They went to a lot of effort for all those costumes and characters in the montage at the end, I think it was the most visually impressive thing in the series. But I think making a show for the Internet, you ought to put that at the beginning. It establishes what kind of world you're in, and it shows that you have a budget and aren't just Doogie Howser talking to the camera.

So what does it mean that the very end of the last line returns to the blog framing device? Because it seems like the import of the montage is that he's big time evil now, and his blog persona is squashed.

How did that gun blow up in Hammer's hand, and not even hurt him? I kind of liked how Horrible was ready to show some mercy even without Perfect Nice Girl pleading with his better nature (that would have been more cliche still), I liked how the lower key he sang "time for no mercy" in showed he was considering showing mercy, and I like how there was karma in that if he hadn't, his gun would have exploded on him. But it takes away from the karma that the gun, even if it had blown up in his hand, was magically attuned to harm only Penny anyway.

I can't believe that no one commented that Dr. Horrble was named BILLY! Like every other male person Joss Whedon has named!

WRT feminist rage issues, I think it is interesting that Joss Whedon started out wanting to tell the story of a girl with agency, and has moved on to men-- I felt that Mal was the "Buffy" of Firefly and this had no Buffy-- it was Angel?Riley and Spike- with, like, Chantarelle.

Oh Part 3, why'd you have to go there? Oh right, because JOSS HAS ISSUES WITH THIS SORT OF THING AND DOES IT ALL THE FUCKING TIME.

Plei speaks for me on this, pretty much, up to and including the massive NPH lurve that made it all worth it regardless of things which may or may not be in shouty capslock whitefont above.

Huh.

That took a little while to digest but I'm definitely going with two thumbs up. Things that I was annoyed by, I think were on purpose. After the second act, I wanted to watch the whole thing many times. The third act took a little of that joy and enthusiasm away. Although it was nice seeing all the cameos.

All told, it was all worth it for the NPH.

So much THIS.

I just watched Act III again. It's better when you know what you're expecting so you can appreciate the tragedy rather than be confused that it's not a comedy. The very last shot/word kills me.

NPH definitely deserves a pizza-trophy.

I would not say that Joss has issues with sacrificial women. He's written pretty clearly in other places about his own feminist rage at how women are too often sacrificed for the sake of reinforcing cultural values that themselves disempower women. I consider him a feminist. And yeah, while I have some issues with some of the storylines, I also adore some of the women he's given us.

Which is just kinda my way of saying that I'd rather separate my critique of the ending from a critique of Joss.

Eh, I think that he is often blind to the problematic aspects of some narrative devices of which he is fond, and this shows up with Tara, Fred, and Penny.

It would have been possible to have his death and maintain her agency, while still having her the Tragic Victim of the battle between Hammer and Horrible (Sophia! I was snickering at the BillyWilliamLiam thing, too! Just not online. Dude. Baby name books are not expensive. Did a Bill kill your village?) if, say, she'd put herself in front of the thing to shield one of them, or had been hit while saving some OTHER innocent (I mean, there was a room full of them). You know, having done something the least bit active? I mean, I'd still be irked, but I'd be less irked.

How long are we white-fonting, btw? The free net content goes poof on Sunday midnight like Cinderella and the pumpkin, if I recall. Do we WF until then, after which we can black-font discuss to our hearts' content?

I coughed up the four bucks for the iTunes purchase for the whole thing. Regardless of my issues with the denouement, I'm glad I bought it, because DAMN, these songs are catchy. I found myself humming the tunes all day under my breath without meaning to. The duet opening the Act II remains my favourite -- the overlapping lyrics there are very clever indeed. As for NPH, I always knew he was adorable and talented, but I think this is the first venture where I found myself actively crushing on the dude. The bit during the aforementioned duet where Billy and Penny sing "I cannot believe my eyes... it's plain to see, evil/rapture inside of me" against the wall makes my heart go pitter-patter. The harmony is *gorgeous*, and the way NPH leans back against the wall in his wee hoodie, looking bitter and like his heart is breaking -- whoa boy.

I am the white-fonting part Vonnie. I stopped counting the number of times I saw that song, and specifically that part (or maybe it's just the wall thing, and then I just might have a thing for scenes with walls and agony in them).

Hee! Vonnie I've been singing that same part over and over today.