From: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org (stillpt-digest) To: stillpt-digest@smoe.org Subject: stillpt-digest V4 #12 Reply-To: stillpt@smoe.org Sender: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-stillpt-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk stillpt-digest Friday, February 8 2002 Volume 04 : Number 012 Today's Subjects: ----------------- b/state of ["Donald G. Keller" ] Re: b/state of ["Susan Kroupa" ] Re: b/state of ["Marta Grabien" ] Re: b/state of ["David S. Bratman" ] b/Anya the Bride ["David S. Bratman" ] Re: b/state of ["Berni Phillips" ] Re: b/state of [Todd Huff ] Re: b/state of [meredith ] m(b)/music for elevators [meredith ] b/dead things, again [meredith ] Re: b/Anya the Bride ["Marta Grabien" ] Re: b/state of ["Marta Grabien" ] Re: b/state of [GHighPine@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 11:52:18 -0500 (EST) From: "Donald G. Keller" Subject: b/state of It has oft been observed that when I get out of the habit of posting here, everyone else does too. Let's see if there's something I can do about that. So where are we with =Buffy= these days, 3/5 through the 6th season? This past episode, "Dead Things," is a major one, I think, after two pretty lightweight ones ("Gone" and "DoubleMeat Palace"). Lots to chew over. The quickest comparison to make with this episode is "Ted," where Buffy also thought she killed a human being, and it turned out not to be true. Which brings up a thought I hadn't considered before, the parallel between (the original) Ted and Warren: both are genius robot-builders with illusions about true and everlasting love, but whereas Warren built a robot to stand in for a girlfriend and bent reality to his will that way, Ted built a robot to stand in for =himself=, and tried to bend real women to his will. The conclusion we draw from both versions (and from Spike's experience with the Buffybot as well) is that the robot solution doesn't work: real life, real love, may be messier, but it's ultimately more satisfying and worth fighting for. But what struck me even more forcibly about "Dead Things" is that, though the name is never spoken in the episode, there are echoes of Faith all over it. Consider: Warren does a Faith riff ("Bad Girls"), accidentally killing a human being and not caring much, except to figure out how to get away with it. Spike plays out the rest of the same riff, disposing of the body (again in vain, because again it turns up shortly thereafter); and as Buffy rightly points out, Spike doesn't care much about "just another body." Spike also echoes Faith's "That's my girl" (in the climactic scene of "Consequences," after Buffy hits her) after Buffy starts hitting =him=; also, he uses the same argument to Buffy as Faith did in the mid-episode discussion in "Consequences," that the death of one person doesn't mean much compared to how many people Buffy has saved (and it has a similar lack of effect on Buffy). But as usual the most interesting echoes of Faith are in Buffy herself. Going to the police is what she felt Faith should have done in "Consequences," and is what Faith in fact finally did in "Sanctuary" on =Angel=. (It also echoes her own remorse over human death, as I've indicated, in "Ted" and "Bad Girls"/"Consequences"). Even more interesting: someone on another list made the very astute comment that when Buffy is pounding Spike's face in the alley, what she says to him applies (in her own mind) to herself as well (especially the part about being dead inside); which of course resonates with the scene in "Who Are You" where Faith is pounding on Buffy and saying "you're nothing"/"you're disgusting." And just as the "Who Are You" scene has its later echo in the alley scene that closes "Five By Five" on =Angel= (Faith, crying: "I'm evil!"/"Kill me!"), the "Dead Things" scene has its echo at the end of the episode (Buffy, crying: "There's something wrong with me"/"Don't forgive me"); in both cases, of course, Faith and Buffy can't forgive themselves for what they've done. Buffy's current state of course echoes Willow's current state as well; and while the handling of Willow's crisis has seemed to me a =bit= heavyhanded with the addiction metaphor, in contrast the parallel of Buffy's "addiction" to Spike has been indicated very subtly (mostly by SMG's facial expressions, another excellent job on her part). The final scene with Tara seems to me to be Buffy's rock-bottom, just as Willow's collapse into tears after the accident in "Wrecked" represented =her= rock-bottom. (And oh by the way, that final scene with Tara is one of the best of the season.) The theme of the season, as the writers have stated, is accepting responsibility; and Buffy isn't scoring very high so far. She's dropping the ball big-time on Dawn (with undoubted repercussions soon), and though it's a step to 1) get a job 2) decide to hold on to the job, it's a small step. But what she =hasn't= been able to accept responsibility for is her behavior with/to