At this point, 'Buffy' as a series has come far enough that 'Killed By Death' feels almost retro.
Interestingly, Wikipedia says that the script was originally conceived as a 'Season 1' episode and man does it feel it.
You’ve got the return of the synthy score.
Angel’s appearance as the Big Bad again feels like a posthumous reminder he's still there.
And many of the scenes between the gang feel a little static and lifeless.
It actually feels less like to me like an episode of 'Buffy' and more like an early season 'X-Files' episode.
'Killed by Death' begins an odd little three episode change of pace in the show with...
'I Only Have Eyes for You' and...
...'Go Fish' following.
Having to follow 'Passion'
and being two episodes from 'Becoming (Part 1)' is an inenviable position in the series
but that doesn’t mean there aren't some things about the episode I enjoy.
Buffy gets sick and is saved by the Gang during a fight with Angel.
She ends up in the hospital with a bit of a delusional fever.
Joyce reveals to everyone that Buffy hates hospitals because...
...a cousin of hers died in one while Buffy was alone with her.
A piece of lore that is never mentioned again,
though the show ends up in a hospital on multiple occasions.
Buffy wakes up in a fever sweat and sees a small child staring at her.
As he walks away he is followed by something...
...odd.
Buffy tries to follow and experiences a flashback
to her childhood hospital visits.
Confusingly it turns out it was just a dream.
Or was it?
She walks the halls again, and discovers a young girl has just died.
Two children sneak up on her and tell her death is coming and taking the children.
You know, I’m earning a reputation for being a Xander basher.
It's probably something I should speak to in a separate video.
But I should say again, I LOVE Xander
as much as I do any of the other characters on the show,
and it’s precisely because of scenes like this.
In comes Angelus to pay sick Buffy a visit
and Xander throws himself in front of that oncoming train without a second thought.
Angelus pulls the bully tactic of physical intimidation
and Xander doesn’t back down.
This is probably my favorite scene in the episode.
I love how Angelus calls Xander on his motivations in a way that nobody else does.
There are more flashbacks to Buffy as a child.
The gang comes to visit and Buffy shares her concerns that there might be a demon about.
And Cordelia uses some of that bright shiny Cordelia intelligence
I was alluding to in the previous review.
"So this isn't about you being afraid of hospitals 'cause your friend died..."
"...and you wanna conjure up a monster that you can fight so you can save everybody and not feel so helpless?"
"Cordeilla, have you ever actually heard of tact?"
"Tact is just not saying true stuff."
Xander says he needs to stay behind and watch Buffy’s back and Cordeila once again speaks with plain intelligence.
"Well I was using the phrase 'watch her back' as a euphemism for 'looking at her butt'."
Cordy returns with donuts and coffee which silently resolves their argument.
Willow and Giles discover that the hospital doctor has a rap sheet
and has been experimenting on the kids in some way.
The doctor is then attacked by a demon only the kids can see.
The next day, Joyce comes to take Buffy home and everyone insists that she stay for one more day.
Cordy and Giles head to the library to research the demon.
"Why do I have to have..."
[Xander coughs a little]
"Good thinking, I-I-I could do with a research assistant."
"Let's go Tact Guy."
They stumble on the description of the demon itself.
It says: "It sits on its prey and slowly draws the life out of them."
And then Buffy has a GENUINELY disturbing flashback of her cousin’s last moments.
Her cousin’s performance is actually so creepy good it makes me a little queasy.
And not being able to see the demon she is terrified of makes the whole bit oddly even more disturbing.
Buffy figures out the fever is what's letting everyone see the demon so she induces a higher one on purpose.
When she does she gets her first full view of it.
The demon tracks the kids to the basement and...
….ugh…
Buffy and the demon fight.
She appears to lose for a moment
and then in a weird anticlimax as the thing goes to use its...
...eyeball mouths...
...she breaks its neck.
What an odd little episode this is.
First of all, it’s the only time in the whole series where Buffy gets non-magically sick.
Joyce relates her sickness to her depression
over Jenny’s death
And Buffy’s flashbacks to her cousin and not acting in time to save her...
"What's wrong?"
[screams]
"I don't know what to do, Celia!"
[screams]
...dovetail nicely into that reading.
At the end of 'Passion' she says she’s ready to act.
Saving the children after she couldn’t save her cousin foreshadows
her eventual confrontation with Angel after she couldn’t save Jenny.
It works,
and yet this really doesn’t have the FLAVOR of what the show has become.
It feels a bit like...
...'Nightmares'.
Less about the relationships between the characters and more consumed with its own plot.
Also, at this point I am QUITE over the creepy child cliché.
As weak as the episode is, the demon himself is the most disturbing demon in the series.
I find him even creepier than a certain set of floaty smiley silent demons we’ll be talking about a bit later.
Something about the life-sucking worm eyes.
And never once did the terror of the children to me seem like child acting.
Buffy’s cousin seemed genuinely terrified to me, which was completely unsettling.
'Killed by Death' is certainly very watchable
but it feels like a weird hybrid of 'Season 1' and 'Season 2'.
The episode at its worst when it is overly concerned with its one off plot.
The huge success of the season arc sabotages my desire to get wrapped up in this short story.
Which is why whenever Angel steps on the scene
or our characters relate to each other in ways that will echo beyond the hospital walls
the pace feels as solid and enjoyable as ever.
[sigh] "I don't know."
"Maybe we're too late."
"Maybe they moved, maybe I don't..."
"I'm burning up."
"Will."
"What?"
"I think it's in there."
"I'm a leprechaun."
[evil chuckling]
"I NEED ME GOLD!"