On television, an old – and favorite – episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from 1998, called 'The Wish'.
Not 'favorite' as in 'fun': this is one of the frightening episodes where everything goes horribly wrong – in a moment of petty irritation, Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale.
Unfortunately, when she gets her wish, it means that vampires rule the town; deaths are frequent, everyone wears dark clothing and flees for home before sundown, classroom chairs are empty, there are monthly memorials in the school gym. Many favorite characters are dead, some are vampires, and Buffy herself, when she finally visits the town, is a grim, brutal killer who expects to live a short and hopeless life.
At the end, as a disastrous battle begins to kill off the remaining good and bad guys in a Grand Guignol climax, Giles faces down the demon who granted the wish in his apartment. After he grabs the amulet that has caused all the trouble, the demon shrieks: how do you know that world is any better? And Giles, after a split-second pause for thought, looks up and says bitterly: It has to be. And crushes the amulet; and everything vanishes.
A disturbing episode.
And sometimes I suspect that my reaction to the episode has to do with a vague feeling that I'm living in the wrong time line, as it were: AIDS, so many dead and gone, distant exile and isolation, a chain of illnesses and poisonous medications...
If I could find the amulet, I would crush it too.
Comments