Re: 'Villians' Thoughts *Spoilers for Ep*

["blinviz" <debvii@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@y..., jeepy91@a... wrote:
> Ok, I'm still not exactly sure what to make of this episode but I'm 
> just gonna weigh in here a little bit.

SURPRISE! (okay, no surprise, but)

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> Ok, well the term oh shit comes to mind again. Honestly, I'm not
> sure if I hated it or liked it at this point.

Me neither. No, scratch that. After the first time thru, i wasn't 
sure how i felt. Now I know I'm not on the "hated it" side, but not 
sure i actually liked it, either. And I don't just say that cuz of 
Willow.

Aly was very good most of the time. She got nuance in there where she 
could, but it's just so mind-boggling to see black-haired, automaton 
Willow. Hardly seems the same person at all.

(i'm ignoring the B/X talk. lalallalala, i cannot hear you!)

> I'll give some credit to Anya, she did seem rather sympathetic to
> Willow.

Yeah, I definitely sensed she was hurting for her friend. See, I've 
always felt Will and Anya have this strange love-hate thing going on, 
and I enjoyed seeing that play out here.

And I think she always knew it was Tara, or at least both Tara and 
Buffy. She's a vengeance demon: she's in tune to those painful, anger-
tinged vibes, ya know?

> As a quick note, Dawn finding Tara's body wasn't as bad as I thought
> it would be. Why? Cause they put what, a whole 5 seconds to it,
> while we saw the ambulance guys for 30 seconds. Not liking that,

You know what? I didn't either. Honestly. I know my impatience with 
Tara has reached epic proportions this season, but I thought Amber 
deserved a bit more of a sendoff, ya know?

The ambulance bit took way too long, but didja notice that Wanker did a 
variation on the ER theme? Just enuf not to get sued. :)

What I wonder is why they didn't have Xander be the one who got shot? 
That would have been a bit more tension-provoking than Buffy being at 
Death's Swinging Door One.More.Time.


> And apparently Rack knew of 
> Willow's connection to Buffy. How exactly is that? Could he sense
> her on Willow from before? Is it just that common knowledge that
> Buffy and Willow are inextricably linked? Hehe, ok, maybe that's
> just me.

Heh. I'm thinking word must have gotten 'round about Willow, perhaps 
from her stint over the summer, the whole Glory thing, etc. I was 
amazed at how instantly powerful she was up there in that bedroom. Was 
Willow doing a good job masking all these months? I'm not suggesting 
she was doing magick on-the-sly, more like she knew how much power she 
had at her fingertips and she was keeping a lid on it, or sumpin.

But, ya know, there was something deeply pleasing about the line, "It's 
not the Slayer you have to worry about. It's the witch." yeah, 
coolio.

> Now we get to the hospital, Buffy apparently in an operating room.
> Although I can't say I've ever seen an OR where people can watch
> what's going on 
> through a huge glass window. But maybe I'm sheltered, who knows.

LOL!

> (Yes, I refuse to refer to her as anything other than Willow LOL),
> who calmly, and very creepily tells all the doctors to leave. And
> they do! Which is rather odd in and of itself, after what, 20 seconds?

Mind control, dearie.

> Willow almost softly, and with the only caring emotion she has all
> episode, says 'Hey'. Which would be a nice small B/W moment,

I was very thankful for it.

> Now tell me, should a robot be acting all scared? Something tells 
> me that Warren didn't program fear into it considering Warren thought
> he was so damn macho. 

He might have thought that having the Bot be fearful would buy him more 
time. You know, they take mercy on the poor pitiful soul, waste time 
taking him in, only to find out...yadda yadda.

Don't get the essence thing, tho. PLOT HOLE! Aly didn't sell it to me 
either.

> Buffy is trying to calm Willow down. Not knowing that Willow is
> furious because of Tara, Buffy assumes Will is all vengeful because
> of her. Defending Buffy's honor. Which would be sweet, really
> sweet, if it were the case. I can't help but think that when Buffy 
> knew it wasn't because of her she got knocked down a few pegs.

