Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy (11 page)

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Joss having fun with Alyson Hannigan and Seth Green.

Season two introduces Spike, a vampire villain, and Oz, a character Whedon based on someone he knew. “I just knew a guy named Oz. Kinda short. Played lead guitar for a band. He had this incredible cool about him; he wore bowling shirts before anybody else did.” Fans were initially cool to Oz, but ultimately he became a very important part of the series.

One of Joss’ favorite episodes, and certainly one of the greatest episodes of the series, is
Innocence,
which Joss wrote and directed. This is the episode where Angel becomes Angelus as a result of the consummation of his relationship with Buffy
Innocence
was notable in any number of ways, including featuring the first sex scenes between Buffy and Angel.

These were the first sex scenes Joss had ever directed and he was embarrassed. “I felt very awkward. The actors, however, both extraordinary pros and good friends, were fine. They were laughing and scratching, and just sort of, you know, put my hand where and do what and what do you need? I think they were sort of amused by how embarrassed I was.”

Perhaps the most powerful scene in
Innocence
is the first confrontation between Buffy and Angel after he loses his soul. It’s a scene of great emotional power and exquisite cruelty. Initially filmed outside, Whedon quickly realized that the scene should take place in the bedroom. The result is brilliant and the episode shows how much Whedon had grown as both a writer and director.

In
Innocence
Angel turns bad, and a few episodes later, in
Passion,
we see just how bad. In this episode Angelus ruthlessly hunts down and kills Jenny Calendar. The scene is brutal and it’s classic Joss. On one level, it’s a riveting scene, truly horrific. On another level it accomplishes a larger objective; it shows that Angel is truly evil, “not pretending, not a little bad.” It also served as a warning to the cast—be good because everyone is expendable.

“It keeps you on your toes,” says James Marsters. “You never know what might happen next, so you damn well better come in here and be a professional about the whole thing. If they don’t like you, and a lot of times even if they do, you could wind up gone.”

The two-part season finale,
Becoming
, was written and directed by Whedon. These episodes accomplish the seemingly impossible task of pushing up the emotional intensity yet another notch. Joss plays the Willow card again, putting her in mortal peril and, interestingly, giving the audience a hint of the power she would some day possess. All the stops are pulled out as Buffy’s support network is taken away one piece at a time; as she lost Angel, she now loses her place in school and her home. Ultimately, she is forced to kill Angel, no longer evil and very much the love of her life, in order to save the world. The episodes conclude with Buffy, looking like nothing so much as another runaway teenager, getting on a bus out of town. It’s a heartbreaking ending.

I think they were sort of amused by how embarrassed I was.
—Joss

if they don’t like you, and a lot of times even if they do, you could wind up gone.
—James Marsters

Season three

By season three
Buffy
was running smoothly and Whedon, while still involved in every aspect of production, could emerge from the details, knowing that his team would do things the way he wanted them. Joss again wrote and directed five episodes and began planning an
Angel
spin-off that would launch in
Buffy
’s fourth season.

Nicholas Brendon (Xander)

As one of the original cast members, Brendon has fought by Buffy’s side since the beginning. Brendon has a great deal in common with his character. They are both nice guys with a quick dry wit. And they are both incredibly silly at times.
It’s easy to see the common theme that drew the
Buffy
cast together. Like Joss, Sarah and Alyson, Brendon (who stuttered and was painfully shy) had a horrible time in high school. “I think sometimes that the shy people become actors because it gives us a chance to express ourselves in ways we never imagined,” Brendon says. “In high school I could have never imagined getting to be a part of something like this.”
Brendon’s early aspirations were to be a professional athlete, but he was sidetracked after an injury and began studying acting. With the help of a speech pathologist he was able to lose the stutter and life began to improve. Before joining
Buffy
, Brendon worked a variety of jobs including being a plumber’s assistant and script delivery boy.
“There were times in the beginning where I seriously wondered if I was ever going to make enough money to eat being an actor, but it was just something I had to do. Getting a role like this on such a great show doesn’t happen to many people and I know how damn lucky I am,” says the actor.
While his resume has a quite a few credits listed,
Buffy
was his first significant acting job. When he won the role, the Los Angeles native was working as a waiter and it was a tough time financially. Then this magical role appeared and he knew he had to do whatever it took to get it.
“Joss created this guy we could all relate to in some way. For the most part he was invisible to everyone except Buffy and Willow. That’s why, years after high school, he is still so devoted to them both. They cared about him when no one else did.”
“What am I going to say about him,” says Whedon of Xander. “He’s the guy. We all know that guy from high school; some of us were him. Then he grows up and he isn’t sure what he wants to be. As he matures he realizes what it is he doesn’t want to be. The thing about this character is loyalty.
He’s the guy. We all know that guy from high school; some of us were him.—Joss