Spike; he's everything she hates, there must be something wrong with her, why can't she stop? Tara's reassurance (as she thought of it) that there =isn't= anything physically wrong with her is clearly a huge blow to Buffy; =now= what? How does she figure out this Spike thing in this light? In passing, I found the pseudoscientific explanation of her physical state--something =just= different enough about her that it fools Spike's chip--rather unsatisfying, much like the explanation that Tara isn't really a demon, either. I wonder if there will be more on this, or whether they intended this as the last word. It's worth pondering Spike's insistence that Buffy "belongs in the shadows"--there's still the idea in the air that there =is= something demonic about the Slayer. Note Buffy's insistence in "DoubleMeat Palace" that she's not a demon; denials that strong, especially by Buffy, often turn out to be just that, denial. Also in passing: Buffy's "dream"--or was it a hallucination, or is there any reason to make a distinction?--was very strange, the way the identities of Buffy and Spike and Katrina kept switching roles; and again I think there's some echo of Faith behind it. (Is there also a hint Buffy may have sensed that that wasn't Katrina but Jonathan she hit during the fight?) There have always been parallels between Buffy and Angel, Buffy and Faith, Faith and Angel; some of which have led people to wonder about a lesbian subtext between Faith and Buffy (as there was in the dream between Buffy and Katrina). You can throw Spike into the mix as well, of course, since his parallels to Angel and Faith are pretty patent. Much to think about here. Also of note: Warren's true colors are showing more and more, and Jonathan is clearly becoming more and more uncomfortable with the situation. So far when he's had to side with either Warren or Buffy he's chosen Warren; but the day may be coming (it might even already be here) when he'll change his mind. Briefly, about the previous two episodes: "DoubleMeat Palace" was pretty amusing right through. I was in stitches over Anya's "Marxist" analysis of demons vs. supervillains; the "It's people!" riff was funny even without the pop-culture reference; and Buffy's expressions watching the training film ("Holy crap!") and listening to the lecture on getting greasy were priceless. Excellent scene with Spike (especially Buffy's line "Don't make this harder"). A pretty routine monster-of-the-week episode on the whole, though. "Gone" was again pretty amusing, but everything handled lightly at one point seemed to have a heavy side to it elsewhere (the social worker is at first menacing, then made ridiculous; being invisible is first fun, then life-threatening). Some people expressed shock at Buffy's "giddyfest" while invisible; but remember the last time she had a power like this (which also turned deadly), mind-reading in "Earshot," she also reacted with a rather frivolous sense of power. It's part of her personality that seldom comes out. (Small note: as someone pointed out online and I corroborated, what Buffy is whistling as she leaves the social services office is "Going Through the Motions" from the musical). Also of note is Warren's murderous (or callous) side coming out: he was ready to destroy Buffy. That's enough for the nonce. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 10:59:53 -0800 From: "Susan Kroupa" Subject: Re: b/state of Don, thanks for your comments--insightful as always. Although the whole ep was reminiscent of the Faith "Bad Girls" episode, I missed the parallel to "Who Are You" when Buffy was hitting Spike--and so it was not as moving to me as it might have been. ("Who Are You" is still one of my all-time favorite eps, and it redeemed, imo, an otherwise lukewarm season.) The final scene was very touching, though, and it seemed right that Tara was the one Buffy turned to. Gayle mentioned the "DoubleMeat Palace" earlier and liked the twist at the end. I thought it created too many problems--it's illegal, for one thing, to advertise a food product as being one thing when it's another. What I liked about the episode was the whole satire of the fast-food industry, especially Xander assuring Buffy that the people who worked there weren't demonic but a product of the workplace. Sue - ----- Original Message ----- From: Donald G. Keller To: Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 8:52 AM Subject: b/state of > It has oft been observed that when I get out of the habit of posting here, > everyone else does too. Let's see if there's something I can do about > that. > > So where are we with =Buffy= these days, 3/5 through the 6th season? > > This past episode, "Dead Things," is a major one, I think, after two > pretty lightweight ones ("Gone" and "DoubleMeat Palace"). Lots to chew > over. > > The quickest comparison to make with this episode is "Ted," where Buffy > also thought she killed a human being, and it turned out not to be true. > Which brings up a thought I hadn't