![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatNot been sleeping well - last night was a combination of digestive issues and a weird vibrating noise. The apartment complex next door - from as well as I can figure - had turned on some sort of ice melt machine or generator that was generating a high pitched vibrating hum. At first I thought it was my window air conditioning unit - it wasn't. Took me a while to figure it out - the Super's wife coming outside into the courtyard in her winter coat, cloves and boots - shouting at the folks in the complex next door went a long ways towards explaining it. (This was at midnight. And they had the light on for a bit.) It didn't stop. So, I put on my noise cancelling headphones and some music, and that helped for a while. Finally around 6 or 7 am, I think, it stopped. It had been going on since 8pm last night. Was making me crazy and from the Super's response, not to mention the lit windows across the way - I'm guessing I wasn't the only one? The noise cancelling headphones were the only thing that helped. Earplugs weren't enough. The multitude of things people do on a daily or hourly basis to benefit themselves that unwittingly injure or hurt others is mind blowing.
Anyhow, I'm grateful for the noise cancelling headphones - they aren't cheap but worth every penny. I have to update every three or four years.
Took a personal day or snow day - today. And since I slept abysmally due to the above, I'm grateful for it. Accomplished a few items - I did laundry, including a comforter sitting at the foot of my bed (and no one was down there until I'd finished my last load - the comforter). Also got the blood sugar doctor's visit out of the way. Wants to see me again in May - via video chat. We spend five to six minutes chatting - so it really makes no sense not to do it virtually.
Came home - watched more Buffy S7 and Angel S4, and even with lowered expectations, Buffy S7 is so much better than Angel S4. (It's the Cordelia arc - the actress isn't selling it. Also, while the plotting, character arc, and foreshadowing are all there - they definitely built up to it? The writing is also a little all over the place - in their attempt to mislead the audience, they've managed to confuse the audience and I think the actress playing the role. VK is actually doing a good job, as is everyone else - the only one who is off is Charisma - and that's probably due to being pregnant, being bullied, and not understanding what the writers are doing with her character. (To be fair she wasn't watching the series at the time, and hadn't watched Buffy - so she really had no idea what they were doing or why. Which could have worked - if she'd made different acting choices - instead she chose to play Coredlia as if she was innocent and clueless, which doesn't quite work with the lead in to a calculating somewhat vain superior villain. Clair Kramer played it slightly better as Glory, although Kramer knew what she was playing and I'm not sure Charisma did.)
Buffy S7 works better when the potential slayers aren't on screen. I think it suffered from the same issues that S6, and to a degree S3 did. Too many characters, and group scenes. S4 also had that problem. Some television writers/directors can do group scenes well - the Mutant Enemy writers weren't among them. And S7 had the same problem with extraneous characters that S6 does, which is they aren't well developed, with a few possible exceptions. The potential slayers - I don't care about, with the exception of Kennedy. They are more annoying than interesting. S7 has one too many annoying characters for its own good. And at this point? I'm about ready to send Dawn, Andrew, and Anya off together with the potentials.
I did notice something this time around that I hadn't previously - which is that Giles actually does touch things. He is sitting on the coffee table while talking to Buffy. When the foursome decides Giles is the First Evil and to confront him on it - Buffy isn't there, nor is Willow. Both are off doing their own thing. That's kind of important. Because both most likely did touch Giles, and saw him touch things. Heck he was sitting on the coffee table. Also, I realized that it really doesn't work story-wise, character arc wish, plot wise, or theme wise for Giles to be the first. Thematically - it has to be Buffy playing the first. It's about Buffy's use of her power and the First seeing a means of corrupting it. (It would have been easier and possibly cheaper to film if it were Giles, but it doesn't work with the story and series narrative thread.)
