Graduation robes
another thing I never had to do
but signing things day I remember
no yearbooks
so mostly we signed each others shirts
which has some definite bonus points
but mum had banned me from getting mine signed
don't know why, wasn't ever going to wear it again.
So I had a book. People wrote stuff in it. So the insincerity is definitely familiar.
Mayor and Faith - "show the world what a powerful girl you are"
girl power message for season 3 - being 'powerful' because some bloke tells you to, not real girl power. hence the graduation.
the Mayor is creepy because he's all pretending to be supportive yet totally making Faith over into some picture from his head.
And, you know, the big snake that eats people thing too. but thats less likely to be a RL problem.
Willow's little red bike. Is that the only appearance?
I like her smiley bag. That has been around a bunch of times. But I like it.
I love the fencing mismatch
Giles just gets to be so cool when Wes is around
all fuzzy jumper and casual physical competence
Giles: Nonetheless, keep watch. Faith has you at a disadvantage, Buffy.
Buffy: Cause I'm not crazy or cause I don't kill people?
Giles: Both, actually.
Giles thinks of crazy as an advantage?
*wonders what Ripper was like back in the day*
Lohesh
four winged soul-killer
not that fierce
er, it kills souls? that sounds kind of bad...
I know things are, well, different here in Sunnydale. We've both seen all sorts of things. What's important is that we keep it under control, and that's what you've done.
Snyder: I believe in order.
order at the expense of actually helping
not of the good
When the mayor walks in they're all so shocked. However many times the library gets invaded they continue to treat it as 'the inner sanctum'. Bizarre.
Well, kind of how I felt about libraries in school (and still, come to think) but in their experience, bizarre.
Giles stabs the mayor! Yaaay!
well, emotional yaay, but not terribly effective. Still, has been a while since anyone checked the invulnerable, have to get it back in the story somehow.
Love the mayor's reaction.
Oz stands between Willow and harm. Little Oz, but not giving ground at all.
The framing for the shot puts them just a little off center. I mean the table is down the middle, but the people are lopsided, so it looks unbalanced. off balance people.
That 'you stay you'll get me killed' speech... I'm kind of hearing it more from Joyce's perspective this time, and *ouch*. I mean, nasty. She would want to help. But B says not.
Buffy gets her mum out of town, eventually tells all the teenagers what is going on, but as far as we know none of the adults. Which is a nifty little message about taking up power as one comes to adulthood. But. Um, what about everyone elses parents getting killed?
Also, how come teenagers take the power by getting rid of the grown ups? Thats what 'graduation' seems to mean in these two, kick out the elders! Tell the Council where to go! Shoot the big snake yourself!
What, no one had parents in the military? Or with any useful skills at all?
Okay, I get the writer reasons for doing it this way. And the thing where its a metaphor for how grown ups dont seem to understand teenage life. Whatever.
I'm just saying, as an actual plan, why not spend the time educating whoever will listen?
And as meta, why have 'grown ups try to help' be an actual force of evil? Vigilante justice is bad, but only when the grown ups do it. What is up with that logic?
Power should be more of an integrated structure. The scoobies exist in this one age group, with a Giles tacked on that the story constantly gets rid of. What is with that? I can see it from the 'school' perspective. But work involves a different setup. Which Angel did, but BtVS never did. But logically a whole bunch of ages of people work together to get stuff done. It is freaky having the message be 'take power by ignoring grown ups'.
/rant
Willow/Oz sweetness
"Our lives are different than other peoples"
have I mentioned how much I love Oz?
I love Oz.
(and then I got a tearful moment about their long term prospects. wah!)
"This is my last office romance"
heh
well, she did try...
arrows from Sun = Angel in big trouble
Faith's shirt has a heart with a sword through it, and also a burning torch I think.
and this is where Anya starts being interesting and fun.
barfy feelings
"We're talking about laws that have existed longer than civilisation"
(wonders what his definition of civilisation is)
Watchers Council claiming to be older than Egypt or Sumer there?
old.
"I'm talking about watching my lover die"
so I flash on Wes watching Fred die
and I wonder
they called Giles for help
did he ask Buffy?
was she thinking of this?
graduating from Council control
on the one hand, yaay independence, power, boo patriarchy, all that
but what is the function of the Council?
Information? Giles can do some of that, although he did say that he was notably hampered when the Council fired him so this split will impair function further.
But they aren't answering the specific questions she needs, so Buffy's position is that if the Council won't help her in exactly the way she demands, goodbye council.
But the other thing we've seen the Council do is try and stop the Slayer when she goes psycho.
How exactly is it good to have a Slayer kick out the people that watch her for signs of crazy?
Slayer protects the world from the monsters, Watchers protect the world from the Slayer.
And okay, this season, not so very competent, but in theory, necessary function.
Buffy just 'graduated' from the people who try and enforce the law.
go Buffy. so very unlike Faith.
not. kill her become her. but apparently motive counts.
Buffy picks out Faith's knife
then we see her in mirror
with a sticker on it says 'lost'
that same 'Sun' is across the street in the background when Buffy is about to stab Faith
only backwards and dark, behind Faith
and next to it a more or less cross shaped pattern on Buffy's side, sort of wonky
and then B stabs her
they've had that handcuff to chain them together (which Faith broke)
and you can still see it on Buffy's wrist when the knife goes in
Buffy is in the most Faith like clothes
they really emphasise the similarities here.
as last words go "quite a ride" would have been cool
which I'm sure Faith would have thought of
and splat in the truck
so Buffy doesn't get what she wanted out of it
I can definitely see Faith's point with that move
Lots of stuff going on, so as to make it all that much more messed up for the next ep. Because clearly a giant snake demon isn't dangerous enough.
Well, actually I think because a giant snake demon isn't *personal* enough. Have to be really personal to make people care past the FX.
Which this does well.
