"Graduation Day: Part 2"

Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon


In which Buffy puts her life on the line to save Angel and defeat the Mayor, as the moment of Ascension finally arrives...

Status Report - Memorable Quotes - Final Analysis







Status Report

In the wake of the Columbine incident, Joss Whedon agreed not to air the episode “Earshot”, aware that an episode devoted to a possible school killing spree might not play well days after the real thing. Ostensibly, this should have been enough to assuage the fears of the WB executives. At the last minute, however, the network decided not to air the season finale, postponing it for weeks until mid-July 1999.

Postponing “Earshot” was a minor disruption to the narrative flow; it informed later episodes, but it did not advance the overall plot threads to a major degree. Denying the season a proper ending, however, left many fans high and dry; only a small percentage of the Canadian audience had the chance to see the end of the season arc in proper order, and even then, it was the re-edited and softened version that Joss was forced to create.

Whether aware of it or not, the executives marred the third season by leaving the story incomplete for months. The second season was satisfying because the story ended and the audience was given time to decompress and consider what was to come. The third season, however, had no such closure. As a result, the third season (superior in overall consistency of quality) never quite gets the same measure of respect as the second season.

This is highly unfortunate, because this is easily one of the most ambitious episodes of the series. It should be remembered that “Buffy” was still striving for acceptance at this point. Buffy as an icon had entered the popular culture, but the series was still trying to transcend the stigma cast by the original feature film. Joss knew that the season had to serve a number of purposes: key relationships had to reach the desired transition points, the main threat of the Mayor had to be resolved, the metaphorical end of Buffy’s high school years had to be addressed, and the stage had to be set for “Angel”.

The episode begins right where the previous episode left off, with Buffy realizing that Faith’s blood will not be available to cure Angel. Still dealing with the reality that she has strayed into Faith’s dark psychological territory, Buffy makes the choice to allow Angel to feed on her own Slayer blood. It doesn’t take long for Buffy to force Angel’s hand, and Joss does a great job with that scene.

It’s interesting to note that Willow and Oz feel guilty about celebrating their own strengthened connection, just before the feeding scene. They honestly worry that Buffy will resent their expression of self-interest. This is ironic, because Buffy is making an even more self-involved decision. Saving Angel is all about her needs and wants; it has nothing to do with preparing for the impending conflict. It places Willow and Oz apart from Buffy, making it clear how far she’s had to go to overcome Faith and the Mayor.

Angel manages not to kill Buffy, which is a feat, considering that the feeding looked like a combination of intense pain and the closest they will ever come to mutual sexual release. Why, though, would the hospital suspect drug use? Even taking into account Angel’s unusual strength, Sunnydale medical personnel ought to have some experience with similar neck wounds. It’s a minor glitch in an otherwise strong sequence.

Killing Faith, of course, was never a reasonable option. She’s too strong a character to lose from the mix. At the same time, Faith couldn’t remain in play for the short-term, not without some serious changes to her character’s moral landscape. Her physical wounds are a nice way to keep her sidelined, bringing the Mayor’s human emotions to the surface and exposing his weakness. The Mayor’s attempt to kill Buffy is extremely well done, and considering how the Mayor and Giles have been more or less staged as opposing influences on their respective Slayers, it’s interesting to compare this scene with Giles’ decision to kill Ben at the end of the fifth season.

The dream sequence establishes a new dynamic to the psychic ability of the Chosen, something that was never explored as much as it could or should have been. The Chosen seem to have a connection of some kind, a bond that allows subconscious communication. More to the point, this speaks to the common well of energy that Faith and Buffy draw upon. Faith shares the power she can’t use to heal Buffy enough to fight, something that presages the revelation in the final season that the source of the Slayer’s power is, in fact, a primal energy source.

