Buffy - Season 4 impressions (episode 13)
Nov. 24th, 2005 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thalia_seawoodThe I In Team
For a summary click here.
- Even in the first minutes of this episode it's clear that Walsh doesn't know what to make of Buffy. She very wary of Buffy's influence on Riley.
- The relationship between Buffy & Willow has seen better times. They are not all that close at the moment; Buffy is way too distracted by other things. Willow tries not to be upset about it, but doesn't quite succeed. I can totally understand that Willow isn't happy when Buffy shows up with a whole gang of Iniative soldiers to the meeting with her friends.
- The relationship between Riley & Forrest is also shaken up. Willow feels second best to Riley and the Iniative, Forrest feels displaced by Buffy.
- Cute line by Willow: Everyone's getting spanked but me.
- Spike makes it quite clear that he wants nothing to do with Giles, Buffy and her friends. Any transactions between them are strictly business. - I love it that this backfires at him later in this episode when he needs help from Giles and has to pay for it. :-)
- So Walsh is Buffy's version of Frankenstein and Adam is her "baby".
- I was wondering who has the moral high ground so to speak: Buffy who simply kills the demons she fighting against or the Iniative who inserts chips into the demons and experiments on them. "Chipping" the demons has the advantage that they can live without being a threat to humans - however, we don't know what the Iniative is doing with the "chipped" demons. We don't see them making any attempts to talk to them or to give them the possibility to live a "happy demon life". On the whole, I prepare Buffy's approach. At least she sees her demon enemies as equals and doesn't simply call them all "sub-human life forms".
- I love all the points Willow makes regarding the Iniative. Exactly, we don't know their main agenda.
- Great moment:
Walsh: They do have keen eyesight, however. You might want to be suited up for this.
Buffy: Oh. (glancing at the military green around her) You mean the cammo and stuff? I thought about it but, I mean, it's gonna look all 'Private Benjamin.'
This gets chuckles from some of the commandos.
Buffy: Don't worry I've patrolled in this halter many times.
Walsh really feels threatened by Buffy. Not only is Riley fascinated by her, the other commandoes find her cool, too. If Buffy starts asking questions, everybody will become more inquisitive.
- Walsh has no concept of privacy. Watching Riley and Buffy having sex is just way out of line. But, hey, Riley is her boy and Buffy is the enemy. - Her moral compass is definitely skewed.
- Buffy's morning after having sex with Riley is as close to perfect as it gets by her standards. At least he has not disappeared and/or lost his soul. Unfortunately, he takes odd green pills and gets called away by Walsh immediately. And you just know things will now go very wrong.
- This sums up Riley quite nicely:
Buffy: I don't understand. Aren't you curious about all the science and research stuff they're doing?
Riley: Hm. I know all I need to know. We're doing good here. Protecting the public. Removing the subterrestrial threat. It's work
worth doing.
[...]
Buffy: You're really not one for asking questions, are you?
Riley: (smiles) I'll leave that to you.
- Walsh deciding to kill Buffy because it's "better this way" is chilling. I had guessed she wasn't the type of person to be swayed by her feelings, but still...
- Walsh's big mistake: Telling Riley a wrong story on how Buffy died without making absolutely sure Buffy *is* dead. I love how Buffy interrupts Walsh's explanations to Riley.
Buffy: (steely voice) Professor Walsh. That simple little recon you sent me on . . . wasn't a raccoon. (Walsh slowly faces the monitors) Turns out it was me trapped in the sewers with a faulty weapon and two of your pet demons. If you think that's enough to kill me, you really don't know what a Slayer is.
Walsh is speechless.
Buffy: Trust me when I say you're gonna find out.
- And Riley really is in shock now. He feels Walsh was lying to him and walks out on her, but he'll try to defend her later on.
- I didn't expect Walsh to die so soon. But seeing that she has lost her hold over Riley it makes sense.
ETA:
- Forgot to mention Willow & Tara:
Tara is extremely shy. She reminds me a bit of the Willow we see in early seasons. Love is in the air. :-)
For a summary click here.
- Even in the first minutes of this episode it's clear that Walsh doesn't know what to make of Buffy. She very wary of Buffy's influence on Riley.
- The relationship between Buffy & Willow has seen better times. They are not all that close at the moment; Buffy is way too distracted by other things. Willow tries not to be upset about it, but doesn't quite succeed. I can totally understand that Willow isn't happy when Buffy shows up with a whole gang of Iniative soldiers to the meeting with her friends.
- The relationship between Riley & Forrest is also shaken up. Willow feels second best to Riley and the Iniative, Forrest feels displaced by Buffy.
