BtVS Rewatch, 2.13 to 2.18

[dragonyphoenix]

Surprise

• I can't resist:
  
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• The plate smashes to pieces. Wow, and that's a subtle image for Buffy losing her virginity. Not really.


• Oh, come on. Buffy and Angel are kissing again? I'm looking forward to Angelus just so we can, finally, have less kissing.
  
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• Willow's advice to Buffy who's working out where to set, or not, boundaries on her intimacy with Angel: Carpe diem. You told me that once. Riiiight, because that didn't almost get you eaten by a vampire.


• On Willow and Oz talking about dating, Willow has the cutest smile.


• Isn't it weird, seeing Giles and he's not freaking out about Angel? I mean, yeah, I get that this is pre-torture, but I'm just so used to him being post-torture that it's odd seeming him this early in the series, being all approval-guy about Angel.


• Poster in Jenny's classroom: Have brain today? Apparently this has nothing to do with zombies.


• At Buffy's birthday party. Buffy: You guys did all this for me. (turns to Angel) That is so sweet. And another case of giving credit where credit totally isn't due.


• Drusilla threatens to poke out the eyes of her minion and then sends him off to bring back the last of the Judge. Did you ever think that being a vampire minion is a lot like working for a large corporation? It sucks, you know it sucks, and yet you never leave.


• Angel gives Buffy the ring. More kissing. Sigh. But at least he's not being smug and superior.


• So Angel is ready to leave town to save the world but Buffy gets tossed into the water and he jumps in after, thereby letting the Judge's arm be taken away by the minions. (And, okay, good for the minion who gets to keep his eyes.) Why it's almost as if Angel has never heard of swimming.


• Judge: My full strength will return in time. Until then … I need contact. Peter Gabriel: I need contact.
  
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• Buffy and Angel flee Drusilla's party and hide out at … Angel's? Sure, because Dru's minions will never think to look for you there. Luckily the Judge killed the only minion with half a brain.


• And does it seem like the smarter a vampire is the more human it is? The Judge on Spike and Dru: You two stink of humanity. You share affection and jealousy. And the Judge on killing Dalton: This one is full of feeling. He reads. Bring him to me.

Innocence:

• The woman inhales on her cigarette. Angelus drinks her blood. He exhales the smoke. This scene used to drive me nuts. It totally doesn't work on a physical level, but on a symbolic level, it's brilliant. Smoke represents the soul – more on that in a bit – so Angelus exhaling the smoke symbolizes not only his removing the woman's soul by killing her but also the loss of Angel's soul. I'm astounded on how awesome a symbol this is.
  
  
  • So, smoke representing the soul. I've been reading Edinger's The Mystery of the Coniunctio: “a tiny figure is ascending from the body into a cloud that has appeared above the tomb. This is a representation of the age-old image of the soul separating from the body at the moment of death. You find this picture very graphically in some of the old texts—in Homer for instance. As the individual died, onlookers thought they saw a little smoke-like wraith leave the mouth of the dying body and ascend. And that was understood as the soul departing from the body at the moment of death.”
  
  


• The Judge speaking of Angelus: There's no humanity in him. That whole theory that smarter vampires are more human? Nix it. Angelus may be many annoying things, but he's no dummy.


• Buffy meeting Angel back in his room. Ouch! I hate that scene.


• On Enyos' vengeance speech: “He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself.” Since vengeance gets Enoys killed, it seemed appropriate.


• Enyos: Yes. It is not justice we serve. It is vengeance. Based on this quote, your vengeance is serving justice: “Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.” - Samuel Johnson

Phases

• Willow: I mean what am I supposed to think? … And you put the tag back in my shirt. In one of the Mrs. Bradley mysteries, she realizes two people are having an affair when the woman I think brushes lint off of the man's jacket. It's intimate and wouldn't be done if the couple weren't, well, already intimate.


• Giles: Yes, I must admit I, I am intrigued. Werewolves, it's … it's one of the classics. I, I'm sure my books and I are in for a fascinating afternoon. I know this goes without saying, but Giles is so cute.


• After the werewolf attack at the Bronze, and I mean immediately afterwards, people are cleaning up like, “Oh, yeah, this kind of stuff happens all the time. No big.”


• This also goes without saying but Oz' reaction to waking nude in the woods. Awesome.