I got the definite sense of peg-knocking. Ha on you, Buffy! And there 
was a moment in the car when I thought Willow was finally fed up; think 
it was when she said, "Sometimes you don't have a choice." As in, 
"It's not up to you this time (or ever again), Buffy."

> But there was probably more Buffy/Willow contact in that scene than
> we've had all year long. Pretty pathetic when you think about it.

Yeah, tho I think that's supposed to be the point. The problem I'm 
still having is that I still can't get a bead on what form the 
confrontation & reconciliation will take. That is, I don't have a good 
sense as to what Buffy & Willow are angry about because there's never 
been a good defining moment. Now, I have definite IDEAS based on 
previous eps, but ME has been so scattershot this season that I feel 
like I don't know what's "real" or important to the characters and 
what's not. It's like I'm afraid to get my hopes up that the 
characters will confront the issues I think they need to confront. The 
season, for all its wailing and moaning, has been seriously lacking in 
depth and authenticity of emotion.

> Skipping ahead to the Xander/Dawn/Buffy scene that again worries me
> about B/X hints. Dawn thinks Willow is completely justified, and
> would go after Warren herself if she could. Buffy seems shocked.
> I gotta say, I was split completely down the middle.

Yeah, me too, but I'm worried that Willow as a character is getting 
seriously close to the point of no return.

And can I just say that the sofa scene really underwhelmed me. Part of 
it, I think, was because I didn't feel a strong sense of caring from 
Buffy. That scene needed to be trimmed, and Buffy's line about Willow 
destroying herself made the centerpiece.

> I'm gonna skip through all the Clem and Spike crap, just because it
> annoyed me to no end. And because Buffy actually seemed upset that
> Spike left. Give me a break, she misses her would be rapist? WTF?
> Thanks Marti ::rolleyes::

Clem must die, I'm thoroughly over Spike, and Buffy came millimetres 
from having her name semi-permanently etched on the shitlist. I'm 
gonna give her the next 2 eps, and then I may just have to file papers. 
As it is, I'm already thinking that I'll be on Will's side in the Good 
vs. Evil Showdown (WTF?! dammit!) 

Is it just me, or does Marti not know what she's doing? I sense a 
definite lack of coherence.

At least Dawn didn't annoy me. I think that's because her lines were 
kept to an appropriate length and weren't preachy. (I think Dawn's 
preachiness is what soured me on the character.)

> The big reveal that Anya is again a vengeance demon, and Xander seems
> sorta disgusted by it. I really don't see the two of them getting
> back together anytime soon, if at all.

Yeah, I tried to give Xand the benefit of the doubt, but his scorn was 
a little much. Yeah, I know she's a vengeance demon, but c'mon, she 
was your fiancee! A little more heart and a little less scorn, please.

btw, Emma Caulfield? Hot. (you know, just.last.night i was watching 
Bargaining -- word to Dan on the grief of losing the Scoobs as a 
cohesive unit the moment we got a taste for it -- and i began to wonder 
how come we hardly ever see Anya in slacks. huh.)

> Out in the woods we have Willow literally stalking Warren, in a calm,
> cold, clinical manner that reminded me of something out of a horror
> movie. The homicidal maniac stalking it's innocent victim.

Wish that had been shot differently. Hand-helds, for example.

> skinned alive, and then, right in front of Buffy, Xander and Anya's
> eyes, set on fire.

That was insane! No one expects the flaying!

> Now was he dead before or after that?

Unconscious. wait a sec, tho, he didn't scream when he went up in 
flames, so maybe he was dead.

> And when she hears Buffy calling her, she stops for a brief moment
> and looks toward her.

Another moment I was glad for. Gives me hope.

> But it's not enough. 'Bored Now' and in that single instant, 
> our Willow, our sweet, innocent Willow, is gone forever.

It was the sneer that did it, wasn't it?

> Buffy looks horrified and disguested

I understood the disgusted look, I really did. I just wish I had seen 
more anguish mixed in there, you know?


> And it gets worse, the promo:
> 
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> I think our ship is about to implode in on itself.

ugh. sad now.