So... that Mark. I think I've worked it out. :)

[elisi]

(Karen Gillan in my icon is doing a Mark impression...)

First of all, then many thanks go to gabrielleabelle for suggesting that Mark is so... OTT in his Buffy reviews because he expects angst. Because suddenly he was easy to diagnose. Basically he suffers from pre-Traumatic Joss Syndrome.

His tagline is 'You're Not Prepared', but this actually misleading. I don't mean that he's spoiled, but he is prepared. Here are my approximations of his mindset for various things:

Buffy:
'OH NOES IT'S JOSS AND HE LOVES TO STAB PEOPLE IN THE BACK WHEN THEY FEEL HAPPY! EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE PERPETUAL HEARTBREAK, ANYONE COULD DIE AT ANYTIME! WILL IT BE THIS EPISODE THAT BREAKS ME FOR GOOD? OR THIS ONE? OR THIS ONE? OR...'

Lord of the Rings:
'OMG EVERYTHING IS EPIC AND EVERYTHING IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL FANTASY THAT COMES AFTER AND HOW SHALL I DEAL???'

Moffat Who:
'EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE CLEVER AND COMPLICATED OH NOES WHAT-IS-GOING-ON-I-CAN'T-WORK-IT-OUT-HELP!!!!'

Twilight:
'THIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE RUBBISH AND TERRIBLE - AAAAAAAH! IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? AND IT KEEPS GETTING WORSE...'

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think you're onto something.

That said, he's watching "The Wish" today. And I do believe he's not prepared for what he's supposed to not be prepared for. He thinks he knows who Willow is. Tee hee.

[elisi]

Heh. I think you're onto something.
It works, doesn't it? (And of nothing else it's certainly entertaining. *g*)

That said, he's watching "The Wish" today. And I do believe he's not prepared for what he's supposed to not be prepared for. He thinks he knows who Willow is. Tee hee.
It's going to be another capslocks thing, isn't it? And oh, the beautiful irony of how everything that now seems so farfetched as to be, literally, another universe, will all come true...

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I tried to read him, but his excitement is just seemed so boring... and I am old and jaded ;)

[elisi]

It's... Well. He has a very specific style. It's... a bit much. (I can't read his Doctor Who stuff at all, f.ex.) I can absolutely understand people who can't stomach it.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

it's not that I cannot stomach his style, it's just his convulsions about Buffy punching the cop (in Becoming II) above everything else were kind of ridiculous comparing his reaction to the really powerful parts. As if he had a premature ejaculation - got too excited and all spent when the show was just starting to gain momentum.

tee-hee

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

THIS IS TRUTH!

Seriously, I think he might start having coronaries by the later seasons. Can you imagine The Gift? Dude's gonna faint dead.

[elisi]

THIS IS TRUTH!
Clearly when we combine forces nothing can hold us back...

Seriously, I think he might start having coronaries by the later seasons. Can you imagine The Gift? Dude's gonna faint dead.
Or Smashed... or Dead Things... Or... Yeah, it won't be easy for him. *gets out the popcorn*

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think Seeing Red may do the poor guy in.
Also so not looking forward to the Spike!Rage. Sigh.
So many people over-react to that episode....they act like they've never seen sexual violence on television.

[elisi]

Well he claims to enjoy complex characters with complicated motives, so we'll see how he fares... And he coped very well with Children of Earth, so I'm clinging to that.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Unlike many Buffy first time viewers - Mark did not come into the show completely unspoiled. He saw Firefly first. (I don't know if he's seen Dollhouse). Also he's heard about it from the media.

No one watching Buffy now can come into it as raw as people who saw it in 1997 when it first aired. Any more than you can watch Star Wars or read Lord of the Rings or Hamlet or Pride and Prejudice. You know certain things. Same with Moffat.

Mark knows Whedon is a horror/fantasy writers who likes to hurt characters in his stories.

It's why his posts feel at times...telegraphed. Or stating the obvious.
It is hard to believe the emotion, because you sort of know he's not completely unspoiled. It's impossible. The DVD packaging and discs alone spoils you. (S6? Come on - we have DarkWillow on the cover!)

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

I get the impression that at least the basis of the emotion is genuine... but the guy is writing two of these reviews a day, five days a week. It's a job to him, not a hobby. So yes, it gets formulaic at times. He's discovered how to monetise his feelings.

[elisi]

No one watching Buffy now can come into it as raw as people who saw it in 1997 when it first aired. Any more than you can watch Star Wars or read Lord of the Rings or Hamlet or Pride and Prejudice. You know certain things. Same with Moffat.
Exactly. He IS prepared, knowing more-or-less what to expect, which then influences his reactions. Although there's also truth in what Stormwreath says - it's why his LotR reviews are so bizarre to me. Because he treats it a bit like BtVS, as if Tolkien is deliberately toying with his audience's emotions... Which is such a strange way of approaching the text, that it took me a long while to even begin to understand why it was so weird.

[deird1]

It is hard to believe the emotion, because you sort of know he's not completely unspoiled. It's impossible. The DVD packaging and discs alone spoils you. (S6? Come on - we have DarkWillow on the cover!)

Except he's watching it on Netflix, so he's not seeing any of that...

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I came as a virgin a few years ago when my younger daughter made me watch. I only knew that I didn't like the demon faces, and that I liked vampires so I couldn't watch a show with no vampire characters. Oh, and there was someone named Spike that everyone liked.

