B/W in GRAVE (DISCUSSION)

["blinviz" <debvii@xxxxxxxxx>]

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TWO TO GO AND GRAVE

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I've listened to the B/W exchanges in 22Go several times now, and the 
more I do, the more "Grave" frustrates me. I mean, how can you have 
the following scene and leave it unresolved?!

B: That's not...you need help.
W: I'm doing fine on my own, thanks.

B: Will, I know what you wanna do, but you have to listen to me.
W: Let me tell you about Willow. She's a loser, and she always has 
been. People picked on Willow in junior high school, high school, up 
until college. And now, Willow's a junkie.
B: I can help.
W: The only thing Willow ever had going for her.... The only thing I 
had going for me were the moments, just moments, when Tara would look 
at me and I was wonderful. And that will never happen again.
B: I know this hurts, bad. Willow, if you let loose with the magicks, 
it will never end.
W: Promise?
B: You don't want that.
W: Why not?
B: Because you lose everything. Your friends, yourself. Willow, if 
you let this control you then the world goes away. There's so much to 
live for. Will, there's too much --
W: Please, this is your pitch? Buffy, you hate it here as much as I 
do; I'm just more honest about it.
B: That's not true.
W: You're trying to sell me on the world? The one where you lie to 
your friends when you're not trying to kill them? Where you screw a 
vampire just to feel? An insane asylum is a comfy alternative? This 
world? Buffy, it's me. I know you were happier when you were in the 
ground. The only time you've ever known peace in your entire life is 
when you were dead. Until Willow brought you back. With magick.

And then it goes on and off during the next few scenes, with Buffy 
saying "stop" alot and Willow's last line being "No one in the world 
has the power to stop me." Great sequence, rich with character 
subtext.

Now, I have to give SMG credit for getting that Buffy was out to lunch 
and all inadequate, but what the hell was Fury thinking? Did he really 
think Petrie's scene was all about exposition?? And as irked as Giles 
ex machina made me, at least he and Anya were concerned about Willow's 
welfare after the earthquake stopped. But did Buffy or Dawn express 
any concern? Saying "I want my friends to be happy" don't cut it, 
dammit. Without her own Personal Exposition Bot (see:Giles), I don't 
see how the hell Buffy could know that Willow's not a pile of ash and 
goo. At the very least Fury coulda trimmed some of the excess from 
that "B/G recap-of-the-season-for-the-2nd-damn-time-in-the-span-of-3-
scenes & It's.All.About.Buffy" scene and added a line of concern from 
Buffy in the 4th Act or, better yet, time for Buffy and whatsherface to 
walk up the hill to join Will and Xander.


In the absence of a satisfying resolution for B & W, I derive some 
somewhat mean-spirited satisfaction on Will's behalf from the 
following.

from "Tough Love"
WILLOW: Yeah, but not in a 'Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Girls' 
way! I mean, she'll just make Dawn even more rebellious--

TARA: (overlapping slightly)
I had to deal with my brother's problems after. I mean, you really 
can't know what it's like to--

from "Grave"
BUFFY: I got it so wrong. I don't want to protect you from the world; 
I wanna show it to you.