Buffy - More Season 3 impressions (episode 21)

[thalia_seawood]

I should sleep, but I'm not at all tired. So I find myself writing down my thoughts about

Graduation Day - Part 1
I enjoyed the final two episodes tremendously. So expect this entry to be long and full of quotes. :-)


It's not really a relevant scene, but I got a kick out off the yearbook signing. This little conversation between Willow and Harmony so clearly brought back memories of my own school days. The only time you all of a sudden feel kinship to people you've always disliked and will always dislike is when you know you will never have to see them again. :-)

Harmony: Willow, will you sign my yearbook?
Willow: Yeah. You have to sign mine too.
Harmony: You know, I really wish we woulda got to know each other better.
Willow: Me too.
Harmony: I mean, you're so smart. I always wanted to be like that.
Willow: Thanks. You're so sweet.
Harmony: I hope we won't lose touch.
Willow: No, we'll hang out.
Harmony: Bye!
Willow: Bye!

Harmony leaves as Buffy walks down the stairs.

Willow: Oh, I'm gonna miss her.
Buffy: Don't you hate her?
Willow: (still smiling) Yes, with a fiery vengeance. She picked on me for ten years, the vacuous tramp.

Faith killing the scientist:
Quite interesting. It's very obvious now that she committs any crime just to please Mayor Wilkins. She doesn't even try to justify what she does any longer. She doesn't care why the Professor Wirth has to die, it's enough for her that Wilkins wants him dead. Also as Angel predicted she now has developed a taste for killing.

Faith and Wilkins:
I'm totally amazed by how much these two care for one another. I had thought that Wilkins just saw Faith as a tool that could be discarded, but over the two final episodes it becomes clear that he really cares for her. What makes their relationship so intriguing is that it's hard to classify: It feels partially like father-daughter, but it also has subtle romantic undertones. But most of all they seem to be friends.

Faith enters, in a pink/white dress, barefoot.

Mayor: Wow, aren't you a vision?
Faith: I feel I look stupid in this.
Mayor: You look lovely. Perfect for the Ascension. Any boys that manage to survive will be lining up to ask you out.
Faith: It just isn't me, though.
Mayor: Not you? Let me tell you something. Nobody knows what you are. Not even you, little Miss Seen-it-all. The Ascension isn't just my day. It's yours too. Your day to blossom, to show the world what a powerful girl you are. I think of what you've done, what I know you will do (caresses her face) no father could be prouder.
Faith: I hope I don't let you down.
Mayor: Impossible. Now come on, change back into your street clothes. I'll buy you an icee.

They share a smile.

I hate to say it considering what crimes they have committed so far, but they are shiny together. I actually found myself wishing them a happily ever after on the demon plain of existence.

Another little moment I treasure is Wilkins praising Snyder. The worried expression Snyder gets after Wilkins leaves is just priceless. He can sense something really bad is about to happen...

Wilkins actually confronting Buffy & friends in the library is a great moment. What adds to the power of the scene is that it's partly exciting, partly funny and partly scary. The moment when Wilkins states he's going to eat Buffy gave me the shivers, because, yes, that's really his plan.

Mayor: So, this is the inner sanctum. Faith tells me this is where you folks like to hang out, concoct your little schemes. I tell you, it's just nice to see that some young people are still interested in reading in this modern era. So, what are kids reading nowadays?

The Mayor walks to the table and picks up a book. Giles stands his ground and doesn't flinch at the proximity.

Mayor: "The beast will walk upon the earth and darkness will follow. The several races of man will be as one in their terror and destruction." Aw, that's kind of sweet. Different races coming together.
Buffy: You never get even a little tired of hearing yourself speak, do you?
Mayor: (chuckles, to Giles) That's one spunky little girl you've raised. I'm gonna eat her.

Buffy sending her mother out of town:
This makes a lot of sense. In a lot of TV shows, Buffy would have tried to get her mother out of town, but she would have stayed anyway. So it's good to see that Buffy is so consequent here.

I love the romance between Oz and Willow. In the last episodes, their relationship was on hold and in some ways they felt more like friends than lovers. Well, the romance vibes are fully back and it was nice to see them both so happy.

The fight between Buffy and Angel was well-done. So Angel can get pissed off after all; in his Angel persona he's always so laid back that the change was refreshing.

Faith shooting Angel:
Wow. Whenever I think Faith can't top herself with the evil doing, she does just that. She really wants Buffy to suffer and suffer and suffer.

And then we get another scene with Wilkins and Faith and I'm all "ooooooh, shiny" again. And because the Wilkins-Faith love needs to be celebrated before they are torn apart I'm quoting a big junk of their scene together:
Faith: What next?
Mayor: The Ritual of Gavrock. I have to ingest several of the inhabitants of this box.
Faith: Ingest?
Mayor: Eat.
Faith: You're wicked gross.
Mayor: (chuckles) Well, you don't have to watch. Just, you know, go home, take it easy. It's a big day tomorrow.
Faith: You gotta give me something to do. There's no way I'm sleeping. Don't you need anyone dead? Or maimed? I can settle for maimed.
Mayor: (chuckles) You little firecracker.
Faith: My mom used to call me that when I was little. I was always running around.

