Once More, with Feeling
Writer/Director : Joss Whedon
Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Emma Caulfield as Anya, Michelle Trachtenberg as Dawn Summers, James Marsters as Spike, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg.
Main guest stars : Amber Benson as Tara, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles, Hinton Battle as Sweet, David Fury as The Mustard Man, Marti Noxon as Parking Ticket Woman.
Original broadcast date : November 6, 2001
My one-line description: A landmark in Buffy history. A work of art.
After a jazzy rendition of Nerf Herder¹s theme on a 1940¹s-style opening sequence, the show begins on a bright morning at the Summers house. Buffy¹s alarm clock goes off, and she takes it in her hands and just stares at it. Then the house starts bustling with activity as Dawn, Willow and Tara prepare for school, sharing the bathroom, dressing and brushing their teeth. The happy activity then moves to the Magic Box, with the routine of research, training and wedding plans.
That night, Buffy patrols in the cemetery, as a piano and violin intro starts. She utters the first words of the episode, in song: “Every single night, the same arrangement, got to go and fight the fight” As demons come out and she fights them, she sings about how she¹s been “going through the motions, losing all my drive”, and how nothing can make her feel anything. After killing a few vampires and saving the man they were attacking, she ends the song by singing that she “just wants to be alive!”
The next day, Buffy enters the Magic Box and starts, a bit awkwardly, questioning the gang about whether they happened to burst into song the previous night. Stunned, the gang all start describing their experiences at the same time. Giles even talks about having a whole orchestra accompany him! As Xander starts saying that they have to find what¹s making them do such a spooky thing, Giles takes off his glasses and starts singing about his theory: a dancing demon (no something isn¹t right there); Willow sings her own theory, that a kid is dreaming and they¹re caught in his wacky Broadway nightmare. Then Xander sings abouthow it might be caused by witches, but he quickly backs away at Willow and Tara¹s angry glances. Anya then embarks on an angry rock song about how it must be bunnies, these furry little creatures she hates.
Buffy starts saying her own theory: it doesn¹t matter which leads her into another song, about how they can deal with anything if they¹re together.
After the singing finally ends, Xander is really spooked by the whole thing, but Willow thinks it¹s actually awesome. Giles wonders if it¹s only happening to them, and Buffy opens the front door of the shop to check. Outside, a man (Buffy writer David Fury) holds up a shirt and sings happily about how the cleaners “got the mustard out.”
Closing the door, Buffy confirms that it¹s not just them. Dawn enters, all excited about singing about math in school. Willow and Tara, looking at each other with the same naughty idea, rush off to do “research”. Out in the park, Tara starts singing about her love for Willow; the two dance their way home, up to their room and into the bed, where Tara ends the song by saying how much Willow makes her complete, as she levitates off the bed
At the magic shop, Xander mockingly brings up Willow and Tara¹s “research” activities. Meanwhile, in an alley, the music and dancing gets less fun: a man tap-dances frantically until he literally catches fire and burns. A demon in a nice, colourful suit watches and enjoys the show
The next day, Xander and Anya are enjoying a late morning in bed. As Xander gets up and rummages around, Anya embarks on a song about him, how fine he is and how worried she is about the wedding. Then Xander joins in, spilling his little secrets about his own worries. They then start singing about each other¹s annoyances (Anya complains about Xander hiding behind his Buffy when things get tough, while he complains about her being greedy), but the song ends on fun, ballroom dancing and laughter from both of them.
However, Xander and Anya are less thrilled as they walk down the street with Giles, complaining about the truth that came out of their duet. As they walk, they pass a lady (Buffy writer Marti Noxon) who sings a lament to a traffic officer about how unjust giving her a parking ticket is.
