When She Was Bad

[butterfly]

Wow, the dance scene in the Bronze was well-done. Buffy deliberately hurts three people that she loves with just one thing. The levels of ouch in that scene are horrible foreshadowing for the levels of ouch in the season. And I always fixate on Xander's reaction, because it's just so complicated - Willow and Angel are betrayed and hurt, but Xander is betrayed, hurt, confused, and majorly turned-on. His jaw when she grinds up against him... just so much ouch. And his face after she leaves breaks my heart. God, that's a horrible thing to do to someone you know wants you.

Oh, and in our last shot of Xander in the Bronze, Willow is over one shoulder and Cordy is over the other, while Buffy has taken herself out of the picture.

She just uses everything she knows to hurt them. It's a horrible thing to do. But it's still a hell of a sexy dance.

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Have been recently discussing this episode on masqthephlsphr's board. IMHO, despite the lame villains, it's actually the most important episode of the series if one is trying to understand Buffy's characterization. Not only that, it's also the best episode of Season 6.

And that's not a typo.

Buffy's motivations are so subtle and complex, especially in that "Sexy Dance" scene, and I think a lot of people miss a bit of it. She wants to push them away, thinking they might get hurt, and so on. But that's not the only reason she deliberately reminds Xander she hasn't thanked him for saving her life. Namely, she's a bit ambivalent about that point. She doesn't want to die, but she's also not entirely happy to be the slayer either, and aware that death is her only way out. Even that early on, it's one of the signs that at least on a subconscious level, there's a tiny peace of Buffy that would rather be dead so she could be freed of her burden. And no way is Xander going to grasp that.

The biggest thing I like, is how well it foreshadows. Take Cordelia. She doesn't just stand there and snark. Over the season, we'll see that observing Buffy leads Cordy to change herself. The way she looks at Xander when Buffy's dancing with him, and later tells Buffy off, lays the groundwork for Cordy eventually turning away from her superficial friends and superficial life to find "real" ones.

Some time, when you're bored, you should check out

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Have been recently discussing this episode on <lj site="livejournal.com" user="masqthephlsphr">'s board. IMHO, despite the lame villains, it's actually the most important episode of the series if one is trying to understand Buffy's characterization. Not only that, it's also the best episode of Season 6.

And that's not a typo.

Buffy's motivations are so subtle and complex, especially in that "Sexy Dance" scene, and I think a lot of people miss a bit of it. She wants to push them away, thinking they might get hurt, and so on. But that's not the only reason she deliberately reminds Xander she hasn't thanked him for saving her life. Namely, she's a bit ambivalent about that point. She doesn't want to die, but she's also not entirely happy to be the slayer either, and aware that death is her only way out. Even that early on, it's one of the signs that at least on a subconscious level, there's a tiny peace of Buffy that would rather be dead so she could be freed of her burden. And no way is Xander going to grasp that.

The biggest thing I like, is how well it foreshadows. Take Cordelia. She doesn't just stand there and snark. Over the season, we'll see that observing Buffy leads Cordy to change herself. The way she looks at Xander when Buffy's dancing with him, and later tells Buffy off, lays the groundwork for Cordy eventually turning away from her superficial friends and superficial life to find "real" ones.

Some time, when you're bored, you should check out <a http://www.justinleader.com/annotatedbuffy/wswbtranscript.html>The Annotated When She Was Bad Script</a>.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

And we get another hint of that in What's My Line. Well, I say hint, I mean huge neon sign.

Buffy: "Y'know, if you don't like the way I'm doing my job, why don't you find somebody else? Oh, that's right, there can only be one. As long as I'm alive, there is no one else. Well, there you go! I don't have to be the Slayer. I could be dead."

Giles: "That wasn't terribly funny. You notice I don't laugh."

Buffy: "Wouldn't be much of a change. Either way I'm bored, constricted, I never get to shop, and my hair and fingernails still continue to grow. So really, when you think about it, what's the diff?"

Yeah. That's quite neon-y

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Since the link didn't go through, I'm dropping it direct rather than hyperlinking:

http://www.justinleader.com/annotatedbuffy/wswbtranscript.html

I think the annotations run through the first two seasons, but are informed up until S6/3. Some interesting stuff, and very broad perspectives.

Re: Yeah. That's quite neon-y

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you. I'll definitely check it out.

*checks out link*

*squeals*

*decides that she can't leave the site until she's read every single one that's up*