6/16: Hell's Bells

[Techno-bot]

Written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Directed by David Soloman
Air date: 3/5/02

All hell breaks loose at Xander and Anya's wedding after a man claiming to be from the future convinces Xander that Anya's future life will be far better without him.

[Alexandra]

A small but odd oversight by whoever cast this episode -

the old man who is supposed to be Xander in the future has baby blue eyes while Xander definitely has brown eyes. This seems a glaring mismatch to me. It can be fanwanked by saying the demon who was getting even with Anya just didn't do a good job of creating his "Xander" persona. But with all the brown-eyed people in the world, why was it necessary to hire a blue-eyed actor for the part?

Alexandra

[Alexandra]

This episode marks the miniscule beginning of Buffy and Spike moving beyond their stormy past toward the solid allies we see in Season 7. Buffy and Spike don't have much to do together in this episode, but the brief time they speak together at the wedding seems to start them in a new direction even before Spike gets his soul back.

I am glad that this small interlude was written into the storyline because I prefer to think that Buffy would have kept a slight connection of civility with Spike as his due, in light of her previous treatment of him, soul or no soul.

Alexandra

[Queen E]

Alexandra said:

A small but odd oversight by whoever cast this episode -

the old man who is supposed to be Xander in the future has baby blue eyes while Xander definitely has brown eyes. This seems a glaring mismatch to me. It can be fanwanked by saying the demon who was getting even with Anya just didn't do a good job of creating his "Xander" persona. But with all the brown-eyed people in the world, why was it necessary to hire a blue-eyed actor for the part?

Alexandra

Or at least given him brown-eyed contacts.

And, Hi Alexandra! Nice to see you around!

[Alexandra]

eg-S'assy said:

And, Hi Alexandra! Nice to see you around!

Thank you. I appreciate the greeting.

Alexandra (waving)

[SpringSummers]

eg-S'olemn said:

Or at least given him brown-eyed contacts.

And, Hi Alexandra! Nice to see you around!

Actually, I thought the blue-eyed thing was a deliberate clue to the sharp-eyed viewer that this wasn't really Xander. And it also speaks to Xander's true inner feelings that he's willing to believe the guy despite the obvious disimilarities.

[Lissa]

I've always wondered why Spike was at their wedding and who invitited him? Was it Xander, in the hope that Spike could have a wise word of advise for him?

[karalee]

Lissa said:

I've always wondered why Spike was at their wedding and who invitited him? Was it Xander, in the hope that Spike could have a wise word of advise for him?

I just always assumed it was Anya. You know she would have thought "the more guests, the more gifts" LOL.

A quick question for you. Are you the same Lissa that wrote A Harsh Master?

[Onjel]

SpringSummers said:

Actually, I thought the blue-eyed thing was a deliberate clue to the sharp-eyed viewer that this wasn't really Xander. And it also speaks to Xander's true inner feelings that he's willing to believe the guy despite the obvious disimilarities.

Maybe that is how Xander figured out what he saw was actually a lie. When Anya told Xander that what the demon showed him was not real, Xander says, I know. I think he knew, at some level, even while being shown, that what he was seeing was not the true future, but he feared that outcome because he recognized his own immaturity. The characters are, what, 20 years old at this point? Young to be getting married in this day and age.

[Lola m]

I wanted to share this link to a very interesting and deep essay on Hell's Bells. OK, it's not officially an essay, it's an intelligent and lengthy response by a poster called "One Bit Shy" to a review by first time BtVS watcher Arbitrar of Quality (copied by a third party to LJ from a Google newsgroup). Whew! Complicated enough for you? The review quotes are in italics.

I'm really recommending this because of the way it made me take a much larger view of the issues presented in the ep. One Bit Shy does an excellent job of linking the episode to the biggers arcs of Xander, Anya, and Xaner&Anya.

[Onjel had to say]

But Anya was far more powerful than Spike,
and plied her trade far longer than him. What trail of blood and tears do
you suppose she has? Yes, Anya was made physically human and hasn't plied
her vengeance trade in years. But Spike hasn't been killing people either.
And Anya doesn't have Spike's excuse of no soul to explain her lack of
remorse.

Well, now it's Anya's turn for that to catch up with her. From "Essay: Hells Bells by One Bit Shy" by One Bit Shy


I think this is the crux of the episode and one that we won't see resolved until S7 in "Selfless". That episode makes OBS' case for "Hell's Bells". Anya finally gets to face her demon past and present head-on. I think it's there that she finally gives in and feels the full power of remorse and as a result, has to pay the price in demon terms. She offered her life for the chance to feel true remorse and undo what she had done to the fraternity boys, but that wasn't enough. She had to lose her friend, another life whose burden she must now bear, instead.

I think the beginnings of Anya's true humanization come at the end of S6 when she helps Andrew and Jonathan and tries to stand against Willow and thwart Willow's wrath. If Anya was back to Vengeance Demon standards she would have rejoiced in Willow's exercise of "watercooler" vengeance. Maybe it took Xander leaving her at the alter to set her on that path, admittedly with a detour as a vengeance demon ostensibly returning to the fold.

This was a good essay. Thanks for the link, Lola!

