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James South
On the Philosophical Consistency of Season Seven:
or, Its not about right, not about wrong

Broken l i ke a wi ndow I see my bl i ndness now.
Sam Phi l l i ps, "I Need Love"

I was a fi ne i dea at the ti me. Now I m a bri l l i ant mi stake.
El vi s Costel l o, Ki ng of Ameri ca

But fi cti ve thi ngs/Wi nk as they wi l l . Wi nk most when wi dows wi nce.
Wal l ace Stevens
[1] I m sure that we al l have favori te scenes from BtVS. I m actual l y goi ng
to start thi s essay wi th my favori te scene. Al though i t s not from Season
7, i t sets my essay up ni cel y. It s from Choi ces (3019):

Wi l l ow: Deep thoughts?
Buffy: Deep and meani ngful .
Wi l l ow: As i n?
Buffy: As i n, I' m never getti ng out of here. I kept thi nki ng i f I stopped the
Mayor or . . . but I was ki ddi ng mysel f. I mean, there i s al ways goi ng to
be somethi ng. I' m a Sunnydal e gi rl , no other choi ce.
Wi l l ow: Must be tough. I mean, here I am, I can do anythi ng I want. I can
go to any col l ege i n the country, four or fi ve i n Europe i f I want.
Buffy: Pl ease tel l me you' re goi ng somewhere wi th thi s?
Wi l l ow: No. (hands Buffy a l etter) I' m not goi ng anywhere.
Buffy: UC Sunnydal e?
Wi l l ow: I wi l l be matri cul ati ng wi th Cl ass of 2003.
Buffy: Are you seri ous?
Wi l l ow: Say, i sn' t that where you' re goi ng?
Buffy: I can' t bel i eve i t! Are you seri ous? Ah, wai t, what am I sayi ng? You
can' t.
Wi l l ow: What do you mean, I can' t?
Buffy: I won' t l et you.
Wi l l ow: Of the two peopl e here, whi ch i s the boss of me?
Buffy: There are better school s.
Wi l l ow: Sunnydal e' s not bad. A-And I can desi gn my own curri cul um.
Buffy: Okay, wel l , there are safer school s. There are safer pri sons. I can' t
l et you stay because of me.
Wi l l ow: Actual l y, thi s i sn' t about you. Al though I' m fond, don' t get me
wrong, of you. The other ni ght, you know, bei ng captured and al l , faci ng
off wi th Fai th. Thi ngs just, ki nd of, got cl ear. I mean, you' ve been fi ghti ng
evi l here for three years, and I' ve hel ped some, and now we' re supposed
to deci de what we want to do wi th our l i ves. And I just real i zed that that' s
what I want to do. Fi ght evi l , hel p peopl e. I mean, I-I thi nk i t' s worth
doi ng. And I don' t thi nk you do i t because you have to. It' s a good fi ght,
Buffy, and I want i n.
Buffy: I ki nd of l ove you.
Wi l l ow: And, besi des, I have a shot at bei ng a bad ass Wi ccan, and what
better pl ace to l earn?
Buffy: I feel the need for more sugar than the human body can handl e.
Wi l l ow: Mochas?

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Buffy: Yes, pl ease. It' s wei rd. You l ook at somethi ng and you thi nk you
know exactl y what you' re seei ng, and then you fi nd out i t' s somethi ng el se
enti rel y.
Wi l l ow: Neat, huh?
Buffy: Someti mes i t i s.
[2] There s much I coul d tal k about i n that exchange, but for the purposes
of thi s essay, I m goi ng to focus on two i ssues that emerge from thi s scene. One
i s Buffy s real i zati on that one can thi nk one knows exactl y what one s seei ng
onl y to fi nd out i t s somethi ng el se enti rel y. That, i t stri kes me, i s an i mportant
theme of Season 7i ndeed the theme that ti es the season together. The second
theme i s foundati onal for the story I m goi ng to tel l : Buffy seems forever bound
to be Sunnydal e Gi rl . There i s no apparent escape. And yet we know, i n
retrospect, that s not the case. I want us to thi nk about how i t i s that Buffy di d
escape Sunnydal e.
[3] Let me do a l i ttl e set-up work. El i zabeth L. Rambo, i n an excel l ent
Sl ayage arti cl e, makes two poi nts i n rel ati on to the Season 7 Bi g Bad, The
Fi rst Evi l . She al l udes to the Augusti ni an nature of the confrontati on between
Buffy and The Fi rst: the i dea that evi l has no posi ti ve exi stence of i ts own; that
evi l i s parasi ti c on good. Second, she notes that preci sel y because of i ts
parasi ti c nature, evi l i s banal bori ng and unori gi nal and she extends thi s poi nt
to expl ai n why, ul ti matel y, The Fi rst was such a bore as a Bi g Bad. Now, I m
l ess concerned wi th the tel evi sual suffi ci ency of The Fi rst as vi l l ai n, than the
cl uster of i deas that I can extract from i ts presence, si nce from a phi l osophi cal
perspecti ve, I thi nk the bori ng aspect i s very i mportant. In fact, I don t even
thi nk The Fi rst i s al l that bori ngat l east not when compared to Buffy duri ng the
mi ddl e parts of the season. Those speeches! Who can bl ame Andrew when he
deci des not to vi deotape those? But, as we l l fi nd out soon enough, Buffy s
bori ng speeches have a phi l osophi cal pay-off as wel l , one we can begi n to
appreci ate by wonderi ng about the si gni f i cance of havi ng a hero more bori ng
than the Bi g Bad. To foreshadow a bi t, before thi s tal k i s fi ni shed, I wi l l argue
that Buffy was perhaps the real Bi g Badat l east for most of the season.
[4] So, wi thout taki ng anythi ng away from Rambo s paper, whi ch I take to
be a ki nd of pl atoni c form of BtVS cri ti ci sm, I nonethel ess want to bui l d my
paper around a questi oni ng of her cl ai m about Augusti ni ani sm and i ts rol e i n the
shownot because I thi nk she i s wrong about Augusti ni ani sm and i ts presence i n
Season 7, but because I thi nk her anal ysi s i s i ncompl ete. And, i n keepi ng wi th
the spi ri t of Season 7, I want to questi on thi s cl ai m by goi ng back to a
begi nni ngthe phi l osophi cal ori gi n of the ki nd of posi ti on enunci ated by
Augusti ne. In parti cul ar, I want us to thi nk about that most potent of
phi l osophi cal metaphors: Pl ato s metaphor of the cave. The reason shoul d be
obvi ous enough: what s a Hel l mouth i f not a cave-l i ke structure? And what
better way to thi nk about the Hel l mouth than to thi nk about the metaphor of the
cave? Or so I hope to show i n what fol l ows.
[5] Let me refresh your memory about Pl ato s cave:
Pi cture human bei ngs l i vi ng i n some sort of underground cave dwel l i ng,
wi th an entrance whi ch i s l ong, as wi de as the cave, and open to the l i ght.
Here they l i ve from earl i est chi l dhood, wi th thei r l egs and necks i n chai ns
so that they have to stay where they are, l ooki ng onl y ahead of them
prevented by the chai ns from turni ng thei r heads. They have l i ght from a
di stant fi re, whi ch i s burni ng behi nd them and above them. Between the
fi re and the pri soners, at a hi gher l evel than them, i s a path al ong whi ch
you must pi cture a l ow wal l that has been bui l t, l i ke the screen whi ch
hi des peopl e when they are gi vi ng a puppet show, and above whi ch they
make the puppets appear.

