buffy 7.5 'Selfless'
Oct. 22nd, 2002 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockWell, CW is overcrowded and I can't get in, so...
Buffy 7.5:
WOW. That was... wow. It was All!About!Anya, and I loved it. I loved the flashbacks to pre-medieival times, and their scratched up quality, and the funky way the subtitles from the villagers read: "Let's attack him with various fruits and vegtables!" And I loved that Aud was the same way as Anya now-- "Please take your furs and literal interpretations to the other side of the river." And the rabbits.
Emma C. was top-notch, acting wise. Wow. I loved how she reacted to the deaths, her conversations, her goading of Buffy, and her spot-on insights into Xander.
I liked her song (though not her poverty!Barbie dress), and that coupled with Aud of the past (loved her hair)-- it's clear now that all Anya's ever wanted was a happy domestic life, adn taht she liked beign good, and feeling useful to the world.
I was surprised by the way Halfrek died-- WOW. That's some mean vengeance right there. I guess there will be no resolution to the William/Cecily link. But that's alright. We've got fanfic. But still, the emotional Anya turmoiln was pretty potent, adn will stick with her for a long time.
I liked Anya's conversation with Xander in the end, and Xander's words to her. I liked how Anya comment how she had spent her whole existence clinging to someone else-- Olaf, D'Hoffran, Xander-- being what THEY wanted, and now she didn't know who SHE was.
Well, Willow seems to be control freak again. I dunno... maybe it wouldn't be so threatening to see her make crucial decisions if there wasn't this hanging fear that she might suddenly need to take over and "fix" things to her liking.
I...appreciated Xander's confrontation with Buffy over Spike vs. Anya. To say, I appreciated its existence. We & the SG have needed a good hashing-out of hard truths for a long time now. I felt like this whole episode was cathartic in that way-- just like the musical (which it flashed back to, and Btw I still loved Anya's wedding dress), this was an episode when people let their true colors show.
Didn't like the whole 'loved angel more than anything else' speech, but I mostly passed over it because it was past tense, and it sounded so... lame. I don't understand why ME would put that in-- yeah, we get it already that you want us to think he was Buffy's only true love. We've been getting that for a couple of years now, even when Angel's long over her and Buffy's a different person now. Almost like Buffy had great love, and she'll never get it again. Which is crap-- because everyone has the ability to love greatly, and to love more than once. So the only reason she can't have it again is because she's not going to live long enough, because if she was a normal girl I don't for one minute buy that she couldn't love like that again. And that's why I have hope-- because deep down Buffy is human, and that means she has the same capacity to fall in love as any other human girl. And since you can't choose who or when you fall in love, the idea that she wouldn't be able to love anyone like she did when she was 16-- that's just stupid. like, phenominally unrealistic. And Joss & ME people have always said they've gone for 'realism'. I can't help but think they're setting us (audience) up. Why restate it yet AGAIN otherwise? It seems lame, and ME doesn't usually do plot-specific lame without purpose. Besides--- to me Buffy sounded like she wasn't living that 'more than anything' love any more. Which means she's over him, but has not yet had anything to rival it. I hope that's coming soon, though-- in the form of New!Spike.
Speaking of Spike, I'm glad that Buffy brought up "he was helping" as well as "he's harmless," and without hesitation. And I was heartbroken over the nice!Buffy versus what we can assume is the real!Buffy. But even as it was gut-wrenchingly sad, it served a good purpose from the Spuffy POV-- it illustrated that the Buffy now may act happy, but she's hard and jaded inside. Spike's NOT in love with pain-- he's in love with the good, sweet Buffy of years past, the kind of caring person Buffy wants to be, and tries to convince her friends she still is. It was sad, because that's the person Buffy COULD be, and yet we can see she's not (right now anyway). But that whole scene was only put there to garner sympathy for Spike. And if ME wants us to sympathize with Spike, that can only be good.
And Dru's comments on Dru were wodnerful... reminded me of how wonderful the S/D relationship was, from a story-writing-perspective.
And I'm really not seeing how Buffy is much better this year-- she's re-involved herself in the world around her, yes, and yet she's still a locked door emotionally to anyone but Dawn. She's still cold, like last year.
Yep, death certainly screwed up Buffy bad. Even in season 5 she was a lot more open & feeling than she is now.
But back to Anya. How much to I love Anya's character? Tons and tons. And I loved the way her story was handled here-- this whole episode finally had some of the 'maturity' we keep hearing about.
