Man, I hate playing vampire towns
Nov. 20th, 2002 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynSpoilers, Spoilers, Spoilers for Buffy
episode Sleeper, 11/19. Vampires, beware!
Two words: leather pants.
Four words: shirtless and leather pants.
Five words: black T-shirt and leather pants.
And one word: Wow.
After what’s been a rocky and uneven start for Buffy, to me, this is shaping up really nicely. I used to love David Fury’s writing but in the past couple years he’s given me some of the stories I liked least and which had the worst character continuity, and Jane wasn’t doing much better (Doublemeat Palace -- the Spock's Brain of Buffy?), but so far this year Jane’s written a couple eps I’ve loved, and a Firefly I adored, and this is shaping up well. Last night had a few glitches, but overall this was an incredibly satisfying bridge into what’s going to happen for the rest of the year. I felt it worked as a segue much better than the Angel eps we’ve had the past few weeks.
One thing that I really liked (besides the leather pants and the nekkidity of Spike; I’m shallow, sue me) was that they all talked and they all discussed the events of last week, and the Scoobs put some thought into it. They didn’t keep it to themselves or hide knowledge, they shared and planned. Too many television shows and movies are predicated on the characters keeping important information to themselves in order to move the plot along, and that kind of irritating dramatic irony, where we know what’s happening but the characters are interacting with each other without that information, making huge mistakes and causing dischord, gets old really fast. Finally, the producers have smartened up about this, and the characters were talking to each other. This was all for the good, because it helped move along what’s otherwise a fairly talky setup — we’ve heard over and over about this big bad, and now we see what it’s doing with Spike, and what it did last week, but the fact that little is happening physically otherwise could make this seem almost comically ineffective.
The ending stuff with Spike in the basement was very powerful for me. I’m of course trying to block out all the crappy Spike-hating voices of people I know (boy am I going to avoid my friends list for awhile) that penetrate my brain even when I don’t want them to. Because when I watched that scene in the basement and the scene in the Bronze where Spike starts to realize what he’s done, but not why, I’m just really touched and moved by what he's going through. It took a lot of guts to call Buffy and admit he has proof, proof that he’s as evil as she said and he hoped he was not, and then to go into that basement and see the results of this... wow. I know people think crying Spike or regretful Spike is pussy Spike, but I think what he did took some serious cojones, and for Buffy to admit that this is part of what’s happening around them, that he deserves help, and not just react on her gut instinct to get rid of him... it gets to a level of maturity for her that I like very much, and a powerful change for him, as well.
In some ways there were some nice parallels with Becoming. Angel loved Buffy and it made him lose his soul and evil took him over again; Spike loved Buffy and he went out and got a soul, but in the end, evil overpowers him anyway (or does it now?). Buffy has to kill Angel, her lover, in order to save the world from a crisis, and it’s torturous because he’s good again and there’s trauma; Buffy is faced with killing Spike, her former lover, who asks for it because of what he knows he’s done, and it’s traumatic for both of them. I’m also glad that in that scene we finally get something cleared up a little — that Spike’s grief and misery from the soul left him open to being manipulated by Morphy and that his insanity was more a product of the evil than simply Spike got a soul and went insane. In Becoming we saw how tormented and demented Angel became eventually; if he’d faced and evil like this in that condition, he’d probably have been just as nuts as Spike is now. I always like nice little references to previous stories.
For my Spuffy-lovin’ heart I got a bunch of nifty toy surprises: Buffy again referring to Spike as “hot;” her difficulty in believing he’d do something that bad and how she waffled back and forth; her willingness to help him when he asked and the fact that he did ask this time; the incredible argument in his bedroom and his heartbreaking admission that “God help me, it’s still all about you, Buffy.” (and my "you never really love someone until you have to kill them" loving heart got Spike opening his jacket and saying "make it quick". Whee!) I adore watching good actors spark off one another, and when SMG and JM get going in scenes like that, I’m unglued with joy; when it involves things that I can extrapolate as a Spuffy fan and writer into something else, I’m even happier. And I loved watching JM once again get some good time with Emma Caulfield, they also have a great creative spark and I loved their scene together (especially the line “Soulless Spike would have had me upside-down and halfway to happyland by now.”) Loved Xander's "cool as Cool Whip" line.
