I apologize for ranty rant ranting all over yr LJ. //embarrassment//
No need to feel embarrassed. I actually get an odd thrill out of criticizing the heck out of S7. Having just finished watching Farscape, which wrapped their series in a wonderful manner, without losing any characters, not over-shadowing old characters such as D'Argo and Chiana and Pilot with new ones like Sikousa and Nerante, I find myself looking at S7 BTVs and thinking, damn this could have been so much better.
Oh, completely agree regarding Andrew and everything you wrote above!
Andrew was written poorly in my opinion. Tom Lenk did a decent job with what he had to play with, but the role was so poorly written and far too cliche in places. I literally cringed during most of Andrew's scenes, and found Storyteller close to unwatchable. An example of a well-written and acted peripherary character was Jonathan. Jonathan up until S7 had actually been the Andrew role and was written deftly, with quite a few layers, and no cliches. Watching Andrew on-screen after having seen Jonathan, was too painful. Also an example of the writer masturbation, the writers got a thrill out of Andrew, he was in effect their Mary Sue.
You nailed my difficulties with Wood. Completely agree with you here. I actually liked him in the first nine episodes. I had troubles buying him "hiring" Buffy as a counselor, that seemed a stretch. Although I went along with it. Never bought Wood as Nikki's son or Nikki having a son - I might have if they'd built it better instead of just throwing it at me. Felt like bad fanfic the moment I heard it. Way too convienent. Also Wood dating Buffy? Ugh. Did not work. At ALL. You can't have Wood hire Buffy (who has no experience) as a counselor, (for almost no pay), then have him *suddenly* come on to her and date her. No build up. He goes from treating her like a student teacher he's mentoring/training/treating like a daughter to a woman he's going to date? Ew. That whole scenario completely squicked me. But that's mostly subjective. From an objective pov? Let's see - Wood hires Buffy as a counselor (she has no experience), then he dates Buffy (whom he has 0 chemistry with and seems to treat as a bit of ditz or student teacher), then we find out his mother was a slayer, then we find out that not only was she a slayer, she was killed by a vampire, and not just any vampire, but SPIKE, who just happens to be Buffy's ex. And oh, add to this it's where Spike got his duster! Sigh. It's not like Holtz and Angel, where we have flashbacks in S2 way before Holtz comes back, showing him chasing Angelus and Darla. Then he shows up the next season. We have an entire season building up his character showing where he comes from, his manipulations. No - the writers figure out Wood's storyline in the middle of S7, around episode 8. It's not plotted out. It's not planned. It's just convienently plopped in as a means of resolving Spike's trigger and creating conflict - sort like the amulet and scythe are convienently plopped in to resolve a situation. Not earned! I think it would have worked better if the writers knew at the start of the season who Wood was and what his role was going to be. Instead of figuring it out on the fly - because sorry, I could tell it was a last minute revelation. It was too convienent, and too poorly executed to have been planned. They might have juxtaposed events a little differently. Maybe written the character a bit better. Known what to do with him after the whole Lies deal. As a result the Wood storyline fell flat for me. I didn't care what happened to him. I didn't buy his relationship with Giles, Faith, or his role in the big fight at the end. He became a character that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Shame, since I found him intriguing in the beginning.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
Re: "These guys make Whedon and Minear look like wimps"
Date: 2004-11-01 05:56 pm (UTC)No need to feel embarrassed. I actually get an odd thrill out of
criticizing the heck out of S7. Having just finished watching Farscape, which wrapped their series in a wonderful manner, without losing any characters, not over-shadowing old characters such as D'Argo and Chiana and Pilot with new ones like Sikousa and Nerante, I find myself looking at S7 BTVs and thinking, damn this could have been so much better.
Oh, completely agree regarding Andrew and everything you wrote above!
Andrew was written poorly in my opinion. Tom Lenk did a decent job with what he had to play with, but the role was so poorly written and far too cliche in places. I literally cringed during most of Andrew's scenes, and found Storyteller close to unwatchable. An example of a well-written and acted peripherary character was Jonathan. Jonathan up until S7 had actually been the Andrew role and was written deftly, with quite a few layers, and no cliches. Watching Andrew on-screen after having seen Jonathan, was too painful. Also an example of the writer masturbation, the writers got a thrill out of Andrew, he was in effect their Mary Sue.
You nailed my difficulties with Wood. Completely agree with you here. I actually liked him in the first nine episodes. I had troubles buying him "hiring" Buffy as a counselor, that seemed a stretch. Although I went along with it. Never bought Wood as Nikki's son or Nikki having a son - I might have if they'd built it better instead of just throwing it at me. Felt like bad fanfic the moment I heard it. Way too convienent. Also Wood dating Buffy? Ugh. Did not work. At ALL. You can't have Wood hire Buffy (who has no experience) as a counselor, (for almost no pay), then have him *suddenly* come on to her and date her. No build up. He goes from treating her like a student teacher he's mentoring/training/treating like a daughter to a woman he's going to date? Ew. That whole scenario completely squicked me. But that's mostly subjective. From an objective pov? Let's see - Wood hires Buffy as a counselor (she has no experience), then he dates Buffy (whom he has 0 chemistry with and seems to treat as a bit of ditz or student teacher), then we find out his mother was a slayer, then we find out that not only was she a slayer, she was killed by a vampire, and not just any vampire, but SPIKE, who just happens to be Buffy's ex. And oh, add to this it's where Spike got his duster! Sigh. It's not like Holtz and Angel, where we have flashbacks in S2 way before Holtz comes back, showing him chasing Angelus and Darla. Then he shows up the next season. We have an entire season building up his character showing where he comes from, his manipulations. No - the writers figure out Wood's storyline in the middle of S7, around episode 8. It's not plotted out. It's not planned. It's just convienently plopped in as a means of resolving Spike's trigger and creating conflict - sort like the amulet and scythe are convienently plopped in to resolve a situation. Not earned! I think it would have worked better if the writers knew at the start of the season who Wood was and what his role was going to be. Instead of figuring it out on the fly - because sorry, I could tell it was a last minute revelation. It was too convienent, and too poorly executed to have been planned. They might have juxtaposed events a little differently. Maybe written the character a bit better. Known what to do with him after the whole Lies deal. As a result the Wood storyline fell flat for me. I didn't care what happened to him. I didn't buy his relationship with Giles, Faith, or his role in the big fight at the end. He became a character that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Shame, since I found him intriguing in the beginning.
TBC...