BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER "Two To Go / Grave"

By: Anthony C. Ferrante
Review Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2002

After a largely up and down season of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, patience for the devoted viewer finally came to a head with the two hour finale - combining two one-hour episodes ("Two To Go" and "Grave") into one amazingly powerful punch.

Whereas the past two seasons of BUFFY have built up interesting subplots and villains, the payoffs were never as satisfying as the set-ups. From the X-FILES-esque wrap-up of the Initiative/Adam storyline of Season Four and god Glory's demise at the hands of Buffy (who also sacrificed herself) at the end of last year, the end always seemed so small in comparison to the emotional storylines running throughout with the series' main characters.

That's what has made Season Six such a strange, weird and sometimes uneven affair. You never quite knew where it was going, what it was doing, who the villain was and what the point was ultimately going to be.

That all changed with the season finale. If there was ever a more satisfying conclusion to a season if not a conclusion to a nearly six year arc (and there's still one more "official" season on the way), "Two To Go" and "Grave" wrap it up beautifully.

First off, the annoying trio of geeks Warren, Andrew and Jonathan (Adam Busch, Tom Lenk, Danny Strong) who were hell bent on being super villains but were ultimately way too simplistic in their evil goals, were not the Big Bad that fans have come to expect from Buffy. Instead, they were characters that were both grating and fascinating in how infantile their pursuits were. The audience didn't take them seriously and neither did the Slayer and the Scooby gang.


Of course that all changed when leader Warren (Busch) did a 360 degree turn midseason and nearly raped and killed his former girlfriend, trying to pin it on the Slayer. Their storyline continued off and on and culminated in being thwarted by Buffy. Andrew and Jonathan were sent to jail, while Warren escaped for the time being only to show up a few weeks ago with a gun, aiming it at Buffy, shooting her and accidentally killing Tara instead.

That didn't sit too well with Willow (Alyson Hannigan) her girlfriend and while Willow got very addicted to magic this season and let dark powers come close to ruining her, she went cold turkey for the second half of the season. All bets were off though with Tara dead soaking up the black arts, Willow became Buffy's main villain this season. First she skinned Warren alive last week, next she was coming after Andrew and Jonathan in the two-part finale.

Her scary turn is where this two-part episode picks up as Willow starts turning on her friends and slowly losing her humanity in the process. Former regular Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) pops up with magic given to him by a coven in his native England. Buffy tries to thwart her but is no match. In fact no one seems to be able to stop Willow, who decides after feeling the world's pain that she must stop the hurt and destroy the world.

There are only so many times a villain can claim to want to destroy the world in any series (film or TV included), but Willow's passionate vendetta was heartfelt and from a place of sadness and pain not from villainy, which makes her downward spiral all the more tragic.



Of course (SPOILERS AHEAD), Willow is redeemed in the end by someone with no powers at all Xander (Nicholas Brendon). For years, audiences have waited to see the Scooby with no power at all get his chance to save the world and he does so by standing up to Willow, by wanting to be with his friend, his best friend since they were kids. If the world is going to end, he wants to be with her, and his telling Willow he loves her helps bring her back from the brink.

Sounds cheesy, but you have to see it in order to realize how well conceived these two hours end up being. It packs a wallop and is an utterly satisfying finale. If BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER were to end its run on this night, this would have been the way to do it.

Of course, the episode ends with a doozy of a cliffhanger for next year. Spike (James Marsters), who has gotten the greatest arc of all this season as his pining for Buffy turned to lust and then to anger (he tried raping her), decides to visit a demon who can take the controlling chip out of his head (which prevents him from harming humans) - only if he passes some amazingly hard tasks. At the end of this episode, though, the demon tricks him, and gives him what he wants. But Spike didn't expect this the demon gives him his soul back.

Looks like there's more places to go for BUFFY even after chaos has subsided.

Deftly written by Douglas Petrie and David Fury, the plot threads of the season really have a superb payoff. Many of these elements were wholly unexpected and the show could have potentially bored die-hard fans with its slow, off-kilter storytelling this year. Yet, it truly is this final two hours that put this season in a whole other light. Everything went to hell, yet somehow everything also came together in grand BUFFY fashion.

The acting in this episode was excellent, particularly Hannigan, who has also had a very strong character arc to work through this year. She's always been just the nerdy sidekick, but here she really got to kick up her heels and show her dark side and Hannigan was more than up for the challenge.

It's also nice to see Giles back in action even if it's only for an episode or so. He was always the heart of the show, and his absence this season was felt greatly, but being away was also very key in the grand scheme of things. The stories that have been told and this finale could not have been executed without his absence from the show. When he returns for heroics at the tail end of the first hour, you get the same feeling as when Yoda showed up to kick Dooku's ass in ATTACK OF THE CLONES. It was a long time coming.

While BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER's ratings remain constant year after year (the producers joke the ratings would stay the same even if they did an all nude episode), one of the main reasons new viewers have a hard time getting into the show is the deeply layered mythology wrapped around huge character growth and change. In some ways, you need to have been following the show from the beginning to truly feel the power of this season finale's deep emotions. The show long ago eschewed the traditional stand-alone approach and really is an epic soap opera unlike anything ever seen before. You can proclaim FRIENDS one of the greatest ensembles on television with all their changes and surprising twists, but hyperbole be dammed, BUFFY is right up there. This ensemble (the four main leads from day one Gellar, Brendon, Head and Hannigan) mixed with the ever-revolving supporting cast, including Marsters and Emma Caulfield as vengeance demon Anya, keep even the rare leaden episode addictive. Perhaps it's the monsters, vampires and creatures of the night that prevent the show from being as respected by general audiences as more mainstream fare like FRIENDS, but give me the Scooby gang any old day. I haven't been this excited by a season finale since, well, BUFFY's spin-off ANGEL's season ender the night before.

Who would have figured a failed feature film could turn into one of the best dramas television has ever produced?

Hyperbole over. Begin the long wait until Season Seven.

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