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shadowkatDue to the bitter cold and resting the knee - haven't done much today. Outside of a few knee exercises - need to do a few more.
Moseyed onto yet another episode of Buffy S7 - Lies My Parents Told Me. It's written by Drew Goddard and David Fury, and directed by Fury (who has a bit of a mean streak and wrote Helpless). Helpless and Lies comment on each other - and reinforce how ineffective and somewhat ineptly dangerous - by their own ineptitude, arrogance and hubris - the so-called Watcher Council truly was. There's a string of episodes that reinforce this from roughly S3 through S7. And Angel the Series echoes it through Wes's arc. The Watcher Council abused its power through the ages. It's notable that Crawly (god, what a name) resigns to raise Nikki's son after Nikki is killed - but doesn't give her bag or any information regarding her death to the council or anyone else. Basically he keeps it all to himself, and he influences and promotes Robin's need for vengeance.
Jumping over to Giles? Giles finds out Robin was Nikki Wood's son, the second of the two slayers killed by Spike - and agrees to go along with Wood's plan to kill Spike, knowing full well Wood is doing it out of vengeance, and is compromised by his emotions. (Outside of the fact that he had to deal with the consequences of his own pursuit for vengeance, Anya's, and Willow's - you'd think he would know better?) Giles? Do you want Wood to die? I mean come on - who do you think is going to win in a fight? Wood ( a 30 something demon hunter) or Spike a 180 year old vampire who has been fighting demons and people and killed not one but two slayers, and has fought Buffy on numerous occasions, not to mention ran with Angelus, Drusilla and Darla? Giles is kind of an idiot? He keeps making dumb decisions pretty much from S5 onwards.
Robin Wood is not written sympathetically in S7. He tells Giles that Spike is an agent of evil, except Wood is acting on the First's instruction to kill Spike - so who is the agent? And why isn't he questioning the First?
Also, he's kind of full of himself? Or thinks he's all that and then some.
He's convinced he can kill the "100 + year old vampire who killed his slayer and super-powered mother"??? He can barely take down a few vamps in an alley without Spike and Buffy's help. The season is about abuses of power, and hubris. Gile's abuses his relationship with Buffy. (Interesting side note? Anthony Head and Sarah Michelle Gellar did not film together at all in the cemetery or at the end. They did it separately, with someone else reading the other's lines. It explains the distance between the actors and why they never touch each other. And I think it is deliberate? The writers are getting across the rift between Giles and Buffy, that slowly post S4, Buffy has begun to rely on Anya, Willow, Xander, Dawn, and Spike over Giles simply because Giles isn't there and has proven not to be reliable. Giles hasn't really been that reliable since she discovered he was drugging him in S3 (Helpless) and broke with him. Nor does he really know anything - nor can he teach her anything. She's understandably annoyed with his hubris and lack of effectiveness. Remember he's being paid a salary, and a good one, for doing pretty much nothing of consequence, she isn't.
Robin Wood meanwhile has been manipulating Buffy, and self-righteously sees himself as the injured party - playing the victim to Giles, Spike and Buffy. I like how Spike ruthlessly and expediently teaches Wood a lesson and hoists him on his petard, so to speak. He basically tells Wood - I can kill you without all that much effort. You aren't Willow, you aren't Buffy, you aren't Faith. Get over your skanky self. This was colossally stupid. Try it again - and I'll kill you because honestly, it will be better for everybody. Buffy more or less tells Wood the same thing. Spike had offered to leave in First Date, but Buffy asked him to stay, so he did.
The whole episode is ironic - because Robin and Giles are kind of pointless in the last few episodes, and barely survive and don't do all that much to help, nor does Anya for that matter - while Spike, Willow, Buffy, and the Potential slayers pretty much saves the world.
The other bit of irony - is while Giles and Wood are busy worrying about ensouled and remorseful Spike, who Buffy can take, Angelus is wandering about in LA - and Fred is calling Willow to give him back his soul. LOL!
I always thought that was hilarious.
I'm sorry, I'd have been more sympathetic to Wood and Giles if their plan wasn't so arrogant and stupid. Both abused their power and authority over Buffy and over Spike. Self-righteous egotistical idiots irritate me.
What's interesting though is that Spike doesn't actually kill Wood. He just scares him - to make a point. (Kind of similar to various points Angel makes to Wes, and others through the years.) He demonstrates that he has a lot of power - and has just been holding back. The scene is a companion piece to his scene with Buffy - where he shows her how he killed Nikki Wood. Which is why Buffy reacts to Wood the way she does - she knew the Spike who killed Nikki, and she knows the one now, along with all the ones in between. She knows Spike has changed, and isn't the same vampire/man she fought in S2 or at the beginning of S4 for that matter. Wood missed all those chapters. He's like Holtz - he's fighting someone who no longer exists and in pursuing vengeance has become an agent of evil himself. It's a line that Buffy has been careful to skirt, often with others help. And it's a line Spike has learned to skirt, and Willow is learning to as well.
And now, Anya.
The other thing I found interesting - is that Giles no longer trusts Buffy, he still sees her as a child. It reminds me of his Restless Dream - where she is a child he is responsible for, not an adult. He comes in and out of her life like a derelict father, who can't commit. And how Giles pellets Buffy with all the people she should kill, and how everyone is expendable for the greater good, while she's fighting a vampire - telling her not to dust him, and playing on her trust throughout. It's rather cruel and frankly after all she's done - without payment or acknowledgement - she deserves better.
What always fascinated me about this episode is - how it plays with power, and shows how subtle abuses of authority and power can be evil. How people manipulate and bully each other into doing what they want.
