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That's My Take Archive More Finale musings, Buffy's "Intervention", Angel's "Dead End" | |||||||||
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Finale Musings (All new episode comments are below) There's no easy way to present this, I'll just have to do it in segments- in chronological order. Partly because I can't see a way to present all of this without separating it, & also because it'll make more sense to you if you follow along with my thought pattern to come to the conclusions I did (this contradicts completely last week's finale theory). Disclaimer: there is no guarantee you will understand it, as it is the ravings of a madwoman. (There are 3 parts, don't miss the last). First thoughts about "Death is the gift" & stuff about Glory This is gonna be so jumpy, just bare with me. This is all just random thoughts- I have no conclusions. I'm am just really confused now. Dawn can be for good or evil. That's a concept that hasn't really fit into everything I've been thinking about, & it probably has something to do with this concept of Buffy's love. I think Buffy's love will save the world or destroy it. Death is Buffy's gift. Hum. I think maybe that Buffy will come to think that that means her gift to the world is to kill Dawn. That she'll have to do it to save the worlds (I still don't know why I'm using 'worlds', I don't think it's just about our world). or maybe Buffy has to love Dawn enough to give up her humanity for her, becoming primal Buffy to fight Glory. & being primal Buffy is like giving death to herself because without humanity the slayer wants death. But that theory conflicts 2 concepts. "Love. Give. Forgive." Forgive who? Her Dad? Angel? Riley? Her Mom? All who have left her. So she can open her heart. I know it- only then can she save everyone (or kill everyone). Maybe forgive that she'll have to lose Dawn too. "Love is pain & the slayer forges strength from pain." That's why all the others died early. They rejected love so they could fight & it killed them. "Risk the pain. It is your nature." Interesting. A concept was that Buffy's true nature, a slayer's nature, was to be a killer- something not effected by love. But this suggests Buffy's nature is not that of a slayer's. "Love will bring you to your gift. Death is your gift." That is so vague! Death for who? Is she giving or getting? "Death is your gift." 'I've given you your answer'. How is that the answer to that question. The slayer wants death. Death is a gift to the slayer. The mercy, the gift to die. So does this mean by loving Dawn, trying to save Dawn, she will get the gift of her own death? That's confusing because it is important to remember that The First Slayer would want Buffy to die, but that thing in the desert, I'm pretty sure that was just Buffy's spirit guide, The First Slayer just the form it took to appear to Buffy. The Spirit guide would want Buffy on her path. But, oh my god, is that it? But, that's confusing in more ways than one. Death comes with being primal Buffy. Not loving, from being cut off. Damn, this is gonna drive me crazy! Don't even listen to anything I say cause I really don't know what I'm talking about. I have no clue what it means, guys. Again, let's just hope it all comes together & makes sense to us in the finale. I know it's all right here now. I just know, if I put it together, I'll get it... I gotta move on here. Before that, let me talk about Glory. "I'm a god in exile." Glory's been outcasted by her world. The Key will get her back there or will it get her back in reigning? That's it. She didn't want to be in this world, in a human body. I think she was punished- her whole family- outcast. The family was taken over probably. The Key belongs to her. The Key back into her universe. A family legacy. Something she needs to get back into her world, but, maybe doing it will also open that world up to ours. Killing life here. I was wrong about Ben, turning on Buffy soon, it's starting to look like Glory & Ben are at odds maybe because they do share a body. Maybe. Not sure about that (or anything). This is so gonna drive me crazy for the next four weeks. Maybe something Ben & Glory did caused it? A fight over the throne? Did their parents or elders do it as a punishment? & now Ben just wants to live in our world. It sounds sorta like if Glory doesn't use the Key, she dies & Ben 'wins' as he put it- he gets the body to himself. Maybe there was a fight over the throne. & as punishment the two were sent to another dimension & forced to share a body & whoever survives wins & returns to reign over their dimension. But, Ben seems genuinely good. Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. Maybe Glory's not evil. It's just Ben has more of a conscious then Glory. If humans are like bugs to them- well, how bad do you feel when you kill a moth in your house? I feel bad, but some people don't. It doesn't make me a better person than them. Just maybe means that I have a little more respect for life than someone else. & maybe that's the only difference between Glory & Ben- Glory just sees humans as less than her & therefore insignificant. Maybe she's not evil. I mean, at times I feel for her. She just wants what's hers. Man, I love when the an audience can feel for the bad guys, even root for them, which I'm not, I'm just saying. Second thoughts Okay. Well. After spending several hours writing up my very confused thoughts for this week's finale musings, I suddenly had a revealtion that made me feel retarded because I hadn't thought of it before. Miles to go is from a Robert Frost poem about DEATH (we know this). 