Re: FIC: Willow watching Buffy: Bring on the night

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Ivy,

That was excellent. A wonderful depiction of both Willow's love for
Buffy and the Willow/Xander friendship.

I think the reason why BotN doesn't get as much fic as you'd think
(aside from the "Willow meets her new girlfriend" aspect) is that the
ending is rather anti-Scooby. We have Buffy apart from the others,
listening as Giles and Willow doubt and despair. (Yes, I know it's part
of the plot to make us think Giles is the First, but it makes him and
Willow look weak and lacking faith in Buffy.) Then Buffy comes in and
gives her "rousing" speech (sorry, never liked it) about how they're
going to triumph because she won't let them lose and how they're going
to "face their worst fears"--at which point we get a shot of Willow,
whom Buffy has seemed to resent all through the episode for not doing
magic (as later made explicit in "Get it Done")--and that "we just
became an army".

In other words, she's demoted Willow, Xander, Giles, and Dawn from
"friends and loved ones" to "troops", and she's treating them just the
same as she treats Kennedy, Molly, Anya, and Andrew. Also, the ending
seems very Spuffy, with Spike manfully resisting the First's "torture"
(yeah, yeah, drowning a vampire, but it's *supposed* to be painful)
because Buffy believes in him, and then Buffy--all by herself, because
none of the Scoobies can really understand her the way Spike
does--rousing herself to take charge of those weak-willed humans around
her and promising victory. Not much for B/W subtext there, which makes
your fic all the more exquisite.

Now, I understand the fact that ME wants to court the Spuffers, but I
think they could have had an equally pro-B/S ending without making the
Scoobs seem extraneous. Just go from Spike's "she believes in me" scene
to Buffy, beaten, broken, and asleep in her bed. Dawn, Xander and
Willow watch, Dawn worrying if Buffy will be all right and Xander/Willow
reassuring her, but clearly shaken themselves. (Giles can be hanging
back, his face inscrutable, to play up the "is Giles the First?" thing.)
This way you still get the B/S audience rooting for and worried whether
Buffy can rescue Spike, but you also get the sense that Buffy has people
who love her and care for her, and thus subtext. Unfortunately, the
decision to make Buffy the closed-off, solitary "General Buffy" for the
second half of the season seems to have guided the writers away from
anything like this. 

So, as I say, bravo to you for mining where there's (IMO) little to
find.

Dan

PS--Anybody ever try my challenge for the ep, the one about proper
etiquette? You see, when you have guests, you should give them their
privacy and have the family double up. So instead of Kennedy bunking
with Willow, I figure all the Potentials get Willow's room, and Willow
crashes with Buffy...anyone? Bueller?