Re: A Second Look: BTVS S7D2

On Apr 6, 9:43 pm, malspera...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:

> I disliked the haunted house for two reasons. Dawn is at her most
> childishly screechy and helpless; that song has been sung once too
> often. And the gore and monsters and broken glass are mere
> distractions from what should have been truly interesting and
> terrifying: the return of Joyce as an instrument of evil. Alas, with
> all the blood dripping on walls and whatnot, there isn't much doubt
> that this is Evil!Joyce. Her attempts to drive a wedge of distrust
> between Dawn and Buffy are lame, and never amount to much. (Would that
> they had: it might have provided more plausible motivation for Dawn
> later agreeing to evict Buffy from the house.)

Well, I had a different take on both counts.  I'm not a huge fan of
Dawn screaming so continuously (although Trachtenberg is indeed a good
screamer), but she's not at her most helpless here.  She's the one
walking over broken class and throwing hurried spells around.  The
other disagreement is about Joyce; I don't think it's at all clear
that Joyce is the First, although we're meant to consider it as a
possibility without being certain (much like the characters do in
"Sleeper").  I think there's a large amount of doubt, to this day.
Within the context of CWDP, I think Joyce's contribution is meant to
be minimal and, above all, mysterious, rather than terrifying.  No, it
never amounts to much, but I don't think this episode can be blamed
for any pof that.

-AOQ