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Post by Clare on Sept 26, 2008 10:50:36 GMT -5
6.03 After Life - Episode #103
The gang is menaced by an evil presence created as a side effect of their resurrection spell.
Review (also post a score out of 10) and discuss this episode.
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Post by cyclica on Oct 4, 2008 15:41:43 GMT -5
Meh. There's nothing special about this episode, the story isn't interesting and the jokes are flat.
The opening sequence feels like an extra scene that had been left out of the last episode, in fact this whole episode feels like the final part of a three part story. Did they really need to do another episode of seeing buffy moping and adjusting? And the villain was ok, but it never seemed like a threat. All it did was make dawn breathe fire and make anya cut herself, if it was truly evil it would have done more than that, like possess someone and make them kill everyone else. But no, it just did a few tricks, and the bump on the floor was never scary. And I'm not buying the ghost version of it at the end, annoying buffy with pointless speeches for no reason, and after it had spent most of the episode silent.
The ending was a big deal, it turns out buffy was in a happy place when she died. I understand her reasoning for telling spike and not one of her friends, after all he died himself. He would know how she feels, at least more than any of her human friends would. But surely they could have made the end scene better? I mean, she just lies to her friends, walks outside and straight away tells her enemy her most intimiate secret. And what was he doing there anyway, just hanging out? After sunrise?
This ep was flawed, but really it was more boring then bad. I give it a low 4.
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Post by partcynic on Nov 5, 2010 15:26:55 GMT -5
6x03 “After Life”
Episode Rating = 3
Although “After Life” is billed as a separate, standalone episode, the reality is that it’s basically “Bargaining, Part Three”, with all of the issues that implies. Like its predecessor, it’s an okay episode that treads an unexciting path from point A to B, with a handful of passable moments adding flavour to what’s otherwise an incredibly bland offering. However, while these problems are significant, this episode can at least stand head and shoulders above most of the season due to its reasonable characterisation and a couple of decent lines. Granted, that’s damning with faint praise, but it’s also the way the S6 cookie crumbles.
What I Liked about “After Life”:
- I liked Dawn’s caring for Buffy at the start. You could tell that she was overwhelmed and unsure of how to deal with the situation, but she acted with concern and love, and tried to engage with and protect her sister from the Scoobs’ barrage of questions.
- All of Buffy and Spike’s interaction was good. Regardless of what anyone says, Spike’s actions in over the last few episodes have suggested that he does genuinely love Buffy, and the way he kept his promise and looked after Dawn (when he had no knowledge of the resurrection spell and thus couldn’t have been doing it for a ‘reward’) has pushed him beyond his prior stalker phase. His chat with Buffy at the crypt was a good one, as was the excellent conversation about Heaven at the end. The plot twist itself was a great one, and puts Buffy’s detachment in a whole new light.
- Tara is nicely compassionate and considerate of everyone’s feelings, making her the show’s most likeable current character (in fact, soon she’ll be the only likeable character).
- The special effects are decent, and I liked the floaty CGI demon at the end.
What I Disliked about “After Life”:
- This episode is perhaps the dullest, drabbest one so far. Absolutely nothing happened between its opening and the appearance of the Buffy apparition, which didn’t happen until the sixteen/seventeen-minute mark. As a result, almost half of the episode was dead time. I don’t know what happened to suddenly make the writers forget about the importance of pacing, but it’s one of the season’s killers. It’s hard to enjoy watching something when it takes forever to go nowhere.
- I was sorely disappointed in the quality of the dialogue. Jane Espenson is usually reliable when it comes to wit and humour, but they were mostly absent, and the few attempts at jokes bombed. Instead, the script was overly reliant on repeated tired character tropes (e.g. Anya’s inappropriate comments), or neverending ‘serious’ conversations that served no constructive purpose.
