The Kiss. (EoD/Chosen)
Fact: The kiss lasts 5-6 seconds. Everything 'soppy' afterwards, up to and including the ‘basking’, approximately another 20. After that they’re all business.
Just thought you might like to know that.
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But to start, let me refer back to my previous post: Joss is a bastard. We should be happy that all we had to deal with was a chaste little kiss.
Now I’ve written about The Kiss before of course: here (when I looked at how it fitted with Spike’s story - it was there to test if his love was really selfless), and here: It was... a hello (Buffy POV fic, trying to get inside her head). I’m going a different route today.
First let me point out that the B/A scenes provide the bridge between these last two episodes - from looking back, to looking forward. And it does so rather well.
But going back to another point from yesterday - I’m going to look at this problematic exchange again:
Spike: Were you there with me?
Buffy: I was.
Spike: What does that mean?
People tend to hate Buffy’s non-committant ‘Does it have to mean something?’, but just for a moment lets consider some the questions hidden with in Spike’s simple words:
- Do you want to get (back) together?
- Or do you just want to be friends?
- Was it the bittersweet end of what we had?
- Was it the beginning of something new?
- Am I your boyfriend?
- Are you in love with me?
I borrowed the last ones from Angel, since he asks them directly later on. And Buffy doesn’t have an answer beyond ‘He is in my heart’.
Her ‘Does it have to mean something?’ isn’t a snub or a rejection - it’s her (rather awkward) way of buying time, because she doesn’t have an answer. All year she’s been telling everyone (herself included) that she’s not getting back together with Spike. And yet... and yet there is something there and she isn’t sure what to do. See when she dated Angel everything was simple: They loved each other, and it was nice. Which is why I think she falls into Angel's arms - he’s uncomplicated and she knows where she stands with him. She can give him a kiss, but it doesn’t change anything. It’s a bit of a dream come true, and she wants to indulge herself, just for a minute. Or 5 seconds, rather.
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Anyway, there’s a parallel that I’ve often considered but never developed until now. So let me give it a go:
The scenes with Angel are Buffy’s version of ‘Crush’.
- In ‘Crush’, Spike was pursuing his new love for Buffy. But she was less than forthcoming and he despaired of her ever seeing things his way. And just then Dru arrived - a flesh and blood reminder of how wonderfully simple things used to be. And she wanted him back! (“I want us to be a family again my sweet William.”) So he gave it a try - went out with her, and she killed a girl for him. There is that hesitation before he feeds... and yet he gives in. But the blood has not had time to dry on his lips before he decides that it’s not what he wants anymore - and goes straight back to Buffy.
- In EoD Buffy is the one who pursues a reluctant Spike, and has to almost force him to admit what their night together meant to him. But it’s not an easy situation - she isn’t sure where they go from here, and he keeps trying to shut her down. And just then Angel arrives - a flesh and blood reminder of how wonderfully simple things used to be. And he wants to stay! (“So you’re with me in this?” “Shoulder to shoulder!”) So she gives it a try - after the tiniest of hesitations she kisses him. But with his taste still on her lips she decides that this is not what she wants anymore - and goes straight back to Spike.
See the Buffy/Angel kiss reminds me of another Xander/Anya conversation:
Xander: Yeah, I knew we'd always do that again.
Anya: Yeah, one more time anyway.
Xander: Is that what that was? One more time?
Anya: Do you think there should be more?
Xander: I don't know. It was nice. It felt, um-it felt like a one more time.
Anya: I think maybe we're really over. Which is-it's good, right? I mean, now we can move on.
Storyteller
This scene is a mirror of Xander and Anya’s first time, which was supposed to help them ‘get over each other’.
Anya : So, I'm over you now.
Xander : Um, Ok.
Anya : Okay?!
Harsh Light Of Day
Buffy and Angel began with a kiss - a kiss that was supposed to be the end. Didn’t work. Like the X/A sex, the B/A kiss is closure... because it wasn’t painful. I was nice:
Angel: It's just...
Buffy: ...painful. I know. See you around?
Angel (BtVS 1.07)
Angel: Well, I guess that qualifies as "happy to see me."
Buffy: Angel, what are you doing- Don't even. I just want to bask.
Chosen
See I think that in her mind, Buffy had turned Angel into The Perfect Romantic Hero, which isn’t surprising really (someone commented on how much The Kiss resembled the B/S almost-kiss in ‘Storyteller’. It’s all a bit over the top). But when reality came knocking she realised that he was just a guy... a guy that still had a piece of her heart maybe, but not someone she needed anymore. Only she couldn’t know that without trying. In that kiss she finally let go of Angel - stopped seeing him through the eyes of a 16-year-old, and saw him for who he was. They'd come full circle.
