AOQ Review 7-4: "Help"
Arbitrar Of Quality
threads.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
(or "History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of
men")
Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Just a low-key "let's setting up the plot and making jokes!!"
start in the funeral home, which is acceptably entertaining. It also
has a little moment that stands out for some reason: Xander apologizing
for taking out his frustrations on everyone else. It's an
uncharacteristic-for-this-show straightforward apology for the little
stuff, and the juxtaposition with the context it's in is strangely
funny.
There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
(I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
the doomed purple chick. Mrs. Quality and I spent a good portion of
the show trying and failing to figure out why we thought we knew the
actor from somewhere else (we don't). Maybe her delivery just
reminds me of Darla; that's about the closest I can get to figuring
this out.
Cassie sees her own death, and both the viewer and Buffy have enough
experience with Sunnydale to recognize the signs of something that
should be taken seriously; I like how the others have some skepticism
but do know better than to ignore the Slayer intuition. Based on the
way the show works, the premise holds its own suspense, since the
chances that she'll end up surviving are pretty much fifty-fifty.
Neither her safety nor her death at any point seem like a sure thing,
and that's one of the more important criteria for success. One
suspects once the show busts out "I need to fix this" that Buffy is
being set up to fail, but it's still only a suspicion. The moment
near the end, in which our hero looks like she'll be too far away to
keep Cassie from getting her throat slashed is a suspense highlight.
The character herself has a fatalist good will towards her fellow man
and has come to terms with death - for the second time this year, put
that personality in a woman ten years older and you have a prototypical
ATS guest star. She seems like a good kid, and we do get to know her
just well enough to care and not long enough to drain the rest of the
episode of content. Her final comment to Dawn: "listen, Dawn,
whatever happens now, it's not your fault, OK?" works well when
immediately followed by her disappearance.
That being said, I do have a few minor problems with the presentation.
"Help" is generally good with the atmosphere, but too much of
Cassie talking in monologues does tend to start to drag. The
"there's a lot of stuff I'd like to do" speech is about an
episode too long. Also, too many high-school quality poems in too
close to quick succession, which is enough to push things from setting
the mood into becoming a distraction.
Meanwhile, Willow is back to helping out on the computer but not so
much hanging out in the morgue. I've always liked the Jewish
stones-on-grave tradition. She expresses some continued concern over
magic just so we know that that this isn't forgotten, but the rest of
the time she's incorporated into scenes as if life is normal and S6
never happened. Here the show finds itself in a less than ideal
position, since any moving on is going to seem like it comes too soon,
but having her angst about it week after week would be tiresome for the
audience. I don't know if there's an ideal solution there.
This seems like it would have to be one of the earlier uses of
"Google" as a vernacular verb on TV, given that this was made in
2002. Always hip and edgy and stuff, this show, with its finger on the
pulse on America's young people who happen to be geeks.
Buffy's growing obsession with the case leads her to start
considering conclusions about people that aren't always right, and
could make her some enemies. One thing I was conscious of during her
interrogation based on only instinct and less than airtight evidence
that Coin Guy's involved: if she's wrong about him (regardless of
whether the danger to Cassie is real), then he'll let others know
about their little chat, and she's counseled her last troubled teen.
So she's taking a risk, even with the cool "connect with your
face" line. Maybe the show could've done more with that element.
Or maybe not.
Spike is only in this one in a peripheral, if still prominent capacity.
But "help" seems to be the official all-purpose word this year for
B/S scenes to use in different contexts, replacing "real," and that
seems likely to continue. His emergence at the end actually does come
as a bit of a surprise, since it didn't seem like he'd be leaving
the basement for another couple weeks. Back once again to helping
Buffy with whatever she's doing as a matter of course, something
which has stayed oddly constant since S5 despite pretty much every
possible change in their relationship having been thrown in. This
episode still won't alter things in itself, but it could become the
beginning of a turning point for him. "She'll tell you" is one
of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
"and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
full of such things... and of course, it could mean almost anything.
Not much to say about their first encounter in which he asks for help
with the quiet, which speaks largely for itself.
Also not much to say about the Blue Cläm Cult; they're meant to be a
fairly entertaining diversion from the real story that also resonate a
little in an early-season metaphor kinda way, and they achieve that
adequately. The irony that the reason our victim is targeted by them
is because of her fascination with death is also appreciated.
This Is Really Stupid But I Laughed Anyway moment(s):
- "Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join
chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fanfic. It's all
normal, right?" [the reactions are classic]
- You're asking my sister to the dance and she's *your second
choice*?"
So, Cassie survived the cultists; is there something else the show is
holding back, a last-minute threat? Hey, arrow!... nice save,
Buffster. Okay, so maybe she really is going to make it. Then of
course she quietly drops dead of non-external causes. Keeping the
audience guessing is important, and sometimes that calls for bells and
whistles and fake-outs. The aftermath is the weakest part of
"Help," unfortunately, as the show tries too hard to evoke meaning
and comes off as forced and clunky instead. The ideas come through
naturally, without artificially putting a pointed rhetorical question
in Buffy's mouth like "what do you do when you know that? When you
know that maybe you can't help?" At that moment Buffy becomes a
surrogate for delivering the "moral" of the episode, such that it
is, instead of, you know, a character. They might as well have added
"think about it, won't you?" Very quickly establishing the heart
condition (a shot of a medical report, maybe?) and then going directly
to that final silent moment in the school would have worked far better.
Emma Caulfield does not appear in "Help," as far as I can tell.
So...
One-sentence summary: A good story decently presented.
AOQ rating: Good
[Season Seven so far:
1) "Lessons" - Good
2) "Beneath You" - Decent
3) "Same Time, Same Place" - Excellent
4) "Help" - Good]
One Bit Shy
news:1158198915.6...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
> Just a low-key "let's setting up the plot and making jokes!!"
> start in the funeral home, which is acceptably entertaining.
I smiled at Dawn in the kid's coffen and pointedly saying she's not the
shortest one there. But for some reason that I can't quite put my finger
on, this scene falls a bit flat for me. Something's missing.
> There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
> (I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by)
You don't seem to much like when they do interwoven vignettes like this.
Does the device not work for you - or something about the execution? I like
this one. It's pretty well paced, isn't overbearingly long, and has good
variety (including a serious one). I like them all, but I guess the girl
who wanted to know whether she should pound some more on the boy.
"Insecure? Yeah, everyone says that. You know, I'm really tired of everyone
being so insecure." Pretty good line.
> before using that to finally
> introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
> the doomed purple chick. Mrs. Quality and I spent a good portion of
> the show trying and failing to figure out why we thought we knew the
> actor from somewhere else (we don't). Maybe her delivery just
> reminds me of Darla; that's about the closest I can get to figuring
> this out.
That was my reaction too. She seems so familiar, but why? I do like the
character.
> She seems like a good kid, and we do get to know her
> just well enough to care and not long enough to drain the rest of the
> episode of content. Her final comment to Dawn: "listen, Dawn,
> whatever happens now, it's not your fault, OK?" works well when
> immediately followed by her disappearance.
I liked Dawn's look of surprise when Cassie tells her that she is her
friend. There's something really sweet about the moment, even though it's
fated not to last.
> Spike is only in this one in a peripheral, if still prominent capacity.
> But "help" seems to be the official all-purpose word this year for
> B/S scenes to use in different contexts, replacing "real," and that
> seems likely to continue. His emergence at the end actually does come
> as a bit of a surprise, since it didn't seem like he'd be leaving
> the basement for another couple weeks. Back once again to helping
> Buffy with whatever she's doing as a matter of course, something
> which has stayed oddly constant since S5 despite pretty much every
> possible change in their relationship having been thrown in.
That may be, but the proximate motivation I think is not wanting the girl to
be hurt. It's tied into the earlier conversation with Buffy.
> This
> episode still won't alter things in itself, but it could become the
> beginning of a turning point for him. "She'll tell you" is one
> of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
> "and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
> full of such things... and of course, it could mean almost anything.
Yeah, but the look on Spike's face makes it worth it. A clairvoyant talking
to a madman. God knows how loaded those words would be to him.
> The ideas come through
> naturally, without artificially putting a pointed rhetorical question
> in Buffy's mouth like "what do you do when you know that? When you
> know that maybe you can't help?" At that moment Buffy becomes a
> surrogate for delivering the "moral" of the episode, such that it
> is, instead of, you know, a character.
> So...
> One-sentence summary: A good story decently presented.
> AOQ rating: Good
This is borderline for me, and I'm leaning towards the Decent side of the
border this time. I like Cassie and her precognition and wistful
resignation. And I like the general setup. But the episode seems to get
slower and slower as it goes on. Then the climactic demon summoning scene
struck me as really lame. And the evil high schooler has to be one of the
most stock characters we've seen on BtVS. To the point that it actively
annoys me when I see him.
The scene I think is surprisingly good is the confrontation with Cassie's
drunk father. It's not the lines so much as it is the performance and
interaction between Buffy and the father. SMG does a nice job of showing
Buffy realizing she's stuck her neck out a bit further than she should have.
Like maybe her gig at the high school isn't really that well suited to
slayer like direct action.
The scene also has one of my favorite lines of the episode, "She's not the
sharpest apple in the barrel."
The net effect is an episode I enjoy, but struggle to call Good. So I'll
stick with Decent.