- The show really needs to work on its plots. The shift to a soap-opera style in S5 was harmful, but at least the majority of the S5 eps had their own identities and attempts at stories. This episode was little more than a tacked-on extension of “Bargaining”, with a poorly-developed narrative that started too late and was devoid of tenseness or interest. It’s especially frustrating that there were multiple opportunities for the ep to be surprising or scary (like playing up the concept that Buffy really had come back ‘wrong’), but ideas were brought up and then dropped by the next scene.
- Anya really needs to learn to put a cork in it. It was okay for her to say the worst thing at the worst time in S4, but the character really should have learnt about suitable social behaviour by now. In addition, her obnoxious interjections about Buffy being in hell came across less like clueless accidents, and more like wilful ignorance of Buffy’s feelings (and her guaranteed-to-be fragile mental state).
- Xander was pretty cool for most of seasons four and five, but he’s starting to become an ass again. He was out of order with his nastiness to Spike, and generally annoying elsewhere.
- Tara’s defensiveness when it came to the subject of Willow and magic struck me as strange. Her blind faith (and total acquiescence to Willow regarding the resurrection spell) don’t make sense given the fact that she should know Willow assisted Dawn in “Forever”, and that she’s already stated that she’s concerned by her use of magic (“Tough Love”). Has she suddenly developed selective amnesia?
- I like the concept of thaumatogenesis and think it could have been used in an intriguing way, but the presentation here was poor. The idea that the monster would fade away in time didn’t make any intuitive sense (and let’s face it, was just an easy out for the story), and the plot was poorly developed.
- Michelle Trachtenberg’s acting during the ‘you can’t send her back!’ segment is unconvincing, and the way that she was already assuming she’d be first in Buffy’s priorities (the ‘oh, don’t worry about me’ bit when Buffy left the Magic Box) was an unfortunate indicator of future whining.
- The monster was bland and uninteresting. Nothing it did was scary, shocking or of any lasting consequence, and it’s hard to be frightened of a random blob on the floor/walls. Its death was also anticlimactic, and came about after an uninvolving fight.
- Like at the end of S5, the writers don’t seem to be aware of the difference between the show’s timeframe and that of the real world airdates. It’s bizarre that Willow is expecting gratitude from Buffy when it’s barely an hour since Buffy was resurrected, clawed out of her own grave, got threatened with gang-rape by a group of demons; and proceeded to kill them before running away from her friends. I mean, come on – couldn’t Willow have at least given Buffy a week to adjust before she started worrying? It’s also odd at the end, when Buffy notes that Dawn hasn’t been to school “since I came back”... when it’s been less than a day since she was revived.
Do I like this episode more or less than the last time I watched it:
A bit less, but not enough to change my score. Like “Into the Woods” and “Forever” before it, “After Life” is an inherently boring episode with one good scene placed at its end, and while that moment of brightness is enjoyable, it isn’t enough to compensate for the masses of sludge that precede it. When I first saw this ep, I was concerned for the season’s quality, and it’s sad to think that the unimpressive mediocrity presented by this and “Bargaining” actually constitutes one of the better parts of the year. Still, as dull as it is, “After Life” doesn’t make any massive character errors or feature a truly ridiculous plot, so I’ve decided to award it a score of three out of ten.
