Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "After Life" Review (6x03)

Brief Synopsis: “An unseen force is taking over the Scoobies one at a time. Could this spirit be somehow connected to Buffy’s resurrection? Meanwhile, Buffy is desperately struggling to adjust to life back on Earth and she confides in Spike the reason for this.”


"Bargaining Part Two" (6x02) quick link here                                                                                                    "Flooded" (6x04) quick link here

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1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.

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With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



From a purely emotional, character development standpoint, where our beloved Scoobies are explored in their past actions, their current states of mind, and their future paths, “After Life” is a masterpiece. An absolute masterpiece. However, this episode is let down by some of the cheesy demon drama and the wispy old lady ghost battle at the end. I completely understand the need for the demon and until it was made physical, it genuinely had a creep factor, but after it was made physical the episode lost just a smidgen of its lustre. After the haunting two-part season opener, “Bargaining”, I knew this episode wasn’t going to be pleasant or filled with wit and smiles. There’s no way it could be. It was clear from the second Buffy clawed her way out of her grave that she didn’t want to be alive, which instantly made me think that she couldn’t have been in Hell like the Scoobies thought. If she was trapped in some horrific Hell dimension, one would assume she’d be happy to escape, right? The episode title “After Life” is a clever play on words and sets up not just this episode, but the rest of Buffy’s journey for this season. Buffy’s journey now is her after life. It’s her life after her original life. Unlike most people, who deem their ‘afterlife’ to be what happens to them when they die, Buffy’s afterlife is her life after death, not her life after life...well, that made sense. Since the show’s origin, what it’s done best is take real life issues, put a supernatural element into the mix, and openly explore them. Such as someone being so lonely at school (something almost everyone has felt at one time or another) that she literally becomes invisible, which is how most people feel in that situation.

In the case of “After Life”, the theme-of-the-week could be deemed ‘consequences’. Willow has dragged Buffy back from her afterlife, but at what cost? As we saw in the graveyard when Willow was performing the spell, there was some dark magic involved and Willow was tested in brutal fashion. The terrific thing about “After Life” is that the weird thaumogenesis spirit/bug/lady ghost thingy isn’t the price for Willow bringing Buffy back. It’s a red herring. We’re supposed to believe it is and that when Buffy chops the lady ghost’s head off at the conclusion of the episode she’s going to be okay again and everything is hugs and puppies...until the reveal right at the end. The real price for Willow’s spell is Buffy being dragged out of HEAVEN (oh my God, that scene at the end where Buffy reveals this to Spike...heartbreaking) and forced to live in a life again that she was happy to leave behind. This isn’t going to be one of those issues that gets resolved in a matter of episodes and nor should it be. Buffy did her duty. She died saving the world from the forces of darkness and she was relieved to be out of a world that was too painful for her to live in. Her friends, regardless of their good intentions, royally screwed her over and ruined her happiness. Buffy is depressed for the remainder of the season and that is primarily because she doesn’t want to live. She doesn’t want to be back, she doesn’t want to be stuck in her old life.

Furthermore, another way in which this season takes a real life issue and adds a supernatural element to it is Buffy being dragged out of Heaven. Throughout this season, Buffy is directionless, confused, depressed, and struggling to find her footing...does this sound familiar to anyone? Most people, when they leave school/education and enter the adult world, feel this way. After I left college, it was a good four years before I pulled my head out of my ass (metaphorically speaking), started my degree through the O.U., found a decent career, and started making something of myself. Granted, during my final year of college both my closest friends passed away within six months of each other, so I had extenuating circumstances and depression to excuse four years of directionlessness to some extent. It’s not just adjusting to being alive again that Buffy has to face in this season. With her mother gone, Buffy is thrust into the adult world. She has to get a job at the Doublemeat Palace to pay the bills, she has to apply for a loan in the next episode because she’s broke, and she’s forced to become an adult in a whole new way. Simply, Buffy, Xander, and Willow are forced into growing up. For the first time ever, Xander is better at something than Buffy and Willow. While Buffy and Willow were away at college, Xander was going through some of the struggles that Buffy and Willow do in this season. He’s already had the meaningless jobs, the low income, the living in his parent’s basement. By this point, Xander has a good career in construction and his own apartment. Purely from that perspective, Xander is already one step ahead of Buffy and Willow. Emotionally mature? More than Sunnydale High, but still a lot of growing up to do on Xander’s part. I’ve also got to give a special mention to Sarah Michelle Gellar in this episode (and this entire season). How flawless is she here? Not just the speech to Spike at the end, but everything. From her subtle facial expressions, to her confused, overwhelmed looks, to her body movements, to her sentence structuring...everything is perfect. She makes it very obvious that Buffy is having a hard time, without making it too obvious and overplaying it. The perfect example of this is the scene where Buffy thanks Willow and the Scoobies towards the end of the episode. You can just feel that Buffy is stretching the truth by her body language and facial expressions, but she’s still convincing enough to sway the Scoobies and leave us in doubt. Sarah is usually an incredibly gifted actress, but I’d put this episode up there with her very best.

