Flooded

[Updated May 2, 2013]

I didn’t like Flooded when it first aired, nor for a long time after. I’ve changed my mind, and now I think it’s pretty good. Why?

The key point that I didn’t know years ago is that “Flooding” is a term from psychology:

“It works on the principles of classical conditioning—a form of Pavlov's classical conditioning—where patients change their behaviors to avoid negative stimuli. According to Pavlov, we learn through associations, so if we have a phobia it is because we associate the feared object or stimulus with something negative.

A psychotherapist using flooding to treat a phobia might expose a patient to vast amounts of the feared stimulus, hence if the patient suffered from arachnophobia, the therapist might lock them in a room full of spiders. While the patient would initially be very anxious, the mind cannot stay anxious forever. When nothing bad happens the patient begins to calm down and so from that moment on associate a feeling of calm with the previously feared object.”

What is Buffy “flooded” with in this episode? Adult responsibilities, exemplified by her financial problems for which the money-grubbing demon is a metaphor. I should emphasize that Flooded is NOT an episode about Buffy’s financial problems; those are just a synecdoche for her overall concerns about adult life generally. It’s fear of adulthood which is her problem. The fact that the plumbing failed in the basement – flooding it – tells us that her fear is subconscious. And, of course, the nerds are classic arrested adolescents – what Buffy must avoid.

Did it work? Well, at the end of the episode Buffy left Giles and Dawn to deal with the cleanup and other problems while she rushed off to Angel.

What makes the “flooded” metaphor especially good is that it also works other ways as well. Buffy’s fascination with the water flowing down the drain may suggest how she sees her life right now. In his review for the AV Club, Noel Murray identified some others:

“The episode opens with Buffy trying to fix a leaky pipe in the basement—“We meet at last, Mr. Drippy!”—and instead causing water to gush out from every available hose and spigot. It’s a funny little pre-credits blackout sketch, but also a hell of a metaphor. Fixing some immediate problem—like, say, bringing Buffy back from the dead—can cause even greater problems if you don’t understand the underlying issues. Later in “Flooded,” a returning Giles will tell Willow this same thing outright, calling her “stupid” and arrogant for attempting a spell so dark and uncontrollable. When Willow boasts about her mastery, Giles dismisses it, saying, “There are others in this world who can do what you did; you just don’t want to meet them.” To which Willow snaps, “I’m very powerful, and maybe it’s not such a good idea for you to piss me off.” What’s the “gushing water” in this scenario? The dark forces that Willow may have unleashed on the world when she brought Buffy back? Or Willow’s growing cockiness?”

Noel’s comment references the passage in the episode which garnered the most attention, namely, the fight between Willow and Giles. I want to talk about it in detail, so I’ll quote the bulk of it here:

GILES: (over his shoulder) You're a very stupid girl.

Willow pauses chewing, slowly stops smiling and frowns.

WILLOW: What? Giles...
GILES: (turns to face her) Do you have any idea what you've done? The forces you've harnessed, the lines you've crossed?
WILLOW: I thought you'd be ... impressed, or, or something.
GILES: Oh, don't worry, you've ... made a very deep impression. Of everyone here ... you were the one I trusted most to respect the forces of nature.
WILLOW: Are you saying you don't trust me?
GILES: (intensely) Think what you've done to Buffy.
WILLOW: I brought her back!
GILES: At incredible risk!
WILLOW: Risk? Of what? Making her deader?
GILES: Of killing us all. Unleashing hell on Earth, I mean, shall I go on?
WILLOW: No! (stands) Giles, I did what I had to do. I did what nobody else could do.
GILES: Oh, there are others in this world who can do what you did. You just don't want to meet them. (turns away again)
WILLOW: No, probably not, but ... well, they're the bad guys. I'm not a bad guy. (upset) I brought Buffy back into this world, a-and maybe the word you should be looking for is "congratulations."
GILES: Having Buffy back in the world makes me feel ... indescribably wonderful, but I wouldn't congratulate you if you jumped off a cliff and happened to survive.
WILLOW: That's not what I did, Giles.
GILES: (angry) You were lucky.
WILLOW: I wasn't lucky. I was amazing. And how would you know? You weren't even there.
GILES: If I had been, I'd have bloody well stopped you. The magicks you channeled are more ferocious and primal than anything you can hope to understand, (even more angry) and you are lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur!

Let’s look at this from both sides. Willow had to have been shocked by Giles’s reaction. She was very proud of what she’d accomplished. Moreover, she could reasonably have expected Giles to understand how extraordinary her accomplishment was and had no reason to think he would disapprove. While others have expressed doubts about her magic in the past (notably Oz in Fear, Itself), Giles never has since Willow volunteered to restore Angel’s soul in Becoming. During that time he often encouraged her to do spells (Something Blue; Primeval; The Replacement) or said nothing when she performed one which was obviously useful (Choices; Blood Ties; The Weight of the World). Giles strongly implied in the Bargaining 1 teaser that Sunnydale needed a Slayer, and he admits that he’s happy that Buffy is back. Willow could reasonably believe that Giles would be forgiving of her actions now that she was successful, even if he presumably wouldn’t have given her permission beforehand.

I think Willow came to see Giles as a surrogate father. Her affection for him, and his for her, was obvious in Buffy v. Dracula and when he left in Bargaining. Instead of the praise she expected, he lashed out at her. He didn’t discuss it, he didn’t insist on the details of the spell, he didn’t ask her for her reasons. He didn’t really have the factual basis for his accusations (even if he was probably right). I see Willow as feeling hurt by the violence of his reaction, so her anger was pretty natural, though threatening Giles was over the top.

