Overwhelming? How much more than whelming would that be exactly?

Anya ,'Touched'


Buffy 4: Grr. Arrgh.  

This is where we talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No spoilers though?if you post one by accident, an admin will delete it. This thread is NO LONGER NAFDA. Please don't discuss current Angel events here.


Frankenbuddha - May 25, 2003 12:45:31 pm PDT #2277 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

Other than the Luddite impulses, what Cindy said.

Hell, fake the snake (courtesy of TWOP when the were still MBTV and headn't yet kicked Jengod out for having an opinion) wouldn't have bothered me if the rest of the episode had been compelling in some other way. Other than Buffy's comparison of Glory to Cordelia, NSM.


DCJensen - May 25, 2003 1:35:47 pm PDT #2278 of 10001
All is well that ends in pizza.

Right Now, I'm thinking of Dr. Who with Buffy's budget...


Micole - May 25, 2003 3:11:07 pm PDT #2279 of 10001
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.

Some belated thoughts, as threatened promised:

Buffy's still a hero. (She's still my hero.) And this is still her journey.

Spike would never have done what he did without the Buffy-effect. That tells me a hella lotta about Buffy, and her journey.

My problem with the climax isn't so much that Spike got to share the hero's journey (although I do have one). I had the same problem with "Grave," and I don't begrudge Xander his triumph the way I begrudge Spike his (and that latter is My Personal Issue): despite the strength of the ensemble, this is a show about an individual's hero's journey, and I think--as a *structural* reinforcement for the emotional themes of the season--that individual should get the action climax of the season, and in fact the action and emotional climaxes should be the same.

This is why "Becoming 2" works so well for me, and why as much as I love S3, "Graduation Day 2" doesn't work as well as "Graduation Day 1." In "Becoming 2," *everything*--emotional, thematic, action--climaxes in that cross-cut Buffy/Angel - Willow-spell - Xander rescuing Giles scene. In GD1, the emotional/action/thematic climaxes are all in that Buffy/Faith confrontation. In GD2, the emotional climax is the Buffy/Angel drinking scene and the action/thematic climax is the graduation. It's weaker than I expected (and those weeks waiting for my bootleg probably hurt it as well).

In "Chosen," the thematic and emotional climax of the season is the "Every girl is a Slayer" montage. But the action climax, it feels to me, *isn't* the girls fighting the ubervamps, it's Spike destroying Sunnydale. And it makes me grumpy (still!) because in a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I want Buffy to get the Big Moment. In a show that ends with a vision of female empowerment, I want the Big Moment to be that empowerment--and not the male destroyed happily by channelling someone else's power.

Unrelated: thanks to Quotable, I've been thinking about Buffy's big speech. "I hate this. I hate being here. I hate that you have to be here. I hate that there's evil. That I was chosen to fight it. I wish, a whole lot of the time, that I hadn't been. I know a lot of you wish I hadn't been either. This isn't about wishes. This is about choices."

I like the implicit contrast between what the vengeance demons (specifically Anya) did and what Buffy is doing, the contrast between the horror that came from wishing but being unable to claim power and the hope that comes from being able to choose, to do so.


Trudy Booth - May 25, 2003 3:29:07 pm PDT #2280 of 10001
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

Does that make the original UberVamp the Turok Han Solo?

Snerk

Was anybody else afraid for a second when Buffy said "I love you" that Spike was going to say "I know"?


DCJensen - May 25, 2003 3:39:23 pm PDT #2281 of 10001
All is well that ends in pizza.

Was anybody else afraid for a second when Buffy said "I love you" that Spike was going to say "I know"?

No but I thought of Riley.

"But she doesn't love me."


scrappy - May 25, 2003 3:52:30 pm PDT #2282 of 10001
Nobody

Spike's glowy death may have been a big emotional moment, and pretty, too, but in bigness of action, Buffy, all on her own, outrunning the implosion and leaping tall buildings in (almost) a single bound is literally larger.


Frankenbuddha - May 25, 2003 3:52:45 pm PDT #2283 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

Trudy, OMG, that's frickin' hysterical. No I didn't, but kinda glad about that. I can enjoy the snerk now, but it would have distracted me then.

ETA What Scrappy said.


Micole - May 25, 2003 4:02:55 pm PDT #2284 of 10001
I've been working on a song about the difference between analogy and metaphor.

bigness of action, Buffy, all on her own, outrunning the implosion and leaping tall buildings in (almost) a single bound is literally larger.

Sure. But it's not an action that defeats the villain of the season or Its minions, which is why I consider it "denoument" rather than "climax."

Emphasis on the *I*, because while denoument and climax may have objective definitions as ideas, pinpointing their occurences in individual works will always be a somewhat subjective endeavor.


SailAweigh - May 25, 2003 4:06:03 pm PDT #2285 of 10001
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

I liked the end, with Buffy just smiling. It had the feel of Scarlett at the end of GWTW saying, "I'll think about it tomorrow" (or whatever exactly it was). Buffy is in a good place for her emotionally. Spike's question in "Beneath You" has finally been answered and, yes, they can both rest. (In peace in Spike's case, sniff).


Frankenbuddha - May 25, 2003 4:09:09 pm PDT #2286 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

Well, is the FE even dead? I doubt it. Just it's current plan is spoiled, and now it's a much bigger problem to go around trying to pick off the slayers. Spike didn't really have much to do with that, he just took out the immediate threat - the hellmouth. Not that that's nothing, but not necessarily the be-all-end-all. And of course, he had nothing to do with making Caleb biscectual. In a sense, it was Willow who was the big hero, if it was anyone.