With lowered expectations and anticipation - the series is more enjoyable. (Also helps if you are no longer invested in any of the romantic entanglements and just enjoying them while they last and how they further the story-thread. This is not a good show to become invested in romantic relationships - the writers are kind of brutal to them?) The difficulty with becoming overly obsessed with a television series - to the extent of writing essays, meta, or fanfic about it - is wanting it to play out the way it is in your head? Or have high expectations regarding it. Or getting to caught up in minor details. And forgetting at the end of the day, it's a television serial with a limited budget, produced/acted/and written in an abbreviated amount of time, and writers who may have a different story in mind. After all, it's their story not ours? They are just sharing it with us.
That said? The Killer in Me, Buffy S7 - is a really interesting and good episode. Much better than I remembered. And I actually really like the Kennedy/Willow pairing (better actually than her previous pairings, just because it feels like the characters are on equal footing, and Kennedy isn't judging Willow) and I like Kennedy, who is the only potential who has a personality and has been rounded out as a character. (I think the fandom hated the character because they were too invested in the Oz/Willow and Willow/Tara pairings - again this is not a good show to get invested in romantic pairings.) This is the episode where Willow finally deals with Tara's death and the consequences of killing Warren (not to mention befriending and de-ratting Amy - let's face it Amy was probably better off as a rat at this point, and abusing her power - with the excuse it's just an addiction), Buffy makes a decision regarding Spike's chip, and the gang comes to terms with the fact that the First can take the form and pretend to be ANY dead person. (Yes, while it's still disappointing they didn't play more with that - actor availability was a sizable issue. I'm guessing they asked Angel - who nixed it, and it took away from his series anyhow. Cross-overs have to benefit both. Tara - they did ask, and she wasn't available. Jenny Calendar - ditto - and that only would have worked with Giles anyhow or maybe Willow. They actually did pretty well considering the budget - they got all the former villains for Lessons. Juliet Landau, Joyce, Warren, Jonathon, Nikki Wood, and were able to effectively use both Spike and Buffy. Gellar does evil well, as does Marsters. I'm not sure they really required anyone else?)
Also, it makes sense that Buffy is ultimately the one who makes the decision about the chip. I'd forgotten that Buffy and Spike don't go to the old Initiative base to get the chip out - so much as to get information on it and drugs to counter the pain. Neither believe it can be removed.
Spike is unconscious when the military, who arrives per Agent Finn's request, tells Buffy what is wrong with the chip and what her options are. They make it clear that the chip can either be repaired or removed. And that Agent Finn informed them that Buffy should be the one to decide. Buffy is given "power" over Spike's fate.
When Kennedy confronts Amy about the Hex she put on Willow - resulting in Willow turning into Warren - Amy states it wasn't about vengeance, it was about "power". And no, Amy won't help Kennedy reverse it. (Kennedy figures out that sharing power or kissing Willow will break the hex, that it is like a fairy tale. And Kennedy kisses Warren turning him back into Willow. And she manages somehow to get Willow to let go of her guilt regarding what happened to Tara, and more importantly moving on from Tara.)
We're not told in "The Killer in Me" what Buffy chose to do regarding Spike, just that it is her decision to make. I think that makes sense. And explains why the writers didn't chose to have Spike remove the chip. He'd already tried to do that multiple times after all - and it was made clear only those who put it in - could remove it - from S5. Also this fits with As You Were - where Riley had also made it Buffy's choice whether to kill Spike. Riley wisely allows Buffy to choose Spike's fate - he gives her power over Spike, when he could just as easily take it from her.
They don't have it be Spike's decision for another reason - as Spike states to Buffy, "the chip was done to me, the soul I got myself". Spike didn't choose to become a vampire - Buffy knows that. Just as she knows he didn't choose the chip. He did however choose how to deal with the chip. Just as he chose to get the soul. Choice is a type of power. Taking the chip out from Spike's perspective is probably meaningless at this point? He says he got the soul because the chip obviously wasn't enough to keep him from hurting Buffy and those she cares about. And since he's now killed people via the First's trigger - obviously the degraded chip has done little one way or the other, outside of try to kill him. He's not motivated to get it out one way or the other. He's not sure he trusts himself.
