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shadowkatIt's cold, and gray, and gloomy outside. The Oak Tree outside my window is finally shrugging off it's leaves.
Me: the tree outside my window is holding onto its leaves and stubbornly not letting go of them.
Mother: Is it an oak?
Me: An oak?
Mother: Oaks tend to hold onto their leaves for a long time.
Re-watched Buffy S5, Episode 6 "Family" written and directed by Whedon, and Angel S2, "Untouched", written by Mere Smith and directed by Whedon - and I thought whoa, both these episodes feature characters who have abusive and controlling fathers. And some of the same dialogue? Whedon literally took dialogue from Smith and inserted it in Family. The dialogue exchange between Bethany (the victim of the week in Angel) is the same as the exchange between Tara and her father in Family.
Whedon definitely has a thing for "abusive fathers" in his stories.
Family is a better episode than I remembered - if you ignore Tara and her abusive family. It's notable for being among the first roles Amy Adams had, prior to becoming successful in film. Far more successful than any of the people in Buffy. Adams plays Tara's Cousin Beth, which is a kind of thankless role, with little to no depth, and it's never clarified why Cousin Beth is wandering about with Tara's brother and father, or even there. Rumor has it - that Whedon had originally intended to have Tara be a wood nympth, but changed his mind. Which was why Tara screwed up Willow's locate all the demons spell way back in S4. Now, Whedon switched it around, so Tara really isn't a demon or magical creature, just a witch who has magical abilities. But has been told by her father that she's a demon and that's where her power derives from.
This is weirdly similar to Untouched, where Bethany's father abuses and controls her through her power, just as WRH does. Manipulating her. By stating her power is bad and makes her a monster, they manipulate her into using it to hurt others. Angel and Cordelia manage to get it across to Bethany that she has choices, and she chooses what to do with her power.
Just as Willow, Buffy, et al get across to Tara that how she chooses to use her power is important, and she doesn't have to do what her father says, and can break from him. We're your family.
Found family is a heavy theme in both Angel and Buffy. And both series main characters, recurring and otherwise - all have dysfunctional families that they are kind of fleeing or spending as little time with as possible? Also, it's odd that most of the characters appear to either be only children or have no sibling relationships to speak of? Buffy gets a sister - but the sister didn't exist prior to S5. Xander, Willow, and Cordelia don't appear to have siblings at all. Angel does - he kills them. Spike doesn't to the best of my knowledge. Granted it's easier to write and produce, not to mention cheaper. But no one on these shows have a functional and happy family life.
Also, Riley is the most under-developed main character in this series next to OZ. They develop everyone in S5 more than Riley. All we know about Riley is he's from Iowa, and GI Joe aka Military Boy. Also that he needs to be needed or the center of attention. Tara's development isn't great - but she has more than OZ, Harmony, and Riley.
In S5, each of the supporting characters get their own episode: Tara gets Family, Spike gets Fool for Love, Dawn gets the Real Me, and Anya gets the episode with the Troll. This may be the only season in which Giles doesn't get a Giles centric episode? Not sure yet. I don't remember Giles getting a Giles centric episode this season. I don't think Willow got one either? Xander does. (I can see why Giles and Willow fans may not have loved S5?)
Riley and Spike both have brief scenes here, but notably the opposite of each other, depicting their arcs going in opposite directions, and somewhat ironic and subversive at that. I think it's what I liked about it? We have Spike reluctantly helping Buffy, watching over her, and aiding her in various supportive ways, without expecting any attention or much of anything at all in return. While we have Riley, whining that Buffy's not confiding in him and hiding stuff (kudos to Riley for noticing and he's right - no one else did), off drinking in a bar, and flirting with vampire chicks. Suddenly both characters got interesting?
After No Place Like Home, I kept wondering when Buffy told everyone that Dawn was the key, and more importantly who she told? Not everyone knows. A select few do. I thought she told them right after she found out. But no.
The only person she tells is Giles, no one else. And she informs Giles - that she can't tell anyone else - because she doesn't know what they'll do.
They could tip off Dawn, and Dawn could freak and whoops. So Buffy shifts from being annoyed by having a little sister and wishing she could get rid of or away from said sister, to suddenly being overly protective of her sister, and treating her as if she's her own kid. Giles had suggested sending Dawn away but Buffy nixes it as not possible. Also Buffy moves out of her dorm room and back home with Dawn - she had a nice single, corner room with two doors. (Although we never saw much of it except when she makes a point of moving out of it, with the help of her friends not her mother or father). Giles suggests sending Dawn to the father - who has taken off to Spain with his secretary. The father goes from being semi-present, and Buffy visiting in LA on occasion, to bailing completely, and not being around at all. The father has been rewritten as a dead-beat Dad, when before he was just sharing custody with Joyce, and saw Buffy in the summer and occasionally during the school year.
