'Normal Again' thoughts
Nov. 12th, 2002 06:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyI can never remember whether it's Normal, Again or Normal Again. Ah, well, no one's perfect.
I was just thinking about Buffy's anger. Or rather, the anger that she has that she isn't willing to express directly. She goes after Willow, then Xander, then Dawn. Not Spike. Spike may have been the catalyst for her dumping the potion, but I don't think she was mad at him during this episode. Or really, at all. She was mostly pissed at herself over the Spike thing.
But Willow, Willow was Head Girl in the 'Bring Buffy Back' campaign. Dawn is a huge burden. And Xander...
Xander did what all of Buffy's guys do. He left. And yeah, he was leaving Anya at the altar and all that stuff, but he left. And I imagine that Buffy was harboring some anger over that. 'Cause Xander was the only guy who hadn't ever done that. And now he was just like the rest of them.
In fact, I bet, though not with money, but I bet that Spike's leaving hurt Buffy more than his attempt at raping her (although, of course, I'd never argue that the rape attempt didn't hurt or spook her, as it obviously did). But Buffy can stop a rape attempt.
She can't stop someone from leaving.
Her dad left. Angel left. Parker left. Her mom left, though through no choice of her own, of course. Oz left, which has nothing to do with Buffy but does reinforce her belief that everyone leaves. Riley leaves, after accusing her of not loving him enough. Giles leaves when she arguably needs him the most. Xander leaves, though again, this had nothing personal to do with Buffy, yet I imagine it was not fun. Spike leaves, after betraying her trust.
People leave. Which is just a fact of life. But it does set a nice, big abandonment complex for the Buffster.
Hmm. One that I imagine Benton Fraser shared. Until Ray Kowalski, everyone he loved left him. Though through no fault of his, of course. Still, hurt feelings are rarely if ever logical.
Anyway, the reason that I started thinking about this was that I just saw the dS episode Good for the Soul, which features Fraser getting beaten up by mob goons. At the end of the episode, he proposes a rather odd toast, where he mentions the spare sadness (sad sparseness?) of his past Christmases, then mentions that forgiveness is the spirit of Christmas. And then he tells everyone Merry Christmas, obliquely forgiving them for not being there for him. Which meant that he was, in fact, hurt or he wouldn't have implied that there was something to forgive.
And then my mind went off on a tangent to Buffy, as it so often does.
I was just thinking about Buffy's anger. Or rather, the anger that she has that she isn't willing to express directly. She goes after Willow, then Xander, then Dawn. Not Spike. Spike may have been the catalyst for her dumping the potion, but I don't think she was mad at him during this episode. Or really, at all. She was mostly pissed at herself over the Spike thing.
But Willow, Willow was Head Girl in the 'Bring Buffy Back' campaign. Dawn is a huge burden. And Xander...
Xander did what all of Buffy's guys do. He left. And yeah, he was leaving Anya at the altar and all that stuff, but he left. And I imagine that Buffy was harboring some anger over that. 'Cause Xander was the only guy who hadn't ever done that. And now he was just like the rest of them.
In fact, I bet, though not with money, but I bet that Spike's leaving hurt Buffy more than his attempt at raping her (although, of course, I'd never argue that the rape attempt didn't hurt or spook her, as it obviously did). But Buffy can stop a rape attempt.
She can't stop someone from leaving.
Her dad left. Angel left. Parker left. Her mom left, though through no choice of her own, of course. Oz left, which has nothing to do with Buffy but does reinforce her belief that everyone leaves. Riley leaves, after accusing her of not loving him enough. Giles leaves when she arguably needs him the most. Xander leaves, though again, this had nothing personal to do with Buffy, yet I imagine it was not fun. Spike leaves, after betraying her trust.
People leave. Which is just a fact of life. But it does set a nice, big abandonment complex for the Buffster.
Hmm. One that I imagine Benton Fraser shared. Until Ray Kowalski, everyone he loved left him. Though through no fault of his, of course. Still, hurt feelings are rarely if ever logical.
Anyway, the reason that I started thinking about this was that I just saw the dS episode Good for the Soul, which features Fraser getting beaten up by mob goons. At the end of the episode, he proposes a rather odd toast, where he mentions the spare sadness (sad sparseness?) of his past Christmases, then mentions that forgiveness is the spirit of Christmas. And then he tells everyone Merry Christmas, obliquely forgiving them for not being there for him. Which meant that he was, in fact, hurt or he wouldn't have implied that there was something to forgive.
And then my mind went off on a tangent to Buffy, as it so often does.
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Date: 2002-11-12 07:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-11-12 07:18 am (UTC)It's just such a good show. Just. Yes. It's a show like Buffy, one that operates on many levels. The shallow 'hot characters' level, the deeper 'relationships' level, and the even deeper 'philosophical' level. It makes you think, but it can also serve as really good eye candy. Multipurpose shows are great.