OTH: Buffy the Vampire Slayer- "Conversations with Dead People" / "Sleeper"
Some brief, and not-so-brief thoughts.
Season 7, Episode 7
Aired November 12, 2002
Directed by Nick Marck
Written by Jane Espenson & Drew Godard (with Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon)
Synopsis: It’s another Tuesday night in Sunnydale. Buffy is out patrolling the cemeteries; Willow is pulling an all-nighter at the library; Dawn is having a party of one at home; Spike is drowning his sorrows at the Bronze; Jonathan and Andrew are returning from their escape to Mexico. Wait, what? Yes, they’re back, and they have a new plan. But we’ll get to them later.
First, let’s look at Buffy, who finds a newly-risen vampire and begins a chase with him, only for her to be recognized. This is Holden Webster, who was a part of Buffy’s graduating class. He’s done well for himself, aside from, you know, dying. The late psych major catches up with Buffy as they share details of their current life paths, stalling their inevitable battle. The thing is, Buffy seems to be enjoying her free therapy session with Holden, because girl has a lot of issues, and he’s similarly enjoying the company. Holden doesn’t even seem to be worried about dying, underestimating the Slayer’s strength. But soon, he gets Buffy to go dark and talk about her relationship with Spike, how he loved her and she couldn’t return the feeling while only hinting at its violent end. Buffy has no time to break down, though, as Holden reveals that Spike is who sired him, and a simultaneously confused, frightened, and furious Buffy turns her old classmate to dust. That last scene is followed up with Spike, who met a young woman at the Bronze earlier in the episode, feasting on her.
In the library, Willow meets with a familiar face. Well, quasi-familiar, as she never actually met Cassie, the girl with premonitions who died a couple of episodes ago, but she recognizes Will right away and has news from someone else- someone Willow will definitely recognize. Tara needs to reach her, but she can’t show herself to her former lover after the serious actions she committed. But Tara’s here to comfort her love, although she has unpleasant news- if Willow ever uses magic again, no matter how small the spell, she could bring forth the end of the world. Cassie/Tara tell Willow to ignore Giles’ previous advice to only use magic moderately and insists that she needs to quit cold turkey. Willow agrees, but she’s taken aback when Cassie/Tara suggest that it would be for the best if she kills herself and gets to reunite with Tara. Willow knows this isn’t her girl, but something far more deadly, who threatens Will that the worst is yet to come.
Dawn’s awesome solo night is interrupted when she hears a knock on the door, followed by the power acting up and the marshmallow she has in the microwave burns up. Something’s going on, which is soon confirmed when Dawn hears a sound she hasn’t heard in years but will never forget- her mother’s voice. Joyce’s spirit is in the house, but Dawn can’t see her, the occasional glimpses aside. She goes crazy and attacks a lot of the house appliances, making sure that this isn’t a demon taking her mother’s appearance, but it sure seems to be. Soon, what feels like an earthquake located entirely within the Summers house erupts, and Dawn has no choice but to dig up some of Willow’s magic books to scare whatever this is away. She succeeds, but before this apparition leavers, it appears as Joyce, warns Dawn that she and Buffy will become enemies, and disappears.
But what about Jonathan and Andrew? They’re heading over to the newly built Sunnydale High to dig up an ancient artifact that can save the world. Jonathan hopes this means that they can show this to Buffy, prove their innocence, and join the Scooby gang. Andrew, however, has other plans as the ghost of Warren returns and convinces him that Jonathan isn’t necessary. This is proven true when, mid-digging, Jonathan becomes nostalgic for their old high school days and wants to know how everyone is doing, even ignoring Andrew’s cries that their classmates don’t care about him. It’s too late, though, and after they dig up what they need, Andrew follows Warren’s instructions and stabs Jonathan, whose body and blood fills up a seal on the ground. Uh-oh.
So Michelle Trachtenberg screeches a lot. Does this realization startle you? I try to be lenient with her acting on the series- she couldn’t be older than 17 when shooting this episode- but I understand why it’s a turn-off to certain fans, for the same reason The Kick Inside isn’t my favorite Kate Bush album (shrill, blah).
That’s a little annoying, and I tend to be a fan of Trachtenberg’s acting on the show otherwise, but it’s hard to ignore. Fortunately, I think the rest of “Conversations with Dead People” is upper-tier Buffy.
It helps that we have four of the show’s current top writers tackling the episode, even if Noxon and Whedon don’t have official credits. While it's normal for showrunners to add numerous changes to a script and leave their name off (usually to allow the original screenwriter to receive their full royalties), but their contributions are arguably a little more essential than usual, as Whedon is responsible for Buffy’s scenes with Holden, while Noxon handled Willow meeting with “Tara”.
