Buffy - More Season 3 impressions (episodes 15 & 16)

[thalia_seawood]

My thoughts behind the cut.


Consequences
This episode has definitely some great twists.

The initial nightmare sequence is very well done. Considering how the episode will end it also seems to be one of Buffy's visions. Faith after all will betray Buffy, once by blaming Buffy and then a second time by joining the Mayor.

Wesley and Cordelia are a show together: Quite funny that it's his fancy name that catches her interest.
Wesley: (summons his poise, holds out his hand) Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.
Cordelia: (takes it) I like a man with two last names. I'm Cordelia.
Wesley: (smiles) And you teach psychology.
Cordelia: I *take* psychology.

Giles walks behind Wesley with Cordelia's books.

Giles: She's a student.
Wesley immediately drops Cordelia's hand.
Wesley: Oh, well. I, uh... (swallows) Yes. (squares his shoulders) In fact, I am... here to watch... girls. Uh, uh, Buffy and Faith, to be
specific.
Cordelia: (steps closer, smiling brightly) Well, it's about time we got some fresh blood around here.

Really enjoy the little oddities of the Mayor's personality:
Cut to City Hall. Cut to the Mayor's office. He puts a sheet of paper into the shredder and listens to it whir through. He follows it with another. The camera pans up to his face. He's not a happy Mayor.

Mayor Wilkins: It's not working.
Trick: It's supposed to do something besides shred?
Mayor Wilkins: It's *supposed* to cheer me *up*. Usually using the shredder gives me a lift. It's fun.

I liked how the interrogation of Buffy and Faith was cut.

Got quite a shock when I learned that Faith had told Giles that Buffy had committed the murder. Considering that Faith seemed to care for Buffy, I hadn't seen that coming. Well, obviously Faith cares for Buffy, but most of all she cares for herself. Everyone else just has to take a backseat to her own fight for survival...
When it appeared as if Giles believed Faith I was even more shocked. Very glad he saw through Faith.

Wesley calling the council is understandable from his point of view. I felt kind of bad for him when he wants to help Buffy and her friends in the end and is simply ignored.

Poor Willow: She so upset when she hears that Xander slept with Faith. Love is a confusing thing... Well, here she has pined for him for years and he just goes off and gets layed by some random girl. I think it would been easier for Willow, if Xander had slept with Cordy for the first time as he had a steady relationship with her.

Really coming to like Xander again: It took quite a bit of courage to go to Faith's room and talk to her about the situation. And I don't mean the demon slaying courage, but the social interacting courage that can be way trickier than the demon slaying kind. :-)
One again Faith managed to surprise me in a bad way. I had expected her to try heavy innuendo or sex in order to get Xander off the track. I hadn't expected her to nearly kill Xander. Also scary that she gets a big kick out of it. (Faith would make a totally ruthless vampire. One of the over-sexed, brutal kind that has fun playing with its prey.)

The interaction between Angel and Faith is interesting. It seems for a moment as if he's getting through to her, but it's very short-lived. I also don't think that talking to Faith a lot will have any positive results. She's action-girl and isn't the "let's talk about it" type at the best of times. If she's going to accept responsibility for what she did, it's something that she will have to work out for herself.

One thing I totally don't get, especially after seeing the follow up episode already:
Faith saves Buffy and now all is kind of well for Wesley and Giles and - most importantly - the Council? Yes, it's neat that she saved Buffy's life, but before that she blamed an innocent person for a crime she committed and still refuses to accept responsibility for the death of Finch. Just find it odd that the Council didn't have her shipped to Britain anyway.
(This is probably were the needs of the plot are coming in.)

So Faith joins the Mayor in the end and becomes a spy for him. Wow. Just wow.


Doppelgängland
After Xander got some screentime in the episode "The Zeppo", this time around it's Willow time.

Anya arguing with the High Demon is fun. It's really tough to go from being a demon of revenge to being a high school girl.

A highlight of the show is Mayor Wilkins showing Faith her new flat:
Faith jumps up on the bed and bounces.

Mayor Wilkins: (appalled) Oh, hey, hey, hey! Shoes! Shoes!

