A friend suggested that it might have been interesting had Willow intervened to save Spike from Robin
I agree with your friend. That would have actually in some respects worked better. It also would have made the episode a little less offensive. But unfortunately the writers felt the need to make every episode about Buffy - it was unfortunately a series that focused on one character, with the others supporting, as opposed to a more ensemble effort. (It is interesting to note that all of Whedon's later series and movies do not have a title character, and tend to be ensembles. I think he felt constrained after a bit by the "lead character" framework, which isn't true to life or our reality anyhow.) As a result of the lead character framework or solo pov - a lot of tv series tend to be a bit stuck. You can't have episodes that focus too much on other characters, well you can - but the lead must be involved and it must reflect on them somehow. It's very hard to pull off that sort of dynamic in the limited time frame they are expected to work within.
Also they seemed obsessed with the sick mother/wounded boy(child) theme - a bit more so than they should have been. Very Freudian. And used a lot in both series. (Whedon wrote the series and the original movie in part for his own sick mother, who had died before she could see either. And I think that to an extent overshadowed the series - and became a recurring, if subconscious theme.) I know the sick mother bit was Whedon's idea, with Fury and Goodard putting their own twist on it. (Keep in mind Fury wrote the other episode that focused on this - the one in S3, where the vampire kidnaps Joyce, and Giles has taken away her powers - which in many ways is the companion piece to this one. The two episodes mirror each others themes and structure in a lot of ways.)
I think if they'd gone the Willow route, some of that would have been watered down and it would have been a far less controversial episode.
Part of the problem with S7 was that it had too many characters and took the focus away from a lot of the core characters. They made the mistake, which tv shows often do, of introducing a lot of new ancillary characters to the story in the last two seasons. Mainly because the writers thought at the time the series would continue - that was their aim. (Just because Whedon was going to stop being showrunner, didn't mean another writer couldn't head it - that happens all the time - Supernatural, Marvel Agents of Shield, West Wing, ER, Greys Anatomy, the list is endless. 98% of tv shows change head writers half way through - they have to because the writers burn out. What they can't change so easily is the lead or star, unless they are ensemble casts like Marvel Agents of Shield - hence the drift to that format.) If the series had continued - this wouldn't have been as big a problem, but since it was the last season - the new characters defused the story, too busy, too much, in too short a time.
Like you said, LMTP was jam-packed to begin with - in part because of all of that.
I liked the episode better than most - but I knew while watching it that first time, heck I'd been spoiled on it, so knew in advance, that it would piss off a lot of fans and why. Which wouldn't have happened if they'd taken a slightly different tact.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2014-10-18 02:12 pm (UTC)I agree with your friend. That would have actually in some respects worked better. It also would have made the episode a little less offensive. But unfortunately the writers felt the need to make every episode about Buffy - it was unfortunately a series that focused on one character, with the others supporting, as opposed to a more ensemble effort. (It is interesting to note that all of Whedon's later series and movies do not have a title character, and tend to be ensembles. I think he felt constrained after a bit by the "lead character" framework, which isn't true to life or our reality anyhow.) As a result of the lead character framework or solo pov - a lot of tv series tend to be a bit stuck. You can't have episodes that focus too much on other characters, well you can - but the lead must be involved and it must reflect on them somehow. It's very hard to pull off that sort of dynamic in the limited time frame they are expected to work within.
Also they seemed obsessed with the sick mother/wounded boy(child) theme - a bit more so than they should have been. Very Freudian. And used a lot in both series. (Whedon wrote the series and the original movie in part for his own sick mother, who had died before she could see either. And I think that to an extent overshadowed the series - and became a recurring, if subconscious theme.) I know the sick mother bit was Whedon's idea, with Fury and Goodard putting their own twist on it. (Keep in mind Fury wrote the other episode that focused on this - the one in S3, where the vampire kidnaps Joyce, and Giles has taken away her powers - which in many ways is the companion piece to this one. The two episodes mirror each others themes and structure in a lot of ways.)
I think if they'd gone the Willow route, some of that would have been watered down and it would have been a far less controversial episode.
Part of the problem with S7 was that it had too many characters and took the focus away from a lot of the core characters. They made the mistake, which tv shows often do, of introducing a lot of new ancillary characters to the story in the last two seasons. Mainly because the writers thought at the time the series would continue - that was their aim. (Just because Whedon was going to stop being showrunner, didn't mean another writer couldn't head it - that happens all the time - Supernatural, Marvel Agents of Shield, West Wing, ER,
Greys Anatomy, the list is endless. 98% of tv shows change head writers half way through - they have to because the writers burn out.
What they can't change so easily is the lead or star, unless they are ensemble casts like Marvel Agents of Shield - hence the drift to that format.) If the series had continued - this wouldn't have been as big a problem, but since it was the last season - the new characters defused the story, too busy, too much, in too short a time.
Like you said, LMTP was jam-packed to begin with - in part because of all of that.
I liked the episode better than most - but I knew while watching it that first time, heck I'd been spoiled on it, so knew in advance, that it would piss off a lot of fans and why. Which wouldn't have happened if they'd taken a slightly different tact.