Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "Gone" Review (6x11)

Brief Synopsis: “Buffy and Dawn clear the house of magical items and supplies to help Willow, and Buffy has a surprise visit from a social worker checking on Dawn's home life following Joyce’s death. The meeting doesn't go well and in a fit of rage afterwards, Buffy cuts off her hair. Meanwhile, The Trio have built an invisibility ray and accidentally hit Buffy with it.”


"Wrecked" (6x10) quick link here                                                                                                       "Doublemeat Palace" (6x12) 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?



Like “Wrecked” before it, “Gone” is a hit and miss episode, but more of the former than the latter. After the misery of watching Willow and Buffy make mistake after mistake in the past few episodes, it was nice to see the first steps of positive growth here. Sure, they have a long way to go, but they both start their journeys back to happiness by the conclusion of “Gone”...well, until Tara dies. What’s interesting to note is that Buffy and Willow both start making positive progress after they start openly communicating their problems. Buffy doesn’t bring up the boning Spike aspect of her depression, but she does open up to Willow at the end of the episode about how she’s feeling. In contrast, Willow manages to help solve Buffy’s invisibility with good ol’ fashioned detective work and the internet. No magic required. However, before we delve into the deliciousness of the episode, I need to talk about my biggest criticism...depression isn’t funny. Isolation isn’t funny. Putting a little humour into this episode is acceptable and needed, but a huge part of this episode is played for comedy. When you think about the reasons behind Buffy being happy that she’s invisible, it isn’t the least bit funny. Trying to mix depression with humour isn’t wise. Granted, as someone who battled severe depression for four and a half years, I might be somewhat biased. Like its two predecessors, “Gone” largely revolves around our two leading ladies, Buffy and Willow. After hitting rock-bottom in “Wrecked” and being at an all-time self-esteem low, how can they bounce back from this? How can they start to rebuild? Buffy’s biggest problem since returning from the grave has been trying to adjust to wanting to live again. She’s going through the motions of being alive, but she doesn’t feel anything. She’s numb, she’s isolated, and she doesn’t want to live (which is something that finally changes at the end of this episode). Buffy’s emotional isolation only starts to unravel once she starts opening up to Willow. This is a good message to send out into the world because it’s true. Everyone needs support from someone. Bottling shit up doesn’t help, which is something I learned the hard way. It’s not lost on me that Buffy is having the conversation about how she doesn’t want to die with Willow, the person who dragged her back from Heaven in the first place.

Andrew: “But wouldn’t that kill her?”
Warren: “Well, lemme think...yeah!”
Jonathan: “Wait a minute! We’re not killing anybody! Especially not Buffy!”
Warren: “You guys are so immature! We’re villains! When are you gonna get that through your thick skulls?”
Jonathan: “We’re not killers, we’re crime lords!”
Andrew: “Yeah! Like, like Lex Luthor. He’s always trying to take over Metropolis, but he doesn’t kill Superman!”
Warren: “Because it’s Superman’s book, you moron!”

...To be fair, it’s Buffy’s show.

Before once again exploring Buffy and Willow’s journeys, let’s talk about The Trio, A.K.A. Team Nerd. The above exchange highlights the growing disassociation between Warren and the other two members of The Trio. While Jonathan and Andrew are never, ever ‘villains’ (although they do go along with Warren’s attempted mind-rape and actual rape of Katrina in “Dead Things”), Warren certainly is. Later in this episode, Warren genuinely attempts to kill Buffy instead of reversing her invisibility. That’s something that Jonathan or Andrew would never attempt. Warren’s slow descent into genuine villainry is great because he’s a human! The Master was a vampire, Spike/Dru/Angelus were vampires, The Mayor was some form of demon even before he ascended (he was over 100 years old), Adam was a hybrid, Glory was a God, and The First Evil is, well, the first evil. Warren is the only ‘Big Bad’ that’s human. Maggie Walsh was never considered a ‘Big Bad’, nor were any of the other human villains we meet along the way. A lot of time is invested in Warren and we get to see him grow darker and darker. From a nerd wanting a freeze ray to a character that attempts to rape his ex-girlfriend and succeeds in murdering a main character. The fact that Warren has a soul and a conscience makes these acts all the more despicable. What makes this descent work is that the show spends time building them up. The sheer volume of nerdy scenes we get is for this reason. A certain amount of The Trio’s earlier scenes could be deemed as filler until you’ve seen the later stages of their stories. Would Warren’s evolution into a genuine murderer have been so impactful if not for the arguments about James Bond and the general geeky attitude? I don’t think so. Furthermore, The Trio do become a genuine threat at some point. They kill Katrina in “Dead Things”, they completely mess Buffy (and the audience) up in “Normal Again”, and Warren releases Dark Willow in “Villains” by shooting Buffy and killing her girlfriend.

Willow: “Buffy, I was the one who...”
Buffy: “Who was drowning. My best friend. And I was too wrapped up in my own dumb life to even notice.”

...That sentence basically defines this season for almost every character, doesn’t it? To be fair, Buffy has a reason to be distracted. She’s going through some very, very challenging obstacles herself right now. They all are. It’s an overwhelming part of growing up.