The episode opens right where “Bargaining Part Two” left off, which was a terrific choice by Jane Espenson, the episode writer. We get to experience Buffy’s entire journey back to life from start to finish. All the uncomfortable moments and all the shocking revelations. From waking up in her coffin, to not being able to breathe, to punching and clawing her way out, to stumbling around Sunnydale, to almost committing suicide because she thought she was in Hell, to now returning home. It’s clear as soon as Buffy walks into the Summers house that she’s overwhelmed and resentful. Dawn gives Buffy a tour through the house to show her the changes that have transpired since her death 147 days earlier. Willow and Tara live in Joyce’s old room and some of the decorations and arrangements are different. Yet again, Sarah Michelle Gellar is amazing. With every passing room, every passing moment, it’s like Buffy is getting slapped in the face with another painful memory. When she looks at a photo of her mother, when she steps into her mother’s old room, when she enters her own bedroom...Sarah’s facial expressions are subtle, yet they easily convey exactly what Buffy is thinking. We can feel Buffy’s pain alongside her. That ‘feel’ element is what makes this show special and why so many fans are still obsessed more than ten years after it finished. While Buffy is dazed and traumatised, Dawn is desperately trying to reconnect with her sister. Dawn has missed Buffy more than anyone, in my opinion. Buffy was her last family member. She was her protector, her sister, and her blood. Dawn didn’t know about the resurrection spell, so Buffy’s return is miraculous to her. While Dawn is trying to crack a joke and cheer Buffy up, Buffy shows complete disinterest. Buffy is just...empty. Hollow and distant.

Spike: “Yeah, I’ve seen the bloody Bot before. Didn’t think she’d patch up so...”
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Dawn: “I was gonna fix ‘em. I don’t know how they got like that.”
Spike: “I do. Clawed her way out of a coffin, that’s how. Isn’t that right?”
Buffy: “Yeah. That’s what I had to do.”
Spike: “Done it myself.”

Firstly, Spike’s face when he first sees Buffy is heartbreaking. While I dislike quite a large section of their relationship this season, “After Life” takes place at a time before all the abuse and destructive behaviour begins. Like Sarah, James’ facial expressions here are perfect and you can read everything that’s going on inside Spike’s head by the way James looks at Sarah. This miracle, this thing he’s wanted more than anything in the world is walking down the stairs towards him. The location of this isn’t a coincidence either as this is right where Buffy and Spike were standing during Spike’s “you treat me like a man” speech in “The Gift” and right next to where Spike promised Buffy that he would protect Dawn until the end of the world. Furthermore, Spike and Buffy now share a connection that they never have. Like a vampire, Buffy had to claw and punch her way out of her own grave. It’s why Buffy opens up to him throughout this episode and nobody else. He can understand what she’s going through. It’s also worth noting that throughout this episode, Buffy is trying to hide her pain and be strong. When anyone asks how she’s doing or pays attention to her bloody and bruised hands, she changes the subject and shies away from having to express the emotional pain she’s feeling. Spike takes Buffy into the living room and in one of the most beautiful, touching scenes of the episode, he tries to comfort her and support her. This scene is all the more special when you consider that Spike has literally just discovered that Buffy is back. He wasn’t aware of the resurrection, he wasn’t confided in, yet he instantly supports her rather than get lost in shock.

