"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:2e99ad4a-06b9-4b32-834e-016056df8ce0@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>A reminder: These threads *were* being patient, but it took too long.
>
>
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season Six, Episode 1: "Bargaining"
> Writers: Marti Noxon (Part I) & David Fury (Part II)
> Director: David Grossman
>
> It'd be redundant to say that "Bargaining" is one or one-and-a-half
> episodes' worth of material protracted into two episodes' slot. I'll
> say it anyway, though. There's not 90-ish minutes' worth of material
> in "Bargaining" - the frequency with which this assertion is repeated
> doesn't make it less true. One sees many scenes that go on a few
> minutes longer than they need to, and scenes that don't add much at
> all (other than a bit of continuity with the magic, what does the
> "separated and trapped in the woods" stuff accomplish?) Scale also
> seems a bit off - characters suddenly decide to have exposition-filled
> arguments after 147 days, and the epic battle that things build to
> takes place in a small room with a handful of one-episode villains.
> Mixed in there is one episode's worth of memorable moments - often
> images, like Willow and the fawn or Buffy climbing out of her own
> grave and seeing herself murdered.
> Rating: Decent
Obviously there is some big stuff here - Buffy raised from the dead, and
Willow on the path to ruin. But you are right, these two episodes seem
full
of padding. They do have a lot of very memorable scenes (no doubt with a
view to providing material for the pre season trailers). But there is a
lot
of dull stuff in between. Part 1 just gets into Good territory for me,
largely on the back of Buffybot's performance at school. Part 2 doesn't.
They are my 80th and 112th favourite BtVS episodes, 10th and 14th best in
season 6 (last year were 77th & 100th overall, 9th and 15th best in season
6).
> Season Six, Episode 2: "After Life"
> Writer: Jane Espenson
> Director: David Solomon
>
The scenes that embody what I'm rambling about are
> stuff like Buffy with her open ****rt upon first seeing Spike, or her
> not-quite-convincing reassurance to her friends at the end that things
> will get better. There's always something a little bit off in Buffy's
> scenes, and the episode weaves an intellectual little mystery around
> it now that there aren't moron biker demons yelling across the screen
> ever five seconds. "After Life" isn't perfect - it gets a little
> speechy, much of the plot surrounding the less than thrilling monster
> leans toward the boring side - but overall this is the episode that
> the season needed after the uneven premiere.
> Rating: Good
They brought Buffy back from the dead to save the world, and she made a
good
start, saving this episode. The series is named after her character, but
this is perhaps the episode where SMG makes the greatest differential
contribution compared to the rest of the cast. Every scene SMG is in (as
far
as I can recall) is at least pretty good, and pretty much every scene she
isn't in sucks. Fortunately she is in enough scenes to make the episode
Good
overall. It's my 69th favourite BtVS episode, 8th best in season 6 (last
year was 72nd and 8th).
> Season Six, Episode 3: "Flooded"
> Writers: Douglas Petrie and Jane Espenson
> Director: Douglas Petrie
>
> Another ME staff member's directorial debut, "Flooded" barely slips up
> a tick in my ratings. Like OBS, I feel like I may have hot and cold
> running opinions depending on what kind of mood I'm in on any given
> watching. This time I didn't take the more exaggeratedly silly plot
> elements seriously, and had a lot more fun with it. Season Six needs
> a few episodes that don't get taken too seriously as a whole, and even
> though of course there's some meaning beyond the surface comedy (there
> always is, huh?), I'll argue that this is the best way to approach
> "Flooded." The Trio aren't quite at their best in their debut
> appearance as a group, but the jokes seemed to hit more often than
> they missed. On a more serious note, it's great to see Giles again,
> both for the layered scenes with Buffy that play both how much they do
> mean to each other and their disconnect, and for the classic scene of
> he and Willow letting the reserve down and indulging their inner
> melodrama fans. Sure, the episode also gets dumb at times with the
> ****trayal of finances and the cartoonishly flooded basement, but even
> if it isn't a literally realistic look at these situations, doesn't it
> capture the way it feels to a young barely-adult? No? Well, let's
> just pretend it does.
> Rating: Good (up from Decent)
Giles is back - Yay. Sunnydale's Evil Geniuses...es turn up - Yay. Wacky
Buffy collides with the adult world. What's not to like? A definite Good
for
me (even if it is a long way from greatness. It's my 60th favourite BtVS
episode, 5th best in season 6 (last year was
63rd and 6th).
> Additional comments on S6D1: I'm still a little bothered by the
> ****trayal of the Scoobies in "Bargaining." On the one hand, their
> persistence is admirable in a way, refusing to give up on their
> friend. But the show doesn't seem to want to play it that way.
> Getting Buffy back becomes all about their needs rather than her,
> especially after we learn the rest of the story. My mild irritation
> comes less from that than from the implication that their needs are so
> tied to her. People aren't just having trouble moving on, they're at
> a standstill, even living with a robotic version of Buffy.
I guess they can't move on, because they get stuck at Bargaining. Because,
unlike most people dealing with death, Bargaining works for them.
--
Apteryx
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