Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "Bargaining Part Two" Review (6x02)

Brief Synopsis: “As a gang of demon bikers attack, the Scoobies are chased away from Buffy’s gravesite, thinking that the resurrection was a failure. Little do they know, it worked and the Slayer is now alive again, right where they left her...under the ground in her coffin. Buffy has to punch and claw her way out of her own grave. The Slayer is back, but she’s disoriented and thinks she’s in Hell. The Scoobies must convince her otherwise before she commits suicide all over again.”


"Bargaining Part One" (6x01) quick link here                                                                                                    "After Life" (6x03) quick link here

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



“Bargaining Part Two” isn’t the easiest episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” to watch, which begins a trend that will continue for the rest of the season with very few exceptions. One could argue that Buffy should have been gone for more the one episode as her death was five years in the making, but I feel the time was right because she’d been gone for almost five months off-screen. At the conclusion of part one, we were left with a harrowing, ghastly image of body’s decayed body being filled with life again. There’s just one problem with that scenario. The Scoobies left Buffy right where her body was resting before she was revived...under six feet of dirt and trapped inside her own coffin. Welcome back to Earth, Slayer! We’re not aware of this yet, but Buffy has been torn out of some Heavenly dimension and thrust back into a body and world that she voluntarily left behind. When the sun rose on Sunnydale at the conclusion of “The Gift” and Buffy looked out at the world around her, the look on her face showed that she was at peace with her decision. She readily accepted death and after everything she’d lost over the past couple of years, it was almost a relief to her to be at peace. Now, she’s not only back on Earth, but she has to punch and fight, and claw her way out of her own coffin, and the Sunnydale that surrounds her has changed since she was gone. Everything is on fire or destroyed and a demon biker group are taking over the town. Also, it’s not lost on me that Buffy’s first act after being resurrected is to punch her way out of her own coffin, just like a vampire has to after they first wake up. The symbolism between a vampire being reborn and the Vampire Slayer being reborn under identical circumstances is not a coincidence. Furthermore, if you remember all the way back to season one’s “Nightmares”, one of Buffy’s biggest fears was being buried alive, so Buffy was already living her worst nightmare from the second she was reborn. It’s not surprising in the least that Buffy thinks she’s in Hell and not returned to Earth. Oh! A little under two weeks ago, I was at the “Hallowhedon 6” convention with Mark Metcalf and other Buffyverse actors. Mark (The Master) said that Sarah Michelle Gellar has a major fear of cemeteries. The first season of the show was filmed in a real graveyard (as was the scene where Buffy is buried alive by The Master in “Nightmares”), but for the second season onwards a fake one was made up in the parking lot because of Sarah’s fears and for convenience.

For the first half of this episode, Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara think that their spell was unsuccessful because of the demon bikers interrupting and decimating (good word!) the Urn of Osiris. It’s clear after seeing Buffy’s return and the Scoobies’ reaction to her that none of the four of them really considered the possibility that they’d succeed or what Buffy would be like if they did. I can entirely empathise with being desperate to return a friend from the grave (as those of you that have read all my reviews will know), especially when that friend is the world’s greatest protector and a Vampire Slayer, but it’s another thing to be prepared for the emotional and potentially physical ramifications that come along with it. Even if Buffy was in Hell like Willow feared, did she really think that Buffy was going to return and it would be smooth sailing from the beginning? What if Buffy had returned as a partial zombie like Joyce almost did in “Forever”? Would she have kept Buffy in the basement and fed her brains and human flesh forever? Above all else, it’s clear that none of the Scoobies considered the possibility that Buffy didn’t want to come back...but why would they?

As I explained in my review of “Bargaining Part One”, Willow thought that Buffy was trapped in Hell like Angel was after being swallowed by Acathla. Her evidence for this theory made sense because the walls that were being torn down in “The Gift” were allowing Glory to return home to a Hell dimension. One could argue that it was a little naive of Willow to just assume that Buffy was in Hell without trying to find out if that were the case, but I can understand why she did what she did. On “Angel”, when Cordelia is missing, Angel uses the Axis of Pythia to discover where Cordelia is and that she’s a higher being in a Heavenly dimension, so Willow did have the ability to check her theory before acting on it. Willow’s second major mistake before resurrecting Buffy was not telling Giles. Even if Willow wasn’t aware of the Axis’ existence, I’ve no doubt that Giles would have been or would have found out about it before they dragged Buffy out of Heaven. This is the first of many examples this season of Willow using magic to adjust her life and the people around her how she sees fit. Unlike most people, I don’t consider Willow to be addicted to magic this season, I consider her to be addicted to changing her life to suit her own selfish needs. Magic is simply the tool she uses to do this. It’s another example of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” taking a real life issue and adding a supernatural element to explore it.