Buffy: “How long was I gone?”
Spike: “A hundred and forty-seven days yesterday. And, uh, a hundred and forty-eight today...except today doesn’t count, does it?”

At this point, I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry myself to sleep out of sheer FEELS. Spike has kept count of the days. He’s kept count of the nightmares he’s faced every day while he’s slept. The nightmares where he’s done what he promised and saved Dawn and Buffy. Just watch James in that scene in the living room. Spike can’t take his eyes off of Buffy. He never expected to see her again. She shouldn’t be there, she shouldn’t exist...but she does. Spike then goes on to ask the most important question of the episode thus far...“how long was it for you, where you were?”. Buffy’s response is simply “longer”. Like Angel when Buffy stabbed him and sent him to Hell, time has moved more quickly for her. She feels like she was in Heaven for much longer than 147 days, which only adds to her turmoil in adjusting to life again. We don’t know just how long it was for her. It could have been decades! It’s not lost on me that while the Scoobies are bombarding Buffy with questions, Spike and Dawn, the two characters who had nothing to do with her resurrection, treat Buffy the kindest and most respectful.

In complete contrast to this, the Scoobies crash Buffy’s house and quickly bombard her with questions and noise. This one act instantly shows me that they have no idea what they’ve done to Buffy or how traumatised she really is. They saw her in an alleyway in the last episode, they saw how confused and dazed she was, why aren’t they being gentler with her now? As soon as they enter and start throwing questions at Buffy, a look of annoyed realisation crosses Spike’s face and he disappears from the house. The Scoobies are only trying to help Buffy and they can’t contain their joy at having her back, but I’ve never liked Dawn more than when she tells them all to back the fuck off. Okay, she didn’t swear, but you get my point. Part of the problem here is that they still naively believe (with justifiable reasons, as I explained in my reviews of “Bargaining Part One” and “Bargaining Part Two”) that they’ve saved Buffy from some horrific Hell dimension. However, even if they were right and they saved Buffy from Hell, they should still have given Buffy more space and not asked her what it was like in ‘Hell’ and if she wanted pizza...jeez. I expect that behaviour from Xander, Anya, and even Willow in this situation, but I expect better from you, Tara! Buffy, feeling overwhelmed and disoriented, decides to head to bed instead.

Not long after, we find out just where Spike went...to cry next to a tree outside Buffy’s house. If I wasn’t feeling so firmly on Spike’s side right now, I would point out that if he was up the tree instead, he’d practically be Edward Cullen here. I’M KIDDING, PEOPLE...well, mostly. In “Bargaining Part One”, Xander was the only member of the four Scoobies that resurrected Buffy that showed reservations. He wasn’t sure if they were doing the right thing until Willow said “it’s Buffy”. There’s no denying that Willow was the figurehead of Buffy’s return to life. Not just by performing the spell, but with her words and actions before that. Willow was going to resurrect Buffy with or without Xander’s help because she was convinced that Buffy was in Hell. She could have consulted Giles (who might have had more information and resources than she did), but she didn’t. Spike, who has always been the most observant character on the show, picks up on Willow’s addictions and behaviour way before everyone else does...

Spike: “You didn’t tell me! You brought her back and you didn’t tell me!”
Xander: “Well, now you know.”
Spike: “I worked beside you all summer!”
Xander: “We didn’t tell you. It was just...we didn’t, okay?”
Spike: “Listen, I’ve figured it out. Maybe you haven’t, but I have. Willow knew there was a chance that she’d come back wrong. So wrong that you’d...that she would have to get rid of what came back, and I wouldn’t let her. If any part of that was Buffy, I wouldn’t let her. And that’s why she shut me out.”
Xander: “What are you talking about? Willow wouldn’t do that.”
Spike: “Oh, is that right?”
Xander: “Look, you’re just covering. Don’t tell me you’re not happy. Look me in the eyes and tell me when you saw Buffy alive that wasn’t the happiest moment of your entire existence.”
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Spike: “That’s the thing about magic. There’s always consequences. Always!”

