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Why I’m looking forward to S6.
Now this isn’t really about the fact that S8 appears to be crack!fic, what with the ridiculous ret-cons, or that it’ll be Bryan Lynch (yay!) penning S6. OK, so it’s a bit of that, I admit I am shallow. (I’m also currently praying that Franco Urro will do the artwork. Because I really, really like his style!)
But - I’ve been thinking about endings. I’ll never accept the comics as canon, but pre-comics I think that if I could have chosen the ending to mess with, I’d have gone with ‘Chosen’. Because NFA is just so utterly, utterly perfect. But having to face Joss messing with *both*, I’ve been forced to re-examine my feelings, and I’m more upset about S8 - and more excited about S6. There are several reasons for this:
1) Finished vs cancelled.
There were never going to be more than 7 seasons of Buffy. They knew right from the start of S7 that it was the last one (the parade of Big Bads in ‘Lessons’ is a good indicator). It went out on a high, and Joss admitted to being totally out of ideas.
There *was* going to be a S6! They planned for it right from the beginning and had to scramble to tie up all the lose ends when the show was cancelled. And I’m curious to see what we might have got... [cries for lost show and curses the WB]
2) Ret-cons.
I’m sorry, but the ones in s8 (or at least that particular one) just make my head implode. It says ‘f*ck continuity’ and undermines a brilliant moment. (And no, I don’t think it’s worth it!)
Now s6... the obvious one would be to bring back Wes. I doubt this could be done without undermining his death - but! He was only killed because the show was cancelled - he was sacrificed on the altar of ‘make the audience bawl its eyes out’. In a world where the show wasn’t cancelled he would have survived - they had stuff planned out for him in S6. So if they ret-con him... I’ll understand why.
3) The endings.
I know I’ve gone on about this at length, but what I love about the end of ‘Chosen’ is that Buffy is *free*! In theory she can do whatever she wants, and - I’ve come to realise - this is something infinitely precious. That moment at the edge of the Hellmouth is where canon stops. The trails fanning out from there head off in so many directions that to choose just one narrative is a huge, *vast* reduction in scope. As I said above, I’ve realised that the ending of ‘Chosen’ is more important to me than NFA - because Buffy is human, and because she - for the first time since she was called - has her whole life in front of her. I don’t want that messing with. (Especially not for the sake of sending her to a Scottish castle with Giant!Dawn, Suave!Xander, Super!Willow etc...)
Now the *point* of ‘Not Fade Away’ is that it is Angel’s destiny to fight:
The point of Angel was always that the fight never ends. He'll always fight. It's an eternity of fighting. You can't ever win but the fight is worth fighting.
David Fury
His path from the alley only leads to more battles. So the fact that we’ll get another story about Angel fighting pleases me. (Oh and given the writer, I sincerely doubt that Spike will be 'following Angel around like a puppy dog'. Bryan Lynch's Spike is a BDH and *very* independent!)
4) Shipping.
A lot of people aren’t interested in s6, because it’ll just (needlessly they think) delay Spike going to Buffy. (Or of course they’re just not interested in AtS full stop, which I can’t help them with, sadly). Now personally I think he made his choice in ‘Harm’s Way’ (for whatever reasons), and unless a reason comes along for him to seek Buffy out - or they accidentally cross paths - he’s not thinking in terms of ‘once this is over I’ll go to Buffy’. Anyway, what I’ve come to realise (and I feel like such a traitor) is that I love the characters above the ships. I adore Spuffy with all my heart, but if Spike stayed with Angel and never found his way back to Buffy, and she settled down with someone new and lived a happy life I’d be OK with that. Or if Spike and Angel split up and he went off on his own adventures I’d love that too (thank you Spike:Asylum!). I’m easy - as long as the stories are good, I’m happy to go almost everywhere, ships or no ships. For me that’s one of the joys of the open-endedness of the way the shows finished. Does that make me weird?
Actually re. Spike and being on his own - I don’t see Spike not going to Buffy as him ‘moving on’ per se. He will always love her and that’ll never change, even if he thinks he hasn’t got a shot at a proper future with her. But what he *does* do, I think, is adopt her outlook, her MO: ‘The mission is what matters.’
And that’s as many thoughts as I have room for today...
But - I’ve been thinking about endings. I’ll never accept the comics as canon, but pre-comics I think that if I could have chosen the ending to mess with, I’d have gone with ‘Chosen’. Because NFA is just so utterly, utterly perfect. But having to face Joss messing with *both*, I’ve been forced to re-examine my feelings, and I’m more upset about S8 - and more excited about S6. There are several reasons for this:
1) Finished vs cancelled.
