I don't get the love for "The Body"

[BuffyElevated]

I think The Body is amazing, but I can understand why you don't like the episode. Not every episode is for everybody.

I've heard others saying how they do not like this episode because they hate Joyce--- they just aren't moved by her death. As I have never liked Joyce, I can understand this, but the reason this episode moves me is its portrayal of the effects of death. I've never seen any other televison show that's shown it so realistically.

I also don't agree with your soap opera comment. Buffy may not exactly be Young and the Restless, but it's always had elements of teen soap opera and melodrama.

Very, VERY well said... BRAVO.

I also can understand why this episode is not for everyone. But I absolutely don't understand how showing the effects of a death in a tight-knit circle of friends is like a "soap opera". I also don't agree when someone says that Buffy doesn't have elements of a soap opera (have you seen Season 2 and 3?). The show has always liked to play on the angst of the characters and show their romantic dramas and add twists and turns here and there; that's a lot of what goes on in a soap opera, too. 🙂
I don't particularly love Joyce, but she was Buffy's mom, and I cared for her by association: I loved Buffy, therefor I loved the people she loved as well. But it's not even the loss of her mom that gets me... It's watching the stages of grief being portrayed by all these characters, and their very REAL portrayals of how grief is different for everyone. That's what makes it a brilliant episode for me.
And the fact that it cuts into the "action" of the season, well that is a lovely metaphor for life, as are just about everything on BtVS. Sometimes things happen at the most inconvenient times. We're busy dealing with a lot of stuff and WHAM- a big event happens that shakes us to our core and forces us to be stronger than we ever thought we could be.

 

[King of Hell]

am not saying Btvs has no soap opera elements, but this is the only episode that used ONLY that element.

 

[frankie]

Buffy is my favorite character and that is why I love this episode. Don't get me wrong, everyone shines here but ultimately for me this is an important episode for the character of Buffy.
I think it is important for her to come face to face with death and also to give her a better insight into life. Everyday she fights people who have already died, it's routine for her, people die, they become vampires and then she kills them again. There's no real emotional connection there, it's a job, she doesn't really understand how precious life is. And then Joyce died.
It wasn't something she could fight, it wasn't a scary demon, it was cold hard truth that people don't come back from death, they're just gone. That's why I love the fact that a vampire is there at the end. It's Buffy view of death, but this time Joyce wasn't coming back. It shows Buffy the real meaning of life and how important her mission is.
There's a weakness that comes with that to, when Glory takes Dawn, she believes she has to face death again, and she shuts down. It's too hard to deal with. She couldn't stop Joyce's death, how could she stop Dawn's. It also adds a nice depth to her character that she feels responsible in a way for their deaths, that she always has to be the hero. Willow wakes her up to the fact that she can't win them all, she can't protect everyone, death won't always be beaten. And for me that was the meaning of " the gift ". Some people interpret it as Buffy like every slayer had a death wish and that she was tired and gave up. I never did. For me it was Buffy trying to beat death, not for herself, but for Dawn, her friends and the world. " Live for me ". She came face to face with her greatest fear and weakness. And she figured it out. Death's a horrible, scary thing, but life can be wonderful. And that was the gift she gave them. She would re-learn this again at the end of season 6.
Everything I love about the character of Buffy is linked to "the body" for me. It's a hard episode to watch, it's not enjoyable but it's important to watch, and it is a great character piece.

 

[Kelsey]

am not saying Btvs has no soap opera elements, but this is the only episode that used ONLY that element.

Right, but I just don't think portraying deep, powerful emotions without the usual slaying action makes it soap opera-like. Joyce didn't slip into a coma, she didn't fall and hit her head and lose her memory, etc, etc, etc--she just... died.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I don't see how you think that showing emotions or having an episode that only revolves around human emotion makes it like a soap opera.

 

[King of Hell]

it doesn't make it like a soap opera, but it doesn't make it a Btvs episode either...well, to me anyway. there are lots of episodes involving heavy Drama, with maybe only 10 minutes of slayer action, but you feel that its a Btvs episode, if you replace the actors, you will never be able to guess that this is a Btvs episode. however, lets say you replace the actors in "bad girls", Btvs is definitely in the list of possible suspects.

