Many people have claimed that Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon owes one apology after another, though he still refuses to agree. Long before those allegations, one of the showrunner’s most shocking apologies could be found in the DVD commentaries for the show’s first season. In the episode “Harvest,” a vampire servant kneels in front of the Master, and Whedon apologized because the framing of the shot made it look like the vampiric villain was receiving oral sex from his subordinate.
Part of what makes this Buffy apology so amusing is that there was nothing very lewd or lascivious in the episode. In fact, the entire first season was, as Willow might say, “very seldom naughty.” The scene in question involves Luke kneeling before the Master, and the kneeling was meant to emphasize that the bad guy’s name wasn’t just for show. Luke may be super buff (played quite memorably by tough-guy actor Brian Thompson), but it was the Master who, despite looking like dime store Nosferatu, was the real HBIC (head biter in charge).
While “Harvest” wasn’t directed by Joss Whedon, he wrote the episode and obviously oversaw production in his capacity as showrunner. At the time, he didn’t clock anything naughty about the scene with Luke and the Master. It was only when the Buffy showrunner rewatched the episodes to record the DVD commentary that he seemingly noticed the unintentional sexual overtones, prompting him to offer fans an apology for the oversight.
For longtime Buffy fans, part of what makes this apology so amusing is that the show would eventually provide much more explicit scenes showing some of our favorite characters being physically intimate. This includes Buffy and Riley accidentally re-enacting a horror movie in “Where the Wild Things Are,” getting so wrapped up in their lovemaking that they don’t notice all the spooking shenanigans in the frat house around them. Later, the controversial sixth season paired Buffy and Spike, and at one point, their superpowered antics literally bring a house down.
You could argue that those Buffy scenes were there for shock value, but Whedon had other shocking sexual moments in the series that he felt needed no apology. For example, the relationship between Buffy and Spike was always meant to be toxic (sorry, Spuffy fans), which is why “Seeing Red” had him attempting to rape her. Fans were shocked and Spike actor James Marsters claims the scene sent him to therapy, but the showrunner made his point that rape is more common than most people think and often attempted by those they least suspect.
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer had to take baby steps into portraying the intimacy between Willow and Tara, their romance eventually became quite physical, and Whedon certainly makes no apology for their love affair. The two shared their first kiss in the 2001 episode “The Body,” which actually became part of television history. Willow and Tara became one of the first onscreen, same-sex relationships in mainstream media, forever changing the television zeitgeist.
Of course, you have to walk before you can run, and the show had to kneel before it could walk. Buffy showrunner Whedon may not have meant to make the moment between Luke and the Master so naughty, and it looked accidentally explicit enough to prompt an apology. Later, the show would go on to break all kinds of boundaries (sexual and otherwise), and we’re glad that Whedon never apologized for creating such fearless television.
Source: Giant Freakin Robot