The entrance of Dawn changes the characters and their relationships. Prior to that, Buffy and Riley were doing pretty well - the only issue was Buffy was more driven to patrol and something was throwing her off - most likely the spell. The thunderstorm disrupting their fun beach picnic in Episode 1, Buffy vs. Dracula - most likely wasn't just the coming of Dracula, but also the creation of Dawn.
At any rate, what is interesting in No Place Like Home and Family, is Buffy chooses not to tell anyone the truth about Dawn but Giles. But at the same time she's done a complete 180 regarding Dawn, which annoys and confuses Dawn, and Riley. Riley picks up on it. And asks, WTF, Buffy? And Buffy sidesteps the question or shrugs if off, pissing Riley off. Her other friends are so self-absorbed and caught up in their own crap, that they don't really notice anything is amiss, or pick up on Buffy's odd behavior related to Dawn.
It's similar to Angel, who also doesn't tell his friends that he is dreaming of Darla, and having vivid dreams. They notice that he's off, but when they pry, he puts them off. Also Angel isn't someone you'd want to pester too much or bother. Angel's keeping his issues a secrete out of embarrassment and guilt. Buffy is keeping her secret out of a desire to protect Dawn.
I can't remember when Buffy tells people about Dawn, or who finds out? I think she tells everyone after "Into the Woods"? Because I don't think Riley knows or ever finds out? That's partly what broke them up - her inability to tell him that Dawn is the key and to put him first, because of it. She was having difficulty doing it before that - but with Dawn, it's impossible. Riley does have to leave - in order for Buffy to make the sacrifice she does at the end of the season. And for Buffy to reach the state of depression that she reaches, and to allow Spike in. If Riley didn't leave - a lot of that couldn't have happened. Also, it's clear from this episode that Whedon has no idea what to do with Riley.
The people who know by the end of S5, and after are: Giles, Anya, Spike, Tara, Willow, Xander, and Dawn. That's it. Basically the folks standing in the Magic Shop facing off Tara's Family - in Family. Riley is notably absent in that scene. The main cast for S5 is shown behind Buffy. Whedon makes it clear in that scene that Spike is now part of that main cast, and Riley is on his way out. Spike also reluctantly helps in three ways, he helps kill the demons, tells them what type of demons they are, and demonstrates that Tara can't be a demon and that it's a family legend the father has been using to keep the women in his family in line. (Women as demons - is a trope that Whedon keeps playing with in both series, and undercuts, and subverts. It's an old religious horror trope - that Whedon keeps making fun of and undercutting. Patriarchal figure controls women by demeaning them. Caleb is another example of this.)
I'd forgotten Untouched completely, and hadn't realized Whedon directed it, while Mere Smith wrote it. Or how various themes in it were similar to Family. Of course I hadn't watched them closely together either.
Cordy has a vision of a young woman running for her life. Angel finds the young woman (Bethany), but her chasers have been smashed. Angel quickly determines the young woman has powers, after she sends an iron rail through his shoulder. Turns out, Bethany is staying with Lilah, after Lilah recruited her on a college tour via WRH. Notably absent from the episode is Kate, who isn't in that many episodes in S2, and slowly disappears from the series. I think they chemistry tested her and Angel, and it didn't click?
Kate/Angel pairing reminds me of the Buffy/Riley pairing - neither worked, so the writers eventually dumped it.
The Darla/Angel dreams continue - and Darla is reminding Angel of the last time she and Angelus had great sex. It was after he raped and killed the gypsey girl, who was bound and tagged and delivered to him by Darla as a gift. The writers shy a little south of telling us that he raped the girl, although it's strong implied by the episode - in that Bethany clearly has been raped repeatedly by her father, and molested, and sees sex as a means to an end. And even offers to have sex with Angel, who turns her down flat (partly because it's after a dream of having sex with Darla, while the gypsey girl lay bound and gagged watching - and in the dream, she's Bethany). Darla is actually there when Bethany confronts Angel in his bedroom - although not visible, she's lurking in the shadows. The bed is rumpled, as if she'd been in it sleeping with Angel (which Bethany takes note of, and Angel is thrown by).
Wes is barely in this episode, as is Gun, Cordelia is more involved. Wes gets across his insighfulness on father's and rather brusque approach, while Cordelia continues her Gunn project - by pushing Angel into paying Gunn for helping them. I actually like Cordelia's scenes. She tells Bethany not to bone Angel. And not to hurt them. And also that she has no interest in Angel herself. He's not her type.
And we get a bit more on Lilah, who is basically the female version of Lindsey. Along with Holland Manners - who is clearly the manipulative villain - doing all the machinations.