considered before, the parallel > between (the original) Ted and Warren: both are genius robot-builders > with illusions about true and everlasting love, but whereas Warren built > a robot to stand in for a girlfriend and bent reality to his will that > way, Ted built a robot to stand in for =himself=, and tried to bend real > women to his will. The conclusion we draw from both versions (and from > Spike's experience with the Buffybot as well) is that the robot solution > doesn't work: real life, real love, may be messier, but it's ultimately > more satisfying and worth fighting for. > > But what struck me even more forcibly about "Dead Things" is that, though > the name is never spoken in the episode, there are echoes of Faith all > over it. > > Consider: Warren does a Faith riff ("Bad Girls"), accidentally killing a > human being and not caring much, except to figure out how to get away > with it. Spike plays out the rest of the same riff, disposing of the body > (again in vain, because again it turns up shortly thereafter); and as > Buffy rightly points out, Spike doesn't care much about "just another body." > Spike also echoes Faith's "That's my girl" (in the climactic scene of > "Consequences," after Buffy hits her) after Buffy starts hitting =him=; > also, he uses the same argument to Buffy as Faith did in the mid-episode > discussion in "Consequences," that the death of one person doesn't mean > much compared to how many people Buffy has saved (and it has a similar > lack of effect on Buffy). > > But as usual the most interesting echoes of Faith are in Buffy herself. > Going to the police is what she felt Faith should have done in > "Consequences," and is what Faith in fact finally did in "Sanctuary" on > =Angel=. (It also echoes her own remorse over human death, as I've > indicated, in "Ted" and "Bad Girls"/"Consequences"). > > Even more interesting: someone on another list made the very astute > comment that when Buffy is pounding Spike's face in the alley, what she > says to him applies (in her own mind) to herself as well (especially the > part about being dead inside); which of course resonates with the scene > in "Who Are You" where Faith is pounding on Buffy and saying "you're > nothing"/"you're disgusting." And just as the "Who Are You" scene has its > later echo in the alley scene that closes "Five By Five" on =Angel= > (Faith, crying: "I'm evil!"/"Kill me!"), the "Dead Things" scene has its > echo at the end of the episode (Buffy, crying: "There's something wrong > with me"/"Don't forgive me"); in both cases, of course, Faith and Buffy > can't forgive themselves for what they've done. > > Buffy's current state of course echoes Willow's current state as well; and > while the handling of Willow's crisis has seemed to me a =bit= heavyhanded > with the addiction metaphor, in contrast the parallel of Buffy's "addiction" > to Spike has been indicated very subtly (mostly by SMG's facial > expressions, another excellent job on her part). The final scene with Tara > seems to me to be Buffy's rock-bottom, just as Willow's collapse into > tears after the accident in "Wrecked" represented =her= rock-bottom. > > (And oh by the way, that final scene with Tara is one of the best of the > season.) > > The theme of the season, as the writers have stated, is accepting > responsibility; and Buffy isn't scoring very high so far. She's dropping > the ball big-time on Dawn (with undoubted repercussions soon), and though > it's a step to 1) get a job 2) decide to hold on to the job, it's a small > step. > > But what she =hasn't= been able to accept responsibility for is her > behavior with/to Spike; he's everything she hates, there must be something > wrong with her, why can't she stop? Tara's reassurance (as she thought of > it) that there =isn't= anything physically wrong with her is clearly a > huge blow to Buffy; =now= what? How does she figure out this Spike thing > in this light? > > In passing, I found the pseudoscientific explanation of her physical > state--something =just= different enough about her that it fools Spike's > chip--rather unsatisfying, much like the explanation that Tara isn't > really a demon, either. I wonder if there will be more on this, or whether > they intended this as the last word. It's worth pondering Spike's > insistence that Buffy "belongs in the shadows"--there's still the idea > in the air that there =is= something demonic about the Slayer. Note Buffy's > insistence in "DoubleMeat Palace" that she's not a demon; denials that strong, > especially by Buffy, often turn out to be just that, denial. > > Also in passing: Buffy's "dream"--or was it a hallucination, or is there > any reason to make a distinction?