- Cute line by Willow: Everyone's getting spanked but me.
- Spike makes it quite clear that he wants nothing to do with Giles, Buffy and her friends. Any transactions between them are strictly business. - I love it that this backfires at him later in this episode when he needs help from Giles and has to pay for it. :-)
- So Walsh is Buffy's version of Frankenstein and Adam is her "baby".
- I was wondering who has the moral high ground so to speak: Buffy who simply kills the demons she fighting against or the Iniative who inserts chips into the demons and experiments on them. "Chipping" the demons has the advantage that they can live without being a threat to humans - however, we don't know what the Iniative is doing with the "chipped" demons. We don't see them making any attempts to talk to them or to give them the possibility to live a "happy demon life". On the whole, I prepare Buffy's approach. At least she sees her demon enemies as equals and doesn't simply call them all "sub-human life forms".
- I love all the points Willow makes regarding the Iniative. Exactly, we don't know their main agenda.
- Great moment:
Walsh: They do have keen eyesight, however. You might want to be suited up for this.
Buffy: Oh. (glancing at the military green around her) You mean the cammo and stuff? I thought about it but, I mean, it's gonna look all 'Private Benjamin.'
This gets chuckles from some of the commandos.
Buffy: Don't worry I've patrolled in this halter many times.
Walsh really feels threatened by Buffy. Not only is Riley fascinated by her, the other commandoes find her cool, too. If Buffy starts asking questions, everybody will become more inquisitive.
- Walsh has no concept of privacy. Watching Riley and Buffy having sex is just way out of line. But, hey, Riley is her boy and Buffy is the enemy. - Her moral compass is definitely skewed.
- Buffy's morning after having sex with Riley is as close to perfect as it gets by her standards. At least he has not disappeared and/or lost his soul. Unfortunately, he takes odd green pills and gets called away by Walsh immediately. And you just know things will now go very wrong.
- This sums up Riley quite nicely:
Buffy: I don't understand. Aren't you curious about all the science and research stuff they're doing?
Riley: Hm. I know all I need to know. We're doing good here. Protecting the public. Removing the subterrestrial threat. It's work
worth doing.
[...]
Buffy: You're really not one for asking questions, are you?
Riley: (smiles) I'll leave that to you.
- Walsh deciding to kill Buffy because it's "better this way" is chilling. I had guessed she wasn't the type of person to be swayed by her feelings, but still...
- Walsh's big mistake: Telling Riley a wrong story on how Buffy died without making absolutely sure Buffy *is* dead. I love how Buffy interrupts Walsh's explanations to Riley.
Buffy: (steely voice) Professor Walsh. That simple little recon you sent me on . . . wasn't a raccoon. (Walsh slowly faces the monitors) Turns out it was me trapped in the sewers with a faulty weapon and two of your pet demons. If you think that's enough to kill me, you really don't know what a Slayer is.
Walsh is speechless.
Buffy: Trust me when I say you're gonna find out.
- And Riley really is in shock now. He feels Walsh was lying to him and walks out on her, but he'll try to defend her later on.
- I didn't expect Walsh to die so soon. But seeing that she has lost her hold over Riley it makes sense.
ETA:
- Forgot to mention Willow & Tara:
Tara is extremely shy. She reminds me a bit of the Willow we see in early seasons. Love is in the air. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-24 01:24 pm (UTC)One of the themes of the season is the drifting apart of friends which happens during the first year of college quite often, added with some fantasy metaphors.
Maggie Walsh: I very much regretted her early demise, but the actress had become unavailable, and that meant the switch to Adam for the rest of the season.
http://www.sff.net/people/frants/hazyshade.html
no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-07 07:59 pm (UTC)One by one,the Scoobies are losing their cohesiveness. First Xander feels left out because Buffy and Willow have gone to college and he remains in his parents' basement; then Giles feels unnecesary as Buffy turns to Professor Walsh, and no one even remembered to tell him Buffy was dating one of the Commandos, while he continued to research; and now Willow feels left out as Buffy hangs with a new set of friends, so she goes on to develop her own friends. The major difference between Buffy and all the other Slayers is that she maintained her links to family and friends, and now that she's losing those links I remember feeling afraid for her.
It's sad that the actress who played Maggie Walsh on an episode-by-episode basis got other work and was unavailable - I think it would have been more fascinating to see the effects of a 'human monster' develop than the Frankenstein monster (which archetype they already explored in Some Assembly Required), but what I adore most about this show is Joss' and the writers' ability to take unforseen RL changes in their plans and still turn out excellent stories.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-12 10:13 am (UTC)Yes on both counts!