Spike’s last line there foreshadows what’s to come for the rest of this episode in the short-term (with the hitchhiking demon) and also in the long-term (with Buffy’s depression and problems adjusting to being back). Spike is absolutely pissed off at Xander, Anya, Tara, and most importantly, Willow, for bringing Buffy back without informing him. He’s earned the right to know by working alongside them all summer. By looking after Dawn, by patrolling, by staking vampires and hunting demons, by being thrown off a tower trying to protect Dawn and Buffy, by not giving up Dawn’s identity to Glory under torture. Even though he’s never really a member of the Scoobies (nor do I think he’s ever wanted to be), he has earned his place to know information such as this. Even after all of those things I’ve just listed, he’s still shunned and considered an outsider. The Scoobies have their reasons for this. Spike is a soulless vampire. Yet, even with that being said, Spike’s proven that he’s capable of totally selfless behaviour. Should the Scoobies have confided in him? Should he have had a say?

Anya: “I think we screwed it up. She’s broken.”
Willow: “No! She’s not broken! She’s just disoriented from being tormented in some Hell dimension. Probably tortured and it’s like, we don’t even know how much time has passed there for her, possibly years. That’s not something you just get over. Oh my God, what if she never gets over it?”
Anya: “And you think of this now?”

Valid point, Anya, valid point. Why didn’t the Scoobies think this through more before acting? It’s clear from the above exchange that Willow, nor any of the other Scoobies involved, ever thought about this possibility. Xander raised his doubts about resurrecting Buffy to a certain extent, but none of them seemed to really think about their actions before they acted. It almost feels as though none of them expected to succeed. I know that I might be coming across as overly harsh to the Scoobies and I know they were doing what they thought was best, but I can’t forgive them for not including Giles in their plans at the very least. Not just because Giles might have had knowledge they were lacking, but Giles was Buffy’s Watcher. She was his daughter-figure and his responsibility to a certain extent. The person that annoys me the most in this episode is Willow. Willow keeps insisting that Buffy is fine and everything is okay because she’s trying to alleviate her own guilt over Buffy’s disorientation and lack of interest in life. I can understand that behaviour entirely, but it feels like Willow is doing it more to make herself feel better than for Buffy. Sadly, this pattern of behaviour won’t disappear until the next season. While the moments in the first three episodes of this season have been relatively subtle, they’re clearly pointing in the direction that Willow’s character is heading.

Buffy can’t sleep. I’m not surprised at all. It’s her first night back on Earth and she’s already resentful at being brought back. Buffy picks up a photo of herself, Xander, and Willow in an attempt (in my opinion) to make herself feel some human emotion. To ignite some spark of normal response from herself...but it doesn’t come. Looking at that photo is like looking at her life through a distorted mirror. She doesn’t feel the same anymore and that photo feels like nothing more than a distant memory in a life she left behind. The faces of Buffy, Xander, and Willow turn to skulls, which I feel reflects how Buffy is feeling internally...like her former life is dead. Yet again, it’s a clever example of using a demon’s influence to reflect a real life feeling and situation. Great work.

Tara: “Did you get through to London?”
Willow: “Yeah. He’s gonna head back as soon as he can. I’m not sure, like, maybe a couple of days.”
Tara: “How did he take it?”
Willow: “Umm, I’m not sure. Glad, but kinda weirded out, which I get, you know? Lots of ‘dear lords’...and I think I actually heard him cleaning his glasses.”

The conversation between Willow and Tara that follows the above is a fantastic insight into Willow’s mental state. Willow has noticed that Buffy doesn’t seem happy to be alive, which is starting to make her second guess herself. At the moment, Willow is willing to brush this off as Buffy just needing time to adjust to her life again, but the most important part of the exchange is the fact that Willow wanted a ‘thank you’ from Buffy for bringing her back. This is disturbing and self-centred because Buffy has just been dragged back! Even if she was in Hell, you’re first instinct is to get pouty because you didn’t get praised and patted on the head? The Willow of old would never respond like this. I feel it’s a subtle way to emphasise that Willow’s behaviour is different. She seems more concerned with herself and her own feelings that she is with anyone else’s. Willow’s addiction to controlling the people around her is just beginning and her behaviour in the first few episodes of this season is giving us foreshadowing of that.

