Regarding Buffy and Spike kissing at the end:
I do not think it means what you think it means. 
People were doing things out of chracter all episode. Why? The spell made them act as though they were in a scripted musical. The grand finale kiss is so classic, it had to happen. Now that the spell is broken, I don’t think Buffy is going to feel the same way. Gotta be a swerve, just like the other kiss in next week’s preview.
Joss loves red herrings. Oughta be an acronym. JLRH.
Justin
I absolutely loved it. Tara’s theme reprised, interwoven with Giles’ great love song, was the most touching: I’m under your spell, Willow can’t you see, there’ll be nothing left of me. So moving - it never would have been nearly as effective if they had just advanced the story the usual way. It indicated to me that Tara will run away, not get killed. I suppose both could happen, too. I really didn’t care one way or t’other about Tara until last night; now my heart just aches for her.
Suo Na, I think Willow didn’t sing much because she can’t hear melody too well. Her few phrases sounded a little shaky pitchwise. Shame, because the quality of her voice was nice, sort of contralto.
JSexton, I thought the spell was broken before the kiss. I’ll bet you an unevenly heated Hot Pocket it isn’t a red herring.
AAAAAAHHHHH!!!
My tape stopped recording right after Xander’s line: “Does this mean have to be your… Queen?”
Can someone PLEASE PLEASE give me a good description of what happened from that point on?? I need closure!!
Whew… got excited there for a moment… Could someone be so kind as to help me?
No question…as a New-Via-FX Buffyhead [sub](I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to have ELEVEN hours of barnd-new-to-me Buffy every week!, although it’s also kinda pathetic on a different level…)[/sub], I’ve just watched Spike going through all kinds of crazy because of his love for Drusilla and his jealousy of Angel.
Which, if we want to get picky about it, doesn’t make sense. If a soul makes you love… then how could he love Dru? How could Dru love him? What is the real nature of being a vampire, anyway?
Another nitpick: we’ve established that vamps are interested in and capable of sex (a refreshing change from Rice’s world, where blood-drinking is sex), and last night, it was confirmed by Spike that his heart does NOT beat. He actually sang that. Well, sorry, but without bloodflow, no erections. How would sex be accomplished? Of course, maybe being vamped means the blood is circulated in some other weird way… and this also goes to the temperature of vamps. Early in the show someone mentioned how cold Angel’s skin is. (and presumably Spike’s) Isn’t that icky? Wouldn’t Buffy be creeped by getting physical with a guy the temperature of a popsicle? Ew.
I know, I’m being incredibly anal. But things like this bug me. I like internal logic in my fantasys.
stoid
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The demon says, “Tempting, but we’ll waive that clause just this once.” Then he sings a reprise of his song, saying that they beat the bad guy,but now they have to deal with the repercussions of the the revealed secrets. On the last note, the demon turns into a ball of light and flies off.
Then the cast sings a song of confusion and despair, “Where Do We Go From Here?” Spike breaks off in mid-chorus in disgust and walks outside. Buffy follows him. They sing a line from each of their songs, then they kiss passionately as the last song swells in the background. An old-fashioned THE END flashes on the screen, and velvet curtains close over the action, like the end of Moulin Rouge.
Spoiler alert if you haven’t watched the episode yet. Xander asks if he has to be the demon’s queen. The demon kind of looks him up and down, says something about it might be interesting, but he think’s he’ll waive that clause in this particular case. The demon then launches into a farewell song, basically mocking the group. Tells them they’ve beat the bad guy, but how are they going to deal with all the secrets they’ve just revealed. He vanishes, the group launches into the grand finale, asking what are they supposed to do now, with some references to how even when they are all together, they are still on separate paths. Spike gets disgusted with himself for singing, walks out. Scene cuts to him in the alley, Buffy walks up behind him. He tells her to go back inside with her friends, she says she doesn’t want to, he tells her she never knows what she wants. She breaks into song, he joins in, they start making out. Old-style graphics saying “The End” fade in, the curtains close. I think that was all of it.
** gobear ** is much faster on the draw than I am.
When I saw the first previews for the musical a few weeks ago, I thought it would just be a disaster, useless filler that was painful to watch. I was pleasantly surprised, I thought the episode succeeded on both levels, it was entertaining as a musical and it was an important episode in the story arc. A good way to have lots of deep, dark secrets revealed all at once. Obviously there was a pretty big range in the talent levels of the actors, but all in all I thought everyone did a good job.
