Buffy is Also a Vampire. Oh Wait, It Was All a Dream

[shapinglight]

Or, more accurately, a nightmare. Or Nightmares.

As in fact, was finding screencaps for this ep - the usual site having a broken link (I suspect) where they should be. So, thanks in this instance to Bloodqueen.com, for stepping into the breach

Comments

[gillo]

Joss seems to have a particular obsession with Billy/William/Liam - I wonder what childhood trauma that came from?

For me the most terrifying nightmare is when Giles just can't read - he can see, but the marks on the paper no longer make sense to him. Most of the school ones don't bother me (been there, done that) but I agree, Hank's rejection is particularly painful - and it's clear Buffy already fears he will not be there. He wasn't there for her at all when Joyce died.

Baseball is evil. Yes - it's the monstrous version of rounders after all - or perhaps the distorted version of cricket.

[shapinglight]

Joss seems to have a particular obsession with Billy/William/Liam - I wonder what childhood trauma that came from?

It's not just Joss. I think it's a collective American trauma thing. There are Billys everywhere.

but I agree, Hank's rejection is particularly painful - and it's clear Buffy already fears he will not be there. He wasn't there for her at all when Joyce died.

No, and he lets her down as early as season 2 when he doesn't show up to take her to the Icecapades. Bastard!

[velvetwhip]

You know, come to think of it, in all my life, I've only met one Billy, yet they are everywhere on television and in movies.

Gabrielle

[shapinglight]

Just you wait, now I've made you think about it, you'll be finding Billys all over.

[velvetwhip]

I'm not counting anyone who calls themselves William or Bill, btw, because then I'd actually know many.

Gabrielle

[shapinglight]

Fair enough. ;)

[il_mio_capitano]

I actually love baseball.

Just a random comment really.

[gillo]

It's rounders that has won the Lottery really.

[shapinglight]

Well, lots of people love evil things. Buffy, for instance, loves both Angel and Spike. ;)

Er...ahem.

[shapinglight]

I've come back to apologise. I realise it was a bit rude to call the Americans' national game evil.

If it helps at all, I don't think baseball is nearly as evil as cricket (and I say this as someone who likes cricket), which we wicked Brits obviously invented as a way to distract people we wanted to conquer.

My theory is that people would be so busy arguing about the ridiculous rules - like where are you supposed to be standing when you're fielding at silly mid-off, or how it's possible for one team to have more runs than the other and yet the match is still drawn - that they didn't notice those evil Brits sneaking around behind them and stealing all their valuables.

Which we still haven't given back. ;)

[shapinglight]

Buffy is wonderful in this episode. Plus, she goes straight from the awful bruising encounter with her father to a scene where she's trying to help Billy.

I do like this episode - more and more each time I watch it. Despite me saying Cordelia's dream is silly, it does show how important appearances are to her, which gets explained in the following episode as not being quite as shallow a preoccupation as one might think.

In fact, of all the characters, Cordelia is the most self-aware, I'd say.

Except about singing. Clearly, she does not realise she has an awful voice.

[slaymesoftly]

I think the episode was one that set up some of the characters for us, in case we weren't clear about them. Buffy's nightmare about her father was heartbreaking, and of course he did basically leave her, so prophetic. As was being killed by the master. And Giles failed her too in some ways later on.
I know/have known lots of Billys, Bills, Williams, and a Guillermo or two. No Liams except the one who acts. I think it's just such a common name (or was at one time, not so much now maybe) that it's an easy one for a writer to grab. And most Williams would have been called Billy or Willy when they were kids, so...

[shapinglight]

Heh! You wouldn't any Williams nicknamed 'Willy' this side of the Pond.

[slaymesoftly]

LOL I know. I have known a few though. I've got to wonder what their parents were thinking... One boy was quite large for his age and had a temper to boot, and yet I don't recall he got into a lot of fights about his name. Maybe the other kids were just afraid to tease him. :) On the other hand, I don't think "Willy" or "Willie" is quite as common a term over here, so maybe the kids just didn't know. I'm watching the Today show right now and Willy Geist is one of the hosts. In his case, I'm sure it's because he's a junior and dad is "Bill".
Of course people still name their boys Richard and they often are "Dicks" rather than Rich or Richie, so....

[shapinglight]

I'm watching the Today show right now and Willy Geist is one of the hosts. In his case, I'm sure it's because he's a junior and dad is "Bill".

I just can't imagine any Brit called William shortening their name to Willy. Younger Williams get called Will, while older ones (as in my dad's generation) might be Bill.

As you can imagine the film Free Willy caused a lot of juvenile smirking over here.