Me: the tree outside my window is holding onto its leaves and stubbornly not letting go of them.
Mother: Is it an oak?
Me: An oak?
Mother: Oaks tend to hold onto their leaves for a long time.
Re-watched Buffy S5, Episode 6 "Family" written and directed by Whedon, and Angel S2, "Untouched", written by Mere Smith and directed by Whedon - and I thought whoa, both these episodes feature characters who have abusive and controlling fathers. And some of the same dialogue? Whedon literally took dialogue from Smith and inserted it in Family. The dialogue exchange between Bethany (the victim of the week in Angel) is the same as the exchange between Tara and her father in Family.
Whedon definitely has a thing for "abusive fathers" in his stories.
Family is a better episode than I remembered - if you ignore Tara and her abusive family. It's notable for being among the first roles Amy Adams had, prior to becoming successful in film. Far more successful than any of the people in Buffy. Adams plays Tara's Cousin Beth, which is a kind of thankless role, with little to no depth, and it's never clarified why Cousin Beth is wandering about with Tara's brother and father, or even there. Rumor has it - that Whedon had originally intended to have Tara be a wood nympth, but changed his mind. Which was why Tara screwed up Willow's locate all the demons spell way back in S4. Now, Whedon switched it around, so Tara really isn't a demon or magical creature, just a witch who has magical abilities. But has been told by her father that she's a demon and that's where her power derives from.
This is weirdly similar to Untouched, where Bethany's father abuses and controls her through her power, just as WRH does. Manipulating her. By stating her power is bad and makes her a monster, they manipulate her into using it to hurt others. Angel and Cordelia manage to get it across to Bethany that she has choices, and she chooses what to do with her power.
Just as Willow, Buffy, et al get across to Tara that how she chooses to use her power is important, and she doesn't have to do what her father says, and can break from him. We're your family.
Found family is a heavy theme in both Angel and Buffy. And both series main characters, recurring and otherwise - all have dysfunctional families that they are kind of fleeing or spending as little time with as possible? Also, it's odd that most of the characters appear to either be only children or have no sibling relationships to speak of? Buffy gets a sister - but the sister didn't exist prior to S5. Xander, Willow, and Cordelia don't appear to have siblings at all. Angel does - he kills them. Spike doesn't to the best of my knowledge. Granted it's easier to write and produce, not to mention cheaper. But no one on these shows have a functional and happy family life.
Also, Riley is the most under-developed main character in this series next to OZ. They develop everyone in S5 more than Riley. All we know about Riley is he's from Iowa, and GI Joe aka Military Boy. Also that he needs to be needed or the center of attention. Tara's development isn't great - but she has more than OZ, Harmony, and Riley.
In S5, each of the supporting characters get their own episode: Tara gets Family, Spike gets Fool for Love, Dawn gets the Real Me, and Anya gets the episode with the Troll. This may be the only season in which Giles doesn't get a Giles centric episode? Not sure yet. I don't remember Giles getting a Giles centric episode this season. I don't think Willow got one either? Xander does. (I can see why Giles and Willow fans may not have loved S5?)
Riley and Spike both have brief scenes here, but notably the opposite of each other, depicting their arcs going in opposite directions, and somewhat ironic and subversive at that. I think it's what I liked about it? We have Spike reluctantly helping Buffy, watching over her, and aiding her in various supportive ways, without expecting any attention or much of anything at all in return. While we have Riley, whining that Buffy's not confiding in him and hiding stuff (kudos to Riley for noticing and he's right - no one else did), off drinking in a bar, and flirting with vampire chicks. Suddenly both characters got interesting?
After No Place Like Home, I kept wondering when Buffy told everyone that Dawn was the key, and more importantly who she told? Not everyone knows. A select few do. I thought she told them right after she found out. But no.
The only person she tells is Giles, no one else. And she informs Giles - that she can't tell anyone else - because she doesn't know what they'll do.
They could tip off Dawn, and Dawn could freak and whoops. So Buffy shifts from being annoyed by having a little sister and wishing she could get rid of or away from said sister, to suddenly being overly protective of her sister, and treating her as if she's her own kid. Giles had suggested sending Dawn away but Buffy nixes it as not possible. Also Buffy moves out of her dorm room and back home with Dawn - she had a nice single, corner room with two doors. (Although we never saw much of it except when she makes a point of moving out of it, with the help of her friends not her mother or father). Giles suggests sending Dawn to the father - who has taken off to Spain with his secretary. The father goes from being semi-present, and Buffy visiting in LA on occasion, to bailing completely, and not being around at all. The father has been rewritten as a dead-beat Dad, when before he was just sharing custody with Joyce, and saw Buffy in the summer and occasionally during the school year.
