Re: Lessons

["thoth" <thoth183@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Spoiler space 'cause I don't wanna get thwapped...Oh...Hi, Dan <little Willow wave>
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Feels good to be back. Season Sux kinda put me off the whole readin' and feedin'. Sorry about that. I'll get better. Promise.
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I'd tell you where I've been, but then I'd have to hurt myself. <insert deranged evil laughter>
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Urk...wait...that didn't come out the way I meant it to <sigh>
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What? You think it's easy coming up with clever things to say to take up space? If it was, don't you think I'd be doing it? 
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Ok. I'm not going to do any in-depth analysis, it's already been done by people much better at it than I am. Just going to drop my opinions on you:

Things I liked:

Good to see that Will still has the mojo, and is learning to live with it. Simply stripping it out of her would have reinforced the 'magick is a drug' bullshit, and reduced Willow's character to less than a paper cutout (maybe the writers actually looked at what they did last season, and learnedsomething from it). Seemed to me (in the scene with the plant from Paraguay) that she's recaptured some of the sense of wonder she had when she firststarted doing magick. 

Xander acting like a responsible human being. An adult one, at that. Nomore 'I'm the only one with no super powers' crap. He's got skills and he knows it. The quips were funny and not forced at all. He's not the Zeppo anymore. 

When Willow tells Giles that she thinks the coven is afraid of her and that she 'just wants to be Willow' (awww <sniffle>), I got the feeling thatshe's afraid that she's not quite human anymore and therefore more disconnected from her friends. Giles was at his father figure best (and where the HELL was that, last season? Thanks, Joss). 

Spike as a fruitloop. Really. Kudos to Marsters. If I didn't know Spike's history I'd feel sorry for him. But I do know it, so I'm not, and he really needs to get dusted. Or maybe Buffy needs to be beaten about the head until her brain starts to work again. What? It might work.

Willow (are we sensing a pattern, here?) damn near going into convulsions when she feels the Hellmouth acting up. Ok, so sue me, I'm completely inlove with the character (and Aly's kinda cute, too) and I absolutely hate what the writers did to her last season. 

Dawn NOT acting like a spoiled three year old. Thank God!

The mom comment from the <gag> Scrappy gang. *That* worked. It fell flat on it's face with the new principle. Kids Dawn's age see any one old enough to be out of highschool as a grown up, and therefore an old person. The principle, whom I would assume is somewhat older than Buffy to be in the position he's in, should know better.

Things I did not like:

The Scrappy gang. <gag, again> If you want to do a spinoff pilot about Scooby Gang: The Next Generation, do it on your own time. Might be something there for the Dawn slashers though. The goth(?) chick was kinda cute.

Pretty much every scene with Buffy. With one or two exceptions, this could have been Buffy from season one and two. I mean, isn't she supposed to be an adult, now? Kind of? Sort of? I know Marti said they wanted to go back to the feel of the early seasons, but that was just pitiful. Oh well.

As mentioned elsewhere, not ONE mention of Willow by the rest of the crew. Hello? Best friend in life-or-death situations for the last five years?Anyone? Bueller?

Buffy let Spike TOUCH her without even flinching!!? And didn't deck himthe moment she saw him? WTF?

Buffy as the last morph of the alleged Big Bad. If Joss goes there I will personally do something very foolish...like take up macramé or knitting doilies. Ick.

Conclusion:

Better than last season (well, DUH), but they've got a *long* way to go.

Hey, Dan, if you're not going to watch the rest of the season, does that mean you're not going to write up those long winded (you said it, not me, please don't hurt me!) comments and criticisms so that I can come up with something original to rant about? <running away now>

thoth