Re: Re: OT: research help - Detailed Description

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

DEM,

Oh, there's downstairs, too? (The address was broken in your first
post, so it wasn't a clickable link, and I didn't feel like retyping the
whole thing, so I did another search and found what I found.) So the
blank area should be indicated there, too, right?

On "Dead Man's Party", I suppose it is 3rd out of 3 as arguments go
(behind "Becoming, Part 1" and "Revelations") but I mostly just object
to the intrusive stuff (Jonathan, the cut to the zombies). Actually, of
the three, this is the calmest Xander we get (he doesn't even play the
Jenny card!). And I love Nick's body language while Joyce and Buffy are
arguing; you can just see him reliving every argument his parents ever
had.

You're right that this is different from "Anne", but for that I blame
"Anne", where the Scooby scenes were just an excuse to set up "where's
Buffy" and have another childish C/X fight (character regression there,
Joss!) and so Joss can show of his "Hello, I am A Tracking Shot"
directing skills. (Both at the school and later at the Bronze). If
Marti raises issues that Joss didn't, especially ones that continue to
play into the season-arc (see "Revelations"), that's bad writing on
Joss's part, not necessarily Marti's.

(Admittedly, I may be biased here, because I missed "Anne" [which I had
never seen] on the syndicated repeats that first week, and spent two
months watching "DMP" before finally seeing "Anne" on FX. So I came
from being familiar with Marti's ep, and expecting Joss's part to match
hers, not vice versa.)

I guess I can fanwank that the Scoobs were repressing their anger and
romanticizing Buffy in her absence. Or rather that Willow was; I think
Xander and Oz were pretty much moving on. Although Xander is just
writing her off (you can tell by the look when he first sees her in
"DMP" that he thought he was never going to see her again, and half
figured she was dead) whereas I'm thinking Oz had just had enough of
Willow's "Buffy, Buffy, Buffy!" conversations.

Likewise, in "Dead Man's Party", it's Oz who sabotages the party, not
Willow. Willow and Cordy were happily bringing dip and so on [knowing
damn well it was a sit-down dinner], until Oz raised the possibility of
changing the party with his gathering/shindig/hootenanny speech. I mean,
"We should figure out what kind of deal this is" ? How out of left
field was that??

And then, Anger Boy Xander (or should I say, "Anger Boy [Who's Not So
Good At Hiding It As Oz Is] Xander"?) seizes the moment to hide behind a
crowd, and only then does Willow cave (because she desperately wants to
avoid confronting her feelings) and try to rationalize it with "a big
party says 'Welcome, Buffy!'" and such.

Actually, I'm thinking that Oz was just stinking jealous the whole
summer. Xander is all "I miss Cordelia" and Willow is equally "I miss
Buffy", despite the fact that **her boyfriend** is right with her in
town. And meanwhile, Oz is not going to summer school, and not getting
up until 3 pm (as mentioned in "Anne"), so I just picture him sulking
about how Willow's Buffy-love and spending late nights getting drunk.
Maybe he deliberately flunked summer school because he was worried about
what B/W would get up to if he left them alone at Sunnydale High?

Oz: Hey, Will.
Willow: Oh, hi, Oz. Look, it's Oz!
O: So, I haven't seen you at the college lately. I thought you were
going to come visit me.
W: Oh, I'm just busy being High School Girl. You know, homework, and
filling out applications, and helping Buffy. And hanging with Buffy.  
O: Buffy.
W: Hanging, helping, Buffy, that's about it for me, here.
O: Yeah, Buffy.
W: Isn't it great that Buffy's back? I missed her so much this summer.
O: Noticed that.
W: It's like there was a part of me missing, and I knew that it was
Buffy, but I didn't know how much it hurt to be without her until she
came back--
O: About us--
W: --it's like I was this blind person trying to understand color.
With Buffy being the color, you know? I knew that I missed Buffy, but I
couldn't really understand the pain until I was Buffy-having Willow
again, and realized what I'd been missing when I was no-Buffy Willow.
Does that makes sense?
O: Too much. So I'll see you?
W: Sure! Lots! I miss you so much! I'll tell Buffy you said hi,
okay? I'm headed over to her house now!
O: Uh huh. [Leaves]

Dan

happily blaming it all on jealous, drunken Oz...