The entrance of Dawn changes the characters and their relationships. Prior to that, Buffy and Riley were doing pretty well - the only issue was Buffy was more driven to patrol and something was throwing her off - most likely the spell. The thunderstorm disrupting their fun beach picnic in Episode 1, Buffy vs. Dracula - most likely wasn't just the coming of Dracula, but also the creation of Dawn.
At any rate, what is interesting in No Place Like Home and Family, is Buffy chooses not to tell anyone the truth about Dawn but Giles. But at the same time she's done a complete 180 regarding Dawn, which annoys and confuses Dawn, and Riley. Riley picks up on it. And asks, WTF, Buffy? And Buffy sidesteps the question or shrugs if off, pissing Riley off. Her other friends are so self-absorbed and caught up in their own crap, that they don't really notice anything is amiss, or pick up on Buffy's odd behavior related to Dawn.
It's similar to Angel, who also doesn't tell his friends that he is dreaming of Darla, and having vivid dreams. They notice that he's off, but when they pry, he puts them off. Also Angel isn't someone you'd want to pester too much or bother. Angel's keeping his issues a secrete out of embarrassment and guilt. Buffy is keeping her secret out of a desire to protect Dawn.
I can't remember when Buffy tells people about Dawn, or who finds out? I think she tells everyone after "Into the Woods"? Because I don't think Riley knows or ever finds out? That's partly what broke them up - her inability to tell him that Dawn is the key and to put him first, because of it. She was having difficulty doing it before that - but with Dawn, it's impossible. Riley does have to leave - in order for Buffy to make the sacrifice she does at the end of the season. And for Buffy to reach the state of depression that she reaches, and to allow Spike in. If Riley didn't leave - a lot of that couldn't have happened. Also, it's clear from this episode that Whedon has no idea what to do with Riley.
The people who know by the end of S5, and after are: Giles, Anya, Spike, Tara, Willow, Xander, and Dawn. That's it. Basically the folks standing in the Magic Shop facing off Tara's Family - in Family. Riley is notably absent in that scene. The main cast for S5 is shown behind Buffy. Whedon makes it clear in that scene that Spike is now part of that main cast, and Riley is on his way out. Spike also reluctantly helps in three ways, he helps kill the demons, tells them what type of demons they are, and demonstrates that Tara can't be a demon and that it's a family legend the father has been using to keep the women in his family in line. (Women as demons - is a trope that Whedon keeps playing with in both series, and undercuts, and subverts. It's an old religious horror trope - that Whedon keeps making fun of and undercutting. Patriarchal figure controls women by demeaning them. Caleb is another example of this.)
I'd forgotten Untouched completely, and hadn't realized Whedon directed it, while Mere Smith wrote it. Or how various themes in it were similar to Family. Of course I hadn't watched them closely together either.
Cordy has a vision of a young woman running for her life. Angel finds the young woman (Bethany), but her chasers have been smashed. Angel quickly determines the young woman has powers, after she sends an iron rail through his shoulder. Turns out, Bethany is staying with Lilah, after Lilah recruited her on a college tour via WRH. Notably absent from the episode is Kate, who isn't in that many episodes in S2, and slowly disappears from the series. I think they chemistry tested her and Angel, and it didn't click?
Kate/Angel pairing reminds me of the Buffy/Riley pairing - neither worked, so the writers eventually dumped it.
The Darla/Angel dreams continue - and Darla is reminding Angel of the last time she and Angelus had great sex. It was after he raped and killed the gypsey girl, who was bound and tagged and delivered to him by Darla as a gift. The writers shy a little south of telling us that he raped the girl, although it's strong implied by the episode - in that Bethany clearly has been raped repeatedly by her father, and molested, and sees sex as a means to an end. And even offers to have sex with Angel, who turns her down flat (partly because it's after a dream of having sex with Darla, while the gypsey girl lay bound and gagged watching - and in the dream, she's Bethany). Darla is actually there when Bethany confronts Angel in his bedroom - although not visible, she's lurking in the shadows. The bed is rumpled, as if she'd been in it sleeping with Angel (which Bethany takes note of, and Angel is thrown by).
Wes is barely in this episode, as is Gun, Cordelia is more involved. Wes gets across his insighfulness on father's and rather brusque approach, while Cordelia continues her Gunn project - by pushing Angel into paying Gunn for helping them. I actually like Cordelia's scenes. She tells Bethany not to bone Angel. And not to hurt them. And also that she has no interest in Angel herself. He's not her type.
And we get a bit more on Lilah, who is basically the female version of Lindsey. Along with Holland Manners - who is clearly the manipulative villain - doing all the machinations.