[OT] Buffy - Spoilers within

[Magnus]

That's weird, I feel the opposite way. I felt like the show was becoming "bad guy shows up - they worry about it - Buffy beats it up anyways". Remember that, in the end, Buffy still "beat up" Glory.

well, of COURSE that's how it works. it's TV. it's movies. it's entertainment. we don't pay $5-10 per ticket to see the hero triumph over yet another dreary day at work, and getting his kids to do their homework. yes a certain amout of realism an authenticity is necessary, but that's not what we pay/tune in to see. ordinary doesn't entertain. this whole season as a sub plot/arc would have been fine.

even those so-called "reality" shows aren't about reality. c'mon, 12 random people get stranded on an island with nothing to eat ALL the time. they are all carefully contrived and scripted scenarios with carefully casted people who they can count on to react a certain way that'll "entertain."

This season is saying to Buffy that she can't just solve every problem with physical violence. Sometimes the problems are deeper.

now, i'm not saying that this season's approach is a waste of time, i think that the ideas are great. i was complaining about the approaches to dealing with them. yes, good sci-fi is about the human condition. yes, it's about universal human truths. but it's also about heroes. and stopping the "bad guy" and "geting the girl" (... or guy in this case ) coz sci-fi is still entertainment.

then again, maybe i'm just pissed that Joss is treating my Buffy so badly this season, and THAT'S what i'm really pissed at!

 

[Tar Markvar]

Hey, Wait a Minute!

I think that Tar will get killed by Warren...

I don't even know anyone named Warren!!

--Tar

 

[LostSoul]

well, of COURSE that's how it works. it's TV. it's movies. it's entertainment. we don't pay $5-10 per ticket to see the hero triumph over yet another dreary day at work, and getting his kids to do their homework. yes a certain amout of realism an authenticity is necessary, but that's not what we pay/tune in to see. ordinary doesn't entertain. this whole season as a sub plot/arc would have been fine.

I don't know... the last movie I saw twice in the theatres was American Beauty. Not much is solved by violence there. Not that violence is what bothered me about the show in previous seasons; no, it was the fact that Buffy solved everything by kicking and staking. (Except maybe Angel and Faith; but after she sent Angel to Hell, things were okay. Same thing goes for Faith, just substitue a coma for Hell.)

After a few seasons of that, I never ever worried about things going wrong for Buffy. I didn't watch much of the last season because of that. "Oh, she's facing a god. Don't worry, she'll just beat her up in the end." Which is what happened, although I was totally shocked and delighted that she died.

Oh well, I guess our tastes are just different. (A quick read of my .sig might tell you what my tastes are like. )

 

[Umbran]

yes, good sci-fi is about the human condition. yes, it's about universal human truths. but it's also about heroes. and stopping the "bad guy" and "geting the girl" (... or guy in this case ) coz sci-fi is still entertainment.

*shrug*

1) One man's "entertainment" is another's boring repetition.
2) There's more ways to be a hero than to beat stuff up.

I happen to find the way the show has gone this season to be refreshing. I wouldn't want it to continue like this forever, but we'd already had a number of seasons of the same formula. The break from the usual is good for the audience, good for the actors, good for the writers.

Buffy has not lost the attention of it's creators. By all reports, the show is exactly where the creators want it. The general plot, theme, and style for this season were decided upon a couple of years ago, actually. The writers aren't missing the mark - they are enacting the policies set by Joss Wheadon.

 

[Ashtal]

I wouldn't put any faith that Buffy in the institution was in the "Real World" (tho' there's been some speculation on the Net that maybe her spirit was 'visiting' an alternate universe Buffy, universes explicitly discussed in early episodes as being infinitely varied, perhaps one where Institution Buffy could glimpse Real Buffy's world).

I think the ME people are just playing with our heads and that the last sequence is more of symbolic ending, to show that she is ready to accept who she is, and get back to the business of living.

Poor girl. They've been terribly hard on her this season.

As for spoilers...yes, SpoilerSlayer.net is an excellent resource, as is the Buffy Cross and Stake (www.angelicslayer.com). AngelX is da bomb of all things Spoiler.

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Nice to see I was right about Anya, if the spoilers are true.

 

[Wolfspider]

I think the show's just been getting better. Last season was overall great and in some places sublime, so I didn't believe it could get any better. But this season has proven me wrong.

Someone mentioned before that Buffy should acknowledge its debt to Stan Lee, and I agree that Buffy does use a lot of the superhero themes (although these are probably much older than Stan Lee, going back to the Odyssey and Iliad). In any case, like many superheroes, Buffy has come to realize this season that her superpowers are useless against some of the problems in the world, that she can't save everyone. People who say that the show has diverged away from science fiction/comics by tackling this issue really don't understand the themes of sci fi and comics very well.

In fact, very often it's not the villians that finally wear down the hero, but these mundane elements. The death of a loved one, the irrational hatred people feel toward you, the attempt to somehow live a normal life when you're a seven-foot tall orange brickman or a Vampire Slayer.

Perhaps what frustrates viewers about this season is the fact that Buffy can't jus t go out and slay the big bad of this season, 'cause the big bad is Life. Sure, the three geeks are shaping up to be a threat (especially their leader), but the threat they represent really pales when compared to how Life can grind a person down.

Joss Whedon is quite familiar with comic books. He knows that once you've featured a Galactus-level villian in a series, you have to take a bit of time afterwards to deal with more down-to-earth problems in order to keep the show/book grounded. If you don't, you risk having the entire story fly apart. She faced a god last season, this season she faces...two! That would be tantamount to having a comic feature Galactus in one issue and the Beyonder in the next. No, it just wouldn't work. The world would crumble under the strain of that much power.

I love Buffy. It's not a perfect show, but it's a great one.

 

[Angelsboi]

ok lemme explain. i dont mean the psyche ward was the Real World. I mean what the doctor said gave a clue to everything.

"You have always faced big bad monsters, last year you 'faced' a God. And now you are being tormented by 3 school students you cant take care of."

And she hasnt been able to do this. Odd huh? Lets see, Luke, Darla, The Master, Angelus, The Trioka, The Brotherhood of Aurolious, a Bezoar Demon, Glory, Adam, a government military instillation, Ethan Rayne, Faith, Demonic Mayor ... all super powered villians ... and now we are at 3 ordinary students. The doctor pointed that out.

and by the way, ive been saying since last season Tara was going to die.

 

[Ashtal]

Well, at least with the Troika, one thing is stopping her: they're human.

Name any beast you want, and she's got killing rights. Humans as the enemy makes it messy. She can't go out and kill them, she can't turn them over to the police. What's left? Foiling their plans and minimizing the damage, hoping that they will take care of themselves.

 

[Angelsboi]

Faith was human, The mayor was human (before the ritual), Ethayne Rayne was human ....

and the Trioka as the three assassins (the biker guy, worm man and the cop woman)

 

[Florin]

I'm going to add my voice to the approval for this episode. I think it was a great turning point for Buffy. All season long she's felt like she doesn't belong, like she's not as good as she used to be, that nobody needs her because they all took care of themselves while she was dead, she's missed her parents, her father figure left, etc. Now, with that little speech Joyce got Buffy back onto the path of recovery. Sure, it was kinda cheesy that it only took a speech from a figment of her deranged imagination, but hey, at least there's a chance someone will be happy this next episode!!!

I also liked the unconditional love that her friends gave her, even after she beat them up, tied them up, and sicked a demon on them, they knew that she wasn't acting herself and forgave her right away for it. They just proved that they are true friends and have and will always love her for who she is, not what.