Ning is here!
Fri, Mar. 21st, 2003 01:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterMy sister and her friends from Cornell have made it here safely. Luckily, they can all entertain themselves with my large stash of books. It's not nice, but I always hate it when I have to entertain someone twenty-four/seven because I'm not that interesting of a person and I can never think of anything to do. Also, the things I prefer to do are generally solitary matters, like reading, watching Buffy and... well... playing solitaire. Hee. Sorry, bad pun.
Now for my Angel review, which won't be so much of a review as a small summary:
I liked it. I was a little tired of the flashbacks, and I thought Angelus talked too much, but still, I loved Faith. And Willow! Willow was awesome! I loved Willow talking with Wesley over their respective darkness, and I especially loved the Willow and Fred dynamic. I know everyone and their mother has said this, but they're definitely more interesting than Fred and anyone else so far on the Angel crew. And I saw Lorne in the opening credits! Yay for Andy Hallett!
After watching the end a second time around to catch what I missed when we started a war, I started noticing just how much Faith is resembling Buffy now. Makes you curious. What really struck me was the Faith/Angelus conversation and the Buffy/Spike conversation in Never Leave Me. Both of them were emphatically denying the darker side of their nature, not because they couldn't deal with it or had to hide it, but because they had faced it head on before and had triumphed over it. I felt like cheering when Faith told Angelus that she wasn't a killer anymore. Right now, it also seems as though Faith is more confident in her own abilities than Buffy, at least in regards to leadership. Faith walked in, took over command of AI, and generally knew what to do with everyone. Except Fred. And while that facade of control was tenuous, as evidenced by the shower scene, she held on to it with all she had.
In contrast, Buffy is getting more and more confused. She was great in Lessons, but I think the First Evil has steadily been undermining her confidence in herself, a very Buffy confidence, not a Slayer confidence. She's got Slayer confidence right now -- she knows she can fight. And while she is in a dark place, she's holding together and being strong. But that almost seems to be the problem. I just watched Anne and Dead Man's Party for the first time yesterday (yay season three DVDs!!!), and I loved the moment in Anne where she looked up, realized that those demons couldn't do anything to her, couldn't take away who she was. And I think it's significant that she says she's Buffy before she says she's the Slayer. While she fought back depression in season six and seemed to be doing better in season seven, the episodes so far have put her back where she was in season five, where she was wondering about the source of her power and her ability to be human and Slayer at the same time. I don't think she's quite figure it out yet.
I think both season six and seven are about living, not the grand sacrificial gesture of the Gift. And now, after learning to live in general in season six, she has to learn how to live as the Slayer. And for Buffy, that's never meant isolating herself. In light of later episodes, the moment in Selfless when she declared herself above the law and as ultimately alone seems even more significant. She seems to believe that she is right now, and that's how she's holding herself together. I think she may believe that the others need her to be a Slayer, so she can't show them the doubts and fears that she expressed to Andrew in Storyteller. And this season is all about power. Buffy has power, in herself, not as the Slayer. Maybe meeting Faith will let her see that again, as Faith, who also has doubts and fears, seems to have somehow integrated them within herself so she can still kick ass, enjoy herself, and win the day.
So looking forward to the return of Buffy next week!
Buffy 3x01-3x02
And after watching Anne, I'd just like to say that I loved Lily. I don't know what, but something about her really struck a chord. And I absolutely adored Buffy in there. Buffy is my hero.
But I don't like Xander right now, due to Dead Man's Party. I think I'm very ambivalent toward Xander. Sometimes he can do beautiful things like staying with Willow to the very end in Grave and telling Dawn that she's extraordinary in Potential, but other times, I think he can be extremely judgmental. I thought he was especially hard on Buffy in DMP, not even allowing her to defend herself, while Willow seemed to be much more inclined not to attack Buffy for leaving them, but to honestly tell Buffy how alone and scared she was. I think in general trying to make someone empathize with you is a much better method than anger. And I think Willow would have really gotten to Buffy had not Joyce come in and spoiled everything.
I love my shows.
And now for something completely different: chapter two of the thesis now consists of one page!
Now for my Angel review, which won't be so much of a review as a small summary:
I liked it. I was a little tired of the flashbacks, and I thought Angelus talked too much, but still, I loved Faith. And Willow! Willow was awesome! I loved Willow talking with Wesley over their respective darkness, and I especially loved the Willow and Fred dynamic. I know everyone and their mother has said this, but they're definitely more interesting than Fred and anyone else so far on the Angel crew. And I saw Lorne in the opening credits! Yay for Andy Hallett!
After watching the end a second time around to catch what I missed when we started a war, I started noticing just how much Faith is resembling Buffy now. Makes you curious. What really struck me was the Faith/Angelus conversation and the Buffy/Spike conversation in Never Leave Me. Both of them were emphatically denying the darker side of their nature, not because they couldn't deal with it or had to hide it, but because they had faced it head on before and had triumphed over it. I felt like cheering when Faith told Angelus that she wasn't a killer anymore. Right now, it also seems as though Faith is more confident in her own abilities than Buffy, at least in regards to leadership. Faith walked in, took over command of AI, and generally knew what to do with everyone. Except Fred. And while that facade of control was tenuous, as evidenced by the shower scene, she held on to it with all she had.
In contrast, Buffy is getting more and more confused. She was great in Lessons, but I think the First Evil has steadily been undermining her confidence in herself, a very Buffy confidence, not a Slayer confidence. She's got Slayer confidence right now -- she knows she can fight. And while she is in a dark place, she's holding together and being strong. But that almost seems to be the problem. I just watched Anne and Dead Man's Party for the first time yesterday (yay season three DVDs!!!), and I loved the moment in Anne where she looked up, realized that those demons couldn't do anything to her, couldn't take away who she was. And I think it's significant that she says she's Buffy before she says she's the Slayer. While she fought back depression in season six and seemed to be doing better in season seven, the episodes so far have put her back where she was in season five, where she was wondering about the source of her power and her ability to be human and Slayer at the same time. I don't think she's quite figure it out yet.
I think both season six and seven are about living, not the grand sacrificial gesture of the Gift. And now, after learning to live in general in season six, she has to learn how to live as the Slayer. And for Buffy, that's never meant isolating herself. In light of later episodes, the moment in Selfless when she declared herself above the law and as ultimately alone seems even more significant. She seems to believe that she is right now, and that's how she's holding herself together. I think she may believe that the others need her to be a Slayer, so she can't show them the doubts and fears that she expressed to Andrew in Storyteller. And this season is all about power. Buffy has power, in herself, not as the Slayer. Maybe meeting Faith will let her see that again, as Faith, who also has doubts and fears, seems to have somehow integrated them within herself so she can still kick ass, enjoy herself, and win the day.
So looking forward to the return of Buffy next week!
Buffy 3x01-3x02
And after watching Anne, I'd just like to say that I loved Lily. I don't know what, but something about her really struck a chord. And I absolutely adored Buffy in there. Buffy is my hero.
But I don't like Xander right now, due to Dead Man's Party. I think I'm very ambivalent toward Xander. Sometimes he can do beautiful things like staying with Willow to the very end in Grave and telling Dawn that she's extraordinary in Potential, but other times, I think he can be extremely judgmental. I thought he was especially hard on Buffy in DMP, not even allowing her to defend herself, while Willow seemed to be much more inclined not to attack Buffy for leaving them, but to honestly tell Buffy how alone and scared she was. I think in general trying to make someone empathize with you is a much better method than anger. And I think Willow would have really gotten to Buffy had not Joyce come in and spoiled everything.
I love my shows.
And now for something completely different: chapter two of the thesis now consists of one page!
