"Michael Ikeda" <mmikeda@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
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> "One Bit Shy" <OBS@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
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>
>> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> news:69b6d98c-af74-433b-a09c-787cbb3e94ea@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> s.com...
>>
>
>>> I prefer
>>> to keep Cordelia as herself for as long as possible, because
>>> otherwise, what's the point of all the time the show spends on
>>> her? Her behavior in S3 rings perfectly true to me (with regard
>>> to the demon powers, anyway. Not barbarian warriors), so I'm
>>> fine to take the show at its implication that the evil entered
>>> her on the higher plane. The spell in "Spin The Bottle" is
>>> said to be what awakened Jasmine, so I'm fine with that as a
>>> cutoff - before then it's Cordy, after that it's not. Some
>>> people point to bits of Cordelia-esque or Jasmine-esque
>>> behavior at other times to suggest some kind of shared
>>> influence, but I don't see what that would add to the story.
>>
>> Since the mechanics are never really explained, we're left
>> imagining the gaps. I choose Birthday as start of possession,
>> but not exactly control. Cordelia remains Cordelia mentally, but
>> she has new weird powers that seem to pop up on their own. For
>> whatever reason, Jasmine can't take complete control without the
>> steps between then and Spin the Bottle.
>>
>
> I tend to see Jasmine as not taking full control until "Long Day's
> Journey," with "Spin the Bottle" and "Apocalypse, Nowish" as likely
> key points in the process. I do think it's reasonable to see "Spin
> the Bottle" as being a point when Jasmine starts to awaken a bit,
> but she can't do more than work on Cordy's subconscious until her
> "conception" at the end of "Apocalypse, Nowish." Whereupon she
> starts to take conscious control, and by the time "Long Day's
> Journey" rolls around she's in basically full control.
That's not a bad approach since it can be used to explain the erratic
personality during that intermediate period. I still tend towards Spin
the
Bottle as a more thorough take-over with the erratic being erratic story
telling from writers struggling to make up their mind. A couple reasons.
Mainly because plausibility seems to me to demand pretty active control by
Jasmine - especially in Apocalypse, Nowish. The conception seems too
critical to rely on subconscious prodding. I also struggle accounting for
real Cordelia if she isn't immediately suppressed. Wouldn't she be
complaining about memory gaps or otherwise acting strangely? It's hard to
imagine her not noticing that something's slowly taking her over.
You do bring up an interesting point about the conception though. Jamine
in
true material form comes only via the baby. Why that would be isn't
explained either. But, then, try explaining why a material God is born in
the baby Jesus. Since so much of this season deals with religious,
especially Christian, allegory, a miracle birth would seem to be its own
explanation.
But what does that say about before the conception? If she doesn't really
manifest until conception, then is she really possessing Cordelia before
that? I don't know. It just adds to the sense that you never know what's
really going on this season - even when it's done and put away.
OBS
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