av Mr Chase » sön mar 14, 2004 15:07
Mr Chase går på familjehem:
35. Anne
After the season 2 finale and all the anticipation following it, the season 3 opener was bound to be something of a disappointment. What is surprising though, is what a huge disappointment it was. Rather than start with a bang, it began with a whimper. Maybe I'm a bit harsh here but, someone's got to say it. I really didn't care that much about the so-called "plot" with time demons using societal outcasts as slave labour in down below Los Angeles. The part that I thought was fun to watch was how the other Scoobies were coping with Buffy's absence back home in Sunnydale.
The "message" about the dangers facing runaway kids in the streets was over the top, as well as the suspicions about caring social workers. And the Lily (previously known as Chanterelle from "Lie to Me") character was so darn useless that I sometimes, in my darker moments, screamed "somebody please waste her and save the gene pool" to myself. Okay, she did kick that head demon down from the balcony in the end, but her stupid neediness was too unnerving to bear.
And who were those demons anyway? What where they doing in that time dimensional factory? The oily pool portal was way too conveniently closed at the end, but what about the other humans trapped down there? There were plot holes big enough to fly an Antonov An-225 through it!
I suppose the episode nevertheless was needed if only to explain what Buffy had been doing in her self-imposed exile from slayerhood. But waiting tables doesn't seem that much fun even if it will make her ends meet. She tries desperately to escape her destiny but then it reasserts itself when she has to confront the time demons.
"I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And you are?" she says and has come full circle. She didn't become the slayer, she recognizes that she *is* the slayer. She can't escape it anymore than you can escape your heritage. She can't just choose to be Anne when what she really is is Buffy.
Her mother Joyce is still in similar denial. She can't accept what her daughter is even as she most likely has learned all the truths there is to know about vampires, Hellmouth and slaying. In fact she blames Giles for what Buffy has become. From where she's standing he's supposed to be the responsible adult, not the one turning Buffy into a demon huntress. But what Joyce doesn't realize is that Giles has as little choice in the matter as the rest of them. His duty is to guide and watch the slayer. He didn't turn her into a slayer. All he can do is help her with it.
In the slayer's absence the Slayerettes are trying their best to fill her shoes with predictable if mixed results. It's lucky none of them has gotten killed but the lack of a master figure, with the disappearance of Spike, Drusilla and Angelus, has probably helped them through the summer. Willow's "That's right, Big Boy. Come and get it", funny as it is, just isn't enough. Neither is Oz's attempt at stake throwing, LOL.
The gang deals with Buffy's absence in their own different ways. Giles is in a sort of a limbo, dashing here and there following the tiniest leads to Buffy's whereabouts. Xander has more or less given up. That's who he is. If there's anything he can do, he'll go all the way to the beast's mouth to do it. But if he can't do anything, he just doesn't do anything. Willow on the other hand doesn't know the word "quit". Her hopes is all that's keeping her up, which, considering who she is, is probably a good thing. Otherwise she'd crack.
Xander and Cordelia have a very uneasy reunion. I felt it to be a bit constrained. From what we've seen of how their relationship developed in the previous season they should be handling it better. But that's maybe what being apart from each other for a whole summer can do to you? You can just tell that they had a real miserable time. At least Xander could keep his mind busy by slaying vampires. All Cordelia could do was slay Mexican cockroaches, big enough to own property as they were.
Nevertheless it is quite cute to see them agonising about seeing each other again.
Xander: "I can't wait to see Cordelia. I can't believe I can't wait to see Cordelia."
Willow: "I wonder what our first homework assignment's gonna be. Hey, you're excited over Cordelia, okay? We've all got issues."
The insecurities they displayed was amusing. Imagine Cordelia being completely insecure, and about *Xander*, the King of Cretins, of all people. Add to that that she was genuinely pleased to see Willow and we see that Queen C has gone through a real transformation.
She's worried that Xander has cuddled up to some hot little Inca mummy girl and forgotten all about her (fat chance that'll ever happen if it'd been me). Xander worries that she's had a passionate affair with Pedro the Cabana Boy. And both of them obsessing about their hair, LOL. Poor Willow, what she had to put up with from those two.
When they finally run into each other they are both so anxious that the magic moment passes and they both fear the worst. Still, Xander manages to draw Cordy back into the Slayerette circle, and by default closer to him, by suggesting to use her as vampire bait. (Xander: "You don't hide! You're bait! Go act baity!") And Cordy goes along with it, her complaints just being an excuse to pick a fight with Xander.
Their eventual reunion kiss as they stake a vampire in a sandwich between them is deliriously funny, queue cheesy music (courtesy of "What's My Line, part 2") and all. Aww, our favourite couple is back!
Senast redigerad av
Mr Chase mån mar 15, 2004 2:26, redigerad totalt 1 gång.
Rupert Giles: "I'll be back in the Middle Ages."
Miss Calendar: "Did you ever leave?"