Stew’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer Retrospective: ‘Once More With Feeling’

Okay, here is the episode I keep hearing so much about, so let’s get into it.

“Once More With Feeling” kicks off with an old-timey opening credits with the characters faces transposed over an image of the moon while their actor names are in a red, sitcom-y font next to them. The song that plays is even a jingly bastardization of the typical Nerf Herder theme. There is no pre-credits scene, either, as these introductions lead off the episode.

We open up with a montage of the Scooby Gang going through their day with an instrumental tune playing in the background, and I think “Okay, they are setting us up for a musical but not getting straight into it or anything. That makes sense.”

Then we end up on Buffy in the cemetery, and she immediately breaks out into song. SO I GUESS NOT.

It’s a departure from the Gentlemen and the silent episode, where the first quarter of the show was normal before the silence kicked in. Here, we are straight into the gimmick of the episode. So let’s see how that goes…

Back to Buffy in the cemetery mid-song! She fights off a few vamps and demons who join in with her tune. So is this a musical, where people are just singing and that’s the world we live in? Or is there something mystical at work making everybody sing? I assumed it was the latter, but if it’s the former… I hope there is at least SOME explanation for why everyone is busting out into melodies here.

How long until Giles sings, anyway? That’s the big question.

The next day, Buffy heads to the magic shop to meet with the team, and… no singing here. Everyone is just speaking as normal. What is going on? Are we singing or not, BTVS?

Although we very quickly get Buffy asking if anyone else burst out into song the night before, and they all agree that they did! And then… they all sing again! So, okay, that’s two songs in the first six minutes. That’s a pretty good pace. And during this song, Anya has a rock solo about how evil bunnies are. Hogwash. Bunnies are adorable.

A quick glance outside reveals to Buffy that this is happening all over town, and not just to our protagonists. A man in the street has a full-blown group bit about the cleaners getting mustard out of his shirt. Hey, I get it! I love mustard, and I spill it all the time. It’s a pain. A delicious pain.

Let me know your favorite condiment in the comments!

(That was so natural for an engagement topic. Nailed it)

Dawn comes into the shop and reveals there was singing and dancing at school today, too. The group ignores her to plan around how to get to the bottom of the singing, so Dawn swipes a pendant she sees lying on a table. So THAT’S still happening, I guess.

Image Credit: 20th Century Fox TV

Tara and Willow excuse themselves to go to research at home, but that quickly turns into Tara singing a song about how much she loves Willow, and it’s called “I’m Under Your Spell” (at least, I assume it is based on the lyrics). Man, she doesn’t even know she actually is! That’s duality, man.

Elsewhere and at night, we see a panicking man tap-dance himself en fuego. He dies from the flames at the feet of a demon in a red suit who declares “That’s entertainment.”

We move on after the commercial cut to Anya and Xander waking up in bed together. Xander has called work off for his crew so he doesn’t have to deal with their singing and dancing. Then we get another song that starts off with the couple singing everything they love about each other, but quickly turns into all of their misgivings. Their gripes with each other (Anya eats weird cheeses?) and their fears about the future (Anya is terrified of aging now that she is human). Cut to: the two of them lambasting Giles with their concerns about the singing that is going on.

EDIT: This last part makes less sense when I got to the end of the episode and got the reveal!

Hilariously, half of their discussion is interrupted by a nearby woman singing about getting a parking ticket. Hey, let’s face it: the regular actors on this show weren’t hired for their ability to carry a tune, so they have to intersperse some real crooners now and then!

Buffy goes to visit Spike to see if he knows what is going on. Spike initially claims to have so far been immune to whatever is happening, but in Buffy’s presence, he, too, breaks out into a melody. His song sees him interrupting and attacking one of those very common after dark funerals that I’m sure you’ve been to. Who hasn’t, right? His song reveals his disgruntled attitude towards the way Buffy treats him, and at the end of it, she runs away from him.

Dawn and Tara have a quick scene where Dawn mentions being happy that Tara and Willow made up, and this causes some confusion for Tara, who was forced to forget all of that. Tara rushes off to the magic shop!

As Tara leaves, Dawn opens a jewelry box revealing all of her stolen goods. She starts to break out into a “Does anyone even notice me?” song, and then is abducted by three dudes in Halloween masks, what the ever-loving, blue-eyed fuck?

We cut to Dawn, captive in an empty Bronze, and she has a dance number with the Halloween Mask Guys before coming face to face with the demon in red (though he changes his outfit to blue shortly into his ensuing song). He mentions that Dawn summoned him somehow. Dawn notes, in song, that her sister is the Slayer, so the demon sends his masked men to bring the latter here so he can watch her burn.

Buffy and Giles are midst training session, when Buffy again seems to take Giles for granted re: Dawn’s activities in the Halloween episode. This causes Giles to break out in a number. He realizes that his “help” is actually hindering Buffy from developing as an adult. He is, of course, the best pure singer this episode so far.

Elsewhere in the magic shop, Tara realizes that a plant she has been carrying around has been augmenting Willow’s mind control spell. This carries into a Tara/Giles duet about their regrets with the people they care about. Despite the fact that what they are feeling are two different things–Giles feels remorse that Buffy isn’t growing because of him; Tara is experiencing betrayal.

Image Credit: 20th Century Fox TV

As their number ends, Spike bursts in carrying one of the masked men! The minion reveals his master’s plan. The group is ready to assist Buffy, but Giles says no, she has to handle this one on her own. Taking that song to heart, G! I don’t think helping her thwart an evil demon is the same thing as helping her raise Dawn, though. This characterization is wonk.

Ensemble number time! Buffy starts what seems to be a solo number about going off to face Dawn’s captor alone. But over the course of the song, Spike starts in and decides he will join the Slayer. Then back at the magic shop, Giles and the others decides they ought to help her, too, so they start on their way. And as the song ends, Buffy breaks into the monster’s lair.

Facing off against our nameless threat, Buffy launches into ANOTHER song about how she has nothing to sing about. As the Scoobies come in to save her, she sings to them about how they pulled her from heaven, and now every day feels like hell. She starts dancing so hard she might catch fire, but Spike rescues her and stops her from erupting into flame.

In the follow-up dialogue, it’s revealed that XANDER actually summoned this demon because he thought it would be fun to see all the singing and dancing. He thought it would reveal if he and Anya would have a happy ending.

I mean… that’s a choice I guess. And FAR BE IT FROM ME to defend Xander of ALL characters on this godforsaken show, but few of them would know better than he about summoning evils like this. He’s been around since episode 1!

Also, it’s SO out of nowhere. This is the “And then they were rescued by… oh, let’s say… Moe” of BTVS.

ANYWAY, the group gets a somber “Did we really win the day?” style end tune, but Buffy and Spike leave during the end of it to talk in an alleyway. They start singing for just a moment, and then they kiss.

End episode.

******

Not gonna lie: this was fun, but it’s not quite up there with the silent episode for pure gimmicky fun. The Gentlemen are a hard act to top, and while Singing Demon was pretty rad, he wasn’t on their level.

We have a lot to deal with next time, as presumably Tara and Willow go face to face, and Buffy has to deal with kissing Spike.

See you then!