Moseyed onto yet another episode of Buffy S7 - Lies My Parents Told Me. It's written by Drew Goddard and David Fury, and directed by Fury (who has a bit of a mean streak and wrote Helpless). Helpless and Lies comment on each other - and reinforce how ineffective and somewhat ineptly dangerous - by their own ineptitude, arrogance and hubris - the so-called Watcher Council truly was. There's a string of episodes that reinforce this from roughly S3 through S7. And Angel the Series echoes it through Wes's arc. The Watcher Council abused its power through the ages. It's notable that Crawly (god, what a name) resigns to raise Nikki's son after Nikki is killed - but doesn't give her bag or any information regarding her death to the council or anyone else. Basically he keeps it all to himself, and he influences and promotes Robin's need for vengeance.
Jumping over to Giles? Giles finds out Robin was Nikki Wood's son, the second of the two slayers killed by Spike - and agrees to go along with Wood's plan to kill Spike, knowing full well Wood is doing it out of vengeance, and is compromised by his emotions. (Outside of the fact that he had to deal with the consequences of his own pursuit for vengeance, Anya's, and Willow's - you'd think he would know better?) Giles? Do you want Wood to die? I mean come on - who do you think is going to win in a fight? Wood ( a 30 something demon hunter) or Spike a 180 year old vampire who has been fighting demons and people and killed not one but two slayers, and has fought Buffy on numerous occasions, not to mention ran with Angelus, Drusilla and Darla? Giles is kind of an idiot? He keeps making dumb decisions pretty much from S5 onwards.
Robin Wood is not written sympathetically in S7. He tells Giles that Spike is an agent of evil, except Wood is acting on the First's instruction to kill Spike - so who is the agent? And why isn't he questioning the First?
Also, he's kind of full of himself? Or thinks he's all that and then some.
He's convinced he can kill the "100 + year old vampire who killed his slayer and super-powered mother"??? He can barely take down a few vamps in an alley without Spike and Buffy's help. The season is about abuses of power, and hubris. Gile's abuses his relationship with Buffy. (Interesting side note? Anthony Head and Sarah Michelle Gellar did not film together at all in the cemetery or at the end. They did it separately, with someone else reading the other's lines. It explains the distance between the actors and why they never touch each other. And I think it is deliberate? The writers are getting across the rift between Giles and Buffy, that slowly post S4, Buffy has begun to rely on Anya, Willow, Xander, Dawn, and Spike over Giles simply because Giles isn't there and has proven not to be reliable. Giles hasn't really been that reliable since she discovered he was drugging him in S3 (Helpless) and broke with him. Nor does he really know anything - nor can he teach her anything. She's understandably annoyed with his hubris and lack of effectiveness. Remember he's being paid a salary, and a good one, for doing pretty much nothing of consequence, she isn't.
Robin Wood meanwhile has been manipulating Buffy, and self-righteously sees himself as the injured party - playing the victim to Giles, Spike and Buffy. I like how Spike ruthlessly and expediently teaches Wood a lesson and hoists him on his petard, so to speak. He basically tells Wood - I can kill you without all that much effort. You aren't Willow, you aren't Buffy, you aren't Faith. Get over your skanky self. This was colossally stupid. Try it again - and I'll kill you because honestly, it will be better for everybody. Buffy more or less tells Wood the same thing. Spike had offered to leave in First Date, but Buffy asked him to stay, so he did.
The whole episode is ironic - because Robin and Giles are kind of pointless in the last few episodes, and barely survive and don't do all that much to help, nor does Anya for that matter - while Spike, Willow, Buffy, and the Potential slayers pretty much saves the world.
The other bit of irony - is while Giles and Wood are busy worrying about ensouled and remorseful Spike, who Buffy can take, Angelus is wandering about in LA - and Fred is calling Willow to give him back his soul. LOL!
I always thought that was hilarious.
I'm sorry, I'd have been more sympathetic to Wood and Giles if their plan wasn't so arrogant and stupid. Both abused their power and authority over Buffy and over Spike. Self-righteous egotistical idiots irritate me.
What's interesting though is that Spike doesn't actually kill Wood. He just scares him - to make a point. (Kind of similar to various points Angel makes to Wes, and others through the years.) He demonstrates that he has a lot of power - and has just been holding back. The scene is a companion piece to his scene with Buffy - where he shows her how he killed Nikki Wood. Which is why Buffy reacts to Wood the way she does - she knew the Spike who killed Nikki, and she knows the one now, along with all the ones in between. She knows Spike has changed, and isn't the same vampire/man she fought in S2 or at the beginning of S4 for that matter. Wood missed all those chapters. He's like Holtz - he's fighting someone who no longer exists and in pursuing vengeance has become an agent of evil himself. It's a line that Buffy has been careful to skirt, often with others help. And it's a line Spike has learned to skirt, and Willow is learning to as well.
And now, Anya.
The other thing I found interesting - is that Giles no longer trusts Buffy, he still sees her as a child. It reminds me of his Restless Dream - where she is a child he is responsible for, not an adult. He comes in and out of her life like a derelict father, who can't commit. And how Giles pellets Buffy with all the people she should kill, and how everyone is expendable for the greater good, while she's fighting a vampire - telling her not to dust him, and playing on her trust throughout. It's rather cruel and frankly after all she's done - without payment or acknowledgement - she deserves better.
What always fascinated me about this episode is - how it plays with power, and shows how subtle abuses of authority and power can be evil. How people manipulate and bully each other into doing what they want.