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That's My Take Archive Early May, 2000- airing of "New Moon Rising"/"Sanctuary" | |||||||||
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Buffy, "New Moon Rising": Great episode. Pissed Seth left. Guess this really is the end of Oz. Joss said Seth'd be back for a few episodes this season (Joss is a big liar, I mean that in an affectionate way). Maybe, he will, but I tend to doubt it. There's always hope for next season. Bonus is that maybe Tara will turn out to be evil before then. Sadness is that I tend to doubt that. Joss definitely is poking fun at the Military. Funny, the writers share all my liberal views. That military don't-ask-questions-don't-tolerate-individuality 'tude. That's what it's all about. Still haven't quite figured Adam out yet. Why does Adam want Spike to be in with the Scooby Gang? What needs to be remembered is that Adam is interested in chaos. He wants war. Panic. Not for the human race to end & demons to reign, but for the entire world to be in turmoil constantly. Maybe he's using Spike to ensure that Buffy stays alive to lead, as they said in this week's ep, the human fight so the humans will keep fighting & the chaos will continue. I don't think Adam will survive when all this is over (well, duh), so no danger of Spike losing the chip. Small danger anyway. We saw that "Doomed" contrast between the Initiative & The Scooby Gang again in this ep. It speaks well of Riley that he tried to break Oz out; it makes me like Riley again. Used to love the character, don't know what happened- guess it's his overshadowing by Buffy who is annoying me to bits lately. The thing about Riley being in trouble now with The Initiative is that Buffy has something on the Initiative that she can use as bargaining power- she knows about them. She can expose them. I don't think having a military operation under your college campus would exactly bode well with students. On to Tara, Willow, & Oz. I know that probably a lot of people were shocked with the Willow/Tara relationship plainly exposed this week. Well, get over it. The writers spent a lot of time figuring out how to portray that relationship in a non-explotive way, & I think that the way they fit it into the Willow/Oz storyline was damn entertaining & some damn good writing, Marti. I love Oz. I mean I really do. Oz is so needed to the cast, I didn't realize before. He's so wise, so brilliant, & so selfless. When he left at the end of this episode, it seemed that what he cared most about was that Willow was happy now with Tara. Both Tara & Oz are pretty good people. But, only one of them has done something shameful to Willow. Oz left, later sent for his stuff, & went 6 months without contacting Willow- who by the way was devastated for a good part of those months. Oz has a had a hard time though. & even now he continues to. It's hard not to love Oz. I mean, Oz. Ya know, "who is that girl?" from season 2 & the guy who just always wanted to protect Willow. The guy that saved Will from being-in-love-with-Xander-hell. The guy who was so good to her, even still. When he found out about Tara & Willow he didn't judge or say "oh that's gross". What he cared most about was whether Will was in love or not- that's what angered him. Not that she was in a same-sex relationship- it was that she had found someone new & didn't tell him about it after they'd talked all night. Just for the record, I would have rather seen Willow get with Oz than with Tara. He loves her so much. But, it wouldn't work. Not with his stupid "cure"- which by the way he DID NOT say he was leaving to find a cure he said he was leaving to find a balance between his wolf-side & him. Closing up here, Willow & Oz are the last couple to survived from the first great coupling in Season 1-2. Seth Green once said that Willow & Oz were the most perfect of romances. & I sorta feel that now as it ends & I feel how sad it is, this simple thing, that it's gone. & I do think this may be the end now. But, I reconsider my whole Xander-Willow soul mates thing as I see Will & Oz part again. Maybe Oz & Willow are meant to be & Tara is just something Willow has to do now. &, indeed, in 20 years he'll show up & their love will reignite. Uh, what's happened to this family? Cordelia & Angel are gone. Oz is gone. Anya & Spike are like Scooby members- & Giles is singing. Angel, "Sanctuary": Ya know it's sweeps. This was a fast-moving great wide-sweeping episode. Expanding over past seasons of "Buffy", past issues of "Buffy" & all season of "Angel" with Kate & the Wolfram & Hart lawyers. It picked up where "Who Are You" left off with Buffy. & it had more of the pent-up season 3 stuff between Buffy & Faith- I utterly loved it. What the Watcher's Council said is true: Faith has power & the will to use that power for evil. If she's out free in the world- there's always a chance- especially right now- that she could kill again. Would Angel want that on his hands? Don't think Faith is evil because she wants to kill, & she fantasizes about