My only complaint was in Xander’s calling the demon. The show didn’t really explain why he did it, other than maybe he thought it would be fun. He’s been around long enough to know not to do stuff like that. Also, the reaction to his causing a number of innocent bystanders to burn to death seemed to be on the order of “Oh Xander, you big goof.” Maybe the consequences will be explored later.
And the kiss in next week’s previews? Where the hell did that come from? If it is for real I’m going to be very confused, if it is just misleading promotion, I’m going to be pissed at UPN.
By the way, for those who feel the music and lyrics were pathetic, I’d like to note what I read in EW, that Whedon just learned to play the piano a few years ago, and he did it all himself, with no collaborators at all. Looked at from that perspective, it was pretty damn good.
It also inspires me, since I’m just now, midlife, trying to learn the piano and how to read music, having no musical education of any kind prior to this.
I’m not a big fan of musicals, but I enjoyed it. Some of the publicity articles claimed that Joss had little or no previous songwriting experience, so I was doubly impressed by the quality of the songs. Some of the tunes fell a little flat, but the lyrics were great.
Overall, I thought Buffy’s songs were the best. SMG may not be the world’s best singer, but they made good use of what range she has.
Tara had the best singing voice. All through her numbers, though, I kept getting the nagging feeling that I had heard her before. Then I read this thread. Of course! She’s doing Susan Sarandon’s style from Rocky Horror!
I think the funniest song was the one with Xander and Anya. It reminded me of a lot of married couples I know. True love is not when you stay with them on their good days. True love is when you stay with them on their bad days.
BTW, at least some of the lyrics can be found here.
This might be more appropriate for the mythology thread, but here goes.
There must be some magic that circulates the blood in the absence of a heartbeat, as we have seen Buffyverse vamps bleed from various appendages. (Angels cuts his hand and draws his own blood in (?) Becoming Part II).
As for the body heat question, I’m willing to bet that while vamps do not maintain a constant temperature like a living being, they must generate some heat from using their muscles. Possibly a recently fed and exercised vamp would have some temperature. We’ve seen several instances where a human touching a vamp does not remark on the cold (notably Dawn’s kissing last week). The character who harps on the ickyness of having sex with cold flesh is Xander, who presumably has the least reason to know and the greatest reason to discourage Buffy/Vamp sexual contact.
Yeah, I’m glad I’m not the only one considering the mechanics. In a similar vein (ha!), there was a scene in Angel on Monday where he’s choking Darla. She laughs at him for trying to choke her when vampires don’t breathe, but she’s clearly out of breath at the time. Very strange.
Back to Buffy, I also wanted to add that I thought Gile’s song to Buffy while she’s practicing in slow motion was beautifully shot, in particualr when Giles is walking slowly along the main floor as Buffy backflips past him. Gorgeous.
Second me on the “Xander doing doesn’t make sense front.” That I just didn’t buy. Especially after people starting burning to death, and he just let it go. Does accessory to murder mean anything to these people?
Otherwise I liked the episode a lot, although I am against the Spike-Buffy hook-up. He’s evil, he just has a chip in his head, rather than having a soul like Angel. The kiss does make me wonder even more what the heck happened when Angel and Buffy conversed in-between the episodes.
Next weeks scene of Anya and Giles must be fake, right? Except then why did Buffy say to Giles last week, after Xander and Anya announced their engagement, “We have to stop this.”
She made that comment, nothing came of it for the rest of the episode, and it has been bugging me ever since.
On the episode… Count me in the “loved it” camp, but then I like musicals too. Loved the opening credits as well. I thought they did a great job balancing musical-campiness (almost to parody) with possible plot reasons for the “burst into song last night” demonism. And great double-whammy of not only were people singing-dancing themselves into spontaneous combustion under the demon’s spell, but that their songs revealed secrets they’d all been keeping. I also felt that the writers did a fantastic job on the songwriting/lyrics.
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE zootsuits?! I do. Too cool.
On Buffy… I think she really sold the songs and the emotions behind them. I thought she did well for a non-singer singing though I agree they had some definite effects on her voice to help her out.
