What's My Line

First off, it's so odd to think about how... full my life is these days. Work, friends, and you guys and my tv stuff. It's a lot more than I had a while ago. I've decided that I'm definitely staying in my current job until I can find a job that isn't dead-endy. Because I know this job and the people there know and like me.

Interestingly enough, that theme works nicely with the episode(s) that I'm chattering on about tonight.

What's My Line is a tight pair of episodes that tell us a lot about our characters and their relationships.

So much is moved forward in these episodes -

Buffy kisses Angel while he's in vamp face (pushing them past what Darla thought they could reach) and it's really the first time that Angel is the damsel in distress. It's the first time we see a hint of the Angelus/Spike/Dru dynamic - he made her and he knows her hot spots. What we see here actually helps to inform us as to Spike's arc - he hates how well Angel knows Dru (and himself). We also see the cracks in the Spike/Dru relationship. He's jealous and petty when it comes to his love. Well, many people are.

Xander and Cordelia kiss for the first time, work together to fight a monster, and kiss again. And it's a rather tragic relationship - first it looks like Xander cares more, and then the pendumlum swings, and we see Cordelia fall more deeply in with Xander than he is with her. It's a passionate relationship, but one that's provoked by outside elements. The center could not hold. In the end, they didn't have enough together - just sparks and need.

And Willow and Oz finally meet and he takes a bullet for her. It's a pretty impressive start, and it's easy to see why she'd respond to him, even if you believe that she was always gay and just hadn't realized it yet. Oz is the perfect boyfriend - to the point of being a very safe boyfriend to have. He doesn't push, ever. But, of course, as we find out later (Phases), there are no perfect boyfriends.

All about Buffy -

One of the reasons that I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer so much is because it can be viewed on so many levels - several of them unintended by the creators of the show, but no less valid for that. Authorial intent isn't everything.

The reason that people latch onto the Heart/Spirit/Mind divide offered in Restless is because it works. And the reason that Normal Again is such a kick-ass episode is because it makes sense. It makes sense that it could all be in Buffy's head, because everything in Sunnydale does revolve around Buffy.

Xander as Heart, Willow as Spirit, and Giles as Mind are metaphors that carry through-out the entire series. You can chart them, and where they are tracks to where Buffy is.

But they aren't the only ones that it works for - every single major character in BtVS can be used as a symbol for a part of Buffy. Cordelia is the representation of Buffy Before. Cordelia is Buffy without Slayer powers - of course, when she goes over to Angel, her symbolism changes (and wow, the Angel stuff is interesting. I really need to write about that sometime). And what Cordelia shows us is that Buffy would have become Buffy even if she hadn't been a Slayer. And once Cordelia has truly begun that transition, she moves off the show, because her journey as Buffy's shadow self is complete - it's been transferred to other parties.

Buffy has many shadow-selves, many 'what-if's. Cordelia, Kendra, Anne, Faith, Spike, and Kennedy all come to mind and there are probably more. All of them are rejected possibilities. In the end, their experiences with her tend to uplift them, bring them to the light as she serves as their inspiration. And her experiences with them teach her about herself.