Response to "Once More, With Feeling"

I've had enough run-ins with song and dance to last a lifetime, seeing as my twin sister had a certain fondness for Broadway shows and other musicals. Though this episode was definitely a departure from your average episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it wasn't an entirely foreign concept for me to experience characters breaking out into song and dance. A musical presents a chance for emotional expression of a character's experience while simultaneously drawing the viewer in with vivid choreography and vocals that are ordinarily stifled by run-of-the-mill dialogue. It is very exciting to see the actors and actresses of the series express talents that do not ordinarily come into play, and this little reprieve we experience in "Once More, With Feeling" from traditional dialogue and action provides a breath of fresh air to a show that might have gotten a little stale.

The closing song of "Once More, With Feeling" highlights a key concern that the writers may have had for the show. After the demon Sweet vanishes, the gang breaks into song, singing the question "where do we go from here?" This question bears importance for the characters in the show, who have had to come to terms with the reality of their relationships to one another, while perhaps simultaneously raising the question on behalf of the writers as to how much further they should take the show. Producing a special episode that incorporates song-and-dance numbers may have provided a fresh take on the series, yet the writers had to ask themselves at some point how long they can continue to keep the Buffy series going.