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Hollyfeld, here. Buffy Anne Summers is dead… long live Buffy.
Tuesday night marked the WB series finale of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," a television show that has become such a staple in my life as to dwarf human contact. Well, MOST human contact, anyway (no offense to you, Mallory). As it is widely known, the show will continue on UPN next year, but the events of Tuesday night make the summer months seem unconquerable mountain to climb. For, at last, after all these years, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is dead, having hurled herself to her doom to save not just the world, but the life of her sister, as well. The show's final shot, of her very real tombstone, was an unforgettable and haunting one.
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So what if Buffy IS dead? What will happen next season? For one thing, it would be very difficult to officially call the show "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," although doing so out of respect for her character would be commendable. If she is, in fact, departed, we can most certainly expect her to be back in flashbacks, dreams and other otherworldly visions, similar to how Mulder was brought back in the opening episodes of "The X-Files" this season, or how Angel was slowly re-introduced into the show after being sent to Hell in Seasons 2 and 3. Or, hypothetically, she could not return at all, making Sarah Michelle Gellar's claim that she would leave the show if it left the WB a valid one that was covered up after the fact with a hasty denial. So who would take on the slaying duties? Well, after perusing the message boards at various sites, most notably the official page and AICN, a couple of reasonably plausible theories have emerged. The idea that has probably occurred to most fans was the shows concept that, "once one slayer dies, another is chosen." So it stands to reason that another slayer will come and take Buffy's place. This is highly probable, but another theory emerged that I think will prove more dramatically interesting - since Buffy has died before (resulting first in Kendra the Vampire Slayer, and then Faith the Vampire Slayer), she is no longer the official Slayer. Technically, Faith still is. And she's in jail, which leaves the general public Slayerless. But it has been made abundantly clear from the season finale that Dawn and Buffy share many of the same properties, which enabled Buffy to sacrifice her life for her sister's, so it could also follow that Dawn now has the capabilities of the Slayer. A lot of people have been concerned in the last few years that, as the Slayer ages, her relevance to younger viewers will steadily weaken. (Spider-Man has been dealing with that problem for 10-15 years now.) Making Dawn the new Vampire Slayer would help solve this problem, and with Giles gone for his new show (whose premise makes a lot more sense considering this recent development), the role of Watcher is free to be filled by almost any of the other Scoobies - Willow being the most logical candidate, but Spike's role as Dawn's protector makes him a plausible choice as well (and let's not forget the fourth season's cryptic mention of Xander's interest in "Watching").
Okay, so assuming that Buffy is really, truly dead, I can only hope for the latter theory (with Spike as Watcher, although that is primarily because I am terribly in love with him - sorry Mallory), but what if Buffy truly lives? There was a theory bandied about in one message that suggested that the last moments of the finale were a dream. Oh, puh-lease. Give the Joss-man a little more credit than that? If nothing else, Willow's appearance in the last moments of Tuesday's "Angel" proves that the events were certainly, and undeniably real. Which brings us to possibility "B" - Buffy killed herself by falling into a portal containing the doorways into an infinite number of dimensions, and therein would most likely lie the answer. Buffy's body may lie in our dimension, but what if her soul, her essence, or even an alternate version of her own body lies scattered across reality? Next season could feature Buffy trying to break back into our world (hopefully more dramatically done than the Professor's return in Evil Dead 2), or even Dawn - who is, after all, the Key - bringing her back in a time of crisis (think of Sean Connery's return in Highlander 2, or even Franklin Richard's return of the Avengers and Fantastic Four in the Heroes Return miniseries).
But these are just theories, created by myself and various other persons on the web - although I find that I am often very capable of guessing where the show is going to go, Joss always finds one or two ways to surprise my with every passing season. I wouldn't be too surprised if these theories are completely off the mark, and Joss and Company hit us with something we had never even considered before. In fact, I'm really hoping that will be the case. Keep going, you magical people you. Keep saving our worlds.
I would like to conclude today's Look Closer by giving a great big congratulations to some of my favorite creative people in the world - first, to the cast and crew of Buffy, who made something absolutely magical in their last (and probably best) season. Secondly, a profound congratulations to my favorite (living) director, David Lynch - who will almost certainly never read this - for winning the Best Director award at Cannes this year. I have no doubt in my mind that you completely and utterly deserved it. And finally, a shout out goes to my second favorite show on TV, "As The World Turns," on their eight Daytime Emmy Awards won last week, including Martha Byrne ("Lily Snyder") for Outstanding Lead Actress, Lesli Kay Sterling ("Molly Conlan") for Outstanding Supporting Actress, as well as Outstanding Writing Team and Outstanding Drama Series. Although you tied "General Hospital" for most wins in a single year, I am still astonished you didn't win more. (Now if we can just get "Buffy" to the Emmys…")
Again, I know none of the people I just congratulated will ever be likely to read this, but I am still incredibly glad to be able to say it all. Thank you guys, all of you, for the entertainment.
And thank all of you readers out there for letting me digress from the subject of movies for a brief period of time. Next time on Look Closer... we will be doing a very special theme week dedicated to my favorite person in the whole wide world, my girlfriend Mallory Knox. I love you, darling. See you next week!
As always, Hollyfeld can be reached at hollyfeld_@hotmail.com
You there! You think you could do this job better than I can? Well, you might be right! Look Closer… is always looking for guest columnists, and you might as well be one of them. Just write a review of reasonable length for a movie that you think is under-rated, over-rated, no one knows, etc., and if it makes the grade we will print it in an edition of this column! Those whose reviews are published will also receive a free piece of (slightly cheesy and really inexpensive) promotional merchandise from a movie, to be sent when their review is published, courtesy of me. Just send any and all reviews to the above address. Thank you for reading and participating in the site!
Lazlo Hollyfeld is the pseudonym of an aspiring writer/actor/director located in Southern California. With one screenplay under his (collaborative) belt and more to come, he is sure to work his way up in the world with the help of his talented and close-knit group of friends, co-workers, and penguins. Yes, you heard me, penguins. A film student since before he can remember, he has devoted much of his life to the study of the silver screen and its related art forms.