Trust is another theme in the episode. Willow asks her friends to trust her to fix the magic problem. Buffy chooses to trust Willow, as does Xander, Anya and Dawn. Kennedy trusts Willow enough to help her - and to figure out what is happening and how to fix it. Anya, Xander, Dawn and Andrew don't trust what they've seen or remember about Giles and go to make sure he's not the First and not hurting the potentials. But Willow doesn't quite trust herself since she killed Warren, or how she handles magic. And we see that guilt and lack of trust threaten to consume her. Spike also doesn't quite trust himself - he has himself chained up in the basement when the girls are around, avoids them and the others when Buffy isn't nearby. And has not asked to get the chip removed. He believes it's safer if he stays on the leash. He doesn't trust his own power.
Buffy however does trust him - and tells him as much. She sees that he is controlling himself. And it is Buffy's decision to help him regarding the chip. She takes a leap of faith, goes with him back to the Initiative, revisiting the facility they'd fought and destroyed. He has to go, she chooses to go and help. And trusts him, they fight back to back, and go in together.
You see the leap of faith and trust from both Buffy to Spike, and back again, in that he trusts Buffy to help him in regards to the chip. And from Kennedy to Willow, and back again, when Willow trusts Kennedy to break the hex.
Following the story-thread - it connects rather well. If Spike had gotten his chip out instead of his soul in S6? It would not have have worked or gone against the story thread - which is one about power, trust, and remorse/penance. Not one about vengeance, guilt, and punishment which leads no where.
Buffy makes another thing clear - guilt - she has very little patience for.
Willow's "Guilt" almost destroys her, she wallows in it, and it makes her weak. Anya's "guilt" makes her suicidal and grumpy, but helps no one. Spike's guilt makes him crazy, suicidal, vulnerable to the First's machinations, and useless. Same with Angel's guilt - all it did was make him suicidal (again like Spike) and vulnerable. Buffy is not receptive to the guilt. Remorse, yes. Penance, yes. But the wallowing in the guilt? She rails against it - as giving up. Just as she rails against vengeance and vendettas - they solve nothing. It's a clear theme throughout the series and one of the many reasons I find it so comforting. So many stories in our society condone guilt, punishment, and vengeance - stating they are justice. But they aren't. They solve nothing. They deplete our power. No longer practicing magic doesn't solve Willow's problem, no longer fighting doesn't solve Spike's - it's learning how to use their power and how to harness it, that's what is important here. How not to abuse it.
Another takeaway from this episode and the season? The writers go out of their way to make it clear that Willow is "Gay" not "bisexual". Although Willow does state that she fell in love with a woman, and wasn't experimenting with her sexuality. I don't think they could say she was bisexual - at least not openly - at this stage. It was 2003. Saying you were gay on broadcast television was risky. That doesn't mean they didn't allude to it? It's pretty clear the Fanged Four were bisexual. Angel and Spike sire men and women, as do Dru and Darla. Also Spike and Angel had hooked up once, as had Darla and Dru. (It's heavily alluded to in both Buffy S2 and Angel S2 and Season 5.) So the writers were fine with it - more than fine. And that comes across. No, the network pushed back on it. The writers like to make fun of the network and our society's issues with sex and talking about sex - and sexual orientation, they do it slyly, but I've been picking up on it. Also they are clearly testing the censors and the networks boundaries on the issue.
***
Also watched Supersymmetry through Awakening. There's some good episodes in Angel S4. Supersymmetry, Habeas Corpus and Awakening are fairly good. The less said about Long Day's Journey and Apocalypse Nowish the better. (Those are Cordy/Connor episodes and don't quite work. Although Long Day's Journey is important in that everyone believes either Angel/Angelus or Connor is responsible for Manjet's death and the Beast getting the orb. Angelus note is laughing and looking at Cordelia while he is doing so. I think he knows it was her.) The writers bring back Gwen - to chemistry test her with both Gunn and Angel, it doesn't take - because she doesn't make it to full or even recurring cast member. But it's clue they are writing out Cordy and the visions.
