Multiple Buffy thoughts
Watching Villains (late night uncut Buffy-on-the-BBC), having just returned from red-wine-and-Buffy night at my friend Sam’s (she has twins and Sky TV) - we’re up to Dirty Girls, although obviously in web world we’re just about to hit the Grand Finale. Confused? I am.
Dirty Girls - loved it. So much that was just spot-on. The Xandrew moments were an absolute joy - one of the best thing things to have come out of Season 7, and oh, there have been many good things! That opening scene with Faith and Spike and Buffy in the cemetery was just a delight - funny and sexy and very cool - and oh, how much did Buffy betray in that "are you alright?" to Spike? Mmmmm.
I adored the Faith-and-Spike scene. There comes a time when gratuitous is exactly the road to go down. I’d forgotten how much I missed naked Spike (still very much in tongue-on-floor, can’t-quite-believe-The-Coat-is-back mode here you see). Very curious to know exactly why Spike was sitting up in bed, draped in a sheet, in darkness, in what I can only describe as the definitive come-shag-me-now pose, but really not complaining. I confess, I have an almighty crush on Faith - in a small-girly, so-want-to-be-her way. She can do absolutely no wrong in my eyes, which leaves me at liberty to enjoy this scene for everything it’s worth. And, oh, it’s priceless - two people playing off each other to perfection, each of them vying to promote their own claim to the sex appeal crown. Beautifully done, and a complete contrast to the tenderness and the understatement of Buffy-and-Spike in this episode.
My over-riding episode image? Spike, beautiful red-wine-soaked Spike (nice to know the red wine really was on-screen and not just in my head), looking at Xander in horror and compassion and very real concern. And then Buffy-and-Spike falling into that-thing-they-do, the instinctive backing-each-other-up, the way they just lock into each other’s thoughts, and anticipate each other as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
On the downside - completely unnecessary militant-feminist metaphor with Kennedy and the extra-large sword. Enough, really! We get it.
I love this night-time shot of Sunnydale. I’d love to know where it really is. (sorry - back on Villains now) Oh, gorgeous hair. I love Buffy’s second half Season 6 hair. I want that hair. But I think you have to have superpowers to make it behave like that.
Mmmm, I am never going to tire of that finger paintings line. Such a way of delivering a line the man has.
Anyway, today’s top ten was a little bit easier. To be honest, there’s only one couple that makes my Buffyverse spin on its axis, but hey, it wasn’t all that hard to make up the numbers.
Dirty Girls - loved it. So much that was just spot-on. The Xandrew moments were an absolute joy - one of the best thing things to have come out of Season 7, and oh, there have been many good things! That opening scene with Faith and Spike and Buffy in the cemetery was just a delight - funny and sexy and very cool - and oh, how much did Buffy betray in that "are you alright?" to Spike? Mmmmm.
I adored the Faith-and-Spike scene. There comes a time when gratuitous is exactly the road to go down. I’d forgotten how much I missed naked Spike (still very much in tongue-on-floor, can’t-quite-believe-The-Coat-is-back mode here you see). Very curious to know exactly why Spike was sitting up in bed, draped in a sheet, in darkness, in what I can only describe as the definitive come-shag-me-now pose, but really not complaining. I confess, I have an almighty crush on Faith - in a small-girly, so-want-to-be-her way. She can do absolutely no wrong in my eyes, which leaves me at liberty to enjoy this scene for everything it’s worth. And, oh, it’s priceless - two people playing off each other to perfection, each of them vying to promote their own claim to the sex appeal crown. Beautifully done, and a complete contrast to the tenderness and the understatement of Buffy-and-Spike in this episode.
My over-riding episode image? Spike, beautiful red-wine-soaked Spike (nice to know the red wine really was on-screen and not just in my head), looking at Xander in horror and compassion and very real concern. And then Buffy-and-Spike falling into that-thing-they-do, the instinctive backing-each-other-up, the way they just lock into each other’s thoughts, and anticipate each other as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
On the downside - completely unnecessary militant-feminist metaphor with Kennedy and the extra-large sword. Enough, really! We get it.
I love this night-time shot of Sunnydale. I’d love to know where it really is. (sorry - back on Villains now) Oh, gorgeous hair. I love Buffy’s second half Season 6 hair. I want that hair. But I think you have to have superpowers to make it behave like that.
Mmmm, I am never going to tire of that finger paintings line. Such a way of delivering a line the man has.
Anyway, today’s top ten was a little bit easier. To be honest, there’s only one couple that makes my Buffyverse spin on its axis, but hey, it wasn’t all that hard to make up the numbers.
- Buffy and Spike. I was very tempted to make them the whole top ten, because, to be honest, compared to these two nobody else is even in the picture. Chemistry like nothing else on earth.
- Faith and Angel - I’ve seen so many would-be versions of the closing scene of Five by Five, and nothing that ever comes close to it. No question, Eliza Dushku brings out the very best in David Boreanaz, and I think these two are pretty special together. When Buffy turned up in Sanctuary the absence of chemistry one way, and the rush of it the other, was transparent. The scene at the end of Judgement Day (if I’ve remembered the title right!) in Season 2 was tiny, and yet a series highlight. And as for Faith and Angelus…
- Xander and (way, way into the future) Dawn - never, ever believed I’d be saying this. But oh, that scene at the end of Potential had me hook, line and sinker. There’ve been many Buffy moments that have had me choked, but, believe me, I’ve never blubbed over a scene like I did over this one. The moment I fell in love with both Xander and Dawn. And with Xander-and-Dawn. But I repeat, many times - way, way into the future!!
- Wesley and Lilah - there are so many ways this relationship could have been played. To do it the way it was done - to have Wesley calling all the shots - was sheer brilliance. That they dared to give us the classic damsel-in-distress scenario when he rescued her from Wolfram and Hart shows just how much the writers indulged in these two. And his reaction to her death was a gorgeous resolution to their story…although I’m hoping there’s more to come.
- Giles and Anya. I’m sure I’m not the only person on the planet for whom Tabula Rasa was sheer indulgence from start to finish, in so many more ways than one. Sparks flying between these two from the moment the Magic Shop opened and even before, and as for the Season 6 finale - mmmm.
- Xander and Anya - had to include them, because ultimately they have been beautiful together, and their Season 7 story has been just lovely. A joy and a treasure.
- Cordelia and Doyle. For three seasons of AtS Cordy was almost my sole reason for watching. Charisma Carpenter has just the most beautiful comic timing - and much as I’ve enjoyed most of Season 4 AtS how I’ve missed it. I loved the Cordy-Angel pairing, particularly in Season 2 when it was all understatement and between-the-lines, but Cordy-Doyle is always going to go down as my fairy tale.
- Xander and Andrew. In a totally non-sexual way, it has to be said, but how could I not include them? The funniest, most perfect old-married-couple on TV. Bless them.
- Willow and Tara. It took me forever to get hold of this one, but a little bit of Kennedy goes a long, long way. You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Once I’d got over the Willow-Xander thing, of course. That took me years…
- Angel and Lindsay - there’s a closet slasher in all of us, isn’t there? The chemistry between these two was extraordinary. Definitely some UST there. Really there was.