One of the more arcane references in the dream sequence is Faith’s comment: “Miles to go…Little Miss Muffet counting down from 730”. This is another example of Joss’ ability to drop hints about future plot arcs without the threat of possible loose ends. “Little Miss Muffet” is an indirect reference to Glory and her effect on her victims. Glory’s victims, in the fifth season, often broke into rhymes about Little Miss Muffet upon encountering Dawn, Buffy’s mystically created little sister.

“Counting down from 730” is harder to interpret, but there are clues. “730”, for instance, is twice the number of days in a standard year (365), which suggests something big is predestined to occur two years into the future. The reference “Miles to go” is from a more well-known line of poetry: “Miles to go before I sleep”, which is often interpreted as “much to do before I die”. So the implication is that Faith was predicting Buffy’s death at the end of the fifth season.

The further implication is that Glory’s plot to return to her true dimension and the fact that Dawn would be created as Buffy’s sister for protection were both events that were meant to happen. In a larger sense, some unknown agency has made certain that Buffy would come along, a surprise to the Watchers, and complete certain necessary tasks. The most obvious guess would be The Powers That Be, the same distant manipulators of fate that play a background role in fostering Angel on his own series.

Whether there is a connection between the true source of the Chosen and TPTB is unclear. Regardless, this addresses the main theme of the season in a rather indirect but appropriate manner. If the season has explored what Buffy might have become, had she not lived her life as she has, then this dream sequence makes the intriguing case that Buffy has purposefully been given this life in order to bring about a desired outcome.

This is the inevitable consequence of exploring these other possibilities for Buffy. Buffy’s eventual destiny to transform the world and the Chosen was not an accident. Buffy’s unique set of influences was probably engineered. Even if this is not the case, Buffy was still “selected” to play her part based on her unique upbringing and support system. One way or another, “what might have been” is trumped by “what was purposefully ensured”.

Buffy, then was meant to die momentarily when defeating the Master. Kendra was meant to be called and killed, so Faith could exist. Buffy was meant to deal with Angelus, sending Angel to the demon dimension. Buffy was meant to be in Sunnydale when the Mayor attempted his Ascension. All of it had to happen to place Buffy on the correct path, so she could fulfill her destined role to defeat the First Evil and end the improper influence of the corrupt Watchers over the Chosen.

Buffy’s plan to defeat the Mayor is actually a reflection of her eventual plan to defeat the First Evil. One flaw of the episode is the rather flimsy idea that a large explosion might somehow destroy a creature that was merely killed and left intact by volcanic lava. It would certain take more than that, but the whys and wherefores are not really the strength of the concept. The philosophy of the season arc has already been covered; this is just about wrapping up loose ends in an entertaining fashion.

The transitions between the two “war councils” are very well done. The audience gets to see what the Mayor has in mind, covering that part of the exposition, while the Scooby Gang prepares. Joss hints at the nature of Buffy’s plan along the way, but enough is left unanswered to allow the big reveal in the fourth act to shock the viewers.

Two key relationships come to important transitional moments. Willow and Oz reaffirm their physical relationship, and they are such a strong couple that it’s easy to see why Joss had to kill it in short order. In a matters of months, Willow and Oz would be done. In contrast, Wesley and Cordelia finally kiss, and it’s a disaster. The irony is that the two of them would become trusted allies on “Angel”, lasting longer as deep friends than Willow and Oz would as true lovers.

Intelligently, Joss has Angel say his final piece to Buffy before the big battle, so that the audience doesn’t have to wallow in too much angst in the wake of the pyrotechnics. The scene is quick and concise, which is a good thing. The fact is, the rationalizations were more than covered in “The Prom”, and going over them again would be redundant and time-intensive. Better by far to simply be done with it.

The graduation itself is a thing of beauty, right down to Snyder’s wonderful introduction and the cliché of the boring guest speaker. One has to wonder about the size of the graduating class and the small group of parents attending the ceremony; how could Sunnydale High have so few students all of a sudden? Even so, it’s obviously a matter of budget, like much of the action sequence.