What I like about Angel is the noir twist in every episode. Once I get used to hunting for it, I start to figure things out. It's pretty clear that Cordelia is hiding something - from my rewatch, I think she got hijacked by the demon end of the PTB sometime towards the end of S1, if the visions were ever truly the genuine article. If not, definitely in Birthday. (Although I don't remember all of it - or if they explain it.) Cordelia's big flaw is the same as Angel's - they both have colossal egos. Cordy manipulates Angel by telling him how intelligent and bright Angelus' is. (Angelus isn't. If he was intelligent - he wouldn't have done the whole Acathla thing in S2. Nor would Spike have been able to play him.) Cordy also isn't as intelligent as she thinks she is. Both are vain, and into their reflections. They are interesting characters to play against each other.
Supersymmetry and Habeas Corpus - are more Wes, Gunn, and Fred centric episodes. Habeas Corpus is about Wes and Lilah, and Supersymmetry is about Wes, Gunn and Fred. It's the best Fred episode to date. But Awakening is all Angel - and it's Angel's idea of a perfect day or bliss. What's interesting is when he loses his soul making love to Cordy in the dream - once again he says, Huh, Buffy! Oh no. As opposed to Huh, Cordy! Oh No. I found that interesting. Not sure what to make of it. But Angelus is clearly amused, since he's looking at Cordelia and laughing his head off. The noir twist is a) the soul extraction worked, and the extractor did it, and b)it wasn't Cordy's name he mentioned, and she wasn't enough for him to have the moment of full bliss...(which makes sense, she slept with his son and he watched it happen). Every episode has the twist - Supersymmetry - the twist is Gunn (who Fred believes isn't a killer) snaps Seidel's neck and throws him in the portal instead of allowing Fred to throw him into it alive. And yes, Fred would have done it, and Wes believes she did. Habeas Corpus - the twist is that they didn't go in there to save anyone but Connor. (Wes saves Lilah). All the other humans were immaterial to them. And the Beast was only there to extract something from the evil little girl in the White Room, killing her. She points to them - and says the answer they seeks is among them.)
****
Question a Day Meme
24. Have you ever knitted a garment or had one knitted for you?
Yes. My mother knitted me a vest once - it was ugly. But I wore it for a while anyhow. I've also knitted hats (poorly), scarves (okay) and two blankets (expensive).
25. It’s Burn’s Night – a night to celebrate Robert Burns and all things Scottish. Do you like Scotch whisky or do you prefer Irish Whiskey?
No. I don't drink or like Whiskey. It plays havoc with my body. I'm gluten intolerant/ceiliac - and can't drink anything made with wheat, rye, or barely, apparently the glutens are still a problem - even if they are fermented.
26. It’s Australia Day! What do you think of when you think of Australia?
I love Australia. I visited Australia for about a month around Christmas and New Years in 1990. The year before I went to law school. My parents were living there at the time. In Sydney. We went to a Wildlife Rescue and Refuge outside of Sydney, the Sydney Opera House to see a musical (A Little Night Music), visited the zoo (where I learned that my mother dislikes zoos), the beach, the markets, the Aboriginal Museums, watched a lot of Australian television, went to various restaurants, sampled various wines, and drove through Victoria, visited Tasmania for Xmas. I saw a rain forest.
Traveled through wildlife preserves. Spent time with Koalas, Kangeroos, Wombats, saw a Tasmanian Devil, and various other mammales native to the area. We watched the Hobart to Sydney sail boat race. And saw fireworks at New Years in Melbourne. Also visited the Puffins on the island outside of Melbourne. (They might have been Penguins.) Read a lot of Australian books.
Saw a lot of Australian films.
It was lovely. I have fond memories.
