The First Evil

Like last year, for the month of October, I’ve opted to shift some key elements of this blog. I’ll be paying homage to my favorite television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer by dedicating each post to reflections on specific episodes of the show. Moreover, to cram in more BtVS ramblings, I’m foregoing my typical every-other-week posting schedule in favor of posting every weekend.

If you’re a fan of the show, I hope you’ll enjoy these looks back, and if you’re not, maybe I’ll incentivize you to give it a shot. If you find yourself someplace in between—e.g., you’re currently watching the show, please note that these posts will include spoilers about the episode(s) they discuss.

And, if you’re just not interested in Buffy, apologies, but this just isn’t your month. I will be back for a more typical blog post around Halloween, and resume the routine going into November.

This week, I’m looking at “Conversations with Dead People.”

As the seventh and final season of BtVS got rolling, I, for one, feared the bloom had come off the rose. I was still a loyal fan who liked the world of this show and its cast, but the early episodes meandered a bit, feeling more like the fall out from season six (which, as I’ve written before, I didn’t love at the time) than a new story. Dawn felt over-featured as the show grasped at its high school roots, and Spike with a soul looked increasingly like the pitiful vampire that that character used to make fun of Angel for having become.

“Conversations with Dead People” turned things around.

Cassie Newton, one of the more striking one-off characters from earlier in the season, was back. So was Joyce Summers, in a manner of speaking. This episode was all about characters literally facing the ghosts of their past, followed by the revelation that these heart-wrenching moments weren’t about ghosts at all. They were about evil.

One of the premises that made Buffy so successful over time was the ability to constantly generate new “big bads” or featured villains who lasted most of the season before Buffy and company overcame them. Sure, the Master felt immediately dated, and Adam and the Initiative were lame. But Angel and Willow as big bads offered up wonderfully complicated personal connections to balance while saving the world. The Mayor was a perfect blend of overwhelming force and comic relief, and a fine balance to Faith as Buffy’s more personal rival. Glory was a god.

While its debatable that the threats truly escalated season by season, each was impressive in their own scope. For the last season of the show, it made sense to unveil the greatest antagonist of all, The First--the original, all-encompassing force of evil. (And for those quick to comment, yes The First was introduced as far back as season three, and we’d seen hints of it we couldn’t quite make sense of in preceding episodes—I stand by the assertion that this episode properly introduced the rest-of-the-season's primary threat.)

That The First launches this campaign against the slayer via attacking her friends and family through people they once knew strikes a brilliant personal chord (while also establishing its ability to occupy the dead). This big bad doesn’t view its rivalry with Buffy as so much incidental to a master plan, as it is a core tenant; The First intends to wipe out the slayer line, and Buffy first and foremost, en route to bigger things.

In a show tinged with horror, “Conversations” actually feels scary, for the personal touches, the manipulations, and, sure, the better special effects than the show benefited from for most of its run. It’s debatable how well the season held up from this point (while I felt the storyline was a little over-extended, I stand by it, and particularly its conclusion, on the whole). Nonetheless, “Conversations” remains, in my mind, one of the most captivating single hours BtVS ever gave us.