Random S3 thoughts

[gabrielleabelle]

- The Wish is awesome, y'all.

- Amends is slightly less stupid this time round, though it very much feels like AtS Episode 00.

Oh, and the Magic Snow? Still not a fan.

- Buffy has very unfortunate hair from Amends onward. The Zeppo is especially boggle-inducing.

- You know, I still just can't wrap my head around Buffy's behavior in Bad Girls. I

Comments

[gabrielleabelle]

True facts. I was thinking more of the latter half of S3, which does feature Faith heavily and has much, much less of the other Scoobies.

Maybe if Faith had been a regular character, or if they'd consolidated her arc to half the season, it would've worked better?

I think making her a regular character would have been a big help.

I've been trying to put my finger on why I find the last half of S3 so blase. I'm not a big fan of the story arc for S3. I think it's anticlimactic and rather uninteresting. But I also think that the second half loses sight of some genuinely interesting themes and character arcs from the first half.

Cordelia is relegated to almost nothing after she breaks up with Xander. The Buffy/Angel dynamic had been interesting when there was the obvious discomfort with what had happened in S2. The last half of the season, though, has Buffy and Angel in a stable, regular romantic relationship and completely sidesteps the Angel/Angelus issues. Xander's rather hostile behavior towards Angel and Buffy at the beginning of the seasons is completely gone and seemingly moved past. And Giles completely puts away his justified hostility towards Angel.

So it feels like they dropped a lot of promising arcs and developments in favor of the rather lackluster arc with the Mayor (And, while I like the Mayor as a character, I still can't muster up much enthusiasm for the plot).

Also, using Faith to explore Buffy's darker side inevitably makes Buffy end up looking like the goody-two shoes, which just falls flat for me somehow.

Hmmm...will have to ponder more. I just rambled a hell of a lot at you. :)

[eowyn_315]

LOL, it's quite all right. You're rambling exactly what's in my head.

I was thinking more of the latter half of S3, which does feature Faith heavily and has much, much less of the other Scoobies.

True, although the latter half still has "The Zeppo," which sets up Xander's perceived relationship with Faith (thus giving him a role in her evil!Faith arc) and "Choices," which integrates Willow into the Faith arc as well. I think the problem with Spike's arc in S7 is that they made it almost entirely about him and Buffy, and there was no role for the other characters. They could've done a lot with him interacting with other characters (reconciling with Dawn, sympathizing with Willow, showing us how Xander came to accept him), and they just didn't.

Also, using Faith to explore Buffy's darker side inevitably makes Buffy end up looking like the goody-two shoes, which just falls flat for me somehow.

Yeah... yeah. It feels like it SHOULD work, but for some reason it just doesn't. Maybe because they weren't prepared at that point to really take their hero into morally grey territory?

[gabrielleabelle]

They could've done a lot with him interacting with other characters (reconciling with Dawn, sympathizing with Willow, showing us how Xander came to accept him), and they just didn't.

Ah, good point. That is one of the failings of S7 in my mind.

Maybe because they weren't prepared at that point to really take their hero into morally grey territory?

Perhaps. Though they do have her trying to kill Faith, which wanders into morally grey territory. I just don't think they pulled off the execution of "Faith as Buffy's dark side" very well.

Now Spike as Buffy's dark side in S6 was done much, much better.

[eowyn_315]

Though they do have her trying to kill Faith, which wanders into morally grey territory.

Except it's not really portrayed as a bad thing. Faith's evil, so she deserves to die, and it doesn't even seem to register to Buffy that there's any grey here. Xander makes a comment about it, but no one tries to stop her or say, "Hey, Buffy, this is wrong." There are no consequences afterward, either. (Unless you consider it karma or something that Buffy had to give herself to heal Angel because she couldn't get Faith.)

[gabrielleabelle]

Ah, true. I was just struck by Faith's line in Enemies about Buffy not being able to kill her because then Buffy will become her. And then at the end of the season, Buffy does try to kill her, therefore becoming Faith. But it's not quite followed up in any significant way.

But I have quite a few issues with the season finale anyway. :)