BtVS Rewatch, 3.9 to 3.11

[dragonyphoenix]

Apologizes to Gabrielle and all the other Angel fans. I couldn't help ragging on his hair when I saw him with the mustache and sideburns.

The Wish (3.9)

• Who else is cringing when Cordelia emerges in all that leather? As she herself would say, overcompensating much?


• I'd started watching to see if Buffy was self-centered or not since that seems to be a thing in my corner of fandom and I wanted to see if it was canon or not. Since this episode is mostly in Wish!verse, I sort of forgot about it after we switched universes but I do have a few thoughts:
  
  
  • As Willow is basically stalking Oz, waiting for him to show up at his locker, Buffy asks about Oz and Xander. That doesn't sound like much now that I'm writing it up, but it seemed worth commenting on when I was watching the episode.
  
  
  • Buffy's also worried that Faith is isolating herself from the group. So she's definitely noticing and thinking about other people.
  
  


• Cordelia has an Asian friend. Oh, look, diversity, I'd been wondering where you were.


• Vamp!Xander describes Cordelia as an old crush. I thought Jesse had the crush on Cordy or was Xander backing off so as not to interfere with his best friend's game?


• How has Wishverse!Giles survived all this time in a library that the vampires can just walk into? It looks like the schoolkids guard the library entrances at night? Why wouldn't they have just moved their meeting place?


• Giles: “Could you take her to the incinerator?” Yeah, I guess if you live in Wish!Verse, corpses should be torched as quickly as possible.


• Giles: “Well, it happens, you know, that, that Sunnydale is on a Hellouth. (listens). It, it is so!” This is just like me talking to my Dad. He's going to believe whatever he wants to believe and nothing I say is going to change his mind. *sigh*


• Given that her Watcher said he might not be able to even contact of Buffy, she sure got to Sunnydale quickly.


• I've got to give on thing to Wish!verse Buffy. She figured out that Angel is a vamp much more quickly than regular Buffy did.


• Master: “Hunt and kill, hunt and kill. Titillating? Yes. Practical? Hardly.” Now come on, what do vampires have to do outside of hunt and kill? Remember Willow during the day when she couldn't hunt? ”Bored now.”


• I was watching this episode at Mom's once. This was before I really got into the series. I'd seen a few repeats on tv but that was it. She asked what the vampires were going to do for food once they'd drained all the humans and then used up all the blood. I had no idea what to tell her. Come to think of it, I still don't.


• Giles: “Because it has to be.” And a Wish!verse video, Brave New World by Kaydeefalls. From her notes on the vid: the Wishverse is pretty horrifying to begin with, but the really scary part to me is that question asked: "How do you know the other world is any better than this?" And is it really? Is Giles's leap of faith justified?

Amends (3.10)

• So these scenes of Angelus' past are to show how terrifying a vampire he was? Because I'm mostly getting a meh on the evil meter. The bit with him displaying the guy's daughters as if they were only sleeping works but the rest of it? Not so much.


• And Angel with those sideburns and mustache. Follow this link for an image if you need a refresher or to see awesome images of Gomez Addams and Harry Mudd. It's a big mustache fest on the other side of the link. Ooh, and also Martin Landau, Juliete Landau's dad, is also there.


• And while we're here, how about a quick trip on the very bad hairstyles of Angel train? Okay, 70s Angel isn't, as far as I know, actually Angel but the haircut is worth a stop. And puppet!Angel's hair is probably the best Angel hair we get. And then there's his regular spikey hair. *shakes head*


• How many canon verses are there in BtVS? 1) the normal BtVS verse 2) Wish!verse 3) the normal verse with Dawn in it before she shows up in season 5. I know we don't see it, but I still think it's canon. 4) Jonathan's verse. Did I miss any?


• So I wrote this note: I'm dreaming of a 70 Xmas. There's a little degree sign after the 70 but it's small so I didn't actually register it on the rewrite and I've been wondering what my “I'm dreaming of a 70s Christmas” was supposed to reference. I mean, obviously, the white Christmas song, but I wasn't sure where 70s came from if not from that image of Angel in the bad jacket and long hair.


• Buffy: “I like the lights.” I tried to put up Halloween lights, little jack o' lantern lights. If I plug the cord in, they mostly just rise up from the plug. I need to find an extension cord.