“Gone” is the first time since the 4th season that Willow has to deal with regular, everyday life without the aid of magic. Yes, Willow was using magic ever since the 2nd season, but the 4th season was the one where Willow started using magic to alter parts of her life that she didn’t like, so I consider that the first year where Willow was addicted to the power that accompanies magic. After her recent bottoming-out and almost getting Dawn killed, Willow is refraining from using magic entirely, which isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do because magic has become such a humongous part of her everyday life and identity. Regular activities such as opening the curtains or surfing the internet are challenging obstacles for Willow because she’s not used to having to wait or having to do things manually. I will freely admit that I expected Willow to cave at some point in this episode. Even if it was something simple like making the internet speed up. Watching Willow try to battle her addictions was agonising. That’s why it was so euphoric to see Willow solve Buffy’s invisibility origins with nothing but skill and detective work. While I have problems with Willow’s struggles being labelled as addiction in this way (see “Wrecked” for an explanation), I do appreciate that the episode emphasises that this isn’t an easy process for Willow. We see Willow almost cave multiple times. She’s twitchy, she’s agitated...but she stays on course. We’ve yet to see Willow try to make amends for her actions regarding Tara, but having her addiction to power and altering her life under control is certainly a step in the right direction for her. Another moment that I appreciate in this episode is when Xander instantly jumps to the conclusion that Willow is the cause of Buffy’s invisibility. To be fair, he has a point. Willow made Giles blind, Xander a demon magnet, and Buffy engaged to Spike (a little ironic now) in “Something Blue”, and she made everyone forget who they were in “Tabula Rasa” a matter of weeks ago. I can see why Xander would assume Willow was involved.

Xander: “Buffy, how did this happ...wait a sec, have you been feeling ignored lately?”

My inner fanboy flails whenever there’s a call-back like this. Great use of continuity!

Buffy’s story in this episode isn’t subtle in the least. You don’t need to be a detective to figure out what David Fury is trying to explore here. Since returning from the grave at the beginning of the season, Buffy’s life has been one disaster after another, and she is very much living in her own version of Hell. She was dragged out of Heaven by her friends, and has subsequently hit roadblock after roadblock. Even when you ignore the isolation and depression aspects of her trauma, you still have to look at her mother’s recent death, Giles leaving Sunnydale, her mountain of financial debt, and the fact that she thinks she came back wrong. When she suddenly becomes invisible, she can escape from her life. She can be free of those problems! No social workers, no debt, no dramas, nobody to look at her. This is summed up beautifully by invisible Buffy whistling “Going Through The Motions” from “Once More With Feeling” when leaving the social services building. For the first time since returning, she feels alive because she’s uninhibited. Everything she sang about in “Going Through The Motions” can be forgotten about for a while.

At the opening of the episode, Buffy talks to Dawn about helping Willow not give into temptation. Right in the middle of this dialogue, she discovers Spike’s lighter down the back of the sofa. Spike is, of course, Buffy’s temptation right now. Her temptation to escape, her temptation to give up, her temptation to give in to her depression. She’s still highly dependent on the escapism that sleeping with Spike offers her. Buffy puts the lighter into the box of objects that they’re throwing away, but it doesn’t stay there. Later in the episode we find that Buffy has it in her pocket. If that’s not some symbolism for Buffy struggling to overcome her problems, I don’t know what is. She’s unwilling to completely more on. Unlike Willow, Buffy isn’t trying to sever all ties and rebuild her life. While Willow has cut out everything magic, Buffy is still keeping Spike around like a crutch...or crotch. Buffy tries (albeit not much) to stop seeing Spike, but it’s clear that she’s enjoying herself whenever they’re being naughty together.

Another aspect of this episode that I haven’t talked about yet is Doris, the social services lady. While Doris is annoying, she isn’t a ‘bad’ character, she’s just portrayed as one because we’re seeing the story through Buffy’s eyes. Doris is strict with Buffy and threatens to take Dawn away, but can you blame her?! Let’s take a moment to see Dawn’s life through the eyes of someone who isn’t in the Scooby Gang. Buffy is unemployed and in a great deal of financial debt. There’s weed out in the open in the house, and a girl upstairs who lives with them who isn’t feeling well. I can just imagine Doris wondering if she’s not feeling well because of the weed. Furthermore, there’s an English guy in the house, who needs a ‘security’ blanket and refers to his house as a crypt. When you couple this with Dawn’s truancy and her mother’s recent death, I can see why Doris might think it’s in Dawn’s best interest to be elsewhere. Plus, as people seeing the story through the Scoobies’ eyes, we know that Dawn is often neglected and lonely.

