Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "All The Way" Review (6x06)

Brief Synopsis: “Dawn sneaks out and spends Halloween night with a friend and two guys. What Dawn isn’t aware of is that the two guys are vampires and are contemplating turning her into one as well. Meanwhile, Tara expresses concern that Willow is too reliant on magic, while Xander and Anya celebrate their engagement in public.”


"Life Serial" (6x05) quick link here                                                                                            "Once More With Feeling" (6x07) quick link here

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“All The Way” is most definitely one of the weaker episodes of the season and of the show as a whole. The monsters-of-the-week are pretty lame, the plot isn’t overly interesting, and there’s not much in the way of exciting or must-see moments. However, it isn’t a complete write-off as a lot of things in this episode setup “Once More With Feeling”, which in turn sets up the remainder of the season. When you look at this episode from that perspective, suddenly it takes on a whole new light. “All The Way” is split into two distinctive sections. The first of which is the primary story revolving around Dawn, our leading character of the episode. This is the half of the episode that just tanks and drags down the much stronger second section. The second section revolves around the rest of the Scoobies and pushes their stories along nicely and somewhat subtly. After Xander and Anya make their engagement public (finally!), it releases a butterfly effect of sorts on everyone. All of this butterfly effect will be felt in full force in the next episode. From Xander’s wedding fears to Willow being too reliant on magic, to Giles’ thoughts about leaving again because Buffy is too dependent on him and won’t heal, to Willow making Tara forget about their argument, to Dawn stealing at The Magic Box, to Buffy feeling emotionally frozen and directionless, to Tara and Giles being the only two people to see Willow’s magic spiralling out of control. Seriously, guys, there is so much “Once More With Feeling” setup here.

Before any of that, it’s Halloween and The Magic Box is filled with people. The only person who seems to be enjoying the chaos is Anya, as mo’ people means mo’ money. The scenes at The Magic Box are important because it’s the calm before the storm, which is ironic when you consider the chaos that’s surrounding the Scoobies while they’re there. After Xander announces his engagement to Anya (spurred on by the most adorable cashing up dance ever by Anya and Dawn), the episode and season start to take shape. Xander and Anya share a long, deep, passionate kiss after their engagement and it flat-out disgusts Giles. We do not partake in such grotesque public displays of affection in England!

Buffy: “Is that why you’re always cleaning your glasses? So you don’t have to see what we’re doing?”
Giles: “Tell no-one.”

WHAT?! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT REVELATION OF THE SEASON! SCREW BUFFY BEING IN HEAVEN OR XANDER LEAVING ANYA AT THE ALTAR, WE JUST DISCOVERED WHY GILES IS ALWAYS CLEANING HIS GLASSES! WAS IT DUE TO THEM BEING DIRTY OR BECAUSE IT HELPED HIM THINK? HELL NO, IT’S BECAUSE PEOPLE DISGUST HIM. I’VE NEVER BEEN PROUDER.

 
Dawn

Dawn is in her rebellious teenager phase. Not only do a large number of teens do this in real life, but Dawn has major extenuating circumstances. Firstly, her mother died. Secondly, her father is useless and absent. Third, her sister died. Fourth, she’s a one-year-old ball of mystical green energy that was turned human by some monks because a Hell God wanted to use her to return home...are we surprised that Dawn is rebelling and stealing? I’m sure not. In fact, when you consider all of this, Dawn is actually pretty well adjusted. In addition to being a kleptomaniac and feeling neglected and lonely, Dawn is also pulling the ol’ switcharoo on Buffy. It’s not lost on me that Buffy comes down hard on Dawn for her behaviour in this episode, but Buffy used to do the exact same things! How many times did Buffy lie to Joyce about where she was going? How many times did Buffy kiss a vampire (granted he had a soul)? Dawn lies to Buffy about going to her friend Janice’s house and in reality she meets up with Janice and two guys, before they start to toilet paper houses and act like little juvenile delinquents. Remember, this is all pretty normal behaviour for teenagers. Sneaking out the house, lying, rebelling, kissing people...and even having sex. Believe it or not, kiddies, sex doesn’t always lead to death and destruction like it does in the Buffyverse. You may need to sit down after that revelation.

