If, as I do, you count yourself among the grossly sentimental
'The Prom' might be a new high watermark in the series for giving you a bad case of the feels.
New watermark because nobody dies.
No relationships fall apart that weren’t already running on fumes.
The emotion in 'The Prom' comes from a single moment of sweet and lovely acknowledgement.
[VINDICATION]
*weeps*
It’s so pretty.
For me, an emotional note well struck always allots a certain number of indulgences for some near misses
oooor even a total misfire.
'The Prom', while spectacular in parts
and an episode that speaks to me on a personal level,
is not without its problems.
Buffy and Angel wake up together after a night of slaying fully clothed.
Buffy suggests that maybe Angel would let her move in some of her stuff, and why hasn’t he asked her to The Prom yet?
If Angel had breath it may have been suffocated out of him in this scene,
though it’s all a bit contrived.
To this point all season, Buffy has been the level headed one.
What is her vision here of their future?
Even the “in denial” vision of their future.
Sexless hetero lifemates?
As weird as this conversation feels I do love the juxtaposition of the normal relationship stuff
and then Angel getting bathed in a ray of sunshine bringing us back to the reality of their situation.
Xander is approached by former vengeance demon Anya, now rendered human in 'The Wish'.
And Anya uses many words to both put men down and ask Xander to The Prom.
"Men are evil."
"Will you go with me."
Anya is an absolute delight,
and every time she wanders into this first shot I get a little giddy for what's to come.
Joyce comes to the mansion for a great little scene between her and Angel
and she gives Angel the necessary push to act on the concerns he clearly already has.
In the library, the gang is doing research on the Mayor’s Ascension and just what demon he’s going to turn into
and...as the conversation diverts to Prom talk
Giles begs everyone to stay focused.
Buffy argues that, if the apocalypse is coming everyone deserves a little fun beforehand.
Angel dreams he and Buffy are getting married
and in his vision Buffy bursts into flames.
As they’re prowling the sewers together, Angel finally comes to grips with what he needs to say.
And here begins the big misfire in this episode for me.
“You think I haven’t thought about this?”
Angel: “Have you?"
"Rationally?”
Yeah.
She broke up with you in 'Lovers Walk' dude.
And then you got all weepy and upset in 'Amends' and she was like
fiiiiiiine all right we can keep hanging out.
I hate this weird rewrite of the seasons.
You know I dig me some good Bangel speak andthere is some juicy drama here
but it ends up feeling decidedly as though Marti Noxon hasn’t actually seen all the episodes this season.
"Don't love you."
"I'm sorry."
"You know what, I didn't know I got a choice in that."
Your ears should perk up every time you hear the word 'choice'.
Somehow Buffy unlearns a lesson she’s already learned twice.
First in 'Becoming (Part 2'), she was given the choice of saving Angel or the world.
(A choice that may not seem so obvious in later seasons.)
Buffy chooses.
[Stabby the Vampire Slayer]
In 'Lovers Walk', after indulging in several episodes worth of denial
that no one could see except Spike,
---"heave."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
“Oh yeah."
"You’re just friends.”
"That's right."
Buffy chooses.
“We’re not friends."
"So I'm gonna go."
There is an eloquent idea they’ve been dancing around through several episodes that has been enmeshed in this idea of choice.
It’s an echo across two seasons.
“Then tell me you don’t love me.
"Say it!"
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what I FEEL."
"Then tell me you don't love me!"
"There's gotta be some way we can still see each other."
"There is."
"Tell me that you don’t love me.”
And that idea is that we may not always have a choice in who we love,
...but we always have a choice in who we allow in our lives.
Unfortunately, that idea gets lost here in a scene that cedes all of Buffy’s power over to Angel
...and drives me completely insane.
There are some details I appreciate about this scene.
Angel’s initial approach to the conversation
is to tell Buffy all the ways in which she would be better off without him
and how she deserves better
and Buffy rightfully counters with:
“Who are you to tell me what’s right for me.”
And I agree with that.
It’s not his choice.
What IS his choice is what he wants and what is best for him.
Which is the actual climax of the conversation.
"I want my life to be with you."
"I don't."
Beck’s score in this episode is another highlight, especially in this scene.
He’s such a minimalist, finding just the right few notes to accent a particular moment.
