Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Episode 5.16 The Body

It seems pointless to review this again. So much has been said. Almost all of it true. The main point to make is that it is shocking, in the best way; by which I mean that it jolts the viewer out of their cosy familiarity with the series and gives them something utterly new. I can confidently say that no-one expected an episode like this, even though the events leading up to it should have given us a clue.

At a base level, the device here is that they killed off a main character. What makes the episode work so well is that they really kill her off. No heroic exit, no cheap pathos, for Joss Whedon. Joyce Summers just dies.She doesn't become a pile of dust or an ichor-smeared jellyhead. She stops living - a real human becomes a real corpse, bloodlessly and inevitably. And characters we've got to know over four and a half years become real humans having real reactions to something that is a real tragedy. For a show that is usually fairly blase about death, destruction and general end-of-the-world shenanigans, this is a bold move. And, as you probably know by now, it works. Lesser shows would have kept an episode of such power for a finale.

No. Lesser shows would not have been able to produce The Body. Without doubt, and trying to avoid hyperbole (but failing), this is the greatest piece of television this year. That a genre show, and one known for being more than a little flippant, can produce an episode of such perfection and universal appeal should be surprising. But we know Buffy the Vampire Slayer better than that. Episodes like Season 2's Passion or Season 4's The Hush have showed us that it is something more than the usual teen fantasy pap. The problem is that it will almost certainly never be recognised as such by a wider audience. That's another rant, though, and their loss.

Something about The Body worries me, though. Joss Whedon may have ruined everything. In just over 40 minutes of TV, the rules have been changed. Can we ever return to the Buffyverse we know and love? It seems difficult to readjust our perceptions back to the usual larking around, back to the broad acceptance of death as par-for-the-slaying-course. It's certainly true that the later episodes of the series have received only lukewarm praise. Even the shock events of the finale seemed a bit.. well, ordinary. Oh, Buffy dies? What, again? How are they going to bring her back, then? No such handy ressurection for Joyce, though the subsequent episode's playing around with the idea of Dawn attempting just that is handled far better than anyone could have guessed.

Other shows should feel the shockwave from this episode. The bar has been raised, possibly converting a high-jump event to pole-vaulting. It will be interesting to see how things develop, if the paper-thin characters of some other shows can be beefed up to the point that they could react as well to an event such as this within their own universe. Would the drama be nearly as strong if, say, General Hammond were to drop dead in Stargate SG-1? The X-Files kills off major players almost casually - witness the lack of trauma suffered by Mulder as his entire family is picked off by a government conspiracy (though kidnap his sister in flashback and you're in trouble). Perhaps we took the characterisations in Buffy for granted. The Body serves to remind us how much work has been poured into the living, breathing inhabitants of the Buffyverse. Now all that remains to be seen is if the series can maintain its new standard, and have the good grace to bow out altogether if it begins to flag.