This week on the podcast Buffy and the Art of Story: The Dark Age (Season 2 Episode 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer):
This episode covers (1) external conflict that causes Buffy and Giles to grow; (2) whether The Dark Age is a Coming of Age story; and (3) what makes a character the protagonist.
As always, the discussion is spoiler-free, except at the end (with plenty of warning).
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Last Week: Lie to Me S2 E7
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Episode Transcript for The Dark Age
Hello and welcome to Buffy and the Art of Story Season Two. If you love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you love creating stories – or just taking them apart to see how they work – you’re in the right place.
I am Lisa M Lilly, author of the Awakening supernatural thriller series and the Q.C. Davis mysteries and founder of WritingAsASecondCareer.com.
This Monday we're talking about The Dark Age, Season Two episode Eight.
I'll cover:
external conflict that tells the personal story between Buffy and Giles;
whether this is a coming-of-age story; and
what goes into a protagonist, because we have key stories happening for both Buffy and Giles.
As always, there will be no Spoilers except at the end to talk about foreshadowing, but I'll give you plenty of warning.
Okay, let's dive into the Hellmouth.
The Dark Age was written by Rob des Hotel and Dean Batali and directed by Bruce Seth Green.
Opening Conflict In The Dark Age
We start, as we should, with conflict. A man in a suit hurries across the darkened schoolyard. He asks a custodian where to find Rupert Giles. The custodian tells the man that Giles is the librarian and directs him to the library.
This is a nice way to establish through conflict for new audience members who Giles is.
Why do I see it as being through conflict? Because the man is clearly distressed as he is hurrying across the schoolyard. He's very anxious to reach Giles.
A woman appears and shuffles toward the man. Her eyes flash and her face is decaying and he says, “Diedre?” And she says, “Philip.” This, too, is a good way to get names in through conflict.
Philip bangs on the door as Diedre moves closer.
Loud Music Blocks A Cry For Help
But inside the library, music is blasting. Buffy, in workout clothes, is doing step aerobics. Something as best I recall was fairly popular at the time. I have to agree with Giles, who is holding his ears, that the music is just noise. Specifically, he says it's not music because it has no notes.
Buffy says she needs a beat to aerobicize.
Outside, Diedre reaches Philip and starts to strangle him. He falls to the ground. And her body sort of melts to the ground and turns into this shadow that oozes out toward him. That is at 2 minutes 41 seconds in.
It's a great hook and we go to the credits.
The Story Spark
So usually our Story Spark or Inciting Incident, the event that sets off the story, comes about 10% into an episode book or movie. Usually in Buffy that's around 4.5 minutes in, as most episodes are about 43 minutes.
Here, though, I think the moment of Diedre choking Philip before he could reach Giles, and then this shadow reaching Philip, all of that I think was the Inciting Incident. Because it sets off our main plot.
After the credits we see flashes of symbols and tattoos and long-haired guys with tinted glasses. And we hear screaming. Giles awakens.
This could also be the Story Spark because it tells Giles that the demon (we will learn later is called Eyghon) has returned. But I see that more as simply giving Giles information.
As I'll talk about later on, this is primarily Buffy's story. So, what sets this off is that plot development with Eyghon being passed from Diedre to Philip. Though technically I suppose the Story Spark started before this episode began with whatever it is that brought Eyghon back in the first place.
Anywhere But Here
Willow and Buffy are at the school in the sun. They are playing Anywhere But Here again, where they tell each other stories about where they would rather be. Xander appears and joins the game and the three joke about whether Giles ever played this game. Xander is certain the answer is no and that Giles is still bitter about there being only twelve grades in school.
Buffy says Giles probably sat in math class thinking that there should be more math.
Giles joins them. He tells her about a delivery of blood to the hospital. Buffy says, “Vamp Meals on Wheels.” Giles seems concerned she's not taking it seriously enough, and Buffy says, “Have I ever let you down?”
Giles says, “Do you want me to answer that or should I just glare?”
This is a great quick back-and-forth that emphasizes the nature of their relationship. He is the adult, the parent, telling Buffy what needs to be done and pointing out that she needs to take it seriously. And yes, she has on occasion let him down. Though they are joking. So we know that this is overall a good relationship.
Jenny And Giles
Jenny joins them. She says she's holding a class reviewing computer basics on Saturday and Willow is assisting her. Xander makes fun of the students who have to attend until he finds out he's one of them, and Cordelia is the other.
When Jenny and Giles are alone, Giles asks if she wants to go out that weekend. And she says no, she'd like to stay in. They kiss as the bell rings.
The Police In The Library
In the library, having had a nice moment with Jenny, Giles now faces a serious obstacle: police. They are in the library, and they tell him there was a homicide on campus the night before. The victim had Giles name and address on a piece of paper in his pocket.
These days, I suppose it would be on the guy’s phone.
Cordelia comes in through the doors and says, “Evil just compounds evil, doesn't it?” But she is not talking about a homicide, which she knows nothing about. She's talking about having to go to the computer class tomorrow and on top of it to get a book for it. And she says, “There are books on computers? Isn't the point of computers to replace books?”
She sees the police. Giles is quite irritated with her when she tries to get one of them to fix a “bogus” ticket. And he says, “Cordelia!” And she says why does everyone always say her name like that? “I can take a hint. What's the hint?”
He tells her the hint is to come back later.
At the morgue Giles identifies Philip's body and admits that he knows him. He says they hadn't spoken in twenty years. That they were friends back in London. But he claims he doesn't know anything about the unusual tattoo on Philip’s arm though that is one of the symbols that we saw in Giles’ dream.
No Show Giles
At 10 minutes 16 seconds in Buffy waits outside the hospital. Giles is no-show. She sees the vampires who meet the van bringing in the blood. She fights them.
Angel appears from nowhere to help her. When she asks how he knew he says everyone knows about delivery day. She tasks him with getting the blood to safety because she's worried about Giles, who was late.
At first Angel downplays her worries about Giles. But she points out Giles is never late for anything.
Reminding The Audience
This Angel appearance serves two purposes. One, it gives a reason for us to see Angel, to remind us that he is around. And he is important.
Also, I see it as a way to get Buffy's worries about Giles out there and to make clear how unusual this is for Giles. If you’re regular watcher, you would know that already. But with network TV at the time, people often jumped in and out of the season. Or they might just start watching in the middle. So this is a good way to inform new audience members.
Buffy's Thoughts
It also tells us Buffy's thoughts in a way that you can't otherwise do on television. In a novel you could simply show Buffy's thoughts. However, in one of the writing classes I took, the instructor (and I wish I could recall who it was) said cut out all the scenes where a character sits and thinks. There's just not enough happening there.
So even in the novel, having this other character there to create a small amount of conflict, to disagree with the protagonist or strongly disagree, is a good way to bring out a character’s thoughts. One caveat: In a novel, I wouldn't bring in a brand-new character to just walk on and do that. Because adding more characters gives your reader more to remember and think about.
But if you have a character like Angel who is ongoing,...
