'Buffy: The Vampire Slayer' S2
So, I'm healing the scars left by Reichenbach by watching Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. I sort of missed Buffy as I was growing up. I think it was a combination of not watching the TV as much as I do now, and none of my friends being particularly into it, an being sort of young when it started. I only got into it just before Major Buffy-Death #1. (So, swift Googling tells me that would be right at the end of season 5.)
I am about to utter heresy, but: I think it got kind of silly after they resurrected her. Depressed!Buffy is not my fave. (Nor was evil!Willow, but that's a story for another day.)
Anyway.
Way back in my first year at Durham, someone on my corridor had a full set of Buffy DVDs. I leapt on them and asked to borrow the DVDs, one season at a time. I got through S1 and most of S2 before the end of the year, and I've spoken to that person about three times since then, so ... more borrowage did not happen. And nor did borrowage from Ice_Elf, who is similarly the owner of a lot of Buffy DVDs - until now!
I decided to skip S1 because I remember it (in broad strokes, anyway) and it doesn't have Oz. (I like Oz.) So, in the past few days I've watched a frankly embarrassing amount of Buffy. I'm on ep.15, I think. (Which means I'm nearly caught up to the last point I remember: Jenny Calendar's brutal and unfair murder, which broke me last time I saw it and may be the reason why I didn't make it to the end of S2 in the first place ...)
It's weird watching S2 again. I keep remembering storylines as they unfold. Immediately after the resolution, I end up saying, "Oh, yeah. I remember that now." A lot.
Then there's the creepy ones, like 'Ted'. I know why I don't remember that one. Because I repressed the hell out of it. Ted is a scary episode - for so many reasons, but mostly because (for me) it rings so true. Even without psychedelic cookies and whatnot, I'm absolutely certain that this exact storyline (with or without the death of Ted) happens in real life (although probably not with the robot thing). It's the fact that Buffy just isn't believed about Ted being a monster who threatens/hits her. Her word against his, and people consistently go with his. It's terrifying. (Doubly so that Buffy might be a human-murderer instead of just the Slayer. It's interesting on that level, too.)
But then there's the good bits. Willow and Oz's various near-miss almost-meetings have had me flailing in my chair every time. And I literally could list every Oz&Willow scene here, and just generally squee - but I won't. Because that would be dull.
You know, it's weird. Oz is - well. He's kind of perfect. To me, anyway. He's smart (but not academic, I cannot cope with academics, ugh); he's funny; he's in a band but he's not a dick about being in a band; he notices Willow when she's muffled up in that Eskimo costume and still likes her; and he is so sweet.
Oz is just The Nicest Boy.
... Yeah, I've been a bit spoiled, kind of, vaguely, about things that happen after the whole werewolf thing, but I have flipped down the Rose Tinted Lenses on my Slash Goggles. :P Everything is perfect and sweet and lovely, and nothing can go wrong lalalalala.
My Slash Goggles don't function as Slash Goggles on Buffy, though. They double as Pairing Goggles, because I refuse point-blank to slash Buffy, it's one of the Sacred Unslashable Fandoms. For me, anyway. (Unless we're counting Angelus/Drusilla/Spike as slash?) And actually, I like most of the canon pairings at the moment. Willow/Oz is - obviously - my ship. :P Then there's Buffy/Angel, which, if you don't like it why do you watch this show? Jenny/Giles *sob*. I ... can't help but like Willow/Xander sometimes, too, but then I feel all wrong about it because Oz! ... I do prefer Willow and Xander as best friends, but there's just something about Willow mooning over him that makes me want to slap him on the head and tell him to get with the program and kiss her already.
... This ... probably has something to do with the fact that I really identify with Willow. A lot. (And the 'liking boys who don't even look at you' thing? That is one of the major things. Alongside the confidence issues, and the liking books/computer and being a geek and not thinking she's pretty/sexy and you get the idea. But the 'liking boys who don't even look at you' thing is a major one, and probably why I kind of hate Xander sometimes for being a doofus and not noticing her.)
That turned into a big rant. Sorry.
So yes. What you should take away from this is, I'm a massive Oz fan, I love Willow to pieces, together they are like a warm snuggly blanket woven from yay and kittens, and yes I watch this show for a side pairing. :P
And the vampire slaying, obviously. I like that, too.
Somewhere along the way, this post got a lot more share-y than I meant for it to be ... oops.
Anyway. I'm going to go and watch another episode, because apparently Buffy is my new crack! (Well, I don't have any new Sherlock, or any new Hustle until Friday, and its not Doctor Who season, so I'm a bit lacking in telly!)
