Re: Insta-review of Seeing Red (SPOILERS)

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Oh, sorry about that. I was trying to make the Spoiler Space and the
cursor just skipped over to the "Send" button as I was hitting "return"

Let's 

try

This 

again,

shall 

we

now?

This

is

Spoiler

Space


for Jason's review.

Good catch on getting the Orbs/testicles connection much quicker than I
did. All about the tezzies tonight, wasn't it?

I was actually fairly pleased by the plot movement we'd gotten by Act 2,
but you're right again, the Trio plot should have been one notch further
along. Lose the "Warren beats up the demon" and "Willow/Tara dorm
smooches" scenes, and get Warren to the Bronze much quicker. Then
intercut the rape scene with Warren the Stud, to reemphasize the point.

Take B/S right to the point where Buffy realizes what he's about to do,
then cut to Warren creeping the girls at the bar out with all the
"Daddy" talk.  

Xander comes up and tells Warren to take it outside, and Warren talks
about Anya ("if she's taking it from a vamp...") and Xander hits him.

Cut to Spike in full-psycho mode, as he shoves Buffy and she hurts
herself on the tub

Cut to Warren. "You hit like a girl." "At least I know how to get one."

Cut to Spike, talking about being inside her and all that sweet chat of
his.

Cut to Warren, smacking Xander. And then standing over him, saying
something like "I can get what ever I want. All it takes is power, and
the will to use it."

Cut to Spike, using it on Buffy. Commercial.

As actually shot, I thought they were just trying to keep the rape scene
from going over the top, and blacking out to spare us the more graphic
bits. But when they came back, it turned out they were going to get
very graphic, so the placement of the commercial made no sense. Much
better to take the break when he first shoves her and she falls against
the tub. Then, shot of Spike looming over her, and break. Set-up ("oh
Joss, he's going to rape her!") before the ad, punchline (the actual
attack) after it. This was clumsy. Be interesting to see if the script
puts the break right there.

Don't know about the Act 3 break, though. The Trio plot hit the proper
beats (gain power, play with power, evil plan) and while the Spike
subplot needed a stronger resolution, this would have come in Act 4.
Possibly what was lacking was something to involve the gang as a whole
in the fight (shouldn't they at least be there to watch Buffy's back?).
Or perhaps a W/T scene that wasn't just about sex, but about how their
relationship has evolved and how Tara feels about it now. This would
have paid off nicely if Tara had sacrificed herself for Willow, rather
than just being offed for random plot convenience.

You know, I guess that's supposed to be a cliffhanger, but it's kind of
lame. Buffy obviously isn't dead, Tara almost certainly is, and the
villain's completely powerless. "Willow punishes Warren" isn't really a
great hook for next week, not like "Faith steals Buffy's body" or
"There's an unkillable demon on the loose and Angel's just lost his
soul". We should certainly get some story next week from Rack's return
and Willow battling her darkest urges, but that's a new story, not
really a continuation of this one.

Thanks, Jason.

Dan

PS--I know Jonathan's trying to do the right thing, but anyone whose
reaction to being arrested is "oh, God--the Big House" probably
deserves to get smacked around a bit in the showers, I think.