James's response to Rod's spoiler post--SPOILERS!!.

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

James,

First of all let me say your post confused the heck out of me, since I
had avoided Rod's spoiler post and your email program doesn't indicate
which parts of your mail have been cut and pasted from previous mails.
That said, once I figured it out, you have provided a very helpful
service in reprinting the character analysis part of Rod's mail without
including the actual spoilers, so thanks.

Now to respond to both Rod's comments and your rebuttals.

Re: Spike. While the "Big Bad" may never have been an ubervillain, he
certainly is at his most entertaining as an antagonist. And he is NOT
capable of love: In "Surprise", The Judge (whose sole function is to
determine this sort of thing and punish those who stray from pure evil)
said, disgustedly, that Spike and Dru shared "affection and jealousy".
Had it been love, the Gruesome Twosome would have been burnt like Dalton
was. He may chase a romantic ideal, he may lust, obsess, comfort and
admire, but he can never truly love because he doesn't have a soul.
That's what a soul IS, you know, the thing that makes us capable of
higher emotions. If you can love without a soul, what then is the
purpose of a soul?

Re: Dawn. Yep, it's silly that Buffy is now ignoring her. And Rod,
thanks for reminding us that Zombie Joyce was a Dawn/Spike
production--I've been focusing on Spike's "I'd protect Zombie Buffy"
comments from "After Life", but this is another indication that it's
silly to cast Willow as the EVIL Tamperer with Dark Forces and D/S as
the Only Ones Buffy Can Trust.

And James, sarcasm aside, while Buffy should certainly care for Joyce
and Dawn, the point was made last year that it's wrong for Buffy to take
her friends for granted, to push them out of the way because she's got
something else to think of, to only expect people to be there when she
wants them to be there and expect them to stop needing her when she
wants them to go back into the woodwork. This is the lesson of "Into
the Woods", the reason why Riley left. And, yes, we're glad to see the
Big Lug go, and he did act jerkish, but he was right and Buffy was
wrong, as Xander's speech at the end made clear. And Buffy acknowledges
this, that's why she goes after Riley at the end (although,
"tragically", she's too late). BTW, since this is Buffy's show and it's
in large part about her growth, a LOT of her choices are wrong (so she
can learn from them).

(Buffy also takes responsibility for her and Riley's breakup in "I Was
Made to Love You" and "Intervention"; in the latter ep she feels it's
symptomatic of her inability to express love.)

Re: Giles. No matter how "right" he may be, that was the wrong way to
express himself, rude, bound to be counterproductive, to say nothing of
shockingly out of character and contrary to his and Willow's
relationship for the entire run of the show (remember, they're already
acquainted before Buffy arrives). If anything, he should have been mad
at himself, since Willow learned about magic with him around--if she
needed more supervision, where was he?

And of course, he's only "right" because the writers show us things
Giles doesn't know--the blood sacrifice, Buffy's "heavenly" rest. If
Giles thought Buffy was in heaven he'd tell Willow--he certainly isn't
afraid to hurt her feelings, apparently. And if he thinks she was in
hell, then castigating Willow for putting Buffy ahead of the long-term
implications is contrary to the whole ethos of the show, as I've pointed
out before. We're supposed to know Giles is right; as to what he and
Willow actually know, she did the right thing.

(And yes, jdoe, I did think you might have written your piece as a look
into the poor, deluded girl's mind, but I didn't want to second-guess
myself.)

Giles has blood on his hands because he summoned a demon to get
physically high and to rebel against his father. Willow acted to spare
people, Buffy included, from suffering. No matter how selfishly people
try to construe that, it's nowhere near the same thing.

Re: Buffy and not talking. Well, I've pointed out that not talking is
a cardinal sin on this show, so no matter how many rationalizations
James/Buffy/the writers can give for her shutting everybody out, it's
wrong. This actually gives me hope, because Buffy is SUPPOSED to make
bad choices and maybe all this will eventually be something she
tearfully regrets.

