"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:4bbc0e33-cb07-4363-9f1e-b829abcd0830@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Mar 2, 5:17 pm, "One Bit Shy" <O...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
>>
messagenews:e2271ca1-053a-4157-9b0c-7c40adf96355@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > Whether or not one likes Gnarl's
>> > attitude, his method of killing is certainly disgusting, and I think
>> > that kind of grotesqueness works for me in any mood. There was some
>> > discussion last time around about whether Willow is being punished by
>> > an unimaginative and literal-minded sadist of a writing team. I
think
>> > the opposite is true - Gnarl is the doubts whispering in her ear that
>> > even the people she loves think she should be punished, getting
>> > skinned and dying alone.
>>
>> I pretty much agree with you. Really I think the writers are letting
her
>> off pretty easily. Since TKIM doesn't end up actually going there, I
>> think
>> this is pretty much it for Dark Willow punishment.
>
> Yep. Similar to the thousands of other times someone gets forgiven,
> it seems like the point is that puni****ng Willow further wouldn't
> really accomplish anything. She has to live with what she's capable
> of and deal with it on a day-to-day basis, which is her semblance of
> an arc this season. (As you suggest, TKIM confuses things a little
> bit by pretending it's going to go back to the well.)
>
> WILLOW: I deserve a lot worse. I killed people, Giles.
> GILES: I've not forgotten.
> WILLOW: When you brought me here, I thought it was to kill me or to
> lock me in some mystical dungeon for all eternity or--with the
> torture. Instead, you go all Dumbledore on me. I'm learning about
> magic. All about energy and Gaia and root systems.
> GILES: Do you want to be punished?
> WILLOW: I wanna be Willow.
> GILES: You are.
> - "Lessons"
I'm quite fine with that too. Buffy and company are often enforcers, but
they're not meting out justice. That's not their function or really what
the show is about. When the series does go there it seems more often to
be
about natural consequences than justice and more interested in redemption
than punishment. Which is not to say that it doesn't recognize poetic
justice. (Gnarl does go after the skin.) It's just that the idea seems
to
be to somehow move past that. Vengeance, after all, is generally seen as
a
problem - the wrong path. And one of Buffy's greatest attributes is
seeing
the possibilities in sinners.
>> This is
>> small stuff compared to the really foreshadowy element of the scene's
>> emotional highlight.
>>
>> Buffy: I got so much strength, I'm giving it away.
>>
>> I surely love it for the emotional connection with Willow right now,
but
>> I
>> can't help but note the parallel to Buffy's grand solution to the
Slayer
>> trap. Willow's magic makes it possible then too. And just to complete
>> the
>> parallel, one can also see Willow's season ending spell as a healing
one
>> for
>> herself.
>
> Didn't catch that at all, but definitely a parallel. They clearly
> knew how things were going to end at this point, but the foreshadowing
> is subtle enough that I doubt anyone fully processed it in advance.
That's why I re-watch it.
>> I remember thinking when originally aired how fresh this season felt
>> early
>> on. Later it'll become a bit of a slog, but for now M.E. seems to be
>> living
>> up to its determination to brighten the series up after two years of
>> comparative harshness.
>
> I guess you're right to a degree, and people definitely talk about
> Season Seven being consciously less dark than the previous year. But
> even though the early part of the season is indeed low-key before
> gradually moving into the realm of the epic (and arguably the
> monotonous; very S5 in that respect), I don't really think of BY or
> STSP or "Selfless" as bright, cheery episodes.
Oh, I didn't mean cheery. (I struggled to find an adequate adjective.
Fresh was all I could come up with.) BtVS isn't cheery very often - even
in
good times. Maybe I should have said "refre****ng". I don't think S7
starts
any more upbeat than most seasons. No more than S5 actually. But one
problem with S6 is that it didn't offer any respite from the hardness of
S5.
It's been a really long time since folks just had a few simple adventures.
So comparatively it's fun.
OBS
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