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Helpless and The Zeppo
Helpless.
The very start:
1) Ridiculous food setup (grapes & cheese on red cloth on the floor).
2) OMG Buffy and Angel are acting out Spike’s fantasy with the Bot (except Buffy uses a French loaf of bread instead of a stake. But still...)
3) They are seriously playing with fire.
4) Angel gives Buffy a book of poetry for her birthday. Well isn’t that interesting...
Also of course they have the soppiest talk *ever* in this ep:
Angel: I saw you before you became the Slayer.
Buffy: What?
Angel: I watched you, and I saw you called. It was a bright afternoon
out in front of your school. You walked down the steps ... and ... and
I loved you.
Buffy: Why?
Angel: 'Cause I could see your heart. You held it before you for
everyone to see. And I worried that it would be bruised or torn. And
more than anything in my life I wanted to keep it safe ... to warm it
with my own.
Buffy: That's beautiful. Or taken literally, incredibly gross.
Angel: I was just thinking that, too.
Thankfully they realise how silly it is, but I was way ahead of them. From AtS S5:
Number 5: Maybe. But still the demon did not want my heart.
Angel: He didn't want mine, either.
Number 5: Of course not, amigo. Who would want that dried-up walnut of a dead thing?
And of course the biggest point: Buffy’s hair looks nice! Yay! (Seriously, Darcy commented on it before I had the chance.)
Now, what else. Helpless!Buffy is sweet, but it all takes rather long to build up. Anyway, all entertaining, and she even wears yummy clothes - well there's a lavender *thing* early on, but then she changes into jeans and a nice white top/cardigan. Which of course she exchanges for the Overalls of Angst once she goes off to fight the nasty vampire. *sigh*
Not much to say that isn’t obvious - it’s all about father figures and stuff, and Giles sort-of redeems himself at the end. But he didn’t say anything until he saw that the test had gone wrong... I think maybe people forgive him a little too easily.
Episode flaw: Why does Buffy not ask Angel to help her? Seriously, her mother has been kidnapped by a psycho vampire and she’s without her powers - why on earth does she not ask for any help? (Of course that would ruin the story, but...)
The Zeppo: Good episode, but Xander is dumbed down very disagreeably in the beginning. Darcy commented that no 18 year old would behave like that.
Biggest point: Buffy’s hair is awful again. *stab*
Faith is back... she wasn’t heard from at all in Gingerbread, and only referred to in passing in Helpless. I just wish she’d been around more - I think my problem is that her appearences are very much storyled. The more she gets her own story, the better it works, but so far she’s so obviously only there to move things along.
Anyway, I found something intersting in the B/A scene:
Buffy: (pleading) I don't know what to do.
Angel: Then let me decide for you. I can face this thing
[snipping all the lovey dovey talk, it’s not important for my point]
Buffy: Don't talk to me like that! *You* may be ready to go, but *I* am
not ready to lose you. Okay, this is my fight, and if you won't do it my
way, then you're...
“Let me decide for you.” Well gee Mr Angel, I think you’re onto something there - except the girl doesn’t like it when you decide things for her. She likes to do things her own way, but you seem disinclined to remember that...
The episode does showcase all of Xander’s weaknesses and strengths very well: He can be stupid, cowardly, hurtful etc. But in a tight situation he keeps his head and shows great bravery.
The very start:
1) Ridiculous food setup (grapes & cheese on red cloth on the floor).
2) OMG Buffy and Angel are acting out Spike’s fantasy with the Bot (except Buffy uses a French loaf of bread instead of a stake. But still...)
3) They are seriously playing with fire.
4) Angel gives Buffy a book of poetry for her birthday. Well isn’t that interesting...
Also of course they have the soppiest talk *ever* in this ep:
Angel: I saw you before you became the Slayer.
Buffy: What?
Angel: I watched you, and I saw you called. It was a bright afternoon
out in front of your school. You walked down the steps ... and ... and
I loved you.
Buffy: Why?
Angel: 'Cause I could see your heart. You held it before you for
everyone to see. And I worried that it would be bruised or torn. And
more than anything in my life I wanted to keep it safe ... to warm it
with my own.
Buffy: That's beautiful. Or taken literally, incredibly gross.
Angel: I was just thinking that, too.
Thankfully they realise how silly it is, but I was way ahead of them. From AtS S5:
Number 5: Maybe. But still the demon did not want my heart.
Angel: He didn't want mine, either.
Number 5: Of course not, amigo. Who would want that dried-up walnut of a dead thing?
And of course the biggest point: Buffy’s hair looks nice! Yay! (Seriously, Darcy commented on it before I had the chance.)
