Sunday doodles...
Dec. 28th, 2025 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatGetting slightly more done today. Did exercises - minimal. Made up the bed (well do that every day). Made breakfast and lunch. Cleaned the air fryer - it has a self-cleaning mechanism. Refilled the humidifier. And finished my water color - finally, knitted a lop-sided scarf, and edited a bit more of my work in progress, which may never see the light of day.
Also binged a bunch of Angel S3 and Buffy S6 episodes. I'm remembering why I gave up on Angel S3 now - oh dear god, it has some really bad episodes. Worse than S1, and that's saying something. Buffy S6 is the better of the two seasons, and I really love the beginning of this seasons - I'd forgotten how much. I find it highly relatable. It's also oddly realistic, the most realistic of all the seasons actually - in how it is shot and written.
That said, Angel S3 does have some good episodes in the mix - most of the good ones center on Angel, Cordelia or Wes. Carpe Diam - Angel S3 Episode 3 or 4, about Marcus, the old guy in the retirement home who is using a spell to jump into young male bodies, until he burns through them. It reminded me a little of Lonely Hearts, S1. Actually Angel S3 and Angel S1 echo each other. In that episode Angel switches places with an old guy or their souls switch bodies. And the old guy has a blast. (There's bits of foreshadowing and irony in this season - if you've seen S4 and know what happens to Lilah. In Episode 1, Lilah tortures Cordelia in That Vision Thing, with a psychic who hacks into her visions. In Episode 3 - Lilah almost has sex with Angel, and he bites her - it's actually Marcus in Angel's body, but Lilah doesn't know that. Why is it ironic? Evil!Cordelia and Angelus kill Lilah in S4.)
Also the whole trust thing - Wes threatens Gunn with being fired and cut out of the group, if he ever betrays them or Wes's trust again. And Angel tells Gunn he'll trust him - after he proves he's willing to kill Angelus without hesitation. That's interesting, because Wes betrays everyone later in S3.
This show is a lot more interesting - after I know what has happened to everyone, I start seeing all the foreshadowing and little ironic teases.
Also, annoying characters are more tolerable - when you know how they'll end up.
That said? There are some horrible episodes. "This Old Gange of Mine" is a horrible episode. It's beyond offensive on multiple levels. I can't remember which one it is, I want to say episode 2, but I may be wrong about that. It's the episode that finally splits Gunn from his street gang, but the way it does it - seriously, talk about microaggressions, and targeted racism, and poor use of metaphor? I get what the writers were attempting, but...it would have worked much better if the folks in the bar being targeted weren't either demons (some quite dangerous), white people, and well Gunn? And the folks targeting them with guns and machine guns and arrows, etc...weren't all black boys, who are poor and from the streets. It was stereotypical, cliche, and offensive. I cringed. I also felt sorry for all of the Black actors. I think I stopped watching it briefly after that episode.
That episode could have worked, with a few tweaks here and there. Such as making the street gang multi-racial. And making the demon bar population a touch more mixed.
They handle Buffy/Angel reunion oddly? It's another nail in the coffin of that relationship. It's shown off-screen. Neither character is willing to discuss it. Buffy brings home Fried Chicken for dinner - and is only gone for a few hours, as is Angel. Wes and Cordelia make it clear they can't get together, so not to worry. And why. And the most we get from either Buffy or Angel on the meeting - is I don't want to discuss it, or I want to keep it to myself. My guess is it went down more or less the same way as in the episode Forever in Buffy S5, rinse, repeat, rewind.
Also they appear to be paralleling or comparing Cordy holding onto to her visions, to Angel holding onto being a vampire with a soul. Both are given at different points in the series - the opportunity to lose this gift. Both refuse, and see it as the only way they can be champions or chosen. It's not really a selfless act. Or the writers are questioning it.
The most frustrating thing in Buffy S6, actually is what makes it work the best - which is her friends inability or unwillingness to help her. I think she asked Angel for help - and he turned her down. That's realistic, and underlines what Spike attempted to tell her in Fool for Love - what keeps her connected to the world are her friends, her monm and her sister. They are too self-involved at the moment to really help. Willow and Tara have full loads in school, Anya works at the Magic Box, manages it, and co-owns it, and Xander works full time in Construction. The best they can do is have Buffy work with them or tail them in their jobs. And Giles finally helps out by giving her a check (albeit reluctantly). It's made clear throughout how reluctant Giles' help always is. He wants to be in England with his friends, and family such as it is. (As does the actor).
He feels obligated to Buffy - but he kind of wants to be done, and to move on with his life, while she moves on with hers. No wonder she gets involved with Spike - he's the only one who is really there for her, and listens.
