They got! The Mus-tard! Oooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!
And I continue to be astonished by the sheer widescreeny genius of “Once More With Feeling,” the very musical “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episode that aired on UPN Tuesday Night.
It remains one of life’s most pitiless ironies that “Buffy’s” weakest season produced its best episode. Yes, you hear correctly. In the months since its first airing, Herc has grown convinced that “Once More” is the very best hour of “Buffy” ever forged. It makes me laugh the way “Hush” did, it makes me cry the way “The Body” did, it makes me marvel in ways “Restless” did, it makes me cheer the way “Becoming” did.
And it gets better every time I see it. (And, by the way, we’re not unaware of the fact that if “Once More” is the best “Buffy” ever, it follows that it’s one of the greatest hours of TV, and in fact one of the finest hours of entertainment ever grafted to celluloid. Toss the rocks and the garbage at my skull till I'm a dead and headless Herc, but I’ll die conviced that “Once More” belongs right up there alongside “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Godfather” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” as one of the funnest things on the planet to own on videotape.)
Why all the love? So many reasons - but for all its towering angst, “Once” was a high-water mark for the characters’ emotional lives, and a real love-fest. We see how thoroughly Xander loves Anya, and vice versa. We see how much the two Englishmen love their slayer, and vice versa. (You want proof that Spike’s love for Buffy is the real thing? Note that he was immune to the singing spell until the Buffster paid him a visit.) We see how completely Willow loves Tara, and it will always annoy me no end that we didn’t hear at least a hint of “Under Your Spell” as Willow cradled her dying love a dozen or so episodes later. There was nothing halfway about the way those girls felt about each other, and I’ll always be glad they at least shared that last day of naked bliss before Warren mucked things up so completely.
Oh, and? “Once” boasts those amazing melodies, and those quotable lyrics, and the dancing, and the deliriously special special effects. How would a “Buffy” movie top it? (Not that we wouldn’t want Team Whedon to try!) If “Once More With Feeling” doesn’t finally garner an Emmy, then the Emmys will remain forever as meaningless as the Oscars. Joss Whedon is a just a damn genius, and it’s a shame that the TV academy is the last to recognize the obvious.
If my heart could beat, it would break my chest! But I can see that you’re unimpressed …
It remains one of life’s most pitiless ironies that “Buffy’s” weakest season produced its best episode. Yes, you hear correctly. In the months since its first airing, Herc has grown convinced that “Once More” is the very best hour of “Buffy” ever forged. It makes me laugh the way “Hush” did, it makes me cry the way “The Body” did, it makes me marvel in ways “Restless” did, it makes me cheer the way “Becoming” did.
And it gets better every time I see it. (And, by the way, we’re not unaware of the fact that if “Once More” is the best “Buffy” ever, it follows that it’s one of the greatest hours of TV, and in fact one of the finest hours of entertainment ever grafted to celluloid. Toss the rocks and the garbage at my skull till I'm a dead and headless Herc, but I’ll die conviced that “Once More” belongs right up there alongside “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Godfather” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” as one of the funnest things on the planet to own on videotape.)
Why all the love? So many reasons - but for all its towering angst, “Once” was a high-water mark for the characters’ emotional lives, and a real love-fest. We see how thoroughly Xander loves Anya, and vice versa. We see how much the two Englishmen love their slayer, and vice versa. (You want proof that Spike’s love for Buffy is the real thing? Note that he was immune to the singing spell until the Buffster paid him a visit.) We see how completely Willow loves Tara, and it will always annoy me no end that we didn’t hear at least a hint of “Under Your Spell” as Willow cradled her dying love a dozen or so episodes later. There was nothing halfway about the way those girls felt about each other, and I’ll always be glad they at least shared that last day of naked bliss before Warren mucked things up so completely.
Oh, and? “Once” boasts those amazing melodies, and those quotable lyrics, and the dancing, and the deliriously special special effects. How would a “Buffy” movie top it? (Not that we wouldn’t want Team Whedon to try!) If “Once More With Feeling” doesn’t finally garner an Emmy, then the Emmys will remain forever as meaningless as the Oscars. Joss Whedon is a just a damn genius, and it’s a shame that the TV academy is the last to recognize the obvious.
If my heart could beat, it would break my chest! But I can see that you’re unimpressed …
Why all the love? So many reasons - but for all its towering angst, “Once” was a high-water mark for the characters’ emotional lives, and a real love-fest. We see how thoroughly Xander loves Anya, and vice versa. We see how much the two Englishmen love their slayer, and vice versa. (You want proof that Spike’s love for Buffy is the real thing? Note that he was immune to the singing spell until the Buffster paid him a visit.) We see how completely Willow loves Tara, and it will always annoy me no end that we didn’t hear at least a hint of “Under Your Spell” as Willow cradled her dying love a dozen or so episodes later. There was nothing halfway about the way those girls felt about each other, and I’ll always be glad they at least shared that last day of naked bliss before Warren mucked things up so completely.
Oh, and? “Once” boasts those amazing melodies, and those quotable lyrics, and the dancing, and the deliriously special special effects. How would a “Buffy” movie top it? (Not that we wouldn’t want Team Whedon to try!) If “Once More With Feeling” doesn’t finally garner an Emmy, then the Emmys will remain forever as meaningless as the Oscars. Joss Whedon is a just a damn genius, and it’s a shame that the TV academy is the last to recognize the obvious.
If my heart could beat, it would break my chest! But I can see that you’re unimpressed …
If my heart could beat, it would break my chest! But I can see that you’re unimpressed …