Note: I never saw any snakes, spiders, or large insects or have no memories of them. Nor did my parents. Nor did my brother when he visited Queensland and the Whit Sundays. We went separately. He went around Spring/Summer Break in 1990, and Spring/Summer Break in 1991. My parents returned in August of 1991, so I didn't get to spend another Xmas there.
I don't see myself returning though. Too many places to see. Also it's a long ways away. I remember how long it was from Kansas City, from New York City? It would be far too long a trip. Also international air travel was far less stressful in 1990. Now, it's just insanely painful and getting progressively worse.
Anyhow, I'm grateful for the noise cancelling headphones - they aren't cheap but worth every penny. I have to update every three or four years.
Took a personal day or snow day - today. And since I slept abysmally due to the above, I'm grateful for it. Accomplished a few items - I did laundry, including a comforter sitting at the foot of my bed (and no one was down there until I'd finished my last load - the comforter). Also got the blood sugar doctor's visit out of the way. Wants to see me again in May - via video chat. We spend five to six minutes chatting - so it really makes no sense not to do it virtually.
Came home - watched more Buffy S7 and Angel S4, and even with lowered expectations, Buffy S7 is so much better than Angel S4. (It's the Cordelia arc - the actress isn't selling it. Also, while the plotting, character arc, and foreshadowing are all there - they definitely built up to it? The writing is also a little all over the place - in their attempt to mislead the audience, they've managed to confuse the audience and I think the actress playing the role. VK is actually doing a good job, as is everyone else - the only one who is off is Charisma - and that's probably due to being pregnant, being bullied, and not understanding what the writers are doing with her character. (To be fair she wasn't watching the series at the time, and hadn't watched Buffy - so she really had no idea what they were doing or why. Which could have worked - if she'd made different acting choices - instead she chose to play Coredlia as if she was innocent and clueless, which doesn't quite work with the lead in to a calculating somewhat vain superior villain. Clair Kramer played it slightly better as Glory, although Kramer knew what she was playing and I'm not sure Charisma did.)
Buffy S7 works better when the potential slayers aren't on screen. I think it suffered from the same issues that S6, and to a degree S3 did. Too many characters, and group scenes. S4 also had that problem. Some television writers/directors can do group scenes well - the Mutant Enemy writers weren't among them. And S7 had the same problem with extraneous characters that S6 does, which is they aren't well developed, with a few possible exceptions. The potential slayers - I don't care about, with the exception of Kennedy. They are more annoying than interesting. S7 has one too many annoying characters for its own good. And at this point? I'm about ready to send Dawn, Andrew, and Anya off together with the potentials.
I did notice something this time around that I hadn't previously - which is that Giles actually does touch things. He is sitting on the coffee table while talking to Buffy. When the foursome decides Giles is the First Evil and to confront him on it - Buffy isn't there, nor is Willow. Both are off doing their own thing. That's kind of important. Because both most likely did touch Giles, and saw him touch things. Heck he was sitting on the coffee table. Also, I realized that it really doesn't work story-wise, character arc wish, plot wise, or theme wise for Giles to be the first. Thematically - it has to be Buffy playing the first. It's about Buffy's use of her power and the First seeing a means of corrupting it. (It would have been easier and possibly cheaper to film if it were Giles, but it doesn't work with the story and series narrative thread.)
With lowered expectations and anticipation - the series is more enjoyable. (Also helps if you are no longer invested in any of the romantic entanglements and just enjoying them while they last and how they further the story-thread. This is not a good show to become invested in romantic relationships - the writers are kind of brutal to them?) The difficulty with becoming overly obsessed with a television series - to the extent of writing essays, meta, or fanfic about it - is wanting it to play out the way it is in your head? Or have high expectations regarding it. Or getting to caught up in minor details. And forgetting at the end of the day, it's a television serial with a limited budget, produced/acted/and written in an abbreviated amount of time, and writers who may have a different story in mind. After all, it's their story not ours? They are just sharing it with us.
