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gwynI did actually get to watch Dirty Girls last night despite our local UPN affiliate’s asinine decision to preempt it for a home baseball game. The kind and generous Viv Nichols went searching on her satellite system for other UPN stations, and found one that was playing the episode. And she fed me pizza, and let me make a copy of her tape. What more could you ask for? I hereby nominate her for sainthood. I’m given to understand that other stations preempting for sports, and that some of the people on my friends page also didn’t get the ep because of fucking sports.
So despite the recent hoo-haw from people I don’t know and don’t like over me and my cut-tag issues, I’m cutting away the review! Ah, I love the smell of irony in the morning. Mostly because of the people I do know and do like, like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dragolyn and merryish who haven’t seen it yet, and this way they won’t have to avoid their friends pages. But I do want to remind people again that I staked a claim to Drew Goddard first — way back in Selfless, I said he was my spiritual fiancé and that we should be married, and he’s mine, mine, mine. I’m going to buy my ticket to Los Angeles and go stalk him, very soon. He won’t know what hit him.
Babbling because I honestly just have so many thoughts boomeranging around in my head that it’s dangerous in here. A long time ago, I mentioned my peculiar interest (well, as I’ve always been told, “for a girl”) in military history. This episode really got me thinking about a lot of famous and infamous decisions carried out in wars that were considered by many to be precipitate or reckless; or that by happenstance were successful despite lack of planning. For some reason, I especially was thinking of Abraham Lincoln and his antipathy towards the Union commander Gen. McClellan — everyone in this ep was advising caution, Buffy felt she had had enough waiting, no one knew what to do, and she made a decision that would be considered differently by every person involved. When McClellan didn’t finish off the Rebels after Antietam, Lincoln fired him for not taking decisive enough action — and he’d been having serious issues with McClellan for a long time. The general even wrote to Lincoln, “You may find those who will go faster than I, Mr. President; but it is very doubtful if you will find many who will go further."
And here, Buffy was willing to go further and faster, and with disastrous results. But could it have been any different? They’ve been played for fools for a long time, and I think Buffy recognized that the time had come to stop waiting, no matter how dangerous. I think she also knew that the results wouldn’t be positive and that sacrifices were going to be required, especially in her conversation with Robin at the beginning of the ep. He was right when he said it was time to test them and that there would be loss; Caleb was finally the method of testing, and they lost. Now it remains to be seen just how she can regroup her forces, and if she can figure out the big questions of who is Caleb and where does his power come from, what are his weaknesses, can she exploit them, etc. Buffy is a good leader — she’s everything Xander said and more. She knew she had to lead and take the consequences of leadership. And it’s going to be easy for everyone to turn away from her as they were starting to do at the end of the ep; but the thing is, not taking action can have as many disastrous consequences as taking precipitate action. So Buffy’s stuck, and I wonder if people will really be able to see that about her, considering the tension that already exists.
Caleb is one scary dude, and it was just delightful to see Nathan Fillion playing wicked (anyone else get weepy over Firefly, thinking of the potential of a Mal-goes-evil episode?). I’ve always found religion a little scary just in general, but his interpretations of the Good Book in the manner of evil was rather… entertaining (and he certainly had some delicious lines, especially the “black is slimming” crack). He could have been painfully over the top in the hands of a lesser actor, and I like the contrast with Jasmine on Angel right now — the obvious vs. the subtle. And Faith… well, where to start? I love that she is atoning without losing her edge. Because it puts me in mind of a vampire I’m especially fond of.
It wasn’t the sexiness of the conversation between her and Spike that got to me. It started earlier, when he was explaining why the tension with Giles and Dawn was so high. This thing about Spike that I’ve always loved, evil or not, was his ability to see things in people they don’t see themselves. And he cued in immediately to what Faith was thinking — that their attitude was about her, and feeling like again she doesn’t belong and isn’t welcome, and Spike put her straight when others may not have been able to see her issues underneath her exterior. Later they carried that out in the basement scene. For me, what was going on there wasn’t about sex or hotness or chemistry, but about what Spike sees in her that he knows in himself. He immediately calls her on her decision to stay in prison when she could have left, and when she says that she was the one holding herself back, it’s not just a declaration of her own atonement, but about both of them — they have both made decisions to hold themselves back, to choose the good side, to redeem themselves, and Spike can totally relate to her. Faith is turning it on for him, she’s making it clear that she’s up for a little rough and tumble if he is, and he’s enjoying the hell out of it, but I kept thinking that it was very clear to both of them that that really wasn’t where they were going. They knew each other, they got each other, and it was as if they were enjoying their own mutualities — their desire for redemption in their crimes against humanity and possibly against Buffy herself — more than any idea of getting physical. Spike recognizes a kindred spirit, and he sees an interesting version of himself in her, but it’s still clear that he’s got Buffy on the brain, just in a different way than he has in the past. His embarrassment at being caught was priceless. I could watch this scene over and over and over — the dialog crackles, the acting is terrific, and the character development in this one little scene takes both of them miles beyond where they’ve been. Buffy really does know all the cool vampires.
