More S2 watching

[snick_backup]

1. I noticed this with S4, but it's become even more obvious to me here: I prefer the serious eps the first time around, but I enjoy the happy/fluffy eps more in the rewatch. So, here, "Reptile Boy" and "Some Assembly Required" and "Inca Mummy Girl" are all good fun, whereas I found them horribly cheesy before.

2. Okay, this quote? This quote is ironic and way creepy when you take Darla into consideration:

ANGEL
I hated the girls back then.
Especially the noblewomen.

BUFFY
You did?

ANGEL
They were just incredibly dull.
Simpering morons, the lot of them.
I always wished I could meet someone...
exciting. Interesting.

See? Buffy's really not even in the picture here. It's all about Darla.

3. You know, "Lie to Me" is a just a great episode. It introduces bigger, more morally gray questions than we'd ever seen before, the Spike/Dru scenes are fantastic, the plot with Billy Fordham is interesting (even if the actor wasn't all that great), and that last scene with Buffy and Giles is perfect.

4. Willow. Oh, Willow. How much she changed in just two seasons. You'd think her transition from awkward nerd to quirky alterna-girl would be a positive thing, but it's pretty clear from her comments throughout S4 (especially in "Restless") that she didn't so much grow out of her nerdiness as learn to hide it better. The longer I look at her arc over the course of the series, the more I marvel at how consistent it is, for the most part, and how depressing. She never accepted who she was, she just kept trying to compensate for it, via her guitarist boyfriend (not that I'm saying that's why she was with him, but she definitely liked the cachet), progressively funkier clothes, and of course magic. Magic became a key element in her perception of herself.

In S2, she's still a total dork, but she's a sweet dork, a genuine, sincere person. By early S4, she's ceased to be a person I can relate to or would choose to be close friends with (although I have a serious crush on her hair). I'm curious now to see just when this transition happens; I remember that ep in S3 when she gets kidnapped being a major turning point, but I'll need to see it again to compare.

5. And, riffing on #4 - who could have predicted in S2 that the three characters in the season who'd change the most over the course of the series would be Cordelia, Willow, and Spike? And by 'change' I mean experience permanent development, not just a temporary post-resurrection depression or post-coital soullessness. (I'd imagine some people would put Buffy in this list, too - have I mentioned today that I still can't quite see Buffy?. However, it seems to me that most of her character growth is at least glimpsed by the end of S2, and that the next five seasons then riff on that growth.)

Comments

[phoenixofborg.livejournal.com]

Re: Willow. I dunno, I thought the sentiment of 'jam yourself into a mold that doesn't quite fit you until you hear something snap' was something I could definitely relate to and empathize with- it struck me as a natural course of action for when you're not comfortable with herself.

Here's a question for you... Do you think Willow ever really did get herself sorted out? Because I don't think she really did. She never really works things out with herself, it just gets put on the back burner while they deal with the current crisis. True of them all really, but I think it's especially true with Willow, because she tends not to make a fuss until she outright explodes.

[snickfic]

it struck me as a natural course of action for when you're not comfortable with herself.

Let's see how to put this. I can see why she did it, but I don't like the person that resulted from it. I can sympathize to some extent, but that doesn't mean I want to be bosom buddies, whereas I think she and I would have gotten on fabulously in S2.

But the problem, to me, was that eventually it wasn't just a disguise; she pushed herself into that mold until things did snap and natural Willow attributes became permanently bent out of shape, to the point that I don't think she could have come back from the person she'd made herself into - even before the dark!Willow stuff at the end of S6. She could, hopefully, move on and grow more into someone less fractured and compartmentalized.

Now, as to whether she did that, I'm iffy. I try not to think about S7 because there's almost nothing in it that I liked, but my impression of it was that she was still depending on other people's expectations to define who she was supposed to be. She pretty much let Kennedy push her into their relationship. And she never, as I recall, really dealt with why she went dark. Magic, yes; but it wasn't magic that was the problem, it was her emotional dependence on it, and I don't think that was ever really addressed.

gabrielleabelle had a really interesting post recently on why Tara left Willow and why she (Gabs) didn't think Tara should have gone back, because of unaddressed issues. There's some interesting stuff in the comments, too, about how a lot of Willow's more harmful actions (eg, memory tampering) were never addressed at all. Good stuff.

[phoenixofborg.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I will so have to read that. I think I'm the only person in the world who was never in love with Willow/Tara to begin with.

Personally, I just think they all need major therapy Post-Chosen. Have since graduation, really. I mean, there have got to be some non-evil demon shrinks running around.

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

Oh, I *love* Lie to Me. I think it's a great episode that introduces a lot of the ambiguous morality that comes up later in the series. The final scene between Giles and Buffy is just fantastic. It's one of those scenes that just sums up the entire show.

And Willow. Oh, my precious Willow. Her development is so consistently well-done up till mid-S6. Love it. One of the major turning points for her is actually Doppelgangland in S3 where she gets to see herself as the confident vamp!Willow. After that, she slowly starts becoming more self-assured.

who could have predicted in S2 that the three characters in the season who'd change the most over the course of the series would be Cordelia, Willow, and Spike?

Yep. I'd agree with that assessment.

[snickfic]

One of the major turning points for her is actually Doppelgangland in S3 where she gets to see herself as the confident vamp!Willow.

I'll definitely be looking forward to that when I get to S3 in my rewatch. I loved Dopplegangland the first time through without even paying attention to the Willow character development.