She falls silent. The Mayor observes her with a look of concern.

Faith: Tomorrow, at the Ascension and all that, am I going to get to fight?
Mayor: If everything goes smoothly, you won't have to. But how often do things go smoothly?
Faith: So you'll still need me in there.
Mayor: Always.
Faith: When I was a kid, a couple of miles outside of Boston there was this quarry. And all the kids used to swim there and jump off the rocks. And there was this one rock like forty feet up. I was the only one that would jump off it. All the older kids were too scared.
Mayor: Not you though.
Faith: Naah. I could do it easy.
Mayor: Get some rest.
Faith: Good luck with your spiders there.

Next scene: We finally get a new dose of shirtless, sweaty Angel in torment. If I played the drinking game, I could raise my glass three times. Yay!

I really like Anya in this episode. Her attempt to save Xander without making it look as if she does is very sweet.

One of my favorite Mayor Wilkins quotes: We don't knock during dark rituals?
This one made me laugh out loud. :-))

Buffy taking Faith's special knife in order to hunt her down is a very powerful moment.
The entire confrontation between Buffy and Faith rocks. Especially Buffy stabbing Faith and Faith still escaping in a way. There's love and there's hate and there's resentment and there's love. A totally fascinating relationship between the two characters. In some way, they are mirror images. Faith is definitely Buffy's shadow, her darker side that she will not be able to escape, but will have to accept as part of herself.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The only time you all of a sudden feel kinship to people you've always disliked and will always dislike is when you know you will never have to see them again.

Yes.*g* Although... no, not saying anything.

Faith killing the scientist: that's Faith definitely having crossed the line to murder, and as you say, not even caring about the reasons anymore. The demons she could probably justify to herself as being another species she kills as a Slayer anyway, even though the pathetic little bookseller demon was an early wake-up call. But not the Professor. He's the children in the Jedi temple. So to speak.

Faith and Wilkins: that's why I didn't comment on this aspect in your previous review. The great twist in Graduation Day is that he really loves her, and that this, not any of his evilness, is his downfall. I think a big reason why Faith loves him is that he rejected her "Sugar Daddy" play at the beginning, thus establishing he won't exploit her sexually contrary to all her expectations, and really treated her like a daughter all the time.

So Angel can get pissed off after all; in his Angel persona he's always so laid back that the change was refreshing.

You'll see more of that in his own show. As I said, it's a matter of perspective. Angel on BTVS is primarily there as Buffy's love interest and we see him mostly interacting with her, where he is fulfilling a certain role for her.

Her attempt to save Xander without making it look as if she does is very sweet.

Isn't it? *hearts Anya*

Buffy/Faith: oh yeah. What you said.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

He's the children in the Jedi temple. So to speak.

One big difference between Anakin and Faith that he never seems to get a kick out of killing. When he kills his fellow Jedi he's totally expressionless, putting on a hard outer shell in order to avoid feeling his conscience. When he kills the leaders of the Trade Federation there's one brief moment when we see his face - and he looks like someone drowning in a bad dream, there's more despair than hatred on his face.

Faith kills because she wants to please her father figure and because she enjoys violence. It makes her feel powerful when she feels inadequate inside.
Anakin kills because he loves Padmé. He convinces himself that the killing is necessary to ultimately gain greater power. For him it's the means to a greater end, not something he enjoys in itself.
This doesn't make him the better person, of course. :-)



Faith and Wilkins: that's why I didn't comment on this aspect in your previous review. The great twist in Graduation Day is that he really loves her, and that this, not any of his evilness, is his downfall. I think a big reason why Faith loves him is that he rejected her "Sugar Daddy" play at the beginning, thus establishing he won't exploit her sexually contrary to all her expectations, and really treated her like a daughter all the time.

Wilkins as a villain is a lot nicer than Palpatine. If Palpatine had been like this with Anakin, Anakin would most likely never have killed him.

[rayakina.livejournal.com]

It's nice to read about all this I watched years and years ago...makes me remember how I enjoyed the series! Ah, I miss those wednesdays where there was Buffy and then Angel on television at night and all day long I was already looking forward to both shows! :-)

[lyore.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling. Love reading these posts, since it reminds me of how I felt the first time I saw Buffy - and makes me fall in love with the series all over again.

The graduation episodes have special resonance at the moment, since I'm about to graduate from uni. I find myself thinking about missing the strangest things, as well as the people I absolutely can't stand.

Faith killing the scientist also gives rise to one of my favourite moments in season 7. Ahh, the continuity.

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

I am thoroughly enjoying your recaps asa first time viewer of the show. Your posts are nearly as addicting as watching BtVS for the first time was!

And I adored the Mayor - he's just so much fun, while being unrepentently evil.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Your posts are nearly as addicting as watching BtVS for the first time was!

Wow, that's a really nice compliment. Thanks! *smile*