--was very strange, the way the > identities of Buffy and Spike and Katrina kept switching roles; and again > I think there's some echo of Faith behind it. (Is there also a hint Buffy > may have sensed that that wasn't Katrina but Jonathan she hit during the > fight?) There have always been parallels between Buffy and Angel, Buffy > and Faith, Faith and Angel; some of which have led people to wonder about > a lesbian subtext between Faith and Buffy (as there was in the dream > between Buffy and Katrina). You can throw Spike into the mix as well, of > course, since his parallels to Angel and Faith are pretty patent. Much to > think about here. > > Also of note: Warren's true colors are showing more and more, and Jonathan > is clearly becoming more and more uncomfortable with the situation. So far > when he's had to side with either Warren or Buffy he's chosen Warren; but > the day may be coming (it might even already be here) when he'll change > his mind. > > Briefly, about the previous two episodes: "DoubleMeat Palace" was pretty > amusing right through. I was in stitches over Anya's "Marxist" analysis of > demons vs. supervillains; the "It's people!" riff was funny even without > the pop-culture reference; and Buffy's expressions watching the training > film ("Holy crap!") and listening to the lecture on getting greasy were > priceless. Excellent scene with Spike (especially Buffy's line "Don't make > this harder"). A pretty routine monster-of-the-week episode on the whole, > though. > > "Gone" was again pretty amusing, but everything handled lightly at one > point seemed to have a heavy side to it elsewhere (the social worker is at > first menacing, then made ridiculous; being invisible is first fun, then > life-threatening). Some people expressed shock at Buffy's "giddyfest" > while invisible; but remember the last time she had a power like this > (which also turned deadly), mind-reading in "Earshot," she also reacted > with a rather frivolous sense of power. It's part of her personality that > seldom comes out. (Small note: as someone pointed out online and I > corroborated, what Buffy is whistling as she leaves the social services > office is "Going Through the Motions" from the musical). Also of note is > Warren's murderous (or callous) side coming out: he was ready to destroy > Buffy. > > That's enough for the nonce. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 09:34:02 -0800 From: "Marta Grabien" Subject: Re: b/state of > The quickest comparison to make with this episode is "Ted," where Buffy > also thought she killed a human being, and it turned out not to be true. FX is running old Buffy episodes. Just the other night they re-ran the one where Faith kills the guy. When the new Buffy came on, I noted most of what you mention. It was as if the Faith script had been reworked for Buffy. It just rang with comparisons. I haven't watched the episode again, tho I will. I like to do that after you post. You are so articulate. :) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 13:26:34 -0800 From: "David S. Bratman" Subject: Re: b/state of At 08:52 AM 2/7/2002 , DGK wrote: >It has oft been observed that when I get out of the habit of posting here, >everyone else does too. Let's see if there's something I can do about >that. Well, yeah. The way this used to work on Genie was: you posted, we responded. (Great. Now I've put all the guilt on your shoulders.) >The quickest comparison to make with this episode is "Ted," where Buffy >also thought she killed a human being, and it turned out not to be true. Also a more obvious and direct comparison to the last time the Nemesises played with Buffy's sense of time. This time the scene was far better shot and edited, but the similarity made me wonder why Buffy didn't suspect the Terrible Trio sooner. >Which brings up a thought I hadn't considered before, the parallel >between (the original) Ted and Warren: both are genius robot-builders >with illusions about true and everlasting love, but whereas Warren built >a robot to stand in for a girlfriend and bent reality to his will that >way, Ted built a robot to stand in for =himself=, and tried to bend real >women to his will. The conclusion we draw from both versions (and from >Spike's experience with the Buffybot as well) is that the robot solution >doesn't work: real life, real love, may be messier, but it's ultimately >more satisfying and worth fighting for. It's not entirely clear what the Trio want a woman for. (I'm reminded of C.S. Lewis's comment about male sexual predators: they don't want a woman at all, what they want is "a pleasure for which a woman is just a necessary piece of equipment".) Andrew, perhaps, just wants sex; but Warren is clearly out for power: he is, in fact, a true misogynist, though he may not realize it. Jonathan is much more ambiguous. I may be reading too much into Jonathan's use of his ability to assume female form, but I would think that guys like that would find much more obvious and icky uses for such a power. In that line, I certainly agree when you write: >Also of note: Warren's true colors are showing more and more, and Jonathan >is clearly becoming more and more uncomfortable with the situation. So far >when he's had to side with either Warren or Buffy he's chosen Warren; but >the day may