Buffy 3x18: Earshot...

[fajrdrako]

Did you think I'd never talk about Buffy again? I was worried, myself. But here I am, with "Earshot".

A bit of a letdown after "Enemies", which I loved so much; and I don't like the growing rift between Angel and Buffy. But otherwise... fun. Definitely many good bits.

1. Willow says, "I don't like this whole no mouth thing. It's disquieting." Makes me think how seldom we hear the word "disquiteting" on television.
   
   
2. I like Giles admitting he doesn't know what's going on with the Mayor and his Ascension. Too often it's only too easy for him (or Willow) to pull whatever arcane lore they need out of his books. Over three seasons they've gone through so many books they must practically have his library memorized by now. No wonder Willow knows a lot.
   
   
3. Good line:XANDER: Hogan Martin thinks he's sooooo hot. Like we should all be awed by him cuz he can put a ball in the net.
   HOGAN: Hey Xander.
   XANDER: He said my name! He knows my name!
   One of the cases where Xander really is funny.
   
   
4. And I like Hogan's line to Willow: "I don't know what you're doing to him. I actually heard him complete a sentence. It had a clause and everything."
   
   
5. And I enjoyed this interesting exchange:BUFFY: You're going to the game? I didn't know you liked basketball.
   WILLOW I didn't either. But I really started getting into it. Especially now that we're in the championship. It's so exciting.
   On the one hand I love Willow's enthusiasm about every new thing that comes her way. On the other hand, she seems so scattered - her attention unfocussed and spread anywhere. Reminds me a little of Kaylee.
   
   
6. Love Buffy's horror that she may be infected by an aspect of the demon. Uh-oh, sounds like bad news. All the creepier that they don't know what it is.
   
   
7. I enjoyed this, too: WILLOW: Well, according to Freddy's latest editorial, 'the pep rally is a place for psuedo-prostitues to provoke men into a sexual frenzy which, when thwarted, results in pointless athletic competition.'
   XANDER: And the downside being?
   What, two Xander quotes in a row that I find really funny? Is he slipping, or am I?
   
   
8. Why does Oz go straight to the obits? Is that an editorial comment on their lifestyle?
   
   
9. So Willow lacks faith in Giles. Bad Willow, bad.
   
   
10. Xander sees Wesley looking at Cordelia and says, "He's got his filthy adult Pierce Brosny eyes all over my Cordy." Love the description of Wesley, though not the attitude.
    
    
11. Love it when Buffy says to Angel, "I didn't see you so I should have known you were there."
    
    
12. Another great moment:ANGEL: Hey, I won't let anything happen to you if I can help it. No matter what, I'll always be with you. Hey, I'll love you even if you're covered with slime.
    BUFFY: I liked everything until that part.
    Okay, I like it that Angel is protective. I like it that he says he'll love her if she's covered in slime. I like her rejoinder. And I love it that he says he'll always be with her - very romantic. But I happen to know, because I've seen to the end of the seasons already, that Angel is going to leave her. So is he fickle? Lying? What's with that? Making promises he can't keep? I see that on TV all the time, and don't much like it. It's in the trailer to the new Nicholas Cage movie I saw today, where Cage tells the kid, "I promise you won't die." Seems so shallow to me: "I promise to protect you" is a fair thing to say, but that kid's going to die someday and no promise is going to change that. Giles does it later in this episode when he says to Buffy, "You'll be fine. I promise." How does he know? How can he promise something he can't control?
    
    Anyway, I just wish Angel hadn't said that; it make me even grumpier than I would otherwise be about his departure.
    
    
13. So Buffy can read thoughts. This never comes to good.
    
    
14. Buffy tells Giles, "Principal Snyder has Walk Like an Egyption stuck in his head." That strikes me as very funny.
    
    
15. I like the English class, with Willow's incredulity: "Buffy did the reading? Buffy understood the reading?" and Xander: "When did she study? Was I supposed to study?" I like the whole 'dark half of Othello' conversation.
    
    
16. Conversation between Angel and Buffy: ANGEL: You can't get into my mind.
    BUFFY: How did you...why not?
    Not apropos of Buffy but apropos of Torchwood, this reminds me of Toshiko trying to read Jack's mind in "Greeks Bearing Gifts", and failing. Mary had the same problem. I guess it makes sense that there are similarities between immortal humans and vampires. Jack does, however, have a reflection. There aren't a lot of things I love about vampires, but their lack of reflection is one thing I think is terrific.
    
    
17. Angel: "In two-hundred-forty-three years, I've loved exactly one person." I like that.
    
    
18. I love the way Cordelia thinks something, then says it. That's so Cordelia-like.
    
    
19. I love Wesley's Cordelia obsession.
    
    
20. So of course Buffy hears someone with murderous intent. What are the odds?
    
    
21. Good bit: XANDER: I'm still having trouble with the fact that one of us is just gonna gun everybody down for no reason.
    CORDY: Yeah, because that never happens in American High Schools.
    OZ: It's bordering on trendy at this point.
    Have I mentioned lately how much I like Oz? I even like his existentialist thoughts.
    
    
22. Okay, the "You had sex with Giles" conversation between Buffy and her mother is fun. So why doesn't Joyce want him when she's in her right mind? She must be out of her mind. 'Course, I don't think she's good enough for him.
    
    
23. Willow's conversation with Jonathan is kind of cute.
    
    
24. Jonathan is the killer? I was incredulous. It wasn't impossible, of course, it just seemed... off. And his conversation with Buffy was odd. I was relieved when we learned the truth - that his intent was suicide not homicide.
    
    
25. I really like the part of the conversation that goes:BUFFY: No. I think you're up in the clock tower with a high-powered rifle because you want to blend in. Believe it or not, Jonathan, I understand about the pain.
    JONATHAN: Oh right. Cause the burden of being beautiful and athletic, that's a crippler.
    BUFFY: You know what? I was wrong. You are an idiot. My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle. And it's not just mine. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own... If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness. The confusion. It looks quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening.
    I'm with Buffy on this one.
    
    
26. So it turns out to be the grumpy lunch lady who's the killer. Just a little cheap in the plotting department, I think. We'd only glimpsed her before.
    
    
27. I like the ending, where Buffy makes Giles walk into a tree.
    
    
28. No Spike still. Insert pitiful sigh.