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rabid1stAnd so I asked for S7 of Buffy and my sweetie delivered it to my holiday stocking...all tied up in a bright bow.
I would like to say that on another viewing the end of Buffy got better.
I would like to say that...but I can't! It stank. In some ways it stank more than ever. There was the scythe...and Angel...and the costume jewelry version of a coherent plot. There was the stupid villain and the even stupider solution of spreading misery to the masses. A solution based NOT on the strength of the heroine but on blind luck and magic. Seven years of character development were blown carelessly into the wind like the seeds of a dandelion...SIGH! The core theme of the series became...not growing up but growing doughy.
Yes, my hate was simmering. Then, I made the mistake of watching the Joss Whedon retrospective. The one where he counts down his favorite episodes and waxes rhapsodic about his actors. I didn't want to cry but I felt the tears pricking my eyelids and worst of all I felt that old familiar urge to give that awful...AWFUL man a hug.
"We could have gone on...but I ran out of energy," he said. And it was almost...ALMOST the admission of guilt I needed to start to let go. But then I remembered how Buffy made that speech in the kitchen about Spike not being there alone and then went and threw herself at Angel and how ANGEL had made a deal with evil people to get the magic pendant and not only didn't he bother to mention it...there were never any consequences and I kick my urge to hug under the bed. You can't make it up to me with snuggly reminiscence Mr. Girl Power.
Write your way out of this mess you created...if you can!
I would like to say that on another viewing the end of Buffy got better.
I would like to say that...but I can't! It stank. In some ways it stank more than ever. There was the scythe...and Angel...and the costume jewelry version of a coherent plot. There was the stupid villain and the even stupider solution of spreading misery to the masses. A solution based NOT on the strength of the heroine but on blind luck and magic. Seven years of character development were blown carelessly into the wind like the seeds of a dandelion...SIGH! The core theme of the series became...not growing up but growing doughy.
Yes, my hate was simmering. Then, I made the mistake of watching the Joss Whedon retrospective. The one where he counts down his favorite episodes and waxes rhapsodic about his actors. I didn't want to cry but I felt the tears pricking my eyelids and worst of all I felt that old familiar urge to give that awful...AWFUL man a hug.
"We could have gone on...but I ran out of energy," he said. And it was almost...ALMOST the admission of guilt I needed to start to let go. But then I remembered how Buffy made that speech in the kitchen about Spike not being there alone and then went and threw herself at Angel and how ANGEL had made a deal with evil people to get the magic pendant and not only didn't he bother to mention it...there were never any consequences and I kick my urge to hug under the bed. You can't make it up to me with snuggly reminiscence Mr. Girl Power.
Write your way out of this mess you created...if you can!
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-28 04:20 am (UTC)I have no idea what *my* reaction will be when I finally re-watch the eps.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-28 04:59 am (UTC)There were so very many plot, character, theme and style flaws with season 7. I try to rant about one at a time, so here I go ...
The military tactics suck hairy donkey balls. This is a perennial weakness with the whole series, but season 7 is notably poor in this aspect simply because so much is made of Buffy being a general and the forces of good being an army, and the emphasis on leadership and training. Yet they have a Bringer in their hands and Giles wantonly kills it before they can get any good information from it. The entire final battle in Chosen is laughably stupid ... self-inflicted wounds right where one must hold a weapon? Spilling blood before facing a horde of primal vampires? Standing on the edge of the chasm and saying "we'll be fine as long as they don't spot us"? Assinine.
They never captured a Turok-Han to experiment on it. They never interrogated the First in an intelligent way, even though it was the classic villain which was just BUSTING to reveal its plans. Research was minimal. The only evidence of battle tactics was when Buffy staged the slaying of the first Ubie, which didn't make any sense at all ... was she more powerful with an audience?
I still find it hard to believe that in 7 years Buffy never refined her combat strategy. I realise it would be difficult to plot seasons-long development in this field, but come on ... that final battle was just ridiculous.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-28 06:41 pm (UTC)I hung on to that almost-admission by Joss, too. Until I started watching again and just grr-argh.
hi there
Date: 2005-01-02 08:19 pm (UTC)Yes...it is a paradox!
Date: 2005-01-02 10:00 pm (UTC)BTW, if you want to read (what people tell me is) a better version of S7. You can go to my site and read my story ICHNOBATE.
Find it at:
http://www.geocities.com/rabid1st/fanfiction.html
And then click on ICHNOBATE!
Re: Yes...it is a paradox!
Date: 2005-01-04 12:44 am (UTC)oooh
Date: 2005-01-04 01:00 am (UTC)Thanks for the Oooh!
Date: 2005-01-04 01:10 am (UTC)Rae