... I may need to acquire an Oz or Oz/Willow icon from somewhere ... Icons are my other crack. *shame*
.
I am about to utter heresy, but: I think it got kind of silly after they resurrected her. Depressed!Buffy is not my fave. (Nor was evil!Willow, but that's a story for another day.)
Anyway.
Way back in my first year at Durham, someone on my corridor had a full set of Buffy DVDs. I leapt on them and asked to borrow the DVDs, one season at a time. I got through S1 and most of S2 before the end of the year, and I've spoken to that person about three times since then, so ... more borrowage did not happen. And nor did borrowage from Ice_Elf, who is similarly the owner of a lot of Buffy DVDs - until now!
I decided to skip S1 because I remember it (in broad strokes, anyway) and it doesn't have Oz. (I like Oz.) So, in the past few days I've watched a frankly embarrassing amount of Buffy. I'm on ep.15, I think. (Which means I'm nearly caught up to the last point I remember: Jenny Calendar's brutal and unfair murder, which broke me last time I saw it and may be the reason why I didn't make it to the end of S2 in the first place ...)
It's weird watching S2 again. I keep remembering storylines as they unfold. Immediately after the resolution, I end up saying, "Oh, yeah. I remember that now." A lot.
Then there's the creepy ones, like 'Ted'. I know why I don't remember that one. Because I repressed the hell out of it. Ted is a scary episode - for so many reasons, but mostly because (for me) it rings so true. Even without psychedelic cookies and whatnot, I'm absolutely certain that this exact storyline (with or without the death of Ted) happens in real life (although probably not with the robot thing). It's the fact that Buffy just isn't believed about Ted being a monster who threatens/hits her. Her word against his, and people consistently go with his. It's terrifying. (Doubly so that Buffy might be a human-murderer instead of just the Slayer. It's interesting on that level, too.)
But then there's the good bits. Willow and Oz's various near-miss almost-meetings have had me flailing in my chair every time. And I literally could list every Oz&Willow scene here, and just generally squee - but I won't. Because that would be dull.
You know, it's weird. Oz is - well. He's kind of perfect. To me, anyway. He's smart (but not academic, I cannot cope with academics, ugh); he's funny; he's in a band but he's not a dick about being in a band; he notices Willow when she's muffled up in that Eskimo costume and still likes her; and he is so sweet.
Oz is just The Nicest Boy.
... Yeah, I've been a bit spoiled, kind of, vaguely, about things that happen after the whole werewolf thing, but I have flipped down the Rose Tinted Lenses on my Slash Goggles. :P Everything is perfect and sweet and lovely, and nothing can go wrong lalalalala.
My Slash Goggles don't function as Slash Goggles on Buffy, though. They double as Pairing Goggles, because I refuse point-blank to slash Buffy, it's one of the Sacred Unslashable Fandoms. For me, anyway. (Unless we're counting Angelus/Drusilla/Spike as slash?) And actually, I like most of the canon pairings at the moment. Willow/Oz is - obviously - my ship. :P Then there's Buffy/Angel, which, if you don't like it why do you watch this show? Jenny/Giles *sob*. I ... can't help but like Willow/Xander sometimes, too, but then I feel all wrong about it because Oz! ... I do prefer Willow and Xander as best friends, but there's just something about Willow mooning over him that makes me want to slap him on the head and tell him to get with the program and kiss her already.
... This ... probably has something to do with the fact that I really identify with Willow. A lot. (And the 'liking boys who don't even look at you' thing? That is one of the major things. Alongside the confidence issues, and the liking books/computer and being a geek and not thinking she's pretty/sexy and you get the idea. But the 'liking boys who don't even look at you' thing is a major one, and probably why I kind of hate Xander sometimes for being a doofus and not noticing her.)
That turned into a big rant. Sorry.
So yes. What you should take away from this is, I'm a massive Oz fan, I love Willow to pieces, together they are like a warm snuggly blanket woven from yay and kittens, and yes I watch this show for a side pairing. :P
And the vampire slaying, obviously. I like that, too.
Somewhere along the way, this post got a lot more share-y than I meant for it to be ... oops.
Anyway. I'm going to go and watch another episode, because apparently Buffy is my new crack! (Well, I don't have any new Sherlock, or any new Hustle until Friday, and its not Doctor Who season, so I'm a bit lacking in telly!)
... I may need to acquire an Oz or Oz/Willow icon from somewhere ... Icons are my other crack. *shame*
.