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Yes, I can pi cture al l that, he sai d.

Pi cture al so, al ong the l ength of the wal l , peopl e carryi ng al l sorts of
i mpl ements whi ch project above i t, and statues of peopl e, and ani mal s
made of stone and wood and al l ki nds of materi al .As you d expect, some of
the peopl e carryi ng objects are speaki ng, whi l e others are si l ent.

A strange pi cture. And strange pri soners.

No more strange than us, I sai d.
One l esson of the metaphor of the cave i s exactl y the one Buffy menti oned
near the end of the scene from Choi ces: You l ook at somethi ng and you
thi nk you know exactl y what you' re seei ng, and then you fi nd out i t' s
somethi ng el se enti rel y. But l et s worry about that just a bi t by
hi ghl i ghti ng the sort of mi s-seei ng that the Cave metaphor i denti fi es. Fi rst,
for Pl ato, the i ssue about appearance and real i ty, or knowl edge and
i l l usi on, i s not a Matri x-l i ke skepti ci smi n phi l osophi cal terms, the i ssue
i sn t how do we know that we aren t brai ns i n vats. Instead, the bi g i ssue
for Pl ato i s the probl em of what I l l cal l , fol l owi ng Pl ato schol ars, desi re-
i nduced fantasy. In the words of one commentator on the Republ i c,
desi re di storts our vi si on so that we see what we want to see, rather
than what i s i n fact there. In thi s sense, the worry at i ts extreme mi ght be
more l i ke an i nsane gi rl who i magi nes an enti re worl d i n whi ch she al one
stands between her fantasi zed worl d and i ts destructi on.
[6] Yet whi l e that mi ght be one way of exempl i fyi ng Pl ato s metaphor, i t
doesn t qui te do justi ce to the fact that Pl ato has Socrates state that the bound
i nhabi tants of the cave are no more strange than us. We are al l i n the cave,
and even wi thi n the cave I thi nk we have resources to di sti ngui sh between an
i nternal traumati cal l y i nduced fantasy worl d and the worl d i n whi ch we go about
our dai l y busi ness.
[7] However, i n addi ti on, I want to stress that the cave metaphor i tsel f i s
a ki nd of desi re-i nduced fantasy. And the end of Season 7 wi th i ts destructi on of
the Hel l mouth represents, I thi nk, a destructi on of preci sel y the ki nd of thi nki ng
represented by the i mage of the cave. More about that l ater, though. For now, I
want to i l l ustrate how the cave metaphor i n the fi rst sensethe desi re-i nduced
fantasy sensei l l umi nates and ti es together many events i n Season 7. I do thi s
for two reasons. Fi rst, I tend to thi nk that desi re-i nduced fantasy does, i n fact,
pl ay a l arge rol e i n human l i fe. Thus, i f the onl y l esson we get from Season
seven i s the pl ace of such fantasy i n human l i fe, that s an i mportant one.
Second, though, I thi nk we can onl y get to the real l y bi g l esson of the season by
worki ng our way through a desi re-i nduced fantasy. So, by appreci ati ng the
strategi es the characters use i n overcomi ng such fantasi es, we mi ght be i n a
better posi ti on to understand the bi g desi re-i nduced fantasy that the season as
a whol e addresses. That, woul d, as i t were, end the l esson. Now, necessari l y, I
must be sel ecti ve, though, I hope, representati ve enough. If there s a bi as i n my
exampl e sel ecti on, i t s not l i kel y to be a surpri se to anyone who knows me, nor
wi l l i t skew the datathe character dri ven trajectory that I take coul d be taken
wi th any of the openi ng credi t characters.
[8] Let me start wi th Wi l l ow. Between the Wi l l ow of Lessons (7001) and
the Wi l l ow of Chosen (7022) an enti re route out of the cave gets charteda
way through an i nterconnected set of desi re-i nduced fantasi es. The Wi l l ow of
Lessons wants to be Wi l l ow, i s connected to a great power, and i s, of course,
bei ng Wi l l ow, ful l of sel f-doubt. In other words, over the fi rst two epi sodes,
Wi l l ow s pl i ght neatl y encapsul ates the key themes of the season: i ssues of
power, i ssues of connectedness (or the l ack thereof), and i ssues of sel f-i denti ty.

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So, I want to trace out how Wi l l ow s i ssues i n the fi rst two epi sodes of the
season cash out over the next several epi sodes. However, I want to remi nd you
of a very ni ce bi t of foreshadowi ng that s especi al l y rel evant to the second hal f
of my paper. In one of her moments of sel f-doubt, Wi l l ow poses the fol l owi ng
questi on: Does that mean I have to be a bi gger, badder badass than the source
of al l badness? (Beneath You, 7002) Other than the ni ce Wi l l ow-y al l i terati on,
what makes thi s questi on so i mportant i s that, as we shal l see, i t asks t he bi g
phi l osophi cal questi on of the season by expl i ci tl y rai si ng the i ssue of the source
of badness and by fl aggi ng the ki nd of power that I thi nk gets cal l ed i nto
questi on. Bracket that thought for now, but keep i t i n mi nd.
[9] Movi ng on, then, i n Same Ti me, Same Pl ace (7003) we see Wi l l ow a
vi cti m of her own desi re-i nduced fantasy. Her fantasy i n thi s case i s generated
i nternal l y and mani fests i tsel f through who Wi l l ow i sthe magi c that s part of
her. Note that, by the ti me the epi sode i s through, we l l have seen Wi l l ow i n a
cave, paral yzed, hel pl ess, and al one except for a parti cul arl y repul si ve ski n-
eati ng demonal l a resul t of her sel f-i nduced, subconsci ous magi c spel l :
Wi l l ow: No. Pl ease stay. I mi ssed you so much when I coul dn' t fi nd you.
Buffy: We mi ssed you too. I mi ssed you. Dawn' s, uh, worki ng on what
caused the mutual no-see-ums, but so far we haven' t
Wi l l ow: I di d i t.
Buffy: You di d a spel l ?
Wi l l ow: I di dn' t mean to. I-I just remember thi nki ng I wasn' t ready to see
you guys yet. I was afrai d we woul dn' t, you know, connect.
Buffy: So, you made i t happen just by thi nki ng i t?
Wi l l ow: Guess I have a ways to go before I master my powers, huh?
Maki ng i t happen just by thi nki ng i t: a perfect way of descri bi ng i nternal
desi re-i nduced fantasy. Wi l l ow s both metaphori cal l y and l i teral l y cave-
bound because of her desi res, and survi ves onl y because of the connecti on
she has wi th Buffy, Xander, and, somewhat surpri si ngl y, Anya.
[10] Despi te Wi l l ow s sl i ght boost of sel f-confi dence at the end of the
epi sode that al l ows her to use magi c to restore her fl esh, she i s hardl y out of
the cave. She recogni zes that she hasn t mastered her powers, and she has
l i teral l y di scovered the truth of the cl ai m made i n Lessons: From beneath
you, i t devours. The i denti fi cati on of her i nsecuri ti es and sel f-doubt, as wel l as
the concretel y real i zed i nstanti ati on of them i n the cave, wi th the i t seems
obvi ous enough.
[11] Movi ng on, consi der Conversati ons wi th Dead Peopl e (7007). In thi s
epi sode, Wi l l ow i s confronted by an external source of fantasy that expl oi ts her
i nternal doubtsThe Fi rst Evi l mani festi ng as Cassi e who cl ai ms to be abl e to
communi cate wi th Tara. Whi l e Wi l l ow manages to avoi d the too di rect suggesti on
that she ki l l hersel f, the seed for more sel f-doubt has been pl anted. That i s, she
has i nternal i zed an external source of fantasy. In thi s case, the i t doi ng the
devouri ng i s anal ogous to the way that Pl ato thi nks soci al i l l usi ons shape the
way we thi nk about the worl d. The concrete resul t i s that when Wi l l ow next
needs to use her magi c, i n Bri ng on the Ni ght, she fai l s mi serabl y and al l ows
The Fi rst Evi l to mani pul ate her. The resul t i s that she total l y di strusts her
abi l i ty to use magi c effecti vel y: the very thi ng that she wi l l have to do to pl ay
her part i n defeati ng The Fi rst.
[12] One more exampl e: i n the Ki l l er i n Me (7013) we see a mi xture of
external and i nternal fantasy. The external takes the form of a hex (or more
techni cal l y, a penance mal edi cti on) targeted at Wi l l ow by her nemesi s i n
magi c, Amy. The resul t of the hex i s that Wi l l ow takes on the appearance of the
dreaded Warren Mears, Tara s murderer and the proxi mate cause of Wi l l ow s
attempt to destroy the worl d i n Season 6. Why thi s puni shment? Amy expl ai ns
that the hex al l ows the hexee s subconsci ous to pi ck the puni shment. The poi nt

