On Apr 12, 12:08 am, "One Bit Shy" <O...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
messagenews:a1bad5f4-8477-4684-9270-0262824a8fd4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > Season Seven, Episode 13: "The Killer In Me"
> Part of the problem with using that as a misdirect is that the issue of
> Willow living with the power strikes me as more -er- powerful than the
issue
> of letting go of Tara. I know that there's a personal emotional element
to
> the Tara question that the more abstract power issue lacks. But come
on,
> even Willow understands (when she thinks about it) that she has to let
go
> some day - and the guilt along with it. Living with the power, however,
is
> a genuine mystery that never really does get effectively addressed.
Unless
> you think that white eyes are better than black eyes is good enough.
It's not really an either-or question, since the show feels it needs
to address both topics, separately. Living without Tara gets covered
here. Living with what she can do is supposed to be this background
thing running through S7 as it weighs on her, and she slowly learns to
live with it, day by day. In theory. Actually, what happens is that
the series runs out of story for Willow around the time of "Bring On
The Night" and then slaps a few protentious lines in the last couple
episodes and gives her white eyes instead of black. But as much as I
jump at the chance to find another flaw in TKIM, I don't think it's
this episode's "fault" that the rest of the season skimps on Willow's
arc.
> One of the defenses of Kennedy is that she's independent and won't allow
> Willow to dominate her like with Tara and - sort of - Oz. I'm actually
> moving the opposite direction in my thinking now. By the end of the
season
> Kennedy is practically wor****ping Willow. "You are a goddess."
Gotta agree there. I'll add a reminder that someone like S4-Tara
would let Willow dominate her, but late-S6-Tara, not so much. So I
don't think it's an informative comparison to make when contrasting
Willow's girlfriends. (Oz isn't really comparable, since Willow was
only dabbling in the harder stuff when she was with him, and none of
the characters had picked up on the destructive road she was
skirting. More generally, he tended to know what to say to deflate
Willow's attempts to wave her hand and fix things, but it's hard to
say how things would have progressed and whether he would have let her
lose control.)
> For Kennedy, I think she's first hit with a sense of responsibility.
After
> all, her kiss seemed to have provoked all the trouble. And then seeing
> everybody else just let her go off alone - well, that can't be right.
And,
> then, when she effectively saves Willow, well, damn! I think Kennedy
gets a
> little like Xander in the early years when he thought of himself as
Buffy's
> protector. It becomes kind of Kennedy's job to be with Willow all the
time
> and stand up for her against any perceived slight.
I see Kennedy as more of a fit for the defender role, as seen mostly
in the big group argument scenes, than for the kite-string role, which
plays like a scene written for Tara.
> > Season Seven, Episode 14: "First Date"
> > The series has decided to give Giles what I find to be a thoroughly
> > unsatisfying story this season (see OBS's response to the S7D3 post
> > for more). In this particular episode, it's not pleasant viewing for
> > someone who's always liked the character (who's never been a saint or
> > anything to begin with) to see him as alternately a bumbling idiot and
> > a bumbling guy la****ng out in frustration. (Part of the dubious point
> > of "First Date" is to move him into place for LMPTM.)
>
> By channeling early S3 Xander? It's not just the quality of his choices
in
> question, it's behavior that seems unhinged. OK, even thoughtful people
can
> come unhinged under pressure. I do kind of enjoy how the episode is
> constructed to show people not paying attention to Giles - even unable
to by
> having one Potential literally speak another language.
I kinda smiled at one joke involving Cho-Ahn, once. It wasn't in this
episode.
> It's just that this
> ultimately is supposed to reflect poorly on Buffy's leader****p in the
eyes
> of others. And all the time I'm thinking you should never trust the
> judgement of somebody acting like Giles.
I keep going back to the same words over and over, but Seasons Six and
(especially) Seven do seem to make a point of undercutting Giles's
integrity, and it continues to be frustrating to me, as a fan. "First
Date" is a good example of this, as it repeatedly shows him dispensing
wise-sounding words while he's talking out of his ass, attempting to
raise doubts about whether he ever had anything genuine to
contribute. Not only is Giles frustrated and often wrong-headed, he's
a ridiculous figure, worthy of scorn as he pompously yells at everyone
and tries to lay down the rules while not having a clue what he's
doing. As we've both kinda said, in line with making him a stand-in
for the WC/Shadow Men, who are in turn a stand-in for patronizing
patriarchy, the show's storyline makes Giles part of the problem, not
part of the solution. I share the frustration of those who enjoyed
what the character contributed to Seasons 1-5, and would simply rather
see him as a more admirable (if far from a flawless) person in
episodes that aren't "Chosen." The net effect is that I can't see his
point of view at all by the time we get to LMPTM, which feeds into my
feeling that the show is basically forcing us to side with Buffy by
stacking the deck. And I do blame this episode in part for it.
> The Giles part feels worse in retrospect than it did first time. Now I
know
> what it's leading to. But it doesn't necessarily have to. His outburst
> really could stay as frustration at being on a different page and not
being
> properly heard. There's a lot that could be done with that without
taking
> it as far as they chose to do. At this point it's still largely the
same
> type of conflict Giles and Buffy have had since the start. So I'm not
> inclined to penalize this episode quite so much.
As you say elsewhere, the end of S7 is, for whatever reason, all about
getting everyone into fights and picking between two camps.
-AOQ
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