Season 5

Episode 8

SHADOW: Up to the Light

by Spring Summers – 16-May-04

- Shadows for Joyce, Buffy & Riley – Looking below the surface - Testing – – Calling Dr Spike – Riley’s end – Spicy extras for James Marsters fans -

Shadows. They need light to exist, but direct light makes them disappear. You’ve got a shadow, I’ve got a shadow, all God’s children got shadows. In this episode, we take a look at three shadows in particular – those of Joyce, Buffy, and Riley. We learn that Joyce’s shadow is a tumor; it’s the shadow of Death. And we watch both members of our disintegrating couple continue to dance with their dark sides.

The pre-credit opening shows us Joyce at the hospital. She is getting a CAT scan, so that her doctor, Dr Isaacs, can see if her recent symptoms might be due to something below the surface.

JOYCE (to Buffy, in the last ep, Fool For Love): “You know the nothing that I’ve been dealing with the last couple of weeks? It might not be nothing.”

Later, we see that Dr Isaacs has found his answer. He has positioned various x-rays on a light board. They are all lit from behind, and there it is: It’s not nothing after all. Joyce has a shadow.

But the x-ray shadow is not the first shadow we see in this episode. Right after the credits, we follow Riley up the stairs in the Summers’ home, and what do we see? Spike is in Buffy’s bedroom, holding a thin sweater in front of his face. He is lit from behind, and there it is: Buffy has a shadow.

You know that nothing she’s been dealing with? He isn’t nothing after all. And despite herself, Buffy has begun a flirtation with that randy, ubiquitous, infuriating, shadow of hers. Take a close look at the beginning of the scene that immediately follows Riley & Spike’s confrontation:

Buffy walks toward the door to the room where her Mom and Dr Isaacs are examining x-rays. Her shadow is plainly visible on the door. She approaches that shadow, and nearly touches it as she reaches toward the door. But she hesitates, and walks away. Then she turns back toward the door, tempted, contemplating another try, when she is startled by Riley. He comes up behind her and she whirls around:

BUFFY: “Riley!”

RILEY: “Sorry. I heard. I thought maybe you’d need –“

BUFFY: “I do. I do. I’m glad. I just – I, I didn’t – I mean, until we knew what it was –“

RILEY: “I understand. How’s she doing?”

Later, Buffy has learned that her mother has a tumor. She tells Riley she hopes to find a healing spell:

RILEY: “Buffy, people get sick. I don’t think magic –“

BUFFY: “That attitude’s not helping. I have to try.”

Now, on the surface, this encounter seems very different from Riley and Spike’s previous encounter. But it begins very similarly, doesn’t it? Riley comes up behind Spike and surprises him. He whirls around:

RILEY: “What are you doing here?”

SPIKE: “What me? I was uhm – uh – what are you doing here?”

RILEY (later in conversation): “Were you just smelling her sweater?”
SPIKE: “No. Well, yeah. All right, I did. It’s a predator thing, nothing wrong with it. Just know your enemy’s scent, whet the appetite for a hunt. Ah! (Sniffing) That’s the stuff. Slayer musk, it’s bitter and aggravating!”

Later, after Riley has dragged Spike downstairs:

SPIKE (about his invite into the Summers’ home): “Ever ask yourself why she hasn’t taken my name off the guest list?”

RILEY: “Because you’re harmless.”

SPIKE: “Yeah right. Takes one to know, I suppose. Least I still got the attitude. What do you got? A piercing glance?”

So let’s hold that Buffy & Riley scene up to the light – and there it is: it has a shadow in the Spike & Riley encounter. One the surface, the Buffy & Riley exchange is tender and loving, while the Spike & Riley dialogue is anything but. Yet both encounters involve Riley startling someone, being given a lame sounding excuse, and being criticized for having the wrong attitude. Spike, as any self-respecting shadow should, provides the expression for Buffy’s darker, underlying feelings.

Riley’s encounter with Dawn further drives home the point, as she unwittingly twists the knife that Spike has driven into his gut:

DAWN (about Joyce): “She’s not going to get any better, is she?”

RILEY: “Absolutely she will.”

Earlier, Riley has told Spike that he’s harmless. Now he’s suggesting the tumor is harmless. Riley is in wishful thinking mode all around. But Dawn makes it hard for Riley’s true feelings to stay below the surface:

DAWN (to Riley, about Buffy & Angel): “Every day was like the end of the world. She doesn’t get all worked up like that over you. I think you’ve been really good for her.”

Dawn’s words are really just a sunnier version of Spike’s earlier words: “Face it white bread. Buffy’s got a type, and you’re not it. She likes us dangerous, rough, occasionally bumpy in the forehead region. Not that she doesn’t like you. But sorry, Charlie – you’re just not dark enough.”