Before all of this, however, Sunnydale is in chaos and the Scoobies think that they’ve failed. As far as they’re aware, the last known Urn of Osiris has been obliterated (another good word!) and there is no way to ever bring Buffy back. As the first half of this episode rolls along, you can see this realisation hit Xander, Willow, Tara, and Anya in turn and they all begin to drastically freak out about how to deal with the demon bikers without Buffy. Anya actually says the words that they needed Buffy Summers. Not just as a friend, but to keep Sunnydale safe from monsters. Without her, they’re all screwed. Willow is magic depleted, Tara isn’t as powerful as Willow, and Xander and Anya are both human at this point. How are they possibly going to stop an entire gang of demon bikers?! They’ve been coping okay without Buffy and slaying the odd few vampires along the way, but they’ve never faced such an overwhelming challenge since Buffy has been gone. After the spell failed and the demon bikers gave chase, the Scoobies scattered. Willow and Xander ran in one direction while Anya and Tara ran in another. Tara and Anya make it back to The Magic Box, while Willow and Xander are still lost in the woods...

Willow: “Xander, it’s...”
Xander: “A bug! A big fiery bug!”
Willow: “Xander...”
Xander: “Get off! Do fireflies bite? No, they probably burn, don’t they?”
Willow: “Xander, it’s not a bug. It’s Tara. Come on...”
Xander: “...And how long have you known that your girlfriend’s Tinkerbell?”

Between comforting Willow and trying to encourage her that the Urn of Osiris could be fixed with glue, Xander actually raises some very important points with Willow in the woods. I’m glad that it’s Xander that calls Willow out on her behaviour because these two characters have more history together than anyone others on the show. He tells Willow off for not confiding in them just how far the spell was going to go at Buffy’s gravesite. They weren’t warned of the slashed arms, the snake coming out of her mouth, or the horrific agony that Willow would be tested with in order to bring Buffy back. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Xander was the one later in the episode to feel the most remorse for bringing Buffy back, as he was the one that seemed the most reluctant to be a part of the spell in the first place in the last episode. After Buffy, covered in dirt and in complete disarray, lands at their feet, Xander sees the total ramifications of their actions. They left Buffy trapped under the ground with no air. Left her to fight her way out of her own coffin just to survive her second chance at life. It was oddly nice to see Xander getting pissed off at himself and the rest of the Scoobies for their actions as usually he’s the comedic relief in situations like this. It once again emphasises that this season is different. Brushing off emotional turmoil with humour is much less frequent in this season than the ones that preceded it and even Xander isn’t willing to make a joke in this situation.

Speaking of Buffy, this episode does a terrific job of showing the audience just what Buffy is going through both internally and externally. Most of the ‘internally’ comes towards the end of the episode when Buffy asks Dawn if she’s in Hell. Before that it’s primarily externally. We see Sunnydale through Buffy’s eyes. We see her blurred vision, her inability to process light, and just how disoriented she is. Remember, it’s not just Buffy’s mind that’s been gone for five months, it’s her body too. She hasn’t used any of her limbs in 147 days. Part of the reason why this episode works so well is that we’re discovering Buffy’s return to life alongside her. We see her wake up in her own coffin, we see her struggle to breathe, we see her smash her coffin apart, we see her hand shoot up out of the ground as she makes it to the surface, we see her LOOK DOWN AT HER OWN GRAVE. That must be one helluva traumatising experience. We see her wander through Sunnydale, alone and confused. We see her watch a robotic version of herself being drawn and quartered. Speaking of that, I know the Buffybot is just a robot, but that was bloody horrifying. In the last episode, it was our substitute for Buffy. It looked just like Buffy and we saw Dawn cuddle up to it for comfort. All of this adds to Buffy’s trauma and her understanding that she’s in Hell. Sunnydale is unrecognisable. Everything is on fire, destroyed, or being looted, and there isn’t a familiar face in sight for Buffy except a robot version of herself that was just torn to pieces. Watching Buffy stumble through Sunnydale made one very powerful question jump into my head...what have the Scoobies done?