Buffy’s crushed expression is enough to make us feel sad for her.
"You don't want to be with me."
And there’s a nice hanging second of silence before Beck gives us two chords
that suddenly makes Buffy’s sadness...
[Christophe Beck'ening intensifies]
...ours.
And now I’m a puddle.
Buffy asks Angel how she’s supposed to stay away from him
and Angel lets her know that if they manage to survive the Ascension he’ll leave.
[SPIN-OFF GUIDE TEASE]
Xander happens by the dress shop again and in taking another stab at sniping Cordy
discovers Cordy is actually working there.
“But don’t you already have all the dresses.”
"I have NOTHING, OKAY!"
A hellhound breaks in and attacks a well-clothed high schooler before fleeing.
At the library, the gang watches a video of the attack and realizes a kid off camera, named Tucker Wells, is responsible.
(Isn’t he ANDREW’s brother?)
They hack his e-mail and realize he’s planning on attacking the Prom.
The gang considers warning everyone off and Buffy steps in.
“You guys are gonna have a prom."
"The kind that everyone should have.”
Buffy runs into Angel at the slaughterhouse for
some awkward, see-each-other-around-town post-breakup conversation.
She gets Tucker’s address and demands that everyone get going to the Prom.
And so they do.
There is...much to treasure in the dance scene.
One of my favorites is Anya covering her first date nerves by telling Xander about giving men the plague.
Then there’s Giles’ eye roll at Wesley oggling Cordelia again.
And then there’s Cordelia thanking Xander for his anonymous generosity,
buying her the dress she couldn’t afford.
Xander and Cordy have been at spicy odds since he cheated in 'Lovers Walk'.
And Cordelia staunchly refused to give him an avenue for forgiveness.
In 'The Zeppo', Xander found comfort in his masculinity,
and the strength to do the right thing,
the brave thing even when no one is looking.
And here he keeps his act of generosity a secret from the group,
but in Cordy’s eyes, I think we perceive some forgiveness.
Not because he bought her something
...well...not JUST because he bought her something
...it IS Cordelia.
But because of the man he’s turning into.
It doesn’t change the wrong that was done.
Forgiveness isn’t about going back.
It’s about how we move forward.
At Tucker’s abode, Buffy discovers
...his dark motivations for wanting to murder a bunch of students.
[FLASHback]
“You want to go to the Prom with me?”
“No.”
[FLASHforward]
Buffy runs to the school, confronts the hellhounds and wins the day.
And then comes a truly cherished moment
...something I’ve found it very hard to write about beyond the poetry of the scene that’s already here.
“Is..."
"...Buffy Summers here tonight?”
There is always, at least, a duality in Buffy.
- Her calling as the Slayer and her desire to look and feel like a normal girl.
To fit in with her peers.
To have friends.
And we’ve covered how that yearning was most obviously expressed in 'Homecoming'.
And in 'Earshot', she discovered that even the people she perceived to be normal
or at least more normal than her, were STILL suffering.
Lonely.
Hungry with unfulfilled desires and unattained acknowledgement.
And in that sense, she and Jonathan already fit..
In 'The Prom' she gives up her possibility at a perfect High School moment
in order to preserve that moment for everyone else.
And Jonathan’s first words at the microphone echo his words in the tower.
“We’re not good friends."
“We’re not friends.”
"Most of us never found the time to get to know you.”
"But that doesn't mean we haven't noticed you."
I think the point, is that maybe we don’t have to be best friends, to acknowledge each other’s value.
To belong.
Maybe that’s community.
Maybe that’s being an adult.
"It's from all of us."
"And it has written here..."
"BUFFY SUMMERS"
"CLASS PROTECTOR"
It’s one of my favorite moments, in the series.
This is a moment of PURE joy.
*deep sigh*
Yeah.
All’s forgiven.
This episode lives well in my mind.
One thing I noticed on this run through was how oddly positioned in the series it is.
'The Prom' is the party, but in a lot of fiction the party occurs AFTER the storm.
The Prom is the Ewok celebration on Endor
...BEFORE blowing up the Death Star.
It’s the town’s first dance
... before beating up the bullies.
It’s "Shake, shake, shake, Senora".
But after 'The Prom', the storm is still coming.
[ominous shade]