The death of Buffy's mom

An amazing, buzz-heavy episode takes the most daring show on TV to a new level.

By Joyce Millman

Mar 12, 2001 | You can keep NBC Wednesday -- TV's best night of drama is the WB's Tuesday, and no, I'm not kidding. To those of you who've never seen "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," well, I'm sorry, but you are beyond my help. To those of you who have been watching this sublime two-hour package of passionately original storytelling, my advice is this: Enjoy it while you can, because "Buffy" may not be back on the WB next season.

The WB and 20th Century Fox, the studio that produces "Buffy," missed a mid-February deadline for reaching a compensation agreement that would have kept "Buffy" on the WB for another season. The network and the studio were reportedly far apart on a price, and the show is now up for grabs to the highest bidder. Fox, UPN and ABC are all rumored to be interested, although the WB could still come around.

As a longtime "Buffy" watcher, I admit that it's hard to imagine our Slayer doing her staking anywhere but on the Frog. That said, if "Buffy" does end up on a more established network like ABC or Fox, maybe the show would finally gain legitimacy in the eyes of Emmy voters. Because if the fierce, soulful work of star Sarah Michelle Gellar (not to mention the rest of the show's ridiculously talented cast) ever deserved some Emmy notice, it's now. Not only is "Buffy" having one of its strongest seasons ever, there hasn't been a finer hour of drama on TV this year than the Feb. 27 "Buffy" episode, "The Body."

Written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon, "The Body" was a soul-shaking portrait of death and grief, with Buffy having to face the unexpected passing of her mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland). On another series, the death of Buffy's mom might have been an excuse to pull out all the Very Special Episode bells and whistles. But "Buffy" is the ultimate anti-VSE show. Every episode is special, every episode is momentous, every character matters, every feeling, big or small, is meaningful. On "Buffy," stuff happens -- things change, people change, people die, and sometimes, arming yourself with a big pointy stake just won't do you any good.

I have to laugh when TV snobs dismiss "Buffy" as cheesy kid stuff, because, in many ways, "Buffy" is the most daring show on TV. It's daring because it defiantly and lovingly takes its tone and shape from oft-dismissed genres like daytime soaps, gothic romances, Grade-B horror flicks and supernatural fantasies, and it elevates -- no, celebrates -- these misunderstood and mistreated pop art forms. "Buffy" is an ode to misfits, a healing vision of the weird, the different and the marginalized finding their place in the world and, ultimately, saving it. And "Buffy" never takes advantage of viewers' suspension of disbelief; strange things happen in Buffy's universe, but Whedon and his writers don't screw with the mythology for the sake of convenience. Nothing ever happens here without a darned good explanation, which is more than you can say about "The X-Files."

But what's truly extraordinary about "Buffy" is how the show keeps moving forward, how its characters continue to evolve. Now four and a half seasons old (it premiered at midseason in March, 1997), "Buffy" is as whip-smart and unpredictable as ever.

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