Discussion of 6.07 "Once More, With Feeling" - Aired 11/6/01 (UPN-US)

I just saw this episode for the first time.

It was terrific. I enjoyed almost everything about it. I don't remember specific songs but I thought that everyone performed well. Giles, Spike and Tara in particular stood out.

And I really enjoyed how the influence of the spell by Sweet compelled everyone to expose their hidden feelings, thoughts and emotions. They just couldn't help themselves from sharing. Now everything is on the table for everyone to see (except Giles distant feelings regarding Buffy; that he kept to himself). In fact, I've noticed that in the Buffy-verse people always remember what happened to them when the spell is lifted. Anyway, it will be fun to watch them deal with the consequences of all of the sharing of themselves. And Buffy kissing Spike (so passionately!)...I can't wait to see what comes of it!
 
I just finished watching this episode for the first time. I absolutely loved Giles and Spike's singing voices. Spike's song 'Rest in Peace' I think its called, is amazing. I love that everyone's secrets come out and Spike and Buffy's kiss at the end... amazing. I may be a Angel/Buffy shipper but I can have some appreciation for Spike and Buffy. Absolutely amazing episode and Nicholas Brendan was surprising good as well. By far one of my favorite episodes so far.
 
Favourite songs: "Rest in Peace", "Under Your Spell", "Standing", "Walk Through the Fire" and "Where Do We Go from Here?"
(Special mention to "Bunnies" and "The Mustard") 😀
Giles, Spike's and Tara's. (But then, they are probably the best singers other than Emma anyway!) "We are caught in the fire" where do we go from here
Sad how both Giles and Tara are dueting about leaving. 🙁
Great heartbreaking moment when they realise what they did to Buffy and love how Buffy does that little head shake thing that she does when she's angry and talking normally.
Spike saying "bugger this" Lol.
Interesting how Xander is walking towards Dawn when they sing "curtains close on a kiss not known". He walks more in between Anya and Dawn but Dawn is shown more prominently in the shot.
I weirdly kind of wish Faith had been in this episode! Maybe if it had been done in season 4 it'd be more appropriate but I bet Eliza would have been good.
 
Now I want to know what type of musical numbers Riley or Oz would have gotten if it were in season 4 as planned.
 
Me and the worsest half ever watched OMWF last night. His first time seeing it. I did enjoy it more this time around than during my last rewatch, probably because I got to watch his reactions.

He liked Spike's number the best (unsurprisingly). I was never a hardcore Rest in Peace fan but I found myself appreciating the quiet little verse in the middle of the song. It is equally sad and sweet. Probably my favourite part of all the songs.

"I know I should go
But I follow you like a man possessed
There's a traitor here beneath my breast
And it hurts me more than you've ever guessed".
​
The next few lines are back to being aggressive and loud so I didn't include them.

BtVS looks fecking amazing in wide-screen. OMWF always makes me sad they didn't switch to wide-screen in the later seasons like they did with Angel.
 
Last edited:
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
spike has beewbs!
I just watched this again last night. I've mentioned before that I think it's a bit over rated but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a lot better than I remember it actually although it still has one massive problem.

So the good bits first. I think everyone does a great job with the actual singing. I remember thinking Sarah was a little weak before but Walk Through the Fire is great. Anthony is my favourite, he has a terrific voice and I was lucky enough to hear him sing live at a comicon.

I really get why Giles left here. The good thing is that we know he's honest when he sings. So he spells out that he wants to be a father figure for Buffy but believes his presence is actually holding her back. I still think it's a terrible decision on his part and he would have been better served by staying and trying to help Buffy cope but I understand the reasoning.

Although Alison didn't want to sing that much you have to take your hat off for her performance at the end. When Buffy says she was in heaven you can see Willow's whole world fall apart and she doesn't even have to say a word.

I'll Never Tell is fantastic. Firstly it's just entertaining. Xander quickly changing his thoughts to embrace is brilliant. It also shows that they're having all the thoughts they should be having. Xander would be panicking about marrying an ex demon.

Now the bad bit. Xander summoning Sweet. At no stage does he look even remotely happy about the singing and dancing. If he summoned him because it sounded fun then in the first song before any damage had been done he'd think it was entertaining. Exactly how Dawn did when she came in excited from her maths class. Then when after revealing too much to Anya and outright complaing about the situation he doesn't do a thing. If it was him he'd make damn sure the book he used happened to fall open at the right page so someone could figure out what was happening. After that Dawn is kidnapped and Buffy is walking in to potential imminent death and he says nothing. Dawn wears the amulet. Dawn is happy initially. Dawn looks shifty when asking Tara if they know who is responsible. Having it be Xander is the worst piece of writing in the show and makes no sense at all.
 
