From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V3 #44 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Tuesday, March 13 2001 Volume 03 : Number 044 Today's Subjects: ----------------- b/the body ["David S. Bratman" ] b/major end-of-season spoilers [meredith ] Re: b/major end-of-season spoilers [Todd Huff ] Re: b/major end-of-season spoilers [meredith ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 12:53:13 -0800 From: "David S. Bratman" Subject: b/the body > A rave, and an insightful one, for the last new BTVS (and "Angel", while > she's at it) on Salon by Joyce Millman, at > . This is > well worth reading, and it will make you feel good. I'll easily forgive > Millman a couple small factual errors. > > Highlights [each paragraph a separate quote]: > > You can keep NBC Wednesday -- TV's best night of drama is the WB's Tuesday, > and no, I'm not kidding. To those of you who've never seen "Buffy the Vampire > Slayer" and "Angel," well, I'm sorry, but you are beyond my help. To those of > you who have been watching this sublime two-hour package of passionately > original storytelling, my advice is this: Enjoy it while you can, because > "Buffy" may not be back on the WB next season. [followed by discussion of > WB/Fox negotiations] > > If the fierce, soulful work of star Sarah Michelle Gellar (not to mention the > rest of the show's ridiculously talented cast) ever deserved some Emmy > notice, it's now. Not only is "Buffy" having one of its strongest seasons > ever, there hasn't been a finer hour of drama on TV this year than the Feb. > 27 "Buffy" episode, "The Body." > > On another series, the death of Buffy's mom might have been an excuse to pull > out all the Very Special Episode bells and whistles. But "Buffy" is the > ultimate anti-VSE show. Every episode is special, every episode is momentous, > every character matters, every feeling, big or small, is meaningful. > > The order of monks that had been protecting the Key for centuries sent it to > Buffy in the form of something she would protect with her life (obviously, > those monks never had a bratty little sister) and put everybody under a > "veiling spell" so they would accept Dawn as human. Only the mentally ill and > certain animals are able to see Dawn for the empty shell she is. But, listen, > the "my sister, my energy orb" plot line isn't all good vs. evil mumbo-jumbo. > The fact that Dawn is "negative space" is a breathtaking metaphor for an > adolescent's lack of self-esteem. > > Buffy's "you repulse me" responses to Spike's declarations of love seem > overly harsh, even cruel -- maybe because she's trying so hard not to relive > l'affaire Angel. Or, maybe, she fears that little bit of darkness curled up > inside her. > > Each season, the writers have given Buffy a character-building crisis to deal > with. She lost her virginity to Angel and he turned on her. She had to lead > an apocalyptic battle with evil at her graduation ceremony. She was almost > beaten to a pulp by Faith, a vicious, thrill-killing Slayer who represented > what Buffy could become if she lost sight of her nobler purpose. Riley dumped > her (he was last seen flying off to lick his wounds in a secret jungle > military operation). But they were only dress rehearsals for what she's > facing now. > > [after a comparison with "Hush"] In "The Body," Whedon played with silence > again; there was no background music in the episode and only a few ambient > sounds, like wind chimes and sirens. The effect was almost Bergmanesque in > its starkness. The spooky stillness and the long, spacey pauses in > conversation as characters struggled to articulate their feelings exaggerated > the sense of time elongating and standing still. I can't remember the last > time I saw a more wrenching portrayal of the shock of loss. > > And killing Buffy's mom was the right way to make the distinction between the > cartoonish daily stakings Buffy doles out and the awful permanence of "real" > death. [Description of final scene] After the vampire is vanquished, Buffy > looks at Joyce and it finally sinks in that she's gone. "Where did she go?" > murmurs Dawn, who reaches a tentative hand towards her mother's face. > Vampires, the undead, zombies -- they're all just make believe. But when > somebody that you care about dies, it's forever. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 22:39:22 -0500 From: meredith Subject: b/major end-of-season spoilers Hi, There are some possible spoilers for all remaining episodes for this season at: http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=8367 There are no guarantees that any of this is true, but still I'm kind of regretting having stumbled onto it, because some of it is just whacked enough to have the stamp of Whedon all over it. But if spoilers are your thang, have at it! ======================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth ======================================= http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 19:53:17 -0800 (PST) From: Todd Huff Subject: Re: b/major end-of-season spoilers I believe I've read a statement from Joss in the last few weeks that blows away most of those "spoilers". I think this guy has just combined a few clever guesses with a lot of hokum. - --- meredith wrote: > Hi, > > There are some possible spoilers for all remaining > episodes for this season > at: > > http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=8367 > > There are no guarantees that any of this is true, > but still I'm kind of > regretting having stumbled onto it, because some of > it is just whacked > enough to have the stamp of Whedon all over it. But > if spoilers are your > thang, have at it! > > > > > ======================== > Meredith Tarr > New Haven, CT USA > mailto:meth@smoe.org > http://www.smoe.org/meth > ======================================= > http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html > "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- > veda hille Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 22:51:27 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: b/major end-of-season spoilers Hi, Todd commented: >I believe I've read a statement from Joss in the last >few weeks that blows away most of those "spoilers". I >think this guy has just combined a few clever guesses >with a lot of hokum. I hope so ... we'll just have to see. ======================== Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth ======================================= http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V3 #44 ****************************