Re: Defining Characteristics (including my Stupidity)--SPOILERS

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Sigh. This is why I shouldn't make Spoiler posts, because, YES I DO
MIND SPOILERS. And now people ask me questions, like Jolie did and I
start to read them, because I don't want to leave folks hanging. At
least this time I stopped before any spoilage happened.

Jolie, I'll answer what I read of your questions,

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On Amber and Emma's contracts: it was always my information that the
main cast (in the credits) had signed two-year deals, but Amber had not.
I even read that her agent had requested a two-year deal, but had been
denied.

On how IMDb listed Emma: don't really know, because I wasn't looking
for this. It just hit me when I saw Amber's name and that "1999-2002"
and realized that appeared to be confirmation that Amber was leaving the
show. (Not necessarily that Tara would die, it's just that the "Amber
leaves" info seems to fit the "Tara dies" speculation.)

I do think, though, that since Emma is listed with the main cast, I
might have noticed a "1999-2002" if she was leaving, too. But because
her name is above Amber's and I only noticed this when I saw Amber's, I
really don't know what Emma's info says. Nor am I inclined to recheck
it, for understandable reasons.

On Amber's presence in the main credits for "Seeing Red" and what it
might mean:

I hadn't actually heard about that, but it might just be a "going-away"
present.  

Alternatively, Joss said in his commentary on the Season 1 DVDs that he
always wanted to kill someone in the main credits to show that no one
was safe (when in fact, most main cast members always are), and so
wanted to put Eric Balfour (Jesse) into the main titles for the pilot.
It proved to be too time-consuming, so the idea was dropped, although
Joss has since implied this was part of the reason for Doyle's early
death on "Angel".

And remember, the titles were altered for "Superstar" and "Once More,
With Feeling", so a one-ep variation is possible, and does not
necessarily augur a future for Amber/Tara.

On whether I've seen "Seeing Red": No. If I had a computer that was
capable of viewing the wildfeed, I would. I may be against spoilers,
but I don't need to wait until Tuesday to see the actual ep.

I stopped reading there, but I'm guessing you were following up Tray
Wilds's suggestion that it's ambiguous whether Tara dies in the ep.  

(I have a hint of what Tray said because I happened to be on the
mainpage when he'd recently posted, and although he'd used Spoiler
Space, those mainpage excerpts from the posts omit the blank spaces, so
it was still possible to read the first line of his post, which I
unfortunately did.)

Let's consider for a second that Tara doesn't die. I would actually
vastly prefer this, since I don't want to see a character I dislike
martyred, with any future Willow relationship always having Tara's
corpse in the room as the choir sings a hymn to the poor dead Wiccan and
Kittens everywhere go "she never would have done this if Tara was
alive". If Tara dies, there goes my chance to hear Willow say the words
I desperately want to hear:  

"I'm sorry, Tara; I care about you a lot, and I always will, but I've
been in love with Buffy since I met her--I just never thought she could
love me that way, too."

I think anyone would want their favorite 'ship to be the result of an
affirmative choice, not a rebound thing. I'm sure as a W/Ter, you don't
like to hear me say that Willow only went to Tara because Buffy
abandoned her for Riley (see "The I in Team"), and I'm not one for
having the situation reversed.

So I wish Tara a long life and the strength to recover from Willow
dumping her for Buffy.

But if Tara actually DOES come out alive, if "everything you've heard
was wrong" is true, then ME has pulled off the greatest disinformation
campaign known to modern man, including

z) talking up the "Big Scooby Death" for about 10 months, going back to
AICN summer spoilers

y) leaking the news that only Amber isn't signed for next year.

x) leaking the news that Amber is signed for 16 eps ("Seeing Red" is
her 16th appearance this year)

w) sending cast info to IMDb, as above.

v) apparently putting this info in various May sweeps summaries,
although I haven't read them and don't actually know this.

u) leaking pictures from location shoots for the last four eps, and
script sides, and everything else that's led to this massive spoilage.

t) "accidentally" sending the "Seeing Red" wildfeed out a week early to
undercut the "everything you've heard is wrong" promo.

If ME has pulled off such a massive con, my hat is off to them. Indeed,
I'll buy a hat, just so I can take it off. But given that I don't think
Marti Noxon is capable of mailing a cross-town letter, allow me to be
cynical about the possibility of a fake-out on this.

As for my "harshness" on Amber/Tara, it's fairly simple: I don't find
the character compelling or Amber an engaging actress. Don't want to go
into deeper analysis, since that could be taken as bashing. Also, I
think the relationship itself is bad for Willow, since IMO, Tara seems
to have assumed Sheila Rosenberg's role as the comforting mother figure
whom Willow must "perform" for to get love from--granted, Tara gives it
more often than Sheila does, but still...I'd rather she'd gotten into a
relationship that wasn't all about how "powerful" and "special" her
magic was. It reminds me of Willow having to maintain her "perfect
record" and stay out of trouble or else her mother wouldn't love her any
more. (Okay, I have one of those mothers, too, so I empathize.)

Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps Tara's love isn't all about Willow's talents
and is about Willow herself. But it's an easy mistake to make, since
all we ever saw, pre-smooches, was them doing magic together, and since
both of their fights, and the breakup, were about Willow not doing magic
the "right" way. At least according to Tara the Dogmatist--just look
their interaction at the scene where Dawn wants to know about the
resurrection spell in "Forever", with Willow starting to talk about
maybe it's possible until Mom, I mean Tara, tells her it's wrong and
Willow defers, because Willow's opinion doesn't matter, Tara is the
authority on magic and Wicca and there are rules Willow must obey.  

It just makes me very uncomfortable. As it does Willow, to judge by the
"junior partner" reference in their "Tough Love" argument. And how does
Tara respond to that? By saying that Willow's magic (the primary focus
of Tara's approval in the past) is dangerous and "frightens" her.
Seems to be a way to reassert control. (Yes, even the meek have means
of controlling people. Along these lines, Tara grabs her too often. I
mean, why can't Willow run to Buffy's corpse at the end of "The Gift"?
Is Buffy gonna explode?)

Buffy/Giles is a less parental relationship, IMO. Giles recognizes
that he can't be the final authority about the slaying, that Buffy will
make her own decisions (and he comes to realize it's better that way).
And when she messes up the slaying, horribly, for selfish personal
reasons, he tells her that he loves her anyway.

Aside from my general lack of enthusiasm of Tara, Amber, and the W/T
relationship, the "Entropy" reconciliation just seemed forced, as
discussed in the previous posts. Frankly, it's another indication that
Tara is doomed, because they gave the Kittens a final happy moment
(rather like that Spike/Buffy cuddling in the "Dead Things" teaser I
hated so much). But I like to think I'd have been just as annoyed if
Cordelia, after spending the entire back half of Season 3 coping just
fine without Xander, suddenly went back to him. Perhaps even after
she'd been humbled and he'd made amends in "The Prom", neither of which
has happened with W/T, even then it might have seemed rushed. 

Dan

(well, you asked why I felt the way I did...)

"Do want me to wag my finger at you and tell you that you acted rashly?
I can, and you did. ...but if it's guilt you're looking for, Buffy, I'm
not your man. All you will get from me is my support and my respect."
--Giles, "Innocence"