RATT: Buffy 6ABB20 - 'Villains' [SPOILERS B 6.20]
Mattia Valente
Doodly doo....I'm on a roll. Mostly because I won't have time to
respoind to any of this tomorrow, so.....
SPOILERS BUFFY 6ABB20 - 'Villains'
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Whoa. And how much is Sky going to flay this episode (har har...sorry,
bad joke. Bad, bad joke.)
Like, whoa. Okay, so not the fine tuned complexity of 'Benediction'
(which is all I'm gonna say, 'cause, like, unmarked spoilers), but,
well, that was quite a ride.
I'm a bit flummoxed by the whole deal, but honestly, I was sitting
there, watching, with my heart in my throat half the time. It isn't the
bestest Buffy ever, but damn, it's an interesting turn to take. Willow,
turning to the dark side. Us, getting a modicum of excuse for why no
raising of people that weren't Buffy (although this time 'round, the
healing thing worked out quite well...hoom. Dark arts or not..)
Starting simple: the Xander/Buffy interaction was top-notch, MT gave us
a rather...restrained, yet powerful performance, all of the good, and
dammit, Tara's really, truly dead. Very dead. Joss, you bastard. Rack
reappears, as the, lookit, Magic dealer. We get some rather pointless
Andrew/Jonathan interaction, some goofy 'har har, laugh at Warren' type
stuff, and move right along to the good shit, namely, Willow.
Aah....Willow. DarkWillow. Imbued with Osiris (was it?), absorbing the
Magic Box's Dark Arts collection, and basically flipping. This is more
like it, frankly. It's not 'oh, dear, she's addicted', it's 'oh, dear,
she's out of control'. Okay, so there's still the whole 'we weren't
meant to mess with those powers' vibe, but that's an old lesson, one we
learned back in 'The Dark Age', quite frankly, so it's not newfangled
and exciting. Personally, I think this is one of Noxon's better efforts,
outshining 'Wrecked' by a long shot. We've got a bigger focus on power
issues, on control, on taking things into her own hands and (ab)using
Magic to do it.
We've got Rack, who's back in the game, feeling what's going on. Anya
reveals herself to Xander, and reveals to us what Willow's up to. And
Warren? Warren's well and truly Fucked. Pathetic attempts at evasive
action amount to sod all, mysoginy does explicitly rear it's ugly head
(and no, Niall, I don't think it came out of nowhere or is shit
characterization, honestly), and he gets tied up, tortured with a
bullet, and flayed alive before being incinerated. Oh, and of course,
'Bored Now', not the subtlest of 'hints' but oooooooooh.....
The a brief stint with Spike. Looks like he wants his chip out. Looks
like Mr. Demon Guy (and where are they? Carribean would be my guess, no
time to get to Africa, but even that's a stretch...coastline somewhere?
Beats me..) has Spike worked out, but I'm still a bit antsy about how
they're going to deal with his 'testing'. Please, please, no
redemptionist crap. Please. Dechipping gooooood. Either way, should be
interesting. Frankly, I was surprised that we actually saw any Spike
stuff in this episode; I was prepared not to see or hear from him again
until next season.
Bottom line, I'm intruiged. I'm not sure exatly how they want to wrap
this up, given what Joss has said about S7 (general vague theme), since,
well, it *seems* te be a bit....clashy. Whatever does happen, I do feel
that we're in for an interesting finale, not the best of the best,
perhaps, but one that's not devoid of metaphor and examination of good
and evil in the Buffyverse, which, well, is a good thing. I hope.
Roll on the finale.
Mattia
--
"My beagle went swimming today and now he's typing on my keyboard with
his ample nose. Oh, and he's the bestest handsomeest beagle EVER."
--Tim Minear, Salon.com, May 2001
pikelet
Mattia Valente <mae.v...@std.vu.nl> is talking to me. I take a calm
sip of my beer, try not to think of them naked, and say:
>The a brief stint with Spike. Looks like he wants his chip out. Looks
>like Mr. Demon Guy (and where are they? Carribean would be my guess, no
>time to get to Africa, but even that's a stretch...coastline somewhere?
>Beats me..) has Spike worked out, but I'm still a bit antsy about how
>they're going to deal with his 'testing'. Please, please, no
>redemptionist crap. Please. Dechipping gooooood.
All the references in that scene from the demon are to 'back to the
way you were', 'your restoration' and wotnot. If they don't make him
human after that, then I'm more of a Dutchman than you are.
Tim.
--
Do you love your monkey,
Or do you love me?
Mattia Valente
Well, that's the thing, isn't it? Double edged sword, careful what you
wish for, all that garbage. Spike seems to be taking it as 'chipless
vampire', I'm not entirely sure what the Demon is taking it as, to be
honest. But, frankly, I don't really care to see a human Spike. Not
really. Unless Buffy foils him anyway, and then he can get all pissed
off 'n shit. Or something. That's why I said 'dechipping gooooood'.
As for the Dutchman...I'm only half, you know that, right?
dieter
news:3CE0614B...@std.vu.nl:
Holy crap, was it ever!
> I'm a bit flummoxed by the whole deal, but honestly, I was sitting
> there, watching, with my heart in my throat half the time. It isn't
> the bestest Buffy ever, but damn, it's an interesting turn to take.
No, not the best, but this season sure is redeeming itself like I hoped
it would.