OBS
mariposas rand mair fheal greykitten tomys des anges
> fairly entertaining diversion from the real story that also resonate a
they are recalling some episodes in the earlier years this season
the monster parade in the first episode
reptile boy lite
it also seems to me that for the buffy as councillor scenes
they are using the same makeup as season one
(i wonder why they dont have more blue oyster cult here
- one look in the mirror told me so)
> whistles and fake-outs. The aftermath is the weakest part of
> "Help," unfortunately, as the show tries too hard to evoke meaning
> and comes off as forced and clunky instead. The ideas come through
its covering the similar ground as epiphany
there are some things you cant change
what you can change is how you face them
meow arf meow - they are performing horrible experiments in space
major grubert is watching you - beware the bakalite
there can only be one or two - the airtight garage has you neo
Don Sample
"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
> A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
> threads.
>
>
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
> (or "History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of
> men")
> Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
> Director: Rick Rosenthal
>
> This seems like it would have to be one of the earlier uses of
> "Google" as a vernacular verb on TV, given that this was made in
> 2002. Always hip and edgy and stuff, this show, with its finger on the
> pulse on America's young people who happen to be geeks.
There really was a www.cassienewton.com created by Rebecca, with
"Cassie's" poems, and drawings and stuff on it. Unfortunately, it no
longer exists.
> This Is Really Stupid But I Laughed Anyway moment(s):
"That's what I did: I stuck up for myself. The other day after class, I
jumped him in the parking lot, and I slammed his stupid-ass insecure
face right into the pavement!"
--
Quando omni flunkus moritati
Visit the Buffy Body Count at <http://homepage.mac.com/dsample/>
Don Sample
"One Bit Shy" <O...@nomail.sorry> wrote:
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1158198915.6...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> > before using that to finally
> > introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
> > the doomed purple chick. Mrs. Quality and I spent a good portion of
> > the show trying and failing to figure out why we thought we knew the
> > actor from somewhere else (we don't). Maybe her delivery just
> > reminds me of Darla; that's about the closest I can get to figuring
> > this out.
>
> That was my reaction too. She seems so familiar, but why? I do like the
> character.
She's had a recurring role on CSI:Miami, as a girl who had an affair
with Horatio Cain's brother, and a child by him.
> > This
> > episode still won't alter things in itself, but it could become the
> > beginning of a turning point for him. "She'll tell you" is one
> > of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
> > "and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
> > full of such things... and of course, it could mean almost anything.
>
> Yeah, but the look on Spike's face makes it worth it. A clairvoyant talking
> to a madman. God knows how loaded those words would be to him.
Of course, being named Cassandra, no one believes her prophecies.
George W Harris
<tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
:This Is Really Stupid But I Laughed Anyway moment(s):
:- "Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join
:chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fanfic. It's all
:normal, right?" [the reactions are classic]
This resonates now that Willow and Doogie are
costars on another TV series.
The girl who was being bullied, Amanda,
looks a lot like Virginia Woolf, at least according to
my mother. The actress, Sarah Hagan, was a
regular on 'Freaks and Geeks', and has also
appeared on 'Single Female Lawyer^W^W^WAlly
McBeal', 'Undeclared', 'Boston Public', 'Judging
Amy', 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Medium'.
--
e^(i*pi)+1=0
George W. Harris For actual email address, replace each 'u' with an 'i'.
George W Harris
<tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
:There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
:(I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
:introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
:the doomed purple chick.
You didn't mention it - Cassie = Cassandra, the
doomed seer of legend.
--
They say there's air in your lungs that's been there for years.
Ian Galbraith
[snip]
> There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
> (I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
> introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
> the doomed purple chick. Mrs. Quality and I spent a good portion of
> the show trying and failing to figure out why we thought we knew the
> actor from somewhere else (we don't). Maybe her delivery just
> reminds me of Darla; that's about the closest I can get to figuring
> this out.
She's been in a few things, most notably a sitcom with Michael Rosenbaum
(Lex on Smallville) and Selma Blair that I can't recall the name of. She
was also been in CSI Miami a few times in its first season IIRC. I love
her performance in Help but nothing else she's done approaches it
unfortunately.
[snip]
> That being said, I do have a few minor problems with the presentation.
> "Help" is generally good with the atmosphere, but too much of
> Cassie talking in monologues does tend to start to drag. The
> "there's a lot of stuff I'd like to do" speech is about an
> episode too long. Also, too many high-school quality poems in too
> close to quick succession, which is enough to push things from setting
> the mood into becoming a distraction.
It didn't bother me, the pathos surrounding Cassie, her performance and
the meditation on free will are a large part of why I love this episode.
[snip]
> This seems like it would have to be one of the earlier uses of
> "Google" as a vernacular verb on TV, given that this was made in
> 2002. Always hip and edgy and stuff, this show, with its finger on the
> pulse on America's young people who happen to be geeks.
2002! Hard to believe its so long ago.
[snip]
> Emma Caulfield does not appear in "Help," as far as I can tell.
> So...
> One-sentence summary: A good story decently presented.
> AOQ rating: Good
Excellent for me.
--
You can't stop the signal
Arbitrar Of Quality
George W Harris wrote:
> You didn't mention it - Cassie = Cassandra, the
> doomed seer of legend.
I'd have mentioned it if it had occurred to me... a nice touch.
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
> You don't seem to much like when they do interwoven vignettes like this.
> Does the device not work for you - or something about the execution? I like
> this one. It's pretty well paced, isn't overbearingly long, and has good
> variety (including a serious one). I like them all, but I guess the girl
> who wanted to know whether she should pound some more on the boy.
> "Insecure? Yeah, everyone says that. You know, I'm really tired of everyone
> being so insecure." Pretty good line.
It's a perfectly acceptable device. Maybe BTVS just doesn't do it
well, I dunno. This one's pretty good by series standards, it's just
that the bit with Amanda doesn't work for me - no particular reason -
and the kid with the soldier brother goes on for quite some time. I
should mention that this serves its role properly from a plotting
standpoint: two of the main goals have to be to introduce relevant and
throwaway characters as part of the same crowd, and to bring gravity to
Cassie's sudden pronouncement after she's previously been just another
face in a montage.
> That was my reaction too. She seems so familiar, but why?
And I haven't seen any of the shows people keep mentioning either.
-AOQ
Apteryx
news:1158198915.6...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
>threads.
>There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
>(I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
Mostly low key humour, but Dawn was certainly the best part of it
>So, Cassie survived the cultists; is there something else the show is
>holding back, a last-minute threat? Hey, arrow!... nice save,
>Buffster. Okay, so maybe she really is going to make it. Then of
>course she quietly drops dead of non-external causes.
So it was written then.
>Emma Caulfield does not appear in "Help," as far as I can tell.
Damn you ME, damn you to hell. How can you have a good episode at this stage
in the series without any Anya in it? The other characters will start taking
themselves seriously. You think Xander can supply all of the necessary
sarcasm required to keep them grounded?
>So...
>One-sentence summary: A good story decently presented.
>AOQ rating: Good
Again, I don't think we are very apart in our rating of a season 7 episode,
but yet again our ratings don't coincide. For me this is a good Decent. The
character of Cassie and what happens to her is one of the easiest things to
remember about season 7, but the detail of the episode is pretty
forgettable - an advantage in some respects, because I can come to this
episode relatively fresh each time I see it, spoiled only as to the fate of
Cassie. It's my 91st favourite BtVS episode (1 place below Reptile Boy),
10th best in season 7.
--
Apteryx
George W Harris
<tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
:> That was my reaction too. She seems so familiar, but why?
:
:And I haven't seen any of the shows people keep mentioning either.
Well, the shows I mentioned were shows that Sarah
Hagan, who played *Amanda* (the face-pounding girl that
looks like Virginia Woolf) was in. Azura Skye (no relation to
Ione Skye) has been in lots of stuff, but I don't remember her
from anything else except the "John Doe" pilot.
:
:-AOQ
Elisi
Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
> (or "History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of
> men")
> Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
> Director: Rick Rosenthal
>
> Just a low-key "let's setting up the plot and making jokes!!"
> start in the funeral home, which is acceptably entertaining.
This scene actually has a few points that you might have missed: First,
they're hiding in *coffins*. Another clue that Buffy has put the
traumas of last year behind her - it's Dawn who freaks. Also, Buffy
says something that's key to understanding how she sees herself and her
role: "Vampire by vampire. It's the only way I know."
The episode as a whole does a lot to establish where Buffy is at, how
she sees herself and her job (slaying, and how her councelling ties in
with that). Last year she was so busy with the mess in her head, that
she didn't have the resources to deal with anything except immediate
threats. Now we see her take on her slaying as an adult, often charging
forward like when she was younger, but finding out that being a grown
up can both be a help and a hindrance. She needs to work out a balance
- she can order a locker search, but talking to Cassie's dad is more
problematic.
> Cassie sees her own death, and both the viewer and Buffy have enough
> experience with Sunnydale to recognize the signs of something that
> should be taken seriously;
> One
> suspects once the show busts out "I need to fix this" that Buffy is
> being set up to fail, but it's still only a suspicion. The moment
> near the end, in which our hero looks like she'll be too far away to
> keep Cassie from getting her throat slashed is a suspense highlight.