• If I were Giles, I wouldn't invite Angel into my home no matter how many crossbows there were pointed at him.


• Go, Willow, rocking the Barry White!


• Oz: You ever have that dream where you're in a play, and it's the middle of the play and you really don't know your lines, and you kinda don't know the plot?” I saw this play. No, really. One of the characters didn't know what play it was. He also wasn't sure he was an actor. “I think I'm an accountant.” It was quite funny. He said it in a funny, nerdish voice.


• What gifts did Faith bring for Joyce and Buffy? I wrote a story.
  Buffy: “I know everything that you did, because you did it to me.” Uh, no, not by a long shot. It's pretty crappy.


• Buffy: “Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day.” Can't argue with that.


• Meanwhile, down in Sunnydale proper, there's a completely unrelated to Angel reason that it's begun to snow. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write this fanfic.


• And more on the snow … When did BtVS turn into an ION Christmas special?
  
  Watch on YouTube
  
  And why, why, why do I watch these shows? I mean obsessively watch? I can sit down and, whoosh, six hours spent on crappy Christmas specials.

Gingerbread (3.11)

• Joyce saw Buffy slaying when they had that zombie infestation in the house. Her best friend – granted annoying – became a demon and was killed? Why would Joyce want more?


• Xander: “So, a burrito.” Oz: “This is a burrito.” Xander: “Damn straight.” I get this is showing Xander is nervous around Oz, but, small talk. I just don't get it. In general, I mean, not just here.


• Joyce: “silence is this town's disease.” Yeah, silence is very often not of the good. It's too easy for it to turn into denial.


• The cops opening the lockers. Sunnydale as a police state reminds me of this: Support your local police for a more efficient police state.


• Bunny Summers? Who has this obsession with bunnies anyway?


• Joyce: “But is Sunnydale getting any better? Are they running out of vampires? And I'm pretty sure “The Wish” was two episodes before this so we'd know the answer to that question.


• MOO. Did you ever go on road trips, see cows through the windows, and call out “Moooo”? Good times.


• MOO. It sort of makes sense. Mothers give milk, either their own or from cows, to kids.


• Angel: We never win. … We never will. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there's things worth fighting for.” and Delenn from B5: ”The war is never completely won. There are always new battles to be fought against the darkness.


• And I love that Giles calls the PC a fad.


• Sheila: “Now all I can do is let you go with love. Okay, so Willow's locked in her room, her room that's on the first floor of the house and has huge doors, ones that Angel walked into when he wanted info on Ford. Am I right or am I misremembering? Granted, Willow doesn't have enough reason to run yet, but locking that one door doesn't really trap her in the house.


• Giles: “turn peaceful communities into vigilantes.” This reminds me of The Night of the Hunter where the townfolk, feeling betrayed by the evil preacher man, go all lynch mob on him. This isn't that scene but the image of the evil preacher and the godly woman singing the same song is one of my favorite images from the film:
  
  Watch on YouTube


• How many of Giles' books, tomes he needs to fight demons, were destroyed in that fire?


• Joyce: “Good morning, sleepyhead.” as Buffy wakes up tied to a stake. Okay, that's just creepy.


• So they set up the fire inside City Hall? Inside? Okay, first, major fire hazard. Second, wouldn't the automatic extinguishers come on? Or were they smart enough to turn them off?


• Giles: “crush the satyrion root.” Huh, satyrion is a real thing. Given the name, related to satyr, I figured someone had made it up.


• Willow: “Goddess of creatures great and small”. Remember All Creatures Great and Small?
  
  Watch on YouTube
  
  I think the actor playing Tristan played Dr. Who, well one of them.


• So rat!Amy ran off, presumably out of the room. How do they know they have the right rat in that cage?

Comments

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I'd started watching to see if Buffy was self-centered or not since that seems to be a thing in my corner of fandom

Any more so than any normal teenager (much less one who has been told she is THE chosen one and has the weight of the world on her every day?) Any more so than Xander, Willow, or any other character on the show?