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Post by cyclica on Nov 6, 2010 13:19:18 GMT -5
Although “After Life” is billed as a separate, standalone episode, the reality is that it’s basically “Bargaining, Part Three”, with all of the issues that implies. Like its predecessor, it’s an okay episode that treads an unexciting path from point A to B, with a handful of passable moments adding flavour to what’s otherwise an incredibly bland offering. I very much agree. His chat with Buffy at the crypt was a good one, as was the excellent conversation about Heaven at the end. The plot twist itself was a great one, and puts Buffy’s detachment in a whole new light. The revelation was great as a 'twist', but story-wise it didn't lead to anything good. All it lead to was moping. - The special effects are decent, and I liked the floaty CGI demon at the end. I wasn't impressed with it, though it could have been worse. - This episode is perhaps the dullest, drabbest one so far. Absolutely nothing happened between its opening and the appearance of the Buffy apparition, which didn’t happen until the sixteen/seventeen-minute mark. As a result, almost half of the episode was dead time. I don’t know what happened to suddenly make the writers forget about the importance of pacing, but it’s one of the season’s killers. It’s hard to enjoy watching something when it takes forever to go nowhere. Yep. - I was sorely disappointed in the quality of the dialogue. Jane Espenson is usually reliable when it comes to wit and humour, but they were mostly absent, and the few attempts at jokes bombed. Instead, the script was overly reliant on repeated tired character tropes (e.g. Anya’s inappropriate comments), or neverending ‘serious’ conversations that served no constructive purpose. Yep. - The show really needs to work on its plots. The shift to a soap-opera style in S5 was harmful, but at least the majority of the S5 eps had their own identities and attempts at stories. This episode was little more than a tacked-on extension of “Bargaining”, with a poorly-developed narrative that started too late and was devoid of tenseness or interest. It’s especially frustrating that there were multiple opportunities for the ep to be surprising or scary (like playing up the concept that Buffy really had come back ‘wrong’), but ideas were brought up and then dropped by the next scene. Another yep. - Anya really needs to learn to put a cork in it. It was okay for her to say the worst thing at the worst time in S4, but the character really should have learnt about suitable social behaviour by now. In addition, her obnoxious interjections about Buffy being in hell came across less like clueless accidents, and more like wilful ignorance of Buffy’s feelings (and her guaranteed-to-be fragile mental state). Hmm I didn't think anya was too bad in this one. I like it when she says what needs to be said, when no one else would. And she did get to deliver some demon exposition. - Tara’s defensiveness when it came to the subject of Willow and magic struck me as strange. Her blind faith (and total acquiescence to Willow regarding the resurrection spell) don’t make sense given the fact that she should know Willow assisted Dawn in “Forever”, and that she’s already stated that she’s concerned by her use of magic (“Tough Love”). Has she suddenly developed selective amnesia? Perhaps the amnesia spell willow performs on tara in 'all the way' wasn't the first? The idea that the monster would fade away in time didn’t make any intuitive sense (and let’s face it, was just an easy out for the story), and the plot was poorly developed. Agreed. - The monster was bland and uninteresting. Nothing it did was scary, shocking or of any lasting consequence, and it’s hard to be frightened of a random blob on the floor/walls. Its death was also anticlimactic, and came about after an uninvolving fight. I hated the dialogue it had towards the end. It was so cliched, and it had no reason to be messing with buffy's mind. - Like at the end of S5, the writers don’t seem to be aware of the difference between the show’s timeframe and that of the real world airdates. It’s bizarre that Willow is expecting gratitude from Buffy when it’s barely an hour since Buffy was resurrected, clawed out of her own grave, got threatened with gang-rape by a group of demons; and proceeded to kill them before running away from her friends. I mean, come on – couldn’t Willow have at least given Buffy a week to adjust before she started worrying? It’s also odd at the end, when Buffy notes that Dawn hasn’t been to school “since I came back”... when it’s been less than a day since she was revived. Agreed. They're playing on tv audiences' expectations - we are 'trained' to expect episodes to be set on the same day they first air (not counting tv shows set in the past/future). We are trained to accept that 'after life' takes place a week after the last ep, even though we know it follows straight on, because it's a tv tradition. |
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Post by partcynic on Nov 13, 2010 17:12:17 GMT -5
Agreed (as you already know  . Maybe that's a bit unfair, at least at this point. She's only just been resurrected, after all. Yes - the monster was completely uninspired. You'd think that the writers would have put more effort into making it frightening/interesting. A good summary. True, though I did like how it was presented here.  Sad thing is, I wouldn't put that past her at this point. |
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Post by cyclica on Nov 14, 2010 16:06:15 GMT -5
Given how casually she performs the amnesia spell, it looks like she had done it before.
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