I really enjoyed seeing Xander at least being more reasonable and less reactionary; his scenes where he’s trying to CSI-out what’s happening with Spike finally reminded me of old Xander, who may harbor loathing and animosity, but who can also put on the thinking cap and work a problem when it’s important to. I could have used less meanness to Anya, when they'd left off in a friendly way after Selfless, but overall this was the old improved Xander, not just big meaty pissed off and jealous guy. Willow and Dawn had some important time together; this is their first real connection similar to how they used to be before season 6. Dawn’s finally growing up enough to understand what’s important and what’s not, and is able to assess situations she previously just shrieked and whined about.
Loved the title choice. Aside from the obvious “one who sleeps,” there is the definition of something that unexpectedly becomes successful (like a sleeper hit movie), or best of all, the spy or secret agent who hides or lives within a community, waiting to be called to action when needed. I also think of “the sleeper has awakened” from Dune -- someone who was not fully aware, hiding, and then finally coming into their own, recognizing their power. The vampire inside Spike was awakened and brought to action just at a time when he seemed most harmless, definitely something that would throw off the Scoobies and Buffy most of all, giving the evil power by distracting its most powerful enemies, and incapacitating Spike, who could still prove to be vital in the fight against it if they do help him.
And Giles! Any Giles makes me happy. I’m glad that for the non-spoiler people the fact that these girls being killed are potential slayers is finally out (so we can talk about it!), and clearly some serious damage is being done to the Watcher’s Council. Quite a cliffhanger ending with Giles there.
Yes, some problems. Morphy still seems awfully passive as a general evil, and I dread more of a season with “it’s bad! it’s evil” and then more talking and Morphy just wandering around leering in the guise of people we know. It could easily turn into “I want my key! Where’s my key!”, and that’s, well, boring as all hell. And there was some strange continuity with the people Spike had killed and when they rose, and I wondered if that was controlled by Morphy rather than the requisite “you’re turned, you rise the next night” thing they’ve set up previously. And they’re hammering too hard on the whole "Spike can still be dangerous, blah blah” stuff that we’re hearing just too much. We got it, now move on please.
But overall I was pleased with this episode because of the wonderful acting, the way it’s setting things up for the rest of the season, how it’s getting Buffy to deal with the residual effects of her affair with Spike, and how it’s creating a different persona for Spike (or personae, we still have yet to see). I know JM said he wanted to play Spike as evil one more time, and I’m sure he must have had a ball in this ep, veering wildly between emotions. I just love watching a good actor get to do that. Oh, and Aimee Mann, a long time favorite, in the ep too? Just too much to be happy about. I'm halfway to happyland.
episode Sleeper, 11/19. Vampires, beware!
Two words: leather pants.
Four words: shirtless and leather pants.
Five words: black T-shirt and leather pants.
And one word: Wow.
After what’s been a rocky and uneven start for Buffy, to me, this is shaping up really nicely. I used to love David Fury’s writing but in the past couple years he’s given me some of the stories I liked least and which had the worst character continuity, and Jane wasn’t doing much better (Doublemeat Palace -- the Spock's Brain of Buffy?), but so far this year Jane’s written a couple eps I’ve loved, and a Firefly I adored, and this is shaping up well. Last night had a few glitches, but overall this was an incredibly satisfying bridge into what’s going to happen for the rest of the year. I felt it worked as a segue much better than the Angel eps we’ve had the past few weeks.
One thing that I really liked (besides the leather pants and the nekkidity of Spike; I’m shallow, sue me) was that they all talked and they all discussed the events of last week, and the Scoobs put some thought into it. They didn’t keep it to themselves or hide knowledge, they shared and planned. Too many television shows and movies are predicated on the characters keeping important information to themselves in order to move the plot along, and that kind of irritating dramatic irony, where we know what’s happening but the characters are interacting with each other without that information, making huge mistakes and causing dischord, gets old really fast. Finally, the producers have smartened up about this, and the characters were talking to each other. This was all for the good, because it helped move along what’s otherwise a fairly talky setup — we’ve heard over and over about this big bad, and now we see what it’s doing with Spike, and what it did last week, but the fact that little is happening physically otherwise could make this seem almost comically ineffective.
The ending stuff with Spike in the basement was very powerful for me. I’m of course trying to block out all the crappy Spike-hating voices of people I know (boy am I going to avoid my friends list for awhile) that penetrate my brain even when I don’t want them to. Because when I watched that scene in the basement and the scene in the Bronze where Spike starts to realize what he’s done, but not why, I’m just really touched and moved by what he's going through. It took a lot of guts to call Buffy and admit he has proof, proof that he’s as evil as she said and he hoped he was not, and then to go into that basement and see the results of this... wow. I know people think crying Spike or regretful Spike is pussy Spike, but I think what he did took some serious cojones, and for Buffy to admit that this is part of what’s happening around them, that he deserves help, and not just react on her gut instinct to get rid of him... it gets to a level of maturity for her that I like very much, and a powerful change for him, as well.