> The character herself has a fatalist good will towards her fellow man
> and has come to terms with death
This whole thing ties back to Prophecy Girl. We see in Buffy's "I don't
normally get a head-up before someone dies!" that this really matters -
she can save a life. And she knows what it's like to know you're
destined to die at that age ("Giles I'm 16 years old... I don't want to
die!") and also knows what it's like to be tired of life ("So give me
something to sing about!"). No wonder she fight so hard for Cassie. And
the speech about everything she won't get to do is very similar to
Buffy's in 'Becoming', resigning herself to her fate. Except Buffy's
fate is fighting, whereas Cassie appears to have given up. And if
there's one thing Buffy has learned as a Slayer, it's that you
shouldn't give up. Prophecies are fallible:
Master: You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I
was about to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are
tricky creatures. They don't tell you everything. You're the one that
sets me free! If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. Think about that!
This is why Buffy articulating the (very obvious) point at the end is
important. What if he *can't* help? What does she fight for? What if
you do everything you can and it isn't enough? What then?
Keep that in mind.
> Also, too many high-school quality poems in too
> close to quick succession, which is enough to push things from setting
> the mood into becoming a distraction.
Yes - they do run rather long. Gung fnvq, Pnffvr'f cbrzf ner gurer gb
fcrnx sbe nyy gur lbhat tveyf jub'er tbvat gb qvr nf gur frnfba
cebterffrf, V guvax. Orpnhfr guvf rcvfbqr vf frggvat hc shgher gurzrf
ornhgvshyyl - n lbhat tvey, qrfgvarq gb qvr? Fbhaq snzvyvne? "Qrngu vf
ba lbhe urryf onol, naq fbbare be yngre vg'f tbvat gb pngupu lbh!" Vg'f
nyy nobhg qrngu - lbhat yvirf fahssrq bhg va gurve cevzr, qrngu pybfvat
va nyy gur gvzr. Whfg yvxr jr fnj ng gur ortvaavat bs gur gjb svefg
rcf. Naq Ohssl pna'g uryc...
> Meanwhile, Willow is back to helping out on the computer but not so
> much hanging out in the morgue. I've always liked the Jewish
> stones-on-grave tradition.
That scene is just perfect.
She expresses some continued concern over
> magic just so we know that that this isn't forgotten, but the rest of
> the time she's incorporated into scenes as if life is normal and S6
> never happened. Here the show finds itself in a less than ideal
> position, since any moving on is going to seem like it comes too soon,
> but having her angst about it week after week would be tiresome for the
> audience. I don't know if there's an ideal solution there.
Since she was front and center last week she now takes a back seat,
showing that she is obviously able to function fairly well on a day to
day basis. She might not have been *comepletely* ready to go back, but
Giles wasn't wrong either.
> Spike is only in this one in a peripheral, if still prominent capacity.
> But "help" seems to be the official all-purpose word this year for
> B/S scenes to use in different contexts, replacing "real," and that
> seems likely to continue.
SPIKE
I hurt you, Buffy, and I will pay. I am paying because I hurt the girl.
Spike in a way mirrors Willow here. Like Angel before him, he's almost
dissappeared into the guilt and pain. But the end suggests that he's
able to pull himself out of that mind frame and actually *do* something
- be a force for good, rather than just trying to punish himself.
(Although punching the guy he manged to help *and* self flagellate!
Nice touch)
> At that moment Buffy becomes a
> surrogate for delivering the "moral" of the episode, such that it
> is, instead of, you know, a character. They might as well have added
> "think about it, won't you?"
I spoke about that already. And you should think about it. It seems
like such a simple stand alone, but it ties in with the season inmore
ways than one.
> One-sentence summary: A good story decently presented.
>
> AOQ rating: Good
Yes I have to go with good as well.
Kisses To You
have seen her....most main stream thing was in 28 days with Sandra
Bullock and Alan Tudyk...
:-)
lpad...@voicenet.com
Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
> threads.
>
>
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
> (or "History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of
> men")
> Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
> Mrs. Quality and I spent a good portion of
> the show trying and failing to figure out why we thought we knew the
> actor from somewhere else (we don't). Maybe her delivery just
> reminds me of Darla; that's about the closest I can get to figuring
> this out.
IIRC, the DVD commentary made mention of the fact that they picked
Azura Skye to play Cassie because she looked exactly like Rebecca Rand
Kirshner. I seem to recall the commentators mentioning that they mixed
photos of Azura with photos of Rebecca when she was a teenager, and
nobody could tell which was which. Or something like that anyway.
John Briggs
A nice touch? A nice touch? It's the whole point of the episode! Cassandra
was doomed to foresee the future and not be believed.
--
John Briggs
John Briggs
>
> This whole thing ties back to Prophecy Girl. We see in Buffy's "I
> don't normally get a head-up before someone dies!" that this really
> matters - she can save a life. And she knows what it's like to know
> you're destined to die at that age ("Giles I'm 16 years old... I
> don't want to die!") and also knows what it's like to be tired of
> life ("So give me something to sing about!"). No wonder she fight so
> hard for Cassie. And the speech about everything she won't get to do
> is very similar to Buffy's in 'Becoming', resigning herself to her
> fate. Except Buffy's fate is fighting, whereas Cassie appears to have
> given up. And if there's one thing Buffy has learned as a Slayer,
> it's that you shouldn't give up. Prophecies are fallible:
But it's the writers who have become more fatalistic. The whole point is
that Cassie's prophecies aren't fallible - there is actually nothing that
can be done about them, which Cassie realises, although Buffy doesn't until
afterwards.
This is a completely different approach to that in "Prophecy Girl".
--
John Briggs
John Briggs
> In article <1158198915.6...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>
>> A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
>> threads.
>>
>>
>> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
>> Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
>> (or "History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of
>> men")
>> Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
>> Director: Rick Rosenthal
>>
>> This seems like it would have to be one of the earlier uses of
>> "Google" as a vernacular verb on TV, given that this was made in
>> 2002. Always hip and edgy and stuff, this show, with its finger on
>> the pulse on America's young people who happen to be geeks.
>
> There really was a www.cassienewton.com created by Rebecca, with
> "Cassie's" poems, and drawings and stuff on it. Unfortunately, it no
> longer exists.
Well, it's no longer online, but there's a sub-culture of Cassie fans who
exchange bootleg copies of the website :-)
--
John Briggs
Don Sample
"John Briggs" <john.b...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
Buffy believes Cassie, and acts on her prophecy. It just doesn't work.
Scythe Matters
> The ideas come through
> naturally, without artificially putting a pointed rhetorical question
> in Buffy's mouth like "what do you do when you know that? When you
> know that maybe you can't help?"
Not to take any particular position on the quality of the ending, but
let me suggest an expansion of your thoughts on this idea, which might
help you understand why this line needs to be voiced. Buffy is not
talking to you, or even her friends, here. She's talking to herself. And
it's a good question.
Almost every time there's been a crisis on this show, she's been able to
solve it. Sometimes with assistance, sure, but her personal success rate
has been very, very high...via her power or her will, or a combination
of the two. But the unsolvable exceptions have been some of the most
powerful and transformative moments of her life. For example: her
relationship with Angel, Faith's descent, her mother's decline and
death, and most recently Evil Willow. Some of these were solved by
others (Faith, Willow), and some were solved by the problem going away
(in Joyce's case, even more literally than Angel), but other than the
mid-crisis flailing and the inevitable post-crisis angst this is an
issue that she's never really addressed head-on. And perhaps Cassie is
the catalyst for a long-overdue self-examination on this point. Is there
actually a situation where she herself is truly helpless? (There _was_ a
partial, surface version of this concept -- "Helpless" -- and maybe that
applies here. That episode began the arc that led us to Buffy "firing"
the Council, rejecting untold years of tradition and destiny. A pretty
major event.)
Let me also suggest that you might want to think about this in the
context of some long-standing character traits:
1) In several seasons and for several different reasons, Buffy's
isolationist tendencies have been front and center. There have been some
conclusions and there has been some slippage (as in season six). The
answer has almost always been "but she's got her friends." Here, that
still wasn't enough. So what's the answer, then, if she really _can't_
help? Remember that the show doesn't often pose blatant questions that
it doesn't intend to answer, or at least address or use as plot fodder
with which to torture its characters. It seems likely that Buffy will
attempt to solve this seemingly insoluble problem.
2) Way, way back when I was first responding to your reviews, and you
were constantly fighting the subtext and its duration ;-) , I noted that
there were themes in the very first episode that would not be fully
addressed until the very last episode, and that other themes covered
pretty much every possible timeline in-between. So here's an example.
"One girl in all the world" has been with us since the beginning. This
is, obviously, a major factor in her isolationism, and we've seen this
point amplified in the other Slayers that have appeared onscreen. She's
often defied the singularity with the aforementioned Scoobies' help, but
ultimately, I think she's never really doubted that she _is_ "The One."
If she's "The One," however, then it's always up to her, and ultimately
no one can really help her at the absolute end of things. (Plus, on a
meta-level, the show is about Buffy; a fact that can't be forgotten.)
What makes this relevant is that there are some major parallels to
Cassie here, and Buffy has to feel them. Some of them won't be apparent
to you yet, though they will later in the season. Here's one that should
be: Cassie insisted that no matter what anyone did that might be
temporarily helpful, in the end she was un-helpable, alone with her
burden. And she was right. What do you think Buffy might make of that?
