Welcome Back, Buffy!

So, I've now started watching season six of Buffy (for which there be spoilers ahoy!). And, y'know, two or three episodes in (depending on how you count the two-hour opener), I think I can kind of see why the season got so much fan criticism. It really is dark, and not in a way that's particularly entertaining, even for an avowed angst-fan like me.

Still, I have to give the show's writers props for daring to tackle the subject of Buffy's resurrection in such a... well, it seems kind of silly to describe it as a "realistic way," when it involves magic spells and such, but I can't really think of a better phrase, so we'll let that one stand. The thing is, lots of TV shows have killed off main characters only to bring them back, and all too often it feels like a cheat, especially if the character is killed off in a great heroic sacrifice which is then cheapened by having the grand sacrifice turn out to be no more than a momentary inconvenience. Shows which strive for a little more realism and dramatic substance "earn" a character's resurrection by having a high price paid for it, and at least a few lingering consequences. (Farscape comes to mind, of course, as do the Star Trek movies.) But even so it's hard to escape the feeling that things are just too easy, that coming back from the dead is a little like coming back from a long vacation, after which everything tends to go right back to normal.

Buffy's resurrection, on the other hand, is nothing remotely like that. Not only is it not anticlimactically easy, there's something about it that's downright creepy. The images of Buffy clawing her way out of her coffin and wandering around Sunnydale in a stupor are more horrific than heroic, and the strong implication that Buffy's friends, with the very best of intentions, may have done her a grave disservice (uh, no pun intended) is a hell of a twist, and certainly not something I've ever encountered before.

However it plays out (and having seen parts of the end of season 6, I more or less know how it plays out), I do have to admire that kind of courage in storytelling.