Buffy the Vampire Slayer S05E21: 'Weight of the World' Analysis & Breakdown | Passion of the Nerd

Great speech at the end. Strength isn’t about being hard as stone all the time. Moments of weakness or vulnerability are natural. True strength comes from overcoming those moments..

3 days.

It took 3 days for me to see that there had been a new upload

Well spoken!

Yay Keith Mars!

well, you can blame the writers for that

I think ben deserves to be conflicted and misunderstood he is forever suffering

😢😢😢❤

My least favourite recurring line within the fandom is "Is everybody here very stoned?". Like, it's a cute throwaway line, but everybody seems to treat it like it's this hilarious zinger.. because weed funny, I guess?

I've also never enjoyed "Fire bad, tree pretty" for pretty much the same reasons. It always sounds so "lolrandom" whenever people reference it.

Yes, I'm a grumpy old fart.

Hope yall do a video on the revival

Buffy:
'I'm the slayer'

Some guy:
'But, you're just a girl'

Buffy:
'That's what I keep telling everyone'

I can be the olive branch instead

Great video

I love the sound of POTN's voice so much. It's so delightfully comforting

Weight Of The World is probably one of the most important episodes for the fact that Buffy finally accepts her calling right down to her very death.

Beyond that this episode really highlights why Whedon is such a fantastic writer as it harmonizes the prior episodes

They really didn’t give us much character development with Ben did they at least not enough for us to understand his plight

“tact is just not saying true stuff. i’ll pass”

Must be Tuesday, as in Dawn's in trouble, must be Tuesday.

Wait, I’m still confused… so what you’re saying is somehow Ben and Glory are…?? Um…?
What now?

This gave me chills

Oh no, I thought this was a really old channel and you’d have the whole show. Now I’ll have to wait!!!

my fav was always "I'm 17 years old, looking at linoleum makes me want to have sex" and "out.for.a.walk.b!tch", oooh and "bored now"

For me it’s a tie between “wake up in a coma” and “it’s a yam sham”

Who'd win Alyria or Glorificus?

I mean Ben does seem very petty and selfish with the job mention, but I think it could be down to bad writing, or perhaps- just as Glory was feeling guilty because the border between them was breaking down, perhaps Ben was becoming more selfish like Glory?

One of the lines I think is great but never ever gets any love is between Snyder and Giles-

"There are some things I can just smell. It's like a sixth sense."
"No, actually that would be one of the five."

Also, Spikes 'Im chained in a bathtub, drinking pigs blood from a novelty mug. Doesnt rate huge in the Zagats guide.'

A bear?! You made a bear!?

Finding courage in the act of carrying experiences - beautiful wordsmithing, sir!

Picard is Space Dad! ❤🖖

My favourite is your a bloody puppet

Your words have always found me when I've most needed them. Thank you for these reviews.

Beautiful analysis as always! I especially loved your commentary on being stuck in a mental loops and thinking the worst.

Am I the only one that finds it jarring Spike can't beat Doc in a fight, but Xander, repeat XANDER, can take him down?!?!

My most used quote is “it could be bunnies” every time anyone says “I have a theory” it’s my go to response. Also “spank your inner moppet” that Cordy says 😂

Buffy smothering Dawn in her mind hits a little different now…

RIP Michelle Trachtenberg.

Not subscribed and there is no button to subscribe just join..... whare I have to pay money.... why can't I subscribe to this channel? Legit question.....

I don't even like anchovies yet I rely love dawns anchovies song lmao

AHHH! John Luck Pickard! 🌹You made me giggle! That scene lives rent free in my head forever.

It's wild...I somehow missed this notification and only saw this a few weeks later. And it packed some serious messages I deeply needed after a tough week and especially rough day filled with silent moments and failures no one sees but me.

"This is hard, and that's ok. You weren't perfect. And that's ok. For a moment, you wanted out. That's ok. Now what..."

Here are my thoughts on Ben. He was made to be a cage, a box. A vessel to keep a god entrapped. He wasn't given instructions. Just...be a vessel.
He had to work things out on his own. He has an unbalanced being inside him whose only goal is to break out of the box and be free. Ben being unsure, with thoughts scattered and choices questionable, all come from there.

Ben, they could never make me hate you.

I think the alley scene with Ben/Glory is misunderstood or there's an element of being purposely obtuse to justify why he deserves to die.

Ben is not poorly written going between wanting to save Dawn and threatening to kill her. They already established the border between Ben and Glory was disintegrating. With that gone, they are no longer separate halves but now intermingling. It's why Glory started having waves of empathy for Dawn and then later why Ben smashed the bottle and threatened to bleed Dawn out. Why is it understandable that Glory has that shift in personality but not Ben?

Buffy:
That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo!

Willow:
I understand the crying, you cry because you're human. But you weren't always.

Anya:
I have finesse! I have finesse coming out of my bottom!

I'll leave the painful ones out, but we all know they come from "The Body" and "The Gift"

Thank you for this Ian. ❤
Your video on I Only Have Eyes For You helped me heal big time. Thank you for making this guide, I really appreciate it.

Also, some of my favourite quotes are; 'I need help.' 'I don't have any money.'
'Is it difficult or time consuming?'
'Will it hurt the carpet?'
'This isn't gonna get all sexy is it?'
(Yes they're all Anya quotes)

They could have shown Ben working at the hospital and trying to save a patient…. And Glory causes the patient to die, it devastates him….embitters him. Just one idea.

Such a great breakdown and very much how I’ve always felt about this episode. I think Buffy’s breakdown is so far from overdue. And I really believe her brain trapped her to try and give her an opportunity to process her trauma since the outside world unrelentingly refused her any time to, over and over again. And Sarah’s face when she comes back to reality breaks me every time. It’s such a short scene, and as usual she needs no lines to communicate the insurmountable weight of Buffy’s grief and feeling of powerlessness in the face of her circumstances. It’s crushing and when I think about her journey in season 6, I really think it started well before her ‘after life’. Her gradual isolation and recurrent trauma coupled with insurmountable responsibility and lack of sufficient emotional and practical support just breaks me. Her breakdown honestly reflected how I was feeling at this point as a viewer. I think it also brings so much to the table for the Gift.

I am really looking forward to your breakdowns of season 6. As divisive as it is I think Sarah’s almost flawless performance throughout is one of the best and most honest portrayals of depression I have ever seen in media. I think it’s also one of the most important stories the show has ever shown. Something the world needed to see, even if they may not want to, or may not find it particularly fun. It’s helped so many people. Just as the Body helped so many people process their own loss and grief.

Hank never abandoned Buffy. You saw that he was always there in Normal Again, which is the real world.