Nicholas Brendon answers questions for fans.
He sticks with his friends, many times to the detriment of his relationships with other people.”
As for comparisons between himself and the character he plays, Brendon believes there are quite a few. “In some ways I’m just like him and in others we have nothing in common,” says Brendon. “We’ve both grown and matured through the years. He still has a lot of problems with his relationships, and thankfully I’ve grown past a lot of that. He’s seen what his parents have become. Sort of his own demons, and now he’s afraid of the whole settling down thing.
“I on the other hand am loving married life.”
Oh and about that dance thing Xander does. Was that something the writers created for him or did he make it up himself?
“Yes, um, well that’s me. I was doing these crazy dances all the time and they just sort of wrote it into the show. Hey, whatever it takes for the laugh, right?”

Season three introduced some wonderful plot developments—Wil—low and Xander’s budding romance, the fastidious mayor and his henchmen, the introduction of Faith and her descent into evil, and Buffy’s flirtation with the dark side of slayerdom. While matching the intensity of season two was a challenge, season three comes close, with perhaps the biggest contribution made by Eliza Dushku as the electrifying but troubled new slayer.

Joss opened season three with Buffy as a runaway waitress in Los Angeles. In
Anne
, which Joss wrote and directed, Buffy again faces the conflict between her desire to flee her responsibilities and her deep sense of duty. Again
Buffy
presents a real-life theme in fantasy guise. A runaway flees her family problems only to find life on the streets a living hell. Of course in
Buffy
, the hell is real.

Buffy returns to Sunnydale and reconciles with her friends and family. Angel returns, first in an animal-like mental state, but soon regaining his wits and sanity. It’s typical of Joss that he doesn’t simply return Angel to the relatively cuddly good vampire role he plays in season one and early season two. The audience has seen too much and Angel has gone too far to be easily forgiven. How can the audience ever embrace Angel again after what he has done? In
Amends
Joss wrote and directed an episode designed specifically to address this problem. Angel is tormented by voices driving him towards evil and he is losing the power to resist. Rather than yield, he chooses suicide. The guilt and pain are too much for him. In a scene of incredible intensity Buffy begs him to continue fighting. In the ambiguous ending, it seems Angel’s life is saved through divine intervention. Angel’s suffering wins a place for him back in our hearts. Equally importantly, Angel finds his purpose—to make amends for his past—and here Joss is also helping to set up for the Angel spinoff.

For sheer fun, it’s hard to beat
Doppelgangland
(also written and directed by Joss). In this episode, Joss stepped back from the intensity of his last few scripts to deliver some unadulterated fun. Having spotted a good thing in the alternative universe’s vampire Willow from the episode Wish, he found an (admittedly feeble) excuse to bring her to Sunnydale. This episode previews a darker side of Willow that would emerge in season six. It also foreshadows Willow’s lesbianism, which would emerge in season four.

The second half of season three focuses on Faith’s decent into evil. Faith shifts from a troubled slayer to a human monster as scary as any latex creation. But as scary as Faith becomes she remains fully human, and her relationship with the Mayor is truly touching. “One of my favorite moments,” Whedon relates, “was when Harry Groener who was playing the mayor asked me if he was supposed to care about Faith or if he was just using her. I had not considered that question before and it led to a very beautiful, completely twisted father-daughter relationship that I thought was one of the loveliest things we did on the show. I knew where they were going as to who was going to live and who was going to die, but I didn’t know that [the Mayor and Faith would have a loving relationship]. Having the space to find that as you go is what makes a season a wonderful thing to create.”

Despite Whedon’s unassuming style, there was no question that he was fully in charge of every aspect of the series. Unlike some productions, which seemed to be run by committee, there was no conflicting authority or confused decision making on
Buffy
—Joss was the boss. At the same time Joss remained receptive to his production team and actors. For example, Joss was receptive when Gellar struggled with the direction the plot was taking in season three. Faith was clearly moving toward the dark side and, to Gellar’s thinking, Buffy should have picked up Faith’s duplicity

The elctrifying Eliza Dushku. Faith is back for a number of episodes in
Buffy’s
season seven, and there has been speculation that she could permanently join the series if Gellar leaves after the season’s end.

Faith the Vampire Slayer?