This Buffy Season 6 Episode Actually Foreshadowed a Devastating Character Ending
⚡QUICK LINKS
- Halfrek’s Episode Foreshadows Anya’s Tragic Turn in Season 7
- Anya’s Humanity Ultimately Led To Her Death
- Anya Was One of the Most Disrespected Characters On Buffy
- Anya’s Death Doesn’t Necessarily Work At the End of the Series
Season 6 represented a crossroads for the cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After five successful years on The WB, the creatives decided to part ways with the network in favor of a more lucrative situations on UPN in the days before The CW. This meant darker content for a more adult audience. Buffy’s return from the dead was quickly followed by discussions of mental illness and assault in less metaphorical terms than the series was used to.
By the end of the season, Buffy eventually got a new lease of life, but previous episodes were still populated with heartwrenching content. Some of these moments wouldn’t be obvious until much later, like one significant episode late in the series. During Buffy’s birthday in “Older and Far Away,” Anya ‘s fate was hinted at in a blink and you’ll miss it moment.
Halfrek’s Episode Foreshadows Anya’s Tragic Turn in Season 7
Image via Warner Bros.
Season 6, Episode 14, featured the frequently observed tradition of Buffy’s birthday. As with any episode that revolved around this event, things didn’t go well. Buffy had been coping badly with being ripped out of heaven and started a problematic relationship with the soulless Spike.
| Buffy’s Birthday Episodes | Main Conflict | Premiere Date | Written By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 2, Episode 13, “Surprise” | Buffy sleeps with Angel, causing him to lose his soul | January 19, 1998 | Marti Noxon |
| Season 4, Episode 12, “A New Man” | Giles gets turned into a demon | January 25, 2000 | Jane Espenson |
| Season 6, Episode 14, “Older and Far Away” | The entire party gets trapped in a house with a demon | February 12, 2002 | Drew Z. Greenberg |
As a consequence, Buffy was rarely at home as she juggled slaying, her day job, and Spike. Dawn became the lowest on the priority list and started acting out as a result. Her activity was noticed by someone the teenager thought at the time was a guidance counselor. When Dawn wished people would stop going away, the counselor revealed her true intentions. She was actually Halfrek, a vengeance demon who was also in attendance at Anya’s wedding.
Hallie granted Dawn’s wish, and Buffy’s entire party got stuck inside the Summer’s home. Even when they tried to leave, they were physically incapable of getting to the door. Anya astutely deduced that Hallie’s work was at play and summoned her to the house. After revealing her dastardly deeds, another demon, also trapped in the house, stabbed her. Most of the party assumed that killed her, until she shot back up after the fighting was over.
As everyone watched in shock as Hallie got back up, she scoffed and said, “Did you think I’d be stopped by a sword in the chest?” Remarking that it was simply a flesh wound, Hallie established a point in continuity that would be revisited in Season 7 and eventually be Anya’s undoing. At the time, Anya was still living a human life, but she quickly joined the ranks of Hallie and D’Hoffryn after Xander did the worst thing possible and left her at the alter. Even that, however, didn’t last forever. Anya only returned to a life of vengeance before turning away from it again.
In the Season 7 episode, “Selfless,” Anya granted a wish to a humiliated girl in a frat house. After the frat brothers pulled a prank on her, she confessed to Anya that she wanted their hearts ripped out. Anya summoned a giant spider demon that did just that, killing the students. After learning this, Buffy decided that Anya had gone too farm, and the two came to blows. Buffy attempted to end the fight by stabbing Anya in the chest. As all the characters were aware, this wouldn’t kill a vengeance demon. Anya came back quickly, reminding Buffy of that.
It did symbolize an emotional death, however. Anya was already regretting her life choices and wanted to take back the horrible things she had done. She asked her boss, D’Hoffryn, to take it back. D’Hoffryn didn’t kill Anya and instead incinerated Halfrek, but her fate was still set in stone. Anya became human again, this time with no purpose or connection to humanity. This choice would send her down a read that led to her demise.
