I just finished getting through the Buffyverse and I thought this event should be commemorated in some way, why not with a blog entry?
I've been buying the seasons of Buffy for quite some time, spending little bits of saved money on them. I now have all 7 seasons and season 5 of Angel (the best season of Angel) and I just watched all 8 seasons sequentially. I think it took about 2 months. Bloody hell.
My insights now, having seen the whole oeuvre? The show resonates at an emotional level that is simply integral to me, but of course, they have their flaws. The score for season 1 is just funny bad, seeing SMG become anorexic is painful, Dawn's screams are irritating...Mr. Whedon really should have made her forgive Spike in the end because her relationship with him was one of the least annoying things about her character.
Consistency is a bit of an issue, not Star Trek bad, but how old is Spike? It changes every season. Spike's sire? The strength of the uber vamps in season 7? But character development is always consistent and that's what's really important. The only character progression I just don't buy is Giles' betrayal of Buffy in season 7. I bought it when I watched it for the first time, but watching the whole thing it kinda grates on me a bit. The writers acknowledge how much of a leap it is for him and he hasn't always agreed with Buffy in the past, but when I saw how close he was to Buffy in earlier seasons, I couldn't believe that one speech from a guy he knows is bent on vengeance would convince him to betray Buffy in a way he's never done before. And he says Buffy isn't seeing the big picture, but doesn't acknowledge that Spike is the only warrior they have?
Plus, I'm sorry, he plots to kill Spike, a vamp who has fought for his soul and has saved his life on many occassions, but Angel gets off the hook? Angel kills the love of Giles' life and tortures him for hours but once he gets a soul forced back into him, he's an okay guy whose wisdom surpasses Spike's? Spike does not-evil deeds for 3 years, protects Dawn and the Slayer, and then fights to win a soul and he's still evil incarnate?
The betrayal makes a great episode of television but I'm still not sure it's consistent with Giles' logic.
The fact the Nick Brendan is not the world's best actor started to bother me in the last seasons, however having watched the show from beginning to end, I really appreciated the journey he went on. Just trying to feel like a man around all these people who are stronger than him, you understand his pigheadedness in highschool and later on. And I love that he is one of the only male characters on the show who is not only not intimidated by female strength, but attracted to it. Watching this "just a normal guy" having his eye plucked out at the end, it really got to me in a way that it hadn't before.
The only thing that really bugs me about the shows is something Barb mentions in her Season 6 rant. The whole soul thing. It's so not interesting to make the soul the be all end all of whether a person is capable of good or not. It's like this "quick fix" for evil, and since Mr. Whedon doesn't seem to be a fan of quick fixes in general, it's odd that he's put this one in. It's far more interesting, and far more pro-free will, to say that no matter who you are, you get up every day and can make a decision to try to do good. This whole "spike isn't capable of love or good without a soul" crap when he obviously loves Buffy and Dawn like crazy doesn't fly. And if Buffy had concentrated more on the fact that a soulless thing had wanted to do right so much that he fought for a soul, I would have been happy, but all through season 7 she keeps on saying "he has a soul now" like that's the big fucking deal. And Angel also focuses on the soul thing, though thank fuck it at least acknowledges that Spike is the better manvamp for having intentionally sought his out.
Hopefully that's gotten the Buffy out of my system for awhile now. Oh who am I kidding?
I've been buying the seasons of Buffy for quite some time, spending little bits of saved money on them. I now have all 7 seasons and season 5 of Angel (the best season of Angel) and I just watched all 8 seasons sequentially. I think it took about 2 months. Bloody hell.
My insights now, having seen the whole oeuvre? The show resonates at an emotional level that is simply integral to me, but of course, they have their flaws. The score for season 1 is just funny bad, seeing SMG become anorexic is painful, Dawn's screams are irritating...Mr. Whedon really should have made her forgive Spike in the end because her relationship with him was one of the least annoying things about her character.
Consistency is a bit of an issue, not Star Trek bad, but how old is Spike? It changes every season. Spike's sire? The strength of the uber vamps in season 7? But character development is always consistent and that's what's really important. The only character progression I just don't buy is Giles' betrayal of Buffy in season 7. I bought it when I watched it for the first time, but watching the whole thing it kinda grates on me a bit. The writers acknowledge how much of a leap it is for him and he hasn't always agreed with Buffy in the past, but when I saw how close he was to Buffy in earlier seasons, I couldn't believe that one speech from a guy he knows is bent on vengeance would convince him to betray Buffy in a way he's never done before. And he says Buffy isn't seeing the big picture, but doesn't acknowledge that Spike is the only warrior they have?
Plus, I'm sorry, he plots to kill Spike, a vamp who has fought for his soul and has saved his life on many occassions, but Angel gets off the hook? Angel kills the love of Giles' life and tortures him for hours but once he gets a soul forced back into him, he's an okay guy whose wisdom surpasses Spike's? Spike does not-evil deeds for 3 years, protects Dawn and the Slayer, and then fights to win a soul and he's still evil incarnate?
The betrayal makes a great episode of television but I'm still not sure it's consistent with Giles' logic.
The fact the Nick Brendan is not the world's best actor started to bother me in the last seasons, however having watched the show from beginning to end, I really appreciated the journey he went on. Just trying to feel like a man around all these people who are stronger than him, you understand his pigheadedness in highschool and later on. And I love that he is one of the only male characters on the show who is not only not intimidated by female strength, but attracted to it. Watching this "just a normal guy" having his eye plucked out at the end, it really got to me in a way that it hadn't before.
The only thing that really bugs me about the shows is something Barb mentions in her Season 6 rant. The whole soul thing. It's so not interesting to make the soul the be all end all of whether a person is capable of good or not. It's like this "quick fix" for evil, and since Mr. Whedon doesn't seem to be a fan of quick fixes in general, it's odd that he's put this one in. It's far more interesting, and far more pro-free will, to say that no matter who you are, you get up every day and can make a decision to try to do good. This whole "spike isn't capable of love or good without a soul" crap when he obviously loves Buffy and Dawn like crazy doesn't fly. And if Buffy had concentrated more on the fact that a soulless thing had wanted to do right so much that he fought for a soul, I would have been happy, but all through season 7 she keeps on saying "he has a soul now" like that's the big fucking deal. And Angel also focuses on the soul thing, though thank fuck it at least acknowledges that Spike is the better manvamp for having intentionally sought his out.
Hopefully that's gotten the Buffy out of my system for awhile now. Oh who am I kidding?
1 Comments:
What really struck me when I watched 'em all (first all Buffy, then all Angel) was that Buffy is really unlikable. I would so never be her friend.
I did enjoy Cordeila's arc over the shows, esp when she shows up at the end of Angel in the coma episode.
I think the differnce in how Spike and Angel are viewed has to do with how they present themselves. Spike wants to be bad and while love is redemptive (shudder) becuase he made it explicitly clear that he's evil, it becomes hard to forget. First impressions and all...
As for consistency... what happened to Miss Kitty Fantastico? Oh that's right, in season 7 there is a ONE LINE refrence to Dawn having to be more careful with crossbows. Let me assure you, if ANYONE even accidentally took a crossbow to the kitten my DEAD lover got me, they wouldn't have that pretty long hair anymore.
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