Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Post-death experiences

At last, this season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is starting to make some progress, plot-wise. I’d long been feeling disappointed by this season, as it just seemed to drone on and on without much in the way of story or character development. At least, not nearly as much as we’re used to in the Buffyverse, but I guess it’s still been a lot when you compare it to most other TV shows.

But, now, hey hey, it’s getting good. As we know from Angel (a series with its own set of problems this season, but that’s another entry), Faith is about to return to Sunnydale. This should make for some interesting sparks, since the Scooby gang hasn’t seen her since before she “reformed.” Spike looks as though he just might return to his former badassedness, and hey! was Buffy right about something for once in her life? Her decision to let Spike live — reasoning that while he might be a danger to others, when the chips are down he’ll probably fight on her side — goes against everything her friends are telling her, but in the upcoming “war,” it may just pay off.

My fervent hope is that the Buffy creative team really burns some bridges as the series draws to a close. This is a series that really needs to go out with a bang, and that means killing people off. There have been hints all season that Dawn is in serious danger; viewer predictions that she might be a potential Slayer have proven false, and further hints that Buffy won’t be around to rescue Dawn in her hour of need have been repeated all season long. Simply killing off Dawn would be a bit of a shocker, but if this truly is war, then some serious casualties are in order. ( And please, everyone, let's keep in mind that I'm talking about a fictional television series here. ) Series creator Joss Whedon has never been known to flinch from killing off characters to serve the story, so don’t be surprised if the Scoobies suffer some heavy losses. Of course, sometimes the dead characters get more screen time than the living, so it’s all good.

. . .

Speaking of death, can someone please tell me what happened to Nate Fisher Jr? Six Feet Under took a serious turn for the weird when Nate (Peter Krause) apparently recovered from his risky brain surgery none the worse for wear and we started the season some months later, with Nate married to Lisa (Lili Taylor), the former girlfriend with whom Nate had a one-night stand that resulted in a new addition to the show’s cast, baby Maya. Brenda (Rachel Griffiths, who returns in next week’s episode) is apparently out of the picture, and as married life takes its toll, Nate just gets dowdier and dowdier. His clothes are always a mess, and his hair looks like it has squirrels nesting in it. Neurotic Lisa henpecks him episode after episode, and if she asks him to go to Whole Foods for her one more time, I’m going to go burn down a produce stand. If ever there was a sequence of events that made me pine for a scene in which a TV character wakes up in bed to say “It was only a dream,” this is it.

Let’s hope they can work Suzanne Pleshette into that episode.

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