In some ways there were some nice parallels with Becoming. Angel loved Buffy and it made him lose his soul and evil took him over again; Spike loved Buffy and he went out and got a soul, but in the end, evil overpowers him anyway (or does it now?). Buffy has to kill Angel, her lover, in order to save the world from a crisis, and it’s torturous because he’s good again and there’s trauma; Buffy is faced with killing Spike, her former lover, who asks for it because of what he knows he’s done, and it’s traumatic for both of them. I’m also glad that in that scene we finally get something cleared up a little — that Spike’s grief and misery from the soul left him open to being manipulated by Morphy and that his insanity was more a product of the evil than simply Spike got a soul and went insane. In Becoming we saw how tormented and demented Angel became eventually; if he’d faced and evil like this in that condition, he’d probably have been just as nuts as Spike is now. I always like nice little references to previous stories.
For my Spuffy-lovin’ heart I got a bunch of nifty toy surprises: Buffy again referring to Spike as “hot;” her difficulty in believing he’d do something that bad and how she waffled back and forth; her willingness to help him when he asked and the fact that he did ask this time; the incredible argument in his bedroom and his heartbreaking admission that “God help me, it’s still all about you, Buffy.” (and my "you never really love someone until you have to kill them" loving heart got Spike opening his jacket and saying "make it quick". Whee!) I adore watching good actors spark off one another, and when SMG and JM get going in scenes like that, I’m unglued with joy; when it involves things that I can extrapolate as a Spuffy fan and writer into something else, I’m even happier. And I loved watching JM once again get some good time with Emma Caulfield, they also have a great creative spark and I loved their scene together (especially the line “Soulless Spike would have had me upside-down and halfway to happyland by now.”) Loved Xander's "cool as Cool Whip" line.
I really enjoyed seeing Xander at least being more reasonable and less reactionary; his scenes where he’s trying to CSI-out what’s happening with Spike finally reminded me of old Xander, who may harbor loathing and animosity, but who can also put on the thinking cap and work a problem when it’s important to. I could have used less meanness to Anya, when they'd left off in a friendly way after Selfless, but overall this was the old improved Xander, not just big meaty pissed off and jealous guy. Willow and Dawn had some important time together; this is their first real connection similar to how they used to be before season 6. Dawn’s finally growing up enough to understand what’s important and what’s not, and is able to assess situations she previously just shrieked and whined about.
Loved the title choice. Aside from the obvious “one who sleeps,” there is the definition of something that unexpectedly becomes successful (like a sleeper hit movie), or best of all, the spy or secret agent who hides or lives within a community, waiting to be called to action when needed. I also think of “the sleeper has awakened” from Dune -- someone who was not fully aware, hiding, and then finally coming into their own, recognizing their power. The vampire inside Spike was awakened and brought to action just at a time when he seemed most harmless, definitely something that would throw off the Scoobies and Buffy most of all, giving the evil power by distracting its most powerful enemies, and incapacitating Spike, who could still prove to be vital in the fight against it if they do help him.
And Giles! Any Giles makes me happy. I’m glad that for the non-spoiler people the fact that these girls being killed are potential slayers is finally out (so we can talk about it!), and clearly some serious damage is being done to the Watcher’s Council. Quite a cliffhanger ending with Giles there.
Yes, some problems. Morphy still seems awfully passive as a general evil, and I dread more of a season with “it’s bad! it’s evil” and then more talking and Morphy just wandering around leering in the guise of people we know. It could easily turn into “I want my key! Where’s my key!”, and that’s, well, boring as all hell. And there was some strange continuity with the people Spike had killed and when they rose, and I wondered if that was controlled by Morphy rather than the requisite “you’re turned, you rise the next night” thing they’ve set up previously. And they’re hammering too hard on the whole "Spike can still be dangerous, blah blah” stuff that we’re hearing just too much. We got it, now move on please.
But overall I was pleased with this episode because of the wonderful acting, the way it’s setting things up for the rest of the season, how it’s getting Buffy to deal with the residual effects of her affair with Spike, and how it’s creating a different persona for Spike (or personae, we still have yet to see). I know JM said he wanted to play Spike as evil one more time, and I’m sure he must have had a ball in this ep, veering wildly between emotions. I just love watching a good actor get to do that. Oh, and Aimee Mann, a long time favorite, in the ep too? Just too much to be happy about. I'm halfway to happyland.
