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That's My Take Archive Late April: airing of "Where the Wild Things Are"/"Five By Five" | |||||||||
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Buffy, "Where the Wild Things Are": Wow, it's been a while since we've had a Xander-centric episode. I found myself thinking: what is Xander doing on the screen? No Anya, no Willow, no Buffy, just Xander. Have I popped in a season 1 episode by accident? Despite the oversexualization of this episode, the big bad of this week was incredibly and surprisingly intelligent. The poltergeist spirits of a certain people at a certain time. It's fresh. I didn't like the directing so much, though, sorry David Solomon, I usually love ya. I just thought some things were just off. OK, moving on, I think Tara caused that first earthquake. She looked out after it was clear that these people were in danger & then the house started to shake and people fled. Anyway, this episode had another one of Joss' little stabs at organized religion, ya know, with the old lady. About her casting out impure thoughts, and the thing Giles said to the women about judgment was pretty abrasive if that addresses something your religion teaches you. I'm not going to get into that, but I thought I'd point it out. Her saying, "who are you to pass judgment on me." & Giles saying "well, someone has to." (I don't know if that's the direct quoting, but either way {brilliant, no one yell at me for that. I know religion is a touchy subject with people- especially where I live.} Ya know, I don't like SMG in the curly hair. In fact, SMG's whole look is just really non-Buffy lately, but I won't get into that either. OK, on to the show, they are really inconsistent about Anya's past. In cut scenes of "The Wish" and also in "Something Blue" it was clear that Anya got her powers after a bad breakup. She was a witch & she did spells & then D'Hoffren offered her demonhood and she accepted. Yet, in late season 3 episodes and a lot of season 4 episodes, they make it seem like she was never human and like she's never been involved in relationships before. Moving on, in my crazy theories section I've been saying that I see a hint of a Spike/Anya relationship. There was some definite heat in this episode between the two. I think that eventually they're going to get involved, but after Xander & Anya dissolve- or maybe during- & that might take a while. I don't get these Buffy/Giles relationshippers. I feel like asking these people: do you watch the show? HE is her FATHER FIGURE!!! On to Willow once having a crush on Giles, I've been sensing something there since second season, but the thought of the two together gave me the hibby-jippies. But, everything's different now. They aren't in high school anymore & a Willow/Giles relationship is not that far off. & yes, that did indeed freak me out to see Giles singing like that. I again started asking: did I put in the wrong tape? Angel, "Five By Five": Wow, wasn't this episode like a "Buffy" season 3 tie-up. We're dealing with some serious "Consequences" issues. Although really this ep was "Who Are You" Angelized, I still loved it. OK, first I'll get into some little things. It must have been a heady thing for Faith: Angel, Cordelia, & Wesley as a team- what the hell- think about that in relation to the way things were a year ago. It was also pretty heady to see all those neato Wolfram & Hart lawyers in an episode. Anyway, pretty rude for the Scooby Gang not to give Angel a ring about Faith waking up. I mean, she wasn't coming for him, she didn't know he was where she was going, but still, pretty damn rude not to let him know about that. (Angel said that Faith had left about a week ago- about a week ago my ass {I guess in the Buffyverse 1 week=2 months, stupid repeats.}) Wesley is always the voice of insight- in "Eternity" he explained that Angel cannot turn evil just from sex, because only with Buffy could he achieve true happiness & in "5 by 5" Wesley once again insighted right away that Faith is a very lost girl. I feel like Wesley sort of made amends for being how he was when he first came to Sunnydale & for the first time was a real watcher. Julie Benz, that was a nice surprise. I thought the flashbacks were a pretty brilliant way to illustrate about Faith, showing that Angel wasn't completely reverted once he got his soul. On to Faith. Ya know, the simple choices we make, these things we think our natural, we don't realize how progressive they are. They shape our entire existence. They change perhaps our entire fate, perhaps our entire purpose. Faith made one of those simple choices over a year ago when she decided to work for the Mayor. Although I've