So Riley’s screwed. He’s not quite willing to face that truth yet though; he hasn’t yet found the courage to let go. He has, after all, invested a lot of time and a large part of himself in his relationship with Buffy:

· WILLOW: “It feels like we’re going around in circles.” XANDER: “Our circles are going around in circles. We’ve got dizzy circles here, Giles.”

· DAWN (to Riley): “We’d just moved to Sunnydale, and Mom rented the carousel for an entire hour for just me and my friends. Except I hadn’t made any friends yet, so it was just me and Mom and Buffy riding it by ourselves, over and over and over again, the whole hour, just so Mom felt like we’d gotten our money’s worth.”

· BUFFY: “How did she get away with this bad mojo stuff?” ANYA: “Giles sold it to her.” GILES: “I didn’t know it was her! I mean, how could I? If it’s any consolation, I may have overcharged her.”

No matter where he turns, Riley ends up in the same place - he keeps getting confronted with the same painful truth he revealed to Xander in The Replacement: “She doesn’t love me.” His circles are going around in circles, and he’s beginning to suspect that Buffy has overcharged him. He has given her his all – he loves her without reservation and he has told her so; he has given up his treasured military career for her; he is dizzy in love with her. So, though Riley knows he is now throwing away his time as well as his money, it’s hard to get off the merry-go-round, when he’s paid for the full hour.

His frustration and pain lead us to the discovery that Riley, too, has a dark side. He’s human, and as blessed as the rest of us with considerable duality. His hurt and desperation, in the face of the mounting evidence of Buffy’s indifference, put him in touch with his shadow-self, as he seeks comfort from his own vampire cutie, Xandy Sandy.

The frequent images of people exchanging (or not) surface niceties (being rude, being polite), the mention of the significance of advertising (Giles’ ad) and names (Glory/Glorificus, CAT scan, oligodendroglioma, etc), and the continual use of the words “look” and “know” emphasize the message in this episode about the importance of looking beyond the facade. People are preoccupied with outward appearances – a few examples are below:

• SPIKE: “You’re bruising the leather!”
• GLORY: “Does this pump make my ankle look bony?”
• JOYCE: “Do I have bad hair? I don’t look like scary mom, do I?”

Note that Glory is all about shoes again, and that the girl’s understanding of how to successfully navigate her surroundings is so poor that – despite the fact that a broken heel once led to her defeat – she still hasn’t bought herself even one pair of sensible shoes. But shoes aren’t just about how they make your ankles look. The need to look below surface appearances, and the importance of gathering all the information you need, and of developing a deep understanding of the world around you prior to proceeding, is being addressed. Note that Spike stings Riley most deeply with the fact that Who Knows?? The Shadow knows!! He has information about Buffy that Riley doesn’t have. Dr Isaacs sits Buffy down to ask her some questions because, “the more we know,” the more he can help Joyce. And Xander, piercing right through the veil, very perceptively questions Riley about “what kind of action” he’s after. But Giles is the prime example in this ep of the folly of fumbling around in the dark:

XANDER: “Am I right Giles?”

GILES: “I’m almost certain you’re not, but to be fair, I wasn’t listening.”

This operating mode gets Giles in trouble later, when he lets Glory’s sweet- young-thing appearance lull him into thoughtlessly selling her dangerous magical items. It’s Anya’s specialized knowledge that saves the day. Pay attention. Look below the surface. Go in for a bit of the prod and probe.

Notice the use of red lights in this episode – the red light is on, i.e., we’re on the air, truths are about to be revealed (GLORY: “Scene!”):

• Joyce enters the scanner. We see a series of red lights glowing in a panel at the end of the machine – testing in progress. As the result of this probing, a shadow of the tumor is revealed.
• Riley sits at Willie’s bar. In an episode full of people asking questions and waiting or searching for answers they cannot find or do not want, Riley is hoping for revelation in the bottom of a drink. Before him a small candle glows red within a rose-colored glass – testing in progress. Vampire Sandy approaches him – uh-oh. Riley is unable to resist her, though he manages to stake her before she drains him. Riley’s desperation and dark side is revealed.
• The Snake-Monster’s eyes glow red when he realizes that Dawn in The Key. The information has been revealed.
• When Buffy first runs after the Snake-Monster, a red traffic light glows at the top of the screen –testing in progress. Note that Buffy is after the Snake-Monster because “it knows” that Dawn is The Key, and she wants to kill it before it can tell Glory. We are going to hear this again from Buffy, about that other snake, Spike (Intervention, Ep 5.18). Buffy – already tremendously frustrated and angry over her inability to help Joyce - finally catches up to the big, two-eyed snake, and she wraps her legs around it for a wild, bucking bronco ride. Then she ends up beating the hell out of its face – real overkill – to diffuse her anger at herself and her own impotence. We are going to see this again, with that other snake, Spike (Dead Things, Ep 6.13). As she beats the Snake-Monster’s face to a pulp, we get a sneak preview of Buffy’s dark side and the limits on her ability to contain it.