So when we hear Zack and Justin discussing going “all the way” (hence the episode title) with Janice and Dawn, it’s perfectly natural to assume they’re talking about sex, not siring. Everything that came after this conversation was creepy, even before the revelation that they’re vampires, because suddenly it seemed a bit rapey potentially. Every time they said something, every time they looked at the girls, I just kept thinking “go home, Dawn, go home now!”. Dawn sneaks up on to an old man’s porch and proceeds to break his pumpkin (throw her in jail already!). However, the old man (Mr. Kaltenbach) catches her and invites them all in for a drink and snacks...what kind of bizarro world punishment is this for vandalism? Soon after, it’s revealed that Justin is a vampire, after he drains and kills Mr. Kaltenbach. Didn’t see that coming, to be honest. I should have though, all the signs were there. With this reveal, the discussion about going “all the way” takes on an even darker meaning. They were talking about siring Dawn and Janice. Could you imagine Dawn as a vampire?! Do you think she’d yell “get out, get out, get ouuuuuuut!” to the sunlight? Plus, her name would be rather ironic if she was a vampire. Think about it.

As the episode rolled along, it became apparent that Dawn was falling for a vampire, just like her sister. Oh, sweet baby Dumbledore, how many parallels are there between Dawn and Buffy’s teenage years in this episode? Both fell for a vampire, both lied and snuck out...and both killed their vampire lover. When push came to shove, Dawn dusted Justin rather than allow herself to become a soulless vampire. I guess Dawn is one point up on Bella. Let’s also not forget that Justin is nothing like Angel. He doesn’t have a soul, he doesn’t love Dawn, he simply desires her. So when Buffy tells Dawn off and explains to her that it isn’t the same thing as when Buffy dated Angel, Buffy was right. It isn’t the same. However, Dawn does have a point when she remarks that it’s always different for Buffy. I get that it’s different because Angel had a soul, but what about Spike throughout this season? What about the rough sex, lying, and abuse? Considering that this episode is merely one week before “Once More With Feeling”, where Buffy first kisses Spike, it comes across as hypocritical. I’m so glad that Justin was killed off. Not because he was a vampire or because he befouled sweet, innocent Dawnie, but because of this unforgiveable cheesiness...

Justin: “I just wanna taste you.”

Kill me, kill me now. He makes me miss Ben.

While it’s a nice change of pace to see Dawn out in Sunnydale at night by herself, I feel like too much time was dedicated to this ‘meh’ story. That’s not a slight on Dawn as a character or Michelle as an actress, it’s simply that most of the writers on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” don’t know what to do with her character. The idea of Buffy having a sister and the implementation of that in the last season was absolutely spectacularly handled. It’s one of the best stories the show ever produced. But I don’t think Joss or the rest of the writing staff thought about what they would do with her character after she was The Key and settled into a regular human life. Does Dawn learn a lesson here? Not really. Is this an important moment for Dawn? Not really. Is this made up for by an amazingly handled standalone episode? Not really. The ultimate message behind this episode is that Dawn is rebelling against Buffy because she feels neglected. That’s it. Dawn’s story here actually holds more importance for everyone else than it does for her. It’s the catalyst for Willow and Tara’s argument at The Bronze, it pushes Buffy and Spike closer together, and it’s the final nail in the coffin for Giles leaving Sunnydale.


Anya, Xander, And The Engagement

Xander: “Arr! Careful, me mateys! These be fireflies spat from a volcano off the coast of Kathmandu. Arr!”
Chunky Kid (that’s his credited name for the episode! No joke!): “You’re not a real pirate! Real pirates live on boats and don’t look stupid!”
Xander: “Oh, a salty swabbie! Maybe you be fishin’ for the taste of me hook!”

BEANS! BEANS FROM “EVEN STEVENS”! BEANS HAS JUST MADE AN APPEARANCE ON “BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER”! I shall never apologise for my joy over this trivia fact. Also, it’s kinda ironic that Xander is a pirate with an eye-patch for Halloween 2001. By Halloween 2003, he’ll have an eye-patch for real due to Caleb mistaking his eye socket for a bowling ball hole.

After watching his fiancée do the ‘cash up dance of joy’ (I’m copyrighting that phrase), Xander is inspired to announce their engagement to the Scoobies. The funny thing about this is that the second he announces it, he instantly starts to worry. The fear is written all over his face throughout this episode and this is months and months before the wedding. I can’t say I blame Xander here. Not only is he terrified of turning into his father, but he’s also getting bombarded with huge, scary wedding questions throughout this episode. From Giles asking if they’re going to move in together to Anya remarking that she doesn’t want a June wedding because they have the highest percentage of calls for vengeance, Xander is overwhelmed and close to the point of panic attacks. Again I’ve got to say, how did so many people not see it coming when Xander didn’t go through with the wedding?! He’s had one foot out the marriage since the second they got engaged! Right from the start Anya has seemed much more certain on her future with Xander than he has with her. Even though he denied it, I fully believe that Anya was right to a certain extent when she told Xander in “The Gift” that he was only proposing because he thought the world was going to end. I don’t think he thought through the decision before acting. Even though he’s been stalling, he hasn’t actively showed signs of regret or terror until this episode and I think that’s because the wedding is real now that it’s public. The idea of marriage is over and it’s been replaced with the reality. A reality of mortgage payments, children, responsibilities, and having to be an adult. Whenever Anya or Giles mentions something important about the wedding like moving in together, babies, or a car, Xander caves. It was nice to see a rare moment of bonding between Xander and Giles, though. Giles was giving Xander advice and for a few brief minutes they came across as a father and son, which is wonderful to see when you consider Xander’s strained relationship with his biological father. 