'The woods (death) are lovely, dark & deep, but I have promises to keep. & miles to go before I sleep.' It's saying: there are still things that tie me to this world, so I can't die just yet. Death is Buffy's gift. I headed to my parent's complete volume of Robert Frost poems to read over this poem, which I hadn't read since after the 3rd season finale. It took like 5 years to find it & while looking, I noticed a few interesting poems. One of which titled "The Gift Outright". This is the poem (don't report me for putting this on the internet): The land was ours before we were the land's. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we were her people. She was ours In Massachusetts, in Virginia, But we were England's, still colonials, Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, Possessed by what we now no more possessed. Something we were withholding made us weak Until we found out that it was ourselves We were withholding from our land of living, And forthwith found salvation in surrender. Such as we were we gave ourselves outright (The deed of gift was many deeds of war) To the land vaguely realizing westward, Such as she was, such as she would become. The Buffy interpretation: Dawn is the land, the thing Buffy possessed before she was possessed by- either she owned Dawn ("she does belong to us?") before Dawn owned her (owned Buffy in the sense of owning Buffy's love) or it could straightforwardly mean Buffy loved Dawn before Dawn loved her, like, she loved Dawn because of the implanted memories- before, well, Dawn ever even met Buffy & loved Buffy back. The thing being withheld is love, Buffy withholding it in fear of the pain it causes. She'll give herself in to her love of Dawn. It will make her strong, strong enough to fight Glory or strong enough to do whatever she has to do to save whatever she's gonna be saving. The deed of gift was many deeds of war is kinda the same thing as saying death is the gift. Just as saying pain is love, love is pain. They're not the same things, it's kinda a figure of speech. Love isn't pain, they are not synonyms, pain is gotten through the act of love. Just as the gift isn't death. It's gotten through the act of death, inflicting death. 'The gift is death' is poetic, not literal. & the deeds of war, literally, are deaths. Such as she was, such as she would become. She in this poem is the land. The land is Dawn. Such as Dawn was, such as she would become. That means, either she turns back into that ball of energy that she was before she was Dawn or that she'll be used as The Key, losing her human form, but when it's over, she'll become what she was- a human. I'm unclear about the gift itself. What it is. Is it Dawn? The gift of a sister. She's a gift to the world, isn't she? I've heard you writers say that Dawn can be used for good or evil. I haven't been able to figure out how Dawn could be used for good, but that's it, isn't it? Dawn will be a gift to the world, gotten through death. Is death literal? Is it death like when a living creature dies or is it the death of something like a change? Third thoughts (& some good conclusions) after rewatching "Restless" I'm gonna start this out with "Restless" thoughts: Dawn may be miss kitty (in the Will's dream, not literally). "She hasn't told us her name yet." "She's not all grown yet." At that point, Dawn wasn't born yet. There's a theme about hiding. Giles says it to Willow. In Xander's, it's a major theme. But, who besides Xander hides from the first slayer? Of course, it does have meanings besides about running from the physical thing chasing them. Slayer means killer, murderer, homicide- Buffy's gift is being a slayer. Buffy's 'gift is death'. but she's already the slayer. Is it (the big finale stuff) going to happen in that desert? "It's not coming for me yet". It could just be talking about The First Slayer- but, it could also be about Glory. "Your time is running out." "I'm just trying to get away there's something I can't fight"- They're gonna run from Glory, but there's something more to it- maybe they need Glory for something to do with Dawn. Maybe something will happen to us (the world) if The Key isn't used (in a positive way). But Glory, the monks didn't want her to have it, what is the good purpose? Dawn is a gift to the world. If you love something, you set it free. Maybe Buffy will have to love Dawn enough to let her go, to be a gift to the world. & the gift is gotten through war. Maybe there are two ways to fight Glory: one, drawing on the power of the First Slayer that dark force, & the other drawing on the power of love. "Aggression is a natural human tendency, although you & me come by it another way." "We're not demons." "Is that a fact?" "I have weapons." Opens bag, it's clay. She smears it on face. The primal camera effect (solar) is used. She has an urge to do it. "I thought you were looking for your friends (I thought you were supposed to be human) Okay, killer, I guess you're on your own (Okay, Buffy, Dawn is gone)". Portend? "I am destruction. Absolute. Alone." "The slayer. I am not alone." "No friends. Just to kill. We are alone" (THAT SO WAS NOT THE FIRST SLAYER IN THE DESERT IN "INTERVENTION", NO WAY- just the spirit guide like I said). "You think you know (that you walk, talk, shop, sneeze), you haven't even begun" to be the slayer. "You're not the source of me." Buffy gets her strength from pain, love- not like the other slayers. I have to be wrong about primal being power. 