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That's My Take Archive Late September: airing of "Buffy vs. Dracula"/"Judgment" | |||||||||
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Buffy, "Buffy vs. Dracula": I gotta say, I expected pathetically little from this episode. I mean, come on, Dracula? Even though I chuckled through the parts where Dracula turned into mist & was a wolf... & with the 3 sisters-- which granted all of that stuff was in the very good book by Bram Stoker-- this was a good episode. It was really funny to see our characters interact with this vampiric legend. Even the fact that this being was unlike what the show has painted vampires to be, they backed it up. Spike saying Drac changed after Bram Stoker's novel made him famous, & that the mist stuff & the wolf stuff was gypsy magic was a pretty good way to back up something that made most loyal fans a little give-me-a-breaky. Overall, this episode was a delight, & Nick Brendon's performance as Dracula's man-bitch left me genuinely laughing for minutes on end. I was pleased to see that what I've been gathering from "Restless" is what they were really trying to say with the finale. I got more to say on that in the section below where I comment on "Angel". One last thing to keep you intrigued about what I got to say below is that I think- although this is not my concrete belief, just an idea- that perhaps they never woke up in "Restless". Either that or maybe when they did that spell in "Primeval", they slipped into an alternate reality.-- But, hey, maybe this sister thing is unrelated to the events of last season. Although I doubt it. I do have one thing to say about the sister thing this week. Early in the episode Buffy was eating dinner with her mother. It was just the two of them & there was no place set for anyone else. Joyce even said that the house would be quiet once Buffy went back to school. & when Dawn showed up at the end, you could take what Buffy said to her in 2 ways. 1) "What are you doing here?"- get out of my room, you big gobber. Stop going through my stuff! OR 2.) "What are you doing here?" Who are you? Then Buffy's mom says she's Buff's sister & she just accepts it. Needless to say, Buffy didn't have a sister when this episode started, but she did when it ended. What does it mean? My running theory is that Dawn is the product of an unrelated, to anything we know about yet, slip into an alternate reality. Angel, "Judgment": My first thought when I heard about this episode was: "oh, god, karaoke?" Karaoke was not at all what this episode was about, but strangely it was all it was publicized for. It was a nice little treat at the end for a Faith show. I love Eliza Dushku, & Faith remains my absolute favorite character in the Buffyverse. Good to see she's coping. I liked to see the progression of the characters. Everyone's becoming a little more apart of life, aren't they? Wesley needs it, & needs to continue. Cordelia's becoming grounded in the reality of life- what's more important is not being famous, but helping those in need (Very good to see her acting coming along! {Cordy, not Charisma. She's always terrific!}). & Angel, well, of course, became too enthralled with the idea of being part of the world. Good to see he's going to be staying grounded in his fight. It was so sad- keeping score of the people he's saved. It's a pathetic as me with my running countdown from season finales to premieres. 'Only 109 days to go! Woe ho!' Closing up... Gunn's continually growing on me (not that I ever didn't like him), & this week's evasion of the Darla situation only makes me more intrigued to she what she's gonna do. The Slayer: These are some closing thoughts on the ever-on-my-mind "Restless". This is what I've figured out. My first thought when Faith first said that Little Miss Muffet was counting down from 7-3-0 was that 7-3-0 was 2 years- 365 days times 2. But, because I figured we wouldn't be waiting 2 whole years to find out what that means (Buffy moves fast {usually} & it seemed to be a hint solely of the season to come, not the seasons to come), I quickly dismissed that idea & never thought of it again. But, duh, that's what 7-3-0 is. It's indicating the season finale of this year. That's why Tara told Buffy the clock was wrong in "Restless" & offered her the card with the hands on it. That was a 'no, see it's not that time anymore. Look, remember the hands, the spell. It's a year later now.' So that's 7-3-0. Who is Little Miss Moffet? Obviously, but also from Joss' own mouth, it's Dawn, Buffy's new little sister ('little sis is coming' in the dream in "This Year's Girl"). Why is she important other than the obvious? She's a vessel for a dark force. I believe in two possible scenarios that could both be it at the same time. One: she's going to become that dark force & give Buffy the fight of her life once that 7-3-0 countdown is up. Two: somehow she's going to usher in the dark change in Buffy, & that would explain why Faith is in the early prophetic dreams about Dawn. Who is Tara? I don't know. But I can tell you she knows about Dawn & she knows what is coming. She has powers, & she's here to do good. For who the good is for, I don't know. The reason she botched the spell to locate demons last season was because she didn't want Willow... to locate a certain demon. That demon is Buffy. It was hinted at in "Restless" & more spelled out in "Buffy vs. Dracula". The slayer was not made by good to do good. Although the watcher's council, I suspect, have shaped her to think she is what she's come to think of herself as today. But, the slayer is a dark force. A demon. Evil. But Buffy is holding on to her humanity & her goodness. Faith is trying to stay away from the dark side of what she is, as well. Times have changed, but there are some things about yourself you can't fight. & that's what this season is all about. (They're beginning to close up the show.) Okay, two quick things about "Restless". "Restless", in part, was about showing our guys what they didn't want to admit about themselves. Buffy doesn't want to admit that she's a demon. She wants to think she's human. She wants to be normal. Xander doesn't want to admit that his life is going no where. Willow doesn't want to admit the geek she once was. & Giles didn't want to admit that he was no longer a necessary thing in Buffy's, his daughter almost, life. The other thing I want to say about "Restless" is about Xander, Buffy's big brother. The brother thing probably has something to do with Dawn, possibly about Dawn's crush on Xander. But I want to give you something to think about. I did my homework & finally saw Apocalypse Now. In the enjoining spell, Buffy was the hand & Xander was the heart. In Apocalypse Nowthere was a great line. "There is a constant struggle between the hand & the heart". What they meant by this can be best described through the example of a soldier in war. In his heart, he doesn't want to kill these people, but his hand still has to, still does. I don't know what that means for Buffy & Xander- yet-, but it is interesting. | |||||||||