Anya’s Humanity Ultimately Led to Her Death
Anya decided to officially return to a human life of her own volition, which signified her character development, but it came at a cost. Eventually, she found her way back to the fold in the final season of Buffy with no real skills but her knowledge of the underworld. With nothing else to offer, she joined the charge to fight against The First Evil. Xander and Anya eventually found their way back to each other, but this wasn’t her main contribution. Anya gave her life in the final battle when the army of ubervamps flooded Sunnydale. Just as everyone was escaping the collapsing Hellmouth, agents of the first slashed Anya in half.
Anya’s death was thankless as Andrew, who was fighting with her, got out practically unscathed. Allowing Andrew to live while Anya died showed the meaninglessness of war and how no one can predict the outcome. Even so, Anya would never have been there if it wasn’t for the meddling of Sunnydale’s finest. Xander Harris is, of course, the biggest villain in this tragic tale. He cast a dark shadow over her life that would not have been there otherwise. From the moment they started dating, he treated her with disrespect.
Anya Was One of the Most Disrespected Characters On Buffy
Image via 20th Century Studios
In high school, Xander mocked Anya even while taking her to prom. Even after graduation, he failed to meet her needs when it was clear she wanted a relationship. Only upon cajoling did he come to realize his feelings for her. This was a trend that continued throughout their relationship until the tragic and infamous day of their wedding.
As any woman would, Anya turned back to the warm embrace of vengeance. D’Hoffryn welcomed her back to the fold with open arms so she could carry out her work smiting unfaithful men. This was a full circle moment, calling back to what first called her to Sunnydale in the first place. Anya’s first episode was in Season 3’s “The Wish,” when she heard Cordelia’s cry of pain. Xander had cheated on her with Willow, and Anya came to punish him. Instead of this punishment, Anya ended up falling in love with the very man she came to smite and reaped the consequences later in life.
Had Anya never met Xander, he never would have broken her heart. She never would have returned to vengeance, only for Buffy to try and kill her, rendering her human once again. Her humanity was the main cause of her death at the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If Anya had still been a demon, she wouldn’t have been vulnerable to pointy blades that ended her life in the final battle. Xander mourned her after Andrew told him of her demise, with no self-awareness about the whole ordeal. He had drawn her into a vicious human-to-demon cycle that eventually had an expiration date.
Anya’s Death Doesn’t Necessarily Work At the End of the Series
Image via Warner Bros.
Anya’s death was the culmination of a sad trend in Buffy that always put Xander above most women’s comfort level. Even before Anya entered the picture, Xander was disturbingly obsessed with Buffy to the point where he sabotaged her relationship with Angel. Xander purposefully kept details from Buffy that led her to kill Angel in the Season 2 finale. He never received any real repercussions for this besides the throwaway exchange in Season 7 that let him skate away without consequence.
When Xander eventually found someone who could reciprocate her feelings, he still always puts himself first. He never acknowledged Anya’s feelings regarding their potential wedding and took barely any responsibility for her return to vengeance. By the end of the series, Anya became just a cog in the story of Xander Harris. Even Anya’s death was for the benefit of Xander’s story. Many women have died on Buffy the Vampire Slayer so that men could have their emotional plot. Anya was given a righteous death so Xander could sadly mourn her passing in the final moments of the series.
The final battel at the Hellmouth was epic, and many characters were unlikely to get out alive. Perhaps there was an avenue for Anya to die heroically as she did, but it didn’t hit the mark because she was always connected to Xander in some fashion.
Had Anya been given her agency to enact vengeance as she saw fit without judgement, this ending would have worked. But Anya had always been treated as comic relief and was expected to support Xander without complaint. Her death was just another slight on her character journey. Anya is one of the most tragic characters in the series despite the heroism in her final moments.
Original article at CBR.
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