Re: Double Meat Palace and Dead Things

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

First of all, Jolie, it was very considerate to put in the spoiler
space, but it wasn't needed.

The rule is: for a week after THE FIRST U.S. AIRING of any episode (and
ANY details or rumors about future episodes), you must put in 20 lines
of Spoiler Space and a warning about SPOILERS in the subject.

Anyway, it's well-known how much I hated "Dead Things". Granted, a lot
of that was about stuff that seemed to be saying Buffy was in love with
Spike--the cutesy-coupley chat at the beginning, Spike stopping her
cold when she was hitting him by giving that "you only hurt the one you
love" cliche, Buffy being affected by that like it's a revelation, Tara
telling Buffy it's okay to love Spike and it's okay to use him (wrong
both times), Buffy not being able to deny loving him--at the time, that
gave me a serious panic attack. Now that B/S are over and done, it
seems that was just a fakeout, but all of it's annoying, still.
Particularly hate the misuse of "you only hurt the one you love" in such
a way as to imply spousal abuse is a sign of affection.

Someone wrote that when they saw the "couple" moment at the start, they
knew B/S were doomed, because it was too sweet to last. They compared
it to Buffy and Angel at the start of "The Prom". Yeah, except for the
fact that Buffy and Angel were well known to be in love, whereas B/S had
never shown affection so this was ratcheting up the "romance" to a level
only the 'shippers had dreamed of before. It was a particular letdown
after "Doublemeat Palace" had shown it to be an empty, unfulfilling
affair, where even the sex was starting to pall. And "The Prom" is
about Buffy being in denial about how unworkable it is, whereas this
seems to say she's in denial about her feelings for Spikeykins. She
says she'd never wear the handcuffs and then we see her rubbing away the
marks, so we're supposed to think that she's still denying her feelings
and she just has to admit that she wuvvvvvves him. Gag.

And then, there's the godawful moment where Spike jokes about the
decorator he once ate--and Buffy laughs.  

Yeah, Buffy thinks murder is funny now. Because Spikey has nice
cheekbones, so who cares about some guy he once sucked dry? WHORE!
SLUT! SCUM! That scene is as destructive to Buffy's character as
anything in the history of the show.  

God, I'd forgotten how much I hate this ep. It isn't as unremittingly
stupid as "Flooded", it has a plot (stolen entirely from "Consequences",
right down to the dialogue, but a plot nonetheless), but it's just so
vile.

Also, Buffy has really ugly hair. :)

Going to take a few moments to calm down. Or beat Steven DeKnight
bloody, not sure which.

Dan