The Bronze said:
Dawn looks shifty when asking Tara if they know who is responsible.
Click to expand...

Well, Dawn stole the amulet - good reason to look shifty. And Xander's entire song was about not talking about stuff. He may have made the connection or refused to see it.
 
To me, this is the most perfect an episode BtVS ever had. To many shows, a musical episode is just a gimmick, but Joss knew if he did it that it had to be perfect. It had to work for all the characters and it had to continue the individual stories and set up the rest of the season and it did it spectacularly well.

I love all the music and songs. Rest in Peace sums up Spike's adoration and frustration with Buffy so succinctly. Giles' song 'Standing' is absolutely beautiful - a song from a father who knows he needs to leave his daughter at the worst possible time in her life, to force her to grow up. Some could argue this was a selfish decision on Giles' part, but I disagree. He knew he was preventing her from moving onwards and upwards. He knew she depended on him too much. I just think it's stunning writing. I love how the Scoobies fall apart and then come together at the point where Buffy needs them to. Each song is pretty much perfection for the character(s) singing them. I could honestly harp on for days just how much this episode means to me.

Alyson Hannigan never wanted to sing, but I wonder what Willow's song would have been about had one existed. She was delving deeper and deeper into the dark magics at this point, so it would have been interesting to hear about that from Willow's perspective in some hard rock number.

My favourite line has to be from Giles, when he suggests Anya and Tara give Buffy 'backup' in the form of dancing and vocals during 'Something to Sing About'.

As a total Spuffy fan, the kiss at the end and the rising music (and the rising music!) never felt like just fan service. Their attraction to each other just kept organically growing. It felt right for them to kiss like that and just befitted the tragic love story that was to follow. I just love it. Love love love it. Even down to the clothing; both Buffy & Spike are wearing red in this final scene. Red being not only the colour of lust and seduction, but obviously also blood and death. It just foreshadows the rest of S6 so beautifully.

My only issue with the episode and why it fails to get a 100% perfect score, is the fact Xander summoned Sweet. It just never made sense to me how, after all his experiences with fighting demons and being cursed in the past, that he would ever just think "Oh, this'll be cool, let's just summon this demon for laughs". In fact, it should have just been Dawn. That would have made more sense in context and at least then we could have had a fight at the end when Sweet tried to take her away to be his Queen. Or even perhaps Sweet, knowing Dawn was the Slayer's sister, could have come to Dawn and tricked her into it. Anything but the stupid excuse that Xander did it!

Xander, have you learned nothing?! 🙄
 
It is far more in character for Dawn or Willow to do it. Also, wouldn't he have confessed to doing it in I've Got a Theory? They can't lie in the songs. Feelings come out in spite of them. Xander sure would have blurted out that he'd done it.
 
sosa lola said:
It is far more in character for Dawn or Willow to do it. Also, wouldn't he have confessed to doing it in I've Got a Theory? They can't lie in the songs. Feelings come out in spite of them. Xander sure would have blurted out that he'd done it.
Click to expand...

Maybe Xander didn't know then though. It might only be later when it dawned on him just what he had caused.
 
sosa lola said:
Also, wouldn't he have confessed to doing it in I've Got a Theory? They can't lie in the songs. Feelings come out in spite of them. Xander sure would have blurted out that he'd done it.
Click to expand...

Thats an excellent point! I've always wondered whether it was Dawn and they changed it later in the script to Xander for some reason.... that might prove it. That and Dawn's guilty look when she speaks to Tara....?
 
Sweet said that Dawn was wearing his amulet (which she had stolen), that is why he thought she called him. This was the longest episode in the series so something that would explain it may have been cut.
 
Athena said:
To me, this is the most perfect an episode BtVS ever had. To many shows, a musical episode is just a gimmick, but Joss knew if he did it that it had to be perfect. It had to work for all the characters and it had to continue the individual stories and set up the rest of the season and it did it spectacularly well.

I love all the music and songs. Rest in Peace sums up Spike's adoration and frustration with Buffy so succinctly. Giles' song 'Standing' is absolutely beautiful - a song from a father who knows he needs to leave his daughter at the worst possible time in her life, to force her to grow up. Some could argue this was a selfish decision on Giles' part, but I disagree. He knew he was preventing her from moving onwards and upwards. He knew she depended on him too much. I just think it's stunning writing. I love how the Scoobies fall apart and then come together at the point where Buffy needs them to. Each song is pretty much perfection for the character(s) singing them. I could honestly harp on for days just how much this episode means to me.

Alyson Hannigan never wanted to sing, but I wonder what Willow's song would have been about had one existed. She was delving deeper and deeper into the dark magics at this point, so it would have been interesting to hear about that from Willow's perspective in some hard rock number.

