clever writing
I've always thought of Buffy season 5 as having four episodes of not-much at the start. (Granted, one episode of the not-much is utterly awesome because it's entirely about Dawn and I love her with every fibre of my being, but still...) It just meanders around on Monster Of The Week silliness until we finally find out what the season's about in episode five.
I basically think of it like this:
Episode 1: Not much happens, in a vaguely funny way.
Episode 2: Not much happens (although it's hilarious and Dawnish).
Episode 3: Not much happens, boringly.
Episode 4: Not much happens, yet again.
Episode 5: DAWN IS THE KEY! GLORY IS AFTER HER! MONKS! DAWN! BUFFY! GLORY! THIS WHOLE SEASON IS ABOUT THIS STUFF, AND HERE IT ALL IS RIGHT HERE!!!!
However, I may have to revise my opinion. I've just been rewatching, and realised that, in those first few episodes...
- Buffy wants to find out what being the Slayer means.
- Buffy has a little sister, who is getting on her nerves.
- Joyce is sick.
- Riley is feeling insecure about his macho-ness.
- Giles has a new job at The Magic Box.
- Spike has a crush on Buffy.
- Harmony has minions.
- Xander has a new job.
- Willow is getting good at magic.
- Anya has discovered the delights of money.
- Tara feels left out of the Scoobies, and doubtful about being "one of the good guys".
That stuff all happens right then. With the exception of Willow, none of it has been mentioned before. And, with the possible exception of Harmony, all of it will have major plot implications over the next season.
These four episodes are, in fact, one of the most intricate set-ups of future plot that I've seen. And somehow I always missed that...
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I basically think of it like this:
Episode 1: Not much happens, in a vaguely funny way.
Episode 2: Not much happens (although it's hilarious and Dawnish).
Episode 3: Not much happens, boringly.
Episode 4: Not much happens, yet again.
Episode 5: DAWN IS THE KEY! GLORY IS AFTER HER! MONKS! DAWN! BUFFY! GLORY! THIS WHOLE SEASON IS ABOUT THIS STUFF, AND HERE IT ALL IS RIGHT HERE!!!!
However, I may have to revise my opinion. I've just been rewatching, and realised that, in those first few episodes...
- Buffy wants to find out what being the Slayer means.
- Buffy has a little sister, who is getting on her nerves.
- Joyce is sick.
- Riley is feeling insecure about his macho-ness.
- Giles has a new job at The Magic Box.
- Spike has a crush on Buffy.
- Harmony has minions.
- Xander has a new job.
- Willow is getting good at magic.
- Anya has discovered the delights of money.
- Tara feels left out of the Scoobies, and doubtful about being "one of the good guys".
That stuff all happens right then. With the exception of Willow, none of it has been mentioned before. And, with the possible exception of Harmony, all of it will have major plot implications over the next season.
These four episodes are, in fact, one of the most intricate set-ups of future plot that I've seen. And somehow I always missed that...
The conversation's happening over at Dreamwidth. Feel free to comment there using OpenID. (
comments so far)