Script: Buffy the Exposition Slayer

I recently attended a geek-packed, raucous sing-along screening of the famous musical Buffy episode, “Once More with Feeling”. It was preceded by “Hush”, another famous Buffisode in which no one speaks.

I’d seen both before, but not since they originally aired when I was an innocent civilian, unschooled in the ways of storytelling. So you’ll forgive me if my revelations now are, to quote a friend, “lessons from the incredibly obvious file.”

Watching them, I was struck by the fact that, not only were these wildly creative episodes, but that they dropped huge, pivotal plot bombs for their respective seasons. Geeks everywhere quivered in their seats, ready to explode themselves, and I’m secure enough to admit I was one of them.

McKee famously commands, “use exposition as ammunition.” Reveal boring information through conflict, yadda, yadda. In “Hush”, Whedon fires a real bullet, taking the mantra “show, don’t tell” completely literally. It’s amazingly powerful. The characters get away with "showing" more risqué jokes, more plot reveals, more exposition than they could ever actually say.

And of course, it’s creepy. The Gentlemen touch a primal nerve, deliciously so, and not being able to scream… well. ‘Nuff said.

The problem with dropping plot bombs is that characters must react to them, and we wordy writers often get bogged down in the resulting dialogue. In “Hush”, no one can speak, so information is delivered much more swiftly and smoothly, while still allowing reactions. The episode ends with Buffy telling Riley, “We have to talk” - cut to black.

Genius! We can imagine what the conversation would be, we know the important information that will come out; we don’t need to actually see it.

In “Once More with Feeling”, a demon forces the characters to sing about their feelings. If you think about it, a musical is really just lengthy exposition set to song – people sing things they would never, ever actually say to each other. It’s a great way to deliver what’s basically an internal monologue without your audience noticing, because, hey look, isn’t that the box-step?

So, what have we learned? One: show, don’t tell is powerful. Two: less is so much, much more. And three: any tricky exposition can be dealt with effectively, if you just know the right song and dance.