And I'd like to note that if Buffy (as she says in "Flooded") doesn't
like acting happy so her friends will stop worrying and she knows that
her doing so only makes her friends worry more, then maybe she should
stop doing it. I mean if you don't like it AND it's not working, why do
it? (Because they need an excuse for her to bond with Spike--who's
also too stupid to see the obvious answer, BTW--and this is the best
they could do, I guess.)

Re: Buffy and the PTB. The only way you can believe in a "higher
power" (God/PTB/Whatever) is to believe they don't micromanage, else how
else can any evil exist? If the PTB are willing to let Glory open the
portal and overrun reality with demon dimensions, leaving it all in the
hands of Willow (and others), why wouldn't they be willing to let Buffy
suffer in hell until she's rescued by Willow (and others)? Couldn't
Buffy's salvation from torment be a task for Willow to accomplish?
After all, Angel, we have specifically been told, is a tool of the PTB,
yet they've let him lose his soul, spend CENTURIES in Hell, turn away
from his friends, allow innocents to die, etc., etc. Faith is a Chosen
One, yet they let her go rogue, and if she'd died after "Graduation Day,
Part 1" I'm pretty sure she was on the Inferno Express. Heck, the PTB
let Vocah murder their own Oracles, to say nothing of the fact that they
are tormenting and possibly killing Cordelia with the visions.

Re: my sweet Willow. Rod, fine defense of her. I never felt she had
changed before this season, she just tried new things and made a
questionable relationship choice. Still the same character. For people
to now <<cough>>Femvamp<<cough>> go and say that she had darkness in her
all along, it's innately possible in everyone, misses the point. Yes,
Willow is capable of strong emotions and she's intellectually curious.
Yes, these traits can lead to darkness. But Willow's previous
expressions of these traits has never stemmed from darkness, and to say
that anyone, no matter how fundamentally good can be subverted by their
best qualities may make for some drama, but is at heart so nihilistic a
concept as to be repugnant. Not to mention a lie, for if Joss really
believed in a nihilistic world, how come Buffy solves problems through
positive action?

And a good point in noting that Buffy is likely to be the cause of
Willow's troubles. While, like Anne-Lise, I wouldn't mind a minor
Willow freakout, followed by some Buffy-cuddling (as in
"Doppelgangland", "Something Blue" or "Tough Love"), this seems more
like an attempt to cause a permanent breach, to have Willow blame Buffy
and vice versa and ne'er the twain shall meet.  

A long term redemption after a period of unadulterated evil holds no
balm for me--it transforms her into Angel-with-tits, which would make
it very difficult for me to enjoy the girl we saw in the first 100 eps
(and thus the eps themselves), knowing that she'll be turned into
something quite different. And, repeating myself, Angel was supposed to
have the capacity for utter evil--we liked/disliked him because of it.
And Angel had the no-soul excuse, and he came back to Buffy's
acknowledged romantic love (Willow has neither)--and still they
couldn't save that relationship. Because some things just can't be
overcome. I'm afraid they're going to have Willow become an
un-overcome-able villain.

(Yes, I know the actual cause of the B/A breakup was to do a spinoff,
but I'm speaking of it in terms of the characters.)

On the whole "violated Wiccan beliefs" thing--she called to the Hebrew
God ("Adonai"), she's Jewish first (and has never renounced it) and
Judaism is very pro-animal sacrifice. See the Passover lamb, the
"scapegoat" concept--where the goat bearing the sins of the community
is cast out, but the pure one is sacrificed to God--and the entire
litany of sacrifices practiced at the Temple (and which might well be
again if a Third Temple is ever built). The concept is that a
sacrificed animal is consecrated, that it is dedicated to a higher
purpose, elevated to a station above its soulless nature. Animals and
Man were created separately and only Man is in the Divine image, only
Man has a soul. (I remember getting smacked down by a rabbi when I
asked about memorial prayers for my dead dog--no soul, no praying, the
end. And a female, non-Orthodox rabbi, at that).

