BTVS S6 Meta - Hell's Bells to Grave (focus on B/S and power plays)

Before I do the meta below, a couple of caveats/warnings:

1.Triggers: if you are a fan of the show or really dislike portions of the show, Buffy, it probably pushed your buttons in some major way. I've come to the realization lately that the movies, books, tv shows that people get obsessed with or emotionally invested in,
often trigger a strong emotional response and it isn't always something that they are conscious of or aware of. They can't always explain why they feel the way they do. Also in some cases that response is contradictory to another person's response to the same show. They are triggered by it, but the trigger is..different for them. And neither understands the other's trigger, or rather they may understand it on an intellectual level but not on an emotional visceral one.

If you are triggered in a negative way by the Buffy-Spike relationship or have a negative reaction to Spike in any way, you may want to skip this post. The same goes for the tv show or the sixth season. As stated in previous metas - life is too short to get riled up over a live journal post about a tv show.

I will refer to and discuss topics such as rape and sexual violence in the post below - if these upset you, you may wish to skip this post.

2. In my rewatch of the sixth season, I understood why a lot of fans of the series really don't like this season. It is a painful season to watch. The episodes from Hell's Bells to Seeing Red were horrific and heart-renching in places. But, if you keep in mind that the series is horror, they are brilliant. Each deals with situations that scare us in real life.
My difficulty with these episodes, is they are sloppy and/or too ambitious in direction and writing. At times, one feels like one is watching two different tv shows.

3. This journal is entitled Spontanous Musings. So the entry below is stream of consciousness in nature. The dialogue is how I remember it. There is bound to be typos and errors.

( It's not about right, its not about wrong, its about power - Buffy Season Six, the last six or seven episodes. )

(no subject)

Anyone who still finds Whedons' works interesting and is interested in how the author sees his own works and what his intent may or may not have been in them - with some really interesting questions regarding philosophy and religion - go here:

http://forum.wgbh.org/lecture/joss-whedon-cultural-humanist

Warning it's a bit long. But fascinating.


Also a couple of teasers:

Great throw-away line, which only Whedon can do:

It's in response to several questions he's gotten over the hour, which he clearly thinks the answers to are obvious, but is politely not saying os. And he knows time is short so he covers all of them.

"DVR, River, She loves Spike...or occassionally Satsu, and yes the first is incompetent."

(People asked how he wanted us to watch, and who would win in a fight, Buffy or River. Along with the other two questions obviously.)

He also answers questions regarding whether Angel and Angelus are meant to be one entity or two, and if two separate entities how does that address the redemption issue. Whether Fred's soul was completely destroyed and why.
What is meant by redemption. Oh and he was asked a very interesting question about the difference between telling a story and didactism. Or using a story to moralize or give a speech on a topic.