Buffy The Vampire Slayer 6x3 | After Life
Added 2025-08-12 00:37:18 +0000 UTCMy reaction to Buffy Season 6 Episode 3 "After Life".
Comments
Interesting how everyone just assumed she was in Hell.
Joseph Irizarry
2025-08-28 05:32:34 +0000 UTCMakes me think how Anya and Xander’s children would be like after watching this episode. Imagine the kids talking like Anya and seeing her so proud 😂
Mykhel Anghelo
2025-08-26 06:32:10 +0000 UTCI still remember watching this episode when it aired originally and as the kids say today my flabbers were ghasted! I was glued to the screen throughout the entire season. Just the fact that the show got brought back after we thought it was gonna be done at the end of season five was so exciting to me!
honeybumble1012
2025-08-21 13:35:51 +0000 UTCTop notch acting from SMG and JM. This episode comes to life thanks to all the scenes involving Buffy and Spike.
Vicky N
2025-08-13 14:38:14 +0000 UTCI guess death was her gift after all. When the first thing the person you resurrected does is try to kill themself, it's never a good sign.
Bud Haven
2025-08-13 02:39:41 +0000 UTCSuch a great episode! and the twist makes so much sense, like when she said it, i was like 'I did think why would the Slayer, the fighter of all things evil, be in Hell'
George Alexander
2025-08-12 11:12:32 +0000 UTCI love Spike's arc and when you look back at the seasons you can really see how he ended up here and even before the chip you could see small bread crumbs of his feelings for Buffy just being expressed in different ways. Even with where they are now, it took awhile to get to this place but it always felt organic. This is a huge turning point because not only has she allowed herself to really be vulnerable with/in front of him for the first time, she's sharing a part of herself she can't even do with her closest friends and sister. And for a second you can tell she didn't even realize she was doing it. But when she did, she didn't shy away she just continued. There has always been parts of her that I think Spike has understood that the rest couldn't (same with Angel too) but I think especially since everything leading up to the events of her death and her being back there is now more she understands about Spike which is why she's naturally starting to gravitate to him more. Enough to where she trusts him with this secret. Which is a major shift. Even Buffy of latter season 5 wouldn't have been able to do this I don't think. SMG and James are so good at scenes like this. Truly a shame they never got any major awards for their work smh.
Chantel
2025-08-12 05:56:35 +0000 UTCI loved re-watching Bargaining pt 2 after knowing that Buffy was in heaven.. all of a sudden she’s plunked back in her coffin, can’t speak or see well or barely breathe, digs her way out of her coffin to see Sunnydale shattered and burning, demons everywhere.. and then sees a visage of herself destroyed right in front of her.. no wonder Buffy asked Dawn if she’d been cast into hell when they were on top of the tower again
Aurro Eronaile
2025-08-12 04:20:28 +0000 UTCIt broke my heart the first time I saw this episode. Here Willow & everyone assumed that she had been taken to a Hell dimension like Angel, and they did everything they could to get her back. And now, we know that Buffy was in Heaven complete, whole and at peace, but she was ripped out by those with good intentions. And that road led back to the Hell that is Earth and our mortal survival. Sad times.
Kai d'T
2025-08-12 02:40:29 +0000 UTCI really really love the scene between Xander and Spike about Willow.. and not just because of James’ performance but NB’s because even though they were arguing, just like they always do, this time Xander’s tone/volume/inflection didn’t match the words coming out of his mouth. To me, his tone reads “I know, you’re right. We messed up” And non confrontational and almost a twinge of guilt.. But he still used his words to defend his best friend. And Spike clocking Willow’s motives before anyone else is gold
Alysha
2025-08-12 02:02:49 +0000 UTC"Sometimes dead is better."
Adri
2025-08-12 01:44:36 +0000 UTCShut up, 3 episodes in one day? Yay thanks :)
Alysha
2025-08-12 01:40:58 +0000 UTCThe scores in this episode and some of the others this season are so haunting.
Fauxindigo
2025-08-12 01:37:52 +0000 UTCI think After Life is honestly one of the most underrated episodes of the entire show. There are several absolutely stunning scenes throughout the episode and Buffy's confession to Spike at the end is absolutely one of top 10 best scenes in the entire show. It's some of SMG's best acting and honestly, she was completely robbed of any kind of Emmy/award consideration for it. You can just feel her anguish, pain and despair over being in Heaven etched on every word. And how Spike was the only one of her friends that even sensed that she was in any pain to begin with. The episode is all about contrasts. The Scoobies crowding her, asking her a million questions and Willow telling her to "Be Happy" when she's barely feeling alive to begin with. Contrasting with Buffy going to seek Spike out and find a place to sit in silence. It was building all throughout Season 5 but now you see how Buffy forms an immediate bond with Spike over their shared experiences. Also note the contrast from the Gift, where Buffy is standing above him on the stairs and ascends (to Heaven). Whereas here she comes down the stairs to his level for the first time and she lets him hold her hands. This in comparison to how the camera frames the Scoobies almost as if they're looking down on her, like she's beneath them (at least from Buffy's perspective). I also love the scene where Buffy despondently walks through the cemetery in front of an angel wing statue. Buffy is literally a fallen angel from Heaven and a wonderful bit of foreshadowing for the stunning reveal at the end of the episode. There's the contrast and symbolism in clothing between white and black/light and dark - straddling the line between heaven and hell. When Buffy jumped off the tower, she was wearing white. But she was buried and resurrected in a black dress. Yet, when Dawn helps her change when they first get home, she puts Buffy in a white shirt but she doesn't feel comfortable in it and tries to cover up. But the next morning, Buffy herself chooses to wear a black shirt and that is the space she's most comfortable in at the moment. This ties into Spike literally straddling the line between standing in the sun and in the shade. The fact that Buffy says she "can be alone with (him) here" in the grey, in that almost purgatory state. And pay close attention to what the demon apparition tells Willow "Did you cut the throat? Did you pat its head? The blood dried on your hands, didn't it? You were stained. You still are! I know what you did!" Willow denied knowing what it was talking about but she clearly knew how dark of magic she was dealing with. Recall in Bargaining, she lied to the group (and most importantly Tara) that she got the blood (wine of the mother) from the black market instead of killing a defenseless animal. Lastly, this gets missed by a lot of people/reactors and it's really only obvious once you see the end of the episode, but the scene where Buffy comes out to give Dawn her lunch is so heartbreaking when you think about it. Buffy knows that Dawn and the Scoobies want her to "be happy" so she adopts a Buffybot style persona and clothing and fakes her own happiness to appease them while Buffy feels like dying inside. It just shows what an extraordinary person Buffy is - that even when she's feeling more depressed than ever in her life - she's still trying to protect the feelings of her friends at all costs even if it means her own feelings have no outlet.
Land Howard Johnston
2025-08-12 01:24:57 +0000 UTC
