Zoe ,'Serenity'
Is it better the second time around? Or the third? Or tenth? This is the place to come when you have a burning desire to talk about an old episode that was just re-run.
I'm impressed.
Thanks, but I didn't make that up. Someone else here suggested it at the time.
If I'd wanted "just" a musical
I agree that BtVS is best when it subverts the genre, not plays into it, but then the asspull didn't bother me as much as it seems to have bothered others.
Isn't that a common trope in musicals though? Some wacky ending pulled out of the air (or ass) that neatly ties up the story? I've always thought Joss was giving a tip-o-the-hat to that trope.
That's what I've always thought too. A little poorly executed deus-ex-machina as good fun.
The asspull bothers me because Xander spends so much of the early parts of the episode being seriously disturbed by the singing.
And yet I am large with the OMWF lurve.
It took me a minute with all the cut talk. I have the CD and have watched OMWF many times on DVD, and it always felt off, but in a good way. And yet, never until now did I realize that there had been cuts in the broadcast version. Stoopid networks. We need the whole thing! I lurve me some DVD OMWF, even with the ending. Really, it's kind of amazing that there is as much internal consistency as there is. I didn't expect as much as we got, even from Joss.
I'm listening to OMWF myself, "Standing," and I'm still going, "No, Giles, you're an idiot to leave!"
Now to listen to ASH and AB voices do that neat thing together.
Aw. I may have to dig out the CD now. I think I have it at work.
Now to listen to ASH and AB voices do that neat thing together.
That's one of my favorite parts, too.
Honestly, even the Xander Asspull doesn't bug me too much. When I think of the episode as a whole, I get shivery feelings and am in awe of how well it was put together.
And I hear the Coda, where Buffy and Spike clinch, and in a proper musical you'd go, "Oh, how wonderful"--but a Buffy fan goes, "Well, we know how that ends, don't we?"
I think I'll just let the curtain in my head close.
And yet, never until now did I realize that there had been cuts in the broadcast version. Stoopid networks.
They did allow the initial broadcast to run over by almost ten minutes, so props for that at least.
I liked someone's suggestion that Ethan Rayne was responsible, and Xander was covering for him...because of some reason involving blackmail or hypnotism or something I don't know but come on, Ethan Rayne! That would have been perfect.