Meanwhile, Buffy goes to Spike¹s Crypt, looking for information. He¹s disappointed that it¹s the only reason she¹s here, and coldly tells her that he doesn¹t know anything. As she expresses surprise at his bad mood, he bursts into a song about how frustrated he is with his feelings for her. As he sings on, asking her to “Let me rest in peace”, they move out into the cemetery, where Spike thrashes a funeral, climbing up on the coffin and dancing on it. Buffy intervenes and pulls him away before he hurts someone. As Spike ends his song, still pleading with Buffy to “Let him rest in peace”, they fall into an open grave. Buffy, spooked by Spike¹s song, runs off.
While talking with Tara, Dawn inadvertently mentions her fight with Willow earlier, which Tara doesn¹t remember. The wicca gets suspicious, though, and starts thinking the dried flower she found on the bed might have been involved in a forgetting spell. After she leaves, Dawn, left alone, starts singing about how no one seems to care or understand. However, she doesn¹t get very far before she¹s kidnapped by some demons.
Dawn wakes up on a table in an empty Bronze. She tries to get away, but some demons with joker faces bar her way. A silent choreography ensues, until Sweet shows up once again in a funky suit and sings that Dawn, having called him forth, is to be his wife. As the two of them dance, Sweet, with a flick of his fingers, puts a ball gown on Dawn and tells her he¹ll make her a queen in his realm. She musically protests, saying she¹s only fifteen, that her sister will be pissed if she¹s late, that her sister¹s the Slayer At these words, the music stops abruptly, and Sweet orders his demons to go get Buffy. He wants to see the Slayer burn
At the Magic Box, Buffy, training with Giles, tells him how grateful she is that he dealt with Dawn on Halloween night (see All The Way). Giles, uneasy, starts singing about how he feels he¹s holding her back, how by being there and taking care of things he¹s preventing her from becoming strong; Buffy doesn¹t seem to listen to anything he¹s saying, however.
Tara arrives at the Magic Box during this scene, and starts researching the spell she suspects Willow used on her. When she finds it, she joins with Giles in a duet where they sing sadly about having to leave the people they love the most: Willow and Buffy.
Later, the Scoobies are congregated at the shop when Spike comes in, holding one of Sweet¹s minions by the scruff of the neck. The minion in question tells Buffy that his master has Dawn, and that Buffy must go to him. The Slayer asks Giles what she must do, and the Watcher, hoping to make Buffy rely on her own strength for once, tells her that she has to do this alone. Spike offers to help, but Buffy won¹t have any of it. Frustrated, the vampire leaves, saying that he hopes both girls burn to death. After he¹s gone, Buffy turns once again to Giles, a pleading look in her face, but he¹s adamant- it¹s up to her.
Walking slowly toward the Bronze, looking defeated, Buffy stops by a fire in a trash can to heat her hands, and starts singing about how she feels frozen inside, how she wants the fire back in her life. Elsewhere, Spike joins the song, hoping that “she fries, I¹m free if that bitch dies”, then deciding he¹d better help her. Sweet and Spike sing the chorus, about how Buffy is drawn to the fire.
At the Magic Box, Giles sings that he¹s having second thoughts about sending Buffy alone; Anya sings that they should help, and they all leave Willow, Anya, Tara, Anya, Xander and Giles singing that they¹ll “see it through, that¹s what we¹re always here to do”. The song continues in a musical extravaganza, Buffy getting closer to the Bronze, singing how one by one her friends are falling away from her, Spike singing about how he¹ll save her, then kill her, the Scoobies singing overlapping thoughts. Finally, Buffy kicks open the Bronze¹s door, and Sweet smiles ruefully. “Showtime”, he says.
Buffy offers a swap to Sweet he lets Dawn go, and she becomes his wife in Hell. Sweet muses that by killing her he could get the same result, but Buffy, knowing where she¹s been, answers that it won¹t help. Curious about her being so dour, he asks her “Isn¹t life a miraculous thing?”. Buffy sings her answer to that one: “Life¹s a show, and we all play our parts” She goes on to sing about how her life gives her next to nothing to sing about, just when the Scoobies and Spike arrive. Giles tells Anya and Tara to give Buffy backup, and they do backup vocals and choreography, as she angrily demands in song that Sweet give her something to sing about. After taking out the minions, Buffy climbs on the stage, still singing, getting closer to revealing the truth
The music drops to a small piano solo, and it all comes out: “There was no pain no fear no doubt, till they pulled me out of Heaven!”, Buffy sings, as she looks accusingly at her friends. Giles and the others are in shock; Willow realizes with horror what she¹s done, and the blow makes her recoil, in tears.
