Buffy (no spoilers)
Nov. 21st, 2002 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Wow. In this season (and even this week's ep) of Buffy, the characters actually -talk- to each other, make the same speculations the watcher makes, and otherwise act like intelligent beings rather than pawns in the grip of inexcricable bad writing!
I am, again, impressed at the way this season of Buffy continues to display the traits that made me actaully -want- to watch the show, rather than the pointless angst and meaningless arguments of seasons 5 and 6.
The cliffhanger I could have done without, but it was a very well done ep, and demonstratively "buffy what is buffy", rather than the "spam" of recent years.
no subject
Date: 2002-11-21 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-21 01:43 pm (UTC)But I'd say this season is a lot closer to the first couple of seasons than it is to the last two.
Joss is Back!
Date: 2002-11-21 10:56 am (UTC)Also, the move away from an ensemble style (everyone does something) to a more traditional style while retaining an ensemble cast (the same thing that annoys me about the JLA animated series) strengthens the show. We saw NOTHING of Xander last week, NOTHING of Anya, little of Spike, and none of the other three interacted except by note. This week, we had all of them, but everyone was of united purpose, acting as a team, communicating. Intra team/family tension can be good for drama, but when that's all there is, or when it's both more pressing and given more time than the extra-team/family tension, it feels more like a soap opera about people who aren't really that interesting, after all, when they're not bound tightly together.
Re: Joss is Back!
Date: 2002-11-21 11:55 am (UTC)Re: Joss is Back!
Date: 2002-11-21 01:48 pm (UTC)And yeah, the Hand of Joss has been clearly shown this season, as the show clearly got Back To Its Roots. Not doing the same thing over and over helped a lot too -- Having Buffy try to kill Anya, but realize quickly that it was necessary that she -not- kill Spike was a nice difference...
Re: Joss is Back!
Date: 2002-11-21 03:46 pm (UTC)1: Whole damn thing was a set piece to make the final message of mistrust believable.
2: The monster restraining Joyce's spirit was a manifestation/agent of The Thing that Eats You, Toes-First. Joyce was Joyce.
3: The monster restraining "Joyce" was a Chet(of Angel)-like bad-looking-good-guy and "Joyce" was a Cassie-like agent of The Big Bad With the Basement Apartment.
4: Nibbler had nothing to do with anything Dawnie experienced. Joyce was Joyce, the thing restraining her was an afterlife-restraining-thing.
Unfortunately, though there's evidence for each of these, none of it is conclusive. We don't know much about Underground Unfriendly: Just that it can:
Appear in various forms.
Appear selectively.
Influence minds in some way beyond that (What it did to Spike), and perhaps only already-weakened minds.
Here's an interesting question: Did "Cassie" pull out the chair before she sat down? Do we have ANY evidence that The Subterranean Snacker can directly effect the physical world? (Note: As far as I remember, the only things confirmable as TWDFBY are: What appeared to Spike, what appeared to Andrew, what appeared to Willow.)
Re: Joss is Back!
Date: 2002-11-21 04:33 pm (UTC)I've been thinking a lot about that myself. My current pet theory: The Bottom Feeder can't directly affect the physical world, which is why he has to go around playing head games with people instead of just, y'know, coming up behind Willow and snapper her neck. At some point one or more of the Scoobies will realize/learn this, and Dawn will realize that her vision of Joyce couldn't have been the Feeder, and have to cope with the implications of Joyce's message about Buffy.
Further theory: The thing that Buffy will choose over Dawn is Spike. I don't see that happening now, but there's the rest of the season for groundwork-laying. Or maybe Dawn somehow becomes a minion of the Feeder (probably without meaning to).
no subject
Date: 2002-11-21 12:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-21 01:50 pm (UTC)