Re: Normal Again Mini-Review

["debvii" <debvii@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@y..., Jason Rune <winter_herald@y...> wrote:
> I think I'm going to copycat Dan's idea of reviewing the show bit by bit as 
> it progresses, so here goes. Sorry if it's a bit more brief and disjointed 
> than my usual fare :)
> 
> S
> P
> O
> I
> L
> E
> R
> S
> 
> A
> R
> E
> 
> H
> I
> G
> H
> 
> I
> N
> 
> C
> A
> L
> O
> R
> I
> E
> S
> 
> There, that should be enough, eh?
> 

> Buffy: Once you fall for Willow, you don't ever stop.
> 
> Possibly not the exact line, but wow!

Tell me about it! My eyes bugged out. I think the line was "Once you 
fall for Willow, you keep falling." And then there was, "You always 
come through," said in a quiet, heartfelt tone of voice. Kazoinks!

I really think Guiterrez was playing at something in the subtext. The 
weird thing was the lack of touchage during all those sincere moments 
and declarations. It was almost as if SMG and AH were NOT supposed to 
touch. Or maybe I'm just making shit up. :) Just seemed like there 
was a big disconnect between the words & tone, and SMG/AH's body 
language & blocking.

Still, tho, I thought I was gonna overdose from all the B/W action! My 
poor heart can't take so much excitement! ;)

> Good to see some Xander/Spike tension like in 
> the good old days.

True. But it's been so long since they had a scene together that it *
almost* seemed to come out of nowhere. I lost the rhythm of the 
cemetery scene, so one minute they're just blahblahblah and the next 
minute Will is pulling them apart and I'm like, "Ka huh?"

I got that Spike was miffed at Xander's 'hypocrisy' and frustrated that 
he's been pushed off to the sidelines again, but was he also offended 
on Anya's behalf? I got the sense he might be, but in the first part 
of that scene he seemed profoundly underwhelmed to hear about Xanya. 
That rascal Spike! Too cool by half.


> Buffy told her parents about vampires back in LA? And they sent her
> to a clinic? Was this ever mentioned before? Oh... they '"forgot."
> Retcon.

That is one story element I'm really having trouble with. I'm not sure 
why that bit was there, other than to add weight to the final scene.

hmmm...OTOH, I think it paradoxically helps to explain Joyce's S1-2 
cluelessness. That is, saying that Joyce and Hank "forgot" reinforces 
how implausible it was that they didn't know. You know?


> Xander and Spike are out on patrol together? This is going to be 
> fun. Bickering. Xander jokes.

This reminds me of a neat little thing in DG's writing of the 
characters. DG knows these characters really well and he nailed the 
interactions between Spike and the Scoobs. Xander and Spike fought 
about Buffy and about honour, of course. Willow was polite, but she 
nevertheless kept Spike at a distance. Spike's crypt is not "home" nor 
is it even a passable substitute, and Spike is "help" rather than, 
well, Spike.


> Spike is laying it on thick, isn't he? It's not nice to tell someone 
> they're addicted to misery while they're sick and out of it.

Good gods, I wanted to throttle him!

> Oh, now look what you made her do. She'd rather be in an asylum than
> with Spike. Wheefun.

heh.

ooh, I had this whole thing about Tara's role in this ep but I erased 
it cuz it didn't make much sense, but now I'm thinking that the MAIN 
point DG wanted to make was that Tara is one of Buffy's friends. Just 
as we never saw Anya, we didn't actually need to SEE the university 
scene, and it wasn't necessary for TARA to buy the Scoobs time (e.g., 
Xander could have discovered a rusty nail on the pole and worked 
himself loose). So, it all came down to Tara's importance in Scoob-
life. She's in the "group shot" at the end, ya know? Note, however, 
that Spike was not. YAY!

ah, but this makes me wonder about Anya. Did anyone else notice how 
Buff & Will talked about her in the 3rd person? True, they'd obviously 
been with her since the wedding, but she's definitely more 
"objectified" in their minds than Xander is.

> Xander: Friends? Romans? Anyone?

He's so cute when he's cute.

> Buffy's lying, Buffy's lying... and beating up Xander.

Damn, totally caught me off-guard.

Great 3rd act.

> And tying up Willow in the basement. This is bad :(

I would have loved to have seen that happen. Someone needs to write a 
fic of that missing scene.

> No, not Dawn... oh wait, I forgot that 
> they're making M.T. be a whiney little drop this season.

Her first scene turned me off so badly that I had to work to empathise 
with her in the chase scene. Did you notice how similar Spike's and 
Dawn's reactions were? MT has her acting moments and I think she did a 
pretty good job with that 2nd scene, but her character is intolerable! 
I keep trying to give Dawn the benefit of the "15-year-old" doubt, but 
I can only be pushed so far!


> Tara is becoming more and more powerful. Nifty telekinesis going on 
> there. But of course, Tara knows how to use it wisely, while Willow
> is just an addicted weakling. Of course. *Tara* can use magic to
> knock things around, but if Willow so much as goes near it she'll
> become a psycho dark sorceress and kill everybody. Right.

UGH.

> Asylum-Joyce is giving a nice comforting speech. Let's hope Buffy
> takes it the right way... yeah!

It was soooo wonderful to see Joyce again. Yay, Kristine! Happy to 
see Hank, too, but... does anyone else find him slightly creepy? Maybe 
I keep expecting him to turn into Nightmares!Hank or something.

That last Buffy-Joyce scene was great. Buffy has accepted her mother's 
death, internalised her, and is trying to move forward. Nice stuff, 
and well-played by KS and SMG.


> Tara-hand on Willow-shoulder. Hmph. But Willow is eyes-forward on
> Buffy, so I suppose it's okay.

And I'm pretty sure, as she often does, that SMG used Aly/Willow as her 
initial focal point for the scene (tho I'll concede there's the slight 
chance she was looking at MT at first).

> Wouldn't that have made a nifty series finale?

ummmm....no. ;-) It was a FAB ep, IMO, but I would have felt 
unsatisfied had it been a series finale. Too cheaty.

I think this was the 2nd best ep of the season, easily. I was riveted 
from beginning to end.

> Jason Rune (Zephyr)

your fic rocks.


DEM