I also thought they made a nice little nod to Spike’s humanity in the horrible scene with Xander getting his eye gouged out. Poor Xander! While I know the Spander folks were probably seeing “Spike loves him,” I admit I’ve never gotten that ‘ship interest, so I saw something really different there — that even though Spike hates this guy, something horrible was happening to Xander and it was his obligation to rescue him. I don’t know why, but that one little tiny choice seemed more significant than almost anything Spike’s done this season in terms of his soul or fighting the good fight. His dislike of Xander didn’t hold him back; their past history didn’t prevent him from trying to help once he understood what was happening, and I loved that tiny bit of character thrown in there.
And again, poor Xander. So, already I’ve seen people railing against a plot decision that would have him lose his eye. But in a way… it makes sense and it’s been leading here. One of the big complaints this season was seeing how lame the First and all its minions have been. Finally in Caleb we have a serious threat. When Angel went bad in second season, to have him wandering around talking about being threatening but not actually being threatening would have made it a joke, and Joss wisely, but sadly, chose to have Angel kill Jenny. We’ve lost a few SITs along the way, but the truth is, they’ve been impossible to care about. We don’t know them, most of them are irritating, and so that’s been of little emotional impact. Jonathan’s murder was probably the one really significant emotional loss the First has inflicted on the audience. So not only losing more slayer potentials, but this huge rift with Giles, and Xander’s severe injury, suddenly make this more dangerous for us. It says that the next five eps are going to be about grievous loss and harm, and that this is the biggest fight ever — what has been almost comically lip-servicey in the past. And we’ve had a kind of buildup here — Xander describes himself as the guy who sees everything earlier this season, and his oracle-like speeches and comments have indicated this was something significant (and hey, we know he can wear an eye patch, from All the Way last year! Avast, ye mateys!). I’d love to know how Caleb knew about this, but then, I would also like to know a lot more about how Caleb does anything he’s done. I sure hope there will be explanations forthcoming. (Oh, and also, I’ve forgotten most of the mythology that I was obsessed with as a kid, but didn’t the most visionary or oracular of people in myths always seem to be blind? Is there a significance beyond just Xander’s special power?)
Now the interesting thing will be to see who turns from Buffy, and why. (Of course, all of you who know the season finale spoilers are probably laughing up your sleeve at everything I’m saying, but I’m spoiler lite this year, so… well, mock me later, ‘kay?) Will Spike give up on her, when he’s been the one person who never would? Will Willow reject what Buffy’s done, or use her powers to help? What about Faith — we didn’t see her at the end. She said she was with Buffy all the way, but would it extend this far? This was just an amazing episode, densely packed with witty lines, amazing character stuff done both tragically and humorously (I nearly peed my pants when they cut to Andrew’s tears after Xander’s speech), and really good plotting. It’s leading us to some seriously scary territory, and reminding me why this is the best show ever, and how much I’m going to miss it.
So despite the recent hoo-haw from people I don’t know and don’t like over me and my cut-tag issues, I’m cutting away the review! Ah, I love the smell of irony in the morning. Mostly because of the people I do know and do like, like
dragolyn and merryish who haven’t seen it yet, and this way they won’t have to avoid their friends pages. But I do want to remind people again that I staked a claim to Drew Goddard first — way back in Selfless, I said he was my spiritual fiancé and that we should be married, and he’s mine, mine, mine. I’m going to buy my ticket to Los Angeles and go stalk him, very soon. He won’t know what hit him.Babbling because I honestly just have so many thoughts boomeranging around in my head that it’s dangerous in here. A long time ago, I mentioned my peculiar interest (well, as I’ve always been told, “for a girl”) in military history. This episode really got me thinking about a lot of famous and infamous decisions carried out in wars that were considered by many to be precipitate or reckless; or that by happenstance were successful despite lack of planning. For some reason, I especially was thinking of Abraham Lincoln and his antipathy towards the Union commander Gen. McClellan — everyone in this ep was advising caution, Buffy felt she had had enough waiting, no one knew what to do, and she made a decision that would be considered differently by every person involved. When McClellan didn’t finish off the Rebels after Antietam, Lincoln fired him for not taking decisive enough action — and he’d been having serious issues with McClellan for a long time. The general even wrote to Lincoln, “You may find those who will go faster than I, Mr. President; but it is very doubtful if you will find many who will go further."