be coming (it might even already be here) when he'll change >his mind. Back to the regular chronology: >But what struck me even more forcibly about "Dead Things" is that, though >the name is never spoken in the episode, there are echoes of Faith all >over it. Hadn't thought of that, but yes. And between them, Warren and Spike act just like Faith did in the same situation. >Buffy's current state of course echoes Willow's current state as well; and >while the handling of Willow's crisis has seemed to me a =bit= heavyhanded >with the addiction metaphor, Alas, yes, and I am a bit disturbed by the way that Willow has sort of been put on ice for a while, while the plots deal with other matters. >in contrast the parallel of Buffy's "addiction" >to Spike has been indicated very subtly (mostly by SMG's facial >expressions, another excellent job on her part). Yes and no. _Why_ Willow kept going back to magic when she knew it was hurting her was shown very well, a much less difficult task because, until the car crash, Willow didn't hate herself for it. But why Buffy keeps _going back_ to Spike when she hates herself that much isn't clear to me at all. Sex addiction has a different dynamic than drug addiction (the latter of which is clearly the model for magic addiction). We have an escalating dissonance between the Buffy who cries in self-loathing in Tara's lap and the Buffy who is now so at ease with Spike that they have casual post-coital chats. >The final scene with Tara >seems to me to be Buffy's rock-bottom, just as Willow's collapse into >tears after the accident in "Wrecked" represented =her= rock-bottom. > >(And oh by the way, that final scene with Tara is one of the best of the >season.) Perhaps, though as a final scene with an unexpected cadence it's obviously a copy of a couple of similar final scenes with Spike - the one a year or so ago on her porch when he first pats her on the back, and the one early this season in which she told him, "I think I was in heaven." Each of these works individually, but do it too often and it becomes a gimmick. >Briefly, about the previous two episodes: "DoubleMeat Palace" was pretty >amusing right through. I was in stitches over Anya's "Marxist" analysis of >demons vs. supervillains; the "It's people!" riff was funny even without >the pop-culture reference; and Buffy's expressions watching the training >film ("Holy crap!") and listening to the lecture on getting greasy were >priceless. Excellent scene with Spike (especially Buffy's line "Don't make >this harder"). A pretty routine monster-of-the-week episode on the whole, >though. I'd have to leave it to people who've actually worked fast food to say how well this episode works as a satire on that experience. But you're right about "monster-of-the-week." Team Josh were so pleased about avoiding the obvious cliche - that the meat is human - that they forgot that they fell into an even more tired cliche, and the monster's silly remark about loving the taste of Doublemeat-fed humans is not much of a compensation. The monster itself was cheezy beyond belief. Do you remember the time Spike fought a demon that vaguely resembled a plastic bouncing clown? This was just as bad. The monster-head trying to munch on Buffy's shoulder reminded me of playful nibblings by a sock puppet. Speaking of the bad, this week's Angel (the ballet episode) was one of the worst ever. I was only able to sit through the "Angel and Cordelia re-enact an ancient love scene" scene by taking a pencil from my pocket and writing the word STUPID over and over in the air in front of me. (I don't know where they filmed the ballet scenes, but it sure wasn't the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, which incidentally I visited a couple weeks ago for the first time, to hear Salonen and the LAP perform Shostakovich's 2nd _and_ 3rd Symphonies - great performances, really made a good case for this stuff.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 13:27:46 -0800 From: "David S. Bratman" Subject: b/Anya the Bride A friend passed this along. A small hoot: http://www.tevis.net/weblog/demonbride.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 18:05:02 -0800 From: "Berni Phillips" Subject: Re: b/state of From: "Donald G. Keller" > > But what struck me even more forcibly about "Dead Things" is that, though > the name is never spoken in the episode, there are echoes of Faith all > over it. I noticed that, too. I'm still a little uncomfortable where they're going this season. > The theme of the season, as the writers have stated, is accepting > responsibility; and Buffy isn't scoring very high so far. She's dropping > the ball big-time on Dawn (with undoubted repercussions soon), I suspect what is eating Dawn is related to what she said in "Doublemeat Palace" when she said her friend's sister was a lawyer and she realized that Buffy was never going to have a prestigious job. I think she's ashamed of Buffy working in fast food (and I find it implausible that Buffy could