And here's another: remember Buffy's "I'm going to die young" mantra
that drove so much of the early narrative? Cassie says almost exactly
the same thing in their first encounter. That has to be jarring. And
yet...Buffy is alive. Death has been cheated twice. Cassie is dead, for
real. That, too, has to give Buffy pause. We know she's decided that her
renewed purpose among the living is to take care of Dawn, but we've
never really addressed the other part of it: what's her renewed purpose
as the Slayer? Because here, as with Willow last season, being the
Slayer didn't permanently solve or help anything.
These tied themes are reinforced at several points by the episode:
---
XANDER
33 minutes. Since when do we go through all this trouble for one lousy
vampire. Excuse me, one lousy potential vampire.
BUFFY
Vampire by vampire. It's the only way I know how.
---
BUFFY
I should be home in bed, cuddled up to my insomnia, and worrying about
how I'm gonna mess up tomorrow.
---
BUFFY
It's not enough. I need to fix this. I don't usually get a heads up
before somebody dies.
PRINCIPAL
What do you mean usually?
BUFFY
No. No, not since—I mean, I'm sure it's not usual to get a chance to
stop something like—I just I need to do something, OK?
---
3) Following on the "one girl in all the world" theme, there was also a
lot of focus on Buffy's fate in the early seasons. Entire arcs were
constructed to examine her relationship to, and rejection/acceptance of,
that fate. And so, here:
---
WILLOW
Cassie didn't know? Then it was fate?
XANDER
I think she was gonna die, no matter what, wasn't she. Didn't matter
what you did.
BUFFY
She just knew. She was special. I failed her.
---
Despite fate, Buffy still feels like she's failed. How many times has
Buffy tried to change fate, most especially her own? How many times has
she succeeded? The easy response, of course, is "that's why they call it
fate." But what if this show, like so many times before, doesn't go for
the easy answer? Where might that lead our title character?
Malsperanza
Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
> A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
> threads.
>
>
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
> There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
> (I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
> introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
> the doomed purple chick. Mrs. Quality and I spent a good portion of
> the show trying and failing to figure out why we thought we knew the
> actor from somewhere else (we don't).
I had the same reaction, and also have not seen any of the TV shows or
movies mentioned so far. It wasn't just her looks; it was also her
voice and delivery style. Odd.
Also the actor who plays Amanda (the Virginia Woolf lookalike) reminded
me a little of the boy in s1--in one of the first episodes, maybe even
the first one--who turns out to be a redshirt and dies. Narrow face,
kind of a sad sack.
snip
> That being said, I do have a few minor problems with the presentation.
> "Help" is generally good with the atmosphere, but too much of
> Cassie talking in monologues does tend to start to drag. The
> "there's a lot of stuff I'd like to do" speech is about an
> episode too long. Also, too many high-school quality poems in too
> close to quick succession, which is enough to push things from setting
> the mood into becoming a distraction.
I also found this episode more interesting in theory than in the
execution. Part of the problem for me is that no matter how important
it is structurally for the series to return in s7 to the high school
and the Hellmouth (Where It All Began), it all felt rather stale--all
the high-school problems, which had been repeated once, albeit with
greater adulthood, in the college season, are now repeated yet
again--except that Buffy is now in a Giles-like adult pov. Here's where
Dawn might have been a useful character to focus on, had she been more
likeable and interesting.
> Meanwhile, Willow is back to helping out on the computer but not so
> much hanging out in the morgue. I've always liked the Jewish
> stones-on-grave tradition.
A rare reminder that Willow is Jewish.
> She expresses some continued concern over
> magic just so we know that that this isn't forgotten, but the rest of
> the time she's incorporated into scenes as if life is normal and S6
> never happened. Here the show finds itself in a less than ideal
> position, since any moving on is going to seem like it comes too soon,
> but having her angst about it week after week would be tiresome for the
> audience. I don't know if there's an ideal solution there.
This points to a problem I see with many episodes of s7: it often feels
rushed and crammed together, with lots of good ideas brought in, but
not given sufficient time to open up and reveal themselves over time. I
gather this may be due to the midseason announcement by SMG that she
was leaving the show, and the decision by Whedon to wrap it all up and
end the series.
> This seems like it would have to be one of the earlier uses of
> "Google" as a vernacular verb on TV, given that this was made in
> 2002. Always hip and edgy and stuff, this show, with its finger on the
> pulse on America's young people who happen to be geeks.
And therefore now staggeringly dated-sounding. There's something
endearing about all these folks standing around the computer, saying,
"Oh look: there's an Interweb... and we can search it!" Like scifi from
the 1930s that envisions Super!Radio but cannot imagine television.
Hee.
> Buffy's growing obsession with the case leads her to start
> considering conclusions about people that aren't always right, and
> could make her some enemies. One thing I was conscious of during her
> interrogation based on only instinct and less than airtight evidence
> that Coin Guy's involved: if she's wrong about him (regardless of
> whether the danger to Cassie is real), then he'll let others know
> about their little chat, and she's counseled her last troubled teen.
Here is one of those ideas that seems good but too rushed: Buffy as
counselor is not just a pretext for Buffy as Slayer to get back into
her old stomping grounds. There's some kind of deeper connection
between the two roles, but the episode just takes it as read and
doesn't really explore it.
> Spike is only in this one in a peripheral, if still prominent capacity.
A Spikerespite for those who are o.d.ing on Teh Uberblond.
~Mal
Stephen Tempest
>But it's the writers who have become more fatalistic. The whole point is
>that Cassie's prophecies aren't fallible - there is actually nothing that
>can be done about them, which Cassie realises, although Buffy doesn't until
>afterwards.
>
>This is a completely different approach to that in "Prophecy Girl".
Is it? That prophecy came true too... Buffy *did* die, just as
foretold.
Stephen
William George Ferguson
wrote:
>A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
>threads.
>
>
>BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
>Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
>(or "History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of
>men")
>Writer: Rebecca Rand Kirshner
>Director: Rick Rosenthal
Are you saying that helpless people in subway trains scream 'My God' when
Buffy looks in on them?
(although 'Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity' might have been an
even better thematic match)
>Just a low-key "let's setting up the plot and making jokes!!"
>start in the funeral home, which is acceptably entertaining. It also
>has a little moment that stands out for some reason: Xander apologizing
>for taking out his frustrations on everyone else. It's an
>uncharacteristic-for-this-show straightforward apology for the little
>stuff, and the juxtaposition with the context it's in is strangely
>funny.
Plus Dawn, again pointing out that she isn't a 'little' girl. In the
summer between season 6 and season 7, the Academy of Televison Arts &
Sciences (ATAS, the Emmy people) did a Buffy panel, during which
Trachtenburg, asked Whedon, since Buffy and Dawn were working through their
issues at the end of season 6, if Dawn could, well, not whine in season 7.
She also asked if Dawn, now that she was in high school, could wear heels.
Hannigan immediately responded 'C'mon Michelle, you're already the tallest
girl in the cast!"
>There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
>(I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
>introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
>the doomed purple chick. Mrs. Quality and I spent a good portion of
>the show trying and failing to figure out why we thought we knew the
>actor from somewhere else (we don't). Maybe her delivery just
>reminds me of Darla; that's about the closest I can get to figuring
>this out.
I recognized Azura Skye from the WB series Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane (she
played Jane, Selma Blair played Zoe).
I gather she didn't do anything for you, but I really liked Amanda (Sarah
Hagan)."I guess that's another reason Mr. Miller wanted me to see you."
>That being said, I do have a few minor problems with the presentation.
>"Help" is generally good with the atmosphere, but too much of
>Cassie talking in monologues does tend to start to drag. The
>"there's a lot of stuff I'd like to do" speech is about an
>episode too long. Also, too many high-school quality poems in too
>close to quick succession, which is enough to push things from setting
>the mood into becoming a distraction.
As mentioned, the writer, Rececca Rand-Kirshner, actually set up the Cassie
Newton website. All the poetry was there and then some. She even kept on
maintaining it for several episodes, having the late Cassie comment on what
was going on in the show in her blog.
>Spike is only in this one in a peripheral, if still prominent capacity.
> But "help" seems to be the official all-purpose word this year for
>B/S scenes to use in different contexts, replacing "real," and that
>seems likely to continue. His emergence at the end actually does come
>as a bit of a surprise, since it didn't seem like he'd be leaving
>the basement for another couple weeks. Back once again to helping
>Buffy with whatever she's doing as a matter of course, something
>which has stayed oddly constant since S5 despite pretty much every
>possible change in their relationship having been thrown in. This
>episode still won't alter things in itself, but it could become the
>beginning of a turning point for him. "She'll tell you" is one
>of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
>"and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
>full of such things... and of course, it could mean almost anything.
>Not much to say about their first encounter in which he asks for help
>with the quiet, which speaks largely for itself.
And, oh the discussion engendered by her prophecy to Dawn (she won't choose
you).
>This Is Really Stupid But I Laughed Anyway moment(s):
>- "Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join
>chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fanfic. It's all
>normal, right?" [the reactions are classic]
You know this line had to come up on the set of "How I Met Your Mother" (in
which Hannigan co-stars with Neil Patrick Harris).
--
... and my sister is a vampire slayer, her best friend is a witch who
went bonkers and tried to destroy the world, um, I actually used to be
a little ball of energy until about two years ago when some monks
changed the past and made me Buffy's sister and for some reason, a big
klepto. My best friends are Leticia Jones, who moved to San Diego
because this town is evil, and a floppy eared demon named Clem.