This allowed Espenson, one of Dawn’s more empathetic writers, to handle her scenes with Joyce, and Goddard, who had already proven himself to be a worthy late addition to the crew, tackling the Trio. It’s clear that he got along with the actors and understood their characters right away, especially when you hear the chemistry he has with Danny Strong and Tom Lenk in the commentary. He adds in a strong speech for Jonathan as he waxes nostalgically about high school, allowing him one final character moment to showcase his empathy and how he doesn’t belong with Warren’s schemes. Sadly, he has Andrew to snap him back to reality, reminding Jonathan of his social standing before taking his life. It’s like a little slap on top of a bigger hit, adding insult to injury, and it shows how they differ, with Andrew buying Warren’s previous actions.
The Trio material is ultimately the least interesting, partly since the characters aren’t as well developed as the main cast, but also the most plot-essential, and that doesn’t even get kicking until Jonathan’s death at the end. The character material in the other three stories are more interesting, although Dawn’s is missing the companionship the others have. Joyce is only with her spiritually, a breath glimpse at the end aside (featuring the last appearance of Kristine Sutherland as Joyce), which means Dawn is largely by herself. While her earlier material has some fun (like Noxon’s endorsement for anchovies on pizza), the show works better when pairing its well-rounded cast.
Or it works just as well when it combines a main character for someone new or less-developed, like Willow’s meeting with “Cassie”, who claims to be Tara. I thought Azura Skye was solid in “Help” as Cassie, but she’s even better here, and repeat viewings show a touch of malice to her time with Willow even before her failed attempt at a suicide chant, and it makes for a nice, creepy sequence.
But it’s the Buffy material that holds the piece together, credit where it’s due thanks to strong performances from Gellar and Jonathan Woodword, who keeps Holden’s psychoanalytical games fresh throughout as he tries to avoid a more permanent end from the Slayer. It helps that Whedon offers some of his best material in a while, questioning where Buffy is at this point in her life and how this will affect the end game and her relationships with her friends and potential love interest. Wait, what’s with that last one? Kind of moot if Spike is back to feasting on people, right?
The seventh season has been a little lacking thus far, teasing big things with the characters but taking its time to deliver aside from occasional moments like Anya’s decisions in “Selfless”. “Conversations with Dead People” feels like another classic Buffy episode that delves into everyone’s insecurities in a big, exciting manner, and is r ightfully considered one of the last true classics for that reason.
“Conversations with Dead People” won the first Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in Short Form, basically the Oscars for science fiction. This is a pretty notable accomplishment, although previous episodes had been nominated when features and television (as well as radio and albums) were combined together. While I think previous episodes would have been worthy, this is a nice way to wrap up the show.
Season 7, Episode 8
Aired November 19, 2002
Directed by Alan J. Levi
Written by David Fury, Jane Espenson
Synopsis: Following the end of the previous episode, Buffy races over to Xander’s apartment to see if Spike is home. He isn’t, which has her worried as she tells Xander about her recent encounter. After she spells out the basics, Spike arrives and heads straight to bed. Buffy insists that Xander stays home to keep an eye on him and make sure that Spike doesn’t return to his old ways, but he refuses to call out of work, instead calling Anya and asking her to stay over. She’s not crazy about the idea, but Xander refuses to let her talk him out of it. Buffy heads home and sees the house in shambles, but Willow stops her from waking up Dawn, who just went to sleep after the two had a talk about their nights. While Spike is her top priority, her eyes bulge when Willow reveals that Dawn saw their mother briefly. At the apartment, Anya searches for remnants of past victims, which has her digging into Spike’s bedroom, waking him up. Her proposition for sex is denied as Spike is more startled than anything by her intrusion. Anya returns to the living room and pays Spike no mind as he walks out, but calls Buffy right away so she can follow his trail, seeing him hit up an attractive young woman at the promenade. She’s only able to catch part of their encounter as they drift away, but we see the rest. Spike entices the young woman, and what appears to be Buffy behind him convinces him to continue the job and feast on the girl. That’s clearly not our Buffy, but we see the real her later, in Spike’s room, as he starts interrogating him. Spike insists that he only talks to girls like the one he saw last night out of desperation and boredom, but swears that he doesn’t feast on or maim them as he can’t. As for Holden, Spike has no memory of siring someone as recently as him, nor the interest in doing so. While she recognizes how serious he is, Buffy still isn’t totally convinced and heads out. The next day, she and the Scoobies (minus Xander, but with Anya back on the fold) do some research, hoping to see if this new evil which took Cassie and Joyce’s bodies could be related to what Spike is dealing with, and while they don’t find much in that regard, Willow does find police reports of 10 missing people, mostly girls around their ages. Spike also starts to think that something’s up, when he opens his jacket and finds a carton of cigarettes