As far as SMG – She is SO thin this season though—especially noticeable in the jean-sweater outfit at the end. Also, I’ve heard/read in a great many places that she’s anything but a bitch. Maybe Stoid’s friend deserves the bitch-treatment. I’m not saying, I’m just saying…
On Dawn…(Michelle) Um, growth spurt much? I thought she totally carried off the dancing—let’s leave it at that. Oh, and her reprisal of Buffy’s line from the finale of last season had me tearing up a smidge.
On Willow… Way did NOT expect her to be an alto – I thought for sure she’d have a higher (and better) singing voice than that. Guess we know why she only a small vocal part in the eps.
Oh, so she pre-meditated the “forget” spell. When I saw her cast the spell last week, I just assumed the flower was something of Tara’s (the ol’ you need something of the person’s to cast a spell), but it seems she planned to cast the spell and gathered a key ingredient to do it. Wonder if we’ll learn of other mind-control/forgettings she’s been doing. Hmmmmm….
Anyone else notice she was crying while Buffy was singing her final song revealed that they’d ripped her from heaven? I actually think this was the best and probably the only way the truth could come out.
On Tara… Wow, what a voice! And that corset rocked! In another thread, everyone talked about how Tara would be killed off since she’s not in the credits but it looks a lot to me that Willow will, indeed, drive her away (remember some people have left the show the break-up route leaving the door wide open for returns).
On Spike… I knew his singing voice would be more punk than melodic—exactly what I expected. PLD cracked me up during the Spike-Buffy duet with “A minor-second?! They made them sing a minor-second?!” (Or something like that, I’m not the big brain with musical lingo.)
On Giles… A god, indeed. I was broken-hearted hearing him sing how he had to leave so Buffy could stand on her own two feet—singing about how he wants to be her father. <sniffle>
What’s that you say? An Anthony Head CD? And there are samples?! (What a cover, btw!! Stoid, you might want to stock up on some Depends before viewing…)
BTW, Sweet Gilesvestite – ha!
On “Buffy the Musical” soundtrack… Looks like fans REALLY want one.
I think it’s more than that. I think Buffy now feels like she can identify with Spike more—they’ve both died and returned (only she returned with her soul, not a demon, but still, they’ve both “been dead”). I definitely see the writers making Buffy more adult in a lot of ways.
<Spike Mode>Sod-off, Wanker. </Spike>
Buffy SO did not jump the shark with “Buffy the Musical” anymore than with “Hush.” Way I see it, Joss loves to throw in some oddity eps every year – something avant-garde.
Anyway I think that term is now bantered about too easily and it seems to be that it can only be assigned in hind sight – its only when you can definitely see/tell that the show has peaked and is petering out that the “shark-jump” truly be assigned. I mean, we haven’t even seen the NEXT episode, I don’t think we can say this was the Shark-Jump of the series.
Ha! Me too – Loved it.
Of course he did – he was the sing-n-dance demon. 
When you get to the episode about the Judge, they’ll sort of cover this and sort of not. While they have certainly alluded that it’s his soul that makes Angel love Buffy, there’s also an indication that it’s not just the soul, but humanity that causes love (or maybe that love results in humanity—not sure) because the Judge says they—Spike and Dru—share feelings for each other and that they “reek of humanity” (also that Brainy Vamp reeks with humanity because of his books).
Plus there’s this whole thing about passion in an episode titled aptly “Passion” that could be partial explanation as well. And I wouldn’t rule out obsession as a cause—versus the necessity of a soul for true-love. Throw in Angel’s little speech from a week ago about how vamps torture and kill for pleasure, not anger, and you have another emotion to deal with…
It seems like the soul (i.e. Angel’s) has more to do with “true love” and conscious versus lust, obsession, passion, pleasure, etc. that all vamps can tap into somehow. Plus, I got the impression when we see Spike made by Dru that it was kind of love at first sight, and I assume some of that linger even after the soul departed and the demon took residence—and there’s always a special bond between the vampire and his/her sire. But, I digress.
I’ve thought about that too, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t want to think about that. 
Funny thing, on my own Buffy website I had a page about “long lost siblings” and Joss brings in Dawn. And I have a page about music put out by bands composed of the show’s characters and now Joss has them singing.Coincidence?
I think so.