Faith hops off of the bed and goes up to the Mayor.

Faith: (smiling sultrily) Thanks, Sugar Daddy.
Mayor Wilkins: (admonishingly) Now, Faith, I don't find that sort of thing amusing. I'm a family man.

Faith is totally amoral. Nah, not quite right. She knows that what she's doing is wrong. But Faith needs to take care of Faith, also rules are for losers. She's really good with justifying whatever she does.

Now for Willow. I found the following moments very interesting:

Willow: (smiles excitedly) You heard right, mister! I-I-I'm always ready to work some dark mojo. (hopefully) So, tell me, is it dangerous?
Anya: (dismissively) Oh, no. (shakes her head)
Willow: (disappointed) Well, could we pretend it is?

Willow: (appalled) It's horrible! That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil and... skanky. (aside to Buffy, worried) And I think I'm kinda gay.
Buffy: (reassuringly) Willow, just remember, a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was.
Angel: (without thinking) Well, actually... (gets a look from Buffy) That's a good point.

Willow: [...] I see now where the path of vice leads. I mean, she messed up everything she touched. I don't ever want to be like that.

Now I don't know any details regarding Willow's future, but I do know she will become a powerful witch and will at times abuse her power. It's really neat that the groundwork is layed so early on in the series.
We see that Willow is always soft-spoken. Even as a vampire she never gets loud.
She avoids conflicts. E.g. Vampire Willow doesn't bitch at Cordelia or Buffy. She either ignores them or walks off or moves in for the kill. There's no real argument, however.
Willow enjoys to have control of things and gets a certain kick out of dangerous situations.

Most touching scenes were Vampire Willow being relieved that Xander is alive and Buffy, Giles and Xander realising that "their" Willow has not become a vampire. Loved it that she got hugs from them all.

One thing I'm wondering about: What do the people at the Bronze now make of Anya? I mean they already know that Buffy and her friends are odd. But Anya, another high school girl for all they know, did allign herself with a bunch of vampires. Doesn't anyone find that a bit strange? - I guess I'm going to see if this point is ever brought up.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Got quite a shock when I learned that Faith had told Giles that Buffy had committed the murder.

Me too. Would you believe I've read this episode summarized as "Buffy behaves like Stalin towards Faith, driving her to the Mayor"? In the Consequences I saw, Buffy kept trying to reach Faith, and Faith was the one who pushed her away, tried to frame her and betrayed her in the end.

Wesley calling the council is understandable from his point of view. I felt kind of bad for him when he wants to help Buffy and her friends in the end and is simply ignored.

Welcome to a very, very tiny club. While Wesley got plenty of sympathy much later on AtS, he didn't get any at this point from either the characters (other than Cordelia) or the audience with a very few exceptions, such as yours truly and bimo, who wrote a pro-Wesley fanfic together, set at the end of the third season, before he became fashionable. Anyway, this is Wesley's first assignment. He doesn't know any of these people. He has heard bad things about Giles from Travers, whom he does know. So he reacts according to his training.

This of course is a disaster as far as Faith is concerned - and will have percussions both for Wesley and Faith that last for the rest of their lives on the show(s) - but given the circumstances, I can't see how he could have reacted differently.

Angel and Faith: there will be follow-up, is all I'm saying. Tiny sidenote, when he says, re: Xander, "oh, he forgot the safety word?" he's making an S/M reference which shows not just that he assumes (correctly) Faith will understand it but that he knows the current lingo himself.

Speaking of Xander: if Xander had been female and Faith male, this would have been called an attempted rape-plus-strangling scene, wouldn't it?

And yes, it took courage - and compassion - from Xander to show up, wanting to help her.

Doppelgangerland is great fun, and yes, Vampire Willow is so foreshadowing stuff.

The demon Anya is talking with is called D'Hoffryn. We'll see him again in season 4, 6 and 7.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Me too. Would you believe I've read this episode summarized as "Buffy behaves like Stalin towards Faith, driving her to the Mayor"? In the Consequences I saw, Buffy kept trying to reach Faith, and Faith was the one who pushed her away, tried to frame her and betrayed her in the end.

