Buffy the Vampire Slayer does not always make death a permanent end, and when it does retcon a character’s demise, it does so in such as way as to not ruin the show’s stakes. This issue of how to treat character death is one that many series run into one way or another, and how a show approaches death and resurrection can make or break audience investment. This makes Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s approach all the more intriguing due to how it allows its titular character to return from the dead but manages not to rob death of its gravity in the process.
Death is a constant companion for Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Since Buffy is the chosen Slayer of her generation, she must dispatch the vampires, monsters, and demons that plague the world, particularly those that are drawn to the Hellmouth beneath her school. Throughout the seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy’s efforts to fulfill her destiny and protect those she loves have resulted in her death, or apparent death, three times. But one way or another, Buffy always returns to the screen, whether through magic or the swift intervention of her friends.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Risked Making Death Not Matter
Due to Buffy the Vampire Slayer resurrecting its titular character so often, the show ran the real risk of audiences assuming that no matter what happened to her, Buffy would always be safe, even if this protection arbitrarily applied to her and no one else. This is especially true given the increasingly volatile circumstances of each of Buffy’s deaths, whose survivability range from plausible to thoroughly impossible. First, she “dies” when the Master (Mark Metcalf) bites her neck in season 1. Then, Buffy passes away at the culmination of season 5, when she sacrifices herself to close a portal to the Hell dimension in her sister’s stead. Finally, Buffy dies for a third time when she’s shot in season 6.
However, each time she dies, Buffy is saved or brought back, usually by her friends. Angel (David Boreanaz) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon) save her in season 1, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) resurrects Buffy at the beginning of season 6, and Dark Willow saves Buffy again at the end of season 6. Each of Buffy’s deaths, despite their later reversal, is treated with all the drama of a legitimate demise; and with the inherent danger in Buffy’s role as the Slayer, it makes sense that audiences would respond to these resurrections by beginning to believe that death does not matter in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Buffy’s Resurrections Always Had A Cost – That’s Why They Worked
However, Buffy the Vampire Slayer avoids this loss of stakes and audience investment by ensuring that Buffy’s resurrections always had a cost. This avoided cheapening death in the show, especially since these costs always had lasting impacts on the series. For example, Buffy’s season 1 death led to the awakening of the next Slayer, Kendra (Bianca Lawson), and an era where there was always more than one Slayer in the world. Buffy’s second resurrection traumatized her deeply and kicked off Willow’s increasing addiction to magic, and Buffy’s final resurrection was a culmination of this character arc and came at the cost of Willow’s moral alignment and mental health.
Because each of Buffy’s resurrections had these costs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer made sure that death still felt serious and important in the show. On a deeper level, the rippling implications from each resurrection reinforced the gravity of death by depicting how the return from death is something of a perversion of the natural order and one that the universe does not take kindly to. As such, these repercussions made death still feels like a legitimate threat, keeping the stakes high for Buffy and her friends as they faced life-or-death situations.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Justified Bringing Buffy Back
Buffy the Vampire Slayer also always justified Buffy’s returns to life. By making the reasons for dragging Buffy back to the mortal coil feel important, the series avoided padding Buffy with plot armor, which both made Buffy seem more of a hero and the threats that only she could face more lethal. All these elements show how Buffy the Vampire Slayer kept resurrection from feeling cheap because it considered the impact of every stage of the process. Whether it was Buffy’s death, how and why she would be brought back, or the implications of her return, the series made sure that death is never a laughing matter in its narrative.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