Considering the fact that the social services angle is a large part of the story, we don’t see much of Dawn, do we? We don’t get to see any of Dawn’s perspective on the situation, which, sadly, is a staple of season six. It feels as though Joss and the writing team had no idea what to do with Dawn after she stopped being The Key and simply became Buffy’s younger, human sister. Often in this season, Dawn is portrayed as an annoying, immature brat. The same could be said for season five, actually. It’s easy to forget that she has no mother, no father, no father figure, a sister who’s too wrapped up in her depression to give Dawn the attention she needs, and has only technically been alive for a year and a half. Dawn spends most of this episode pissed off with Willow and Buffy, which she has every right to be. Willow almost killed her and Buffy is barely acknowledging her presence. While everyone around her is battling their own issues and fighting the forces of darkness, Dawn is trying to adjust to living in a world without her mother, and a world where her sister has returned. She’s struggling at school, struggling at home, and has no support from anyone except the rare occasions she sees Tara. I can empathise with Dawnie.

As part of her attempt to avoid temptation and try to combat her problems, Buffy tries to change her identity through cutting her hair. How many of us have tried something like this? Thinking that a new house, a new car, or new clothes will magically make all of our problems disappear? Ironically, it’s losing her identity entirely that forces her to see that she doesn’t want to die again. Buffy needs to become invisible and discover that she’s wasting away to realise that she doesn’t want to waste away. After becoming invisible, before she discovers she’ll fade away, Buffy has a little fun. She steals a police car (does invisible Buffy remind anyone else of Faith? “Want. Take. Have.”), messes with people’s choice of clothing and accessories, and goes to the social services building to get a little revenge on Doris. Being invisible, Buffy feels as though she can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, and there’ll be no consequences because nobody can see her. This attitude facilitates a lot of underlying motivations for Buffy and underlying resentments from Spike regarding their recent rendezvous. 

Spike is pissed off over the way Buffy treats him and I have to say I completely agree with him. This doesn’t excuse his behaviour since the beginning of “Smashed”, but it does help to explain why he’s acting the way he is. Buffy is ashamed to be seen with Spike because he’s soulless and she thinks her friends and family won’t approve. Therefore, she’s disgusted with herself for sleeping with him and pushes him away constantly...until she’s feeling particularly numb and lonely. Xander’s comments to Spike earlier in the episode certainly don’t further Buffy’s cause to come clean and tell her friends. Speaking of Xander, him walking in on Spike and invisible Buffy having sex, and Spike’s subsequent explanation of “exercising”, is absolutely hilarious. How did Xander not put two and two together and realise that Spike was sleeping with his newly invisible friend? Perhaps this is why...

Xander: “Still trying to mack on Buffy? Wake up already. Never gonna happen! Only a complete loser would ever hook up with you. Well, unless she’s a simpleton like Harmony or a nutsack like Drusilla.”

As part of her new “I’m invisible, I can do anything” attitude, Buffy suddenly wants to sleep with Spike again. Spike is sick of being used and verbalises to Buffy that she only wants to be there with him because nobody can see her. Buffy is so worried about what her friends think that she’ll only be with Spike when nobody can see her and nobody will know. What a fucking awful way to treat someone! Spike doesn’t want to be Buffy’s dirty little secret. He wants to be with her properly, and having sex with an invisible version of her isn’t high up on his list of wants right now...but he’ll still do it because it’s sex with Buffy. How heartbreaking must it be to love someone who you know will never love you back, and only wants to be with you when nobody else is around to see! Fuck that! However, “Smashed”, “Wrecked”, and “Gone” have helped to highlight to the audience why Buffy would want to keep this information a secret. First and foremost, SPIKE HAS NO SOUL! How will her friends ever understand what she’s doing? This is emphasised even more by Spike being an absolute douchebag for large portions of the last few episodes. For instance, in this episode, Spike keeps touching Buffy in her house, even after she’s said ‘no’. This is not “Blurred Lines”, no means no. I’m so gonna have that awful, sexist, rapey, oddly catchy song in my head all day now...

After discovering that she’s going to become pudding and fade away, Buffy’s reaction is “oh”. At first, we’re led to believe that this is because Buffy is surprised, but she doesn’t really care that she’s going to die. However, by the end of the episode, we discover that the “oh” was because she realised that she was affected by this revelation. For the first time since returning, Buffy wants to live. She wants to feel better. Overcoming her depression isn’t going to be easy. Facing her trauma and emerging the other side happy isn’t going to be easy. Buffy’s got a long, tiring, difficult journey ahead of her, but she’s finally taken her first step on the road to recovery by discovering that she wants to live. Both Buffy and Willow have started down their respective paths to recovery now, but those paths will soon be shrouded in further darkness and shadows. Don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet, kiddies. Things are far from sorted.


Quote Of The Episode

Willow: “How’re you doing, post-invisibleness?”

Buffy: “Okay. I still have to do some damage control from my giddy-fest. Dawn was pretty freaked out. The whole taking-a-vacation-from-me thing didn’t work out so well.”

Willow: “Tell me about it.”

Buffy: “Except...when I got Xander’s message, you know, that I was fading away...I actually got scared.”

Willow: “Well, yeah. Who wouldn’t?”

Buffy: “Me. I wouldn’t. Not too long ago I probably would have welcomed it. But I realised...I’m not saying that I’m doing backflips about my life, but...I didn’t...I don’t...wanna die. That’s something, right?”

Willow: “It’s something. So I guess we both made good first steps.”



FINAL SCORE: 7/10

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

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