I love performance art. ‘The Body’ may just be the greatest piece of performance art in television that I have ever seen: what it does to the heart, the mind and the soul is an impact so strong that it doesn’t just bring you to tears once but several times over. Just when you think you’re done crying your last tear, a whole new tsunami unleashes down your face. It never fails to trigger the waterworks. And as painful as it is, that’s obviously the reason why it’s such a highly acclaimed creation. How it affects YOU. Liam Duke perfectly encapsulates why it’s so incredible in his video essay of the episode. And so many other creators that have talked about and analyzed the episode have done such a great job too. But to truly know the impact this episode can have, you have to watch it for yourself. You have to know, see, hear, feel it viscerally. And even then it may not hit for you. But one thing is for certain. It does if you have been through it yourself. If you go back and watch it after that same horrific and devastating event has also happened to you. Then it hits. And it hits with the force and the sting of physically being struck yourself. There are 4 episodes in ‘BtVS’ that I believe are truly objective amazing masterpieces of art/entertainment. ‘The Body’ is most definitely one of them for how it portrays the themes of death, grief, shock, confusion, disillusionment and many more human emotions and reactions towards the stark reality of someone dying. The other 3 also being character studies in their own right, ‘Hush’, ‘Restless’ and ‘Once More, With Feeling’. And I’m highly anticipating The Passion of the Nerd’s Buffy Guide analysis on the episode. For now, he only has an outtake for it. But I know the full thing is A++.
