Re: Re: 'Villians' Shooting Script

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Well, credit where it's due, the bit about SMG's acting having flattened
out is from David Hines's review of "Checkpoint". He does have a point,
although Sarah pulled off a good transition in "Normal Again" in her
last scene with Joyce.

But look at the "Mourning Willow--Not So Fast" scene in
"Doppelgangland", for example. She hits shock, guilt, hope, joy, bliss,
and confusion, all in one reasonably short, comic scene.

Anyway, back to this ep, and thus

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I do think the acting level was down too low on the roadside by the bus.
Marti says that Buffy is "devastated" and starts to cry when she hears
about Tara's death. Maybe there was a tear that got lost in the glare,
but I didn't see anything like "devastated" in Sarah's reaction. Not to
mention, where was Xander with the righteous anger? Also, the decision
to put B/X in such bright, happy clothes worked for "Seeing Red",
because it contrasted with the violence of the ending, but here it
worked against the scene, as the costuming seemed to undercut whatever
grief they were trying to show. Red rage and yellow shirts don't quite
work together, I guess. (And of course, Buffy's clothing should have
been cut off of her by the surgical team, unless Willow healed the
shirt, too.)

I won't blame David Solomon for putting Willow in the back seat, since I
think it fits with the disconnect and Xander's car had already been seen
in "The Body" and established as having bucket seats, plus it was kind
of funny that Willow was **literally** back-seat driving. And I'll stop
blaming him for that gratuituous tracking shot that opens the ep, since
it was apparently requested by Marti in the script.

However, we can blame Solomon for making Wilow look stupid in the
teaser. Marti's script say magic is coming from her hands as she's
begging Tara to come back, so she is trying to mojo Tara back alive,
rather than just bawling and not even calling 911 or putting pressure on
the wound, like Xander had the sense to do. But Solomon changed that,
so Willow just looks like an idiot.

OTOH, there were two moments in the script where Marti makes Willow look
like an idiot, all by herself. First of all is when Willow "doesn't
know" about Katrina, as reinforced by the script. And then there's the
part where Willow comes into the Magic Box and has to ASK Anya, "where
do you keep the black magic books?"

Um, Willow, they're right where they've always been, upstairs. Which is
really the only logical place to put them, what with customers coming
into the store all of the time. Right where you found them in "Tough
Love"; right where even Dawn knew they were in "Forever".

Actually, Aly and Solomon save this bit somewhat, by just having Willow
ask and move on. In the script, Willow only finds out because Anya's
eyes go to look at the books when she asks the question. Yeah, right. 

So in the teaser, Solomon made Willow look stupider than Marti intended,
but in the Box he made her look less so. So it evens out, but she still
looks far too dumb, overall.

A couple of Anya issues that I don't feel like delving into, but should
be touched on: why is Anya still working in the Magic Box? She didn't
have a job for the previous 1100 years she was a Vengeance Demon, did
she? As a Demon, she should be above earthly concerns like food and
clothing and shelter, existing just to obey the summonses of scorned
women everywhere.  

Which raises a second point: Willow isn't exactly "scorned", is she?
"Some guy offed my girl" isn't really "My man done me wrong", IMO.

Of course, the whole point about Anya's Vengeance is really just here so
Anya can anvil us that Willow is EEEVIL; she wouldn't even let Anya
take Vengeance for her, she wants to do it herself. But in a classic
case of "show, don't tell", I think that news shouldn't be in the
B/X/Anya scene (you've seen the revised version in a previous post of
mine), but we should have a greater Willow/Anya scene.

The expansion of the Willow/Anya scene would also serve to show Anya
grieving for her best friend and maid of honor, Tara. Tara really got
shafted, IMO. Not only does Willow leave her rotting corpse behind (I'm
sorry, no matter how wrathful you are, you at least cover the body out
of respect; contrast this with Giles in "Passion", who spoke to the
cops, called Buffy and THEN went all Ripper on the vamps), but no one
other than Dawn expresses any real grief over her passing. And it
strains credibility to think that Buffy and Xander wouldn't play the
Tara card to try and calm Willow down at some point--since Tara is the
cause, Tara's memory is a logical thing to play on.

Anyway, here's my Magic Box scene (which, as I said, somehow got cut out
of the email where I had the revised Spike scene and Act 3; don't know
what happened there):

**************************************************
INT MAGIC BOX

The door flies open and Willow sweeps in [btw, the wobbly camera was
effectively spooky on this], heading towards the back.

WILLOW: I need the books. Still up there? 

She gestures towards the loft. Anya comes around the counter.

ANYA: Xander called, about...Buffy. But, Willow, you can't--

WILLOW (hollow): It's not just Buffy. (She turns to face Anya) He
shot Tara, too.

Anya takes this like she's been shot.

WILLOW (cont.): She's dead.

ANYA: Tara? God, n--

She starts to sob, but stops suddenly. She straightens up, eyes icy.
VEINS MORPH UP on her face.  

Willow, despite knowing nothing about Anya's return to Vengeance, does
not even blink. They lock eyes, two bad bitches united by a mutual
loss.  

ANYA (almost commanding): Say it.

WILLOW: No. (She turns her back on Anya, facing the loft again) I'm
doing this myself.

Anya RETURNS TO HUMAN FACE and comes up behind her, worried.

ANYA: You can't do this! Tara wouldn't want--

WILLOW (sadly): --to be dead; that's what Tara wouldn't want.

She gestures to the loft, and the books come flying down.
********************************************* 

See, that's a nice way to make us feel Willow's pain over Tara, not have
Willow see Buffy's bullet-ridden body and not call her name or rush to
her side.

As it was, only Dawn properly mourned Tara. And that scene was just
manipulative stupidity, so we could see Dawn suffer some more. After
all, even the Sunnydale PD investigates a crime scene thoroughly enough
so that they can see the bullet hole in the bedroom overlooking the
yard. Then they'd go inside and find Tara.

But no, Marti wanted a scene where "poor widdle Dawnie finds Tara and no
one else is there". Someone on the Kitten Board called that "kiddie
porn". Hard to disagree.

Staying bitter,

Dan