Post by Lola m on Oct 11, 2004 22:51:57 GMT -5
OK, now I'm gonna totally indulge myself in some Drusilla ramblings. It was, I think, ehills and Spring who mentioned in some other posts that they wondered what some of my thoughts on Dru were and, at least once, specifically about this ep. So I figure it was kinda requested. I'm gonna at least act as if it was.
What's going on here with Dru? Why is she here?
Well, from a plot point of view, she's here to complete the collection of all the women in Spike's unlife (except for Mummy, but, let's face it, Mummy's always there under the surface whenever Spike's on the scene ). We have Buffy, the hoped for girlfriend; Harmony the actual girlfriend; Dawn, the "I wish I was the girlfriend"; Joyce, the mom-substitute and hoped-for ally in reaching the hoped-for girlfriend; andXander, who should be the boyfriend ;D oops, I mean, Drusilla, the ex-girlfriend.
And 'cuz it makes for a nice crossover, which is good for ratings. ;D
But from Drusilla's point of view, why is she here? Or more significantly, why is she here now? Because she wants her family back together? Yep. But there's more to it than that. Because she senses something is wrong with her Spikey? Yep! But it's not the chip. He's had that for a while now and we haven't seen Dru in town. What's wrong is that he's falling for the Slayer. What's wrong is that he's "moving into the light" as it were. Really moving away from Dru, in other words. I don't think she consciously knows this is why she's here until that moment when she is chained up and says she knew before Spike did that he was in love with the Slayer. But inside somewhere, (where the pixies are talking to her) she knew, and she had to stop that.
Drusilla's been trying to collect her family back together, but she needs more than just getting them all in one spot. She needs them back the way they used to be, back when she had a family that loved her, in the only way she is able to understand now.
This means she needs Grandmum back as Vamp!Darla, not some souled, confused, dying human. So Grandmum gets put back in the dirt to rise again as darling daughtergrandmum. And she needs Daddy!Angelus back - someone to spank her if she's good - not souled and conflicted Angel. So she goes along with W&H's little plan to drive him over the edge. And she needs Spike back, but the "old Spike" back. Back to being a devoted protector, killing partner, and in love with her and the way she is - in love with her darkness. She not there to collect the Spike he is becoming now, she's there to help re-create the old one. Notice what she chooses to seduce him with:
* "a happy memory" - no one else, other than Dawn, sorta , is suggesting that his past is a happy thing to remember
* Understanding/compassion about the chip (It's very noticeable to me that his short conversation with her about how the chip really feels is the only time we hear about this until season 7 Buffy. Dru is the only one he will let himself be this vulnerable and honest with.)
* Comfy assurances that the chip and its electricity is "a lie" (nicely mirroring how Buffy has been saying his love for her is "not real" - a lie, as it were), that he's still the big bad. Listen carefully to what she's saying though, because she's stretching and confusing things here. She says that electricity lies when it tells him he's a bad dog. But the chip isn't telling him that he's bad. It's just telling him when he's trying to do something bad. Works on intention, yeah, but only intention linked with action. And he's been choosing some different actions lately.
* Killing and blood - specifically, killing as a team, killing for him so that he can drink. But in the Bronze, notice how he isn't thinking of this until she draws his attention to it. It's been a while since he's been able to feed, so he's not always thinking this way as a first reaction. He's focused on her only until she "re-trains" him for the hunt.
* Killing a slayer (I know what my boy wants to eat) - trying to recreate that "happy memory" from early 20th century China. When they were both so proud and happy about his accomplishment. Good times, as it were.
Because this ep is not just about Spike and his women, it's also about Dru and her men. Spike (obviously he's her specific primary goal here) and Angel (not physically present, true, but he's mentioned sooooo frequently and is so important to all the sub-themes of this ep that he might at well be here) and Xander. Yep, Xander. Love spell, anyone? I've always thought that part of the reason the scene with Xander is placed on the train, is so that he and Buffy will be the ones placed "closest" to Dru at this point of the story. Standing where she stood and missing the vital clue. (The doll with the blindfold - you know, so they can't see her. ;D) This way, we have the complete list of past and future loves.
I guess the last thing to throw out here is one more little IMHO Drusilla theory. I have always thought that the main thing to keep in mind about Drusilla is that she's not really here in reality most of the time. She's insane and precognitive and a vampire. Think about what that means. She hears voices, sees things - pixies and stars and who knows what else. How can she ever know what is really happening and what isn't? We know from Cordelia and Cassie and others that visions aren't a nice logical picture of what's to come. It's feeling and muddled images and sometimes pain. We also know that she was . . . broken, mentally, just before she was vamped. A truly "simple" girl, still confused about her "sight" and then pushed into a world of demons that were suddenly real - or were they? (How did her previous experiences with visions, etc. aid and abet her "insanity"?) How could she completely know or understand what was happening just before she died? Then add in the demon animating her and creating the vampire - different urges and desires, suddenly increased senses and abilities.
Her sing-song voice, the childlike qualities, etc. are all telling us that most of the time, she's "playing". I honestly think that much of her unlife is quite simply unreal to her. One big swirl of real life and imaginary life and future visions of possible lives all muddied together. It's why she has such trouble keeping a bird alive. It's why she needs and loves Spike so much. Because if nothing else, the guy is dependable - he's "constant", to use the old fashioned meaning of the word. We are reminded so much of his ADHD personality, his inability to stick to a plan, his "Tigger-ness" and so it's easy to miss that side of him. But it was the reason Angel and Darla allowed Dru to turn him, after all.