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i s to pl ay on Wi l l ow s weakness, by usi ng power, but we di scover that the real
power i s wi thi n Wi l l ow s subconsci ousthe power that, fi rst, makes her puni sh
hersel f for ki ssi ng Kennedy, and that hol ds hersel f responsi bl e for Tara s death;
but al so the power that, by connecti ng wi th Kennedy at the end of the epi sode,
takes responsi bi l i ty for her power, and, as i t were, takes her back to the
begi nni ng. Thi s begi nni ng i s the foundati on on whi ch she wi l l re-connect wi th
hersel f so that she wi l l be abl e to do magi c agai n, especi al l y when cal l ed on i n
Chosen. The fi rst step forward occurs i n the aptl y named Get It Done (7015)
when she uses her ski l l s to bri ng Buffy back from the l and of the shadowmen.
Note the stri ki ng vi sual echo i n the way she si ts i n the ci rcl e wi th the way she
was si tti ng when she made her reconnecti on wi th Buffy i n Same Ti me, Same
Pl ace.
[13] Enough about Wi l l ow unti l I tal k about Chosen. Let me turn to
another character who exempl i fi es the vari ous ways i n whi ch desi re-i nduced
fantasy can take over: Anya. Consi der the song she si ngs i n Sel fl ess (7005)a
fl ashback to her state of mi nd i n Season 6:
Mr. Xander Harri s.
That' s what he i s to the worl d outsi de.
That' s the name he carri es wi th pri de.
I' m just l atel y Anya.
Not very much to the worl d, I know.
Al l these years wi th nothi ng to show.
I' ve boned a trol l ,
I' ve wreaked some wrath,
But on the whol e,
I' ve had no path.
I l i ke to bowl ,
I' m good wi th math,
But who am I?
Now I repl y that
I' m the Mrs.
I wi l l be hi s Mrs.
Mrs. Anya Chri sti na Emanuel l a Jenki ns Harri s.
What' s the poi nt of l ovi ng . . .
I mean except for the sweaty part.
What' s the poi nt of l osi ng your heart?
Maybe i f you' re l ucky
Bei ng a pai r makes you twi ce as tal l .
Maybe you' re not l osi ng at al l .
No need to cover up my heart,
Pl us see above RE: sweaty part.
So maybe l ove i s pretty smart
And so am I
I found my guy!
And I' l l be Mrs.
I wi l l be hi s Mrs.
Mrs. Anya Lame-Ass-Made-Up-Mai den-Name Harri s.
We' l l never part
Not i f we can
And i f we start
Then here' s my pl an
I' l l show hi m what bl i ss i s
Wel come hi m wi th ki sses
' Cause thi s i s a Mrs. who mi sses her man
He' s my Xander