(Dawn's fantasy of her intro speech in "Lessons", from the shooting script)
Stephen Tempest
>Meanwhile, Willow is back to helping out on the computer but not so
>much hanging out in the morgue. I've always liked the Jewish
>stones-on-grave tradition. She expresses some continued concern over
>magic just so we know that that this isn't forgotten, but the rest of
>the time she's incorporated into scenes as if life is normal and S6
>never happened. Here the show finds itself in a less than ideal
>position, since any moving on is going to seem like it comes too soon,
>but having her angst about it week after week would be tiresome for the
>audience. I don't know if there's an ideal solution there.
It worked for me, especially since I think you're overstating the
'life is normal' part of it. As her talk with Xander on the way to the
graveyard indicated, she's quietly terrified of her own power and what
she's capable of doing to her friends. She may appear OK on the
surface, but that's not out of character for her.
Buffy, faced with deep emotional trauma, retreats into herself, pulls
up the drawbridge and shuts everyone else out. Xander runs away or
avoids the issue. Willow confronts her pain and tries to do something
about it - be it making cookies for everyone, or resurrecting her best
friend, or blowing up the world. Sure, her reactions may not always be
_wise_, but at least she's always been willing to reach out and engage
with life, not run away from it.
Also, she's just undergone three months of fairly intensive grief and
trauma counselling from people who command powerful magic. Receiving
professional help in working out her emotional problems may actually
be a first for characters on this show...
Still, it's not entirely unlikely that Willow's appearance of calm is
just a facade covering emotions which are still turbulent, and which
may break out again if anything threatens that calm in future
episodes...
>"She'll tell you" is one
>of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
>"and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
>full of such things...
I'd say "she'll tell you" is most clearly a prophecy since it seems to
refer to something specific, whereas "you will [make a difference]" is
practically a platitude when addressed to Buffy.
>Also not much to say about the Blue Cläm Cult; they're meant to be a
>fairly entertaining diversion from the real story that also resonate a
>little in an early-season metaphor kinda way, and they achieve that
>adequately. The irony that the reason our victim is targeted by them
>is because of her fascination with death is also appreciated.
Buffy infiltrating the sacrifice is one of the rare moments when I
stared at the screen in disbelief and said "oh, come _on_". These
aren't anonymous cultists, they're schoolfriends: you'd think they'd
notice something if Bob suddenly seemed to be nine inches shorter and
female inside his robe...
>This Is Really Stupid But I Laughed Anyway moment(s):
>- "Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join
>chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fanfic. It's all
>normal, right?" [the reactions are classic]
I particularly liked Xander immediately jumping to the (perfectly
reasonable) conclusion that any love poems written by teenage Willow
would be about him... and her exasperated yet affectionate put-down
("I'm over you now, sweetie.")
Plus, knowing that Willow posts in chatrooms and writes fanfic makes
me happy. :)
>So, Cassie survived the cultists; is there something else the show is
>holding back, a last-minute threat? Hey, arrow!... nice save,
>Buffster.
Fantastic scene on first viewing, which sadly loses most of its impact
once you know the quarrel's coming.
>AOQ rating: Good
Decent to Good for me. The impression I got is that we've spent three
episodes dealing with the consequences of season 6, and setting up
where our characters are now; and so it's time for a few Monster of
the Week episodes before kicking the main season plot into gear.
(Not saying that's true, just that it was my reaction on first seeing
this episode).
Stephen
Malsperanza
Apteryx wrote:
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1158198915.6...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> >A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
> >threads.
>
>
> >There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
> >(I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
>
> Mostly low key humour, but Dawn was certainly the best part of it
>
>
> >So, Cassie survived the cultists; is there something else the show is
> >holding back, a last-minute threat? Hey, arrow!... nice save,
> >Buffster. Okay, so maybe she really is going to make it. Then of
> >course she quietly drops dead of non-external causes.
>
> So it was written then.
:-)
The question we're left with at the end of the episode is: Is Cassie's
death just one of those things that happens, like Joyce's death, or is
it linked to her prophetic powers and to the Hellmouth? I mean, are her
prophetic powers merely incidental to the Bigger Story (not yet
visible, but gathering like clouds on the horizon), or part of it?
~Mal
Malsperanza
Don Sample wrote:
> In article <1158198915.6...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>
> > A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
> > threads.
> >
> >
> > BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> > Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
> There really was a www.cassienewton.com created by Rebecca, with
> "Cassie's" poems, and drawings and stuff on it. Unfortunately, it no
> longer exists.
I wonder if there is anything to be made of the fact that both Cassie
and William the Bloody are terrible poets. Cassie's bad poetry is
typical of what high-schoolers write (as the show notes); William's is
typical of dilettante Victorians (and also reflects his youth and
naivety). And I also think back to that moment in s1 when Buffy sort of
gets a crush on the odd, shy guy Owen, who has a mysterious love for
Emily Dickenson. Anyone want to propose a thesis about the role of
poetry in BtVS?
~Mal
Rincewind
>>
>>possible change in their relationship having been thrown in. This
>>episode still won't alter things in itself, but it could become the
>>beginning of a turning point for him. "She'll tell you" is one
>>of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
>>"and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
>>full of such things... and of course, it could mean almost anything.
>>Not much to say about their first encounter in which he asks for help
>>with the quiet, which speaks largely for itself.
>
> pubbfr
> lbh).
You are probably thinking of another more spoilery episode...
Rincewind.
--
What I have learned from Buffy:
Hiding out in a school basement will give you a perm.
One Bit Shy
news:7187-450...@storefull-3137.bay.webtv.net...
28 Days is it. (For me anyway) Thank you.
She's very good in that too.
OBS
John Briggs
Well, no - not just as foretold :-)
How about "I know who you are"?
--
John Briggs
John Briggs
> In article <A2dOg.31461$DB3....@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net>,
> "John Briggs" <john.b...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>>> George W Harris wrote:
>>>
>>>> You didn't mention it - Cassie = Cassandra, the
>>>> doomed seer of legend.
>>>
>>> I'd have mentioned it if it had occurred to me... a nice touch.
>>
>> A nice touch? A nice touch? It's the whole point of the episode!
>> Cassandra was doomed to foresee the future and not be believed.
>
> Buffy believes Cassie, and acts on her prophecy. It just doesn't
> work.
She didn't believe her that there was nothing that could be done about it.
Buffy was operating on the "Prophecy Girl" 'prophecies are fallible'
principle.
--
John Briggs
One Bit Shy
news:1a8jg2t45oen2apa6...@4ax.com...
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> writes:
>>"She'll tell you" is one
>>of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
>>"and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
>>full of such things...
>
> I'd say "she'll tell you" is most clearly a prophecy since it seems to
> refer to something specific, whereas "you will [make a difference]" is
> practically a platitude when addressed to Buffy.
Yeah, but it comes in episode that closes with Buffy wondering what she
should do when maybe she can't help. I think that makes it more context
specific than just any old slayer action.
OBS
John Briggs
GILES: Oh, Emily Dickinson.
BUFFY: We're both fans.
GILES: Yes, uh, she's quite a good poet, I mean for a...
BUFFY: A girl?
GILES: For an American.
--
John Briggs
Scythe Matters
Malsperanza
Isn't the line "She'll tell you" line just totally yanking the chain of
Spuffy shippers? It seemed designed to do little more than set the
chatrooms on fire with romantic speculation.
~Mal
Ken from Chicago
"One Bit Shy" <O...@nomail.sorry> wrote in message
news:12gjbhc...@news.supernews.com...
Jung? Ab pbzzrag nobhg Pnyro'f cvybg?
-- Ken from Chicago
Elisi
Also, she's very much staying at home where it's safe... The other
characters all do their sidekicking bit, but Willow's is confined to
the computer. She's there, but she's not as directly involved as the
others. Not out in the field, so to speak.
> >This Is Really Stupid But I Laughed Anyway moment(s):
> >- "Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join
> >chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fanfic. It's all
> >normal, right?" [the reactions are classic]
> Plus, knowing that Willow posts in chatrooms and writes fanfic makes
> me happy. :)
We're all Willow! ;) Whether that makes us normal is something else...
mariposas rand mair fheal greykitten tomys des anges
"Malsperanza" <malsp...@yahoo.com> wrote:
jura ohssl yrnirf fcvxr va gur uryyzbhgu
fur gryyf uvz fur ybirf uvz
meow arf meow - they are performing horrible experiments in space
major grubert is watching you - beware the bakalite
there can only be one or two - the airtight garage has you neo
Malsperanza
mariposas rand mair fheal greykitten tomys des anges wrote:
> In article <1158267593....@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
> "Malsperanza" <malsp...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > One Bit Shy wrote:
> > > "Stephen Tempest" <ste...@stempest.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> > > news:1a8jg2t45oen2apa6...@4ax.com...
> > > > "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> writes:
> > >
> > > >>"She'll tell you" is one
> > > >>of the more clearly-a-prophecy prophecies (although not as much so as
> > > >>"and you will [make a difference]") in a season that's already
> > > >>full of such things...
> > > >
> > > > I'd say "she'll tell you" is most clearly a prophecy since it seems to
> > > > refer to something specific, whereas "you will [make a difference]" is
> > > > practically a platitude when addressed to Buffy.