Anya: “I mean, there’s just so much to consider, though. I mean, planning the wedding and new cars, house, and babies. You have to plan for babies or they just run roughshod over your entire existence.”
Xander: “Yeah, you’ve gotta know what to call ‘em before they hit college.”
Giles: “Ah, Rupert is an exceptionally strong name.”
Anya: “Ha ha ha! Yeah, if we want our progeny to eat paste and have their lunch money stolen.”


Willow & Tara

Anya: “How about you, ever play ‘Shiver Me Timbers’?”
Tara: “I’m not really much for the timber.”

“All The Way” contains the first major event of Willow’s addiction to magic and her growing tendency to manipulate and control the people around her. When you look back at Willow’s arc this season, the end of this episode is the starting point. Sure, Willow has been over-reliant on magic for a while now, but she never stepped over the line. Sure, Willow resurrected Buffy without thinking it through, but she could justify that with her theory that Buffy was trapped in a Hell dimension. At the conclusion of “All The Way”, Willow uses magic purely for selfish reasons...to make Tara forget an argument they had. There is absolutely no way to justify this behaviour. It’s wrong, it’s disgusting, it’s a violation, and we’ve seen villains do less evil things than this. The great thing about it is that it’s been a long time coming. For three and a half years we’ve seen Willow grow more and more powerful as a witch. We’ve seen her grow more and more reliant on magic to do everyday things like light fires or decorate a room. The end of this episode is in character by this point! It doesn’t make the audience annoyed because Willow would never do that because, simply, she would. Willow has always been the level-headed, responsible, caring Scooby, but we’ve seen her grow more reckless, more dangerous, and more irresponsible...especially in the beginning of this season. Stabbing a baby deer to death in “Bargaining Part One”, resurrecting Buffy without consulting Giles, and decorating Buffy’s house with magic instead of putting up the decorations by hand all emphasise just how far Willow has fallen. Tara and Giles seem to be the only Scoobies that notice something is wrong, which is telling as they’re the two most mature Scoobies without a doubt. Man, do you remember the stuttering, nervous, shy, under-the-thumb Tara that was introduced to us in “Hush”? I can’t even pinpoint when it happened, but Tara has grown so, so much! As I mentioned in the introduction to this review, Giles and Tara are going through similar experiences here. Giles with Buffy and Tara with Willow. It’s an important connection to make because they’ll sing together about it in the next episode, “Once More With Feeling”.

The most startling part of Willow’s behaviour is that she seems to have zero notion that she’s doing anything wrong! She refuses to believe that a spell could go wrong or someone could get hurt. Because she’s grown into such a powerful witch, she feels invincible. When Tara confides her fears to Willow and tries to encourage her to look at her behaviour and her reliance on magic, Willow slaps her down and brushes it off. This stubborn behaviour is a prelude to Willow’s actions over the next half of this season. I can’t recall ever being more annoyed and frustrated with a character than I was when I saw this season for the first time. I desperately wanted to jump through the TV and talk some sense into Willow! WHY ARE YOU BEING SUCH A MORON?! HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT YOU’RE HEADING DOWN A DANGEROUS ROAD AND SOMEONE IS GOING TO GET HURT?! YOU USED TO BE THE INTELLIGENT ONE!

Willow: “I’m just gonna clear the crowd.”
Tara: “How?”
Willow: “I’ll just shift everyone who isn’t a fifteen-year-old girl into an alternative dimension.”
Tara: “What?!”
Willow: “No, it’ll be for, like, a fraction of a second. They won’t even notice.”
Tara: “Will., no, you can’t!”
----------------------------------
Tara: “Willow, you are using too much magic. What do you want me to do, just sit back and keep my mouth shut?”
Willow: “Well, that’d be a good start.”
 
To quote Damian from "Mean Girls": "OH NO YOU DID NOT!"