Even so - it seems mark hits some weird points in his shows, and then tosses of some others that are really critical (or just too yum to be believed). He doesn't seem to get the whole Spike thing, but I suspect that will change as he moves to cater to audience reaction. I really found his review of Lover's Walk to be kinda lame - lamely hysterical?

You know, while the Gift will get a huge reaction, it won't be any different than virtually every show. When you review at such a high pitch it become a monotone.

[diamondtook862.livejournal.com]

I think you might be absolutely right. It's like he thinks things are going to be outrageous, so he responds as if they are, when in fact the emotionally powerful/traumatic stuff on the show only happens rarely, which is why it packs so big a punch. Getting angsty about the breakups of Willow and Xander instead of enjoying the hilarity of Lovers Walk feels like it misses the point. Both matter. This is not unexpected, nor is it tragic. It's tragicomedy, and there is so so much more to come. The Mayor isn't revolutionary or creepy at all. He's just lovable. And evil. Which is hard to reconcile. Lovers Walk is brilliant and wonderful, but it's no Becoming II, or even Prom.

I wish he'd speak more about his thoughts than his feelings. But maybe those are just my own feelings. ;)

[elisi]

I think you might be absolutely right. It's like he thinks things are going to be outrageous, so he responds as if they are, when in fact the emotionally powerful/traumatic stuff on the show only happens rarely, which is why it packs so big a punch.
*nods* But he's constantly curled up in a ball...

Getting angsty about the breakups of Willow and Xander instead of enjoying the hilarity of Lovers Walk feels like it misses the point.
IKR? They're all still alive, to begin with.

This is not unexpected, nor is it tragic. It's tragicomedy, and there is so so much more to come. The Mayor isn't revolutionary or creepy at all. He's just lovable. And evil. Which is hard to reconcile. Lovers Walk is brilliant and wonderful, but it's no Becoming II, or even Prom.
Soon enough both Cordy and Oz will be off anyway, so he should save his tears for then. (Who are we kidding, he's going to ship Willow/Tara so hard he'll be in danger of breaking things.)

I wish he'd speak more about his thoughts than his feelings. But maybe those are just my own feelings. ;)
Like I've said, I can't read his Doctor Who reviews at all. I can cope with the feeeeeelings when it comes to Buffy, because Joss does manipulte the audience a lot, but with DW, which is allllll metaphors, I can't cope with someone who can't look beyond the 'FEELS'...

[mefnord.livejournal.com]

I'm Reading mark's Reviews and while i find them a Bit tedious in their excitability (i made that Word just up, didn't i?) i Love the comments and just the whole Nostalgia of People Talking and Spekulating about buffy - draws me back every Day!

I hate auto-correct, by the Way, Sorry about the Bad spelling...

[elisi]

I'm Reading mark's Reviews and while i find them a Bit tedious in their excitability (i made that Word just up, didn't i?)
I'm pretty sure 'excitability' is a real word. :) And very appropriate too.

i Love the comments and just the whole Nostalgia of People Talking and Spekulating about buffy - draws me back every Day!
I don't have much time for the comments, sadly, but yeah, the nostalgia is lovely. <3

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Whenever you post mentioning "Mark", I think it's going to be about Mark Gatiss! XD

[elisi]

If I was writing about Mark Gatiss the post would probably contain the word 'awesome'! :)

[devilscrayon.livejournal.com]

So I just read his post for The Wish. Between that and yesterday's weirdly heartbroken reaction to Lovers Walk... I'm not sure I can read these much more. I was having fun reading them until these, when I feel like he just missed the whole point of both of these episodes. It's disappointing.

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

*hadn't read it yet*

Oh wow. Yeah.

"The whole point of this alternate universe is to show Cordelia that she needs to assign blame where it needs to go. "

No. No, that's not the point. I mean, I know the episode pulls a switch-up on the audience, but that shows that the episode isn't a Cordelia-centric one. It's about something else. His insistence that it was supposed to be Cordelia-centric is annoying.

*loves on The Wish and Marti Noxon*

But in his defense, I think that can happen when you're watching stuff for the first time? I mean, some episodes make more sense in retrospect.

[elisi]

I left a comment (page 3), and honestly, it's kinda fun? I mean, I'm presuming that at some point he'll get an understanding of how the 'verse works, but he's not there yet. His main problem with The Wish was that everything was re-set and no one remembered anything. Which. Well. Doppelgangland should put him to rights to begin with. And later, he'll learn that EVERYTHING is bloody foreshadowing. (Hi there dark!Willow, I'm looking forward to seeing you.)

Buffy is like... an Operative [from Firefly]. It'll come at you sideways. (Well, it'll certainly seem so to him, since he takes everything at face value. I find it entertaining.)

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

I don't know what is going on but my Mark Watches stops dead at Lover's Walk, and I can't get anymore reviews!

Kinda weird. Tried refreshing multiple ways and nothing does any good.

Okay - I can get them if I go to home, but not on the BTVS page....go figure!

[elisi]

Go to: http://markwatches.net/reviews/

For some reason the last two eps haven't been tagged properly or... *something*. Anyway, they're there.

ETA: Aaaand you just edited your comment. That's what I get for wanting to answer immediately. :)