As a huge movie and TV fan, one thing that always struck me about Buffy the Vampire Slayer is how much it’s really about growing up and change. It totally makes sense when you think about it – these are teenagers navigating high school, college, and everything that comes after. Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, goes through so much, especially with the weight of being the Slayer. She’s constantly pushing back against what people expect from her, and her story is incredibly dramatic – she even ‘dies’ twice, which kicks off the journey for the next Slayer! It’s a really powerful arc.
Like many superhero stories, Buffy the Vampire Slayer treated death as something characters could overcome. Buffy initially returned to life after CPR, but her second resurrection was more dramatic, involving magic that left her feeling disconnected. She later explained her struggles, revealing her friends had accidentally brought her back from the afterlife. Interestingly, the show also hinted at another, unexplored consequence of her return.
Buffy Was Changed on a “Molecular Level”
In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode “Dead Things” (Season 6, Episode 13), Buffy, recently brought back to life, confides in Tara about a disturbing issue: Spike is able to physically harm her despite the chip that usually prevents it. The episode centers on Buffy’s emotional turmoil – a mix of fear and a strange, perhaps subconscious, hope that her resurrection didn’t go as planned. This internal struggle contributes to her overwhelming feelings of sadness and loss. Ultimately, Buffy reveals she’s been having sex with Spike, and she’s overcome with shame as she admits it.
While comforting Buffy, Tara reveals something unexpected: the spell used to bring her back to life altered Buffy’s body at a fundamental, molecular level. Tara downplays this change, likening it to a bad sunburn, but this likely reflects her limited understanding. The alterations Tara detects permeate Buffy’s entire being, going far beyond just the skin. This felt like a setup for a future plot point, a seemingly minor detail that would become important later on. However, this potential storyline never actually materialized.
Buffy Never Explained What It Meant to be Changed on a “Molecular Level”
Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer dives deep into the emotional fallout of Buffy’s return from the dead. She struggles with a profound sense of depression, feeling like something went wrong with her resurrection. The show cleverly avoids the typical ‘happy ending’ trope, instead portraying resurrection as a traumatic experience that requires healing – a particularly insightful choice in storytelling.
That likely explains why that seemingly important plot point in Buffy never paid off. However, it’s still an unusual mistake for such a well-made show, especially considering Buffy’s experience in heaven demonstrated a clear separation between her body and spirit. While she was successfully revived, that doesn’t mean her return was without physical cost. The human body isn’t meant to be brought back to life, and just like a severe sunburn can cause long-term health problems, resurrection could have lasting effects.
Will the Buffy Revival Reveal the Real Consequences of Buffy’s Resurrection?
A new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series is being developed, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is expected to return as an older version of Buffy Summers. Similar to how the effects of something harmful can appear much later, the consequences of Buffy being brought back to life might only be fully realized now. This would be a clever twist, suggesting that the returning Buffy has changed in surprising ways, requiring audiences to adjust to this new iteration of the character. It’s like a long-delayed plot point is finally coming to fruition.
The introduction of a new Slayer in the upcoming Buffy revival might be explained by the need for someone to step in when Buffy isn’t available, especially if this new character, Nova, struggles. This presents a challenge for the revival: it’s hard to imagine anything bad happening to Buffy’s successor while Buffy is around, unless the story provides a good reason why Buffy can’t intervene and help.
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2026-02-05 17:42