Now, what else. Helpless!Buffy is sweet, but it all takes rather long to build up. Anyway, all entertaining, and she even wears yummy clothes - well there's a lavender *thing* early on, but then she changes into jeans and a nice white top/cardigan. Which of course she exchanges for the Overalls of Angst once she goes off to fight the nasty vampire. *sigh*
Not much to say that isn’t obvious - it’s all about father figures and stuff, and Giles sort-of redeems himself at the end. But he didn’t say anything until he saw that the test had gone wrong... I think maybe people forgive him a little too easily.
Episode flaw: Why does Buffy not ask Angel to help her? Seriously, her mother has been kidnapped by a psycho vampire and she’s without her powers - why on earth does she not ask for any help? (Of course that would ruin the story, but...)
The Zeppo: Good episode, but Xander is dumbed down very disagreeably in the beginning. Darcy commented that no 18 year old would behave like that.
Biggest point: Buffy’s hair is awful again. *stab*
Faith is back... she wasn’t heard from at all in Gingerbread, and only referred to in passing in Helpless. I just wish she’d been around more - I think my problem is that her appearences are very much storyled. The more she gets her own story, the better it works, but so far she’s so obviously only there to move things along.
Anyway, I found something intersting in the B/A scene:
Buffy: (pleading) I don't know what to do.
Angel: Then let me decide for you. I can face this thing
[snipping all the lovey dovey talk, it’s not important for my point]
Buffy: Don't talk to me like that! *You* may be ready to go, but *I* am
not ready to lose you. Okay, this is my fight, and if you won't do it my
way, then you're...
“Let me decide for you.” Well gee Mr Angel, I think you’re onto something there - except the girl doesn’t like it when you decide things for her. She likes to do things her own way, but you seem disinclined to remember that...
The episode does showcase all of Xander’s weaknesses and strengths very well: He can be stupid, cowardly, hurtful etc. But in a tight situation he keeps his head and shows great bravery.
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That right there is my biggest issue with Angel as a character. His control issues are so huge that I sometimes think that he considers himself to be above everyone else, at least when it comes to decision-making abilities. Just look how he doesn't even take Buffy's feeling into account when he insists he has to leave, and how he unilaterally makes the decision to sign on with Wolfram and Hart.
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But when Angel presents it as some sort of true love, "I could see your heart. You held it before you for everyone to see," I shivered with the creepiness. He saw barely pubescent Buffy dressed up to look a young fifteen acting very much the aspiring Cordelia — without the depth — and fell in love with that.
No wonder he didn't understand the young woman Buffy grew into.
Also, brooding over the pretty girl to fall in love from a distance without actually getting to know her is not healthy. Excusable in a teenager but not so much for a 239 year old.
But Buffy acts like it's romantic. Of course, her judgement in these matters is ... flawed.
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Angel gives Buffy a book of poetry for her birthday.
Liam is a small town drunk aspiring to sophistication. He reads existentialism and good poetry and draws picture perfect images. Carefully excises his accent and amazingly refrains from discussing his homeland with Doyle. If you've ever known Irishmen, you know that less than two hours of background discussion between the two would be impossible, but Angel is denying his past.
Spike does the same. But William is solidly London middle class (that's the Britishism for middle-upper class to you Colonials), probably university educated, and fairly shy and nervous around his peers. So Spike is the dangerous, devil-may-care, bad boy with no use for academe.
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Anyway, agree v. much on the Spike Vs Angel thoughts, although that wasn't actually what I was getting at: Angel's gift obviously sparked an interest in poetry, since she goes on to take it at college. And Spike is a poet...
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And I hail from the wasteland between Los Angeles and New York. But it's important to understand the "middle class" in the States includes about 240,000,000 people. Nineteenth century londoners used "middle class" to refer to folks who were not commoners (90+%) but not directly related to the queen. That's pretty different.
sparked an interest in poetry
Don't we see later on that Buffy put this book away somewhere with the implication that she doesn't read it? Maybe it was at university that she gains an interest in poetry.
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Grr.
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more than anything in my life I wanted to keep it safe ... to warm it
with my own. Cheeeeeeasy! You know, it's not onlt Bangel for me, romance scenes always bored me and came out cheasy, who even talks like that?
The Zeppo, sigh, Xander, poor unapprecaited Xander. I remember my brother being so pissed off at the ending to the point of actually cursing and leaving the room because the Scoobies didn't know that Xander saved them. Actually I liked that Xander didn't tell them, made me respect him a lot. And I loved how he walked confidently away from Cordelia. In your face, Cordy, I have no problem with you mocking Xander putting him down, because, well, you're hurting and he deserved it, but talking about Xander's home life in front of people is so cheap, especially that you promised him not to tell.
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My husband read this over my shoulder and commented that as a Scandinavian living in Yorkshire you are clearly a remnant of the Danelaw, which is most certainly Colonial....
