(no subject)
So I watched "Bad Girls" (3.14) yesterday and realized with horror that there are two whole minutes where I love Buffy and Angel together. It's the scene in the Bronze where Buffy's just been dancing with Faith and she's all playful and cuddly and making Angel squirm, which is hilarious. And then Wesley gets there and the whole dynamic shifts - they become just so cool and super-professional and make poor Wes look like such a pinhead. They're so in tune with each other at that moment, even get that little kiss in - which looks like nothing, except that it's actually their first since they've gotten back together (er... "together"), and a complete 180 from Angel's no-touch thing at the top of the scene. They're just so cool there, and so much fun. I love it, I can't help it.
And I can't believe I just wrote that, so I now have to subvert my coming-out as a BANGEL (god I hate that word) 'shipper by mentioning the absolutely priceless B/A scene in the previous episode ("The Zeppo"), which is, of course, Buffy and Angel being totally over-the-top soap-opera melodramatic about who's going to die in the apocalypse, with the all the self-sacrifice and the tears and angst, and then Xander barges in with his hilarious zombie crisis and totally blows the whole thing to hell. It's *brilliant*. I so wish Dan Vebber (of "Lover's Walk" fame) had stayed on as a staff writer.
Generally I really enjoy the "Bad Girls" / "Consequences" combo, though Faith's downward spiral is entirely depressing. What with Wesley bringing out the snark and the Ripper in Giles (though Doug Petrie makes an offhand remark in the commentary about Wes going on to live a long life on Angel… *sniffle*), the B/F subtext, Wesley and Cordelia's first meeting ("fresh!"). I also love that Angel's got his own agenda, skulking in the background and putting together the pieces of the mystery, before he finally takes over the main storyline by abducting Faith. I'm missing AtS right now a lot more than BtVS, so I love that, taken from Angel's perspective it could be one of his own episodes. Plus, his barging in on Balthazar ("his name is Angel") is so the hero's entrance. ::is nostalgic:: Sigh.
And since my chronology has been shot to hell, I'm sticking my follow-up to my previous post (and minor meltdown) about early season 3 here. Wrote this a while back and never got around to posting it, but I'll do it now for completion's sake.
I think the frustration I have with early season three (mostly in terms of Buffy vs. the Scoobies) has really been reinforced by the events of of late season seven (Empty Places through Chosen). So, looking back, you can't write off Xander and Willow's unsympathetic treatment of Buffy as simple emotional immaturity. It's the direct precedent to their outright rejection of her and everything she's done for them when they kick her out her house. And in a way, season three is worse, because they haven't even reached the growing up and growing away from each other part of their lives.
In Chosen, we have the final core Scooby moment, where it's understood that no matter what they've been through and what differences they've had, their being there together still, means something. So, no acknowledgement of the events in Empty Places, because ultimately it doesn't matter. I find it entirely unconvincing. Not because you can't have "best friends" that you've long since drifted away from, but because it's always Buffy who has to forgive her friends or has to earn her way back into favour when she has much less reason to do so. In Dead Man's Party they drop the argument after the zombie fight, Willow gets her "whole moral superiority thing" and Buffy takes her lumps. In Revelations, not only does Angel have to prove that he's good (because Buffy's word isn't enough), but Buffy has to promise that nothing's going on between them before she can ask Xander if they're okay, though his betrayal of her trust is by far the more selfish and heartless. And two episodes later, in The Wish, we're getting stuff like this:
Willow: I-I wanna be strong Willow. But then I think I may never get to
be close to Oz again, and it's like all the air just goes out of the room.
Buffy: I know the feeling.
Xander: Right. I mean, you went through it with Angel, and you're still
standing. So tell us, Wise One, how do you deal?
Buffy: I have you guys.
The mind boggles.
And there, I think I'm through with the indignant ranting.
The early part of the season is a bit rough, but I am going to repress for now because despite all the issues, I do love and miss that easy camaraderie between them. I might write more on the episodes I missed, because the middle third of the season is definitely my favourite, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. But now I must meet my terrible fate... sociology. Somewhat more important, though not nearly as much fun.
And I can't believe I just wrote that, so I now have to subvert my coming-out as a BANGEL (god I hate that word) 'shipper by mentioning the absolutely priceless B/A scene in the previous episode ("The Zeppo"), which is, of course, Buffy and Angel being totally over-the-top soap-opera melodramatic about who's going to die in the apocalypse, with the all the self-sacrifice and the tears and angst, and then Xander barges in with his hilarious zombie crisis and totally blows the whole thing to hell. It's *brilliant*. I so wish Dan Vebber (of "Lover's Walk" fame) had stayed on as a staff writer.
Generally I really enjoy the "Bad Girls" / "Consequences" combo, though Faith's downward spiral is entirely depressing. What with Wesley bringing out the snark and the Ripper in Giles (though Doug Petrie makes an offhand remark in the commentary about Wes going on to live a long life on Angel… *sniffle*), the B/F subtext, Wesley and Cordelia's first meeting ("fresh!"). I also love that Angel's got his own agenda, skulking in the background and putting together the pieces of the mystery, before he finally takes over the main storyline by abducting Faith. I'm missing AtS right now a lot more than BtVS, so I love that, taken from Angel's perspective it could be one of his own episodes. Plus, his barging in on Balthazar ("his name is Angel") is so the hero's entrance. ::is nostalgic:: Sigh.
And since my chronology has been shot to hell, I'm sticking my follow-up to my previous post (and minor meltdown) about early season 3 here. Wrote this a while back and never got around to posting it, but I'll do it now for completion's sake.
I think the frustration I have with early season three (mostly in terms of Buffy vs. the Scoobies) has really been reinforced by the events of of late season seven (Empty Places through Chosen). So, looking back, you can't write off Xander and Willow's unsympathetic treatment of Buffy as simple emotional immaturity. It's the direct precedent to their outright rejection of her and everything she's done for them when they kick her out her house. And in a way, season three is worse, because they haven't even reached the growing up and growing away from each other part of their lives.
In Chosen, we have the final core Scooby moment, where it's understood that no matter what they've been through and what differences they've had, their being there together still, means something. So, no acknowledgement of the events in Empty Places, because ultimately it doesn't matter. I find it entirely unconvincing. Not because you can't have "best friends" that you've long since drifted away from, but because it's always Buffy who has to forgive her friends or has to earn her way back into favour when she has much less reason to do so. In Dead Man's Party they drop the argument after the zombie fight, Willow gets her "whole moral superiority thing" and Buffy takes her lumps. In Revelations, not only does Angel have to prove that he's good (because Buffy's word isn't enough), but Buffy has to promise that nothing's going on between them before she can ask Xander if they're okay, though his betrayal of her trust is by far the more selfish and heartless. And two episodes later, in The Wish, we're getting stuff like this:
Willow: I-I wanna be strong Willow. But then I think I may never get to
be close to Oz again, and it's like all the air just goes out of the room.
Buffy: I know the feeling.
Xander: Right. I mean, you went through it with Angel, and you're still
standing. So tell us, Wise One, how do you deal?
Buffy: I have you guys.
The mind boggles.
And there, I think I'm through with the indignant ranting.
The early part of the season is a bit rough, but I am going to repress for now because despite all the issues, I do love and miss that easy camaraderie between them. I might write more on the episodes I missed, because the middle third of the season is definitely my favourite, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. But now I must meet my terrible fate... sociology. Somewhat more important, though not nearly as much fun.