buffy: shadowy musings

My thoughts about "Dead Things": there some great moments in the episode, but overall it dragged. The triumverate of geeky evil still isn't really working for me, but the final turn of "getting away with murder" might complicate things in an interesting way. Warren is so enigmatic. Why is he so amoral? Why is he so in need of a lover to please his every (sexual) need? I hope he does reveal more of his motivations, more of what drives him.

Buffy's emotions and pain in this episode didn't work for me. I had high hopes for a strong parallel with Faith's situation, Faith's turning point. When Faith killed a human, that was when something in her snapped, her fragile sense of "right" and "wrong" somehow fell by the wayside. (I really want her to come back, for the show to explore that path of contrition....) But Buffy seemed so flat, so all-too-good. She wanted to turn herself in to the police. And yet she was able (and willing) to beat down Spike who stood in her way. The way she treats him is so fascinating.

The best moment was the ending, of course, when Buffy is talking to Tara (yay Tara!). And she finally admits that she doesn't want to be forgiven for her actions. She is afraid of what it means when everything she does is "good" or "excusable" because of the great weight of the world upon her.

Slight digression: This is very fascinating in light of the discussion I had in my class about Kate Chopin's The Awakening (a short novel everyone should read!!) and the main character's ultimate turn to the infinite nothingness of death in preference to a life of endless fulfillment. Is desire really possible only when the cherished object is unreachable? Must desire as a moving force in life, as that which propels us to act, always be a marker of the unattainable? Must it always signal absence (I desire food because I am hungry / I lack food)?

So what does it mean for Buffy to question her being and her worth because somehow everyone always forgives her? She wants to be "wrong." She can't be ok and normal. There must be something "wrong" about her, something that people can point to as a lacking in her. Is she too complete? Is she otherwise too alright?

o0o

i watch [buffy the vampire slayer]
buffy at pylduck.com (Spoilers inevitable in posts. Be warned.)
		Wednesday, February 06, 2002
[6:46:25 PM] Posted by shadowy duck.		My thoughts about "Dead Things": there some great moments in the episode, but overall it dragged. The triumverate of geeky evil still isn't really working for me, but the final turn of "getting away with murder" might complicate things in an interesting way. Warren is so enigmatic. Why is he so amoral? Why is he so in need of a lover to please his every (sexual) need? I hope he does reveal more of his motivations, more of what drives him. Buffy's emotions and pain in this episode didn't work for me. I had high hopes for a strong parallel with Faith's situation, Faith's turning point. When Faith killed a human, that was when something in her snapped, her fragile sense of "right" and "wrong" somehow fell by the wayside. (I really want her to come back, for the show to explore that path of contrition....) But Buffy seemed so flat, so all-too-good. She wanted to turn herself in to the police. And yet she was able (and willing) to beat down Spike who stood in her way. The way she treats him is so fascinating. The best moment was the ending, of course, when Buffy is talking to Tara (yay Tara!). And she finally admits that she doesn't want to be forgiven for her actions. She is afraid of what it means when everything she does is "good" or "excusable" because of the great weight of the world upon her. Slight digression: This is very fascinating in light of the discussion I had in my class about Kate Chopin's The Awakening (a short novel everyone should read!!) and the main character's ultimate turn to the infinite nothingness of death in preference to a life of endless fulfillment. Is desire really possible only when the cherished object is unreachable? Must desire as a moving force in life, as that which propels us to act, always be a marker of the unattainable? Must it always signal absence (I desire food because I am hungry / I lack food)? So what does it mean for Buffy to question her being and her worth because somehow everyone always forgives her? She wants to be "wrong." She can't be ok and normal. There must be something "wrong" about her, something that people can point to as a lacking in her. Is she too complete? Is she otherwise too alright? o0o
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