There were never going to be more than 7 seasons of Buffy. They knew right from the start of S7 that it was the last one (the parade of Big Bads in ‘Lessons’ is a good indicator). It went out on a high, and Joss admitted to being totally out of ideas.
There *was* going to be a S6! They planned for it right from the beginning and had to scramble to tie up all the lose ends when the show was cancelled. And I’m curious to see what we might have got... [cries for lost show and curses the WB]
2) Ret-cons.
I’m sorry, but the ones in s8 (or at least that particular one) just make my head implode. It says ‘f*ck continuity’ and undermines a brilliant moment. (And no, I don’t think it’s worth it!)
Now s6... the obvious one would be to bring back Wes. I doubt this could be done without undermining his death - but! He was only killed because the show was cancelled - he was sacrificed on the altar of ‘make the audience bawl its eyes out’. In a world where the show wasn’t cancelled he would have survived - they had stuff planned out for him in S6. So if they ret-con him... I’ll understand why.
3) The endings.
I know I’ve gone on about this at length, but what I love about the end of ‘Chosen’ is that Buffy is *free*! In theory she can do whatever she wants, and - I’ve come to realise - this is something infinitely precious. That moment at the edge of the Hellmouth is where canon stops. The trails fanning out from there head off in so many directions that to choose just one narrative is a huge, *vast* reduction in scope. As I said above, I’ve realised that the ending of ‘Chosen’ is more important to me than NFA - because Buffy is human, and because she - for the first time since she was called - has her whole life in front of her. I don’t want that messing with. (Especially not for the sake of sending her to a Scottish castle with Giant!Dawn, Suave!Xander, Super!Willow etc...)
Now the *point* of ‘Not Fade Away’ is that it is Angel’s destiny to fight:
The point of Angel was always that the fight never ends. He'll always fight. It's an eternity of fighting. You can't ever win but the fight is worth fighting.
David Fury
His path from the alley only leads to more battles. So the fact that we’ll get another story about Angel fighting pleases me. (Oh and given the writer, I sincerely doubt that Spike will be 'following Angel around like a puppy dog'. Bryan Lynch's Spike is a BDH and *very* independent!)
4) Shipping.
A lot of people aren’t interested in s6, because it’ll just (needlessly they think) delay Spike going to Buffy. (Or of course they’re just not interested in AtS full stop, which I can’t help them with, sadly). Now personally I think he made his choice in ‘Harm’s Way’ (for whatever reasons), and unless a reason comes along for him to seek Buffy out - or they accidentally cross paths - he’s not thinking in terms of ‘once this is over I’ll go to Buffy’. Anyway, what I’ve come to realise (and I feel like such a traitor) is that I love the characters above the ships. I adore Spuffy with all my heart, but if Spike stayed with Angel and never found his way back to Buffy, and she settled down with someone new and lived a happy life I’d be OK with that. Or if Spike and Angel split up and he went off on his own adventures I’d love that too (thank you Spike:Asylum!). I’m easy - as long as the stories are good, I’m happy to go almost everywhere, ships or no ships. For me that’s one of the joys of the open-endedness of the way the shows finished. Does that make me weird?
Actually re. Spike and being on his own - I don’t see Spike not going to Buffy as him ‘moving on’ per se. He will always love her and that’ll never change, even if he thinks he hasn’t got a shot at a proper future with her. But what he *does* do, I think, is adopt her outlook, her MO: ‘The mission is what matters.’
And that’s as many thoughts as I have room for today...
no subject
To me Spike will always love Buffy - and whether or not he "finds" her, she will always be in his head ... but I tend to agree with a line I read in a one-shot last year that the reason he was scared was that for that split second in "Chosen" he did believe she loved him - if he saw her, he would lose that moment of perfection.
Buffy, sadly has had to put others first all her life - and Chosen gave her that freedom to do what she wants .... but I think Spike will always be there - that un-requited love ... so whether she can move on to a full relationship is hard to say.
So - some thoughts - but from a completely different perspective!!
no subject
Different angles are always good. :)
if he saw her, he would lose that moment of perfection.
Ooooh, that's a nice take, but I think he did believe her... wait a moment... Actually, just read my post on Chosen, and then follow the links to
so whether she can move on to a full relationship is hard to say.
Oh see I think so. *points to posts above*
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Chosen is truly a special episode ... but still don't know about them ever finding deep love with anyone else - yes, they could move on ... but their other 1/2 will always be missing. Don't know - maybe that's the optomistic romantic in me (no wonder I am single!!)
no subject
Have you ever read