> > >
> > > Yeah, but it comes in episode that closes with Buffy wondering what she
> > > should do when maybe she can't help. I think that makes it more context
> > > specific than just any old slayer action.
> > >
> > > OBS
> >
> > Isn't the line "She'll tell you" line just totally yanking the chain of
> > Spuffy shippers? It seemed designed to do little more than set the
> > chatrooms on fire with romantic speculation.
>
> jura ohssl yrnirf fcvxr va gur uryyzbhgu
> fur gryyf uvz fur ybirf uvz
Lrf, V qvq svther gung bhg ;-)
V whfg gubhtug gur grnfre bs univat Pnffvr gryy Fcvxr vg jnf pbzvat jnf
n ovg pyhaxl, qrfvtarq gb znxr gur snatveyf fdhrr.
chr...@removethistoreply.gwu.edu
> A reminder: Please avoid spoilers for later episodes in these review
> threads.
>
>
> BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
> Season Seven, Episode 4: "Help"
> men")
I wonder if the writer had another song, "Don't Fear the Reaper," in mind
when she had Buffy mention BCC?
> Just a low-key "let's setting up the plot and making jokes!!"
> start in the funeral home, which is acceptably entertaining. It also
> has a little moment that stands out for some reason: Xander apologizing
> for taking out his frustrations on everyone else. It's an
> uncharacteristic-for-this-show straightforward apology for the little
> stuff, and the juxtaposition with the context it's in is strangely
> funny.
Xander's apology leads into a little talk about Buffy's sources of stress,
which is a bit of a weak point -- they're telling, not showing. I think
this is what made the whole teaser feel slightly flat to me. The idea of
a child lock on a coffin was kind of amusing though. It's impressive that
Buffy is able to hide in a coffin without trauma. IMO it's probably not
because she's entirely over Bargaining, it's because she's so focused on
her mission that she can supress her feelings when necessary.
> There's more humor attempts, with mixed success, in Buffy's office
> (I smiled at Dawn briefly dropping by) before using that to finally
> introduce the main plot at the end of act one, which concerns Cassie,
This whole montage was enjoyable for me. I liked the way Buffy was so
thrilled that a student would confide in her about thinking that he was
gay, and her reaction when she realized what was really up.
> Meanwhile, Willow is back to helping out on the computer but not so
> much hanging out in the morgue. I've always liked the Jewish
> stones-on-grave tradition. She expresses some continued concern over
> magic just so we know that that this isn't forgotten, but the rest of
> the time she's incorporated into scenes as if life is normal and S6
> never happened.
Another scene I really liked. This time the detail I'll call attention to
is the reveal that the park Willow and Xander are walking though is
actually a cemetary. Their whole conversation is good, and the sad
greeting Willow gives to Tara's tombstone gets the idea across a lot
better than any statement to the effect of "I really miss Tara" could.
Here they're showing rather than telling.
> This seems like it would have to be one of the earlier uses of
> "Google" as a vernacular verb on TV, given that this was made in
> 2002. Always hip and edgy and stuff, this show, with its finger on the
> pulse on America's young people who happen to be geeks.
This mostly good scene was dragged down by the medical records. First of
all, no doctor would send a patient's file to a mere high school
community-reacher-out; so if they wanted to show Cassie's medical records
at all, they should have had Willow hack into the doctor's computer or
something. Secondly and more importantly, it makes the Scoobies look
careless, that they had her medical file there but did not read the whole
thing, leaving the audience to wonder if her heart condition was mentioned
in it. If I was a cynic, I might suspect that the scene was written this
way simply so that they could make Xander say "yeast infection"....
Anyway, the rest of the scene was good, with the Doogie Howser fan fic and
Dawn's lapsing into TV cop talk ("We should collar him before he lawyers
up"). Xander picks up on the violent drunk father angle pretty quickly;
he has some experience in that area himself.
> This Is Really Stupid But I Laughed Anyway moment(s):
"You need to show this bully that you're not gonna take any more of his
sh-- guff. Uh, any guff."
Some other things I really liked: Cassie. Her friend Mike, too -- their
interactions felt real, and with just one conversation we get a pretty
good understanding of their whole relationship. Buffy's faux pas about
"the hood," and the nice non-embarrassing way Principal Wood handles it.
Cassie and Dawn's budding friendship. Spike's insane scene, which this
time seems to be more guilt-driven than unnatural-vision-driven. "Sorry,
my office hours are 10 to 4." And more! However, one thing I didn't much
like was the fight with the cultists. Buffy posing as one of them just
wasn't believable, the demon itself had one of the less convincing rubber
suits we've seen, and those flames didn't look real either.
> So, Cassie survived the cultists; is there something else the show is
> holding back, a last-minute threat? Hey, arrow!... nice save,
> Buffster.
It was an incredible save ... and yet in the end, it wasn't enough. Buffy
has really done all she could possibly do, and yet she can't save Cassie.
> Okay, so maybe she really is going to make it. Then of
> course she quietly drops dead of non-external causes. Keeping the
> audience guessing is important, and sometimes that calls for bells and
> whistles and fake-outs. The aftermath is the weakest part of
> "Help," unfortunately, as the show tries too hard to evoke meaning
> and comes off as forced and clunky instead. The ideas come through
> naturally, without artificially putting a pointed rhetorical question
> in Buffy's mouth like "what do you do when you know that? When you
> know that maybe you can't help?"
I would agree that the mourning scene in the living room was a bit too
long and obvious. However, the very last scene, where we just see Buffy
go to work, more than makes up for it. Without a single word spoken, they
answer Buffy's question from the previous scene in a very simple and
surprisingly moving way. It's a *great* example of showing instead of
telling.
> AOQ rating: Good
I like this episode a *lot*, and I wish I could give it an Excellent, but
after watching it again last night its flaws are too clear in my mind.
Parts of it drag, the big fight scene was unsatisfactory, and there's the
whole medical file thing. So, I'll give it a Good.
--Chris
______________________________________________________________________
chrisg [at] gwu.edu On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog.
One Bit Shy
news:1158267593....@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
Oh, she'll tell him what she thinks of his sexy dance alright. Heh.
No, I was defending the you will make a difference one. As for "she'll tell
you," I'm sticking with the notion of messing with the mind of a madman.
OBS
George W Harris
<john.b...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
The prophecy said "she shall not know him", and in
NKABOTFD she and Giles were mistaken about the identity
of the Annoying One.
--
/bud...@nirvana.net/h:k
George W. Harris For actual email address, replace each 'u' with an 'i'
One Bit Shy
news:hM6dndV99LfCWZTY...@comcast.com...
Um, well, no actually. I'd never noticed that connection before, but...
what's there to say about it?
OBS
Don Sample
William George Ferguson <wmgf...@newsguy.com> wrote:
> I gather she didn't do anything for you, but I really liked Amanda (Sarah
> Hagan)."I guess that's another reason Mr. Miller wanted me to see you."
Which brings up the question: Was this the same Mr. Miller who was the
only member of the old Sunnydale High staff (other than Giles) to have
survived making multiple appearances on the show.
Rowan Hawthorn
Jbexrq, gbb, qvqa'g vg?
--
Rowan Hawthorn
"Occasionally, I'm callous and strange." - Willow Rosenberg, "Buffy the
Vampire Slayer"
Arbitrar Of Quality
> Buffy, faced with deep emotional trauma, retreats into herself, pulls
> up the drawbridge and shuts everyone else out. Xander runs away or
> avoids the issue. Willow confronts her pain and tries to do something
> about it - be it making cookies for everyone, or resurrecting her best
> friend, or blowing up the world. Sure, her reactions may not always be
> _wise_, but at least she's always been willing to reach out and engage
> with life, not run away from it.
That's an interesting thought, but where does her period of moping and
refusing to engage with anyone after Oz left her fit in with that?
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
> Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>
> > naturally, without artificially putting a pointed rhetorical question
> > in Buffy's mouth like "what do you do when you know that? When you
> > know that maybe you can't help?"
>
> let me suggest an expansion of your thoughts on this idea, which might
> help you understand why this line needs to be voiced. Buffy is not
> talking to you, or even her friends, here. She's talking to herself. And
> it's a good question.
Sure, especially since there's the possibility to build on it, but it
seems like an verly blunt way to raise it. It's shouting out the last
sentence of a softly-told story. Think about this! Watch Buffy think
about this!
> Almost every time there's been a crisis on this show, she's been able to
> solve it. Sometimes with assistance, sure, but her personal success rate
> has been very, very high...via her power or her will, or a combination
> of the two. But the unsolvable exceptions have been some of the most
> powerful and transformative moments of her life. For example: her
> relationship with Angel, Faith's descent, her mother's decline and
> death, and most recently Evil Willow. Some of these were solved by
> others (Faith, Willow), and some were solved by the problem going away
> (in Joyce's case, even more literally than Angel), but other than the
> mid-crisis flailing and the inevitable post-crisis angst this is an
> issue that she's never really addressed head-on. And perhaps Cassie is
> the catalyst for a long-overdue self-examination on this point.
That's a worthwhile thought. Or maybe even just because it's so
literal - Buffy hasn't always succeeded at everything, but here's a
situation where she explicitly places herself.as Slayer and Protector,
with a task, and it ends up a hopeless cause. Directness tends to make
a bigger impression on her (and most of the cast, and most people).
