Buffy 4.14 Goodbye, Iowa SPOILERS
P@rick
I had to watch this ep twice to know how I feel about it. But the jury
has come to a final conclusion:
<drumbeat>
I dunno.
I *do* know that this ep is, again, not as bad as early bird viewers
made it out to be. But it had me feel somewhat confused. Maybe I
expected a way more emotional clash, conflict about loyalties between
Buffy and Riley. Buffy had every reason to be majorly pissed off with
the Initiative, and even more with professor Walsh. And since Riley is
part of that gang and pretty close with Walsh, I imagined that he would
have a lot to answer for to Buffy. But instead, all attention turns to
Riley whose world is falling apart piece by piece, and soon enough Buffy
is comforting our corn- err... steroids-fed boy.
Yeah, that must be it. This ep didn't give me the opportunity to channel
my emotions. I was waiting for an emotional climax that didn't come. I
expected Buffy to direct her anger at Riley, but that didn't happen.
Riley doesn't even believe at first that Walsh wanted Buffy dead, and he
walks out on Buffy to brood on his own. Normally that's enough for Buffy
to royally freak out. But she remains level headed, and even apologizes
to Riley for coming on so strong and hiding Spike.
*ding-ding* Hellooo! Wasn't it Buffy that nearly got killed by Walsh?
The same Slayer-with-a-vengeance who's now offering apologies to
Mother's dearest? Who should be apologising to who here.
As the story unfolds the focus shifts more and more to Riley's world
falling apart. With each step it becomes more clear that the Initiative
isn't necessarily after Buffy's life and that Walsh had a hidden agenda.
And with every step, Riley gets more confused.
I gotta hand it to Marc Blucas. This is the first opportunity for him to
show some real acting, and he actually delivers a decent job. Ok, it's
still Riley we're talking about. And his huffing and puffing kinda got
on my nerves. <Spock> But it's not Riley as we know him </Spock>.
Riley's world gets turned upside down. Walsh isn't who he thought she
was, Buffy isn't who he thought she was, the Intiative isn't what he
thought it was, and his buddies are turning against him as well (at
least, Forrest is. Graham just stands there doing his impression of a
statue). And on top of all that, Riley is doing cold turkey without even
knowing it. He should never have left Iowa...
See, I told you that Walsh is Riley's mother. Ok, so she didn't give
birth to him (although I still think they look alike) but she has been
very important to him. Walsh the control freak. Wants to control her
soldier boys, wants to control demons, and wants to control her own
'children'. Adam and Walsh don't look alike. But give her a few
months...
Ah, that Adam guy. Poor George Hertzberg. How can you give a decent
acting performance when you're all dressed up like an action figure?
Half his face is covered with paint and metal, and that halloween suit
doesn't look very comfortable.
I don't find Adam very scary or impressive yet. Sure, he's a killing
freak of nature. But it's not like Buffy hasn't dealt with one of those
before. I vote for a Judge treatment. His limbs have been sown together,
so they can come apart again too. Adam does seem able to walk in and out
of the Initiative complex as he pleases. But of course that's not an
exceptional achievement. Even Spike would be able to get as far as room
314, only using his fake American accent. Yes, the Initiative didn't
spend a lot of money on security, or at least not very efficiently.
Luckily Riley prevented Adam from giving away the big plan! Phew, he
almost answered the question that's on everyone's mind. If it hadn't
been for Riley's reflexes, we would all be spoiled by now. Thanks Riley!
Tara and Willow seem to enjoy doing spells together a *lot*. Must be a
very pleasing hobby. I've heard the rumors about where they are heading
with this. I must admit that I wouldn't automatically read that into it
myself. I just see two girls who like each other and are having a great
time doing spells together.
Tara intentionally messed up the spell. Willow hides Tara from the
Scoobies and Tara hides secrets from Willow. Gee, I wonder what that's
all about. The spell was meant to detect demonic energy (although I fail
to see how that square representing Sunnydale could ever give an
accurate indication of the whereabouts of demons), and Tara didn't want
that to succeed. So maybe she's hiding a demon (herself being the most
popular explanation), or maybe she was too afraid to summon Thespia.
Could be she had some bad experiences with that particular goddess in
the past. Can't wait to find out.
Spike is caught between a rock and a hard place. The the only place left
where he's remotely welcome is with the Scoobies. I'm surprised the
demons didn't kill him already. Why not finish the job while you're at
it? The Scoobies don't kill Spike, and neither do the demons. What is it
with that guy? At least the Initiative won't be searching for him around
the clock anymore. They've got other things on their hands. But maybe
they'll bump into him by accident when he's running around in broad
daylight again only protected by his leather jacket...
Buffy goes to the crime scene and arrives just in time to see the body
being carried away. Which strikes me as rather odd. Was the tv-news
*that* quick with their coverage? Or did forensics take hours to examine
the body and the crime scene. I wonder what additional information Buffy
got from watching the scene from that distance.
Xander had me worried for a moment. Having sex with Riley? *There's* an
episode I will never watch! That it even enters his mind. I tell you,
those army guys....
Maybe those meds the Initiative has been feeding their agents are meant
to surpress those kind of feelings. They sound like some sort of
steroids to me. Typical for the US army to be drugging their soldiers
behind their backs? Riley is back on medication again. Or so I presume.
He will have a lot of thinking to do about the big I and about Buffy.
And he will have some choices to make. Whether to stay with the
Initiative for one. *If* they are willing to let him go if he wants.
He's very important to them, so I wouldn't count on it. I guess Buffy
wouldn't mind him leaving his clan. Although he's more useful inside tI
than outside. But they'll probably keep a close eye on him from now on.
His relationship with Buffy doesn't work wonders for his
trustworthiness. And speaking of Buffy: isn't it kinda odd that they let
Buffy and Xander go after they had entered a restricted area and
attacked Angleman?
The Initiative will become more interesting I think, now that Washington
is sending a team to investigate. Adam needs a lot of upgrading before
he becomes an interesting adversary. I can't imagine why the demon
population got so worked up about him. Apart from the fact that humans
aren't supposed to capture demons, take them apart and mix them with
human components. And how is Adam the cause of an imbalance between the
forces of good and evil. Seems a bit far fetched to me at the moment,
but we'll see.
Bye, Patrick
--
Keeper of the Willowism, "And I'm eating this banana. Lunchtime be
damned!"
Keeper of the Wily Willow Charms
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