S06E07 Once More, With Feeling

A demon comes, casting a spell on Sunnydale.

Backstory

Important points to note, leading up to this.

  • Spike and Buffy started a friendship.
  • Buffy died at the end of season 5, sacrificing herself to save her sister.
  • Willow and Xander raised her from the dead with a spell.
    • Willow and Xander did this, thinking Buffy was in Hell. They did not tell anyone beforehand about their attempt.
    • They didn’t think the spell worked. It did, they just forgot to un-bury her.
    • Buffy was in heaven, not hell. She didn’t tell them, but she hasn’t been doing well coming to Earth.
    • Buffy hasn’t been the same.
  • Anya hates bunnies.
  • Dawn, Buffy’s surprise sister, has been stealing things.
  • Spike and Buffy’s relationship grows. He understands what it is like to be dead. It starts a bit abusive, as Buffy does not treat spike well.
  • Willow and Tara had an argument. Willow cast a spell using a flower to make Anya forget about it.
  • Anya and Xander just got engaged.
  • Dawn recently snuck out of the house to cruise around with some boys that liked her. But they were vampires.
  • In a prior episode, Tara’s abusive family tried to get her to leave and go back home. The Scooby gang ‘adopted’ her and made her part of their family.

From the Episode

  • Buffy, just “going through the motions” hoping no one notices she’s not into it.
    • She doesn’t know who she is anymore
  • Anya and Xander are starting to find things that annoy each other
    • They realize they are annoying each other
    • They don’t know if they want to be around someone like that
    • They aren’t sure they other person wants to be around them.
    • They are headed towards marriage, but not sure it is the right thing
    • Xander doesn’t want to turn into a verbally abusive drunk like his dad.
  • Buffy is too young to be a mom to her sister. Is passing the hard part of raising a kid off to Giles.
    • Giles doesn’t just talk to Buffy about her wanting to pass the raising of Dawn to him.
  • Spike doesn’t want to talk about his feelings for Buffy
  • As

Lyrics for all songs are available here:

https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Once_More,_with_Feeling/Lyrics

Themes

Relationships (romantic, platonic, family) take maintenance. Not every relationship is going to survive this episode. Lack of communication is a common theme here. When secrets finally come out, it can be too late to heal the damage.

Discuss

  • What causes a person to just ‘go through the motions?’
    • How do you get out of that mindset?
  • What leads to a healthy relationship? How does communication play a part of that?
  • Giles feels the need to leave Buffy, so that she’s forced to grow and be independent.
    • In what way to our parents/mentors stop us from growing?
    • What are the risks of letting our kids go off on their own?
    • What is the best way of striking the balance between helping a twenty-year-old, and letting them grow on their own?
  • Tara’s only family is now the Scooby gang.
    • Should she leave Willow?
    • If she stays, how can she enforce boundaries?
    • If she leaves, does she have a family?
    • If she leaves Willow, can she stay as part of that family?
    • Should Willow be cast out of the group?
  • “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.”
    • What does this mean?
    • Do you agree?
  • What do the lyrics below try to say?

` Life's not a song Life isn't bliss Life is just this It's living You'll get along The pain that you feel You only can heal By living `