Oh, it is infuriating; it is so hard to face – that possibility that you aren’t going to get what you paid for so dearly, and there is not a damn thing that you or anyone else can do about it:

• Joyce has sacrificed and dedicated her life to her daughters, and she loves them very much. But she must face the possibility that she may not get to see Buffy graduate from college, or Dawn from High School, or watch them begin careers, or families, or see her grandchildren. Return On Investment. Sometimes, that ROI, or lack of it, is absolutely devastating. And there’s no help for it. Joyce’s doctor is not going to be able to give her what she needs. That Dr Isaacs? Not so good at providing what is needed, is he?

BEN (to Buffy, about Isaacs): “He doesn’t have the bone in his head that tells him when to back off.”

• Buffy loves her mother so very much. She’d do anything, give anything, risk anything, to keep her by her side. But she is going to be devastated; there’s no help for it. That Riley? Will he be able to be The Doctor that Buffy needs?

SPIKE (to Riley, about Buffy): “She likes us dangerous, rough, occasionally bumpy in the forehead region . . . sorry, Charlie, you’re just not dark enough.

Huh. Apparently, forehead configuration plays a large part in being able to adequately sense and meet someone’s deeper emotional needs. Who knew?

• BEN (about Isaacs): “He’s a really good doctor. Your mom’s in good hands.”
• GILES (to Buffy, about Joyce): “She’s in good hands, Buffy. There’s really nothing else you can do.”

Huh. Apparently, good hands are also an important feature in a doctor. OK. But where is Buffy going to find a doctor with a bony forehead AND good hands?

Here’s a clue: Note that the only people supplying real answers in this episode are those who are usually dismissed:

• Spike has to beg Riley for his life, but he’s the one with the information that Riley needs.
• Dreg prostrates himself before Glory, but he’s the one who has found the spell that she needs.
• Anya has to be careful to speak respectfully to Giles, and like Dreg with Glory, she (momentarily) goes along with taking blame that belongs to Giles, but she is the one with information that they need.

RILEY (to Spike): “You don’t know anything about Buffy. You never did. I’m the one who knows what she needs.”

Is he? Riley is having a hard time understanding and meeting needs in this episode. He gives Dawn an ice cream cone when she’s not hungry. But she’s aware of his good intentions, and she doesn’t want to seem ungrateful, so she politely maintains that “No, I just – this is better.” Still, the cone is melting, and going uneaten. Riley wasted his money on that treat.

Later, Riley gives Buffy a shoulder to cry on when she doesn’t want to cry. But she’s aware of his good intentions, and she doesn’t want to seem ungrateful. So she hugs him for awhile, and she speaks to him very kindly and softly.

Still, the episode ends with our enormous hall monitor out in the hall again - just he and his long shadow, all alone and feeling blue.

Spicy extras for James Marsters fans

• Spike steals Buffy’s lacey panties. The guy has it so bad, and isn’t exactly being discreet about his interest or his methods.
• Love both Marc Blucas and James in their scene. Marc is just right in the way he reacts to Spike – that hesitant “you’re harmless,” and the way he lets his hands hang loosely at his sides, followed by the snarl and attempt to kill Spike. Good stuff. And James’ delivery with the fake concern while he’s actually and deliberately wounding Riley profoundly – perfect and priceless. Chip? What chip? Spike can still slice and dice with the best of ‘em.
• So – since Spike “has known since last night” that Joyce was ill, we can surmise that Buffy did end up talking to Spike to some extent, after the ending scene of Fool For Love. I can actually picture that, assuming Spike maintained his silence and didn’t push. I can see Buffy’s need to confide in someone, and Spike’s silence, sensitivity and instinctual understanding of Buffy, working to allow Buffy to tell him, very simply and briefly, that she was upset because her Mom had to return to the hospital for tests. I can see Buffy behaving much as she did when she confided in Spike in Season 6, about coming back from heaven. She tells him because he’s not asking or pushing, he’s just there for her. And after the words tumble out briefly, she seems to suddenly notice what she’s done (confided in Spike!), so she ends the awkward moment by leaving. I can picture that sort of thing here – she tells Spike about her Mom, and then realizes that she’s just confided something very intimate in Spike, politely excuses herself, tells him good night, and goes back inside.
• Spike pretty.