And you know, this episode was as creepy as it was funny (Anya+villagers). Knowing that Anya had done something so awful... seeing her covered with blood, seeing the girl hiding in the closet whimpering "I take it back, I take it back". We didn't see a lot of gore like with Gnarl, and yet this was much more disturbing to me.
Buffy 7.5:
WOW. That was... wow. It was All!About!Anya, and I loved it. I loved the flashbacks to pre-medieival times, and their scratched up quality, and the funky way the subtitles from the villagers read: "Let's attack him with various fruits and vegtables!" And I loved that Aud was the same way as Anya now-- "Please take your furs and literal interpretations to the other side of the river." And the rabbits.
Emma C. was top-notch, acting wise. Wow. I loved how she reacted to the deaths, her conversations, her goading of Buffy, and her spot-on insights into Xander.
I liked her song (though not her poverty!Barbie dress), and that coupled with Aud of the past (loved her hair)-- it's clear now that all Anya's ever wanted was a happy domestic life, adn taht she liked beign good, and feeling useful to the world.
I was surprised by the way Halfrek died-- WOW. That's some mean vengeance right there. I guess there will be no resolution to the William/Cecily link. But that's alright. We've got fanfic. But still, the emotional Anya turmoiln was pretty potent, adn will stick with her for a long time.
I liked Anya's conversation with Xander in the end, and Xander's words to her. I liked how Anya comment how she had spent her whole existence clinging to someone else-- Olaf, D'Hoffran, Xander-- being what THEY wanted, and now she didn't know who SHE was.
Well, Willow seems to be control freak again. I dunno... maybe it wouldn't be so threatening to see her make crucial decisions if there wasn't this hanging fear that she might suddenly need to take over and "fix" things to her liking.
I...appreciated Xander's confrontation with Buffy over Spike vs. Anya. To say, I appreciated its existence. We & the SG have needed a good hashing-out of hard truths for a long time now. I felt like this whole episode was cathartic in that way-- just like the musical (which it flashed back to, and Btw I still loved Anya's wedding dress), this was an episode when people let their true colors show.
Didn't like the whole 'loved angel more than anything else' speech, but I mostly passed over it because it was past tense, and it sounded so... lame. I don't understand why ME would put that in-- yeah, we get it already that you want us to think he was Buffy's only true love. We've been getting that for a couple of years now, even when Angel's long over her and Buffy's a different person now. Almost like Buffy had great love, and she'll never get it again. Which is crap-- because everyone has the ability to love greatly, and to love more than once. So the only reason she can't have it again is because she's not going to live long enough, because if she was a normal girl I don't for one minute buy that she couldn't love like that again. And that's why I have hope-- because deep down Buffy is human, and that means she has the same capacity to fall in love as any other human girl. And since you can't choose who or when you fall in love, the idea that she wouldn't be able to love anyone like she did when she was 16-- that's just stupid. like, phenominally unrealistic. And Joss & ME people have always said they've gone for 'realism'. I can't help but think they're setting us (audience) up. Why restate it yet AGAIN otherwise? It seems lame, and ME doesn't usually do plot-specific lame without purpose. Besides--- to me Buffy sounded like she wasn't living that 'more than anything' love any more. Which means she's over him, but has not yet had anything to rival it. I hope that's coming soon, though-- in the form of New!Spike.
Speaking of Spike, I'm glad that Buffy brought up "he was helping" as well as "he's harmless," and without hesitation. And I was heartbroken over the nice!Buffy versus what we can assume is the real!Buffy. But even as it was gut-wrenchingly sad, it served a good purpose from the Spuffy POV-- it illustrated that the Buffy now may act happy, but she's hard and jaded inside. Spike's NOT in love with pain-- he's in love with the good, sweet Buffy of years past, the kind of caring person Buffy wants to be, and tries to convince her friends she still is. It was sad, because that's the person Buffy COULD be, and yet we can see she's not (right now anyway). But that whole scene was only put there to garner sympathy for Spike. And if ME wants us to sympathize with Spike, that can only be good.
And Dru's comments on Dru were wodnerful... reminded me of how wonderful the S/D relationship was, from a story-writing-perspective.
And I'm really not seeing how Buffy is much better this year-- she's re-involved herself in the world around her, yes, and yet she's still a locked door emotionally to anyone but Dawn. She's still cold, like last year.
Yep, death certainly screwed up Buffy bad. Even in season 5 she was a lot more open & feeling than she is now.