> 3) Following on the "one girl in all the world" theme, there was also a
> lot of focus on Buffy's fate in the early seasons. Entire arcs were
> constructed to examine her relationship to, and rejection/acceptance of,
> that fate. And so, here:
>
> ---
>
> WILLOW
> Cassie didn't know? Then it was fate?
>
> XANDER
> I think she was gonna die, no matter what, wasn't she. Didn't matter
> what you did.
>
> BUFFY
> She just knew. She was special. I failed her.
>
> ---
>
> Despite fate, Buffy still feels like she's failed. How many times has
> Buffy tried to change fate, most especially her own? How many times has
> she succeeded? The easy response, of course, is "that's why they call it
> fate."
Even the easy response doesn't really work on this show - witness the
discussion upthread about fate in the "Prophecy Girl" sense. In a way
Buffy has the defined job-idenitity that she has to accept, but both
shows often advicse us not to believe everything we're foretold. As
for the question of what the show might do with that, I'm not clear on
where else there is to go. Now it would seem that Buffy's fought fate
and won by ("Prophecy Girl," "The Gift"), lost, and kind lived with it.
What else is there? Time'll tell, I guess.
-AOQ
Mike Zeares
Arbitrar Of Quality wrote:
>
> That being said, I do have a few minor problems with the presentation.
> "Help" is generally good with the atmosphere, but too much of
> Cassie talking in monologues does tend to start to drag. The
> "there's a lot of stuff I'd like to do" speech is about an
> episode too long. Also, too many high-school quality poems in too
> close to quick succession, which is enough to push things from setting
> the mood into becoming a distraction.
This is the main reason I've never liked this episode. However, some
of the discussion has me reevaluating it. The show's backstory is so
rich at this point, the themes so complex, that you could write a
disertation on practically every ep of S7. I think some people have.
I can't remember if you said you paid any attention to the music or
not. Anyway, composer Robert Duncan first did ep 2, and then, starting
with this ep, would do the rest of the series. He's more in the vein
of Christophe Beck than Thomas Wanker was. Not quite as leitmotif-y,
but he did establish a few character-based themes that he would use
throughout the season. Some of the musical highlights of "Help" for me
were the scene with Willow at the cemetery, Buffy and Spike in the
basement, and the final couple of scenes, where the score was barely
there. Duncan is very good at "barely there." He'd go on to do Tru
Calling, Point Pleasant, and The Unit.
-- Mike Zeares
Elisi
John Briggs wrote:
> Elisi wrote:
> >
> > This whole thing ties back to Prophecy Girl. We see in Buffy's "I
> > don't normally get a head-up before someone dies!" that this really
> > matters - she can save a life. And she knows what it's like to know
> > you're destined to die at that age ("Giles I'm 16 years old... I
> > don't want to die!") and also knows what it's like to be tired of
> > life ("So give me something to sing about!"). No wonder she fight so
> > hard for Cassie. And the speech about everything she won't get to do
> > is very similar to Buffy's in 'Becoming', resigning herself to her
> > fate. Except Buffy's fate is fighting, whereas Cassie appears to have
> > given up. And if there's one thing Buffy has learned as a Slayer,
> > it's that you shouldn't give up. Prophecies are fallible:
>
> But it's the writers who have become more fatalistic. The whole point is
> that Cassie's prophecies aren't fallible - there is actually nothing that
> can be done about them, which Cassie realises, although Buffy doesn't until
> afterwards.
>
> This is a completely different approach to that in "Prophecy Girl".
> John Briggs
*Ohssl* orpbzrf zber naq zber sngnyvfgvp nf gur frnfba tbrf ba, juvpu
vfa'g fhecevfvat nf fur'f svtugvat fbzrguvat gung pna'g or sbhtug, naq
unf na nezl fur pna'g ubcr gb gnxr ba. Fur'f nyjnlf ershfrq gb cynl ol
gur ehyrf (juvpu unf yrq gb ure znal ivpgbevrf), ohg Gur Svefg vf fb
jnl nurnq bs ure nyy gur gvzr gung fur nyzbfg qrfcnvef. Bs pbhefr gung
gura yrnqf gb gur gheanebhaq ng gur irel raq, jurer fur oernxf gur
ragver ehyr obbx.
Guvf rc vf whfg gur ortvaavat bs gung nepu. Cebcurpl Tvey jnf gur raq
bs gur F1 nepu.
Stephen Tempest
I don't remember that one. <g>. She mopes and acts miserable, yes, but
she doesn't refuse to engage with anyone. Quite the opposite - she
throws herself into things even though her heart clearly isn't in it.
In 'The Initiative', she lets Buffy take her to a party. She acts as
Riley's co-conspirator and seems to get quite enthusiastic about
matchmaking between him and Buffy. In the next episode, she's really
getting into investigating the MOTW. In 'Something Blue', she's
partying at the Bronze (and getting drunk) and gate-crashing B&R's
cosy picnic before trying to use magic to fix things. She's doing her
best to act normal, even when she isn't.
Let's give the final word to Spike:
GILES: Willow may have had a helpful idea. She seems to be coping
better with Oz' departure, don't you think?
BUFFY: She's still got a way to go, but yeah - I think she's dealing.
SPIKE: What are you people, blind? She's hanging on by a thread. Any
ninny can see that.
I think the same could apply here in season 7...
Stephen
Stephen Tempest
>Emma Caulfield does not appear in "Help," as far as I can tell.
But you've reminded me of something that does:
This is one of only two episodes in the entire series (the other being
'Anne') that the words "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are spoken
on-screen.
Yes I know, possibly the most pointless bit of trivia you've read all
day. But it might be helpful next time you're at a pub quiz night, or
something...
Stephen
Scythe Matters
> Sure, especially since there's the possibility to build on it, but it
> seems like an verly blunt way to raise it. It's shouting out the last
> sentence of a softly-told story. Think about this! Watch Buffy think
> about this!
There's really no good alternative spot to end that scene. Eliminating
the scene and skipping right to Buffy's return to work de-emphasizes the
point that the writer clearly wants to emphasize. And there's no line on
which the scene can end that doesn't fail in the same way. I'm certainly
open to the notion that it's a particularly bald way to say ("hey, this
is something we're focusing on"), and that maybe a softer way could have
been found, but it still needs to be said. It's not at all clear from
what's preceded "So what then? What do you do when you know that? When
you know that maybe you can't help?" that Buffy feels anything other
than the despair everyone else seems to be voicing. The key to the
scene, and why some version of this final thought has to be there, is
that she's not exactly on the same page as the others. She's upset, yes,
but she's still searching for the "out." A way to contradict fate.
This isn't at all obvious from a surface viewing, but the final scene
(Buffy returns to work) is transformed by this thought. On the surface,
it's the obvious meaning...which was voiced over on the other series, in
"Epiphany":
---
Angel: "In the greater scheme or the big picture, nothing we do
matters. There's no grand plan, no big win."
Kate: "You seem kind of chipper about that."
Angel: "Well, I guess I kinda worked it out. If there is no great
glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that
matters is what we do. 'cause that's all there is. What we do, now,
today. I fought for so long. For redemption, for a reward, finally just
to beat the other guy, but...I never got it."
Kate: "And now you do?"
Angel: "Not all of it. All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because I
don't think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there is no
bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing
in the world."
---
Viewed in the context of the series, Buffy's character traits and this
notion of fate/destiny that's been so important to her, this scene
changes. It's an exact parallel to her job description earlier in the
episode:
---
BUFFY
Vampire by vampire. It's the only way I know how.
---
What the episode suggests, and the previous scene makes explicit, is
that maybe this -- the non-solution -- isn't all there is. Maybe there's
something more fundamental that could be addressed.
> That's a worthwhile thought. Or maybe even just because it's so
> literal - Buffy hasn't always succeeded at everything, but here's a
> situation where she explicitly places herself.as Slayer and Protector,
> with a task, and it ends up a hopeless cause. Directness tends to make
> a bigger impression on her (and most of the cast, and most people).
Yes, though I do think the recent stuff with Willow helps emphasize the
point. There too, all her powers and all her will couldn't help, stop,
or even really slow down the problem. In fact, there didn't appear to be
any way that Willow could be stopped through the exercise of power or
strategy. She was stopped a different way. And there's something -- a
faint parallel -- in the way that she _was_ stopped (by Giles & Xander,
really) that should eventually resonate with Buffy in her quest to solve
this seemingly insoluble issue.
> Even the easy response doesn't really work on this show - witness the
> discussion upthread about fate in the "Prophecy Girl" sense.
_Angel_ will, eventually, exhaust you on the subject of fate and
prophecy, and that's even above and beyond what you've already seen. ;-)
But while you've still got that to look forward to...
_Buffy_ (the show, not the blonde) doesn't deal a whole lot with the
"bigger" prophecies. Those that it employs are mostly confined and
situational, solved within one or a few episodes. When problems arise,
they're usually due to an incomplete reading or an outright misreading.
And those errors are what often point the way to the solution, as well,
though sometimes that's more clear to the viewer than it is to the
characters.
