To Hell And Back...

[Jeff86]

I just finished watching Season 6 today, and as I was nearing the end of "Grave," I got to thinking that one theme of this season is that most all of the characters go through some sort of personal hell in this season, but are able to come back from it. In "Bargaining," Buffy has to climb out of her coffin while the demon biker gang is terrorizing Sunnydale. To her, being brought back is hell. However, at the end of "Grave," she once again climbs out of the ground, but is full of hope. She is also eager to show Dawn the world. Willow becomes addicted to magic, and in doing so causes Tara to break-up with her. Just when Willow has begun to work through her addiction, Tara is ripped from her, and Willow goes on a murderous rampage. However, Xander is able to reach her, and in the final scenes of "Grave," we're still left with a sense of hope for her. Xander humiliates and devastates Anya on their wedding day, losing the love of his life in the process. However, it is ultimately Xander who is able to save the world because he is the only person who can reach Willow. I know Joss said the theme of Season 6 is "Oh, grow up," but this is just another possible theme that sprung to my mind. Agree? Disagree? Discuss please. 🙂

 

[SlayerFest]

Growing up...hell...maybe I'm just a cynic but, those two things are one in the same in my eyes. Heh.

 

[dexeded]

I agree, the characters were definitely at their worst (or made the most drastic decisions, anyway) this season. Buffy with her heaven depression, Willow with magic addiction, Xander with leaving Anya. And they all got out of it in the end.

Anyway, every season has many different themes, although there's generally a main theme over the other ones.

 

[Ripper666]

Mhm I think that "grow up" was surely a theme in season 6 but not the main theme. I think the main theme was love and cohesion and friendship. They wanted to show us what can happen if somebody looses a friend (Willow) or just something terrible happened to him and that this person who is on the bottom of her/his life needs the cohesion of her/his friends. Together as a team you can solve problems which are not solveable for a single person.
Oh and there was another message: Never run amok because something bad happend to you. Sounds a little bit childlike but I am sure they wanted to tell us that noone is it worth for to die for. Except SMG of course 😀

 

[PassionBecoming]

Definitely - season six was a very dark, depressing season for the most part. I think there was a "grow-up" theme, but also a "how far can we push the characters away from their best" type of thing. Each went through at least once experience that was potentially soul-breaking, then popped out at the end somewhat intact.

 

[BuffyElevated]

This was definitely a deep, dark season. It's not my favorite, but I do love the more adult story arcs we saw this season.

 

[Ms.Trick]

I think in one of the dvd bonuses they say that in season 6, "Life is the big bad", and that's what season 6 really is for me: they don't have a proper big bad (cause, you know, I don't count Dork Team as big bad), and yet, in this season they've suffered more than in any other seasons. And this time it wasn't really because of demons, betrayal or anything like the other seasons: the suffering they go through is the direct result of decisions they take that affect each other, one way or another.

Buffy: depression after being pulled out of heaven. Decision taken by the gang, hoping to help her, but putting her through a major trauma.
Willow: drug addiction. Affects everybody, especially Tara. Then Tara dies and boom Dark Willow.
Xander: gets what he wants, starts hesitating, messes up, breaks Anya's heart.
Anya: gets her heart broken, goes back to Vengence.
Dawn: feels left out, unimportant ==> becomes a klepto.

In this season, the demons that appear are really not a big part of the plot, the biggest part of the plot is how their decisions in life can have a bad effect on them and on the others. But like you say, OP, at the end of season 6 they are left with a sense of hope.

I think the problem is that they each sort of decided to fight their problem alone, they kinda isolated themselves from one other, but in the end of the season, they realize that yes, life is hell, but it gets better when you don't keep it all to yourself, that they are not alone and they can all count on the support of their friends. And if you notice, in the end of Grave, none of them is alone: Anya is with Giles, Xander with Willow and Buffy with Dawn. They all get somehow hope and happiness in all that mess, like Anya being happy to see Giles and happy that he's alive, Buffy realizing that she wants to help Dawn discovering how beautiful the world and life are and with Willow realizing how much Xander loves her. It's like in the end of season 6, after going through hell, they all see the light at the end of the tunnel. Like an epiphany.

 

[Jodast]

For me season 6 is about facing your personal demons. Addiction, commitment, post traumatic stress disorder, grief, depression; all the fun ones are in there. Everyone behaves out of character because of the situations they have find themselves in or have put themselves in rather than literally facing the demons from Hell.

After season 5's defeating a God and saving the world for the rest of us, there wasn't really anywhere else to go. Season 6 was about saving their own personal worlds. Which is why in the end Xander, as the most Human of the Scoobies with no powers other than support and friendship is the one that saves the day.