Besides, I refuse to get all wonky about a religion's rules regarding
the practice of magic because--hello, people!--MAGIC ISN'T REAL. So
since Joss is making it up, there's no reason why Jossverse magic has to
conform to some religion's rules about it. Basically the whole thing is
a sop to the Wiccans who've been griping for yearsabout how Joss gets
things wrong. It'd be just as silly if some group had been complaining
about his depiction of vampires (also not real, like magic) and he
decided to have Angel or Spike's nonconfomity with that group's ideas
about fictional things become a "reason" for Angel or Spike being
punished.

Note to Wiccans: not condemning your ethical beliefs or the validity of
your religion, just saying that since magic is fictional, you don't have
the final say-so over how it should or shouldn't be done.

Note to Atheists: yes, you could say "God" is fictional too, but that's
a much nastier argument and let's not go there, please.

Other thoughts: Rod, I also have missed just plain Buffy/Willow
moments, and for that I blame Tara. Nothing against the character (not
in this instance, anyway), it's just that now every time Buffy is with
Willow, it's not Buffy and her best friend, but Buffy and her lesbian
witch pals, and that's distancing. I miss just seeing them walk
side-by-side, boggling at Giles's appreciation of Kendra's Slayer-only
life in "What's My Line, Part 2" or the two of them wondering what's up
with Xander and Cordy in "Ted" or "Bad Eggs" or talking about their
romances as in "Surprise" or any of the other things best friends do
(and that's just last week's FX eps). Really, there hasn't been a
friendship moment since "tiny Jewish Santa" in "Listening to Fear", and
that's almost a year ago (ep 5.9). Sure we can 'ship some romance out
of their reactions to traumas in "The Body" and "Tough Love" and "The
Weight of The World", but that's not the same thing.  

At least "Life Serial" gave us Buffy and Willow at school and a
perfectly normal Willow. Although, having seen the sweet Giles/Jenny
kiss at the end of "Ted" and the ditto Buffy/Angel smooch at end of "Bad
Eggs" this week, I'm thinking more about how Joss gives us farewells to
things before he wrecks them forever. Hey, maybe we'll get a real
friendship moment on Tuesday, if for no other reason than to remind us
that Buffy likes Willow so we can feel her pain at Willow's evil.
That'd be kind of reminiscent of all the "Don't Go" talk Buffy gives
Angel in "Surprise", re his exile to China, and then he ends up "going"
in a far worse way.

BTW, have to say that in loving "Innocence" above all others, I'd
forgotten how good "Surprise" is. To say nothing of Buffy calling
Willow a "hottie" in it.

Back to "Life Serial", before we go on to "All the Way", let me point
out that SPIKE IS A TOTAL LOSER. Here he's got Buffy saying that he's
the only one she can talk to, agreeing that she's a creature of
darkness, like him, and ready to go do some drunken damage, and what's
his idea of fun?? Cheating at poker for kittens!! Big Bad my eye, more
like Big Dweeb. Warren was scarier, and more charismatic.

I also want to note that, my objections to Evil Willow and Buffy/Spike
romance aside, I still think "Flooded" is the worst of the 105 eps. The
Buffy's financial troubles plot had dozen of holes in it, and several
obvious solutions, including the one they used in "Life Serial". The
comedy surrounding it was middling, which was a great step up from the
lameness of the Warren-and-pals plot's comedy, to say nothing of the
scintillating debate over how to pronounce the M'Fashnik demon's name.
And what plumber puts in new pipes without pumping out the basement
first??