And here, Buffy was willing to go further and faster, and with disastrous results. But could it have been any different? They’ve been played for fools for a long time, and I think Buffy recognized that the time had come to stop waiting, no matter how dangerous. I think she also knew that the results wouldn’t be positive and that sacrifices were going to be required, especially in her conversation with Robin at the beginning of the ep. He was right when he said it was time to test them and that there would be loss; Caleb was finally the method of testing, and they lost. Now it remains to be seen just how she can regroup her forces, and if she can figure out the big questions of who is Caleb and where does his power come from, what are his weaknesses, can she exploit them, etc. Buffy is a good leader — she’s everything Xander said and more. She knew she had to lead and take the consequences of leadership. And it’s going to be easy for everyone to turn away from her as they were starting to do at the end of the ep; but the thing is, not taking action can have as many disastrous consequences as taking precipitate action. So Buffy’s stuck, and I wonder if people will really be able to see that about her, considering the tension that already exists.
Caleb is one scary dude, and it was just delightful to see Nathan Fillion playing wicked (anyone else get weepy over Firefly, thinking of the potential of a Mal-goes-evil episode?). I’ve always found religion a little scary just in general, but his interpretations of the Good Book in the manner of evil was rather… entertaining (and he certainly had some delicious lines, especially the “black is slimming” crack). He could have been painfully over the top in the hands of a lesser actor, and I like the contrast with Jasmine on Angel right now — the obvious vs. the subtle. And Faith… well, where to start? I love that she is atoning without losing her edge. Because it puts me in mind of a vampire I’m especially fond of.
It wasn’t the sexiness of the conversation between her and Spike that got to me. It started earlier, when he was explaining why the tension with Giles and Dawn was so high. This thing about Spike that I’ve always loved, evil or not, was his ability to see things in people they don’t see themselves. And he cued in immediately to what Faith was thinking — that their attitude was about her, and feeling like again she doesn’t belong and isn’t welcome, and Spike put her straight when others may not have been able to see her issues underneath her exterior. Later they carried that out in the basement scene. For me, what was going on there wasn’t about sex or hotness or chemistry, but about what Spike sees in her that he knows in himself. He immediately calls her on her decision to stay in prison when she could have left, and when she says that she was the one holding herself back, it’s not just a declaration of her own atonement, but about both of them — they have both made decisions to hold themselves back, to choose the good side, to redeem themselves, and Spike can totally relate to her. Faith is turning it on for him, she’s making it clear that she’s up for a little rough and tumble if he is, and he’s enjoying the hell out of it, but I kept thinking that it was very clear to both of them that that really wasn’t where they were going. They knew each other, they got each other, and it was as if they were enjoying their own mutualities — their desire for redemption in their crimes against humanity and possibly against Buffy herself — more than any idea of getting physical. Spike recognizes a kindred spirit, and he sees an interesting version of himself in her, but it’s still clear that he’s got Buffy on the brain, just in a different way than he has in the past. His embarrassment at being caught was priceless. I could watch this scene over and over and over — the dialog crackles, the acting is terrific, and the character development in this one little scene takes both of them miles beyond where they’ve been. Buffy really does know all the cool vampires.
I also thought they made a nice little nod to Spike’s humanity in the horrible scene with Xander getting his eye gouged out. Poor Xander! While I know the Spander folks were probably seeing “Spike loves him,” I admit I’ve never gotten that ‘ship interest, so I saw something really different there — that even though Spike hates this guy, something horrible was happening to Xander and it was his obligation to rescue him. I don’t know why, but that one little tiny choice seemed more significant than almost anything Spike’s done this season in terms of his soul or fighting the good fight. His dislike of Xander didn’t hold him back; their past history didn’t prevent him from trying to help once he understood what was happening, and I loved that tiny bit of character thrown in there.
And again, poor Xander. So, already I’ve seen people railing against a plot decision that would have him lose his eye. But in a way… it makes sense and it’s been leading here. One of the big complaints this season was seeing how lame the First and all its minions have been. Finally in Caleb we have a serious threat. When Angel went bad in second season, to have him wandering around talking about being threatening but not actually being threatening would have made it a joke, and Joss wisely, but sadly, chose to have Angel kill Jenny. We’ve lost a few SITs along the way, but the truth is, they’ve been impossible to care about. We don’t know them, most of them are irritating, and so that’s been of little emotional impact. Jonathan’s murder was probably the one really significant emotional loss the First has inflicted on the audience. So not only losing more slayer potentials, but this huge rift with Giles, and Xander’s severe injury, suddenly make this more dangerous for us. It says that the next five eps are going to be about grievous loss and harm, and that this is the biggest fight ever — what has been almost comically lip-servicey in the past. And we’ve had a kind of buildup here — Xander describes himself as the guy who sees everything earlier this season, and his oracle-like speeches and comments have indicated this was something significant (and hey, we know he can wear an eye patch, from All the Way last year! Avast, ye mateys!). I’d love to know how Caleb knew about this, but then, I would also like to know a lot more about how Caleb does anything he’s done. I sure hope there will be explanations forthcoming. (Oh, and also, I’ve forgotten most of the mythology that I was obsessed with as a kid, but didn’t the most visionary or oracular of people in myths always seem to be blind? Is there a significance beyond just Xander’s special power?)