even begin to pay her bills by working there) and feeling guilty that it's because of her. If Buffy didn't have Dawn to take care of, she could conceivably sell the house to pay the bills and finance her own college education. I expect them to play this fast food gig for laughs for a while longer but then Buffy will find something that pays better and is a little more favorably viewed. > In passing, I found the pseudoscientific explanation of her physical > state--something =just= different enough about her that it fools Spike's > chip--rather unsatisfying, much like the explanation that Tara isn't > really a demon, either. I wonder if there will be more on this, or whether > they intended this as the last word. It's worth pondering Spike's > insistence that Buffy "belongs in the shadows"--there's still the idea > in the air that there =is= something demonic about the Slayer. Note Buffy's > insistence in "DoubleMeat Palace" that she's not a demon; denials that strong, > especially by Buffy, often turn out to be just that, denial. I agree. I don't think the ritual/spell went exactly right. When the demon bikers appeared, Tara and the others ran, leaving Willow there. Hadn't Willow cautioned them not to break the circle? They broke the circle because of the demon bikers. Tara didn't see everything that Willow went through during the spell. Berni ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 18:17:14 -0800 (PST) From: Todd Huff Subject: Re: b/state of > (And oh by the way, that final scene with Tara is > one of the best of the > season.) > Amen! > The theme of the season, as the writers have stated, > is accepting > responsibility; and Buffy isn't scoring very high so > far. She's dropping > the ball big-time on Dawn (with undoubted > repercussions soon), and though > it's a step to 1) get a job 2) decide to hold on to > the job, it's a small > step. > I think this paragraph goes with the one below: > Also of note: Warren's true colors are showing more > and more, and Jonathan > is clearly becoming more and more uncomfortable with > the situation. So far > when he's had to side with either Warren or Buffy > he's chosen Warren; but > the day may be coming (it might even already be > here) when he'll change > his mind. I think the taking of responsibility will be key with the nerdly trio also. I foresee Warren treating the others less as compadres in crime now than as witnesses to be intimidated or even eliminated. My bet is that he'll end up either killing or hurting Andrew and that will drive Jonathon to confess it all to Buffy. The thought of being bad appealed to him more than being bad has, and we've already seen the failure of his previous attempt at power ("Superstar"). Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 21:48:17 -0500 From: meredith Subject: Re: b/state of Hi, I meant to post about this episode when I finally got to see it last night, but our house is a shambles (emergency replastering of the living room ceiling and associated painting of the hallway due to a roof leak, argh) so the computer isn't in the same place as the tv for the moment. My TiVo runneth over. "Dead Things" immediately brought to mind some Faith comparisons, albeit not all the ones Don mentioned. >But as usual the most interesting echoes of Faith are in Buffy herself. >Going to the police is what she felt Faith should have done in >"Consequences," and is what Faith in fact finally did in "Sanctuary" on >=Angel=. (It also echoes her own remorse over human death, as I've >indicated, in "Ted" and "Bad Girls"/"Consequences"). There's that ... but I think that once again, Buffy is thinking only of herself, and completely forgetting about Dawn. I'm starting to wonder if the monk's spell isn't starting to fray a bit where she is concerned. Witness the fact that when Dawn runs out of the magic shop at the end, without even trying to stop her or find out where she's going, Buffy immediately turns right back around and says "We need to stop Warren". Who knows where Dawn is going to run off to? I'm almost hoping the Nemesises (good one, David :) capture her to get at Buffy. Maybe that will wake Buffy up and make her realize that she needs to be there to care for her sister in person, and not just talk apologetically about it. When Buffy woke Dawn up to tell her what had happened and what she was going to do, I was waiting for Dawn to say something along the lines of "but aren't you worried about what's going to happen to me?" An incarcerated guardian would mean foster care for sure ... yet this option obviously isn't occurring to Buffy at all. This part of the episode reminded me of a couple of _Xena_ episodes, in particular one called "Locked Up And Tied Down" in which Xena discovers there is a price on her head for one of the many murders she committed in her evil days, and turns herself in and pleads guilty. Gabrielle spends a lot of time trying to convince her that she can do much more good out in the world than rotting in prison (in