This is the girl who sought out Willow in episode 1 and befriended her and Xander when it would have been easier to try to blend in with Cordy's group and preserve (repair) her social status. The girl who tried to talk to Cordy in the Wish and tried to get through to Faith when it would have been easier to throw her under a bus from the get-go. Who helped Lily when she wanted nothing more than to disassociate herself from slaying. Who was determined that her classmates would get their senior prom.

Like a lot of things in fanon, I think that's often (more than) a bit overstated.

Sorry (not sorry) for the rant. :P

Night of the Hunter reference FTW! I love that movie.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I sort of spaced on the is Buffy selfish search because the Wish!verse Buffy is so different and so isolated it didn't make sense to pay attention to it for her. But, yeah, the small bit I did think to notice doesn't equal a selfish Buffy.

I was introduced to Night of the Hunter by some sort of "most evil villains" article. I'm really glad I followed that link because it is an excellent movie.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Even I must concede that Angel has quite a history of bad hair.

Also, I've wondered about the rat many times myself. Perhaps Willow turning the wrong rat into Amy did something...


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

*laughs* And I thought I'd be the only one who didn't like the spikes.

Perhaps Willow turning the wrong rat into Amy did something... ooooh, that's so interesting!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

She asked what the vampires were going to do for food once they'd drained all the humans and then used up all the blood. I had no idea what to tell her. Come to think of it, I still don't.

This always annoyed me too, so I ficced it (http://beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com/50486.html#cutid3).

How many canon verses are there in BtVS?

Off the top of my head there's also the Birthdayverse (Cordelia becoming a sitcom star) and the Normal Againverse.

Oh, and the world with nothing but shrimp.

Night of the Hunter ftw!

How many of Giles' books, tomes he needs to fight demons, were destroyed in that fire?

I'm pretty sure all 12 volumes of Magic is not an addiction: How to handle your newfound power were in there.

Also, what red_satin_doll said re: Buffy.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the world with nothing but shrimp.

Don't forget the world without shrimp.

I'm pretty sure all 12 volumes of Magic is not an addiction: How to handle your newfound power were in there.

*gigglesnort* Oh Giles.....

Also, what red_satin_doll said re: Buffy.

:D :D

And that was just off the top of my head btw, feel free to add more examples, but you get the gist.

I think that belief comes from - IDK, taking Xander's words at face value?

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Wait. In addition to a world without shrimp there's a world with nothing but shrimp? But, but, if there's nothing else there, who's going to eat all that yummy shrimp?

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

The vampshrimp.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

;-)

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

The world without shrimp! How could I have forgotten the world without shrimp?

Okay, birthdayverse must be from Angel. NormalAgainverse also?

12 volumes of Magic is not an addiction: How to handle your newfound power: adore it.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't realise you were talking only about BtVS. Yeah, the Birthdayverse is AtS, but Normal Again is a Buffy episode - the one where Buffy was always in a mental hospital and Sunnydale is just a delusion.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big AtS fan so it didn't even cross my mind. I'm good with you including it. I just hadn't considered it.

Oh, Normal Again. D'uh! Yeah, good catch.

[kikimay]

When I first came into the fandom (somewhere around 2008) there was a whole group of people who believed that Buffy was the worst. Egocentric, selfish, incapable to love and so on.

I kinda agreed, at first, because idk?, maybe they were right and we had a whole lot of dudes (Angel, Riley, Spike ...) to prove that love and Buffy were unmixy things. But after a little bit of pondering and rewatching ... FUCK NO!

Buffy is generous, everything considered, and she really cares about the people she loves! She has to deal with a lot of "pretty crucial" stuff, to quote Willow, and of course that sets priorities, but don't ever come to me and tell me that Buffy is a selfcentered, whiny girl because I could burn cities to the ground.

She's just under a lot more scrutiny than Angel because she has ovaries. That's it.

The Wishverse doesn't really make sense in terms of how the people live. Especially Giles having, like, his base in the library, where anyone can come at any given time, huh?? You expect that, being under siege after three years, these people know better.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I also came into the fandom in 2008! ;-)

I could burn cities to the ground. Love that. Oh, yeah, under more scrutiny. That makes sense.

You expect that, being under siege after three years, these people know better. Especially since Giles is a smart guy. Lots of booklearning, sure, but he had his Ripper days as well so I'd expect him to be more practical.