But from Giles’s perspective, he’s not Willow’s “surrogate father”. He’s Buffy’s, and his duty is to her. Willow is so pleased with herself that she isn’t seeing the real problems Buffy’s having, but Giles can. Willow’s boastful pride to the contrary, the spell was far from perfect. She resurrected Buffy in her own coffin, from which she had to claw her way out. No one was there to greet her (not Willow’s fault, but still); she wandered all over town dazed and confused; and, while still suffering the trauma of resurrection, had to rescue her friends from demon hellions. Willow doesn’t know it yet, but her spell actually yanked Buffy out of heaven, a fact which Buffy is concealing in order to spare Willow’s own feelings. And those are just the consequences we know of to this point; there may be more later.

One more point about Willow. She is, as I’ve suggested repeatedly, Buffy’s metaphorical spirit. In my reading of S6, Willow’s story will parallel Buffy’s thematically precisely because Buffy’s crisis in S6 is largely a crisis of the spirit. You should pay particular attention to Willow’s storyline in S6 with this idea in mind.

Xander’s continuing refusal to tell anyone about the marriage suggests a fear of commitment which appears similar to Buffy’s reluctance to commit to adulthood (“No job? I wish.”). It also will parallel another story line which I’ll discuss beginning in episode 9, with Xander’s metaphorical role prominent in that. For now, the way Xander keeps dodging Anya might bring back memories of this dialogue from The Gift:

Anya stares at him a moment, then slaps him across the face.

XANDER: Can I take that as a "maybe"?
ANYA: You're proposing to me!
XANDER: Yes...
ANYA: You're proposing to me 'cause we're gonna die! And you think it's romantic and sexy and, and you know you're not gonna have to go through with it 'cause the world's gonna end!

Like Willow and Xander, Dawn’s metaphorical role is important to S6. There’s a hint of that in her dialogue with Tara:

DAWN: Oh come on, Tara. I am so old enough to do research. Do you really think I'm not mature enough?
TARA: I think you're very mature for your age ... but you're still only fifteen.
DAWN: Right, fifteen. As in *teen*ager. You know, if you don't let me look at the pictures, I'm gonna learn everything I know about demons on the street.

Tara sighs, hands her a book.

TARA: Knock yourself out.
DAWN: Thank you. See? (sits) No biggie. I can totally handle it.

Season 6 often gets accused of dropping the metaphors, and it does at some crucial times, but they are present and the metaphorical roles of Willow, Xander, and Dawn are critical to the season.

I found Flooded frustrating on first watch because it was so obvious that Buffy’s friends aren’t helping her adjust: “I just, I feel like I'm spending all of my time trying to be okay, so they don't worry. It's exhausting.” They don’t laugh at her jokes, they offer no solutions to her problems, they harp on her emotional withdrawal, almost everything they say is awkward or wrong, and they fight about her where she can hear them. What they’re doing is expecting her to behave as if nothing had happened to her, which is precisely the source of her concern. At the same time, they aren’t necessarily behaving very much like adults themselves. What I now realize is that Flooded fits right in with the season.

Two final points:

I’ve seen lots of debate regarding the role of the 3 nerds (above and beyond being arrested adolescents and a warning to Buffy). Viewers usually fall into one of two camps: they represent the audience, and the writers are making fun of us; they represent the writers. I go with the second interpretation. I see them as little kids telling stories to each other – just what the writers are doing when they hash out the show. There’s a lot of meta-commentary in S6 and even more in S7, and I’ll mention it from time to time.

For purposes of the seasonal arc, it’s worth taking some time to satisfy yourself on the identity of the real scary monster(s) in this episode.

Trivia notes: (1) Xander’s “we should start gathering up two of every animal” refers, of course, to Noah’s Ark. (2) Xander claims to be supportive like a flying buttress, which is a term from architecture. (3) The use of a gun (by the bank guard) is rare on the show and will be meaningful later in the season. (4) Warren’s “back things up a parsec” uses a term from astronomy. It’s a measure of distance equal to 3.26 light years (a bit over 19 trillion miles). (5) The original plan for the nerd trio was to use Brad Kane (Tucker Wells in The Prom; the voice of Jonathan singing in Superstar) as the third member. Brad was unavailable, so Tom Lenk (previously one of Harmony’s minions in Real Me) was substituted as “Tucker’s brother”, Andrew. (6) The nerds make so many Star Wars and Star Trek references that I’m not going to even try to annotate them all. I assume they’re familiar to most viewers. (7) Willow’s mention of the Blair Witch refers to the movie of that title. (8) Giles’ argument with Willow about magic reminds me of what he told her in Becoming 1: “Giles:  (very concerned) W-Willow... channeling... such potent magicks through yourself, it could open a door that you may not be able to close.” (9) Buffy calls the demon a “mook” which is a slang term for an unpleasant person. (10) Buffy’s “no…more…full…copper…re-pipe” is a reference to the movie Mommie Dearest. (11) Giles’s reference to getting knocked unconscious brings to mind Cordelia’s comment in Gingerbread: “Cordelia:  Things are way out of control, Giles. First the thing at school, and then my mom confiscates all of my black clothes and scented candles. I came over here to tell Buffy to stop this craziness and found you all unconscious... again. How many times have you been knocked out, anyway?” (12) Angel learned that Buffy was alive in the AtS episode Carpe Noctem.