Okay, time to post about something that doesn't suck

[annathepiper]

Like, for example, last night's Buffy.

Which had less Spike mileage than I was hoping for, and contrary to the opinion of certain persons (not that I'm looking in solarbird's direction or anything), I don't want to see my heroic, tarnished heroic, or even formerly villainous and now working on heroic figures just getting the shit kicked out of themselves. If the plucky heroine can't be there to help the poor guy out, we need to see him standing strong in the face of evil.

Happily, we got that. Well, okay, he was sort of slumped over in the face of evil, but standing in a metaphorical sense! Spike's shining exchange in the whole episode was here, when the First was trying to force him to choose sides between evil and goodness:

The First: "What makes you think you have a choice?!"

Spike: "She does. She believes in me."

Me: "YES!"

Some of the rest of the episode was disjointed for me, though. Like the whole sequence when one of the young proto-Slayers apparently just bolted out of the house for no apparent reason, and just happened to get tackled by the Ubervamp, till Buffy caught up and got her ass kicked by said Ubervamp. Through most of that sequence I kept wondering if this was another dream, since the previous seemingly disjointed bits in the episode had been Buffy falling asleep in her exhaustion. This bit flowed funny for me, and felt sort of stuffed in without enough connection to everything else that was going on.

I'm also not sure what to think of the Ubervamp. If that thing is to regular vamps like Neanderthals are to humans, is it just a killing machine and is it going to be the nasty muscle for the First through the rest of the season, or what? Is it sentient?

I am pretty amazed that ol' Joss wiped out the entire Watcher's Council. Which leaves Giles, pretty much, and maybe Wesley... but then again, a real interesting point was raised re: Giles. And that was, that at no point during the episode did we see Giles actually touch anything or carry anything. Which is a pretty alarming consideration given that we don't actually know what happened between Giles (apparently) almost getting his head chopped off and showing up at Buffy's door. o.O

I will be immensely pissed off if Giles has been killed off... but then again, if he has, then WTF is the (apparent) Giles presence bringing the baby Slayers to Sunnydale? The First being extra special devious? Or is it Giles' ghost?

Or is all of this coincidental speculation, and is this still actually Giles and we don't have anything to worry about? Joss is just that damned devious that I DON'T KNOW!

And while we're on the topic of WTF, WTF was the Joyce presence in Buffy's dreams? "The First" seems almost a too-easy answer, since that's what Buffy thought. I do kind of like the idea that Joyce herself might be struggling to get through to her daughter... though it seems somehow contradictory to the (apparent) Joyce presence telling Dawn that when things are bad, Buffy won't choose her.

Other random comments...

spazzkat kept hollering for Faith all throughout this episode. I'd really like to see Faith busted out of prison and brought in on the battle somehow, if possible. If the minions of the First are taking out potential Slayers and their Watchers and aiming ultimately for Faith and Buffy, Faith is not safe in jail. Buffy even mentioned Faith as a target.

The Nerds of a Feather moments between Andrew and Xander were very funny. Hehehehehe.

Very interesting subtexts running under the conversations between Buffy and the principal. One does wonder exactly what effect it's had on Principal Wood that he just seemingly happened to wander down into the basement and find Jonathan's body.

And last, but not least, Buffy's speech at the end. Buffy's "Fuck You Evil" speech. That was BEAUTIFUL. The prelude to it brought back echoes of the "ohmigod we're going to get our asses kicked we need to flee" reactions we saw when everybody tried to flee Glory... but to see Buffy come out and announce that they were now an army and that she was going to take out the First herself was magnificient.

Comments

[spazzkat.livejournal.com]

In thinking about it I'm fairly certain that Giles is dead dead deadski. My guess is that Ghost Giles is an attempt at the PTB to even out things against the First whatever.

Re:

[annathepiper]

Sniffle. I do not want Giles to be dead. Because GILES! Sniffle sniffle.

But, if we assume he is dead, I am not sure whether I am in the "It's Giles' ghost" camp, the "it's a REAL clever trick of the First" camp, the "it's an attempt of the PTB to combat the First" camp, or some combination of the above.

[princessheacock.livejournal.com]

i don't think Giles is dead.

I watched the episode tonight and I didn't see any special care in NOT touching. Just that he didn't happen to touch on screen. But I find it hard to believe he never got hugs, etc. ESP when he told them that the First was non-corporeal and no one thought he was acting particularly stand offish

Re:

[annathepiper]

*nodnods* Clearly I have to spend some of my TIME OFF FROM WORK *happydance* tomorrow rewatching this episode and watching exactly what Giles does!

[mnemozine.livejournal.com]

AHHH AHHHH AHHHH! I didn't notice that about Giles! I'm horrified at myself (but then again, was so zonked, I fell asleep during Buffy's droning speech at the end of the episode. Ooops.)