Now the interesting thing will be to see who turns from Buffy, and why. (Of course, all of you who know the season finale spoilers are probably laughing up your sleeve at everything I’m saying, but I’m spoiler lite this year, so… well, mock me later, ‘kay?) Will Spike give up on her, when he’s been the one person who never would? Will Willow reject what Buffy’s done, or use her powers to help? What about Faith — we didn’t see her at the end. She said she was with Buffy all the way, but would it extend this far? This was just an amazing episode, densely packed with witty lines, amazing character stuff done both tragically and humorously (I nearly peed my pants when they cut to Andrew’s tears after Xander’s speech), and really good plotting. It’s leading us to some seriously scary territory, and reminding me why this is the best show ever, and how much I’m going to miss it.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-16 12:49 pm (UTC)We've seen a couple of instances in which Buffy appears to have made some very questionable decisions - this most recent one; her choice to reject the supplemental power offered by the old men; her choice to help Spike and to de-chip him unconditionally (it only seems perfectly right to those of us who Believe in him); her apparent rejection of Giles.
So I am left with the image of Buffy in "Becoming II", in that beam of light, with Angelus ready to kill her:
ANGELUS: No weapons... No friends... No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?
BUFFY: Me.
Obviously, since then the wheel has spun a bunch of times...if only in the examples of "Graduation Day" and "Primeval". A Slayer with an army - surely the old men and the Council couldn't have really wanted that.
But where Buffy is right now is just as difficult as any place she's been. I really hope she and Faith are side by side. Faith should totally understand about hard decisions, huge mistakes, unknowable outcomes. Heck, I'm just thinking of L.A. The Slayer left town, but she didn't "fix" it. But then fixing the world has never been a Slayer's charge.
I walk. I talk. I shop, I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out. And I don't sleep on a bed of bones. Now give me back my friends.
She fights fires. Sometimes, in doing so, she saves the world. But it keeps needing saving.
Oh, jeepers, I love this myth.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-16 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-16 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-16 10:12 pm (UTC)am I a priest or a born again preacher? thing confused me. Caleb seems a sort of amalgam, a generic representation of the evil of organized religion, designed to cover all christian bases. I would have prefered a really evil Jesuit,(ala Jason Miller's character in The Exorcist--gone bad...)or a straightforward Elmer Gantry type, to this mixy thing.
Oooo, I really like this. I totally loved NF and his performance and think he saved it from being almost silly, but I do have to agree that there's not a clear focus. I was also confused about this status -- I'm especially trying to understand just what he's attracted to by the first, and why he is making this choice -- if indeed he's making it. Even the First in Buffy's form seemed to question his motives! But I love the idea of a Jesuit gone bad (talk about your issues!).
The one nagging thing that's bugged me, but that it seemed petty to complain about when I was having so much fun, was why he let them go at the end. The comments about them following "Buffy" as the First perplexed me, and I'm wondering if this mixed-bag Christianity insantiy has something to do with it -- my Bible knowledge is sorely lacking, and I kept feeling like there was no obvious reason to let them go if he had that much power (other than that, there'd be no more eps!). I have to keep saying, patience, patience... I hope all will be revealed.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-17 03:34 pm (UTC)I'm trying to piece together thoughts on what that fight meant for Buffy. She pushed them into going and it was catastrophic but that doesn't mean it was the wrong move to make. I've only just finished watching it and my mind is a-spin with possibilities. I can't wait to see how it will impact her relationships, especially with Spike (who will support her no matter what) and Giles (who just maybe was right about the fact that she should have prepared more before taking on Caleb and grrr, I wish they would give us back season 3/4/5/6 Giles!).
no subject
Date: 2003-04-17 06:56 pm (UTC)It hurts my heart -- I mean, I don't want her to go on Spike's side at the expense of the love with Giles, you know? I don't want it to be a one or the other proposition, the way it almost got in early season three with Angel. Giles was able to forgive and move on, so I'm not sure where they're going with him other than that I hope ;this rift it building for a dramatic and loving conclusion.
I can dream, can't I?