*g*
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I have to laugh about the hair spottage. How strangely inconsistent is her hair in this season? One week it's good, the next, it's horrible.
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“Let me decide for you.” Well gee Mr Angel, I think you’re onto something there - except the girl doesn’t like it when you decide things for her. She likes to do things her own way, but you seem disinclined to remember that...
Oh, yes. I'd always wondered in those early seasons if we were meant to be seeing Angel in a sort of Buffy-looking-for-a-father-figure light. Only she rebels against his attempts at authority, the same way she does against Giles's.
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Well it might have started out that way, but I think she really began to like it for its own sake. From 'Tough Love' when she's decided to quit college:
BUFFY: No. Yes. Yeah. Um ... I wanted to tell you ... how much I enjoyed this class. I mean, I know that I wasn't the best student, but ... I really learned a lot. Uh, and I really like poetry. I really do.
PROFESSOR: I'm glad you like poetry, Buffy.
BUFFY: I wish I had time for it. But I just ... don't right now.
Poor Buffy. I hope she reads a lot of poetry in Rome.
you are clearly a remnant of the Danelaw, which is most certainly Colonial....
Heeeeee! Well as long as it doesn't have US connotations, I'm fine. :)
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Oh no, not healthy. But - and I've been thinking about this before - I think that when Angel met Buffy he probably fell in love for the very first time. Looking at his life as Liam, it is doubtful if he ever had much to do with women who weren't tavern wenches and when he got his soul he avoided people. Imagine having lived for that long without ever knowing what it's like to fall in love. So I can understand where Angel is coming from, and understand why he hopes that Buffy can somehow be his 'salvation' (his 'new Darla' who'll remake him). But it ain't healthy at all - they're both incredibly immature (waching them, I'm always grateful that I'm no longer 17!) and have hopes and expectations of each other that far outweigh reality. It's Romeo and Juliet - but R&J happened to die...
The problem with B/A is that when not viewed romantically it's extremely offputting (like Spike/Dawn). And he keeps treating her like a child which is just patronising in the extreme.
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Oh yes. I just come from an English POV, not an American.
Maybe it was at university that she gains an interest in poetry.
Judging from 'Tough Love', that would seem to be correct:
BUFFY: No. Yes. Yeah. Um ... I wanted to tell you ... how much I enjoyed this class. I mean, I know that I wasn't the best student, but ... I really learned a lot. Uh, and I really like poetry. I really do.
PROFESSOR: I'm glad you like poetry, Buffy.
BUFFY: I wish I had time for it. But I just ... don't right now.
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Really? I've completely forgotten that. *smacks Angel over the head*
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That's it the voice of True Love, don'thca know?
actually cursing and leaving the room because the Scoobies didn't know that Xander saved them.
Really? How odd. If he'd been boasting it would completely have undermined the point of the story.
talking about Xander's home life in front of people is so cheap, especially that you promised him not to tell.
Yeah - but then he did choose to go out with her in the first place... he knew what she was! ;)
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Bwah! Well she broke up with him in 'Lovers Walk', what on earth is he doing still hanging around...
How strangely inconsistent is her hair in this season?
It's bizarre. Normally I don't particularly notice hair and clothes (not to mention *remember* them later), but this season? *shudder* (Beginning with what Darcy calls 'Trailer Trash Buffy' in 'Anne'.)
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Squee! Thank you. :) I'm having fun writing them, except for the fact that I can't find the time.
if we were meant to be seeing Angel in a sort of Buffy-looking-for-a-father-figure light.
Well 'traditionally' the Romantic Hero makes all the big decisions and the swooning lady happily abides by them, because he's - y'know - the man. Buffy of course was never like that... (which is why she belongs with Spike!)
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I agree about Angel being in love for the first time with a soul in Becoming I. But then there's Darla and the big speech in Dear Boy (along with the rest of AtS S2) shouts that the gentleman doth protest too much.
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Oh no. Your ancestors started colonising rather a long time before mine did...
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Yup, that's my take also.
Your ancestors started colonising rather a long time before mine did...
Viking power! *waves sword*
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Have you read my Spawn yet? *g* My Spawn kink is actually very specific - it has to be young Dawn and unsouled Spike, so that it's bound to be doomed and wrong. I've tried to read grownup!Dawn/souled!Spike and it did nothing for me at all...
the gentleman doth protest too much.
Indeed. There was something keeping him by Darla's side for 140 years!
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Oh dear. Now I have this irresistible image of what you really look like!
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Yes, but the name is very common in the Faroes (the modern version being 'Brynhild', pronounced 'Breenhild') and rather pretty it is too!
that image of John Cleese as a Viking was too good to waste!
Absolutely. There can not be enough John Cleese in the world!