>Willow,
> turning to the dark side. Us, getting a modicum of excuse for why no
> raising of people that weren't Buffy (although this time 'round, the
> healing thing worked out quite well...hoom. Dark arts or not..)
How cool was Willow's little surgery, come on :)
> Starting simple: the Xander/Buffy interaction was top-notch, MT gave
> us a rather...restrained, yet powerful performance, all of the good,
> and dammit, Tara's really, truly dead. Very dead. Joss, you bastard.
Yes, she's gone and I for one will miss her. She kinda developed as the
"mom" to the scoobies this season.
>Rack
> reappears, as the, lookit, Magic dealer. We get some rather pointless
> Andrew/Jonathan interaction, some goofy 'har har, laugh at Warren'
> type stuff, and move right along to the good shit, namely, Willow.
>
> Aah....Willow. DarkWillow. Imbued with Osiris (was it?), absorbing the
> Magic Box's Dark Arts collection, and basically flipping.
One thing that dissapointed me was that they didn't keep Willow's scream
as it was in the trailer. That "no!" after she was refused the power to
revive Tara truly turned my blood cold. Now they mixed it with some
effect which was a shame.
(little snip here)
>Anya
> reveals herself to Xander, and reveals to us what Willow's up to. And
> Warren? Warren's well and truly Fucked. Pathetic attempts at evasive
> action amount to sod all, mysoginy does explicitly rear it's ugly head
> (and no, Niall, I don't think it came out of nowhere or is shit
> characterization, honestly), and he gets tied up, tortured with a
> bullet, and flayed alive before being incinerated. Oh, and of course,
> 'Bored Now', not the subtlest of 'hints' but oooooooooh.....
I expected her to go nuts on Warren, but man, this was truly shocking.
My mouth dropped to the floor Tex Avery style when she gave him that
skinjob. Is there a turning back from this, are they going to be able to
wrap this storyline up in the finale? I truly doubt it. but I am SO glad
that I'm unspoiled for the first time since the start of the sixth
season.
>
> The a brief stint with Spike. Looks like he wants his chip out. Looks
> like Mr. Demon Guy (and where are they? Carribean would be my guess,
> no time to get to Africa, but even that's a stretch...coastline
> somewhere? Beats me..) has Spike worked out, but I'm still a bit antsy
> about how they're going to deal with his 'testing'. Please, please, no
> redemptionist crap. Please. Dechipping gooooood. Either way, should be
> interesting. Frankly, I was surprised that we actually saw any Spike
> stuff in this episode; I was prepared not to see or hear from him
> again until next season.
Spike needs to go back to his bad self, absolutely. He has been the bad
(S2), he has been the butt-monkey (S4), the (sort of)friend (S5) and
now, for lack of a better term, he has been the "love" interest. Time to
go back to the basics, William.
> Bottom line, I'm intruiged. I'm not sure exatly how they want to wrap
> this up, given what Joss has said about S7 (general vague theme),
> since, well, it *seems* te be a bit....clashy.
Exactly, I've read what Joss said about next season and there at least
seems to be some sort of transitional period needed.
>Whatever does happen, I do feel
> that we're in for an interesting finale, not the best of the best,
> perhaps, but one that's not devoid of metaphor and examination of good
> and evil in the Buffyverse, which, well, is a good thing. I hope.
I think it'll be good...oh yeah :)
Mattia Valente
> > (which is all I'm gonna say, 'cause, like, unmarked spoilers), but,
> > well, that was quite a ride.
>
> Holy crap, was it ever!
Whoosh. Too bad it wasn't widescreen</broken record>
> It isn't
> > the bestest Buffy ever, but damn, it's an interesting turn to take.
>
> No, not the best, but this season sure is redeeming itself like I hoped
> it would.
I'm waiting a little anxiously before I can judge that, quite frankly.
> How cool was Willow's little surgery, come on :)
Still wanting to know about consequences...
> > Starting simple: the Xander/Buffy interaction was top-notch, MT gave
> > us a rather...restrained, yet powerful performance, all of the good,
> > and dammit, Tara's really, truly dead. Very dead. Joss, you bastard.
>
> Yes, she's gone and I for one will miss her. She kinda developed as the
> "mom" to the scoobies this season.
Well, at least a mentor. The only real 'grown up' of the lot of them,
irony of ironies. Some truly great character development there.
> > Aah....Willow. DarkWillow. Imbued with Osiris (was it?), absorbing the
> > Magic Box's Dark Arts collection, and basically flipping.
>
> One thing that dissapointed me was that they didn't keep Willow's scream
> as it was in the trailer. That "no!" after she was refused the power to
> revive Tara truly turned my blood cold. Now they mixed it with some
> effect which was a shame.
Um, okay. Can't really recall, sorry.
> Is there a turning back from this, are they going to be able to
> wrap this storyline up in the finale? I truly doubt it. but I am SO glad
> that I'm unspoiled for the first time since the start of the sixth
> season.
I like being unspoiled, but yes, I do think they'll wrap most, if not
all, of this storyline up before the next season.
> Spike needs to go back to his bad self, absolutely. He has been the bad
> (S2), he has been the butt-monkey (S4), the (sort of)friend (S5) and
> now, for lack of a better term, he has been the "love" interest. Time to
> go back to the basics, William.
So he wants. But that probably just means he won't.
> Exactly, I've read what Joss said about next season and there at least
> seems to be some sort of transitional period needed.
That's what the 4 month summer break is for :-p