Meanwhile, Buffy once again takes up the refrain: “So give me something to sing about please!”. But Sweet just shakes his head, and Buffy, unable to continue, jumps down and starts dancing uncontrollably, until smoke billows from her. It seems she¹s about to catch on fire, but Spike catches her and stops her. Softly, he sings to her that life¹s not a song, that life is just living, and that the pain she feels will only be healed by living. Dawn echoes Buffy¹s last words to her before she died: “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.”
Sweet applauds, and announces that he has to leave with the one who summoned him Dawn. She vehemently denies doing that, and the real culprit steps forth Xander. He explains that he wanted all the tensions gone before the wedding, and then asks Sweet if it means he has to be his bride. The demon obligingly accepts to waive that clause, and leaves with a song, saying they should be happy that all their secrets are now in the open.
The gang is just frozen there, unsure of what to do, and Dawn voices their feelings by initiating one last song, “Where do we go from here”. They sing about how they¹ve won the battle, but can¹t be happy about it.
Spike suddenly realizes how stupid he looks doing choreography, mutters “Bugger this” and leaves. Buffy runs after him, but he angrily tells her that she should go back and get her kumbayaya¹s out. She answers him by singing once again “I touch the fire and it freezes me”. He launches into a reprise of “Let me rest in peace”, and Buffy¹s singing acknowledgement that this isn¹t real, but she just wants to feel, ends in a passionate kiss
“The End” appears on the screen.
Summary by OttsFiveByFive.
Episode Ratings
Mac - <—Best Episode of the Season—> “Absolutely entertaining throughout. I laugh, I cried, it became apart of me. One of the finest hour (+’s) of television ever made.”
Quotes
Key: B=Buffy, G=Giles, X=Xander, W=Willow, S=Spike, A=Anya, T=Tara, D=Dawn, SW=Sweet
X: Respect the cruller, and tame the doughnut! A: That’s still funny, sweetie.
B: So did anybody… last night, you know, did anybody, um… burst into song? X: Merciful Zeus! W: We thought it was just us! [all speaking at once] G: Well, I sang, but I had my guitar at the hotel. That would explain the huge backing orchestra I couldn’t see, and the synchronized dancing from the room-service chaps. W: It was bizarre. T: We were talking, and then it was like… B: Like you were in a musical? W: We did a whole duet about dueling mushrooms… A: …and we were arguing and then everything rhymed and there were harmonies, and a dance with coconuts. W: …with the couscous. X: It was very disturbing.
B: But it seemed perfectly normal. X: But disturbing, and not the natural order of things and do you think it’ll happen again?
X: See, okay, that was disturbing. W: I thought it was neat.
B: Well, I’m not exactly quaking in my stylish, yet affordable boots, but there’s definitely something unnatural going on here. And that doesn’t usually lead to hugs and puppies.
D: Oh, my god. You will never believe what happened at school today. B: Everybody started singing and dancing? D: I gave birth to a pterodactyl. A: Oh my god, did it sing?
X: So what’d you sing about? D: Math.
T: That’s right! The volume. The text. G: What text? W: The volume-y text.
G: Well, I’m a hair’s-breadth from investigating bunnies at the moment, so I’m open to anything.
W: The sun is shining, there are songs going on, those guys are checking you out… T: What? What are they looking at? W: The hotness of you, doofus! T: Those boys really thought I was hot? W: Entirely! T: Oh, my god. I’m cured! I want the boys! W: Do I have to fight to keep you? ’Cause I’m not large with the butch.