But there's one really big issue of prophecy/fate that's been hanging
over the series since the very first episode. It was verbally and
dramatically addressed a lot in the first season, dramatically (via arcs
and subtext) in the second and third seasons, almost ignored in the
fourth (with three key exceptions: "The I In Team," "Primeval," and
"Restless"...the latter of which certainly applies this season), and was
the big off-screen seasonal theme in the fifth...brought up in "Buffy
vs. Dracula" (which also applies to this season) and then only about 25%
(thus, unsatisfactorily) paid off in "Intervention" and "The Gift." It
didn't even really come up in the sixth as the show worked with even
more fundamental issues like "a reason to live" and identity. It's
_that_ fate that this episode, even as obvious as the scene in question
seems to make it, gently nudges Buffy...and thus, us...into examining.
> In a way
> Buffy has the defined job-idenitity that she has to accept, but both
> shows often advicse us not to believe everything we're foretold. As
> for the question of what the show might do with that, I'm not clear on
> where else there is to go.
On this, I guess I can't really say much more until you've seen the rest
of the season. But again, think about the themes: the one expressed
here, the one expressed in "Lessons," and the fundamental identity
issues expressed in "BvsD," "Restless," and the entire first season.
> Now it would seem that Buffy's fought fate
> and won by ("Prophecy Girl," "The Gift"), lost, and kind lived with it.
> What else is there?
I actually don't agree that she "won" in either case, but that's a
longer discussion that I don't much want to get into; I think the first
is a case of incomplete prophecy, the second wasn't really involved with
fate, but more by "gaming" the system twice -- Buffy subbing for Dawn,
then Willow bringing her back to life.
So from my perspective, she's lost, and she's lived with it, and those
have been her only two options thus far. This episode suggests that she
_can't_ actually win. But there is another choice.
chr...@removethistoreply.gwu.edu
>> > Isn't the line "She'll tell you" line just totally yanking the chain of
>> > Spuffy shippers? It seemed designed to do little more than set the
>> > chatrooms on fire with romantic speculation.
>>
>> jura ohssl yrnirf fcvxr va gur uryyzbhgu
>> fur gryyf uvz fur ybirf uvz
>
>
> Lrf, V qvq svther gung bhg ;-)
>
> V whfg gubhtug gur grnfre bs univat Pnffvr gryy Fcvxr vg jnf pbzvat jnf
> n ovg pyhaxl, qrfvtarq gb znxr gur snatveyf fdhrr.
Naq fdhrr gurl qvq, juvpu jnf xvaq bs fhecevfvat -- qvqa'g gurl erzrzore
ubj jryy cebcurpvrf hfhnyyl ghea bhg?
Elisi
You're good!
Having pondered this all day I think I've pinpointed why this is such
a big thing for Buffy. It seems an odd, obvious sort of ending, because
if there's anything that Buffy knows it's that you win some and you
lose some:
She could lose every night fighting random vampires (and came very
close in FFL) - she slipped up. She's only human after all, and she
makes mistakes.
And sometimes she makes the wrong call - like being fooled by
Angelus' ruse in 'Becoming I' which led to Kendra's death and
Giles' capture and torture. Or - even more poignant - if she'd come
home half an hour earlier she *might* have been able to save her
mother. Perhaps.
She knows this, and lives with this every day. She screws up, people
die - and she's learnt to live with that, because she has to.
But Cassie is different, because Buffy did _everything_ right. She
unravelled the plot, killed the demon, caught the arrow. Buffy (with
the help of Xander, Willow, Principal Wood, Dawn and Spike of course)
did her best - and it wasn't enough. _That_, I think, is what's
eating her at the end. How can you fight something when you lose even
when you do your very, very best?
And yes there's a good bit of 'Epiphany' in the end, although it
was formulated first in 'Gingerbread':
ANGEL: Buffy, you know I'm still working things out; there's a lot I
don't understand. But I know it's important to keep fighting and I
learned that from you.
BUFFY: But we never --
ANGEL: We never win.
BUFFY: Not completely.
ANGEL: We never will. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there's
things worth fighting for.
I think the problem with Cassie is, that maybe Buffy wondered if she
_was_ worth fighting for...
BUFFY: See? You can make a difference.
CASSIE: And you will.
And then she falls down dead, as if to prove that she was wrong. ("What
do you do when you know maybe you can't help?")
In the last shot, Buffy keeps working - because you have to keep
fighting, she knows that - but we see her through the glass, not from
inside the office. A wall has gone up.
(Sorry if this is all rather brief and not well articulated. My
internet is *very* wonky, and if I have 5 minutes I'm lucky!)
One Bit Shy
news:1158349734....@d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> But Cassie is different, because Buffy did _everything_ right. She
> unravelled the plot, killed the demon, caught the arrow. Buffy (with
> the help of Xander, Willow, Principal Wood, Dawn and Spike of course)
> did her best - and it wasn't enough. _That_, I think, is what's
> eating her at the end. How can you fight something when you lose even
> when you do your very, very best?
I don't have time for the attention this deserves, but one thing I wanted to
put on the table conveniently fits with your description - which just
happens to be a pretty good description of the final battle in The Gift -
although the Gift is on a much grander scale with far more dire
consequences.
One thing I disagree with Scythe just a teeny bit on is that I think Buffy
*has* wrestled with the question of the unsolvable problem, the hopeless
cause, what do you do when you've done it all. That's a big part of what S5
was about. Failing to solve the unsolvable initially sent Buffy catatonic.
But she came back and wrestled with it one more time, believing she answered
it with the pure, ultimate slayer solution. When the slayer has done all
she can, then she must meet her destiny. Buffy, being Buffy, made that a
spectacular destiny. Back in Prophecy Girl, Buffy accepted her destiny as
necessary so that she could embrace being the slayer. In The Gift she took
it one step further so as to embrace that destiny as the greatest expression
of a slayer.
And in so doing achieved a kind of slayer sainthood. The best a slayer
could be. What more could there be than that?
Yet fate would not let that rest. For some reason there's more. Evidently
the ultimate slayer solution isn't the answer.
S6 mostly sidesteps that. Too consumed just dealing with being alive. The
season ends with the same unanswered question it began with. Why is Buffy
here? (Taking care of Dawn is a worthy thing to do while she's here, but
surely that can't be why.)
Personally, I would rephrase Scythe's question a little - at least for where
we are. Why would she question the unsolvable now? Doesn't she already
know the answer? Hasn't she already faced that and found the answer - twice
no less. (Including Prophecy Girl.) To me it seems that it must be the
nagging question of why she's still here. Something telling her that she
got it wrong in The Gift, even though it felt right.
OBS
Scythe Matters
> And yes there's a good bit of 'Epiphany' in the end, although it
> was formulated first in 'Gingerbread':
Naq boivbhfyl n ybg gung ur'f lrg gb frr sebz Natry'f svany frnfba. Vg'f
uneq abg gb oevat gung va, gubhtu bs pbhefr vg jbhyq fgvyy or vzcbffvoyr
vs ur jnf pb-jngpuvat.
Scythe Matters
> One thing I disagree with Scythe just a teeny bit on is that I think Buffy
> *has* wrestled with the question of the unsolvable problem, the hopeless
> cause, what do you do when you've done it all. That's a big part of what S5
> was about. Failing to solve the unsolvable initially sent Buffy catatonic.
> But she came back and wrestled with it one more time, believing she answered
> it with the pure, ultimate slayer solution. When the slayer has done all
> she can, then she must meet her destiny. Buffy, being Buffy, made that a
> spectacular destiny. Back in Prophecy Girl, Buffy accepted her destiny as
> necessary so that she could embrace being the slayer. In The Gift she took
> it one step further so as to embrace that destiny as the greatest expression
> of a slayer.
>
> And in so doing achieved a kind of slayer sainthood. The best a slayer
> could be. What more could there be than that?
It very much depends on how you characterize her decision, though. Was
it the ultimate noble sacrifice, or was it "I can't take this anymore"
suicide? I'm of the camp that thinks it was both, and thus I believe
that, in large part, she _didn't_ consider all the possibilities of the
no-win scenario. At least in part, she simply gave up. That happened to
be a way to solve the problem, but what if it wasn't?
Too, there's this: it wasn't actually a no-win scenario for more than a
few minutes, at most. God or not, they did defeat and kill Glory. It
only became a no-win situation through the unpredictable appearance of
Doc. He doesn't appear, or Spike holds him off, or Buffy gets up there a
minute earlier, and it's a (relatively) clean win for our gang. The
catatonia that preceded it may have been from the fear that the problem
was insoluble (and, obviously, other reasons), but as we saw in "The
Gift," the fear was unfounded. The problem was solved. They beat the Big
Bad. Dawn was spared.
> Personally, I would rephrase Scythe's question a little - at least for where
> we are. Why would she question the unsolvable now? Doesn't she already
> know the answer? Hasn't she already faced that and found the answer - twice
> no less. (Including Prophecy Girl.) To me it seems that it must be the
> nagging question of why she's still here. Something telling her that she
> got it wrong in The Gift, even though it felt right.
I'd say that it was the same answer twice: she went off to sacrifice
herself. Both times, she was (literally) brought back. So you're right
that it should suggest to her that maybe it's not the path she's meant
to follow. But I think the fundamental question is still the same: if
you can't beat destiny or fate "vampire by vampire, the only way I know
how," and you can't beat it by dying (or trying to), then what's left?
She's considering that now, and Willow, then (more so) Cassie, are the
catalysts.
Manfred Noland
Help; not just anybody.
Help, you know I need someone.
Help.