From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V2 #42 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Tuesday, February 22 2000 Volume 02 : Number 042 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: stillpt-digest V2 #40 ["Berni Phillips" ] b / gotta have faith [GHighPine@aol.com] Re: b / gotta have faith [allenw ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 17:39:42 -0800 From: "Berni Phillips" Subject: Re: stillpt-digest V2 #40 > Speaking of which, do any of you recently former GEnie-ites know >whether > the mail server @genie.idt.net was scheduled to go away as of the past >day > or two? Every message that's gone to the list since yesterday has >bounced > back to me from David Bratman with a "host unknown" notation. I >usually > remove someone from one of my lists once I get three bounces from >their > address, but in this case I don't want to jump the gun. David says to tell y'all that his e-mail is broken. He'll be back when it's fixed. He also said to tell you that he got the tape of "Gormenghast." It pays to have a dad in Britain! Berni ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 23:40:36 EST From: GHighPine@aol.com Subject: b / gotta have faith I've been thinking about the return of Faith. At first I was disappointed that my initial expectations that Faith's return would be in dream form were not panning out. Usually I am not disappointed if my predictions are wrong - -- because Joss practically always does something better than what I'd expected and I love the fact that he can still surprise me despite my best efforts. So, I ask myself, why the feeling of disappointment here? Well, myself answers, because it seems like something that just pops up out of nowhere, without any organic connection to the story arc -- unlike my expectation that Faith would show up in dreams when Buffy was in a moral crisis related to the themes of the Faith arc. Plus, I like dreams, laden with metaphors and making us question the boundaries of reality, and Faith's first dream appearance did both (the latter because we didn't know if it was a real dream connection or Buffy's subconscious). Just a plain old waking up and having a fight seems so... ordinary. And organically unconnected to the story arc. And then myself asks, would Joss do that? No! myself shouts. The very title of the episode is "You Gotta Have Faith"! Is that a message to fans like me who were beginning to have doubts about Joss? ;-) Well, this two-parter will tell me whether my Faith is justified. Surely, Faith's real reappearance will serve the themes of the arc. Faith was Buffy's most powerful mirror. Faith the Watcher-less Slayer.... Riley the Watcher-less Slayer .... Buffy the Watcher-less Slayer .... Riley is going through a crisis about losing his Watcher ... and so will Faith. I think that the crisis about the loss of parental / authority figure may be the central theme of Riley's role as the Second Slayer mirror. Buffy is responsible for killing Faith's Watcher, the Mayor. Will Walsh's "slayers" blame Buffy for the death of Walsh? Somehow all this ties in with Graduation, Buffy's graduation from the control of authority figures. One would have expected the Watchers' Council to have done something by now; instead, the repercussions from Buffy's "graduation" are subtle and internal. The setup about Buffy's and Giles' relationship that began with "Helpless" might finally start to bear fruit. I think that this theme may emerge as the central theme of Riley's mirroring and Faith's return What happens to you when you lose the parental / authority figures in your life? Other notions that popped into my head: Anya might play an interesting part in eps coming up. Her demon past could come up in the conversations re the demon-fighting Initiative. But something else that popped into my head is that they have spent quite a few lines establishing Anya's possessiveness re Xander. Don't you dare think of taking Xander etc. A setup? I suspect it may be, because the lines establishing her possessiveness have not been very funny so I suspect that they are not ends in themselves. Faith is about to return, and Faith is the one who took Xander's virginity. If that comes up in right way, it might cause an interesting reaction from Anya. So far there hasn't been as much punch in the Anya / Xander relationship as I had hoped. It might be setting up for some big punchline, maybe. Or maybe not. Just some speculations. Gotta get 'em in before the actual episode. Gayle ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 23:42:26 -0600 (EST) From: allenw Subject: Re: b / gotta have faith On Mon, 21 Feb 2000 GHighPine@aol.com wrote: > Just a plain old waking up and having a fight seems so... ordinary. And > organically unconnected to the story arc. > And then myself asks, would Joss do that? > No! myself shouts. The very title of the episode is "You Gotta Have > Faith"! Is that a message to fans like me who were beginning to have doubts > about Joss? ;-) Gayle, I haven't heard that given as the episode title before. Last I knew, Part 1 (episode 15) was "This Year's Girl," and part 2 (episode 16) was "Who Are You", according to the official site. And in case you're curious about future titles: VAGUE SPOILER POTENTIAL, TITLES ONLY, NO DETAILS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Episode 17 is rumored to be "Superstar". Episode 18 is rumored to be "Where the Wild Things Are". - Allen W. ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V2 #42 ****************************