fact, she might use the exact same words Spike used, I can't recall exactly), but Xena has retreated so far into herself that it takes quite a lot to make her wake up and see that turning herself in was actually the most selfish thing she could have done. The world *does* need Buffy free and outside -- we can't have both of our Slayers in jail, after all. And as much as Buffy would love to run away from her problems for a free roof over her head and three squares a day, that's not really a viable option. >Even more interesting: someone on another list made the very astute >comment that when Buffy is pounding Spike's face in the alley, what she >says to him applies (in her own mind) to herself as well (especially the >part about being dead inside); Oh, yes. Just like when she was really talking to herself in her conversation with Willow after the car crash, she was talking to herself here, too. >Buffy's current state of course echoes Willow's current state as well; and >while the handling of Willow's crisis has seemed to me a =bit= heavyhanded >with the addiction metaphor, in contrast the parallel of Buffy's "addiction" >to Spike has been indicated very subtly (mostly by SMG's facial >expressions, another excellent job on her part). Agreed on all counts. I would also add that her addiction is revealing itself to be very high on the kinky scale, too -- though I can't say I was surprised by the handcuffs. I guess on some weird level, it makes sense that a Slayer, who lives by violence would be into the S&M thing. (Faith sure appeared to be!) >The final scene with Tara >seems to me to be Buffy's rock-bottom, just as Willow's collapse into >tears after the accident in "Wrecked" represented =her= rock-bottom. > >(And oh by the way, that final scene with Tara is one of the best of the >season.) *Finally* we get to see Tara as spirit guide, like we've been waiting for since "Restless"! I wonder ... at the time I was thinking that "You think you know ... what's to come ... what you are. You haven't even begun" referred to some wondrous mystical thing about the Slayer that we would soon discover. But now, I'm starting to think it was meant as more of a warning. As the Slayer grows up, she becomes less and less of a hero. Since (as far as we know) Buffy is the only Slayer to make it past her 20th birthday, perhaps the Watchers Council has no clue about any of this. >But what she =hasn't= been able to accept responsibility for is her >behavior with/to Spike; he's everything she hates, there must be something >wrong with her, why can't she stop? Tara's reassurance (as she thought of >it) that there =isn't= anything physically wrong with her is clearly a >huge blow to Buffy; =now= what? How does she figure out this Spike thing >in this light? I'm not entirely sure Tara was right about that. Coming back from the dead with such a spell might make those changes to a normal human being, but Buffy is a Slayer. We've been led to believe all along that Slayers are different from normal human beings, so maybe she was affected differently, and just doesn't know exactly how yet. I fully expect this one to come back into focus. >Also of note: Warren's true colors are showing more and more, and Jonathan >is clearly becoming more and more uncomfortable with the situation. So far >when he's had to side with either Warren or Buffy he's chosen Warren; but >the day may be coming (it might even already be here) when he'll change >his mind. My prediction: the Nemesises will capture Dawn, and Jonathan will be the one to let Buffy know where she is. Just a hunch. >Briefly, about the previous two episodes: "DoubleMeat Palace" was pretty >amusing right through. I was in stitches over Anya's "Marxist" analysis of >demons vs. supervillains; the "It's people!" riff was funny even without >the pop-culture reference; and Buffy's expressions watching the training >film ("Holy crap!") and listening to the lecture on getting greasy were >priceless. Excellent scene with Spike (especially Buffy's line "Don't make >this harder"). A pretty routine monster-of-the-week episode on the whole, >though. I kept waiting to be surprised, and it never happened. It was quite disappointing, really. David commented: >But why Buffy keeps >_going back_ to Spike when she hates herself that much isn't clear to me at >all. She keeps going back to Spike precisely *because* she hates herself. And she can't stop. This is along the lines of the compulsive eater who hates her/himself because s/he is obese, but since eating is how s/he copes with guilt, it turns into a very vicious circle. >We have an escalating >dissonance between the Buffy who cries in self-loathing in Tara's lap and >the Buffy who is now so at ease with Spike that they have casual >post-coital chats. Ah, but don't forget the timing: we see Buffy having a casual post-coital chat with Spike *before* she collapses into self-loathing at the end. I'd be surprised if we see such a chat occur