<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/BYmn4E-kPSo?version=3&" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/BYmn4E-kPSo?version=3&</a>]]>Number 30 : Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode 607: "Once More, with Feeling" (34 points on 4 of 12 lists. Top Vote #9 by Johnny Unusual)Synopsis:On a graveyard patrol Buffy Summers, vampire slayer, suddenly bursts into a song about her dissatisfaction over the current state of her life. The next day during a meeting with her friends and watcher, she relates the fact that she began singing the night prior, although she does not give the details of the song. To her surprise, her friends note that they did as well, and then the whole crew bursts into a song about the causes about the sudden outburst of singing. Post song, they look outside to discover that all of Sunnyvale seems to be singing and dancing.
As the day continues, so does the singing. Dawn, Buffy's sister, reveals that her math class burst into song and engaged couple Xander and Anya burst into a song detailing their hesitation towards their upcoming wedding. To their horror, the deep secrets revealed in the song are remembered by the other party. Buffy's watcher Giles, suspects that some dark magic is at fault. Later that evening, due to a stray comment from Dawn, Tara realizes that her lover Willow has been subtly altering her memories via magic. Dawn begins to sing herself, but is captured by a minion of the demon, Sweet, who seems to be behind the outbursts of song and who has been capturing people and forcing them to dance until they explode.
Elsewhere, Giles begins to wonder if his help is actually holding Buffy back in her life. And then he and Tara sing a duet vowing to leave their respective parties. As the crew gathers, the vampire Spike arrives, having captured one of Sweet's minions who open his mouth and... flatly says that Dawn has been captured and Sweet challenges Buffy to free her. Buffy heads out alone after Giles forbids the rest of the crew to help her and the cast all sing as Buffy, and then all the other cast members, head to rescue Dawn.
At the nightclub, Buffy and crew confront Sweet and Buffy reveals, via song, that when she was resurrected at the start of the season, she was dragged out of heaven when they did so. A dance fight erupts and as she begins to smoke from the dance, she is stopped by Spike, who implores her to keep living life. Sweet declares that he is owed Dawn since she summoned him, but Xander sheepishly reveals that he was the culprit there as he thought it'd be fun to see. Sweet instead leaves with a final song, noting that no one is happier now that their secrets have been revealed. And the cast begins to sing, lamenting that fact. At least until Spike snaps out of it and storms out, only to be stopped by Buffy who kisses him as the final notes play....
Memorable Songs:Well obviously the show stopper is "The Mustard Song" celebrating the removal of mustard from a dry-cleaned piece of clothing. Other highlights include Buffy's opening song "Going Through the Motions", the Anya/Xander duet "I'll Never Tell", the incredibly filthy "Under Your Spell" and "Under Your Spell/Standing- reprise" which was sung by the two actors who could, you know, sing.
Awards:In 2009, TV guide ranked "Once More, with feeling" as the 14th best TV episode of all time. It also won a Nebula Award for Best Script.
Trivia Notes: The demon, Sweet, was played by Hinton Battle who played the Scarecrow in a Broadway production of The Wiz the year before "Once More" aired. He was also the choreographer for the Evil Dead musical and played "The Cat" in a US remake of Red Dwarf. Although presumably not the same RD remake where Terry "Jadzia Dax" Farrell played that role.
When the episode aired, it sadly trailed UPN's bigger ratings success that week- an episode of WWF Smackdown. Oddly enough, that was also a musical episode. the duet between Triple H and Jericho was quite heavenly.
Coming Soon:Hey, folks voted for it so it's a musical.
Topic: LoC 70: Top 50 Musicals! (Read 25686 times)
