Re: OT--"As You Were" discussion (DEM)

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

[And one more?]

--- In buffywantswillow@y..., "debvii" <debvii@y...> wrote:
--- In buffywantswillow@y..., danspector@w... wrote:
> I'd like to invite everyone on the lists to share their opinions on
> tonight's new episode.

Well, hot diggity dog! I'm in!

 
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>> Did you enjoy it, or not?

>eh, kinda.

>> What did you like? 

>Got some good, old-style humour?Oddly enough, ?I didn't>find Xanya
all that funny. I kept drifting during their bits.

Their scene at the Bronze was longer and funnier in the script--I would
rather have kept all of that and lost the car scene, which did nothing
for me.

While I have worries about what the last X/Ay scene says about the B/S
arc (see my review), I have to like them getting in another "Gay Xander"
joke ("If you like Riley Finn so much, why don't you marry HIM?" "He's
taken"). Let's see, Xander's admired Riley's bod, wrestled him, joked
that he wanted to have sex with him, and isn't marrying him because
"he's taken". Gee, maybe it's not Spike who's getting his heart broken
in this ep :).

>No Tara. although I guess there are only so many mouthpiece characters 
>one can stuff into an episode. snark!

Perhaps next week, we can actually have a Mary Sue-free ep?

>If I see Buffy making mopey faces for Spike in >subsequent eps I'm
gonna turn her over my 
>knee... right after I shake Willow really hard and tell >her to get
over [Tara]

Much as I really hate Willow's begging for Saint Tara's approval,
perhaps this means they won't do the same thing with Buffy. Surely, one
character doing the puppy dog pining is enough--and Tara's been so
elevated to goddess-hood, it'd be very weird to see either half of
Spuffy treated with similar worship. 

>The end of Spuffy should herald the return of the rest of the cast
and>lots of interaction among the gang. I hope.

Your lips to Marti's ear. Say, I saw Anya hugging Buffy and Willow
simultaneously in the promo--do you think there's any chance B/W might
accidentally touch during that?

Although, as you know, any B/W physical contact will start a chain
reaction and cause the Earth to explode, so maybe it's better if they
don't. :P

>> What didn't you like?

>Capt Spudboy and his lovely wife Mary Sam. Was that woman even an 
ACTOR? :shudder: 

In the fine tradition of every wooden model ever to clunk her way
through a part.

>I've officially had it with the "wise words from a guest star" 
>motif.  

Well, they won't let Buffy get cluage on her own, and they're determined
to keep the gang in the dark forever, so I guess next week it'll be
fatherly advice from D'Hoffryn.

>If I have to see ONE MORE SCENE of Willow the Puppy, I just might die.

Tara's not hanging up on my phone calls! Life is good! :rolleyes:

>> What did you think of Buffy and Willow's interaction (or lack
thereof)?

>Mixed. The whole "I'll hate her for you" bit brought misty tears of 
nostalgia to my eyes, but it wasn't enough, dagnabbit!  
According to the script, when Sam is nattering about the disposable
cameras, Willow is supposed to be mocking her TO BUFFY, but we didn't
get any eye contact. Would like to know where they're going with this
myself.

> In that kitchen scene, 
SMG's lines were played almost entirely to Dawn.  

Perhaps Buffy's trying to make up for the whole "neglect" thing from the
last ep? (And where have Child Protective Services been since "Gone",
anyway?)

>I mean, that whole Will-Dawn scene at the Bronze was just WRONG-O, 
>WRONG-O because: 1) something about the convo or Willow's behaviour 
>didn't fit for a W-D scene, 

Much more friend-like than the normal parental tone--from confiding
about her old Xander fantasies, to her excitement about Tara, to the cut
bit where she spots the cute guy who dances with Dawn.

>and 2) I was constantly distracted by the 
fact that, under normal (i.e., GOOD BtVS) circumstances, that would 
have been a B/W scene.  

Exactly: confidences and hopes and setups are how she'd react to
Buffy--with Dawn she should have been more reticent about X/Ay, not so
excitable about Tara (don't want Dawn to get ahead of events) and more
protective when the guy comes along. There's a six-year age diff
between W/D, and she's watching her on Buffy's behalf--I didn't get any
sense of that from the scene.

Even Dawn getting their drinks--why is Will letting the 15-year-old go
to the bar alone?

>> Was there anything that might be considered subtexty?

>HA! Yes, the probably unintentional comparison of B/W and R/S in the 
living room. "See Riley and his beautiful wife. Cut to the 
incomparably lovely Slayer and her Hacker-Witch."  

If there'd been some B/W contact, that would have been even more
noticeable (particularly with the insert shot of R/S locking fingers,
and Buffy reacting to it). A hand on the shoulder would have said
"she's already got what she envies them for, if she only knew where to
look for it." 

>Willow would NOT let the house go like 
that. The whole, "I'm running this whole household all by myself"
schtick is wearing thin. It just doesn't fit with my conception of
Willow and of B&W's 
friendship.  

Willow's always been way more domestic than that (plans all those
birthday parties, for example). I almost wonder if the W/D scene was to
make them look like two irresponsible kids, and Buffy the long-suffering
mom--which is just silly.

>And, c'mon, Buffy can't catch a semi-slow-moving garbage truck?!

Heck, I'm pretty sure she could just heave the bags in there from that
distance.

>I think Dawn and/or Willow know about Spike. In a way, The looks W&D
exchanged in the kitchen were too knowing to be meaningless, I think. 

I make the comparison to the looks Will gave the [literally] closeted
Xander/Cordy back in Season 2. Folks thought she knew, but all she
really had was a feeling something was up ("I knew it! Well, not 'knew
it' in the sense of having the slightest idea--but I knew there was
something I didn't know!"
--"Innocence")

>Say, before Smashed, did we know that Willow is a pool player?

I think it's just Xander playing Ford in "Lie to Me", although Will is
there with them before Buffy, Angel, and the audience arrive, so she
might be playing. I suppose Xander taught her to play most of the games
he liked--apparently she bowls, since she and Xander set up that double
date for the lanes in "Lovers Walk" (and she finds rented shoes
sexy--interesting). So I suppose he taught her to shoot some stick,
too, but I think "Smashed" was the first we saw of it.

>> Did it give you any ideas for fics?

>Willow and Buffy always give me ideas....

>DEM

Mmmmmmm.  

And on that though, good night.

Dan