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And he' s awful l y swel l
It makes fi nanci al sense as wel l ,
Al though he can beI' l l never tel l
Just stand asi de
Here comes the bri de
I' l l be Mrs.
I wi l l be hi s Mrs.
I wi l l be
Of course, there s then a very abrupt cut to Anya wi th a sword through her
chest.
[14] Thi s song i s a wonderful exampl e of desi re-i nduced fantasy, though
i t s rather di ffi cul t to tel l just where the boundari es between i nternal and
external are. And l ook where i t ends upAnya wi th a sword through her chest.
I wi l l be, i ndeed. Where to start? There s an enti re retro feel to the song, to
the l ook (e.g., Anya s dress), to the l yri cs. And nostal gi a i s an obvi ous form of
desi re-i nduced fantasy. In part, i t s Anya havi ng i nternal i zed (perhaps not
whol l y successful l y) an ol d-fashi oned paradi gm about wi fel y i denti ty, but more
broadl y, her desi re-i nduced fantasy can be neatl y encapsul ated i n the compl ai nt
she makes about the song she and Xander sang i n Once More, wi th Feel i ng:
i t s a retro pasti che i denti ty and has l i ttl e coherent uni ty. Her probl em i s that
she s l et her sel f be control l ed by an i magea desi re-i nduced i mageone of
vengeance bei ng who she i s, fed by D Hoffryn, Hal frek, and her di sconnecti on
wi th Buffy and the gang. Now, l et s fol l ow Anya s progress. Agai n, havi ng gone
back to the begi nni ng i n Sel fl ess,note her asserti on that there may not even
be a me to saveover the course of the season she reconnects wi th the
Scoobi es.
[15] Buffy, to her credi t, refuses to l et Anya take hersel f out of the l oop,
stati ng that she wants her fri ends around. Anya i mmedi atel y recogni zes that she
possesses strategi zi ng ski l l s and accepts thei r need for hel p from her. Perhaps
not qui te what Buffy had i n mi nd, but i t reconnects her. By Bri ng on the Ni ght,
she s back to her ol d truth-tel l i ng sel f, havi ng previ ousl y connected wi th Xander
(thei r good cop/bad cop routi ne i n Never Leave Me (7009)) and now Dawn
and bei ng qui te cl ear on the real i ti es of thei r si tuati on i n rel ati on to Spi ke:
Yeah, he' l l hel p. You know, i f he' s not crazy or off ki l l i ng peopl e or dead. Or,
you know, al l of the above.
[16] Whatever fantasi es Anya sti l l harbors, they don t stop her from
percei vi ng the rest of the worl d cl earl y. Watch her l ecture i n Empty Pl aces
(7019) and contrast that wi th the fl at-footedness of Buffy i n the same epi sode:
Anya: OK . . . I know you' re al l upset . . . and I, mysel f, woul d much
rather be si tti ng at the bedsi de of my one-eyed ex-fi anc than ki l l i ng ti me
here wi th you peopl e i n thi s over-crowded and mi ght I add i ncreasi ngl y
ri pe-smel l i ng basement. And I woul d be, too, i f not for a certai n awkward
di scussi on he and I recentl y had ri ght over there on that cot i mmedi atel y
fol l owi ng some exci ti ng and unexpected breakup sex. But . . . I need to
gi ve hi m some space . . . so I' m doi ng what I can do, contri buti ng any way
I can . . . and so wi l l al l of you. You sti l l need to know thi s i nformati on.
We can' t stop just because somethi ng el se i s tryi ng to ki l l you, too.
Buffy: Look, I wi sh thi s coul d be a democracy. I real l y do. Democraci es
don' t wi n battl es. It' s a hard truth, but there has to be a si ngl e voi ce. You
need someone to i ssue orders and be reckl ess someti mes and not take
your feel i ngs i nto account. You need someone to l ead you.
For Buffy, i t s not about what others want to do, i t s about what she orders
them to do. By contrast, Anya i s perfectl y cl ear that, as i t were, she wants
to empower the potenti al sl ayers. By End of Days (7021) we have Anya
decl ari ng, i ndi rectl y, her l ove for humans and her need, as a l ame human,

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to do what s ri ght. There s no rol e-pl ayi ng anymore, just Anya bei ng human
and seei ng the worl d for what i t i s. It s noteworthy that her i nsi ght bri ngs
her the abi l i ty to sl eep on the eve of an apocal ypsei ndeed, she s the onl y
one who can.
[17] That s two characters we ve seen who started out the season
sufferi ng from desi re-i nduced fantasi es and, by the end of thei r season-l ong
journeys, both have managed to cl i mb out of the cave, as i t were, i nto the
bri ght l i ght of the Good. That i s, they ve come to see through thei r desi re-
i nduced i l l usi ons. Anya has taken on the Cassandra-Li ke rol e of truth-tel l er (not
storytel l er), whi l e we know that Wi l l ow wi l l be central to taki ng down The Fi rst.
[18] Now, here s where i t gets tri cky. Remember that I sai d at the
begi nni ng of the essay that I thought that there were two i mportant poi nts to
the cave metaphor. We have seen one poi nt ni cel y represented i n the cases of
Wi l l ow and Anyathe fact that desi re-i nduced fantasy pl ays a huge rol e i n
human l i fe. And we have been i ntroduced to some of i ts sources, as wel l as the
need to wi pe the sl ate cl ean, as i t were, i n order to make progress. The second
poi nt I want to make today i s a more radical one: to put i t bl untl y, the metaphor
of the cave i s i tsel f a desi re-i nduced fantasy. Thi nk about why Pl ato constructed
the metaphor i n the fi rst pl ace. One functi on of thi s metaphor i s to provi de an
expl anati on for Socrates s executi on. That s one of the reasons why we re tol d
that the phi l osopher who returns to the cave wi l l meet wi th a certai n death. But
there s a more i mportant fantasy el ement i n the metaphor: the cave expl ai ns
why peopl e behave badl y by si tuati ng bad behavi or wi thi n an overarchi ng
framework of the good. That i s, by provi di ng us wi th a metaphor i n whi ch one
can progress from i nsi de to outsi de, Pl ato al so has provi ded a metaphor i n whi ch
the outsi de i s co-termi nous wi th the good. Outsi de the cave we fi nd the good,
and everythi ng i nsi de the cave i s a di storted i mage of that very good. I must
admi t that thi s i mage suppl i es us wi th a comforti ng story: peopl e who do bad do
so because they thi nk they re tryi ng to do good, but because of desi re-i nduced
fantasi es of vari ous sorts, they have a mi staken vi ew about what i s good. In
short, Pl ato s fantasy i s that al l badness i s contai ned wi thi n goodness.
[19] Now, as El i zabeth Rambo has so cl earl y shown, that s a standpoi nt
that i s readi l y appl i cabl e to Season 7: Thus, Buffy, the gui di ng l i ght of the
Buffyverse, more than any other good character, i s the Fi rst Evi l s mommy
(Chosen, 7022), not because Buffy i s evi l though she certai nl y i s not
perfectbut because evi l cannot be sel f-exi stent, though i t l i kes to thi nk i t i s.
Thi s parasi ti c, or as I l l cal l i t, di al ecti cal , rel ati on between good and evi l i s
abundantl y chroni cl ed i n Season 7. Butand here s the thi ngI want to argue
that the seri es ends up repudi ati ng thi s di al ecti cal rel ati onshi p. More preci sel y,
onl y by repudi ati ng the rel ati onshi p can Buffy escape the Hel l mouth, and by
extensi on, escape the fate of bei ng Sunnydal e Gi rl .
[20] Central to Rambo s argument, and i mportantl y for me, The Fi rst i s
portrayed as commi tted to thi s Pl atoni c fantasy. It i s envi ous of Buffy and her
fri ends, or, perhaps more general l y, humani ty (cf. Touched (7020)). Even
more troubl i ng, though, i s that I thi nk Buffy and company see thi ngs
Pl atoni cal l y for most of the season. They envy the power of The Fi rst, of hi s
mi ni on the uber-Vamp, and even of Cal eb. It s that sort of power they want.
Thi s commi tment on the part of Buffy to the Pl atoni c/Augusti ni an concepti on of
evi l provi des some evi dence that Buffy, i n fact, i s the bi g bad of Season 7the
mother of al l evi l . Lucki l y (and mark that term!), thi ngs don t end that way, and
i n seei ng how thi ngs change, I thi nk we see the ul ti mate phi l osophi cal l esson of
Season Seven.
[21] To gai n some perspecti ve on what I m tryi ng to argue here, thi nk
about Cal eb. He tal ks a l ot, and hi s tal k i s fi l l ed wi th the l anguage of good and
evi l , cl ean and di rty. He s the one wi th power on hi s si de, wi th a mi ssi on to