Buffy’s plan works beautifully, even though it shouldn’t. Seeing the entire graduating class pick up weapons and fight, however, builds on the ground covered in “The Prom”. In that episode, it was established that the graduating class understood that Buffy was the one protecting them from evil; as a result, they take her seriously in this situation. This stands as a nice point of contrast for the beginning of the fourth season, since Buffy ends high school with a degree of credibility and peer acceptance that she’ll never enjoy again.

The constant interference by the network probably led to the rather choppy and uneven nature of the big battle. Xander doesn’t get to show his battle tactics very well, and the Mayor seems to avoid eating students, which makes no sense from the context of the previous episodes. It’s fun to see the minor characters fight alongside the main cast, and it’s also good to see some of them become victims. There’s never a sense of an overwhelming peril, so this is the only way to communicate a cost.

The Mayor, as mentioned, is defeated far too easily. One has to wonder where the Mayor’s remains happened to go! The destruction of Sunnydale High, of course, is the perfect way to end Buffy’s tenure in high school. With Angel leaving and the Scooby Gang facing separate futures, this episode marks the end of an era.

“Buffy”, as a series, can be separated into three distinct stages: the high school years, the college years, and the post-resurrection years. By the end of the third season, the changes to the premise and cast after graduation would result in what is practically a different series. When the gang stands together at the end to have their moment, it’s a time for the audience to consider how much the series is about to change.

Buffy is still the Slayer, but she won’t have the benefit and structure that Sunnydale High actually provided. Without Angel, Buffy has to find someone else to emotionally connect with. All of her friends are at the point where they need to decide whether remaining a part of the gang is really what they want to do, and how it will fit into their own lives. With Buffy no longer following the demands of the Watchers’ Council, Giles is left without immediate purpose.

That said, Joss gives a final statement on the original mission statement of the series: reflecting the horrors of high school through the filter of actual horrors. It’s fitting, then, for Joss to write and direct the big finale. It would have been interesting to see what he originally had in mind, and how much of that was curtailed by budget and WB executive cowardice. At the end, Joss brings to a close perhaps the strongest season of the series, without so much as a cliffhanger or open-ended plot arc.


Memorable Quotes

CORDELIA: “I demand an explanation!”
XANDER: “For what?”
CORDELIA: “Wesley!”
XANDER: “Um…inbreeding?”

WILLOW: “He’s delirious…he thought I was Buffy.”
OZ: “You too, huh?”

BUFFY: “There’s something I’m supposed to be doing.”
FAITH: “Oh, yeah…miles to go…Little Miss Muffet counting down from 730…”

CORDELIA: “I personally don’t think it’s impossible to come up with a crazier plan.”
OZ: “We attack the Mayor with humus.”
CORDELIA: “I stand corrected.”

XANDER: “I’m starting to lean towards the humus offensive.”
OZ: “He’ll never see it coming…”

WILKINS: “Remember: fast and brutal. It’s going to be a whole new world come nightfall, don’t want to weaken now. And boys? Let’s watch the swearing…”

SNYDER: “Congratulations to the class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate. This is a time of celebration, so sit still and be quiet!”

BUFFY: “Oh my God…he’s going to do the entire speech.”
WILLOW: “Man, just Ascend already!”
BUFFY: “Evil!”

GILES: “There is a certain dramatic irony that’s attached to all this. A synchronicity that borders on…on predestination, one might say.”
BUFFY: “Fire bad. Tree pretty.”

OZ: “Guys…take a moment to deal with this: we survived.”
BUFFY: “It was a hell of a battle.”
OZ: “Not the battle....high school. (pause) We’re taking a moment…and we’re done…”


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode was a strong finish to the third season. Unlike the previous episode, events moved quickly towards the big finish, still leaving enough spare time to cover some important relationship issues. The stage is set for the series to re-define itself, and Angel is given a strong sendoff. All in all, a fitting finale, regardless of some minor logical flaws.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 9/10




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