That said? The Killer in Me, Buffy S7 - is a really interesting and good episode. Much better than I remembered. And I actually really like the Kennedy/Willow pairing (better actually than her previous pairings, just because it feels like the characters are on equal footing, and Kennedy isn't judging Willow) and I like Kennedy, who is the only potential who has a personality and has been rounded out as a character. (I think the fandom hated the character because they were too invested in the Oz/Willow and Willow/Tara pairings - again this is not a good show to get invested in romantic pairings.) This is the episode where Willow finally deals with Tara's death and the consequences of killing Warren (not to mention befriending and de-ratting Amy - let's face it Amy was probably better off as a rat at this point, and abusing her power - with the excuse it's just an addiction), Buffy makes a decision regarding Spike's chip, and the gang comes to terms with the fact that the First can take the form and pretend to be ANY dead person. (Yes, while it's still disappointing they didn't play more with that - actor availability was a sizable issue. I'm guessing they asked Angel - who nixed it, and it took away from his series anyhow. Cross-overs have to benefit both. Tara - they did ask, and she wasn't available. Jenny Calendar - ditto - and that only would have worked with Giles anyhow or maybe Willow. They actually did pretty well considering the budget - they got all the former villains for Lessons. Juliet Landau, Joyce, Warren, Jonathon, Nikki Wood, and were able to effectively use both Spike and Buffy. Gellar does evil well, as does Marsters. I'm not sure they really required anyone else?)
Also, it makes sense that Buffy is ultimately the one who makes the decision about the chip. I'd forgotten that Buffy and Spike don't go to the old Initiative base to get the chip out - so much as to get information on it and drugs to counter the pain. Neither believe it can be removed.
Spike is unconscious when the military, who arrives per Agent Finn's request, tells Buffy what is wrong with the chip and what her options are. They make it clear that the chip can either be repaired or removed. And that Agent Finn informed them that Buffy should be the one to decide. Buffy is given "power" over Spike's fate.
When Kennedy confronts Amy about the Hex she put on Willow - resulting in Willow turning into Warren - Amy states it wasn't about vengeance, it was about "power". And no, Amy won't help Kennedy reverse it. (Kennedy figures out that sharing power or kissing Willow will break the hex, that it is like a fairy tale. And Kennedy kisses Warren turning him back into Willow. And she manages somehow to get Willow to let go of her guilt regarding what happened to Tara, and more importantly moving on from Tara.)
We're not told in "The Killer in Me" what Buffy chose to do regarding Spike, just that it is her decision to make. I think that makes sense. And explains why the writers didn't chose to have Spike remove the chip. He'd already tried to do that multiple times after all - and it was made clear only those who put it in - could remove it - from S5. Also this fits with As You Were - where Riley had also made it Buffy's choice whether to kill Spike. Riley wisely allows Buffy to choose Spike's fate - he gives her power over Spike, when he could just as easily take it from her.
They don't have it be Spike's decision for another reason - as Spike states to Buffy, "the chip was done to me, the soul I got myself". Spike didn't choose to become a vampire - Buffy knows that. Just as she knows he didn't choose the chip. He did however choose how to deal with the chip. Just as he chose to get the soul. Choice is a type of power. Taking the chip out from Spike's perspective is probably meaningless at this point? He says he got the soul because the chip obviously wasn't enough to keep him from hurting Buffy and those she cares about. And since he's now killed people via the First's trigger - obviously the degraded chip has done little one way or the other, outside of try to kill him. He's not motivated to get it out one way or the other. He's not sure he trusts himself.
Trust is another theme in the episode. Willow asks her friends to trust her to fix the magic problem. Buffy chooses to trust Willow, as does Xander, Anya and Dawn. Kennedy trusts Willow enough to help her - and to figure out what is happening and how to fix it. Anya, Xander, Dawn and Andrew don't trust what they've seen or remember about Giles and go to make sure he's not the First and not hurting the potentials. But Willow doesn't quite trust herself since she killed Warren, or how she handles magic. And we see that guilt and lack of trust threaten to consume her. Spike also doesn't quite trust himself - he has himself chained up in the basement when the girls are around, avoids them and the others when Buffy isn't nearby. And has not asked to get the chip removed. He believes it's safer if he stays on the leash. He doesn't trust his own power.