 

[BuffyHead]

it doesn't make it like a soap opera, but it doesn't make it a Btvs episode either...well, to me anyway. there are lots of episodes involving heavy Drama, with maybe only 10 minutes of slayer action, but you feel that its a Btvs episode, if you replace the actors, you will never be able to guess that this is a Btvs episode. however, lets say you replace the actors in "bad girls", Btvs is definitely in the list of possible suspects.

But that isn't the point... we know it's Buffy. It doesn't feel like Buffy, because Buffy is normal at that moment... she is just a young girl who lost her mom. She isn't the Slayer.... they arnt' the scoobies, they are just good friends who had something horrible happen. It's suppose to surprise you as much as it surprised the characters.... and it does. There is basically no soundtrack, because your world stops when something like that happens. It is extremely well portrayed, and very realistic..

I honestly do not see you're point at all..... I mean I see why it doesn't seem like Buffy, because theres "no kicko no fighto" but at the same time, the episode is so brilliant, that it's impossible to hate it.

 

[Vengeance]

This is definitely not your run of the mill Buffy episode. It's like Hush or OMWF in that it tries something completely different. Maybe it doesn't grab you but understand it grabs most people. It's a very realistic portrayal of how people react when someone suddenly passes away.

 

[King of Hell]

I actually like Hush & OMWF, they still had the Buffy touch, unlike this episode.

 

[BuffyHead]

I actually like Hush & OMWF, they still had the Buffy touch, unlike this episode.

Once again, i say.... The point Is that she is not Buffy he slayer she is buffy the girl, dealing with not supernatural things. It's important to remember how she is just a normal girl who got this power, but when it comes down to it, she is just a young girl, and losing her mom is worse then anything supernatural that could happen.

 

[King of Hell]

I know that, I mentioned that in one of my posts, what makes an episode in Btvs, is that each episode has Buffy Summers moments & Buffy the Vampire Slayer moments, all mixed in one show, & each episode develops both characters, but this episode has nothing to do with the Slayer, that's the main reason I hate it, I guess.
I hate it isn't the right term, I just hate it as a Btvs episode.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I know that, I mentioned that in one of my posts, what makes an episode in Btvs, is that each episode has Buffy Summers moments & Buffy the Vampire Slayer moments, all mixed in one show, & each episode develops both characters, but this episode has nothing to do with the Slayer, that's the main reason I hate it, I guess.
I hate it isn't the right term, I just hate it as a Btvs episode.

Well, I think it had both. Buffy almost didn't said nothing in that episode, so Joss left to our imagination. We saw Buffys reaction, she was crushed.. Buffy Summers was going down. And without Buffy Summers there is not Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

[Eleftheria]

These series is not just a fantasy story about a chosen girl and vampires. It represents real life. "The Body" is probably one of the most realistic episodes on tv ever...It shows the exact reactions of a person, a human person, weak and fallible like each and every one of us, who loses its mother.

No music, no exaggerations, just the exact representation of human sorrow. I think such an episode is important for Buffy. It shows the human behind the Slayer. It shows how much her mother mattered to her, the difficulty of dealing with death etc.

 

[King of Hell]

These series is not just a fantasy story about a chosen girl and vampires. It represents real life. "The Body" is probably one of the most realistic episodes on tv ever...It shows the exact reactions of a person, a human person, weak and fallible like each and every one of us, who loses its mother.

No music, no exaggerations, just the exact representation of human sorrow. I think such an episode is important for Buffy. It shows the human behind the Slayer. It shows how much her mother mattered to her, the difficulty of dealing with death etc.

its true that without Buffy Summers there wouldn't be Buffy the vampire slayer, but without Buffy the vampire slayer, there would be no Btvs the show. yes the episode was realistic, & yes it was very good in a generic way, they showed us Buffy's Sorrow in season 2 & 3 in a lot of different ways, & in my opinion, the way they treated her loss for Angel is better than the loss of her mother, because they retained the format of the show.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

its true that without Buffy Summers there wouldn't be Buffy the vampire slayer, but without Buffy the vampire slayer, there would be no Btvs the show. yes the episode was realistic, & yes it was very good in a generic way, they showed us Buffy's Sorrow in season 2 & 3 in a lot of different ways, & in my opinion, the way they treated her loss for Angel is better than the loss of her mother, because they retained the format of the show.