Whew! Way too much babbling. ;D
Lola
What's going on here with Dru? Why is she here?
Well, from a plot point of view, she's here to complete the collection of all the women in Spike's unlife (except for Mummy, but, let's face it, Mummy's always there under the surface whenever Spike's on the scene ). We have Buffy, the hoped for girlfriend; Harmony the actual girlfriend; Dawn, the "I wish I was the girlfriend"; Joyce, the mom-substitute and hoped-for ally in reaching the hoped-for girlfriend; and
And 'cuz it makes for a nice crossover, which is good for ratings. ;D
But from Drusilla's point of view, why is she here? Or more significantly, why is she here now? Because she wants her family back together? Yep. But there's more to it than that. Because she senses something is wrong with her Spikey? Yep! But it's not the chip. He's had that for a while now and we haven't seen Dru in town. What's wrong is that he's falling for the Slayer. What's wrong is that he's "moving into the light" as it were. Really moving away from Dru, in other words. I don't think she consciously knows this is why she's here until that moment when she is chained up and says she knew before Spike did that he was in love with the Slayer. But inside somewhere, (where the pixies are talking to her) she knew, and she had to stop that.
Drusilla's been trying to collect her family back together, but she needs more than just getting them all in one spot. She needs them back the way they used to be, back when she had a family that loved her, in the only way she is able to understand now.
This means she needs Grandmum back as Vamp!Darla, not some souled, confused, dying human. So Grandmum gets put back in the dirt to rise again as darling daughtergrandmum. And she needs Daddy!Angelus back - someone to spank her if she's good - not souled and conflicted Angel. So she goes along with W&H's little plan to drive him over the edge. And she needs Spike back, but the "old Spike" back. Back to being a devoted protector, killing partner, and in love with her and the way she is - in love with her darkness. She not there to collect the Spike he is becoming now, she's there to help re-create the old one. Notice what she chooses to seduce him with:
* "a happy memory" - no one else, other than Dawn, sorta , is suggesting that his past is a happy thing to remember
* Understanding/compassion about the chip (It's very noticeable to me that his short conversation with her about how the chip really feels is the only time we hear about this until season 7 Buffy. Dru is the only one he will let himself be this vulnerable and honest with.)
* Comfy assurances that the chip and its electricity is "a lie" (nicely mirroring how Buffy has been saying his love for her is "not real" - a lie, as it were), that he's still the big bad. Listen carefully to what she's saying though, because she's stretching and confusing things here. She says that electricity lies when it tells him he's a bad dog. But the chip isn't telling him that he's bad. It's just telling him when he's trying to do something bad. Works on intention, yeah, but only intention linked with action. And he's been choosing some different actions lately.
* Killing and blood - specifically, killing as a team, killing for him so that he can drink. But in the Bronze, notice how he isn't thinking of this until she draws his attention to it. It's been a while since he's been able to feed, so he's not always thinking this way as a first reaction. He's focused on her only until she "re-trains" him for the hunt.
* Killing a slayer (I know what my boy wants to eat) - trying to recreate that "happy memory" from early 20th century China. When they were both so proud and happy about his accomplishment. Good times, as it were.
Because this ep is not just about Spike and his women, it's also about Dru and her men. Spike (obviously he's her specific primary goal here) and Angel (not physically present, true, but he's mentioned sooooo frequently and is so important to all the sub-themes of this ep that he might at well be here) and Xander. Yep, Xander. Love spell, anyone? I've always thought that part of the reason the scene with Xander is placed on the train, is so that he and Buffy will be the ones placed "closest" to Dru at this point of the story. Standing where she stood and missing the vital clue. (The doll with the blindfold - you know, so they can't see her. ;D) This way, we have the complete list of past and future loves.
I guess the last thing to throw out here is one more little IMHO Drusilla theory. I have always thought that the main thing to keep in mind about Drusilla is that she's not really here in reality most of the time. She's insane and precognitive and a vampire. Think about what that means. She hears voices, sees things - pixies and stars and who knows what else. How can she ever know what is really happening and what isn't? We know from Cordelia and Cassie and others that visions aren't a nice logical picture of what's to come. It's feeling and muddled images and sometimes pain. We also know that she was . . . broken, mentally, just before she was vamped. A truly "simple" girl, still confused about her "sight" and then pushed into a world of demons that were suddenly real - or were they? (How did her previous experiences with visions, etc. aid and abet her "insanity"?) How could she completely know or understand what was happening just before she died? Then add in the demon animating her and creating the vampire - different urges and desires, suddenly increased senses and abilities.
Her sing-song voice, the childlike qualities, etc. are all telling us that most of the time, she's "playing". I honestly think that much of her unlife is quite simply unreal to her. One big swirl of real life and imaginary life and future visions of possible lives all muddied together. It's why she has such trouble keeping a bird alive. It's why she needs and loves Spike so much. Because if nothing else, the guy is dependable - he's "constant", to use the old fashioned meaning of the word. We are reminded so much of his ADHD personality, his inability to stick to a plan, his "Tigger-ness" and so it's easy to miss that side of him. But it was the reason Angel and Darla allowed Dru to turn him, after all.
Whew! Way too much babbling. ;D
Lola