So there are good ghosts: Mom & Giles

True evil.

Drusilla (I can be catty here, but won't because I really do like the character)

And a whacked out super-vamp whose race is supposedly a myth-but-not-really-one and there is currently only one of them running around.

And I think the chick who ran had a ghost whisper in her ear and she freaked. It's the only thing that makes an inkling of sense because she was the 'solid' one of the three. Hmph.

Re:

[annathepiper]

I was vaguely disappointed that the First was in Drusilla-form through most of this episode. It didn't quite work as much for me as seeing the First in Spike-form or Buffy-form, for some reason. Possibly because as Spike himself observed, the First just wasn't as CRAZY as the real Dru, and hell, that's half her charm. ;)

But I honestly missed whether there was ghost-freakage with the chick that cut and ran. Very possibly because I was pretty zonked out last night too.

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[mnemozine.livejournal.com]

It wasn't shown. But why else would a perfectly good slayer in training with a head on her shoulders go freaky like that? I bet it was her dead Watcher coming to chat with her. ;)

Re:

[annathepiper]

A good theory, though I think this is another thing about why that part of the episode felt disjointed to me. Too little was shown to me in order for me to make much sense of it. Now, granted, it was just that part of the episode, and also granted that I was a zonked Anna, but well hey!

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[mnemozine.livejournal.com]

They've done this before. And the next thing you know, everything falls into place and you go "Hunh. I should have seen that coming." Like Giles not touching anything!

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[annathepiper]

Oh yeah, absolutely. Joss is wonderful at setting stuff up with that level of sneaky subtlety. ^_^ One of the many reasons that I (heart) Joss, even though he's a right bastard!

[kent.livejournal.com]

CouldBeDead!Giles had a scar across his neck. The First appears in the form of people who have already died. Perhaps The First has a counterpart ("The Last"?) that created Good (God?), and it's speaking to Buffy through Giles and Joyce. If so, then Giles is dead if "The Last" follows the same rules.

Faith is supposedly appearing on Angel sometime this season, although I no longer watch that show.

PrincipalCreepy was obviously suspicious, but aside from a look back, Buffy seemed to forget about him immediately. His office is above the Hellmouth yet she doesn't seem to suspect he could be even a little bit evil? I thought she was supposed to be pretty good at this whole thing by now.

I don't know; I don't watch the show every week any more, but everyone seems so morose. Why doesn't Buffy ever wisecrack anymore? Why does no one notice Giles being so "off." (He hardly seemed to care about the council and I wonder if Anthony Stewart Head is now just phoning it in because he seemed so lifeless in the role this week. Buffy's speech was good but a bit empty. So what if they're united. It doesn't mean they have any tools or strategy. I dunno; it wasn't too compelling to me.

But I'm not a Buffy-phile and certainly don't like Spike at all. I wish The First would kill him for once and for all. I just don't understand the appeal, aside from the physical appeal of his body.

[annathepiper]

Why I like Spike, the short form:

1) Well yeah, duh, his bod does have something to do with it, though Mr. Marsters does not follow the traditional sure-fire formula for making Anna swoon. ;) (Read: Tall and Rugged, the template historically matched by Mr. Ford, and recently matched by Mr. Crowe.)

2) He's always been quite acerbically witty, all throughout his tenure on the show. I could give countless examples, but this is remaining the short form. I dig the character's sense of humor.

3) Even before he got his soul back, he has been demonstrating some effort to try to join the forces of good, which has been very fun to watch. A running theory we have had is when he got the chip stuck in his head, it leashed his inner demon and gave the human personality more room to surface. We know from previous experience on Buffy that a vamp is imprinted with the memories and personality of the human they used to be, so it's been very fun to me to compare how Spike's human personality lingers on in him to, say, how Angel's has been retained. With or without a soul involved. Soulless Angelus is way more evil a vampire than Soulless Spike has ever been -- clear back to season 2 when Spike bargained with Buffy and told her he actually liked the world.

4) I am a complete sucker for the fact that Spike was not only a poet in his human existence, but a bad one. ;) I find that inordinately charming.

5) I am also a complete and total sucker for Bad Boy Gets Redeemed plots, and I am thoroughly enjoying how this one is being handled this season. Spike's redemption is actually more interesting to me at the moment than Angel's ongoing efforts as a warrior of goodness, light and puppies... because Angel sort of had goodness thrust upon him, thanks to the gypsy curse that slapped his soul back into him, and in a lot of ways he's a more traditional heroic figure than Spike is. Spike went out and looked for goodness. His original motives were arguably selfish -- doing it for Buffy -- but then again, the sheer fact that a soulless vampire went looking to get his soul back on the power of love alone makes for a very satisfying storyline for my inner hopeless romantic. :)

Did I say this was going to be short?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I suspect Giles is dead and that the First is fucking with Buffy. Then again, that's what I think is up with Joyce, too. Of course, this is what Joss wants us to think, just like Joss wants us to think that Buffy's going to say, "I love you," to Spike at some point.