X: You see the way they were with each other? The get-a-roominess to them? I bet they’re… [notices Dawn] singing. They’re probably singing right now.
D: Besides, it’s all kind of romantic. B/X in unison: No, it’s not.
SW: That’s entertainment.
A: You don’t have to go to work? X: No, I shut the crew down for the day. My guys started dancing around me. I don’t know if I can deal. It’s a flab thing. So, waffles? A: Will you still make me waffles when we’re married? X: No, I’ll only make them for myself, but by California law, you will own half of them.
X: It’s a nightmare. It’s a plague. It’s like a nightmare about a plague. [overlapping dialogue] X: It was just, like, I didn’t want to be saying things, but they just kept pouring out. And they rhymed, and they were mean. And my eyes aren’t beady! A: It has to be stopped. It’s like we’re being watched. Like there was a wall missing in our apartment. Like there were only three walls and not a fourth wall… and my toes aren’t hairy!
A: Clearly our number is a retro-pastiche that’s never going to be a break-away pop hit.
X: Work with me, British-man. Give me an axe and show me where to point it.
X: Somebody set people on fire? That’s nuts. A: I don’t know. One more verse of our little ditty, and I would have been looking for a gas can.
G: I was able to examine the body while police were taking witness arias.
X: Okay, but we’re sure that the things are related – the singing and dancing and burning and dying?
S: The sun sets, and she appears. Come to serenade me?
S: Well, I’ve seen some damn funny things the last two days. 600-pound Chirago demon making like Yma Sumac - that one’ll stay with you.
S: Drink? B: A world of no.
S: You’ve just come to pump me for information. B: What else would I want to pump you for? I really just said that, didn’t I?
S: So… you’re not staying, then?
T: Lot of homework? D: Ah, math. It seemed cooler when we were singing about it.
T: Willow said they have a lead on the whole musical-extravaganza evil. This demon that can be summoned - some sort of lord of the dance. But not the scary one - just a demon.
D: It gives me belly rumblings when you guys fight.
D: Yes, the 15-year-old can spend half-an-hour alone in her locked house.
B: I feel like I should bow, or have honor or something.
B: I’m just worried this whole session’s going to turn into some training montage from an 80’s movie. G: Well, if we hear any inspirational power chords, we’ll just lie down until they go away.
B: Yeah, I’m pretty spry for a corpse.
S: Strong. Someday, he’ll be a real boy.
B: So, Dawn’s in trouble. Must be Tuesday.
A: Dawn may have had the wrong idea in summoning this creature, but I’ve seen some of these Underworld child-bride deals, and they never end well. Maybe once.
G: If I want your opinion, Spike, I’ll… I’ll never want your opinion.
S: Forget them, Slayer. I got your back. B: Thought you wanted me to stay away from you. Isn’t that what you sang? X: Spike sing a wittle song? A: Would you say it was a break-away pop hit or more of a book number? X: Let it go, sweetie. S: Fine. I hope you dance till you burn. You and the little bit.
B: What do you expect me to do? G: Your best.
SW: I love a good entrance. B: How are you with death scenes?
B: You got a name? SW: I’ve got a hundred. B: Well, I ought to know what to call you if you’re gonna be my brother-in-law.
SW: What if I kill you? B: Trust me, won’t help. SW: Oh, that’s gloomy. B: That’s life.
D: The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.
SW: Now, that was a show-stopping number. Not quite the fireworks that I was looking for…
G: If it was in the shop, then one of us probably… [Xander raised his hand] A: Xander! X: Well, I didn’t know what was gonna happen! I just thought there was gonna be dances and songs.
SW: I think everything worked out just fine. X: Does this mean that I have to… be your Queen? SW: It’s tempting. But I think we’ll waive that clause just this once.
SW: Big smiles, everyone. You beat the bad guy.
S: You should go back inside. Finish the big group sing, get your kumba-yayas out. B: I don’t want to. S: The day you suss out what you do want, there’ll probably be a parade. Seventy-six bloody trombones.
Credit: The Sunnydale Slayers