But back to Anya. How much to I love Anya's character? Tons and tons. And I loved the way her story was handled here-- this whole episode finally had some of the 'maturity' we keep hearing about.
And you know, this episode was as creepy as it was funny (Anya+villagers). Knowing that Anya had done something so awful... seeing her covered with blood, seeing the girl hiding in the closet whimpering "I take it back, I take it back". We didn't see a lot of gore like with Gnarl, and yet this was much more disturbing to me.
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no subject
Date: 2002-10-23 01:07 am (UTC)Hey, I totally agree with you about the episode. It was really wow. I liked it more than I thought I would. I really liked how it turned out and I truly feel for Anya. Now Willow, Spike and Anya are kind of all in this really angsty, hard place.
I also enjoyed the whole confrontation of how Xander acted during that period because it was the same as he acts now concerning Spike -- just a slight change of tune, instead of saying "he's a vampire," like in Season 2, now he says "he's a soulless killer." I really like Anya's character but I've always wondered how everyone particularly Xander who loves Anya and is Spike's greatest detractor, can just ignore Anya's past and do nothing but throw Spike's up in his face when he's HELPING THEM. It's been a real thorn in my side...because I always knew as a vengence demon Anya must've done some pretty gruesome things (I mean look back to the first episode she was in...not exactly a good guy) and she's MUCH OLDER than Spike. She's surely done as much damage, probably more.
And the "I loved Angel more than anything" speech... I don't think S/B shippers should be at all discouraged here. I actually like this because it backs up a theory of mine. I think the reason that even now, that Spike has gotten a soul Buffy pulls away...won't stay with him, is still stern and ahem...bitchy with him to an extent, is because of fear. Fear of a repeat of what she felt with Angel. It's an irrational fear considering Spike started out with no soul. But, I think somewhere along the line Buffy made an unconcious decision to not fall in love with anybody. I mean, she obviously wasn't in love with Riley. There's was Angel then there was no one.
She doesn't want there to be anyone else. Notice she's not said recently (even when she broke it off in season 6) that she doesn't love Spike, it's always "I can't love you." Why? Remember her guilt... she blamed herself for Angel turning to Angelus because of their relationship then she had to kill him. She doesn't want to repeat that moment...that moment of destroying someone she loves more than anything. Maybe what she feels deep down for Spike scares her because she thinks it could be as bad or worse.
Food for thought.
Re:
Date: 2002-10-23 01:10 am (UTC)She doesn't want there to be anyone else. Notice she's not said recently (even when she broke it off in season 6) that she doesn't love Spike, it's always "I can't love you." Why? Remember her guilt... she blamed herself for Angel turning to Angelus because of their relationship then she had to kill him. She doesn't want to repeat that moment...that moment of destroying someone she loves more than anything. Maybe what she feels deep down for Spike scares her because she thinks it could be as bad or worse.
I agree. She's so sure that that kind of love can't possibly ever happen again, and if it did it would be too much, that Buffy runs away, closes off.
Crumbling Walls
Date: 2002-10-23 07:14 am (UTC)I enjoyed "Selfless" as well.
Re: Crumbling Walls
Date: 2002-10-23 09:32 am (UTC)I don't know if you'll be able to get in at this moment, though. Our new server was supposed to be able to handle high traffic, and yet everytime I've gone there in the last 12 hours, I've gotten a 'busy/ high traffic' message. ::shrug::
Re: Crumbling Walls
Date: 2002-10-25 01:12 pm (UTC)I'd like that a lot. I'll head over in a minute and see if I can re-register. What do I do about changing the number of posts? I was very proud of my status at CW. I forgot what I was but it was like 150 or 200 posts. Are the old posts archived? There were some excellent discussions last season.
Re: Crumbling Walls
Date: 2002-10-26 11:38 am (UTC)Well, the old komodo-skin.com version of the forum is still up, I think. You might want to try to check there and see the exact number you had. Anyway, when you register at the new board, go inot the Announcements forum, and there's a thread you'll see there about hte number of posts. Just reply in that thread and say how many you had, and a mod will see about fixing that for you.
Re: Crumbling Walls
Date: 2002-10-26 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-10-23 07:23 am (UTC)which is in sharp contrast to Angel saying "I had a girlfriend send me to hell once".
(I didn't come up with that, I stole it from an e-mail)
Re:
Date: 2002-10-23 09:34 am (UTC)(I didn't come up with that, I stole it from an e-mail)
Good point, that. Still, both were past tense, which I the only part I care about.