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puri fy the worl d. That i s, evi l i s trapped wi thi n the second l evel of the cave
metaphor. It sees i tsel f as the other si de of goodi ndeed, as real l y good,
especi al l y as exempl i fi ed by the sl ayer and her potenti al sthe di rty gi rl s.
Cal eb: Wel l , that was, uh . . . Are you al l ri ght?
Shannon: Thank you. Thank God you were there.
Cal eb: Wel l , l et' s not gi ve hi m credi t for everythi ng. (smi l es) No, I' m
funni ng you. I don' t bel i eve i t was a coi nci dence. I al so don' t bel i eve
young gi rl s shoul d be out i n the woods l ate at ni ghtshoul d be tucked i n
bed.
Shannon: Wi sh I was.
Cal eb: I expect you do at that. Look, I don' t mean to pry, but those boys .
. . they l ooked l i ke Wel l , you di dn' t happen to fal l i n wi th devi l
worshi pers, di d you? Na, I' mI' m sorry. You, uh, you l ook l i ke you' ve
been travel i ng a whi l e. I di dn' t thi nk that Is there some pl ace you' d l i ke
me to drop you? You headi ng some pl ace?
Shannon: Sunnydal e.
Cal eb: I' m goi ng there mysel f. I ai n' t never been, but I expect we coul d
fi nd a pol i ce stati on or a
Shannon: I just need to get to Revel l o Dri ve. Um, thanks, Father . . .
Cal eb: Cal l me Cal eb. Never was nobody' s daddy.
Shannon: I' m Shannon.
Cal eb: Wel l , Shannon, you feel l i ke tel l i ng me why those Freaky Joe' s were
after you?
Shannon: I' m not sure.
Cal eb: Wel l , do you ever thi nk that maybe they were chasi ng you because
you' re a whore?
Shannon: What?
Cal eb: Now, I know what you' re thi nki ng. Crazy preacher man spouti n' off
at the mouth about the whore of Babyl on or some-such. That ai n' t me. I' m
not here to l ecture you. I mean, what' s the poi nt? My words just curdl e i n
your ears. Woul dn' t take i n a thi ng. Head' s fi l l ed wi th so much fi l th that
ai n' t no room for words of truth. Wel l , you know what you are, Shannon?
Di rty.
Shannon: What? I' m not! What' re
Cal eb: Now, now, now. There' s no bl ame here. You were born di rty, born
wi thout a soul . Born wi th that gapi ng maw wants to open up, suck out a
man' s marrow. Makes me puke to thi nk too hard on i t. [Shannon tri es for
the door] Yeah, that there door' s probl emati cal . I don' t know as I coul d
recommend steppi n' out at thi s speed anyway. You' re l i ke as not to tumbl e
some. But, of course, there' s my boys back thereOoh, they hate to mi ss
a mark.
Shannon: Your boys?
Cal eb: Wel l , they ai n' t exactl y my "bl ue eyed boys" but they' re hard
workers. And they don' t truck wi th Satanthat was just me havi ng fun.
Satan i s a l i ttl e man. (Shannon reaches for the steeri ng wheel ) I don' t l i ke
back-seat dri vers.
Shannon: Pl ease . . . don' t hurt me.
Cal eb: Wel l , now, i s thi s the part where you offer to do anythi ng? Because
I tri ed to make i t cl earyou got nothi n' I want to expl ore. [Cal eb presses
hi s ri ng, whi ch he' s heated wi th the ci garette l i ghter, i nto Shannon' s
neck.] Oh yeah. That' s i t! That' s a cl eansi ng fi re. Hal l el ujah! Now, i f I' m
not mi staken, there' s a car a l i ttl e ways behi nd us, and I do bel i eve
there' s some fol k i n i t goi n' the same pl ace you are. Now, I want you to
del i ver a message for me, but i t' s not for them. It' s for the other onethe

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one and onl y, the ori gi nal , accept-no-substi tute sl ayer. Woul d you tel l her
somethi ng for me?
Shannon: Yes.
Cal eb: Thank you, Shannon. [Cal eb proceeds to stab Shannon and toss her
from the pi ck-up truck.]
There s si mpl y too much i n thi s cl i p. Besi des the obvi ous Cal eb has a
message for Buffy poi nt, whi ch i s pretty obvi ousl y an evi l parody of the
good news of the gospel , here s what I want to emphasi ze: a) There s the
cl ai m that Satan i s a l i ttl e man; b) There s al l the l anguage of di rti ness,
whori shness, soul l essness, etc.; c) There s the cl ai m that I don t bel i eve i n
coi nci dence; d) There s tal k of the one, ori gi nal , accept-no-substi tute
sl ayer.
[22] The Satan i s a l i ttl e man cl ai m cl earl y references the Pl atoni c vi ew of
the deri vati ve nature of evi l The Fi rst Evi l and i ts mi ni ons cannot real l y
consi der themsel ves evi l they re after the real good, and al l those pal e
i mi tati ons are just tryi ng to be l i ke them. In the same way, the l anguage of
di rti ness endorses a perspecti ve i n whi ch evi l i s real l y good and good real l y evi l .
That s a pretty cl ear anal ogy to the way thi ngs can be decepti ve i n the cave, but
even more i t suggests that you can t thi nk of thi ngs as bad wi thout rel ati ng
them to good. Cal eb i s si mpl y the mi rror i mage of those (the Scoobi es) who
thi nk of The Fi rst as evi l . That s strai ghtforward enough and rehashes ground
I ve gone over. The next two poi nts force us forward. Fi rst, Cal eb i s i nsi stent
that that there s one, ori gi nal sl ayer. I m goi ng to want us to thi nk about the
word ori gi nal there. Second, the i ssue of coi nci dence i s cruci al . Cal eb doesn t
bel i eve i n i t, and from wi thi n the perspecti ve of the cave story, that makes
perfect sense. Let me expand on these two l atter poi nts a bi t.
[23] One thi ng that the Cave metaphor does i s provi de us wi th a vi ew of
the worl d and human agents that i s tel eol ogi cal . In fact, there are two senses of
tel eol ogy present i n the metaphor. Fi rst, i t al l ows us to expl ai n why peopl e do
what they dothey seek the good, even when they do evi l . Moreover, by maki ng
the di sti ncti on between i nsi de the cave and outsi de the cave, Pl ato expl ai ns why
peopl e are, on the whol e, no good. It s because they can t get to the good
di rectl y due to desi re-i nduced fantasi es. That l atter poi nt seems about ri ght,
real l y. It s hard to i magi ne a cri ti cal theory getti ng off the ground wi thout
acknowl edgi ng such a fact. We si mpl y are, i n the words of Anya, real l y, real l y
screwed up i n a monumental fashi on. (End of Days, 7021)
[24] However, the cave myth al so poi nts to a way out of the shadows of
desi re-i nduced fantasi es. Whi l e we are, by and l arge, constrai ned by the cave,
i t s possi bl e to escape the cave and achi eve true happi ness, to be real l y good.
After al l , presumabl y Socrates escaped the confi nes of the cave. One way to
thi nk about that possi bi l i ty i s to thi nk that such a person i s superi or to everyone
el se. And who do we know who i s commi tted to a vi ew that one person i s
superi or to everyone el se? Cal eb, certai nl yBuffy i s the ori gi nal , accept-no-
substi tute sl ayerbut Buffy, too, vi ews hersel f as superi or (see, Conversati ons
wi th Dead Peopl e). No matter how confl i cted she feel s about her superi ori ty, no
matter how much her bel i evi ng hersel f to be superi or makes her feel i nferi or,
she accepts that she i s the ori gi nal , accept-no-substi tute sl ayer. The one gi rl ,
bl ah, bl ah, bl ah.
[25] But there s a second, more worri some, way i n whi ch the cave
metaphor i s tel eol ogi cal . In the very way that Pl ato crafts the metaphor, i t i s
obvi ous that the cave can t be destroyed. The cave metaphor as a whol e
exhausts real i ty: there s the cave where most humans l i ve out thei r l i ves
pursui ng vari ous di storted i mages of the good, and there s outsi de the cave
where the l ucky few, phi l osophers, get to see the good i n an undi storted way.
The metaphor represents a sel f-encl osed whol e. How do you destroy somethi ng

