Noire musical romance

I’ve stopped myself halfway through the 7th episode of the 6th series of “Buffy” because it was too overwhelmingly .. exquisite not to write about it and get it off my soul. It’s not the first time I get proof of Whedon’s impressive ability of taking this show so much.. way out… the conventional limits of American TV shows, but that doesn’t mean I’m not surprised again. Delighted even. What Whedon did in this episode, “Once more with feeling”, is the spark of a genius. He achieved a colourful combination of noire (the whole season, right from the beginning, bears striking marks of grotesque and absurdly hilarious, noire situations), music, love stories and frightening evil.. to which he adds a touch of humanity by involving all the people in his fictional Sunnydale, not only the main characters, in this spell that makes them sing and dance out their true feelings. And his choice for making the characters open up is definitely a fantastic one: what better way to make them speak up and reveal how they truly feel than a musical? Really, it’s often through various forms of art that we, real people choose to express whatever deep feelings we experience, so all Whedon does is remind us of that. And when you see people living in what is literally hell on earth, and still finding the strength to live positive emotions, to feel love and tenderness, and express it all out publicly, makes you wonder whatever happened to us that prevents us from making our life as musical as it deserves to be?...
UPDATE: Another 10 minutes of this episode have passed and I’m torn between laughing at the fun of it or crying in emotion at just how touching it is. But so far the laughing has prevailed…
LATER UPDATE: Touching, emotional, unbearably sweet and romantic…
Just dazzling…