I will be a whole lot less pissed if Giles is dead than I am about Jonathan. I'm still a long way from forgiveness on that.

My husband is convinced the principal is a Watcher.

And I liked Buffy's speech at the end.

Re:

[annathepiper]

The Principal as a Watcher? THAT would be interesting.

Watcher to whom, though? Are there unattached Watchers... well, I suppose I should now be saying were there unattached Watchers not on active duty looking after a proto-Slayer who might be called? Or might the Council have put Wood there in Sunnydale to keep a subtle eye on Buffy?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i just realized two things about this episode that at least make it clear that they know they're suggesting giles is dead:

1. xander says something about the pantry being safe and "would m night shalmumble lie to me" (that being the director of 6th sense)
2. the title of this episode is "bring on the NIGHT"

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[annathepiper]

I liked that crack about M. Night, yeah. ;)

And I noticed the episode title myself, though I didn't attribute any especial significance to it...

[juanal.livejournal.com]

He is also the director of "Signs" in which an alien was prevented from being able to do harm by being locked in a pantry.

It was a pretty brave joke to make since I don't think many people saw Signs, and so would not get the joke.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

My thoughts:

I think Giles didn't escape the First, and his role is to be a weakening agent -- note he was telling everyone they had to give up just before Buffy came back.

I think the supposedly stolid proto-slayer bolted because it was all bravado on her part.

"nerds of a feather" -- funny. I'll have to remember that. Yeah!

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[annathepiper]

I cannot take credit for "Nerds of a Feather". That credit goes to spazzkat! But yes, it's a good 'un.

I did note Giles' whole "we should give up" mode just before Buffy emerged at the end, yeah. Which was what was helping remind me of the whole situation at the end of 5th season when they all tried to flee from Glory. That would be a reasonable way for the First to try to fake Buffy out by using an "apparent" Giles.

Not agreeing about Giles being deadski

[juanal.livejournal.com]

Someone said something about him not touching anything, but he did have the research and the books that he stole from the Watchers HQ. He set them down on the table and even handed some of them to some of the other people so unless I am really badly mistaken, yeah he touched stuff. I think he is alive and he somehow survied the attack from the bringers, but Joss just pulled a "Long Kiss Goodnight" on us and just didn't show that part because there was no way to put it on film and make it look even remotely believable.

I have my own theory on Joyce and her statement to Dawn. I think that it is an absolutely true statement but that Dawn has interpreted it's meaning incorrectly. What I can't figure out is if "she" intended for Dawn to take it wrong, or is just limited in what she could tell and so said it in a way that had a double meaning hoping that Dawn would get the right one.

I think the real interpretation of the statement is that when things get really bad and Buffy has to choose she will not choose Dawn....to die. I don't know if the other choice will be Buffy herself again like the end of two seasons ago, or if it will be someone else, but that is I think the direction that this is going.

Re: Not agreeing about Giles being deadski

[annathepiper]

I remember seeing Giles mentioning the research materials, yeah, but I don't actually remember seeing him handle them. I remember seeing one of the girls pull something out of her backpack -- I'll doublecheck! (I also missed what Kent pointed out about a scar on Giles' neck, for that matter.) But if you're right, yeah, that blows the ghost theory out of the water.

So you're of the theory that the Joyce entity seen by Dawn was legit? And presumably also the Joyce entity seen by Buffy in her dreams?

Re: Not agreeing about Giles being deadski

[princessheacock.livejournal.com]

Yes. And she DOES seem very constrained as to what she can say

Re: Not agreeing about Giles being deadski

[annathepiper]

HRmRMm.

HRmRMm. Trying to remember if we know whether the First can actually enter people's dreams. From what I vaguely remember about the episode in which the First originally appeared, the answer to this would be "yes". However, if the answer is "we have no evidence" that would be a strong argument in favor of the Joyce entity in Buffy's dreams not being the First....

Re: Not agreeing about Giles being deadski

[juanal.livejournal.com]

I am not really sure if the Joyce seen by Dawn was "legit" meaning good. What she said was ambiguous, but with a pretty bad meaning that was an easy first interpretation.

What I can't figure out is if "the Joyce" that Dawn saw meant to make Dawn distrust Buffy, or if she meant the opposite but was limited on what she could share with those of this plane.

I am leaning towards the theory that she meant to help, but was only able to say what she said in an ambiguous way and Dawn took it the wrong way because she already had a seen of distrust of Buffy in her.

Re: Not agreeing about Giles being deadski

[annathepiper]

*nodnods* I agree we just don't have enough evidence yet to know whether this Joyce entity is Good or Evil... guess we'll just have to find out!