Saturday is tired

[shadowkat]

I'm thinking of going to bed earlier tonight and reading for a bit. I'm still struggling with waking up in the middle of the night and in pain.
So maybe Chamoille tea? I was trying to convince the doctor to prescribe muscle relaxants - but no, she thinks I should reduce my allergy meds, caffeine intake (decafe coffee and matcha lattes during the day), and drink more water instead. She's decided it's dehydration.

Well, she has a point. I'm taking way too many medications as it is. Mentioned this to mother, who felt the need to do a competition - apparently she's taking more than I am, and I have no grounds to complain.
I told her to stop - she was repeating some of the meds and giving me a headache. Mother had suggested the muscle relaxants - which is what she's taking.

Some doctors throw pills at you, mine is trying not to - considering I've already had too many pills from other doctors thrown at me.

**

Finished Buffy S3 rewatch - and as I mentioned on TV Talk - It's a mixed bag of a season. Ironically the weak link is Faith - and her relationship with Buffy, which should have been built better than it actually was. If it had been - I'd have cared more about the character. Such as it is - I was tired of her. Also, it reminded me of an issue I had with Whedon and his series (not just Buffy) - which is the whole Freudian crap. It was a bit too much on the nose with Faith and the Mayor (the guy turns into the Freudian equivalent of a giant phallic snake?). I think I liked Faith better when I first watched the series in the 1998-1999? But her character doesn't really date well? And has been handled better in other series since then? I liked her better on Angel actually, mainly because they built more of a relationship between Faith and Angel, than with Faith and Buffy. I think a huge mistake was not making Buffy bisexual or building up on that friendship in a way that they really became like sisters? As it is - Buffy doesn't really seem to have that much of a relationship with Faith - so it's hard to care. Angel seemed to have more of a connection with Faith somehow? I don't know. Other than Faith - I liked the season. I even like the Mayor as the villain.

The other difficulty I had with S3 - and it kind of drags towards the end - is one too many characters, and trying to do too many things, as a result several characters got lost in the shuffle, including Faith. Ensemble series are difficult to do well because of that.

Comments

[mefisto]

I doubt the network would have allowed them to make Buffy bisexual back then. Hell, they couldn't/didn't even do that with Willow when it would have been very plausible.

That aside, they took the Faith plot from the movie Single White Female. Faith is bisexual and coded that way subtly enough for the censors to let it go but obvious enough for most viewers to get it. She very much does want Buffy as a sister/lover a la that movie (or Black Swan, if you prefer), but they couldn't let Buffy go there because "she's not like us; she's a hero, you see". The movie plot metaphor doesn't mesh perfectly with the needs of show (The Mayor) so the Faith/Mayor segments feel somewhat forced.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, it is pretty obviously taken from Single White Female film and that existing story trope. Which at this point has unfortunately been overdone; I think it was overdone by 1990, maybe not? It works better if the character is a one-shot. Not as an on-going character, because you need to develop the character a bit more, and build up the relationship more. They didn't do a good job of building Kendra either. Both characters fall too much into various stereotypes and cliches. I get it - television writing is high-pressure, fast, and hard, so it's easy to grab for them. But Faith is a hard character to relate to or care about in S3. And honestly - the SWF trick was possibly done better in the two-parter Who Are You, in S4, where Faith does a body swap with Buffy then crosses over to Angel. And even that - would have worked better - if they built the trust and friendship more between Buffy and Faith, and focused less on Buffy/Angel. We should have had a solid friendship going between Buffy/Faith prior to Angel's arrival, then Buffy keeping Angel from Faith et al, would have worked a lot better? So would Faith's betrayal of Buffy, by joining the Mayor. A few tweaks here and there, and it would have worked, I think. But they relied too heavily on pre-established tropes and cliche, also metaphor to drive it, I think?

At any rate, I found Faith more interesting in S1 and S4 Angel than in S3 Buffy.

[mefisto]

"We should have had a solid friendship going between Buffy/Faith prior to Angel's arrival, then Buffy keeping Angel from Faith et al, would have worked a lot better?"

This.

[shadowkat]

I just ran into someone on tv talk who watched this show live in 1997 at 6 years of age? Ack. I want to shake the parents.

[mefisto]

6 is crazy, but my daughter started watching at age 9 -- she asked me to watch with her in case it was scary, which is how I started watching the show. My daughter saw S3 at age 11. She only got the surface level stuff and was oblivious to the rest.

[shadowkat]

Meanwhile, my mother was upset with me for sneaking in to see Fun with Dick and Jane at 9.

Granted I did see Excalibur accidentally at the age of 13 or 14. My parents didn't realize it was R-rated for a reason? We saw it with them at at least. And my brother was three years younger than me, so...

But 6 years of age?

This person was oblivious to most everything in it at 6, only got the surface level stuff. And didn't understand the appeal of Buffy/Angel at all (you wouldn't at 6, 14 yes, but anything under that? Unlikely.) They were shipping Xander/Buffy at 6, then moved onto Spike. They didn't understand the appeal of Riley or Angel, and again no 6-10 year old would?

They also didn't read any meta - they were 6? And it was in 1997?

I shouldn't be shocked. My cousin was letting her kids watch Game of Thrones and Glee at six years of age. Which is a whole lot worse.

[mefisto]

"My cousin was letting her kids watch Game of Thrones and Glee at six years of age. Which is a whole lot worse."

O.M.G.