That’s my take, and I hope it might help you.
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I’m going to do even more comparing I’m afraid - because there was another time when one of Buffy’s ex’s showed up and found out that she was seeing Spike... and what a difference a year makes!
Bizarrely (given how much I loathe this AYW scene) I love the fact that smell is a factor every time:
Riley: Hey! You want me to say that I liked seeing you in bed with that idiot? Or that blinding orange is your very best color? Or that that ... burger smell is appealing?
Buffy: (upset) You smelled the smell?
~~~
Angel: Is it Spike? You're not telling me something. And his scent, I remember it pretty well.
Buffy: You vampires. Did anybody ever tell you the whole smelling people thing's a little gross?
Of course the DMP smell is symbolic of everything that’s wrong in Buffy’s life (in her mind: SPIKE!), but come ‘Chosen’ the smell of Spike is a good thing. She’s not the least bit ashamed of it, and tells Angel that *he’s* the one who shouldn’t be sniffing around. (Also I love Angel being petty. It’s one of my favourite scenes *ever*.) Her relationship with Spike is no longer her problem, but her ex’s! That is a very big and important shift.
Also, this time she defends Spike!
Buffy: Look, i-it can't be, okay? He-he's too incompetent. It's just Spike, Riley.
Riley: Right. Deadly ... amoral ... opportunistic. Or have you forgotten?
~~~
Angel: OK, maybe I'm outta line, but this is kind of a curve ball for me. I mean, we are talking about Spike here.
Buffy: It's different. He's different. He has a soul now. [...]
Angel: Everyone's got a soul now.
Buffy: He'll make a difference.
And rather than hating herself for being with him, she acknowledges how important he is to her.
Riley: But I have authorization to take the Doctor out. (pause) Do you want me to do that?
Buffy: Do I want you to... How can you ask me ... I'm sleeping with hi-him. (carefully) I'm sleeping with Spike.
~~~
Angel: Aha! Boyfriend!
Buffy: He's not. But...he is in my heart.
Going with these parallels, we can also see just how much better Buffy feels about herself now. She doesn’t think that things going wrong with Angel were mostly her fault, like she did Riley:
Buffy: I never got the chance ... to tell you ... how sorry I was. About what happened between us.
~~~
Buffy: What was the highlight of our relationship? When you broke up with me or when I killed you?
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I love the fact that I feel the scope of the graveyard which is where I thought Buffy and Angel should leave their relationship on this show, because it is the iconic place for Buffy - the graveyard - more than anything else.
Joss Whedon, commentary for ‘Chosen’
So Joss might have done a lot of pandering to the B/A crowd, but so what. Cemeteries is where dead things go. ‘Nuff said.
ETA: OMG this is so *harsh*. Sorry. B/A is a very pretty ship and I love it very dearly. Dunno if they could ever work out, but who are we to say they couldn't?
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Finally, there is one thing that I really, really like about Buffy’s “Sometimes... I think that far ahead.” It’s Angel’s response - he lets her know that if she were to chose him, he’d not say no. And that - from the guy who dumped in her The Prom because she was just a little girl who couldn’t see what was best for her - is very important! Also she tells him to go away, and he does. He actually treats her like an adult who can make her own decisions. 4 years is a long time to wait for that, but my goodness I’m glad they went there!
Finally, compare and contrast:
Buffy: I think horrible is still coming. Right now, it's worse. Right now, I'm just trying to keep from dying.
Willow: Oh Buffy.
Buffy: I can't breathe, Will. I feel like I can't breathe.
The Prom
Buffy: There were no tongues. Besides, he's gone.
Spike: Oh, just popped by for a quickie, then?
Buffy: Good, good. I haven't had quite enough jealous vampire crap for one night.
Chosen
It would seem time really *does* heal all wounds... and lets people move on. To quote SMG:
"There’s a part of me that will always believe that Angel was Buffy’s true love. That there will be a piece of her heart that will always be with him for the rest of her life. It doesn’t mean that’s the person that she’s meant to be with eternally. The thing about Buffy and Spike is they understand each other on a level that nobody else understands her. They’ve both lived a hundred lives and I think there’s a connection there that we will see evolve over the next couple of years where she realizes that he really is someone that she can trust, someone that’s a companion to her and someone that really understands her unlike anybody else."
But the last word should be Joss’:
“There were a few fans who feel that the Buffy Angel romance was, like, a big deal, and clearly I thought Parker was the most important romantic relationship of her life - other people disagreed. That’s fine, I guess they can do that ”
Joss Whedon.