Really?!? Wow. It seems Faith had a strong fan lobby.
I find her character very interesting and can in parts understand why she acts the way she does. But I can in no way condone her behaviour. Yes, she most certainly had a hard childhood, but this does not make it all right for her to shift the blame to Buffy. Faith tries to appear tough and strong, but it's a facade. Deep down inside she's very, very frightened.
I've now also seen the next episode and Faith just continues to shock me. She has a strong connection with Buffy, but can't decide if she loves or hates her.


Welcome to a very, very tiny club.
:-) I don't mind being part of it. Wesley is fun. He is a bit shy and feels awkward when the attention is turned to him. And I love that he isn't super courageous. He has enough courage and presence of mind to stand up to vampire Willow, but when Cordelia sneaks up on him from behind he just screams. :-) Love it. I would be very much like him when confronting a vampire... - He still totally feels like William before his Spikeification.

Angel and Faith: there will be follow-up, is all I'm saying. Tiny sidenote, when he says, re: Xander, "oh, he forgot the safety word?" he's making an S/M reference which shows not just that he assumes (correctly) Faith will understand it but that he knows the current lingo himself.

Heh. Thanks to Picard/Q fanfiction the S/M lingo is familiar to me. Never underestimate the educational value of fanfiction. :-)))
Totally not surprised that Angel and Faith are familiar with this. They are both very dominant characters who also have a strong adventurous streak. They get a kick out of power games. It's interesting to compare this to Spike or Buffy. From their interaction around others I get the feeling that they're looking for equality in a partnership. E.g. the way Spike behaves around Drusilla or the way Buffy treats everyone with respect - not always, but most of the time. Yes, she may be a bit insolent, but there's never any doubt that she does respect Giles, Willow and Xander. She always looks for the best in everyone.

Speaking of Xander: if Xander had been female and Faith male, this would have been called an attempted rape-plus-strangling scene, wouldn't it?

Absolutely. I thought "rape" while I watched that scene and it totally disturbed me. The only difference is that Xander is young and part of him does get turned on. This does not make what Faith does any less okay. I'm also pretty sure that he would have tried to get away pretty soon if Faith hadn't been totally superior to him in strength. His body may have been turned on, but apart from that I got the impression that Xander is shocked by what she's doing and doesn't think it's the biggest turn on ever.

How comes Faith is so popular after scenes like this?
(Darauf antworten)

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Eh. Ignore that last "Darauf antworten". I just copied my entry over and copied one line too many.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Faith tries to appear tough and strong, but it's a facade. Deep down inside she's very, very frightened.

Yes. Fear is the way to the Dark Side, she says, quoting Yoda. (No, seriously, Faith's fall isn't identical to Anakin's but has several parallels, including a kindly alternate mentor figure of a supervillain who provides all the praise the light side guys don't give.)

Ah, early Wesley. *hearts him* Later Wesley, too, of course, but everyone does that, whereas early Wes really needs the love.

Thanks to Picard/Q fanfiction the S/M lingo is familiar to me. Never underestimate the educational value of fanfiction. :-)))

I know what you mean.*g*

Totally not surprised that Angel and Faith are familiar with this. They are both very dominant characters who also have a strong adventurous streak. They get a kick out of power games.

Indeed. Basically, the relationship with Buffy is the only one for Angel where he doesn't follow this pattern. (But then you can wonder whether Irish Catholic Angel hasn't something of a madonna/whore complex, and thus as a madonna and his salvation in human form Buffy is not to be thought of in terms of sexual power games, see also his reaction when Buffy literary jumps him in Bad Girls.) And Faith's intense love/hate relationship with Buffy is among other things one long power game - emotional power, too, the need to be important to Buffy in any way. (I remember one comment at the time was that Faith can't decide whether she wants Buffy or wants to be Buffy.)

How comes Faith is so popular after scenes like this?

Firstly, because she's a fascinating character and well played, but also imo because of the fanon tendency to whitewash ambiguous characters as Misunderstood And Meanly Treated. Nothing is ever their fault, it's all those judgmental heroes who make them do it. Which frustrates me to no end, because to me the appeal of ambiguous characters is that they really do have dark sides, do wrong things, hurt other people, and are responsible for if not all than for most of their actions. I've seen that in many a fandom (Highlander and Blake's 7 come to mind), and wasn't surprised to encounter the pattern here as well.