Buffy however does trust him - and tells him as much. She sees that he is controlling himself. And it is Buffy's decision to help him regarding the chip. She takes a leap of faith, goes with him back to the Initiative, revisiting the facility they'd fought and destroyed. He has to go, she chooses to go and help. And trusts him, they fight back to back, and go in together.
You see the leap of faith and trust from both Buffy to Spike, and back again, in that he trusts Buffy to help him in regards to the chip. And from Kennedy to Willow, and back again, when Willow trusts Kennedy to break the hex.
Following the story-thread - it connects rather well. If Spike had gotten his chip out instead of his soul in S6? It would not have have worked or gone against the story thread - which is one about power, trust, and remorse/penance. Not one about vengeance, guilt, and punishment which leads no where.
Buffy makes another thing clear - guilt - she has very little patience for.
Willow's "Guilt" almost destroys her, she wallows in it, and it makes her weak. Anya's "guilt" makes her suicidal and grumpy, but helps no one. Spike's guilt makes him crazy, suicidal, vulnerable to the First's machinations, and useless. Same with Angel's guilt - all it did was make him suicidal (again like Spike) and vulnerable. Buffy is not receptive to the guilt. Remorse, yes. Penance, yes. But the wallowing in the guilt? She rails against it - as giving up. Just as she rails against vengeance and vendettas - they solve nothing. It's a clear theme throughout the series and one of the many reasons I find it so comforting. So many stories in our society condone guilt, punishment, and vengeance - stating they are justice. But they aren't. They solve nothing. They deplete our power. No longer practicing magic doesn't solve Willow's problem, no longer fighting doesn't solve Spike's - it's learning how to use their power and how to harness it, that's what is important here. How not to abuse it.
Another takeaway from this episode and the season? The writers go out of their way to make it clear that Willow is "Gay" not "bisexual". Although Willow does state that she fell in love with a woman, and wasn't experimenting with her sexuality. I don't think they could say she was bisexual - at least not openly - at this stage. It was 2003. Saying you were gay on broadcast television was risky. That doesn't mean they didn't allude to it? It's pretty clear the Fanged Four were bisexual. Angel and Spike sire men and women, as do Dru and Darla. Also Spike and Angel had hooked up once, as had Darla and Dru. (It's heavily alluded to in both Buffy S2 and Angel S2 and Season 5.) So the writers were fine with it - more than fine. And that comes across. No, the network pushed back on it. The writers like to make fun of the network and our society's issues with sex and talking about sex - and sexual orientation, they do it slyly, but I've been picking up on it. Also they are clearly testing the censors and the networks boundaries on the issue.
***
Also watched Supersymmetry through Awakening. There's some good episodes in Angel S4. Supersymmetry, Habeas Corpus and Awakening are fairly good. The less said about Long Day's Journey and Apocalypse Nowish the better. (Those are Cordy/Connor episodes and don't quite work. Although Long Day's Journey is important in that everyone believes either Angel/Angelus or Connor is responsible for Manjet's death and the Beast getting the orb. Angelus note is laughing and looking at Cordelia while he is doing so. I think he knows it was her.) The writers bring back Gwen - to chemistry test her with both Gunn and Angel, it doesn't take - because she doesn't make it to full or even recurring cast member. But it's clue they are writing out Cordy and the visions.