After the floodgates opened with that question, a thousand more popped into my head and it would be many episodes before some of them were answered...is the Buffy that’s returned the same one that left? Is she different? Did she come back wrong? Where was she, was it Hell? Is Buffy ever going to be able to adjust to life again? Did the Scoobies do the right thing in resurrecting her without Buffy’s permission? Even in this episode none of those questions were answered. Due to the trauma that Buffy had been through, it was impossible to tell if she’d ever be okay. Even after she drops at the feet of her friends, she isn’t the same Buffy that we knew and loved. She acts as though she barely recognises them. When Razor and the demon bikers attack, Buffy’s Slayer instincts kick in and she’s able to defeat them, but that doesn’t mean that Buffy is magically okay. In fact, she’s still certain that she’s in Hell at this point. Speaking of the demon bikers, while they weren’t the most interesting villains in the world and their dialogue could be insanely cheesy at times, I didn’t mind them all that much because they served the purpose they were designed for. Plus, in their own way they were kinda badass. They destroyed the Buffybot and gained a genuine creep factor with Razor’s rape insinuations towards the Scoobies. Buffy defeating the bad guys makes the Scoobies think that their friend is back, but that’s far from the case. Gone are the smiles, the quips, and the puns. When Buffy looks down at the death and devastation she’s caused, her face is emotionless, which, one could argue, is far scarier.

Buffy runs away from the Scoobies and quickly finds herself back on the ledge of the tower that she jumped off of in “The Gift” to save the world by sacrificing her life. It makes a certain kind of psychological sense that Buffy would be drawn to the place that she died. While this is happening, Dawn and Spike come across the Buffybot’s remains and the Buffybot tells Dawn that the other version of herself is back. Dawn quickly races away from Spike and finds her sister alive once again on the same tower where her sister told her to be brave and live for her. The first words uttered out of Buffy’s mouth since coming back from the dead are simply “is this Hell?”
 

I’m glad that the episode took the time to give us a flashback of Buffy’s last words to Dawn and the look of relief and realisation on her face before she jumped in “The Gift” because it reminded us all how accepting Buffy was of her death. Buffy was tired of fighting, tired of the constant struggles and heartaches, and she was almost happy to be leaving her life behind. Yet, through her friends, she finds herself in this exact spot again, alive. Buffy was okay with dying because she wanted a break from the heartache and constantly having to be strong and protect the world, but her friends have dragged her out of her blissful afterlife for this very reason. They need her. For Buffy this is Hell because this is exactly what she was trying to avoid, only now Sunnydale is on fire and everything is worse than before she left. Since waking from her grave, Buffy’s two worst nightmares have been realised. Firstly, she was buried alive and had to fight her way out of her own grave. Secondly, she’s back in a life that she wanted to leave behind her.

Dawn: “You told me I had to be strong and I’ve tried, but it’s been so hard without you. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll do better, I will! If you’re with me. Stay with me...please. I need you to live. Live. For...”

On top of the same tower where this conversation happened in reverse, Dawn pleads and bargains (hence the episode title) with her sister to live. Dawn’s words mixed with Dawn being in danger due to the imminent collapsing of the tower prompts Buffy into making a decision, a decision to live. Once they escape the tower, it’s clear that Dawn couldn’t be happier about Buffy’s miracle return, but Buffy’s face tells a very different story. She isn’t happy to be back. She left this life behind her voluntarily, yet she finds herself living it again somehow. Buffy wants to still be dead. It’s this very reason that makes the next 20 episodes so difficult for Buffy. Until the end of “Grave”, where Buffy realises that she wants to live again, Buffy is stuck in a life that she didn’t ask to have back. The person that Buffy was before her resurrection is gone. The Buffy of seasons one to five is different to the Buffy of seasons six and seven, there’s no denying it. It shows what a special piece of television “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” is to take its leading character and heroine and turn her into a different person. One that’s battling severe depression and making questionable decisions for the remainder of this season. The bumpy ride is just beginning, guys. Fasten your seatbelts.


Quote Of The Episode

Anya: “I’m not saying we announce it this second.”

Xander: “Anya!”

Anya: “Well, I think it would please them to know we’re engaged. And I think Willow in particular could use a real morale-booster right now.” 

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

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

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