How can you possibly get to a point where you think that transferring a group of people to an alternative dimension is a good idea?! Like, how will that possibly go well? HAVE YOU NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS?! IT NEVER ENDS WELL! As I mentioned, Willow feels invincible. She can’t even comprehend that she, the great and powerful Willow, could mess it up and leave a bunch of people stranded on another planet. There is a shadow of darkness in Willow right now, which I think is the origin of the Dark Willow that will emerge towards the end of the season. Willow has been to some messed up places already. Killing a deer, having the darkness of Osiris running through her veins when she was being tested in “Bargaining Part One”...surviving all of this has given her one hell of an ego. Look at how cold she is to Tara when Tara tries to talk some sense into her! Even though she gets shot down (I don’t like using that phrase with Tara for some reason...), I was pleased to see that someone other than Giles (the daddy of the group) was standing up to Willow and trying to make her see sense. Willow’s rebuke of Tara’s support and attempt at helping means that Tara leaves Willow behind at The Bronze and storms away. The end result of this is Willow performing a spell so that Tara will forget the argument ever happened. She somehow puts the forgetting spell on a flower. This flower will be important in the next episode as that, coupled with Dawn’s comment, makes Tara realise what has happened. How could Willow be so stupid and self-involved? It’s mind-blowing! It’s a disaster waiting to happen.


Buffy & Spike

“All The Way” contains Buffy’s first real, genuine moment of humanity, in my opinion. When Giles tries to convince Anya and Xander to name their first child ‘Rupert’ and Anya rebukes him, Buffy laughs. Not a fake laugh, not a laugh to pretend she’s okay, but a legitimate moment of laughter. For the briefest of moments, the old Buffy Summers was back. Unburdened by life and depression. With the darkness she’s already seen this season and the overwhelming darkness that lays ahead, I found myself really appreciating this moment. How often do we see something like that from Buffy or, well, anyone this season? This season is mostly suffocating sadness and struggling, so you need to gather up these moments and cradle them close to yourself to keep you sane through the darkness that’s to come. Even in this episode, while Xander, Anya, and the rest of the Scoobies are celebrating the engagement, Buffy looks lost. It’s as though she doesn’t know how to fit into this happy, joyous occasion because inside she’s anything by joyous. She’s broken. She’s miserable...and she’s starting to look for ways to cope with that.

In the last episode, we saw Buffy turn to alcohol to numb the inner pain she’s experiencing. “All The Way” gives us the first tiny glimpse into what she’s going to turn to next. When Spike asks Buffy is she wants a little “rough and tumble”, Buffy’s mind instantly jumps to sex. It was clear from Spike’s voice and the conversation they were having that he was talking about patrolling and his words were completely innocent. Spike is the only person that knows where Buffy was or what she’s going through. Now that Buffy is starting to look for another way to deal with her pain, it makes sense that she’d turn to Spike. She doesn’t belong with her friends anymore, they don’t understand what she’s going through, but Spike does. By the conclusion of the next episode, “Once More With Feeling”, Buffy and Spike will have shared their first non-witchcraft kiss. Outside of Buffy’s laughter about Giles’ name, watch Buffy’s face whenever Xander and Anya are being cute and coupley or whenever Willow and Tara are being cute. Her mental state is written all over face. Every line she sings in “Going Through The Motions” and “Walk Through The Line” is plastered across her face here. Great facial acting from Sarah, and terrific foresight from Joss on where he’s going with her character.

One final thing to touch upon is Buffy leaving Dawn’s punishment to Giles. Buffy doesn’t even try to lay down the law with Dawn, she delegates the job to Giles because Giles is her father-figure and her way to escape her responsibilities. Giles is clearly troubled by Buffy’s over-reliance on him. She asked his opinion on Dawn going to Janice’s house, she left Giles to sort out her bills when she disappeared to meet Angel, and now she’s leaving Giles to deal with Dawn. I can completely understand Buffy’s need to escape all of this responsibility at the moment, but these are things that she has to face if she’s ever going to start to heal. Giles knows this all too well and it’s the foundation of his decision to leave again in a couple of episodes. So, there you have it. Xander and Anya’s engagement is in the open, but Xander is already panicking. Buffy is feeling isolated from her friends and numb to the world. Spike is starting to realise that Buffy is using him so that she can feel something. Giles is concerned that Buffy is too reliant on him to allow herself to heal. Willow mind-raped Tara. Dawn is rebelling and stealing...everything that we’ve seen in this episode will be openly addressed to some extent in the wonderful, groundbreaking musical episode of the show, “Once More With Feeling”. All these secrets they’ve been concealing will be pushed into the spotlight. I cannot wait.


Quote Of The Episode

With the season we’re in and the darkness that’s ahead, I found myself desperately clinging to every second of comedy in this episode...

Buffy: “What happened to Xander?”

Giles:” He kept poking me with his hook. I sent him over to charmed objects. With any luck he’ll poke the wrong one and end up in an alternative dimension inhabited by a 50-foot Giles that squishes annoying teeny pirates.”

FINAL SCORE: 4/10

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

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