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that you can t escape? Now, you can escape the cave i tsel f by recogni zi ng your
desi re-i nduced fantasi es (the way Wi l l ow and Anya do), but you can t escape
once you re outsi de the cavethere s nowhere el se to go.
[26] Now, extend thi s l i ne of reasoni ng to Buffy and you can see the
l oomi ng probl em. Buffy must destroy the cave, The Hel l mouththat s where The
Fi rst i s hangi ng out and i t s where The Fi rst i s assembl i ng the army he s goi ng
to use to take over the worl d. But as l ong as she accepts the cave story, the
di al ecti cal rel ati on between good and evi l , she can t destroy The Fi rst or The
Hel l mouth. What she needs to do i s thi nk outsi de the cave, not i n the sense of
getti ng outsi de and seei ng the Good, but outsi de the whol e i nsi de/outsi de the
cave di chotomy. She needs to thi nk outsi de The Hel l mouth, and that s somethi ng
she has a very hard ti me doi ng throughout the seasonafter al l , she s
Sunnydal e Gi rl , and that sel f-descri pti on i s connected to both The Hel l mouth
story and the sl ayer story. For Pl ato, destroyi ng the cave woul d be tantamount
to admi tti ng that there s no ul ti mate good i n the sense of a tel eol ogi cal
pri nci pl esomethi ng for the sake of whi ch everythi ng i s done, no matter how
di storted. For Buffy, destroyi ng the cave woul d be tantamount to destroyi ng
hersel fat l east from her perspecti ve wi thi n the sl ayer story.
[27] Thi nk for a mi nute about what i t woul d mean to l i ve wi thout the cave.
It woul d be to gi ve up a fantasy of ul ti mate meani ng: thi ngs don t happen for
the sake of some grand desi gn. It woul d be to l i ve wi th the noti on of chance and
fortune, si nce i f everythi ng i s for the sake of the good, nei ther chance nor
fortune has a pl ace. In a tel eol ogi cal worl d, nothi ng just happens, but i nstead
everythi ng happens for a reason. The strongest statement of such a vi ew that I
know bel ongs to Hegel : The sol e ai m of phi l osophi cal i nqui ry i s to el i mi nate the
conti ngent. Pl ato i s a l i ttl e more nuanced, but the poi nt i s the same. Peopl e
who successful l y escape the cave woul d work out that i t was the sun whi ch
caused the seasons and the years, whi ch governed everythi ng i n the vi si bl e
real m, and whi ch was i n one way or another responsi bl e for everythi ng they
used to see. That i s, they woul d see that thei r desi re-i nduced fantasi es wi thi n
the cave were just di storted i mages of the Good.
[28] Now, i f tel eol ogy i mpl i es a worl d i n whi ch nothi ng i s fortui tous, i n
whi ch everythi ng i s for the sake of an end, i t makes perfect sense that Cal eb
woul dn t hol d wi th coi nci dence. That woul d be a worl d i n whi ch he coul dn t see
hi msel f as di al ecti cal l y rel ated to the good. Once agai n, Anya poi nts us i n the
di recti on I want to go:
Buffy: Look, I wi sh thi s coul d be a democracy. I real l y do. Democraci es
don' t wi n battl es. It' s a hard truth, but there has to be a si ngl e voi ce. You
need someone to i ssue orders and be reckl ess someti mes and not take
your feel i ngs i nto account. You need someone to l ead you.
Anya: And i t' s automati cal l y you. You real l y do thi nk you' re better than we
are.
Buffy: No, I
Anya: But we don' t know. We don' t know i f you' re actual l y better. I mean,
you came i nto the worl d wi th certai n advantages, sure. I mean, that' s the
l egacy.
Buffy: I
Anya: But you di dn' t earn i t. You di dn' t work for i t. You' ve never had
anybody come up to you and say you deserve these thi ngs more than
anyone el se. They were just handed to you. So that doesn' t make you
better than us. It makes you l ucki er than us. (Empty Pl aces (7019))
Anya s tal k about the l egacy Buffy i nheri ted i s parti cul arl y on topi c: i t s
not a necessary i nheri tance, but a chosen one. It di dn t have to go the way
i t went. But then that al so means we need not be bound by the way i t went.
Thi s i ssue of the sl ayer l egacy returns us to the l ast of the topi cs i ncl uded