My favourite line has to be from Giles, when he suggests Anya and Tara give Buffy 'backup' in the form of dancing and vocals during 'Something to Sing About'.

As a total Spuffy fan, the kiss at the end and the rising music (and the rising music!) never felt like just fan service. Their attraction to each other just kept organically growing. It felt right for them to kiss like that and just befitted the tragic love story that was to follow. I just love it. Love love love it. Even down to the clothing; both Buffy & Spike are wearing red in this final scene. Red being not only the colour of lust and seduction, but obviously also blood and death. It just foreshadows the rest of S6 so beautifully.

My only issue with the episode and why it fails to get a 100% perfect score, is the fact Xander summoned Sweet. It just never made sense to me how, after all his experiences with fighting demons and being cursed in the past, that he would ever just think "Oh, this'll be cool, let's just summon this demon for laughs". In fact, it should have just been Dawn. That would have made more sense in context and at least then we could have had a fight at the end when Sweet tried to take her away to be his Queen. Or even perhaps Sweet, knowing Dawn was the Slayer's sister, could have come to Dawn and tricked her into it. Anything but the stupid excuse that Xander did it!

Xander, have you learned nothing?! 🙄
Click to expand...
 
Athena said:
As a total Spuffy fan, the kiss at the end and the rising music (and the rising music!) never felt like just fan service. Their attraction to each other just kept organically growing. It felt right for them to kiss like that and just befitted the tragic love story that was to follow. I just love it. Love love love it. Even down to the clothing; both Buffy & Spike are wearing red in this final scene. Red being not only the colour of lust and seduction, but obviously also blood and death. It just foreshadows the rest of S6 so beautifully.

I'm with you you 100% on this

My only issue with the episode and why it fails to get a 100% perfect score, is the fact Xander summoned Sweet. It just never made sense to me how, after all his experiences with fighting demons and being cursed in the past, that he would ever just think "Oh, this'll be cool, let's just summon this demon for laughs". In fact, it should have just been Dawn. That would have made more sense in context and at least then we could have had a fight at the end when Sweet tried to take her away to be his Queen. Or even perhaps Sweet, knowing Dawn was the Slayer's sister, could have come to Dawn and tricked her into it. Anything but the stupid excuse that Xander did it!

Xander, have you learned nothing?! 🙄
Click to expand...

I really learned not to like Xander and and I think this episode is when it started in earnest. I know the hyena thing was worse and came earlier but by the time of OMWF I was so over Xander. I didn't start to like him again until season 10 comics.
 
I liked the whole episode . It showed things that everyone was hiding . I thought the best songs were Tara singing . It really showed how much
Tara & Willow were in love . And Spike singing Rest in Peace was great since he was so often a rough character it really showed his
self that even thought he was a vampire he still had feelings.

Also I liked when Sweet found out Xander had called him & called the whole thing off .

I just wish we had heard Dawn sing in there .
 
ChaseRules said:
I liked the whole episode . It showed things that everyone was hiding . I thought the best songs were Tara singing . It really showed how much
Tara & Willow were in love . And Spike singing Rest in Peace was great since he was so often a rough character it really showed his
self that even thought he was a vampire he still had feelings.

Also I liked when Sweet found out Xander had called him & called the whole thing off .

I just wish we had heard Dawn sing in there .
Click to expand...

I also liked it, because the point of the world of the musical is that there is no distinct logic, and because Buffy isn't normally a muscial then its an device to advance characters and it is very effectively done. It also nicely bleeds into such things as the magic metaphor involved in Willow and Tara's realtionship.

Dawn and Willow it would have been interesting to hear sing. The brief moment of Dawn singing and how she is interupted plays nicely to her character.
 
GoSpuffy said:
 


I really learned not to like Xander and and I think this episode is when it started in earnest. I know the hyena thing was worse and came earlier but by the time of OMWF I was so over Xander. I didn't start to like him again until season 10 comics.
Click to expand...

What Xander did in OMWF is far worse than The Pack. He summoned Sweet out of his free will. The hyena possessed him against his will, his actions while possessed are not his fault, his body was violated, he was the victim.
 
I agree . You think he would know better but all he was thinking about was himself.
 
ChaseRules said:
I agree . You think he would know better but all he was thinking about was himself.
Click to expand...

I don't even think he was thinking anything (or at least the writers' weren't) because it's the one thing in the episode that just doesn't work.

But I watched it again yesterday and it still made me smile, it never fails to do that. I have the soundtrack on my phone and 'Where Do We Go From Here' as my chief ringtone - safe to say regardless of that one minor flaw, I still adore it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom