Buffycation: The Reckoning
Feb. 13th, 2010 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotHad a major blow in RL that left me in a terrible funk for a few days this week, which I handled by submerging myself in TV and flash games. Last night we finished up BtVS s5/AtS s2, so here are my thoughts - now with extra rambling and whining!
Season 5 was probably my least favorite season thus far. Overall it was just too dark and grim for me. If I'm watching a show about an ex-cheerleader who slays vampires, I'm kind of hoping for escapist entertainment, you know? And sometimes the drama was successful, but sometimes it was strained, or just not very well-written. (Not necessarily Joss Whedon's fault; the Buffy cast suffers from screenwriter schizophrenia in that the writers vary quite a bit and all seem to have slightly different takes on the chars and relationships, which leads to inconsistency, and drama is less forgiving of that than comedy.)
I didn't care much for Dawn - I find her character irritatingly immature (she acts more like an 11-year-old than 14), and the premise somewhat nonsensical (okay, so the monks decided the save the Key, rather than simply destroy it, because they...vaguely hoped it might be useful? and that vague hope was worth the risk to the universe?) I do like some of Buffy's interactions with her, because I am so very weak to siblings, and it's great to see a protective big sister. Also Spike could be adorable with her. But overall, not a fan.
Much as I didn't care for Dawn, though, I hated Glory that much more. I don't know why she annoyed me so incredibly - I spent most of her scenes trying to figure it out, and never did come to any conclusions, whether it was the actress, or the writing, or the forced comedy set against the season's overall dark tone, or what. She suffered from the Big Bad Softening Syndrome which plagues many of the villains, that their hands are tied by the restrictions of TV drama. Like Angelus, Glory could have and probably should have killed most of Buffy's allies; when she found out Buffy had an inkling of where the Key was, she should have turned up at Buffy's house with Xander or Willow or Giles and threatened to smash open their skulls unless Buffy spilled. And then done it. That she never actually kills anyone significant undermines a lot of her threat potential - not that I wanted her to do it! but it made it difficult to take her seriously. At the end there was a bit of retconning implying it was Ben's influence that was keeping her from killing, but since this is said after she cavalierly slaughters an entire medieval army, it's not really convincing.
There were a few other things that got to me - Willow/Tara, cute as as a basket of kittens, but never allowed to kiss on the mouth except briefly for comfort, while Buffy has had several full sex scenes. The hell, American Television, the hell.
The season had its moments, though. Buffy standing up to the Watchers and explaining to them what's what, complete with her own cheering section and getting Giles's retroactive pay - awesome! And Anya's troll ex-boyfriend, and the Buffy-bot, heee.
Really, Spike and Anya were the salvation throughout, always entertaining. Anya is amazing, ever emotionally baffled, newly patriotic (Capitalism!) ex-demon love. ...Except that Xander/Anya is pre-emptively upsetting me because I know from spoilers that they don't work out - I don't know how it happens, I just know they're not together by the end of the show. And I don't believe there is any way they could be broken up that won't piss me off. They are so sweet and silly and well-matched and Anya makes Xander a better person and a better character at once, which is no mean feat! The My Two Xanders ep was great fun and I was so happy they both turned out to be the "real" Xander, and then in the Buffy & Riley break-up ep when Xander gives the speech to Buffy about choosing to love, and then he goes back and tells Anya how he really feels, and AWWWWW. (Also I like that both Xander and Willow are in steady relationships, because it makes their friendship all the closer since it's no longer fraught with romantic tension. Ditto with Xander and Buffy.)
And Spike continues to be the Most Pathetic Villain/Vampire/Being Ever. Only now in love with Buffy, and HEE, that is totally the best thing to come out of the entire season. I know I say I like friendships more than romance but I make the exception for this. Poor woobie!pining!Spike! With his chocolates and roleplaying with Harmony and his creeptastic stalker shrine and his even more creeptastic Buffy-bot! And his still being evil even though none of them ever remember and send Dawn to him for babysitting even though really, guys, one, the babysitter should probably be more mature and responsible than the babysittee, and also, um, yes, chip, but no soul? (although as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gnine pointed out, by this point, would anyone actually notice if Spike got a soul? He could get one and then lose it like Angel and no one would see any difference...)
(Speaking of Angel, WTF with the retcon, making Dru Spike's sire? It made sense within the ep itself - really liked those eps, with Spike relating the history of his Slayer-slayings, and then the parallel AtS ep, nicely done - but Spike called Angelus his sire several times previously, and I liked that, dangit; having the sire be the reformed vampire is a switch...)
I am kind of on the Spike/Buffy train (my bro's enthusiastic support of said 'ship encourages this - he's in favor of any pairing that brings the funny, generally, so...) and looking forward to s6 to see how that works out. (Also for the musical episode. At least 50% of my reason for watching Buffy is to see the musical episode. I have some suspicions that Joss really should be writing musicals rather than TV shows...) And I am very glad there is a season 6 - as a season finale the last ep wasn't bad, but as a show-ender it would have been quite a blow. (I agree, too, with not-bro-M, who's of the opinion that the finale glorifies suicide in a way that is not kosher - Dean Winchester has a similarly self-sacrificial mindset, but SPN makes an issue that this is a flaw in Dean's character, while as with Buffy it's presented as the right decision - her "gift", that she wasn't just saving the world/her sister, but also wanting death, and that is an unsatisfying end for a hero.) So, yes, interested in how season 6 handles that, and how it goes otherwise...
(also, the Smallville copping continues - Clark's father dies in s5. Seriously, in SV, whenever they ran out of ideas did they just look to Buffy??)
Meanwhile, have also seen through 3x01 of AtS (we were switching disks), and while there's things all over that remind me of how imperfect the show is, and it tends to be one of those somewhat frustrating watches that often stops just short of what I want, I'm still enjoying it lots. The team-family vibe is beyond adorable and I love pretty much all the chars, good guys and bad guys alike. Of the main 4, I don't know if I have a favorite, either char or relationship - I love Angel with any or all of the other three, and Cordy with all of them, and Wesley with all of them, and Gunn with all of them - any combo is awesome.
They're all developing in great ways, too. Continue to love and adore Cordelia; she's rapidly becoming one of my favorite female chars ever, with her totally unstoppable attitude, and with her compassion and determination to help never impeding her essential Cordelia-ness (AHAHAH her with Harmony! It was kind of tragic and hysterical at once, the phonecall she had with Willow - you just know that Willow mentioned it to the gang later, how she spoke to Cordelia who has not changed a bit. Only she really has, but Willow would have no way to know...) Meanwhile Wesley is really coming into his own as a demon hunter and as the new boss. And Gunn rounds out the team, walking the tightrope between solid common sense and reckless courage. The three of them coming together post-getting-fired was fantastic - drunken karaoke and group hugs, hee! (Though the show does have a bad habit of overlooking Gunn sometimes - he all but disappears in some eps. And I kind of wish more of a deal was made about his own leadership experience - Wesley's the boss now, but Gunn's the one who was leading a gang/mini-army, but he almost never comes up with any plans if Wes or Angel are about...)
Fond of a lot of the minors, too - Lorne is green scaly singing love! (would he get along smashingly with Jack Harkness or is it just me?) I also really like Anne and am glad she's come so far since when she knew Buffy. And I was sorry to see Lindsey go, as he brought out the worst in Angel and they played off each other in fantastically dysfunctional ways (you can tell the actors are friends, they've got such great chemistry.)(And then, Lindsey leaves LA, changes his name to Eliot, and goes vampire-hunting...it would explain the super-strength, no, if he's had that kind of practice?)
More random thoughts:
After getting fired by Angel and starting their own agency, our three human heroes argue about the name of their agency - why didn't they just call it Chase, Price, & Gunn? Or some variant there-of - could you get more awesomely appropriate names for a private eye biz??
"The Thin Red Line" - MMMM h/c! and zombie cops. Fantastic. Also, ZOMG, while I totes agree withgnine's assessment of the human-OT3 of season 2, a little (not-so-)straight Wesley/Gunn would not be amiss, either. (Not that I don't love love love Cordelia with all of her boys, but GAH Gunn waiting by Wesley's bedside was just eeeeee~!) (Of course I still love the gen firstly. Oh man, if anyone knows of any fluffy gen h/c-styling AtS fic, please to be linking? Any combo of the main 4 would be awesomeness, and all 4 getting equal weight would be fantastic. Though I'd particularly like a little beating on Gunn, as he hasn't yet taken one for the team, that I've seen...)
I also agree withgnine that Angel going darkside was totally, entirely worth it for the abject groveling and puppy-eyes he does after his epiphany, trying to make good with his little family. AWWWW. Trying to make smalltalk with Wesley! (oh, Angel, honey, gut wounds are not generally considered appropriate smalltalk.) Buying Cordy a new warddrobe! (and bouncing with her!) Fetching coffee for all! And the way they all wanted to forgive him and wanted him back, but hesitated and made him work for it, because he didn't deserve their trust but he could earn it. Socute!
Although I didn't really mind the darkside-Angel; one of the things I like about Angel is that he can be weak, and soul or no soul he still can screw up bad. And he's not-so-secretly got the maturity of a 12-year-old boy, and obviously reads way too many Batman comics - if they took away Angel's Frank Miller collection he'd be much better off. (Even if I do like his Batman habit of stalking on rooftops - he's a master-level skulker!) Though him throwing the lock on the Wolfram & Hart lawyers was awesome. Plus I rather like Darla, both with a soul and re-vamped; she's not exactly sympathetic and doesn't want sympathy anyway, but she is intriguing.
But I like Angel best when he is being a complete and total freak and a colossal dork, getting jealous of Wesley & Gunn's friendship (and then looking so happy to fist-bump with them!) or primping with his coat and his hair ("Do you have hair gel? --Of course you do.") Or running around Lorne's dimension - "Can everyone just notice how much fire I'm not on?" (Really, Angel's biggest problem is that, while Angelus is a homicidal and sadistic monster, Angel himself is naturally an asshole...I think the main reason he doesn't liking talking to people is because most of the time, the first things he thinks of to say are completely dickish, and he has trouble coming up with better alternatives. He's kind of the opposite of Spike in that; Spike can be incredibly cruel and incisively hurtful, but only when he's trying to be, while as his natural inclinations tend to be nicer...)
The finalXena arc was a lot of fun (AtS balances Buffy well, I notice; when one is darker the other tends to be lighter, so it was good to have the depressing finale of Buffy set against against the wacky adventures of Angel & Crew in demon-land). And Fred is cute so far! (Though who on this show has a thing for insane women? First Dru, now Fred...)
gnine hasn't been enjoying s3 as much (she's annoyed by the sudden inclusion of UST and love-triangles, which I'm really not looking forward to myself) but I'm hoping I'll still enjoy it, because it's been so much fun so far...(inching toward fanning on a Joss series feels like it did when I fell for xxxHolic...I don't trust Joss or CLAMP not to toy with my fannish feelings, I really should know better, but when my buttons get pushed I can't help myself...!)
ETA: Also, I'm getting enough along in both series to be able to watch vids without spoilers - got any recs? I'd be up for just about anything well-done, any char or pairing focus (though particularly Giles, Buffy, Giles & Buffy, fluffy Xander/Anya, Angel, Spike, AtS!Cordelia, cute teamy AtS. Also I'd kind of love a totally epically tragic romantic Buffy/Angel (the pairing, not the series) vid (yes, I like them, sue me :P) And please tell me that there is at least one awesome Wesley/Gunn vid, because they need one badly...)
Season 5 was probably my least favorite season thus far. Overall it was just too dark and grim for me. If I'm watching a show about an ex-cheerleader who slays vampires, I'm kind of hoping for escapist entertainment, you know? And sometimes the drama was successful, but sometimes it was strained, or just not very well-written. (Not necessarily Joss Whedon's fault; the Buffy cast suffers from screenwriter schizophrenia in that the writers vary quite a bit and all seem to have slightly different takes on the chars and relationships, which leads to inconsistency, and drama is less forgiving of that than comedy.)
I didn't care much for Dawn - I find her character irritatingly immature (she acts more like an 11-year-old than 14), and the premise somewhat nonsensical (okay, so the monks decided the save the Key, rather than simply destroy it, because they...vaguely hoped it might be useful? and that vague hope was worth the risk to the universe?) I do like some of Buffy's interactions with her, because I am so very weak to siblings, and it's great to see a protective big sister. Also Spike could be adorable with her. But overall, not a fan.
Much as I didn't care for Dawn, though, I hated Glory that much more. I don't know why she annoyed me so incredibly - I spent most of her scenes trying to figure it out, and never did come to any conclusions, whether it was the actress, or the writing, or the forced comedy set against the season's overall dark tone, or what. She suffered from the Big Bad Softening Syndrome which plagues many of the villains, that their hands are tied by the restrictions of TV drama. Like Angelus, Glory could have and probably should have killed most of Buffy's allies; when she found out Buffy had an inkling of where the Key was, she should have turned up at Buffy's house with Xander or Willow or Giles and threatened to smash open their skulls unless Buffy spilled. And then done it. That she never actually kills anyone significant undermines a lot of her threat potential - not that I wanted her to do it! but it made it difficult to take her seriously. At the end there was a bit of retconning implying it was Ben's influence that was keeping her from killing, but since this is said after she cavalierly slaughters an entire medieval army, it's not really convincing.
There were a few other things that got to me - Willow/Tara, cute as as a basket of kittens, but never allowed to kiss on the mouth except briefly for comfort, while Buffy has had several full sex scenes. The hell, American Television, the hell.
The season had its moments, though. Buffy standing up to the Watchers and explaining to them what's what, complete with her own cheering section and getting Giles's retroactive pay - awesome! And Anya's troll ex-boyfriend, and the Buffy-bot, heee.
Really, Spike and Anya were the salvation throughout, always entertaining. Anya is amazing, ever emotionally baffled, newly patriotic (Capitalism!) ex-demon love. ...Except that Xander/Anya is pre-emptively upsetting me because I know from spoilers that they don't work out - I don't know how it happens, I just know they're not together by the end of the show. And I don't believe there is any way they could be broken up that won't piss me off. They are so sweet and silly and well-matched and Anya makes Xander a better person and a better character at once, which is no mean feat! The My Two Xanders ep was great fun and I was so happy they both turned out to be the "real" Xander, and then in the Buffy & Riley break-up ep when Xander gives the speech to Buffy about choosing to love, and then he goes back and tells Anya how he really feels, and AWWWWW. (Also I like that both Xander and Willow are in steady relationships, because it makes their friendship all the closer since it's no longer fraught with romantic tension. Ditto with Xander and Buffy.)
And Spike continues to be the Most Pathetic Villain/Vampire/Being Ever. Only now in love with Buffy, and HEE, that is totally the best thing to come out of the entire season. I know I say I like friendships more than romance but I make the exception for this. Poor woobie!pining!Spike! With his chocolates and roleplaying with Harmony and his creeptastic stalker shrine and his even more creeptastic Buffy-bot! And his still being evil even though none of them ever remember and send Dawn to him for babysitting even though really, guys, one, the babysitter should probably be more mature and responsible than the babysittee, and also, um, yes, chip, but no soul? (although as
gnine pointed out, by this point, would anyone actually notice if Spike got a soul? He could get one and then lose it like Angel and no one would see any difference...)(Speaking of Angel, WTF with the retcon, making Dru Spike's sire? It made sense within the ep itself - really liked those eps, with Spike relating the history of his Slayer-slayings, and then the parallel AtS ep, nicely done - but Spike called Angelus his sire several times previously, and I liked that, dangit; having the sire be the reformed vampire is a switch...)
I am kind of on the Spike/Buffy train (my bro's enthusiastic support of said 'ship encourages this - he's in favor of any pairing that brings the funny, generally, so...) and looking forward to s6 to see how that works out. (Also for the musical episode. At least 50% of my reason for watching Buffy is to see the musical episode. I have some suspicions that Joss really should be writing musicals rather than TV shows...) And I am very glad there is a season 6 - as a season finale the last ep wasn't bad, but as a show-ender it would have been quite a blow. (I agree, too, with not-bro-M, who's of the opinion that the finale glorifies suicide in a way that is not kosher - Dean Winchester has a similarly self-sacrificial mindset, but SPN makes an issue that this is a flaw in Dean's character, while as with Buffy it's presented as the right decision - her "gift", that she wasn't just saving the world/her sister, but also wanting death, and that is an unsatisfying end for a hero.) So, yes, interested in how season 6 handles that, and how it goes otherwise...
(also, the Smallville copping continues - Clark's father dies in s5. Seriously, in SV, whenever they ran out of ideas did they just look to Buffy??)
Meanwhile, have also seen through 3x01 of AtS (we were switching disks), and while there's things all over that remind me of how imperfect the show is, and it tends to be one of those somewhat frustrating watches that often stops just short of what I want, I'm still enjoying it lots. The team-family vibe is beyond adorable and I love pretty much all the chars, good guys and bad guys alike. Of the main 4, I don't know if I have a favorite, either char or relationship - I love Angel with any or all of the other three, and Cordy with all of them, and Wesley with all of them, and Gunn with all of them - any combo is awesome.
They're all developing in great ways, too. Continue to love and adore Cordelia; she's rapidly becoming one of my favorite female chars ever, with her totally unstoppable attitude, and with her compassion and determination to help never impeding her essential Cordelia-ness (AHAHAH her with Harmony! It was kind of tragic and hysterical at once, the phonecall she had with Willow - you just know that Willow mentioned it to the gang later, how she spoke to Cordelia who has not changed a bit. Only she really has, but Willow would have no way to know...) Meanwhile Wesley is really coming into his own as a demon hunter and as the new boss. And Gunn rounds out the team, walking the tightrope between solid common sense and reckless courage. The three of them coming together post-getting-fired was fantastic - drunken karaoke and group hugs, hee! (Though the show does have a bad habit of overlooking Gunn sometimes - he all but disappears in some eps. And I kind of wish more of a deal was made about his own leadership experience - Wesley's the boss now, but Gunn's the one who was leading a gang/mini-army, but he almost never comes up with any plans if Wes or Angel are about...)
Fond of a lot of the minors, too - Lorne is green scaly singing love! (would he get along smashingly with Jack Harkness or is it just me?) I also really like Anne and am glad she's come so far since when she knew Buffy. And I was sorry to see Lindsey go, as he brought out the worst in Angel and they played off each other in fantastically dysfunctional ways (you can tell the actors are friends, they've got such great chemistry.)(And then, Lindsey leaves LA, changes his name to Eliot, and goes vampire-hunting...it would explain the super-strength, no, if he's had that kind of practice?)
More random thoughts:
After getting fired by Angel and starting their own agency, our three human heroes argue about the name of their agency - why didn't they just call it Chase, Price, & Gunn? Or some variant there-of - could you get more awesomely appropriate names for a private eye biz??
"The Thin Red Line" - MMMM h/c! and zombie cops. Fantastic. Also, ZOMG, while I totes agree with
gnine's assessment of the human-OT3 of season 2, a little (not-so-)straight Wesley/Gunn would not be amiss, either. (Not that I don't love love love Cordelia with all of her boys, but GAH Gunn waiting by Wesley's bedside was just eeeeee~!) (Of course I still love the gen firstly. Oh man, if anyone knows of any fluffy gen h/c-styling AtS fic, please to be linking? Any combo of the main 4 would be awesomeness, and all 4 getting equal weight would be fantastic. Though I'd particularly like a little beating on Gunn, as he hasn't yet taken one for the team, that I've seen...)I also agree with
gnine that Angel going darkside was totally, entirely worth it for the abject groveling and puppy-eyes he does after his epiphany, trying to make good with his little family. AWWWW. Trying to make smalltalk with Wesley! (oh, Angel, honey, gut wounds are not generally considered appropriate smalltalk.) Buying Cordy a new warddrobe! (and bouncing with her!) Fetching coffee for all! And the way they all wanted to forgive him and wanted him back, but hesitated and made him work for it, because he didn't deserve their trust but he could earn it. Socute!Although I didn't really mind the darkside-Angel; one of the things I like about Angel is that he can be weak, and soul or no soul he still can screw up bad. And he's not-so-secretly got the maturity of a 12-year-old boy, and obviously reads way too many Batman comics - if they took away Angel's Frank Miller collection he'd be much better off. (Even if I do like his Batman habit of stalking on rooftops - he's a master-level skulker!) Though him throwing the lock on the Wolfram & Hart lawyers was awesome. Plus I rather like Darla, both with a soul and re-vamped; she's not exactly sympathetic and doesn't want sympathy anyway, but she is intriguing.
But I like Angel best when he is being a complete and total freak and a colossal dork, getting jealous of Wesley & Gunn's friendship (and then looking so happy to fist-bump with them!) or primping with his coat and his hair ("Do you have hair gel? --Of course you do.") Or running around Lorne's dimension - "Can everyone just notice how much fire I'm not on?" (Really, Angel's biggest problem is that, while Angelus is a homicidal and sadistic monster, Angel himself is naturally an asshole...I think the main reason he doesn't liking talking to people is because most of the time, the first things he thinks of to say are completely dickish, and he has trouble coming up with better alternatives. He's kind of the opposite of Spike in that; Spike can be incredibly cruel and incisively hurtful, but only when he's trying to be, while as his natural inclinations tend to be nicer...)
The final
gnine hasn't been enjoying s3 as much (she's annoyed by the sudden inclusion of UST and love-triangles, which I'm really not looking forward to myself) but I'm hoping I'll still enjoy it, because it's been so much fun so far...(inching toward fanning on a Joss series feels like it did when I fell for xxxHolic...I don't trust Joss or CLAMP not to toy with my fannish feelings, I really should know better, but when my buttons get pushed I can't help myself...!)ETA: Also, I'm getting enough along in both series to be able to watch vids without spoilers - got any recs? I'd be up for just about anything well-done, any char or pairing focus (though particularly Giles, Buffy, Giles & Buffy, fluffy Xander/Anya, Angel, Spike, AtS!Cordelia, cute teamy AtS. Also I'd kind of love a totally epically tragic romantic Buffy/Angel (the pairing, not the series) vid (yes, I like them, sue me :P) And please tell me that there is at least one awesome Wesley/Gunn vid, because they need one badly...)