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i n Cal eb s l i ttl e tal k: Buffy i s the ori gi nal , accept-no-substi tutes, sl ayer.
Here, I want to focus on the term ori gi nal because i t poi nts us to sl ayer
ori gi ns, and, ori gi n stori es are notori ousl y tel eol ogi cal stori esthi ngs are
i nsti tuted for the sake of somethi ng.
[29] In Lessons (7001) The Fi rst, performi ng i ts morphi ng act, tel l s
Spi ke that they re goi ng back to the true begi nni ng and, si gni fi cantl y, The
Fi rst connects that remark wi th the remark that It s about power. Thus, i t
woul d seem that there s a very cl ose connecti on between begi nni ngs and power.
As the season progresses, we get acknowl edgement of thi s connecti on i n two
waysways that neatl y paral l el the two senses of the cave metaphor. Thi nk
about the bri l l i ant Li es My Parents Tol d Me (7017). I venture to say that much
of thi s epi sode coul d be read as provi di ng support for the way i n whi ch our
desi re-i nduced fantasi es ori gi nate and the ways i n whi ch they exert thei r power,
but that s not a path taken i n thi s paper, mostl y because of consi derati ons of
l ength. Sti l l , l et s consi der, bri efl y, the Spi ke story i n the epi sode. We re tol d
that the power of Spi ke s tri gger (the song that makes hi m ki l l ) can be found i n
i ts ori gi n. In Spi ke s case, understandi ng the source of the power hi s tri gger
possesses manages to defuse the power. The song no l onger tri ggers hi s
murderous, vampi ri c desi res. I take the Spi ke story i n Li es My Parents Tol d Me
to be a strai ghtforward exampl e of how to escape the cave i n the fi rst sense of
the cave story: returni ng to the ori gi n of the fantasy rel eases hi m from a
powerful desi re-i nduced fantasy. Nonethel ess, i t s not cl ear to me that Spi ke s
rel ease from the cave consti tutes more than a rel ease from the cave i n the fi rst
sense. After al l , he returns to the cave, but doesn t survi ve the cave s
destructi on. Thi nk for a mi nute about hi s moti vati on i n returni ng to the cave.
It s to prove that he s a champi onto hi msel f and to Buffy. But thi nki ng onesel f
a champi on i s i tsel f a desi re-i nduced fantasy i n that bei ng a champi on onl y
makes sense i f one accepts the cave story: that some peopl e just are superi or to
others. One real l y must thi nk one i s superi or, and not l ucki er, than others.
Spi ke may not be as neuroti c as Buffy i s when she feel s i nferi or for bei ng
superi or, but he s defi ni tel y neuroti c i n thi nki ng he s a champi on.
[30] Let me contrast that ki nd of ori gi n story, that i s, the ki nd that
rel eases one from the cave whi l e al l owi ng one to remai n wi thi n the ambi t of the
good, wi th another ki nd of ori gi n story. The ori gi n story most rel evant for my
argument i s the one that Gi l es has tol d Buffyfor seven seasons. Of al l the l i es
tol d by parents (and i s there a more parental fi gure on the show than Gi l es?)
that s the one wi th the most seri ous consequences. It s bound Buffy i n the cave,
The Hel l mouth, but i t s been the source of her power as wel l . And whi l e the
Sl ayer s power may come from havi ng been chosen, nonethel essand thi s i s
cruci al i t s a pecul i ar sense of power; one bound up wi th the tel eol ogy of the
cave story. In Season 7, one word comes to be shorthand for thi s tel eol ogy:
mi ssi on. Whatever Buffy does for the sake of the mi ssi on she does because a)
she was chosen to do i t and b) because the acti on she does preserves or
promotes the mi ssi on.
[31] Thi nk about Get It Done" (7015). In that epi sode, we see the
di al ecti cal rel ati on between good and evi l made perfectl y cl ear i n the account of
the formati on of the fi rst sl ayer. Indeed, the cave i magery i s of al most anvi l -l i ke
proporti ons, especi al l y i n the way Buffy i s bound underground i n a cave weari ng
bl ack and whi te cl othes. Metaphori cal l y, the very thi ng that keeps her bound to
the cave, unabl e to break out of the second cave story, i s both what has l ed her
to succeed up to now, but i s al so pretty obvi ousl y what s l eadi ng her to fai l now.
Havi ng seen the ori gi n of her power, Buffy s at somethi ng of a l oss. She thi nks
she understands i ts l esson, the l esson she communi cates to Wood at the end of
Li es My Parents Tol d Me: The Mi ssi on Is What Matters. That understandi ng i s
a cover-up job, though, a ki nd of desi re-i nduced fantasy much l i ke Pl ato s

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attempt to expl ai n Socrates death. Buffy may thi nk she understands what i t i s
to be a sl ayer when she admi ts that she woul d sacri fi ce Dawn for the mi ssi on,
but real i ty has a surpri se for her: thi s understandi ng of the mi ssi on i s goi ng to
mean she l l l ose.
[32] In Di rty Gi rl s, (7018) she goes after Cal eb, and she does l ose
badl y, and wi th di sastrous consequences for some potenti al s, for Xander, and for
hersel f. In the next epi sode, Empty Spaces, (7019) she s shown that i f the
mi ssi on i s paramount, she s expendabl e too. A ni fty l i ttl e l esson, that i s. It s i n
Touched, (7020) that Spi ke shows her the begi nni ngs of a way through the
i mpasse, but not perhaps i n qui te the way he meant to. Buffy may be, i n Spi ke s
terms, a hel l uva woman, (though gi ven al l I ve sai d, I thi nk we can read that
adjecti ve i n mul ti pl e, and not necessari l y fl atteri ng, ways), but the way to
vi ctory agai nst the cave story i sn t goi ng to go through hi s addi ti onal descri ptor:
her uni que status as the one. After her good ni ght s sl eep wi th Spi ke at her
si de, she proves that she s a woman when she goes agai nst Cal eb. Cal eb says
that when he l ays a hand on her she l l be just a dead l i ttl e gi rl , but Buffy
shows hi m that she s more than a gi rl , and i n doi ng so cl ai ms the scythe.
However, whi l e she may no l onger be Sunnydal e Gi rl , she remai ns, as i t were,
Sunnydal e Woman. What she needs to do i s escape from the Sunnydal e
moni ker, her second l evel cave-l i ke, desi re-i nduced fantasy.
[33] To see how that remai ni ng breakthrough ari ses, l et s thi nk a bi t
about the scythe. Noti ce how i t fal l s outsi de the standard sl ayer storyGi l es i s
fl ummoxed that such an i tem can exi st wi thout hi m havi ng heard of i t. And, of
course, as many fans compl ai ned, the i ntroducti on of the scythe seemed pretty
l amel y ad hoc, or even a ki nd of deus ex machi na. It probabl y won t surpri se
you when I say that i t s preci sel y the ad hoc status of the scythe that makes i t
so i mportant. After al l , thi nk what sort of thi ng coul d di sturb a cave story l i ke
the one Gi l es has tol d Buffy over 142 epi sodes. It coul dn t be anythi ng i nternal
to the story, si nce anythi ng i nternal woul d be subsumabl e under the overarchi ng
tel eol ogy of the cave/sl ayer story. So, we get a counter-story. The counter-story
i s about a pre-Chri sti an arti fact, the scythe, or, as i ts guardi an cal l s i t, a l ast
surpri se, forged for the sl ayer. [Editors note: See Zoe-Jane Playen on pre-
Christian feminist themes in Bt VS.]
[34] Just before Cal eb snaps her neck, the guardi an expl ai ns that Buffy s
arri val to cl ai m the scythe means that an end i s trul y near. The surpri si ng
word here i s an and not the anti ci pated the. Of course, Cal eb i mmedi atel y,
and necessari l y gi ven the cave he s trapped wi thi n, suppl i es the the. But
here s what s i nteresti ng: the guardi an s message comes from wi thi n the system
(the guardi ans were watchi ng the watchers after al l ) but i t s not part of the
tel eol ogi cal cave story of watchers and slayers, good and evi l . It s both i nsi de
and outsi de the i nsi de/outsi de of the hel l mouth/sl ayer story. It i s, as i t were,
the system sel f-di srupti ng, but not for a reasonnot for the end, but for an
end. Such sel f-di srupti on i s i ntol erabl e i n a cave-l i ke story and woul d have to
be subsumabl e under the i nsi de/outsi de of the caveperhaps as some cl earer
access to the Sun. But that way of understandi ng the scythe woul d make i t a
deus ex machi na i n the pejorati ve sense of the term. By re-thi nki ng the ki nd of
power Buffy fi nds i n the scythe, though, I thi nk we can see that i t s not a deus
ex machi na, but i nstead a l ucky event, a surpri se. And certai nl y i t can t be God-
l i ke i n any way, si nce that woul d i mpl y tel eol ogy.
[35] That bri ngs us, at l ast, to the fi nal poi nt I want to make. It concerns
the meani ng of power. Al l season we ve heard the word used, but, real l y, when
i t comes ri ght down to i t, what i s power? There s one thi ng we fi nd out i n
Chosen (7022)power i s not force, or brute strength, or anythi ng that we re
accustomed to associ ate wi th the term. Instead, we l earn at the end that power
i s real l y just potenti al i ty. From the Lati n potere to be abl e, i n thi s sense power

