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That's My Take Archive Mid May, 2000- airing of "Primeval"/"Blind Date" | |||||||||
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Buffy, "Primeval": How would I describe this episode? Utterly disturbing, surprisingly profound, tragic. The whole Adam thing was definitely one hell of a dark storyline. I feel dumb. I should have known Adam's plan. I did suspect it, though. I did suspect that Professor Walsh wasn't dead, & Anglemen & Forrest. A thing I loved about this episode is that toward the beginning we're thrown a bunch of stuff that seemed to answer all of the mysteries about the season. Adam told us his plan. We finally knew what Maggie had planned. But, then, in the last under a minute, they just fill in the last unanswered thing- they just hit you with it- that this whole thing was an experiment for a greater good. & you see that the whole point of this season has been that demons cannot be controlled. A big concept has been the parallel between the Scooby Gang & The Initiative. That the Initiative ignore the fact that demons are supernatural, primordial- they just saw them as animals. & that's what it all stems from. They didn't know what they were dealing with. They delved where they didn't belong. & it had an ultimate tragic outcome. None of the irony of the season was lost on me. Go back & watch some earlier episodes. Joss is truly a mastermind. He knew exactly what he was doing with every character when he started this season. The premiere, the very first scene. Buffy debates taking Psyche & almost doesn't. If she never had taken Psyche, she wouldn't have met Riley. Here's the irony about Buffy & Riley. For some time, all we've heard from The Initiative guys is how Buffy has just messed up Riley's whole life. & yet, if Riley had never met & loved Buffy, he would have turned out like Adam & lost his own life & will & became evil. About the soldier boys. They greeted The Scooby core with guns because it was unwanted that they tried to infiltrate The Initiative. & yet, at the end, they depended on The Scooby core to get them the hell out of The Initiative. Another thing that wasn't lost on me was about Spike. Spike is the thing that makes me think that Maggie had planned what Adam ultimately tried to enact. You could think on one hand that Maggie hadn't planned this big Hell-fest down in the Initiative where the demons & the soldiers killed each other. It certainly wasn't something the Pentagon had foreseen & wanted. & I could believe that Maggie was evil (taking Adam's life, & eventually Riley's & others), but not absolute evil- that she just wanted to help our country in wars by creating these super-strong, intelligent beings. She definitely did not foresee that Adam would be evil. She thought he would be controllable. But, Spike makes me think she did plan to kill all her soldiers & the demons by pinning them against each other, also this would mean that she was completely evil & was going against the military, because Spike helped even the demon kill ratio in the battle. I would believe that Maggie had somewhat of the best intentions, but Spike leaves me conflicting on whether Maggie had planned absolutely everything except for Adam being evil & uncontrollable. More on "Primeval": If you're confused about what happened this season, let me tell you. Maggie Walsh had a vision. She wanted to combine demon & human to create the ultimately soldier. Demons lacked intellect. Humans lacked strength & had emotions, which made them weak. Maggie went to the Pentagon & they started this project which they called The Initiative. Maggie started her work. She did the first of her projects. Making this one also machine. He was supposed to be the leader. Riley was supposed to be next. But when Adam woke up, a design flaw was discovered. He was evil. He was supposed to be controllable. He had a mind of this own. He had taken all the attributes of a demon- the evil & the brawn- & took the intellect of a human, combined with the extra strength & intelligence of a machine. & then Adam killed Maggie & kept her "alive" as a worker with no will (there's irony again, she tried to control him). & proceeded to enact her plan for the race of human-demon beings. Just in case you're a little confused about what Buffy & friends did to defeat Adam... they invoked all the slayers- from now til the primordial first- as well as themselves & put all of that into Buffy. Xander was the heart. Willow was the spirit. Giles was the mind. & Buffy was the hand. It was very dangerous to do so, & might have something to do with shared dreams next week. By the way, that episode next week, the finale, is a bunch of season 5 foreshadowing. If you don't normally tape the show, I suggest you do. Cause Joss is the master strategist & this next ep will tell you so much about next season if you watch it enough. I wonder if Giles will die. One thing I want to mention is that since the U.N. had video-link in The Initiative, they probably could have burned the place down & stopped Adam when they saw what had happened. Like if Buffy had never met Riley, never known about Adam or The Initiative. However, Riley would be dead. & the 60% of the Initiative soldiers the "civilian insurrectionists" got out would have been lost. I understand why Joss wanted to have this as a seasonal plot. This was super important. To have the government try to harness demonic power to their own advantage. This had to be done. It was so logical to have this as a season. David Fury is truly the writer of the season. Greenwalt was the one for season one. Marti for two. Jane for three. But David Fury is the guy this year. No writer besides him has the ability to scare me. I'm never freaked out after an episode that isn't written by Fury. He's got a gift. "Fear, Itself", "Helpless". He's dark & that was what this episode needed. Don't email me saying "What about Joss?". Joss is da man. That goes without saying. He is this show. This was an extremely intelligent season. & what made this "season finale" close-up thing so good was the irony. This episode was really, super good. I was extremely impressed with it. Angel, "Blind Date" AND Buffy & Angel: What'd I say- Gunn's gonna be a cast member next year. It's my 6th sense. This episode was a little The Firm. My mind is still on "Buffy"'s finale-thing, so this is gonna be pretty much 'fire bad, tree pretty'. It was cute when Cordy was talking to Willow on the phone. Isn't it cute how Alexis & Alyson are dating in real life? What Lindsey did at the end of this episode didn't surprise me one bit. About the promo for next week- I really should have put this on the spoilers page, but I got an email from this girl who visited- I think it was- paramount studio. & said that the "Angel" set was charred. That was a few months ago. I should have put it on the spoilers section that Angel Investigations was gonna get blown-up, but I didn't for some reason or another. Anyway, Marti Noxon lied in an interview. She said Jhiera was gonna be back this season. She's not. I'm glad Marti was lying. I hate Jhiera. She's one pointless mother-. I like Gunn alot. He'll add more 'city' to a show that is supposed to already be in touch with urban life. The whole scroll thing's intriguing. I think it's really a good idea Joss had about finishing up with "Buffy"'s seasonal arc an ep early, because my mind is always swimming with different thoughts after a big "Buffy". It's hard to sit down & pay attention to "Angel"'s afterward. I've never watched a show that came on after "Buffy" until now. Again I'm lobbying for "Angel" to air before "Buffy". | |||||||||