from the girl he picked up and feasted on in the previous episode. He tries to race to the Bronze, but Xander insists on him staying home. Spike has no time for this bullshit, though, and knocks him out, setting his chip off. He arrives at the Bronze and tries to scout for the girl. He can’t find her, but another girl comes by and tries to capture his attention. Spike isn’t interested, but that changes when she reveals herself to be a vampire that he sired the other evening. The two fight, resulting in the woman falling to the ground and being promptly dusted, startling everyone for a second before the music starts back up and people return to normal. Spike runs away and calls Buffy from a payphone, saying that he’s remembering things and asks for her to meet him at a set location. She agrees and heads off, but Spike starts seeing double when another version of himself arrives and chides him for going against the plan… although they can improvise. Buffy arrives in the dark basement that she agreed to meet Spike at, but he’s talking crazy again, or at least that’s what Buffy sees, as she can’t view the second Spike like he or we can. Soon, Spike’s duplicate pulls out a trump card and sings a tune that trigger something in William the Bloody- “Early One Morning”. He lashes out and attacks Buffy, and as the two clash, Spike’s recent victims come to life to feast on the Slayer. The two team up to slay each of them, while one gets a good hit on Buffy and causes her arm to bleed. The clearly fake Spike tells ours to feast on her, and he has a quick taste before everything comes back to him- the people he killed and feasted on, his actions, everything. As Buffy turns the last of the vampires to dust, Spike asks to be slain next, recognizing his actions and begging for comeuppance. He continues to argue with the person Buffy can’t see, when she asks him to shut up and takes him to her house. She suggests keeping him nearby and checking up on him, much to the Scoobies’ chagrin. Buffy keeps her foot down, however, realizing that Spike may be connected to whoever saw Willow and Dawn the other night, and he needs to be kept safe. The episode ends with a trip to London, as a robed man attacks a man and woman. Giles arrives just after their attacks and checks up on who appear to be his friends. The man, Robson, warns Giles that “it” has started and that “they” need to be gathered. He confers right as the cloaked man swings an axe to his head.
That was good! Not A-tier Buffy, but still another solid addition to the story.
Meh, my apologies for being brief here, but plot-heavy episodes tend to be harder to write about as opposed to the more fun and daring changes to form like our previous episode.
But I promise that I’ll have more to say with the next episode, which is a part two, of sorts.
Watcher’s Guidebook:
The real reason Amber Benson didn’t return as Tara was twofold- one, she didn’t want her last appearance in the show to represent evil, but additionally,
reportedly Benson was apprehensive about reuniting with a particular cast member. While she never specified, it’s speculated that she could be referring to Nicolas Brendon… who isn’t even in this episode. Maybe she meant Whedon.
As for why Xander and Anya didn’t appear, there were plans for them to meet up with Jesse and Halfrek, respectively, but the episode was already running long enough as it is and they didn’t make it past the early stages. Additionally, Kali Rocha wasn’t available. Personally, I think it’s for the best, since I believe most fans would be more interested in Tara and Joyce than Jesse and Hallie. I know I am.
Remember Scott Hope, who briefly dated Buffy for like two episodes? It turns out that he’s gay.
Does God exist in the show? According to Buffy, there’s no solid proof. Well Buff, you were in Heaven, you didn’t see him?
Since when did the Bronze have a bouncer? But also, that was Aimee Mann performing, so maybe a bouncer is justified for tonight.
Boo on the episode for spoiling Giles’ return.
Rest in Peace, Get Some Sleep: I haven’t done this in a while, despite ample opportunity. But poor Jonathan. Danny Strong has been a regular guest feature on the show since the beginning, a beloved fixture on set who eventually graduated into one of the most memorable side characters, from his suicidal turn in “Earshot” to being master of everything like in “Superstar” and his unfortunate run in with the Trio in the previous season. Strong always brought his A-game to the material, and he’ll be missed. But don’t feel too bad for Danny, since he’ll have a hell of a post-Buffy career. Besides another memorable side role in Gilmore Girls, he’ll become an in-demand screenwriter and showrunner, developing The Butler and the last two Hunger Games films in the former role and bringing Empire and Dopesick to life in the latter. Few of the core cast’s careers can really compare, in all honesty.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles: In “Apocalypse, Nowish”, it doesn’t take long for Cordelia’s visions to return, although this first appears as a nightmare, a giant beast ready to attack. Instead of Angel defeating it, though, Connor takes the initiative, and it impresses Cordelia enough that the two start making out on the roof with Angel watching, like that image of Wolverine looking sadly at Cyclops and Jean Grey. Gross. And in “Habeas Corspes”, the beast retreats to Wolfram & Heart, and Connor decides to follow it, when he becomes trapped inside. Now Angel Investigations have to break in to save him. There are still some annoying elements, but it’s an entertaining episode regardless.
Next Week: Buffy continues interrogating Spike, but that’s not what’s most important, as Giles has news. And Potentials. What are those? Read all about it next week!