So I wanna take the opportunity to sit down and do some puzzling out of the Dark Willow episodes here. Because I'd pondered a lot on it in the past (never on LJ, for some reason) and have had some theories but nothing I've ever been happy with.

Since I now have a rewatch fresh in my mind, I'm gonna grab a transcript and start working it over.

Particularly, I want to focus on the effect of the magic. Does the magic take Willow over at some point? Or is she acting of her own will till the end? Does the use of magic follow more of the Wrecked addiction model or the pre-Wrecked "magic as a tool" model. Do Willow's control issues come into play? How much of this is identity crisis?

This isn't especially well thought out meta. This is just me brainstorming and throwing some ideas out there.

I welcome others to share their thoughts. Hell, I hope others will share their thoughts. Dark Willow massively entertains me, but I'm often at odds as to how to fit it into Willow's overall arc.

Come with me now, if you will, gentle viewers readers.

( Scary Veiny Willow says to click on the damn cut.Collapse )

You know, I was gonna do a "Who fucked up the worst?" poll for S6...but then I thought that it would be difficult to compare the various failures going on (Especially because placing anything beside trying to end the world...kinda pales). So let's take away the competition and just look at the characters individually.

This poll uses scales. 1 to 10. 1 being "This character didn't screw up hardly at all" and 10 being "This character fucked up enough to make Satan shake his head sadly". Use whatever standard you want, and rate how badly the characters screwed up.

Cause that's what S6 is all about.

( Personally, Clem would have gotten my vote as the worst fuck-up...Collapse )

Normal Again! Normal Again!!! *flails*

You know, S6 is an odd mix. It has some of the most brilliant episodes in the series (After Life, OMWF, Dead Things, Normal Again, Villains) and then it has some absolute duds (Wrecked, AYW).

At least the high points are really high.

I'll refrain from my Buffy-gushing because I'll get into what's going on with her whenever I do the BCBW on NA. But I actually wanna talk about Spike. Cause...wow...

We have one of my favorite Spuffy scenes in Hells Bells. Buffy and Spike are just sweet and genuine and thoughtful and pretty together there. And NA starts well, but then Spike takes a turn for the douchebag when he pulls an ultimatum on Buffy: Tell the Scoobies about them or he will.

Where did this come from? No, really. Why is it suddenly important to Spike that everybody knows about the past Buffy/Spike affair?

As I said, NA starts well. Buffy and Spike meet in the cemetery, and they have an actual conversation. It actually seems reminiscent of the "confidant" relationship Spike had with her pre-OMWF.

But things take a turn for the bad. Because Xander and Willow show up, and Buffy immediately, and blatantly, disavows any friendly overtures. In fact, suddenly she's on mid-S5 terms with him. What's more, Xander follows Buffy's lead and dismisses Spike.

That's when Spike lashes out against Xander, and then he's grumpy for the rest of the episode, culminating in his ultimatum to Buffy.

I suddenly feel the need to point you guys towards jen_nsync_landl's seasonal_spuffy contribution, In the Living Season.

Let me present my theory. Feel free to share yours. We see in Bargaining that when Buffy was dead, Spike had become a pretty fully-fledged member of the Scooby gang. He'd integrated.

However, things shifted when Buffy returned. Spike isolated himself from the rest of the group because of them pulling Buffy out of heaven. He focused his attentions on Buffy. All his reiterations that she's alone in the dark with him means that he's also alone in the dark with her.

But that all ends. Buffy breaks up with him, and Spike's adrift again. Much like he was in early to mid-S5, just he doesn't even have Harmony. His connection to his former social group is now broken. In NA, Buffy's denial of him in front of her friends ostracizes him fully. It makes him an outcast from his former comrades.

A lot of Spike's development deals with his wanting to belong. To be accepted. And he's losing all the acceptance he had had with the Scoobies. So he lashes out. He wants Buffy to acknowledge to her friends that there had been something between them. He thinks this will reform the ties. He thinks that this will, at least, recognize him as being something other than an outsider.