Even if you're cool with Giles Angry, Willow Evil, that scene was still
badly written, way overblown, too obvious and the hectoring insults way
out of Giles's character. And the cut to Spike comforting Buffy outside
was a clunkingly blunt way of saying "Willow Bad, Spike Good"--TV for
four-year-olds. And I mentioned Buffy's "dilemma" over acting happy,
which isn't one. And Spike and Buffy overhear the G/W scene and neither
thinks for a second about what he said to Will about the magic or
worries about Willow threatening Giles. And the totally repulsive
moment when Spike jokes about killing her friends and Buffy smiles. I
think the Scoobs are being entirely too nice to BleachBoy, who in
"Spiral" wished he, Buffy and Dawn could get away and leave the other
five to die. I don't think he's joking all that much about killing
them.

Alas, though, the chip is ostensibly still working--the "After Life"
script says so and close examination shows Spike does slightly duck his
head and wince when he shoves Xander against that tree. However, that's
a much smaller reaction than he had to punching Xander in "The Weight of
The World", so maybe it's almost dead. On the other hand, maybe James
Marsters (who hates Sweet Spike) is just slacking off in the acting
because he's upset--the British accent was so AWOL in "Bargaining" I
thought maybe Giles took it back home with him. Although he's doing
better since.

Anyway, let's make it a discussion topic: what's the worst ep ever?
With in-depth analysis. I personally can't think of anything worse than
"Flooded" and I'm willing to defend in detail frequently attacked eps
like "Where the Wild Things Are" (lots of Scoob fun, aside from the B/R
sexfest), "Inca Mummy Girl" (1st Oz, Devon and Jonathan, good B/X stuff,
Xander and the girl as an analog/warning about where Buffy/Angel is
headed) and "Teacher's Pet" (far better than its immediate predecessor,
"The Witch", for starters). Because, generally, even the worst ep has
about ten things to like in it--all I got from "Flooded" was
"Fire?pretty".  

One weird thing about this year's arc: whereas other years I'd be
content to follow the gang's adventures and have the odd 'shippy
thought, I'm now in a position where I will absolutely have my enjoyment
of the show destroyed--or, very remote possibility, be REALLY happy.
Because the only way they can salvage this arc is if the Evil
Willow/Buffy Humps Spike plot serves a larger purpose, if it gives Buffy
a climactic, cathartic, breakthrough/realization, a reason why she's
back on Earth and happy to be here--and all I can think of along those
lines that would pertain specifically to Willow (and it has to pertain
to Willow, else Evil Willow is just a random, revolting, plot device)
would be?

--why am I being dramatic, you know what I'm thinking here--

?would be our fervent dream, Buffy realizing that Willow is her true
love and soulmate. You know, Joss once said that Angel was NOT Buffy's
soulmate. Assuming he wasn't just getting cover for spinning Angel off,
assuming he had an actual soulmate in mind, who could it be?  

Spike? Her soulmate is someone with no soul? That's perverse enough
for Joss but it kind of blows the whole "soul" concept--if you can have
perfect love without one, what's one for then?

Xander? Naahh, even B/X 'shippers would couch that romance in terms of
normalcy and companionship, not high-falutin' "soulmate" stuff.

Giles? Ick factor aside, they'd already started specifically using him
as Buffy's Dad by Season 3, pretty much negating the B/G shippage that
(shh!) is kind of visible at certain points in the first two years.

Some new guy? (This comment was in '99; late Season 3, early 4,
something like that, so Riley falls in this category) A little
presumptuous, no?

Faith? Meant to be a short-term character; Joss says he didn't see any
subtext until almost the entire third season had been shot, and Eliza
was out the door by then.

Kind of just leaves our Willow, right? Well, Joss was probably just
covering his ass from the wrath of the B/A 'shippers over that breakup,
but it's worth a thought.

Still, maybe, just maybe, that's what this is all about--Buffy needs to
reexamine everything in her life about her purpose on Earth, her love
life, and her relationship with Willow, so she can realize that her
purpose is to love Willow. Probably just about a 2% shot, but enough of
a reed to hang onto, maybe. Plus, I reiterate, First Gay Dramatic Lead
in US TV=Joss's Place in History=That Long-Sought Emmy?.

