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Unpopular fandom opinions... *g*
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st_salieri one of the bestest writers out there! Have a Fabulous Day dear, and in your honour (as it were) I decided to post my 'unpopular fandom opinions' that I've had on my desktop for weeks. (Not that I have time for replying to comments or anything, mind you...)
Only 2, but definitely unpopular! *g*
I don’t mind the B/A kiss in EoD.
I’ve talked about this before of course - twice even - but recently I’ve given it more thought since it’s been mentioned a few times on my flist, usually coupled with the annoyance of throwing the B/A crowd a bone when their ship was left behind years before.
Standard disclaimer: I don’t *like* the kiss, and it’s a thoroughly nasty thing from Spike’s POV yadda, yadda you know the drill.
Now let’s go all the way back to S3 and look at what Spike tells our star crossed lovers:
You're not friends. You'll never be
friends. You'll be in love till it
kills you both. You'll fight, you'll
shag, you'll hate each other till it
makes you quiver, but you'll never be
friends. Real love isn't brains,
children, it's blood, it's blood
screaming inside you to work its
will. I may be love's bitch, but at
least I'm man enough to admit it.
The script goes on to portray the scene like this:
There is silence. Buffy and Angel are comeback deficient. They resolutely do not look at one another.
Spike was onto something. But the thing is, Spike isn’t really describing B/A, he’s projecting his own relationship with Dru onto them, trying to explain the nature of love - the maddening, infuriating, blinding passion that just sweeps you up. And Buffy and Angel know all about that. We see this in in their first kiss in S1, in all their interactions in S2 and S3, we see it in ‘I Will Remember You’ and we even see it in ‘Forever’: A touch, a kiss and they’re nearly falling over the edge. As Cordy and Wesley put it so very eloquently in ‘Fredless’:
Cordy: "Oh - Angel! I know that I'm a Slayer and you a vampire - and it would be *impossible* for us to *be* together - *but!*"
Wes stands up: "But!"
Cordy turns to look at him. Wes pulls his glasses off and lays them to the side.
Wes: "My gypsy curse sometimes prevents me from seeing the truth. Oh, Buffy!"
Cordy: "Yes, Angel?"
Wes: "Oh, I love you so much I almost forgot to *brood!*"
Cordy: "And just because I sent you to hell that one time doesn't mean that we can't just be friends."
Wes grabs a hold of Cordy's wrist.
Cordy: "Oh!"
Wes: "Or possibly more."
Cordy gasps: "Gasp! No! We mustn't."
Wes pulls Cordy close.
Wes: "Kiss me."
Cordy: "Bite me!"
It’s big drama. Oh yeah.
Now fastforward to ‘End of Days’/’Chosen’. And look at that kiss and the aftermath. Are they breathless with desire? Unable to keep their hands off each other, but manfully fighting their urges? Nope. Nada. Zilch. They’re happy, and affectionate, similar in interaction to Buffy and Riley pre-Sam intrusion. I look at them and see - friendship. With a little added extra for old times sake maybe, but friendship none the less. And the kiss proves that to me. It’s... closure.
See Spike was wrong in ‘Lovers Walk’ - he wasn’t describing the future of B/A. Or of himself and Dru, although he came closer there. Both those relationships were doomed. He was talking about himself and Buffy - and there is a subject that I *don’t* need to expand on! ;)
I don’t mind Buffy dating The Immortal.
What people forget is that Buffy really likes boys. Always has. She notices how handsome Angel is right from the beginning, but it’s Owen that she first tries to date - and if he hadn’t turned out to be an adrenalin junkie that relationship might have lasted a bit longer than it did.
Anyway, then comes Angel and the whole ‘head-over-heels-in-love-OMG!’. Fastforward to the beginning of S3, and by ‘Faith, Hope and Trick’ (5 months after she sent Angel to Hell) she sort-of starts dating Scott. Of course Angel re-appears and Scott turned out to be gay anyway, but still- dating.
