Buffyverse Dialogue Database - EPISODE: 'The Weight of the World'


Season: Episode 21 of Season 5
Original Air Date: 05/15/2001
Written by: Douglas Petrie
Directed by: David Solomon

Notes:

Willow wanders around in Buffy's subconscious.
Plot Highlights:

Glory experiences guilt & empathy. With Buffy catatonic, Willow takes charge of the situation & then enters Buffy's mind. Young Buffy greets baby Dawn. Spike investigates Glory's mansion. Giles is released from the hospital. Glory wants Ben out of her & discourses on human emotions. Subconscious Buffy smothers Dawn. Ben emerges, starts to help Dawn. Spike & Xander visit Doc. Ben & Glory chat, Ben turns Dawn over to Glory's minions. Subconscious Buffy & Willow talk things out & Buffy decides to wake up. Giles reveals that Dawn must be killed to stop Glory.
Quick Review:

Treading water. In brief, that's how I'd characterize this episode. It had some good moments (see below) but mostly we get plot exposition in preparation for the REAL show, the Gift and a few light-weight diversions to try to pad out the rest and keep us busy until then. The individual elements were solid, but somehow the scenes frequently seemed just a bit over-long. And though I can't quite put my finger on it, there was something missing from the whole Buffy-subconscious thing, something that failed to pull me in & mesmerize me like the dream sequences in Restless (among others) did. To sum up, worth a first watch for the plot points, but after that only with a remote-control handy to speed things along... but definitely don't skip any of the Spike/Xander scenes, they're definitely worth wearing the video tape out for.
Memorable Moments:

Willow calmly taking charge, quieting dissent with a word.
Spike figuring out & then continually having to re-explain the whole Glory-is-Ben thing (esp the "is everybody here very stoned?" & "this is gonna be worth it" and "special ed remembers" bits).
Kindly-seeming old Doc turning out to be some sort of long-tongued Glory-worshipper.
Glory's take on being human, human emotions, craziness, etc.
Ben deciding it's him or Dawn, and opting for himself.

Transcript Source:

Download from http://www.studiesinwords.de/99weightofworld.html
I modified text from Rayne's shooting script to match televised version & my formatting.
(If the link above doesn't work, try looking here, under multimedia.)

There are 20 clips for this episode

AKAs

characters

Story Arcs

NOTES ON EPISODE ART: CREATED 08/2001 ~I may not have liked the episode that much, but I coudn't resist the impulse to try out this new layer masking technique I just learned, so here we are, yet another collage. (Feb 2002) I finally got a non-staticy capture of the central image for this collage, so I thought I'd have another go at it. A little better, I think. You can see the old version here.

PREVIOUS EPISODE:
Spiral

NEXT EPISODE:
The Gift

Notes: Willow wanders around in Buffy's subconscious. Plot Highlights: Glory experiences guilt & empathy. With Buffy catatonic, Willow takes charge of the situation & then enters Buffy's mind. Young Buffy greets baby Dawn. Spike investigates Glory's mansion. Giles is released from the hospital. Glory wants Ben out of her & discourses on human emotions. Subconscious Buffy smothers Dawn. Ben emerges, starts to help Dawn. Spike & Xander visit Doc. Ben & Glory chat, Ben turns Dawn over to Glory's minions. Subconscious Buffy & Willow talk things out & Buffy decides to wake up. Giles reveals that Dawn must be killed to stop Glory. Quick Review: Treading water. In brief, that's how I'd characterize this episode. It had some good moments (see below) but mostly we get plot exposition in preparation for the REAL show, the Gift and a few light-weight diversions to try to pad out the rest and keep us busy until then. The individual elements were solid, but somehow the scenes frequently seemed just a bit over-long. And though I can't quite put my finger on it, there was something missing from the whole Buffy-subconscious thing, something that failed to pull me in & mesmerize me like the dream sequences in Restless (among others) did. To sum up, worth a first watch for the plot points, but after that only with a remote-control handy to speed things along... but definitely don't skip any of the Spike/Xander scenes, they're definitely worth wearing the video tape out for. Memorable Moments: Willow calmly taking charge, quieting dissent with a word. Spike figuring out & then continually having to re-explain the whole Glory-is-Ben thing (esp the "is everybody here very stoned?" & "this is gonna be worth it" and "special ed remembers" bits). Kindly-seeming old Doc turning out to be some sort of long-tongued Glory-worshipper. Glory's take on being human, human emotions, craziness, etc. Ben deciding it's him or Dawn, and opting for himself.
Transcript Source: Download from http://www.studiesinwords.de/99weightofworld.html I modified text from Rayne's shooting script to match televised version & my formatting. (If the link above doesn't work, try looking here, under multimedia.)
There are 20 clips for this episode

<Episode 99: The Weight of the World>