that one vampire...

"Body," as the Buffy episode that focuses on portraying, realistically, the human response to death, stands out from the other episodes in the show. It is unique it its potential to portray a Buffy adventure without the slaying of any kind of hellish antagonist. So why, instead of holding on to this realist theme, does the episode throw that "random" vampire into the mix immediately before its conclusion? Well, as we have seen through both in-class student responses and Wilcox's article, there are many potential explanations. Here is the one that popped into my head as I was watching the episode.

The vampire rises from the table and immediately heads for its intended victim (Dawn). My thoughts? It's a spooky room full of dead bodies, this isn't wholly unexpected (although, at this point, seemingly unnecessary). So we switch back to Buffy, who, noticing her sister's prolonged absence, goes to the rescue. Up to this point I'm NOT happy with what's going on. Whedon has thrown us out of our prolonged "grieving" state, offering some vampire killing action that is this show's usual "bread and butter", but int this episode feels strangely out of place. However, my attitude towards the show's sudden shift begins to undergo a rapid change as I watch Buffy defend her sister. Where is the butt-kicking I was expecting? Where is the usual on-fire Buffy who has, at times, owned rooms full of monsters and is now forced to grapple on the floor with JUST one? Then the thought that made the vampire make sense arrived in my brain. Buffy is in an incredibly weak emotional state. The mental exhaustion that must follow an experience as traumatic as a parent's death has laid her low. So, while this is definitely not the best explanation that I have heard, it is my own and made perfect sense as I watched Buffy weakly wrestle with her adversary, desperately reaching for the saw that she used to end the fight.

For me, Buffy's fight with that vampire emphasized her weakness (both physical and emotional) as she desperately struggles to cope with her mother's death. The vampire appeared to show the viewer that the Buffy who lost her mother is not, at least for now, the same Buffy that hammers her monsters before breakfast. Her mother's has affected her deeply in every way, hitting her both emotionally and physically.