This is illustrated in NA in the scene in Buffy's room. Spike tries to approach her but is impeded by a sunbeam. He's isolated. There's obstacles between him and Buffy. In reality, those obstacles are due to his nature: a soulless vampire (hence the sunbeam). However, Spike doesn't realize this. He attributes it to Buffy's stubbornness. Her addiction to being miserable. Admitting to her pals that she had an affair with him will solve things, in Spike's mind.

Oh, Spike...

Note to newsletters or linky folks: I'd prefer not to share this one with fandom-at-large, so please please don't link to it. Thanks!

Okay, okay. I know that As You Were is the oft-mocked and hated upon episode of S6, especially for Spuffy fans. Indeed, I've taken part in such mockage myself. However, rewatching it has changed my view substantially, and I'm gonna attempt to defend it here by pointing out the good parts of the episode.

( No. Really. Hear me out!Collapse )

I just want you to save me
Should we try to get along?

Gah! Dead Things! Really, now. I know the whole party line about S6 dropping metaphor entirely and just tackling things dead on, and then I watch Dead Things and go "Huh?" Cause Dead Things is the most layered, metaphorical episode with pretty damn near every line resonating on so many levels. Enough parallels being drawn, you need a flowchart to keep them straight. And the metaphors. Prism of metaphors. So many angles. So many perspectives. So much. It's the culmination of Buffy's depression arc, finally going explode-y.

So. Much. Love.

I could write a bunch of different metas exploring this one episode because each scene can be analyzed six ways to Sunday, but just one awesome thing to point out in this fangirlish post:

Buffy: Dawnie, I have to.

Buffy says this line in The Gift before she jumps off the tower to her death.

She also says this line in Dead Things before she leaves to turn herself in to the police.

Dead Things has Buffy coming to the end of her rope. Isolated from life so much, so far from who she wants to be, no recourse but to escape by going to prison. Another, metaphorical, death for her. Removing herself, fully, from life. It's Buffy's surrender.

*huggles Buffy*

Also, a really awesome meta got linked to during the buffyversetop5 Classic Recs period. Mirror, Mirror: Life Serial and Dead Things revisited (BTVS) by selenak explores the parallels between Life Serial and Dead Things. Completely awesome. Go read it. Shoo!

Oh, and ending everything with a not-too-serious poll. Show your Dead Things love. Or...not. Whichever.

Poll #1480078
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 84

Dead Things?

I'm just about to get to Dead Things on my rewatch, but I'll have to put it off for later.

For now, let me fangirl a bit. :)

In my last Buffy Came Back Wrong post, gillo commented that Buffy having sex with Spike could be a metaphor for self-harm. This comment made me pause and then go OMG YES!

They set it up so well, too. In Tabula Rasa, we see Buffy being conflicted about Spike. About Spike's soullessness and her acceptance of it. By the end, it's obvious that she's trying to stick to her guns as the Slayer who shouldn't fuck a soulless vamp (Well, up until she kisses him, but we see her reaction to that in the next episode).

Indulging would be an integral act of self-harm. Keeping her from fully embracing her Slayer identity. Keeping her from even trying to get better.

There's typically two major motivations behind self-harming. 1) You feel numb and self-harming allows you to feel something. 2) You are so overwhelmed with emotions, self-harming is a form of release.

In some ways, Buffy having sex with Spike is a result of a bit of both of these. #1 is pretty much explicitly said at the end of OMWF ("I just want to feel..."). #2 comes more into play later on. During Smashed and Gone.

But the Buffy/Spike sex falls into patterns very similar to self-harm. It becomes a coping mechanism. Something one does to keep going. Almost a habit. Usually, it's something that you try to keep other people from finding out about. You conceal it. It provokes feelings of shame. You think, "Oh, I'm not gonna do that again!", but then you inexplicably find your way back to it. And while it makes you feel better for a short while, in the long-term it just doesn't work as a healing strategy.