In the first creepy moment of many in the episode, Buffy appears at the foot of Willow and Tara’s bed and starts screaming at Willow and Tara. This scene was beautifully written by Jane because everything that the demon with Buffy’s face says could have been said by Buffy herself...in a less poetic way. When demon-Buffy-face-demon (yep, I’m calling it that for now) is yelling about blood staining Willow’s hands, she’s talking about the deer that Willow butchered in “Bargaining Part One” as part of the resurrection spell. She’s also talking about the deer when she asks Willow if she patted its head. The rattling bones she refers to are Buffy’s bones, decaying beneath the surface of Sunnydale. The demon must have some form of special teleportation powers because in a matter of minutes it’s able to travel from the walls of Buffy’s house to Xander and Anya’s apartment. While Willow is explaining what just happened to Xander on the phone, Xander looks up and sees Anya laughing to herself while walking towards him and slicing her face with a kitchen knife. Not gonna lie, that scared the shit out of me when I first watched this episode. I was twelve, it was unexpected, and it was fucking terrifying!

Buffy’s lack of caring continues the next day when the Scoobies are researching the demon in The Magic Box. Buffy isn’t listening to a word anyone is saying and out of nowhere she randomly mutters “I miss Giles”. Why wouldn’t she? Giles has always been the man with all the answers and all the fatherly comfort. He’s her guiding light and the hand that helped her through her adolescence and the most traumatising moments of her life before being resurrected (her mother’s death). When the Scoobies start questioning her, she quickly brushes them off and decides to go patrolling to get away from them. Buffy feels isolated and trapped inside her own head and life right now. Nothing is more telling of this than when Buffy doesn’t even mention anything to Dawn before leaving. Historically, Buffy’s first thought before doing anything has always been to make sure that Dawn will be okay. Especially since her mother’s death.

While patrolling, there is a very telling visual moment regarding Buffy’s mental state and journey over the past couple of episodes. Buffy walks past an angel statue in a graveyard and for a moment she stands still in front of it. The image reflected to the audience is Buffy’s body covering the angel statue entirely except the wings. What we see on screen if Buffy with angel wings. That’s what Buffy is now. A fallen angel. Someone who’s been ripped out of Heaven by the people who love her most. She didn’t ask for it, she didn’t want it, and her time to fight was over. She was ready and willing to move on. You could even argue that she was happy to do so. Yet, here she finds herself again. Of course, until we see the conclusion of this episode, this beautifully poetic symmetry is lost on us. We should have seen Buffy’s reveal to Spike at the end coming. Dazed, confused, and alone, Buffy turns to the only person who can remotely understand what she’s going through...

Buffy: “Your hand is hurt.”
Spike: “Same with you.”
Buffy: “...Right.”

Spike gives Buffy just what she needs, right when she needs it. Someone who understands, who cares, and who will listen to her in a quiet environment. Let’s take a moment to talk about Spike’s character development, shall we? One season ago, almost to the episode, Spike was trying to remove his chip and kill Buffy. Here he is one year later and he’s almost entirely selfless (until they kiss, she rejects him, and he starts to resent her later in the season). This behaviour will all tie into my review of “Seeing Red”. Spike’s journey since the beginning of season five to now has been masterfully handled and not one thing he’s done has felt forced or out of character, yet they’ve managed to change his behaviour entirely.

Spike: “I do remember what I said. The promise. To protect her. If I’d done that, even if I didn’t make it, you wouldn’t have had to jump. But I want you to know I did save you. Not when it counted, of course, but after that...every night after that. I’d see it all again, do something different...faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways...every night I save you.”

The demon is revealed to be a price for Willow resurrecting Buffy, which is awesome as it puts the blame mostly on Willow, which it should. Willow performed the spell, Willow was the figurehead and the person driving Tara, Anya, and Xander forward. It’s only fair that the demon’s existence is Willow’s responsibility more than the other Scoobies. It’s also an interesting parallel that the hitchhiker demon is out of sync with the world, but will become flesh if it kills Buffy. That’s exactly how Buffy herself feels...out of sync with the world. Like a blurred outline. There is a part of me that was expecting her to allow the demon to kill her, but ultimately Buffy destroys the demon after Willow and Tara perform a spell to force it to be made corporeal. I’m not the biggest fan of the old lady ghost demon thingy or the fight scene because they both fall rather short of my expectations after the build up. However, as I mentioned before, I’m willing to forgive it because the demon wasn’t the primary price of Willow’s resurrection of Buffy. That’s still yet to come throughout the season and it starts with the conclusion of this episode.