In S4 Buffy sleeps with Parker in HLOD, expecting a relationship, again 5 months after Angel left. Parker turns out to be a poop head, so she proceeds very carefully when Riley begins pursuing her, but by February they’re very much a couple and sleeping together. That’s 8 months post-Angel leaving. Rememeber - the guy who was THE BIG LOVE OF HER LIFE!!!
So - no matter the heart break, Buffy is optimistic when it comes to love. Now notice that it takes almost an entire *year* before we hear about a boyfriend post-Spike. That’s twice as long as post-Angel. The question is of course: Does she know that Spike is alive?
- If no, then I think she’s trying to live - ‘so one of them is living’. She knows that he’d hate for her to sit pining and whining.
- If yes, then I’d guess she’s probably pissed off because he never told her, and worried because he’s working with Angel at W&H.
Neither is a reason for her to enter a convent. As for Spike’s reaction in TGiQ “It’s really over. Not that I thought I had a chance anyway...” then I don’t think he’s given up forever and ever. If there’s anyone who always gets up again when he’s knocked down it’s Spike. Also notice that he hadn’t thought it was over *before* that... and ain’t that interesting? Actually it reminds me of the Oz/Willow/Tara situation.
Now for the Immortal himself... I think/hope that Buffy has accepted that ‘normal’ might never do it for her. Or at least she’s not going to run around looking for it, like with Riley. But more than that, just try to think about what we know about him:
”Have you seen him? With the eyes and the chest and the...”
(sighs blissfully)
“immortality.”
“I don't know what he is. A giant. A titan straddling good and evil, serving no master but his own considerable desires.”
“Darling. It was just fornication.”
(chuckles)
“Really great fornication.”
“He's insatiable.”
“He felt like sunshine.”
Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? And he’s rich too! Pretty much the perfect package!
And *that*, dear friends, is Buffy’s rebound guy after Spike! :)
st_salieri one of the bestest writers out there! Have a Fabulous Day dear, and in your honour (as it were) I decided to post my 'unpopular fandom opinions' that I've had on my desktop for weeks. (Not that I have time for replying to comments or anything, mind you...)Only 2, but definitely unpopular! *g*
I don’t mind the B/A kiss in EoD.
I’ve talked about this before of course - twice even - but recently I’ve given it more thought since it’s been mentioned a few times on my flist, usually coupled with the annoyance of throwing the B/A crowd a bone when their ship was left behind years before.
Standard disclaimer: I don’t *like* the kiss, and it’s a thoroughly nasty thing from Spike’s POV yadda, yadda you know the drill.
Now let’s go all the way back to S3 and look at what Spike tells our star crossed lovers:
friends. You'll be in love till it
kills you both. You'll fight, you'll
shag, you'll hate each other till it
makes you quiver, but you'll never be
friends. Real love isn't brains,
children, it's blood, it's blood
screaming inside you to work its
will. I may be love's bitch, but at
least I'm man enough to admit it.
The script goes on to portray the scene like this:
There is silence. Buffy and Angel are comeback deficient. They resolutely do not look at one another.
Spike was onto something. But the thing is, Spike isn’t really describing B/A, he’s projecting his own relationship with Dru onto them, trying to explain the nature of love - the maddening, infuriating, blinding passion that just sweeps you up. And Buffy and Angel know all about that. We see this in in their first kiss in S1, in all their interactions in S2 and S3, we see it in ‘I Will Remember You’ and we even see it in ‘Forever’: A touch, a kiss and they’re nearly falling over the edge. As Cordy and Wesley put it so very eloquently in ‘Fredless’:
Cordy: "Oh - Angel! I know that I'm a Slayer and you a vampire - and it would be *impossible* for us to *be* together - *but!*"
Wes stands up: "But!"
Cordy turns to look at him. Wes pulls his glasses off and lays them to the side.