'Something we were withholding made us weak' (Robert Frost poem). Buffy withholding love makes her weak. She must surrender to it to fight Glory, therein she will find her gift. 'Surrounding' is warring. Buffy will surrender to her love of Dawn, 'the land', by warring, bringing death. The thing about the "Restless" theme about hiding gives me this really great theory... What is a slayer? A killer. A murderer. A fighter. Just fighter to fighter, killer to killer, Glory is better. The fighter instinct, & therefore the slayer instinct, is to RUN (fight or flight). This is where the "Restless" theme of hiding comes in. "Restless" is all about that primal part of Buffy, that primal part of Buffy will hide, but the human side loves- & it's instinct is to fight, even against a superior foe. D'U ever here about mothers having supernatural strength when their babies are in danger? Maybe this will be that kind of thing. Maybe there will be 2 options: Doing something that will just save the world but end Dawn or risking not saving the world to save Dawn. As in the poem, Buffy's gift, the thing gotten through war, is to love & to save Dawn. 'The deed of gift are the deeds of war'. Buffy will 'give ourselves' (herself) by fighting, meaning she'll love Dawn by fighting for Dawn. But, what, at the true core, is the gift? Surrundering. The gift, truly, is love, but that will kill the slayer in Buffy, or is the slayer the true source of Buffy's power? It's love, but alas "You think you know what you are (that human Buffy), you haven't even begun." If Buffy doesn't fight for Dawn, she'll be killing herself, because she'll have lost that last tie to the world. The reason she'll be killing herself, is because without that tie to the world, she's that primal force. Lastly, maybe an important thing too, about all whose lips didn't move at some point when they spoke in "Restless": Joyce, Tara, Giles, in a way, The First Slayer- because Tara talked for her- so yeah, in a way, The First Slayer. So Joyce died. SPOILER WARNING (highlight to see it) Tara's gonna get brain sucked. The writers promise more will die. So Giles might die. & something might happen to squash, maybe, the spirit of the First Slayer. Buffy's Love, her humanity, might kill it. Buffy's humanity will kill the slayer. She'll kill the slayer in her? Or is it that the slayer, like Dawn, can be used for good or evil? I'm gonna shut up now because, if you've read through all this, you're probably about as confused as I currently am. Sorry. Buffy's "Intervention" & Angel's "Dead End" In the above section I talk about Buffy's little journey in this episode because it, of course, gives me finale musings, all the stuff about Glory is also above. The part of this episode that doesn't give me theories down here. I knew that was Buffy & not the Buffybot in that end scene. But, it was sweet that she kissed him. I think it's good how they're leaving Buffy's options open. Her kissing Angel last week. Now Spike for his caring of her & concern for Dawn's safety. Buffy should so not be in a relationship right now. The Sacred Place is a little similar to my The First Place in my 1999 fanfic "The Legacy". Is something like that obvious or am I psychically tapped into Joss Whedon? I'm so convinced that I'm psychically tapped into Joss Whedon. Don't say it. I know I'm insane. Whenever there is any kind of cool scene I always think about what it would be like if Chris Beck were still around. It really makes scenes different without him. Interesting choice- the graphic screwing of the Buffybot & Spike in the cemetery. Of all the things I've seen on this show- that was the scariest. Hey, &, why did Dawn steal Anya's earrings? "Dead End" was an interesting twist off the whole tired psycho-hand-replacement horror storyline- the unconsciously writing KILL KILL KILL, being about the surrogate wanting to end his own misery thing. See, that's why I love Joss Whedon shows. It's that twist on the tired stuff that I love. The reason Cordy had pain, I think (I could be wrong, it could just be because the effect of the visions is, as she said, taking a toll) was because the person she was meant to help- the guy whose eye was taken, was in that constant pain. Actually, I think she was meant to help a lot of people. Lindsey. All those people who hadn't yet had body parts taken & the people who had & were suffering. Could Angel have been cuter or funnier in this episode? I love what they're doing with him- just everything they've done with him this season... it's just fabulous. How cute was Angel talking to Lindsey just as the Host had talked to Angel in "Happy Anniversary". What did I say about Lindsey not belonging in that world? To get out of that life, facing fear & uncertainty- we should all be so brave. Will he be back on the show? I don't know. But wasn't there a little implied attraction to him on Cordy's part? What was the point of that if he wouldn't be back- maybe helping Angel. Of course, Wolfram & Hart wouldn't tolerate that. Of yeah, & Angel & Lindsey can't stand each other, but it could be cute. I don't know. I think Lindsey did have a great respect for Angel. I think Angel did have a lot of feeling toward Lindsey. I think Angel knew Lindsey didn't belong in that world. All of these above things though- I don't think they were conscious feelings. Just something that was. So now it's Lilah. "I like the girl. She's wicked." She is wicked. She belongs in that world & I think she could do a hell of a lot more damage then Lindsey ever could. | |||||||||