Re: A Second Look: BTVS S7D2

"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:e413b701-6846-4c3a-96ab-78e9b278c109@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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.

I've generally assumed that Joyce was one of the First's creations simply 
because her message to Dawn fits into the general objective of separating 
Buffy from her friends.  Lacking clear evidence to the contrary, I
continue 
to go with that.  But I don't believe that it's ever obvious.  Nor does it

get clarified.  (Joyce's appearances to Buffy only confuse it further.)  I

think that you're right that mysterious is what they're going after most.

OBS