[Lola m]

Onjel said:

But Anya was far more powerful than Spike,
and plied her trade far longer than him. What trail of blood and tears do
you suppose she has? Yes, Anya was made physically human and hasn't plied
her vengeance trade in years. But Spike hasn't been killing people either.
And Anya doesn't have Spike's excuse of no soul to explain her lack of
remorse.

Well, now it's Anya's turn for that to catch up with her. From "Essay: Hells Bells by One Bit Shy" by One Bit Shy


I think this is the crux of the episode and one that we won't see resolved until S7 in "Selfless". That episode makes OBS' case for "Hell's Bells". Anya finally gets to face her demon past and present head-on. I think it's there that she finally gives in and feels the full power of remorse and as a result, has to pay the price in demon terms. She offered her life for the chance to feel true remorse and undo what she had done to the fraternity boys, but that wasn't enough. She had to lose her friend, another life whose burden she must now bear, instead.

I think the beginnings of Anya's true humanization come at the end of S6 when she helps Andrew and Jonathan and tries to stand against Willow and thwart Willow's wrath. If Anya was back to Vengeance Demon standards she would have rejoiced in Willow's exercise of "watercooler" vengeance. Maybe it took Xander leaving her at the alter to set her on that path, admittedly with a detour as a vengeance demon ostensibly returning to the fold.

This was a good essay. Thanks for the link, Lola!

You're welcome! When I read it, I like the way not only the way it showed how you could see an understandable path leading up to Hell's Bells, but also away from it. And that path away from it leads right to Selfless and beyond, both for Xander and for Anya.

I think Anya sort of "needed" that disaster and then time as a returned demon with its surprising (to her) non-enjoyment of it in order to become the person she was at the end.

Just like Xander sort of "needed" that "crash to bottom" moment himself, to help him talk Willow down from destroying the world. That's not as obvious a connection, because Xander has always loved Willow - which is the heart of what he said to her. But I think gained another level of understanding from the whole meltdown of relationships at the end of season 6.

[leftylady]

lolam said:

I wanted to share this link to a very interesting and deep essay on Hell's Bells. OK, it's not officially an essay, it's an intelligent and lengthy response by a poster called "One Bit Shy" to a review by first time BtVS watcher Arbitrar of Quality (copied by a third party to LJ from a Google newsgroup). Whew! Complicated enough for you? The review quotes are in italics.

I'm really recommending this because of the way it made me take a much larger view of the issues presented in the ep. One Bit Shy does an excellent job of linking the episode to the biggers arcs of Xander, Anya, and Xaner&Anya.

Thanks for the link, Lola. You don't see as much written about BtVS from the male point of view. And yes it all makes such sense. But I still "feel" for Anya more than I do for Xander here. Anya's demon chickens have come home to roost but that doesn't let Xander off the hook entirely. Granted in Season 6 he is young, in general and certainly with respect to marriage and lifelong committments. But the excuse of the parents, while real, only goes so far. At some point he has to rise above his origins. It's part of becoming an adult.

leftylady

[beccaelizabeth]

This is a difficult one to watch for me. It's all the squirmy embarrassment and feeling of horrible impending doom. It's one thing when it's death by demon, it's a whole other when it's broken heart by arguable stupid. But which bit was stupid? Was Xander's bad idea to start that path to marriage, or to give up at the last minute? With his parents as his only example, with no stable couples that he knows well, let alone married ones, and with what we see of his family... None of his fears are particularly demonic. It's just the idea he could grow up like his dad.
Xander should know himself better.
And he should know Anya. Like she would let him? Like she would stay if she wasn't happy?
And it's possibly just me but it seems like Xander's attitude to marriage is sweetly old fashioned, cause there he is saying it's forever. Like you can't undo it later. He wouldn't have got in half the mess if he just defined marriage the way it is in practice and said it's until bits of paper do you part.

But the whole Xander side of it was a sideshow in a lot of ways. Anya's side of the room was full of actual demons. Vengeance demons. Seriously dangerous people. And, for that bit of confusion, floppy skin persons we only see dangerous to puppies. Both Buffy and Angel the series have been confusing that whole demon vs human thing for a looooong time. But these? We've seen do bad. Yet to Anya, they're her heritage and her tradition and her wedding guests. No moral judgement there at all. And that's the interesting part. She's a whole different person now, she gets it about love? But does she understand about vengeance?

And then there's Spike. Bein evil. by making Buffy jealous.
... yeah, that's some quality evil right there.
This is not one of the moments we're meant to not like Spike. Far too cutely confusing.

Xander's family and the demons across the aisle, they're different kinds of evil, pretty low grade in the violence department, but really working the continuing misery. And with the fist fight, and the way Xander's dad was pushing Xander's mum around... and adding in things we know from earlier like Xander would sleep outside even after he knew about vampires just to avoid family gatherings... there's different kinds of evil, and some you just get used to, but then it's too easy to just sort of slide into it. Bad.


I'm trying to find things about the ep that were amusing and fun to watch... squirmy presents and radioactive bridesmaid dresses... pretty much it.

Also, I'd have liked seeing Willow in a tux.