never done. They portrayed the 5 stages of grief through everyone here so well. I love this episode. I despise it greatly but I love it.

Carrie Els

Anya wishing that Joyce didn’t die is so sweet with her being an ex vengeance demon. I like the vampire at the end, life goes on regardless of our own personal tragedies. Thanks for sharing your stories with us. This episode is a great way for us all to process some of our grief 🥰

Diego Zenhäusern

Wow. I didn't even realize they hadn't kissed yet.😮 I think that really goes to show how well their relationship was handeled that I didn't even feel like something had been missing. And doing it like this really was a smart way of doing it!

Diego Zenhäusern

Wow, this was an excellent episode and it made me tear up so many times. Tara and Giles were absolute MVPs here and Anya really killed me with her monologue😭!

Ruins of Wonderland

Commenting super late again, but I'm so glad I watched your reaction to this. I saw this before I lost my mom, and now a few times after, mostly for reactions. After, it was one of the hardest watches I've done with any show. It's just so painful, yet so beautiful. I really appreciate your reaction, and that you found it sort of cathartic. It's hauntingly done as it's just so perfectly accurate to how that first day feels. Of course, it's always different, bless Tara, but still it's just really how it feels. It's mortal, and stupid, and just so surreal. You being vulnerable with us is also appreciated. This type of episode in any show, well it's relatively easy to tell when someone has actually been thru it in a reaction and it just weighs more. Your comment at the end about "what's the point?" and being out of the suffering of being helpless in a hospital, man I just understood that perfectly. Fantastic episode, not one that's easy to rewatch but worthy of it for how well put together it is. It's truly one of the greatest in all of TV imo.