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i nvol ves possi bi l i ti es. And, need I say, bei ng trapped i n a desi re-i nduced fantasy
i s a condi ti on that cl oses off possi bi l i ti es. The somewhat unfortunate cooki e
dough speech i l l ustrates that Buffy hersel f real i zes that the worst thi ng she can
do i s cl ose off possi bi l i ti es. The poi nt i s not to thi nk too far ahead, she tel l s
Angel , and that makes perfect sense i nasmuch as thi nki ng too far ahead cl earl y
forecl oses possi bi l i ti es. For Buffy, the cruci al moment i s when she real i zes that
she d been, i n Dawn s apt phrase, a dumbass. It s exactl y when Buffy
confronts her bi g bad sel fThe Fi rst spouti ng the sl ayer mythol ogy, that Buffy
sees her desi re-i nduced fantasy refl ected back at her. The di sconnect between
the sl ayer story (she al one, bl ah, bl ah, bl ah) and the l i tany of weapons that
she has at her di sposal (her dead l over, Fai th, her fri ends, her wanna-sl ay
bri gade) hi ts home and i t occurs to her that they re goi ng to wi n.
[36] Note the word occursi t s i ntransi ti ve. Li ke the scythe, there s no
expl anati on for her real i zati on avai l abl e from wi thi n the sl ayer story. She
doesn t i nfer i t, she doesn t deduce i t, she doesn t even real i ze i t. It s not part
of the sl ayer story at al l . It just occurs. And when Buffy presents her pl an to
everyone, Fai th gets i tthe pl an i s pretty radi cal . Here agai n, etymol ogy
makes my poi nt: radi cal i s deri ved from the Lati n radi x, whi ch means root.
Buffy s gone back to the begi nni ng, to the source of her power as sl ayer wi th al l
the cave-l i ke structure that entai l s. In stri ki ng at the root of her power, she
opens up new possi bi l i ti es.
[37] Consi der Wi l l ow one l ast ti me. She tel l s us that usi ng her power wi l l
go beyond anythi ng she s ever donestri ki ng at the root of her own desi re-
i nduced fantasi esand that i t s a total l oss of control . But what i s control i f
not the di al ecti cal partner of cave-supported power? Thus, i t s through the
renunci ati on of control that Wi l l ow can transform the power of the scythe, just
as i t s Buffy s renunci ati on of the sl ayer story that al l ows her to go beyond The
Fi rst i n power.
[38] At the end of Chosen, we see Buffy i n ful l possessi on of her newl y
recogni zed power, and she s breaki ng out i n a genui ne smi l e. She can do
whatever she wantswel l , except shop at the Sunnydal e Mal l . She s destroyed
the sl ayer story she s been trapped i n for years by undoi ng i ts source, and she s
destroyed the cavewi th i ts tel eol ogi cal constrai nts. She s scrunched The Fi rst
Evi l . Dare I say that for the fi rst ti me, Buffy i s real l y happynot because she
has ful fi l l ed her desti ny as a sl ayer, but because she has chosen to reject that
desti ny.
[39] Of course, thi s i s hardl y the end of Buffy s storymuch more coul d be
sai d. However, I want to end by di scussi ng a potenti al objecti on. It mi ght be
thought that I have pl aced Buffy and company i n a worl d i n whi ch good and evi l
no l onger exi st. That s onl y partl y correct. Whi l e I thi nk the ul ti mate l esson of
the season i s a destructi on of Buffy s sl ayer story and, by extensi on, a
recogni ti on that tel eol ogi cal stori es can be more destructi ve i n thei r own way
than the ki nd of evi l they try to contai n, I don t thi nk the worl d as reconfi gured
by Buffy i s one i n whi ch anythi ng goes. In descri bi ng the l essons l earned from
Darwi n and Freud, Adam Phi l l i ps has wri tten:
Indeed, for both of them we are the ani mal s who seem to suffer, above
al l , from our i deal s. Indeed, i t i s part of the moral gi st of thei r work not
merel y that we use our i deal s to deny, to over-protect oursel ves from,
real i ty; but that these i deal sof redempti on, of cure, of progress, of
absol ute knowl edge, of pure goodnessare refuges that stop us l i vi ng i n
the worl d as i t i s and fi ndi ng out what i t i s l i ke, and therefore what we
coul d be l i ke i n i t.

[40] As Wi l l ow states, Buffy and company have changed the worl d. But i t
woul d be a mi stake to thi nk that the change i s for the better, just as i t woul d be

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a mi stake to thi nk i t s a change for the worse. It s a change; there s a worl d
fi l l ed wi th new possi bi l i ti es. In short, I take i t that the endi ng of the seri es i s
not a happy one, i n any ordi nary sense of the word happy. Happi ness i n that
sense woul d i mpl y an ori entati on to yet another tel eol ogi cal story, and, hence, a
betrayal of the ul ti mate l esson of the season. I thi nk the most we can i nfer
about Buffy s worl d after Chosen i s that i t s no l onger a Buffyverse. She s
i naugurated a momentous shi ft, a reconfi gurati on of opti ons. But that doesn t
mean that good and evi l have been destroyed, just one possi bl e way of
understandi ng, and bei ng trapped by, these terms. For Buffy, i t s sti l l the case
that i t s al l about choi ces, and i t s ti me for her, and by extensi on the rest of us,
to go to work.
Works Cited
Lear, Jonathan. Happi ness, Death, and the Remai nder of Li fe. (Cambri dge,
MA: Harvard Uni versi ty Press, 2000).
_____. Restl essness, Phantasy, and the Concept of Mi nd, i n Open
Mi nded: Worki ng Out the Logi c of the Soul . (Cambri dge, MA: Harvard
Uni versi ty Press, 1998), pp. 80-122.
Nei man, Susan. Evi l i n Modern Thought. (Pri nceton: Pri nceton Uni versi ty
Press, 2002).
Phi l l i ps, Adam. Darwi n s Worms. (New York: Basi c Books, 2000).
Pl ato. The Republ i c. Transl ated by Tom Gri ffi th. (Cambri dge: Cambri dge
Uni versi ty Press, 2000).
Rambo, El i zabeth L. Lessons for Season Seven of Buffy the Vampi re
Sl ayer. Sl ayage 11/12 (2004) <http://www.sl ayage.tv>
Reeve, C. D. C. Phi l osopher-Ki ngs: The Argument of Pl ato s Republ i c.
(Pri nceton, Pri nceton Uni versi ty Press, 1988).