Wes: "My gypsy curse sometimes prevents me from seeing the truth. Oh, Buffy!"
Cordy: "Yes, Angel?"
Wes: "Oh, I love you so much I almost forgot to *brood!*"
Cordy: "And just because I sent you to hell that one time doesn't mean that we can't just be friends."
Wes grabs a hold of Cordy's wrist.
Cordy: "Oh!"
Wes: "Or possibly more."
Cordy gasps: "Gasp! No! We mustn't."
Wes pulls Cordy close.
Wes: "Kiss me."
Cordy: "Bite me!"
It’s big drama. Oh yeah.
Now fastforward to ‘End of Days’/’Chosen’. And look at that kiss and the aftermath. Are they breathless with desire? Unable to keep their hands off each other, but manfully fighting their urges? Nope. Nada. Zilch. They’re happy, and affectionate, similar in interaction to Buffy and Riley pre-Sam intrusion. I look at them and see - friendship. With a little added extra for old times sake maybe, but friendship none the less. And the kiss proves that to me. It’s... closure.
See Spike was wrong in ‘Lovers Walk’ - he wasn’t describing the future of B/A. Or of himself and Dru, although he came closer there. Both those relationships were doomed. He was talking about himself and Buffy - and there is a subject that I *don’t* need to expand on! ;)
I don’t mind Buffy dating The Immortal.
What people forget is that Buffy really likes boys. Always has. She notices how handsome Angel is right from the beginning, but it’s Owen that she first tries to date - and if he hadn’t turned out to be an adrenalin junkie that relationship might have lasted a bit longer than it did.
Anyway, then comes Angel and the whole ‘head-over-heels-in-love-OMG!’. Fastforward to the beginning of S3, and by ‘Faith, Hope and Trick’ (5 months after she sent Angel to Hell) she sort-of starts dating Scott. Of course Angel re-appears and Scott turned out to be gay anyway, but still- dating.
In S4 Buffy sleeps with Parker in HLOD, expecting a relationship, again 5 months after Angel left. Parker turns out to be a poop head, so she proceeds very carefully when Riley begins pursuing her, but by February they’re very much a couple and sleeping together. That’s 8 months post-Angel leaving. Rememeber - the guy who was THE BIG LOVE OF HER LIFE!!!
So - no matter the heart break, Buffy is optimistic when it comes to love. Now notice that it takes almost an entire *year* before we hear about a boyfriend post-Spike. That’s twice as long as post-Angel. The question is of course: Does she know that Spike is alive?
- If no, then I think she’s trying to live - ‘so one of them is living’. She knows that he’d hate for her to sit pining and whining.
- If yes, then I’d guess she’s probably pissed off because he never told her, and worried because he’s working with Angel at W&H.
Neither is a reason for her to enter a convent. As for Spike’s reaction in TGiQ “It’s really over. Not that I thought I had a chance anyway...” then I don’t think he’s given up forever and ever. If there’s anyone who always gets up again when he’s knocked down it’s Spike. Also notice that he hadn’t thought it was over *before* that... and ain’t that interesting? Actually it reminds me of the Oz/Willow/Tara situation.
Now for the Immortal himself... I think/hope that Buffy has accepted that ‘normal’ might never do it for her. Or at least she’s not going to run around looking for it, like with Riley. But more than that, just try to think about what we know about him:
”Have you seen him? With the eyes and the chest and the...”
(sighs blissfully)
“immortality.”
“I don't know what he is. A giant. A titan straddling good and evil, serving no master but his own considerable desires.”
“Darling. It was just fornication.”
(chuckles)
“Really great fornication.”
“He's insatiable.”
“He felt like sunshine.”
Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? And he’s rich too! Pretty much the perfect package!
And *that*, dear friends, is Buffy’s rebound guy after Spike! :)
no subject
That's one reason why I've so little interest in the upcoming comic series by Joss, even though he's said it'll be canon.