*hugs this new metaphor*

Gonna have to expand on that when I do the next BCBW post...whenever that may be. Gone and Doublemeat Palace are interesting in their exploration of suicidal ideation and the monotony of depression, though the episodes, themselves, fall a bit short thanks to some hackneyed execution. Dead Things is the biggie, though, and I'm all bouncy in anticipation. *bounces*

I gotta say, unlike the rest of S6, Wrecked just doesn't get better no matter how many times you rewatch it.

In fact, the one good thing about the episode is that we get not one but two - TWO - naked!Spike scenes. *licks*

Edit: Crap! I forgot a question, so I'm reposting this. Which means that anybody who already did the poll has to do it again. But...um...oops? Informal poll is very informal. Sorry!

Here ya go. Have a poll about the first half of S6. Random S6 questions. Some inspired by old, old discussions. Some inspired by recent discussions. One requested by ubi4soft. :)

Enjoy.

( I snuck a surprise sexy question in there for you guys...Collapse )

No clue what this is? Read the first post in the series.

When we forget the real reason we are living for,
the worldliness of life becomes like quicksand that sucks you into a spiritual vacuum.
When that happens, we live less and less; we merely stay alive.

- Shian (TheDailyEnlightenment@yahoogroups.com)

These two episodes mark a turning point in the season. It's when things go from Bad to Really Bad. And get yourself a cup of tea, cause there's a lot going on here.

Now, just a reminder, this meta has a very narrow focus: Buffy's depression. How it manifests. How it's represented in the show. How it affects Buffy's actions and thoughts, as well as how others react. Of course, there's a whole bunch more going on than just the depression, especially when looking at the Buffy/Spike dynamic. However, I'm just honing in on that one aspect. Anything else is outside the bounds of this meta.

I feel the need to mention that I have no Grand Unifying Theory on this planned out or anything. This is literally me going through the episode transcripts and explaining Buffy's behavior as I go. If I'm inconsistent or muddled or confusing in anything, then...well...I have the convenient reasoning that depressed thinking often is inconsistent, muddled, or confusing. :)

You're absolutely free to disagree with something or offer alternate interpretations. There's a million and one different ways to interpret the events of S6, and I will never claim to have the One True View. Yes, Buffy's journey in S6 is something I personally relate to, but I'm not so emotionally attached to it that I can't bear people having different views.

I know that it's around these two episodes that Bitchy Buffy emerges. And, yes, she is bitchy through a lot of it. No way around that. However, I hope to shed some light on the reasons behind what she does because most of it is not done out of malice or intentional cruelty. I think even Bitchy Buffy deserves a lot of sympathy for what she goes through.

That all being said, let's settle in and analyze like crazy people.

( When you're wrong, you have a free pass to fuck up...Collapse )

Sort of an extension of my earlier quick post about the Trio which I wrote before I ate. Now that I've eaten, I feel like adding more thoughts about S6, in general. So forgive the spammage. I promise, I'll go back to studying and not posting by tomorrow.

None of these thoughts really warrant their own entry. So I'm just stuffing them all in this one. Random fangirling and thinky-thoughts ahoy!

- Willow, Willow, Willow. I love her so much, but she's pretty far gone on the Path of Badness by the start of S6. The mindwipe of Tara is blatantly abusive behavior. But the worst part? In Tabula Rasa after they've all found out where Buffy's been, Willow's "solution" is to erase Buffy's memory of heaven. How twisted is that? Pull her out of paradise and then take that memory from her.

I adore it. Willow's paving her road and she thinks it's all puppies and laughter, but it's leading straight to hell. Everything she does is borne from good intentions. But now that she has the magical power combined with the authority of leadership in Buffy's absence, she has free rein to abuse this power. That's the key difference between Willow in S5 and Willow in S6. Comparable levels of magic. However, S6 Willow was voted leader of the Scoobies. She has authority on her side. Witness her confrontation with Giles in Flooded. And, how much do I love that scene? Oodles. That's how much.