No one else does - they are all too self-involved to bother. And to be honest, Buffy's having troubles seeing past her own issues as well. I'm finding it comforting in a misery loves company sort of way?
Ah, it's 5:16pm and dark. So off to make dinner. I think.
Also binged a bunch of Angel S3 and Buffy S6 episodes. I'm remembering why I gave up on Angel S3 now - oh dear god, it has some really bad episodes. Worse than S1, and that's saying something. Buffy S6 is the better of the two seasons, and I really love the beginning of this seasons - I'd forgotten how much. I find it highly relatable. It's also oddly realistic, the most realistic of all the seasons actually - in how it is shot and written.
That said, Angel S3 does have some good episodes in the mix - most of the good ones center on Angel, Cordelia or Wes. Carpe Diam - Angel S3 Episode 3 or 4, about Marcus, the old guy in the retirement home who is using a spell to jump into young male bodies, until he burns through them. It reminded me a little of Lonely Hearts, S1. Actually Angel S3 and Angel S1 echo each other. In that episode Angel switches places with an old guy or their souls switch bodies. And the old guy has a blast. (There's bits of foreshadowing and irony in this season - if you've seen S4 and know what happens to Lilah. In Episode 1, Lilah tortures Cordelia in That Vision Thing, with a psychic who hacks into her visions. In Episode 3 - Lilah almost has sex with Angel, and he bites her - it's actually Marcus in Angel's body, but Lilah doesn't know that. Why is it ironic? Evil!Cordelia and Angelus kill Lilah in S4.)
Also the whole trust thing - Wes threatens Gunn with being fired and cut out of the group, if he ever betrays them or Wes's trust again. And Angel tells Gunn he'll trust him - after he proves he's willing to kill Angelus without hesitation. That's interesting, because Wes betrays everyone later in S3.
This show is a lot more interesting - after I know what has happened to everyone, I start seeing all the foreshadowing and little ironic teases.
Also, annoying characters are more tolerable - when you know how they'll end up.
That said? There are some horrible episodes. "This Old Gange of Mine" is a horrible episode. It's beyond offensive on multiple levels. I can't remember which one it is, I want to say episode 2, but I may be wrong about that. It's the episode that finally splits Gunn from his street gang, but the way it does it - seriously, talk about microaggressions, and targeted racism, and poor use of metaphor? I get what the writers were attempting, but...it would have worked much better if the folks in the bar being targeted weren't either demons (some quite dangerous), white people, and well Gunn? And the folks targeting them with guns and machine guns and arrows, etc...weren't all black boys, who are poor and from the streets. It was stereotypical, cliche, and offensive. I cringed. I also felt sorry for all of the Black actors. I think I stopped watching it briefly after that episode.
That episode could have worked, with a few tweaks here and there. Such as making the street gang multi-racial. And making the demon bar population a touch more mixed.
They handle Buffy/Angel reunion oddly? It's another nail in the coffin of that relationship. It's shown off-screen. Neither character is willing to discuss it. Buffy brings home Fried Chicken for dinner - and is only gone for a few hours, as is Angel. Wes and Cordelia make it clear they can't get together, so not to worry. And why. And the most we get from either Buffy or Angel on the meeting - is I don't want to discuss it, or I want to keep it to myself. My guess is it went down more or less the same way as in the episode Forever in Buffy S5, rinse, repeat, rewind.
Also they appear to be paralleling or comparing Cordy holding onto to her visions, to Angel holding onto being a vampire with a soul. Both are given at different points in the series - the opportunity to lose this gift. Both refuse, and see it as the only way they can be champions or chosen. It's not really a selfless act. Or the writers are questioning it.
The most frustrating thing in Buffy S6, actually is what makes it work the best - which is her friends inability or unwillingness to help her. I think she asked Angel for help - and he turned her down. That's realistic, and underlines what Spike attempted to tell her in Fool for Love - what keeps her connected to the world are her friends, her monm and her sister. They are too self-involved at the moment to really help. Willow and Tara have full loads in school, Anya works at the Magic Box, manages it, and co-owns it, and Xander works full time in Construction. The best they can do is have Buffy work with them or tail them in their jobs. And Giles finally helps out by giving her a check (albeit reluctantly). It's made clear throughout how reluctant Giles' help always is. He wants to be in England with his friends, and family such as it is. (As does the actor).
He feels obligated to Buffy - but he kind of wants to be done, and to move on with his life, while she moves on with hers. No wonder she gets involved with Spike - he's the only one who is really there for her, and listens.
No one else does - they are all too self-involved to bother. And to be honest, Buffy's having troubles seeing past her own issues as well. I'm finding it comforting in a misery loves company sort of way?
Ah, it's 5:16pm and dark. So off to make dinner. I think.