it. It's the same thing with Angel's flashbacks last week. He wants blood. He knows it's wrong. But he wants it still. The craving doesn't stop because he knows it's wrong. My whole Faith theory about how she cares so much for Buffy came through (that was a long-ranging one I've had for over a year). Faith loved Buffy. Buffy's the only one who ever truly believed in her. Buffy said that she gave Faith every chance- & she did. She was the last one who believed in Faith- like I said last week- & now she might be one of the last ones to believe in her again. But, see, Buffy was a focal point to Faith. Buffy was everything that she wasn't. She had everything she didn't have- a loving mother, a semi-normal life, love, the Scooby close-nit thing. & Faith was just the white trash who didn't have anyone, had this traumatic childhood, the girl who was this little nothing. & even though Buffy loved & believed in Faith, for the longest amount of time Faith still held that resentment toward Buffy- not because of anything Buffy did, but because of Faith's own personal hatred of her own life. For Faith to be in jail is only right- message wise. But Faith's in jail now, this is going to permanent unless she breaks out- cause she confessed. & maybe when Faith truly rehabilitates- with Angel coming to see her- she can break free. Because in jail she's no good to the cause she's been called for- slayerhood. Still, at least in jail people are safe from her & she's safe from herself. Faith didn't run off into the darkness for the first time. As for the amount of jail-time: we know she killed 2 people (that professor in "GD1" & Alan, the mayor's deputy) & she's assaulted & robbed a bunch of people. That's life plus. About last week, the end scene might be a mixed account of the dream in "This Year's Girl". Buffy represents Angel (they're tied), they fall out of the window which was represented by Faith falling in a grave & Buffy following her, it started raining- & in the dream Faith went in the grave the innocent one of sorts & when she came out she was evil, & in that scene Faith went down evil & soon became reformed of sorts. Also right before Faith went down she grabbed a knife & Buffy had a knife in the dream- & in both situations they fell Faith first. Nitpicks: Angel is seen on video when he can't be seen in mirrors. Crossover time frame: no mention in "Buffy". Bare mention in "Angel" about next week's "Buffy" crossover. Another annoyance, Kate going all let's-get-the-evil-people now. There are rumors she's gone for next season. Maybe she just needs to understand about demons like Riley did in "Buffy" this week. More aggravations, I hate all characters that are anti-Angel or Faith. I guess it's because they're redeeming & they don't need more crap. Hello Buffy. & hey, I thought the writers said they were going to make Buffy less of the "better than thou" girl third season plus has pinned her as. Closing up, this truly is the end of Buffy & Angel. Buffy loves Riley. That was so cruel to throw that at Angel. The thing that must of hurt Angel so deep, more than the obvious, is that Buffy being with someone new was the price he paid for his decision in "I Will Remember You". Buffy & Angel: In a night full of seriousness & basically no laughs- the one thing I laughed at was Wesley: "I trust you (to Angel over Faith) well, more than 3 gun-totting maniacs." The Council really are some dirty rotten scoundrels. They wouldn't have reinstated Wesley even if he did play along for real. & we're not done with them yet- in jail, Faith might not be done with them yet. Two people are really screwed after this week- one is Riley & one is Faith. They're in for it. This is the 1st week I've been totally clueless about how the episodes were going to end. I had no clue about Seth Green leaving. No clue about Faith turning herself into the cops. I LOVED IT! But I have to say, although the eps were kicking, I'm disappointed that both Seth & Eliza won't be around much- cause I love them both so much. Ever notice how the B/As that air together have some common themes. Last week, among others, Wesley & some random Initiative guy were both burned. In "Superstar" & "Eternity" Jonathan & the actress, Rebecca, wanted to change who they were, thinking it would solve whatever they were lacking. & this week, the theme was that those first loves, although they remain forever in our hearts, can maybe overshadow, but not dictate our current loves. As well as the theme that life is not black & white. I think one of Joss' main concepts with his whole Buffyverse vision is that life is unconventional. & you can't set rules. You see it with The Initiative & Adam & Faith &, really, everything. Randomly selecting a new topic, B/A have two completely different storylines going on- they're barely interrelated. The only thing that interrelates them is Faith. Lastly, whenever Buffy's on "Angel" I hate her. Annoying little brat. I would like to just give her a piece of my mind- if I were assured she wouldn't kick my ass afterward. | |||||||||