More about Faith once you've seen more, because I don't want to spoil you for what is a great arc.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

(But then you can wonder whether Irish Catholic Angel hasn't something of a madonna/whore complex, and thus as a madonna and his salvation in human form Buffy is not to be thought of in terms of sexual power games, see also his reaction when Buffy literary jumps him in Bad Girls.)

Great observation. It rings very true to me even after I've seen Angel interact with Buffy, Drusilla and Darla. His relationship with Buffy has a certain purity he treasures. Darla was an equal for him while they were both vampires, though he tries to give her the chance to beome a madonna figure when she comes back as a human later on. Drusilla on the other hand, he turned from saint to demon/whore.

Firstly, because she's a fascinating character and well played, but also imo because of the fanon tendency to whitewash ambiguous characters as Misunderstood And Meanly Treated. Nothing is ever their fault, it's all those judgmental heroes who make them do it. Which frustrates me to no end, because to me the appeal of ambiguous characters is that they really do have dark sides, do wrong things, hurt other people, and are responsible for if not all than for most of their actions.

Oh yes, I've recently discovered that there's an LJ group dedicated to the defense of Anakin, something they achieve by hating Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council. Now Obi-Wan made some wrong decisions, but that's what makes him human. And let's not forget that ultimately Anakin made some really, really bad decisions himself. Like you've said: If you defend characters and say nothing is ever their fault, you take away any power they have. Because they then can never ever be responsible for what they do. And if they aren't responsible for their damnation, they can also not take credit for their salvation.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Darla was an equal for him while they were both vampires, though he tries to give her the chance to beome a madonna figure when she comes back as a human later on.

And it's typical that they don't have actual sex while she's still in the "could be saved" category. Just sayin'. But the relationship with Darla is unique anyway, both for the fact they're equals as vampires and because if anything, the power balance goes more to her side, as she's his sire. Tim Minear, one of the great writers Joss had on the show, once cracked me up with his description of Angel's feelings for Darla as: "You're my mother and my lover and my damnation, and also, you're really pretty". Meanwhile, Drusilla of course...

he turned from saint to demon/whore.

Yes. It's interesting that Angel never makes any attempt to save Drusilla or to kill her. He knows what he did to her, and when he has his soul feels guilty, but the obsession went with her human self as soon as she lost her saint status. When soulless, Dru is a favourite plaything, but no more. (And of course he's always the dominant one in that relationship. The only one Dru ever gets to dominate is Spike; certainly not Daddy or Grandmummy, safe for that one siring occasion.)

If you defend characters and say nothing is ever their fault, you take away any power they have. Because they then can never ever be responsible for what they do. And if they aren't responsible for their damnation, they can also not take credit for their salvation.

Word, and so true for both Anakin and Faith. Their arc is powerful because it's their own decisions, not just external circumstances, which drive them. If you apologize what they did by saying it was all other characters' fault, you're selling them short.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's interesting that Angel never makes any attempt to save Drusilla or to kill her. He knows what he did to her, and when he has his soul feels guilty, but the obsession went with her human self as soon as she lost her saint status. When soulless, Dru is a favourite plaything, but no more. (And of course he's always the dominant one in that relationship. The only one Dru ever gets to dominate is Spike; certainly not Daddy or Grandmummy, safe for that one siring occasion.)

I find the powerplay between these four characters fascinating. They really have a pecking order. The sire always seems to rank higher than his/her childe. So when Drusilla turns Darla we get a whole new level of complexity.
William (pre-Spike) is just very young and vulnerable. Very intriguing to observe how he reinvents himself.
I get the impression that one of the main themes in Buffy and Angel is finding your true identity. What is your facade? What lies behind it? How are you really? These question seem to appear again and again, e.g. Willow versus VampireWillow, Angel versus Angelus, Faith who claims not to care, Giles versus Ripper, Joyce with and without cookie influence :-), and so on.