"Is This Hell?"

In the first two episodes of the sixth season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Joss Whedon made a courageous move which is certain to be controversial, surprising the audience with a revelation which will have repercussions for the remaining life of the series.

At the end of the last season, Buffy died a heroic, self-sacrificing death. Then, at the beginning of the new season, Willow and the other members of the Slayer's "Scooby gang" brought Buffy back from the dead. Willow had convinced herself that Buffy was suffering horribly in some kind of hell dimension, and that bringing her back to life was a good thing to do, for Buffy's own sake. Willow's spell restored Buffy to life ... inside her coffin, forcing her to claw her way out. Her first words when she came back were, "Is this Hell?"

The "Scoobies," led by Willow, wondered among themselves why Buffy didn't thank them right away for bringing her back. They assumed that she was traumatized by whatever had happened to her while she was gone.

Finally, Buffy told her friends what they wanted to hear: that she had been in hell, and she thanked them for bringing her home.

Then she told Spike the truth.

What if you were at peace, in some place like heaven, and then you were dragged back to this world? Would any of us have the courage to say "thank you" to those who forced us to face the painful challenges of life again?

What would it be like to be forever unable to tell your friends the truth? And what would it be like to find that the only one who is left to confide in, the only one who is able to understand, is the one who used to be your worst enemy?

The truth behind Buffy's return - and the fact that Spike is the only one who knows it - will have a profound impact on the relationships among the characters in the series from now on. The moments of understanding between Buffy and Spike in "Afterlife" make credible for the first time the much-disputed proposition that Buffy and Spike could in some way get together this season. No one could watch the scene where Spike takes Buffy's bleeding hands in his own, knowing the signs of having torn her way out of a coffin because he had experienced it himself, without recognizing the very real tenderness and bonding between the former enemies in that moment.

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