again. ======================================= Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth ======================================= Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://www.smoe.org/meth/muzak.html ======================================= (: New England Patriots - Super Bowl XXXVI CHAMPIONS :) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 21:58:51 -0500 From: meredith Subject: m(b)/music for elevators Hi, Anthony Stewart Head's album with George Sarah, _Music For Elevators_ was released on Tuesday. I'd pre-ordered it from Amazon, so it arrived promptly, and I finally got a chance to give it a listen. It's actually better than I thought it would be. George Sarah is an in-demand electronic composer, and he adds some really nice textures to the songs, most of which were penned by Head (with the notable exception of track 11, words and music by Joss Whedon). There are some notable guest stars: Amber Benson provides (barely audible :/) backing vox on two tracks, and James Marsters and Alyson Hannigan make brief appearances. Marsters sings backing vox on one track and provides an interesting spoken coda at the very end, and Hannigan does a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it vocal thing (not sung, thank god :). As for Head himself, we all know he's a pretty good singer, but he sounds much better with this material than in the musical, imo. The lyrics aren't anything to write home about, but for the most part the music makes it easy to get past that. I think Joss Whedon's song is actually the best of the lot. I'd recommend this for the die-hard completist, or the fool who loves to collect CDs by cult television actors, like me. :) (I'd compare this to Mira Furlan's lovely CD, _Music From Movies That Haven't Been Made_, more than Claudia Christian's shockingly awful Madonna-wannabe EP.) ======================================= Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth ======================================= Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://www.smoe.org/meth/muzak.html ======================================= (: New England Patriots - Super Bowl XXXVI CHAMPIONS :) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 22:49:06 -0500 From: meredith Subject: b/dead things, again Hi, One more thing I forgot to mention about "Dead Things"... this involves a spoiler for Joss' commentary on "Welcome to the Hellmouth" on the DVDs, btw. In his commentary, Joss mentions that the first establishing shot of the upstairs of The Bronze, with Buffy walking up the stairs to the balcony is something he really wanted to do, but after doing it once realized it was way too complicated to do again. The lighting and camera logistics were just too complex. Don immediately pointed out that we have seen a few balcony shots in recent episodes, so they must have figured it out. And then, in "Dead Things", when Buffy goes upstairs where she has her encounter with Spike, we see pretty much the *exact same shot* from "Hellmouth", with the camera tracking Buffy as she walks up the stairs to the balcony. Either they figured it out, or nobody told the current directors that it's really not an economical idea. :) Anyhoo, I thought I'd post this here rather than just to Don, since it might be of interest to others as well. ======================================= Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth ======================================= Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://www.smoe.org/meth/muzak.html ======================================= (: New England Patriots - Super Bowl XXXVI CHAMPIONS :) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 21:17:51 -0800 From: "Marta Grabien" Subject: Re: b/Anya the Bride good one. (g) > A friend passed this along. A small hoot: > > http://www.tevis.net/weblog/demonbride.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 21:21:08 -0800 From: "Marta Grabien" Subject: Re: b/state of > and that will drive Jonathon to confess it all to > Buffy. Jonathon has been a member of the cast since the first episode. I am sure he will be redeemed. Besides, he is the one who presented Buffy with her Class Protector parasol. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 01:33:49 EST From: GHighPine@aol.com Subject: Re: b/state of In a message dated 2/7/02 9:29:57 AM Pacific Standard Time, susank@fiber.net writes: << Gayle mentioned the "DoubleMeat Palace" earlier and liked the twist at the end. I thought it created too many problems--it's illegal, for one thing, to advertise a food product as being one thing when it's another. >> The twist at the end I mentioned was the fact that Buffy continued to work there. But the problem you mention is precisely the reason that Buffy was able to blackmail them. Great insights, Donald, into the last ep and the Faith connections. A lot of them I'd thought of, but not all, and you tied a lot together. (Sorry lack time for longer post.) Gayle ------------------------------ End of stillpt-digest V4 #12 ****************************