Re: OT: "Hell's Bells" Reaction

["debvii" <debvii@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@y..., danspector@w... wrote:
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> I doubt Nick will leave the show now that his part's finally getting
> good (about time, too, dontcha think?). I think he's under contract 
> for next year, anyway (although that would be an easy fib to tell

After last night's ep, I counted at least 3 cast members who are 
imminently bootable (from a storytelling POV, not because I don't 
like them).

I don't think Nick's part got good, though. That the wedding didn't 
happen wasn't surprising to me, but Xander's abandonment of Anya to 
face all the guests changed my reaction from empathetic to disgusted.

(It was trippy to see Triangle right before this. I also, as foul 
luck would have it, caught Act IV of Into the Woods. It almost would 
have been better if there hadn't been all those months of 
non-development of Xanya between then and now.)

> On the W/T front, that seemed a little too-friendly (shouldn't Tara

Didn't make much sense to me. Tara's been getting major props for 
being critical and distant, and viewers have been talking about how 
Willow just doesn't get what the real problem is. Seems to me the 
writers of the last 2 eps have moved toward making the sole problem 
the fact that Willow was using too much magick -- nothing deeper than 
that. As in, "If she's not using magick, she won't hurt me, so 
everything's hunky dory!" Interestingly enough, as Tara gets closer 
to being Willow's girlfriend again, she also seems to be returning 
to... "Willow's girlfriend" character status.

But, yeah, I do think a fall is coming. Willow hasn't had a "bad day" 
in a very long time. This week Xander & Anya were tortured, next week 
Buffy is, so I'm thinking Willow is up for big hurt the next ep after.

I'm sorry, but I just have to say: W/T have absolutely zero chemistry, 
IMO. Indeed, it's sometimes in the negative range. The dress-fixing 
scene was tiresome, and the rescue scene was cheesy as all get out. I 
rilly, rilly would have preferred a B/X/W scene; the lack of same was 
a major oversight, IMO.

The B/W and B/W/D scenes that framed the ep were very nice. MT had a 
good week: I don't think there was any scene where I was aware that 
she was acting. Emma was Won.Der.Ful! I actually cried. The 2nd time 
I watched the ep, I specifically followed Anya's POV. The Spuffy 
scene turned me off. I'm moving back toward liking the Slayer and 
disliking Buffy. Haven't felt that way since S2. I sorta feel bad 
about that, seeing as she's getting happy again and all (and her 
juggling was fun!), but eh. If it weren't for the charming W/X scene, 
I'd be pretty much over Willow, as well. Too much weirdness about 
these characters, not enough positives, not enough depth.

btw, Rebecca Rand Kirshner continues her streak as a FAR stronger 
writer of Buffy & Willow's friendship than the W/T ship. It's 
amazing, really, how starkly the pattern stands out.

> What I'm mostly wondering about next week is if "there is no 
> Sunnydale" means the rest of the cast takes the week off, and we 
> just get Joyce, Hank, Buffy, and the doctors at the loony bin.

I saw Spike, Dawn, Xander and Willow in the promos. Looks to me like 
Buffy spends the ep in a psychotic state. Part of the time she's 
wreaking havoc in the real world (she accosts Spike, Dawn is screaming 
and running for her life, Willow swings a large object at someone, 
Xander looks aghast), the other part of the time she's trapped in a 
delusional fantasy world (the hospital).

DEM