• And I got nervous as Willow was climbing the fence, afraid the werewolf would get her, even though I knew it wouldn't. Good job with that.


• Willow shot Oz. Of course it would have to be Willow who shot Oz. Should have seen that coming.


• Oz: I spoke to Giles. He said I'll be okay. I just have to lock myself up around the full moon. Only he used more words than that. And a globe. Ah, Giles and his globe.


• So Oz' cousin was not a werewolf when he bit Oz but Oz still became a werewolf. So if Willow had some sort of cut or scratch in her mouth and she and Oz kissed, could she become a werewolf? Honestly, I wonder about this each time I rewatch.

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered

• So I'm driving with the radio on and there's a song and I hear the word “bewitched” and I immediately think of this episode, possibly because it's not that common a word. Then I hear “bothered” and of course after that I'm waiting for “bewildered.” ;-)
  
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• Because of the Angelus badness, Giles wants Buffy off the streets for a few nights. Giles: I'll patrol. Right, because Angel wasn't going to kill all her friends first anyway.


• Angelus: I knew you'd like it. (inhales the aroma) I found it in a quaint little shopgirl. How gay - dorky gay - does Angel look there? Note: read down to the comment.


• I'm sort of wondering, outside of Devon and Oz are the members of the Dingoes consistent or are they just whomever was around during that episode?


• Amy: Diana … goddess of love and the hunt. Yeah, let's just say that the virgin goddess is the goddess of love. That'll work. Sigh.


• Amy hitting on Xander. Have I said how much I adore this episode?


• When Amy calls on Hecate and Xander says “Uh-oh”. I like the “uh-oh.”


• So the ordeals the Buffy rat faces are a cat that hisses and then runs away and a trap with cheese. I'm not really worried about the Buffy rat.


• Oh, look at the parallels which I'm noticing now for the first time. Xander saves Cordelia in the school and she saves him outside of Buffy's house.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think Oz's aunt told him that Jordy was a werewolf. Here's the dialogue I got from the transcript:

Oz: Aunt Maureen. Hey, it's me. Um, what? Oh! It's, uh... actually it's
healing okay. That's pretty much the reason I called. Um, I wanted to
ask you something. Is Jordy a werewolf? Uh-huh. And how long has that
been going on? Uh-huh. What? No, no reason. Um... Thanks. Yeah, love to
Uncle Ken.

Other than that, LOVE your take on everything (even if we do disagree about Angel). You're so pithy and it's super fab!


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, no. What I meant was that Jordy wasn't in werewolf form when he bit Oz. If Oz had been bitten by a really shaggy werewolfy-looking cousin, he wouldn't have had to call and ask.

Super fab. Excellent. ;-)

[double_dutchess]

Sharp observations! Do you think Angelus is smarter than Angel? Because the hiding out at Angel's certainly wasn't very smart.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Well, Angelus has that whole not killing the Slayer thing going on, which wasn't too smart.

You know, I'm thinking most vampires are rather dumb. I mean, the Master in wish!verse wanted to drain everyone of their blood which means no more humans to drink blood from. And any kind of apocalypse that joins this world with a hell dimension brings in demons that thinks vampires are the low end of the hierarchy. I'm thinking vampires are short-sighted more than smart or dumb. They might be intelligent but their short term view makes them do dumb things.

[double_dutchess]

I agree; they tend to be led more by their urges than by rational thinking. It is kind of weird though -- you'd expect immortal creatures to have more long-term vision.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I once read the idea that vampires, especially Joss', are stuck with the issues they had when they died, that they can't actually mature past whom they were when they died. So immortal but with all the maturity of the age they died at.

Ugh, that would be awful!

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I love your take on things, especially the smoke being symbolic for her soul and his soul.

Nice catch on Jenny's poster. I find that phrase funny for some reason.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the soul idea came about because it just drove me NUTS that Angelus blew that smoke out. So I was thinking about it a lot.

Since I'm doing these write-ups, I'm noticing things I've never seen before. ;-)

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

*waves back*

Nice to know I'm not the only one who wondered how the werewolf transfer works. ;-)

I hadn't actually thought about it, but they are a very cute couple. I got into Spander early on and have never given much thought to him in other relationships. But, yeah, he and Cordy does work.