Tara rightfully calls her out on all this, though, in Tabula Rasa. Such a progression from Tara of S4.

( More - many more - S6 thinky-thoughts below the cutCollapse )

Well...one of the reasons...

From Flooded (The first episode with the Trio):

Jonathan: What are we gonna do about Buffy? You know sooner or later, the Slayer's gotta come after us.

Andrew: Bring her on.

Warren: We could, uh, we could hypnotize her.

Andrew: Make her our willing sex bunny.

They all laugh their dorky laughs again.

Jonathan: I'm putting that on the list!

*

Mmmmmm...foreshadow-y goodness!

What's funny now is not so funny when it actually happens in Dead Things.

First order of business, Cardboard Memorial won Best Drabble at the Fang Fetish Awards! Oh yeah. You know you feel the Spandrew love.

Congrats to all the peeps on my flist who also won shinies!

( Speaking of shinies, mine is below the cut...Collapse )

Second order of business, I have some thinky-thoughts about Buffy, heroism, and S6. This isn't meta, so don't be expecting anything insightful. There's no real point to it. Just things that stirred my thoughts while watching Bargaining and After Life.

Also, this isn't at all prompted or a response to recent discussions about The Gift and Chosen. Completely unrelated.

The beginning of S6 is interesting because S5 ended with the idyllic perfect sacrifice. A final heroic act. Saving the world. Saving her sister. Saving her friends. Fulfilling her calling. We see this type of sacrifice a lot in stories (With good reason. It's a poignant way to end a narrative).

But S6...the brilliance of S6...is it asks, "What next?"

( And S6 pondering under this cut...Collapse )

So I've always noticed Buffy's shoes in Bargaining because she's wearing these really cute high heeled strappy things which are really impractical for fighting or...you know...walking on grass. See the shoes?



And here's a nice close-up of them. Can't see the heels, but you can see what the shoe looks like. Cute, right?



But something struck me on this latest rewatch. Buffy's all death-groggy and out of it, but she's apparently cognizant enough to change her shoes before going up on the tower at the end! Because her shoes up there? Flat. Yeppers.



See, she knew that it would be impossible to walk on the grated walkway in heels. Very astute. Brava, Buffy!

This is almost as good as feral!Angel mysteriously finding some khaki pants at the beginning of S3.

Now I'm just trying to come up with some bullshit fanwank-y connection to Spike's S7 quote, "I'm drowning in footwear!" *ponders*

No clue what this is? Read the first post in the series.

"That's the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it's impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key."

- Elizabeth Wurtzel

Okay, I know it's almost pointless to post something on a Friday night. Especially on Dragon*Con weekend. But, dammit, I've been working all day to finish this and I'm just not that patient.

With these two episodes, we reach a major turning point for Buffy's depression in S6. Obviously, the bulk of the development occurs in OMWF. However, All the Way also has some valuable occurrences.

One of the most pivotal aspects in these episodes is, of course, her relationship with Spike. We see the beginning of Buffy's sexual desire for him, which will intermingle with her instinctual craving for the deathlike comfort he provides. For someone who is having trouble feeling anything, the shock of her desire for Spike will become difficult to resist, yet also difficult to accept.

So let's dig in.

( Because oftentimes things get worse when people know what the problem is...Collapse )

No clue what this is? Read the first post in the series.

"When you are depressed, the past and the future are absorbed entirely by the present, as in the world of a three-year-old. You can neither remember feeling better nor imagine that you will feel better. Being upset, even profoundly upset, is a temporal experience, whereas depression is atemporal. Depression means that you have no point of view."

- Andrew Solomon, Anatomy of Melancholy

"To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream."

- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

In these two episodes, we're gonna see Buffy attempt that life thing she'd been free from. She'll maintain the Mask of Okayness, sometimes resorting to morbid, off-putting humor to do so.