always held that Faith was good underneath it all, I've never quite understood about Faith. Now I do. The thing with Faith is that she has been taking out on others what she has been feeling about herself. She's never felt good enough, because of the way she grew up. & becoming a slayer & the power complex that came with it I'm sure just contributed. Faith was bound to be one of two things in life: lost and helpless or lost and furious. As soon as Druscilla killed Kendra, Faith was destine to be the latter. I knew that if someone would sit Faith down & tell her- you're good underneath- she'd slit their throat. Although I've always felt she'd turn around, I had no clue how she would turn around, what would make her do it. & after "Who Are You" I was still left wondering. Now notice, she didn't kill anyone since jumping back into her own body. She beat up a bunch of people. Tortured one, sorta pretended to be trying to kill another, but she didn't kill. She wanted herself to be killed. When Wolfram & Hart approached her, she said yes instantly when she heard who they wanted her to kill. It wasn't about money or anything else. She dropped glass with Wesley's blood on it for Angel to find. She had many different opportunities to kill him- she didn't take them. She wanted Angel to kill her. But she underestimated Angel's character. Maybe she didn't know that Angel had been in her exact same place. & when Angel realized what Faith wanted, he wouldn't give her it. So now Faith has got to deal. & thankfully, she's got Angel there to help her deal. No one but Angel could do what he did. Buffy would never understand that Faith wanted to die, or care enough not to kill her. After "Who Are You", Faith knew what she was, but she wasn't out of the woods. She had to face what she was & now she has. Now comes that hard part. Faith's gotta deal with a ton of stuff, & it's gonna be hard, & she's gonna wantta give up- but if she's strong enough, & I think she is strong enough, she will get through this. Oh, & probably be called for some P.T.B. servitude before Joss is done with her. I don't agree with people who think that Faith being on "Angel" is a bad idea because they think if Faith stays on it'll be all "Angel & Faith the Vampire Slayer". I think Faith is exactly what "Angel" needs, especially with that little cast list they got going there, but more importantly because Faith is the mental infatuation of basically every fan. We love her. She's evil, we still love her. She's a recovering murder-aholic, we still love her. The fans love Faith, she should stay on "Angel" because that's the place where the lost are supposed recover. & boy, has she got some rehab coming. About next week, Buffy was the last one to give up faith in Faith, & now Buffy's going to be the last one to have faith in Faith now that Faith's actually worthy. Buffy & Angel: After having a this-season B/A marathon, I've come out with a new sense of respect and admiration for each shows individually. I also realized something that's very subtle. I think Wesley likes Cordelia. He'd deny it, but he does. I think he's too insecure to make his attraction apparent. She's oblivious, and probably ignoring stuff she's feeling toward him, but I bet it's there underneath everything. Wesley & Cordelia will get together. I'll bet my butt on it, but it's not gonna happen this season- maybe a kiss, but most likely na-dah. Ya know, I love the last few episodes of a season because it's when it all comes together. There's a wonderful time in the beginning because a bunch of episodes come at once, but those final few eps are definitely the prime-time of the season. Anyway, I have some minor spoilers. This is about "Buffy" season 5. According to my Source in training, "Little Miss Moffit Counting Down from 7-3-0" (from GD2) & Faith's referring to "Little Sister Coming" (in "This Year's Girl") indicate the Season 5 big bad guy which is some kind of seriously dangerous entity that Buffy will have to fight in the season 5 finale. Also, I know that in this season's finale, which headmaster Joss Whedon wrote, there will be some more vague hinting to this big bad. Also, even more serious spoilers that I must rant about is something that was in the press release for this season of Buffy- about a Scooby Gang member turning evil. It's Spike, who I don't know if you can classify as a Scooby Gang member. Anyway, he's gonna conspire with Adam to take Buffy down. I'm feeling another blind-Faith moment here, but for some reason, I expect more from that ruthless killer. Don't worry though, if there is any truth to a main character dying, it's not Spike- James Marsters is under a 2 year contract that started this season. | |||||||||