Matter of fact…another fan, who’s website has since ceased to be, even did a cooperative thing with me (and my “Little Devil Records”) where she wrote and had people submit lyrics to songs to be performed by the show’s characters. I wrote a song for/by Spike and a song for/by Oz. Unfortunately, she took down her website and I don’t think I have them saved anywhere.
Rats.
…has it occured to anyone that this show just isn’t any good? I just started this season because I live with Buffy fanatics now but the show always looked recockulous to me and now I have proof with this whole season.
I really liked the idea of making the Musical episode fit into continuity but it was just so poorly done. The songs were horrible except for Tara’s song.Joss Whedon should never, EVER pen lyrics for anything again. The number that was competently filmed was Xander and Anya’s song, the rest were shot worse than that remake of Jesus Christ Superstar they did on PBS last year.
Xander summoning the demon made zero sense.
Why bother establishing that everyone was breaking into song and that everyone else could hear them when they did, and then ABANDON it? (ie Xander and Anya, Giles song) Why not just make it a musical episode without having to contrive the Song and Dance Demon?
Two good jokes in the show.
Spike: “Someday he’ll be a real boy.”
Buffy: “Dawn’s in trouble. Must be Tuesday.”
<peering thru slitty eyes and pointing>SHREEEEEEEEEEIIIIIKKKKKKKKK!
[SUB](It’s an homage. PLD will know it.)[/SUB]
Oh My God! That explains everything. The show just isn’t any good. Of course. It’s all so clear now.
:glares at the rest of the people in this thread:
How come you guys never told me?
Point:
Counterpoint: I am the Buffy fanatic in my house. It causes minor tension, because my roomies want to watch That 70s Show instead (which I also love), but I get my way (paying the utilities has its advantages. :D)
Anywho, one of my roommates wandered in last night as the show was on. He watched for a while, and confessed that he had been planning on being away from the apartment because he knew that I would have the musical episode on. But he also confessed that he thought it was really, really good. And this from an actor/singer! He’s been on Law & Order (although every actor in New York, and several pizza delivery men, have been on that show as well).
OK, my take -
Tara - her song to Willow rocked. She’s always been a dead part of the show to me (along with the way they’ve been screwing up Anya), but during that song, she was attractive to me for the first time, both as a female and as a character. OTOH, they really screwed her when she was the backup singer for Buffy - that outfit made her look like she was 50 pounds heavier.
Giles - the best part of the show. He looked younger, more alive, and more in control when he was singing then he has in countless episodes, and I’ve always thought he was great.
Dawn - is it wrong for me to lust after her? After all, I hear them actresses grow up a lot faster.
Spike - I was wondering why he couldn’t sing the word “living” correctly. But then I realized it was on purpose - he was adding discordance to break the demon’s spell. His earlier song rocked, IMO.
Enough for now.
Sua
Hey, I get it now! Why didn’t you guys tell me today was opposite day?
You are right! The musical was fantastic! It really, really (what’s the opposite of sucked?) blew! That’s it, it really blew!
Regarding SMG’s punching, of course the majority of her fighting is for show, rather than anything that would be effective IRL. But she has always looked really weak on the heavy bag and the focus mitts. (I always get a silly kick out of the fact that she has the same bag as is hanging in my garage.) But last night her form was especially atrocious. Bag didn’t move an inch, no body, elbows up and out, and wrists bent. I mean really powerful and effective! (Man, I’m finding it tough to stick with this opposite stuff!)
I don’t think he did this to break the spell (is it established that this was a “spell” versus, say, just the presence of the demon in Sunnydale?). If you noticed, SMG does the same discordance when she sings “heaven.”
I don’t think Xander took the rap for the summoning to let Dawn off the hook. I think he really did it, and I can’t understand why. It makes absolutely no sense, is in complete contradiction to everything we know about his character. Xander has never to my recollection had a good experience with a demon (excepting Anya who’s an ex-demon) and I don’t think he’d do anything to bring on another one. I think Dawn just shoplifted the necklace. Didn’t it have a price tag on it?
I don’t think Willow’s “forget” spell was premeditated. It’s not unreasonable that she’d have a variety of spell components handy. What’s freaky about it is that Tara wore the sprig of forget-weed as a corsage for the day and Willow seemed to be fine with it. Amoral much?