This is picking up the pieces. She's having to learn to live, even though she has very little motivation to do so. She goes forward only because of the pressure from her friends and from her responsibility to Dawn. She feels no desire of her own to work and try to manage life. But Buffy takes her responsibilities seriously, even when she doesn't want them.

The Trio are also introduced in these episodes. I wrote a post a while back about the Trio and Buffy's depression, cleverly titled: The Link Between the Trio and Buffy's Depression. In short: the Trio are thematically integral to the portrayal of Buffy's depression.

And, episodes!

( Let's give Buffy the award for Best Attempt at Giving a DamnCollapse )

I've been wanting to do this for a while, but it seemed like too great a task for me to realistically complete. And I initially had planned to finish it before posting but...well, that's just not practical (for one, it would be really, really long). So I'll just set up a tag for it and add to it when I have the time until I complete all the episodes. :)

And for those wondering about the FFL review...I had this project sitting on my hard drive a while. The FFL review is a priority once I get the time to sit down and watch the darn thing.

Okay, Buffy gets a lot of shit for her part in S6. And, yet, most people realize that she is depressed. Although I don't see her depression being described much more than, "She didn't want to be alive", which is true.

But I want to take a more in-depth look at that depression. How it's portrayed in the season. How it affects Buffy's behavior and perceptions. How the other characters react to it. And then her gradual recovery by the end of the season. And the best way I know how to explore that is to just take it one episode at a time.

( Because life just isn't hard enough...Collapse )

This was written for penny_lane_42 who needed a non-S7-spoilery defense of Spike in relation to the AR. And I think she and I share the same basic opinion of the AR, so I hope this is sufficient. Most of these points are conclusions I've come to after extensive pondering and discussion. The vast majority of the discussion has taken place in flocked posts, though.

I would prefer this not be linked to by any comms or link round-up posts. I don't feel up to hosting a fandom-wide discussion on the topic at this time. Individual recs to friends are fine, though.

As a note to those not in the know, I'm an ardent feminist and very vocal about my anti-rape stance. Yes, these views were difficult to reconcile with my love for Spike. And I'm still of the opinion that the writers made an error of judgment in including an attempted rape scene because of the larger cultural context and issues that go along with it.

Now, onto the post.

( Five points about the Seeing Red attempted rapeCollapse )

Okay, serious poll time. These are some poll questions prompted by discussions I've had in various places in the past few weeks, but I've never addressed any of these directly (well, one of them). There are no right or wrong answers on this one. A few are highly speculative. And the first two questions are completely unrelated to the last three questions. These have just been bouncing around my head for a while so I'm gonna smush them into one poll because I can.

Feel free to share your thoughts on these, especially if you choose "Other" on any of them. While I've made my opinion on most of these fairly well-known in comments, this poll isn't meant to be leading or anything. I'm just curious to hear other viewpoints. :)

Oh, and this non-comic reader is highly amused by the latest comic release for S8. Joss keeps reminding me why I love him so much.

( Poll under the cut. Only five questions.Collapse )

My post on Buffy's Angel Issues got a lot of reaction, which I honestly wasn't expecting. Because it's one of those things I intuitively interpret from Buffy's character arc, and I just kinda take it as a given now.

But I find myself puzzled by a few reactions, in particular. And, because I am Verbose Girl, I feel like clarifying and elaborating.

There were a couple comments to the effect that Buffy's treatment and attitude towards Spike were not influenced by her S2 experiences with Angel but were, instead, a result of Spike's own actions and her detection of his moral failings.

And...to be quite honest...I don't see this view as mutually exclusive with the interpretation I put forth. Even without the Angel incident, Buffy could well have acted completely the same towards Spike. It's impossible for me to say because I'm not the type of fan to speculate on that.

But saying that Buffy would have rejected Spike anyway doesn't really have any connection to the Angel Issues interpretation, and is really rather beside the point.

( I think things might become simpler if I just become a Giles/Jenny shipper...Collapse )