There was a moment, a brief moment, where I thought Buffy was going to be okay and turn a corner after destroying the demon. The next morning when Dawn is leaving for school, Buffy runs after her and gives her a homemade lunch. Buffy seems happier, seems to be adjusting to her after-afterlife, and seems to be acting more like the Buffy of old. Buffy heads to The Magic Box and delivers Willow’s much wanted thank you...

Buffy: “You brought me back. I was in a...I was in Hell. I, umm, I can’t think too much about what it was like, but it felt like the world abandoned me there. And then suddenly...you guys did what you did.”
Tara: “It was Willow. She knew what to do.”
Buffy: “Okay. So you did that. And the world came rushing back. Thank you. You guys gave me the world. I can’t tell you what it means to me...and I should have said it before.”
Willow: “You’re welcome.”
Xander: “Welcome home, Buffy.”
*group hug ensues*

 
When you think about what Buffy tells Spike moments later, that scene is absolutely gut-wrenching...and also extremely well written. Everything that Buffy says (excluding the ‘thank you’ part) is true. She can’t think about what it was like in her afterlife because it’s too painful to realise she’s no longer there. The world did come rushing back to her, but not in a positive way. What came rushing back was all the pain, all the heartache, and all the emotional turmoil that Buffy was glad to be leaving behind. I knew while Buffy was delivering this speech that something didn’t feel right. She was saying the right words, but her facial expressions weren’t matching what I was hearing. Yet again, Sarah Michelle Gellar is flawless here. Buffy is lying in order to make her friends feel better about what they did. They need her. That’s why they brought her back in the first place. They need her to be their leader and to be strong for them, so that’s what she gives them, even though she’s dying inside.

Buffy heads outside and bumps into Spike, who’s lurking in the shadows behind The Magic Box. Buffy reveals to Spike that she wasn’t in a Hell dimension like she just told her friends. She was in Heaven and she was at peace and happy (Buffy’s speech to Spike is in the ‘Quote Of The Episode’ section of this review). What’s incredible about this moment is how gripping and horrifying it is! Rarely do I watch a television show and feel like breathing is a chore. Like I’m unable to process what I’m hearing. Buffy couldn’t have been in Heaven, surely? Buffy couldn’t have been happy and at peace? Tell me it’s not true. The realisation is too awful to put into words. This character, this heroine that we’ve all grown to love and admire has been torn out of the happiness that she craved and deserved. Death being Buffy’s gift allowed Buffy to reap the rewards of that gift and live a happy afterlife, but her friends tore her out of that happiness into a cold, hard, cruel world again, and forced her to punch and claw her way out of her own grave. I once heard the phrase, “sometimes it’s Hell trying to get to Heaven”, but Buffy’s situation is the reverse of that. In Buffy’s case it would read, “sometimes leaving Heaven can be Hell”. Buffy was ripped out of her reward and instantly awoke in her worst nightmare...buried alive. Buffy is now living her own version of Hell. Every second, every moment is a struggle for Buffy right now and there’s no way she can be remotely okay for a very long time. 

Quote Of The Episode

Spike: “Well, I haven’t been to a Hell dimension just of late, but I do know a thing or two about torment.”

Buffy: “I was happy. Wherever I was...I was happy. At peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was alright, I knew it. Time didn’t mean anything, nothing had form, but I was still me, you know? And I was warm, and I was loved...and I was finished. Complete. I don’t understand about theology or dimensions, or any of it really, but I think I was in Heaven...and now I’m not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out...by my friends. Everything here is...hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch...this is Hell. Just getting through the next moment and the one after that, knowing what I’ve lost...they can never know. Never.”

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

What are your thoughts on "After Life"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!

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