And I can't help thinking about the First Slayer's words to Buffy in
"Intervention":

"You are full of love. The Slayer forges Love from Pain. Give.
Forgive. Risk the Pain. Love will lead you to your Gift."

Well, if Buffy's Gift was the leap off the Devil's Diving Board in "The
Gift", then a lot of that doesn't apply. What love did she forge from
pain? (She already loved Dawn.) Whom did she forgive? (Surely we're
not just talking about letting Spike into the house? That's not really
forgiveness, since never having liked Spikey, she hadn't really been
hurt by him) What Pain did she risk? (Other than the physical pain of
death?).

Now look at that quote in the light of the above theory (which I
egotistically call Dan's Whacky Theory). If Buffy somehow comes out of
the Evil Willow year loving "her Willow" the way she should, that would
be forging Love from Pain, correct? That would entail Forgiving,
certainly? That would be Risking Pain, am I right? Although I confess
I don't know how to work "Death is Your Gift" into this. Unless Buffy
dies happily at the end of the series, having found true love--Death
being a Gift to her. Or maybe having found her Love for Willow leads
her to give the Gift of Death to Spike (ahh, such dreams)? Perhaps
we're talking Buffy once and for all defeats the Dark Forces and gains
the Gift of a peaceful, natural Death after a long life with her
soulmate?

Of course, I'm just dreaming. What's really happening is that all our
theorizing and character analysis is for naught--Joss is just selling
out like every other TV producer. Joss wants ratings. Joss thinks
people need a male love interest for Buffy. Joss thinks Spike is the
best choice (I personally would still try Xander, but?). Joss needs a
reason for Buffy/Spike, so he alienates Buffy from the Scoobs, just as
Spike is alienated. Specifically, Joss decides Evil Willow would be
just the thing to bring Buffy and Spike together permanently. Joss
therefore ignores all his previous work and turns her Evil, trying to
justify it with some cliched homilies about "power corrupts" and some
gratuitous "she's a bad Wiccan, so she must be Evil" bits.

You know, writing it that way, I'm almost startting to disbelieve it.
Joss can't really be that shallow, can he? He can't have done all this
scrupulous planning, this layered mythology, just to chase ratings with
Spike's washboard abs, can he? After all, last year I was sure he had
tossed in Dawn as a cheap lure for the teens and it turned out this was
a plot he'd been building for two years. So there must be a higher
purpose, no?

But I can't think that said higher purpose involves perverting Willow's
character and fundamentally altering the dynamics of the past hundred
eps. E. Bailey, in one of those great "Unconventional 'Shipping"
essays, wrote that the Buffy/Giles 'shippers believe that the story of
the show is the story of the Slayer and her Watcher, sort of the "We're
two of a kind" stuff the B/Fers rave about, just applied macrocosmically
because Giles is far more intrinsic to the show than Faith. But I have
to disagree, and not just because Buffy/Giles=Enormous Ick Factor.

The story of the show is: The story of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy, the girl whose humanity separates her from killing machines like
Kendra and Faith.

Buffy and her connection to the world.

Buffy and her friends.

Buffy and her best friend.

Buffy and Willow.  

Romance or not, that's the single most important relationship on the
show, thematically. Angelina calls it the rock on which the show is
built. Crack it, and the whole thing comes down. Let's hope not.

Dan

"Willow's not looking to date you. Or if she is, she's playing it
awfully close to the chest."--Xander, to Buffy ("Prophecy Girl")

"Wow. You're a dish. I mean, really."--Buffy, to Willow
("Hallowe'en")

"I don't know that much about Buffy. But I'm interested in what she
likes, and so far, well, the only thing that I know she likes is
you."--Riley, to Willow ("The Initiative")

Buffy: "I love you. You're my best friend."
Willow: "Oh, me, too. I love you, too."
Buffy: "Let's promise to never not talk again."
Willow: "I promise, I promise."
("Primeval")