What's always bothered me about it was that during the spell, people were being extra honest, and singing things they wouldn't normally say, and Xander said nothing. Then the spell is over, and poof, he suddenly tells the truth?
I've got a theory...
Seriously. I do.
It's occurred to me that not everyone sang everything that was on their mind. If anything, they sang the things they wanted to tell people, but for some reason couldn't. For example, Buffy having been in Heaven, or Spike confessing his feelings for Buffy. But when it comes to Giles, Buffy--mercifully--is oblivious to it, and Dawn sings alone, her cleptomania unrevealed. And then there's the case of Xander and Anya, and--for all the reasons they exclaim in "I'll Never Tell,"--they really don't tell the ones that ultimately end their impending marriage: Xander's fear of becoming his father, and Anya's fear that she doesn't have an identity of her own.
So, no, it doesn't make them spill everything.
Victor is me; or, at any rate, his OMWF theory is my OMWF theory. It also nicely explains why Willow doesn't sing-- yes, AH asked Joss not to give her a song, but also, Willow has nothing she particularly wants to tell anyone. She has no reason to spill the beans about the mindwipe, which was the only big secret I can recall her having at the time, because as far as she's concerned all she did was fix a problem-- nothing she needs or wants to tell Tara about.
And
that ties in with the traditional musical practice of putting the big emotional moments in song-- they're used when the characters feel something they want to express but don't have adequate words for.
I'm with Victor and Holli.
Interesting article on MSN about challenging TV shows. Buffy is mentions as a given, and Angel is #3 on their list.
What's always bothered me about it was that during the spell, people were being extra honest, and singing things they wouldn't normally say, and Xander said nothing. Then the spell is over, and poof, he suddenly tells the truth?
What Victor and Holli Said, and also, I'm now wishing (or possibly fanwanking) that Xander was prevented from confessing by the spell itself.
I'm now wishing (or possibly fanwanking) that Xander was prevented from confessing by the spell itself.
Not entirely impossible, actually. It did force them to, more or less, play out the musical scenario, and that could have easily hampered their judgement. I suspect it may have had more influence over their behaviors than they realized.
Victor's and Holli's theory also explains what I've been puzzling over for a while, which is the fact that in the "I'll Never Tell" number, Xander really
didn't
tell his deepest fears about getting married.
Victor's and Holli's theory also explains what I've been puzzling over for a while, which is the fact that in the "I'll Never Tell" number, Xander really didn't tell his deepest fears about getting married.
I thought he mentioned the hairy toes?
He was only afraid of the hairy toes until he saw LotR, at which point he became deeply enamoured of them. (They reminded him of Elijah Wood.)
Interview with Nicholas Brendon at tvguide.com.
************
I know this has been done to death, but ever time I see OMWF and Xander and Anya pester Giles for some way to stop this thing it annoys me. Xander doesn't even look embarrassed
I don’t think he knew that whatever he did lead to all of those incidents at the time he was talking to Giles. If I recall correctly, Giles even said he didn’t know whether things were related. And Sunnydale has (had) no shortage of demony things, so he could have thought something else was causing the combustible persons.
