BUFFY BRACKETOLOGY - Round 6
POSTED BY: batmarlowe
UPDATED: Thursday, February 1, 2018 06:30
VIEWED: 7538
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I wish there were an Olympic Procrastination team. That way I would have a gold medal. I am truly stunned to see I haven’t gotten back to this for more than 3 years! The thing is it’s always been on my mind and something I kept telling myself: “Yeah, gotta finish that up.” But I thought it had really been maybe a little more than two years. But 3 years and 4 months! Wow that is some serious procrastinating. I’ve also noticed that I’ve begun every entry saying how stunned I was that I had taken so long to get around to it. So at least I’m consistent.
Now here we are at Round 6. If there is anyone out there in the far reaches of the black, thanks for tuning in. This is the semi-final round so we’re almost done with this baby. We’re going to find out which two eps face each other in the final round and there were some tough, tough decisions to make. The intro to round 1 of this thing states my approach and “methodology.” And as always, what follows is just my opinion.
First up:
010. The Body (5-16) vs. 058. The Zeppo (3-13)
Actually this was a pretty easy one to decide. “The Zeppo” has stayed this long because of how well it blends comedy (the zombie running alongside Xander’s car gets decapitated by a mailbox), parody of the medium (the A story is the B story), parody of itself (the Buffy/Angel scene), melodrama (the Buffy/Angel scene), suspense (Jack coming at Xander with the knife, the climax in the basement), character development (Xander/Faith and Xander’s newfound self-confidence at the end) all in a tightly scripted breezy 44 minutes. I don’t know of any better example of blending tone than this. I’ve seen things that pull off abrupt tonal shifts. But the ability to seamlessly go from one tone to the next or to have two tones at once—that’s a Joss thing. And nobody else does that! If that’s sound like a eulogy, it is. Because as great as “The Zeppo” is, it ain’t “The Body.” I don’t think I’ve seen a television episode even attempt to do what “The Body” does--take us moment by moment through the emotional impact of discovering and dealing with the death of a loved one. Touching, heart-breaking, exhausting. Every moment convincing and believable. Deliberately paced and stark in its portrayal of numbing sadness, confusion and even the mundane moments of grief, this episode creates an experience rarely if ever seen in a network television series.
Winner: The Body
018. Fool for Love (5-07) Vs. 033. Once More, with Feeling (6-07)
Seeing this are the 7th episodes of their respective seasons made me take a look at other 7th episodes. 7-07 is “Conversations with Dead People.” Season 7’s best ep. 1-07 is “Angel.” That’s pretty significant. 2, 3, and 4, their season’s 7th episodes are all really good but don’t hit the heights that these semi-finalists do. So now that we’ve had that pointless diversion, this one is absolutely the most difficult one to call. To be honest trying to decide which one I think is better called for the serious picking of nits to separate the two.
What can I say about “Once More, With Feeling that I or anyone else haven’t said before? We know why this one is great. It may well be the first of its kind and it’s no surprise that after this came long that a lot of other shows had their musical episodes. Although I’m sure the success of Glee was also a factor. It isn’t simply that the songs are all terrific. All the songs must fit in with what’s going on in the characters’ lives at that time. If this weren’t a musical episode the events and emotional beats would be the same, it just wouldn’t have lyrics and dancing. We get songs that are funny, clever, and heartfelt. All of them showing off Joss’ gifts not only as a songwriter, but as someone who knows how to tell a story in song and dance. This episode is an incredible triumph.
And in the other corner we have “Fool for Love.” A worthy opponent. As I’ve said earlier so much happens in this episode—and it’s all significant—it feels like there is enough for three episodes. Yet there’s a unif
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