What I like about Angel is the noir twist in every episode. Once I get used to hunting for it, I start to figure things out. It's pretty clear that Cordelia is hiding something - from my rewatch, I think she got hijacked by the demon end of the PTB sometime towards the end of S1, if the visions were ever truly the genuine article. If not, definitely in Birthday. (Although I don't remember all of it - or if they explain it.) Cordelia's big flaw is the same as Angel's - they both have colossal egos. Cordy manipulates Angel by telling him how intelligent and bright Angelus' is. (Angelus isn't. If he was intelligent - he wouldn't have done the whole Acathla thing in S2. Nor would Spike have been able to play him.) Cordy also isn't as intelligent as she thinks she is. Both are vain, and into their reflections. They are interesting characters to play against each other.
Supersymmetry and Habeas Corpus - are more Wes, Gunn, and Fred centric episodes. Habeas Corpus is about Wes and Lilah, and Supersymmetry is about Wes, Gunn and Fred. It's the best Fred episode to date. But Awakening is all Angel - and it's Angel's idea of a perfect day or bliss. What's interesting is when he loses his soul making love to Cordy in the dream - once again he says, Huh, Buffy! Oh no. As opposed to Huh, Cordy! Oh No. I found that interesting. Not sure what to make of it. But Angelus is clearly amused, since he's looking at Cordelia and laughing his head off. The noir twist is a) the soul extraction worked, and the extractor did it, and b)it wasn't Cordy's name he mentioned, and she wasn't enough for him to have the moment of full bliss...(which makes sense, she slept with his son and he watched it happen). Every episode has the twist - Supersymmetry - the twist is Gunn (who Fred believes isn't a killer) snaps Seidel's neck and throws him in the portal instead of allowing Fred to throw him into it alive. And yes, Fred would have done it, and Wes believes she did. Habeas Corpus - the twist is that they didn't go in there to save anyone but Connor. (Wes saves Lilah). All the other humans were immaterial to them. And the Beast was only there to extract something from the evil little girl in the White Room, killing her. She points to them - and says the answer they seeks is among them.)
****
Question a Day Meme
24. Have you ever knitted a garment or had one knitted for you?
Yes. My mother knitted me a vest once - it was ugly. But I wore it for a while anyhow. I've also knitted hats (poorly), scarves (okay) and two blankets (expensive).
25. It’s Burn’s Night – a night to celebrate Robert Burns and all things Scottish. Do you like Scotch whisky or do you prefer Irish Whiskey?
No. I don't drink or like Whiskey. It plays havoc with my body. I'm gluten intolerant/ceiliac - and can't drink anything made with wheat, rye, or barely, apparently the glutens are still a problem - even if they are fermented.
26. It’s Australia Day! What do you think of when you think of Australia?
I love Australia. I visited Australia for about a month around Christmas and New Years in 1990. The year before I went to law school. My parents were living there at the time. In Sydney. We went to a Wildlife Rescue and Refuge outside of Sydney, the Sydney Opera House to see a musical (A Little Night Music), visited the zoo (where I learned that my mother dislikes zoos), the beach, the markets, the Aboriginal Museums, watched a lot of Australian television, went to various restaurants, sampled various wines, and drove through Victoria, visited Tasmania for Xmas. I saw a rain forest.
Traveled through wildlife preserves. Spent time with Koalas, Kangeroos, Wombats, saw a Tasmanian Devil, and various other mammales native to the area. We watched the Hobart to Sydney sail boat race. And saw fireworks at New Years in Melbourne. Also visited the Puffins on the island outside of Melbourne. (They might have been Penguins.) Read a lot of Australian books.
Saw a lot of Australian films.
It was lovely. I have fond memories.
Note: I never saw any snakes, spiders, or large insects or have no memories of them. Nor did my parents. Nor did my brother when he visited Queensland and the Whit Sundays. We went separately. He went around Spring/Summer Break in 1990, and Spring/Summer Break in 1991. My parents returned in August of 1991, so I didn't get to spend another Xmas there.
I don't see myself returning though. Too many places to see. Also it's a long ways away. I remember how long it was from Kansas City, from New York City? It would be far too long a trip. Also international air travel was far less stressful in 1990. Now, it's just insanely painful and getting progressively worse.