Buffy killed Angel with her own two hands. He died in front of her eyes. She made that choice. And she had to live with it. Joyce died because of natural causes, and even Buffy couldn't stop that, no matter how much she wanted to. Also, that two love can't be compared. Buffy loved Angel with one kind of love, and loved Joyce with another. Angel was someone who came into her life and walked out, but Joyce was always there, she was her mother. Person who raised her, and who knew her secret and still kept on loving her. In my opinion that the reason why Buffy wanted to protect Dawn so bad.. when Joyce found out that Dawn is not hers, she told Buffy to protect her no matter what, she's precious to the world. They showed Buffy's sadness about losing her mother in the perfect way. It's not dramatic, it's quiet. When you lose your love you feel like your world is falling apart, but yet you hope that there's someone out there. But when your mother dies, you can't have a new one.. she's gone. And episode showed that perfectly, and then in the next episode, they showed Buffy sharing her sadness with person she loves the most.. Angel. We saw Dawn being the youngest one who wants her mommy back, and Buffy's friends finally calming down because they figured out Buffy needs help.

 

[King of Hell]

Buffy killed Angel with her own two hands. He died in front of her eyes. She made that choice. And she had to live with it. Joyce died because of natural causes, and even Buffy couldn't stop that, no matter how much she wanted to. Also, that two love can't be compared. Buffy loved Angel with one kind of love, and loved Joyce with another. Angel was someone who came into her life and walked out, but Joyce was always there, she was her mother. Person who raised her, and who knew her secret and still kept on loving her. In my opinion that the reason why Buffy wanted to protect Dawn so bad.. when Joyce found out that Dawn is not hers, she told Buffy to protect her no matter what, she's precious to the world. They showed Buffy's sadness about losing her mother in the perfect way. It's not dramatic, it's quiet. When you lose your love you feel like your world is falling apart, but yet you hope that there's someone out there. But when your mother dies, you can't have a new one.. she's gone. And episode showed that perfectly, and then in the next episode, they showed Buffy sharing her sadness with person she loves the most.. Angel. We saw Dawn being the youngest one who wants her mommy back, and Buffy's friends finally calming down because they figured out Buffy needs help.

I know, I get it, but this isn't the format of the show, that's why I hated the episode. its not about how Buffy felt, she said her mom was the most precious thing in her life, & she said she loved Angel more than she could love anything in her life. but thats no the point. my point is, the episode uses a different format than any other episode in the show, & that makes the season lose a lot of momentum...well, to me anyway.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I know, I get it, but this isn't the format of the show, that's why I hated the episode. its not about how Buffy felt, she said her mom was the most precious thing in her life, & she said she loved Angel more than she could love anything in her life. but thats no the point. my point is, the episode uses a different format than any other episode in the show, & that makes the season lose a lot of momentum...well, to me anyway.

I see why you don't like it, but I can't say I agree with you. I don't see Buffy as one side show, and many moments for me pops out from your Buffy themed show. I mean, Beer Bad is in the Buffy square, but it's with no question worser then The Body.

 

[TheVoid68]

The Body is different to the rest of the series. I think that's a plus, I like episodes that do something different. Some people think that it's bad, and they're entitled to that opinion.

 

[caitaintdead]

I think you're well entitled to your opinion, but I completely disagree.

I think The Body is one of the greatest episodes of television ever written and although it is much to hard to watch to be in my list of favourite episodes, it would definitely be in the top 5 of the greatest.

I think this episode was important to the remaining season and did not feel that it slowed down the season, in fact, I felt like it was a pivotal moment to the season.

Someone said that without Buffy Summers you do not have the vampire slayer, and I thought that was a great statement.

 

[MandaMeena]

One thing that I appreciated was the psychology of this episode. Every thing Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Xander, Giles, even Spike did in that episode, as well as the following one when Dawn tried to bring Joyce back, was very human. I also think that it was wise to deviate from the format of the show. One could argue that its normal format is what makes Buffy so great; however, there's always that inevitable "change" that takes place in life, even in a great one. It makes sense that there should be an episode that does that same in a well-written tv show. Life happens. I applaud any show that is brave enough to let natural, realistic things happen to its characters.