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Thoughts on the final arc of Buffy's 6th season.
Now seen through Buffy's 6th season and Angel's 3rd.
Thoughts on the final arc of Buffy's 6th season: (HEAVY HEAVY SPOILERS ABOUT EVERYTHING)
I had unfortunately been spoiled myself for most of the events that would be happening in these last few eps... so pretty much nothing came as a surprise, and I can't judge the eps on that basis... on other aspects, there was the good and then there was the bad.
Emotionally I was opposed to the writers -- when Buffy (and the eps' writers) obviously were trying to prevent Willow from killing the trio, I was hoping she'd flay alive *all* three of them, or that they'd have similarly gruesome death as Warren did (who hey, died way too easy -- I'd prolong his death by about 50 years of torment if I had been in Willow's place).
Rationally of course, all the arguments Buffy & friends made were proper, that'd they lose Willow, that her addictive-tendencies personality would now get addicted to the bloodlust. And the moral perspective about the wrongness of vengeance, etc -- all very good. But they had no place in Willow's heart, and yo, since i was cheering her on, I guess not in mine either. Not when the love of her life was dead.
So yeah, on an emotional level I'm rather disappointed the twerps escaped with their lives.
But critically these last eps only disappointed me in one place really, when midway through the last ep, Willow's goals changed from "I want to kill the murderer and his associates, and will destroy anyone who stands in my way" to "I want to destroy all the world to make the pain go away".
I would have preferred it if the continuously more unhinged and ruthless dark magics she was using had instead made her go "I need to destroy the universe in order to create a bubble dimension where I'll trap myself and Tara's soul and we can live together happily ever after remolding all of existence to our whims" -- this would be consistent with the idea that the dark magics weren't actually changing her motivations (bringing Tara back, vengeance when she can't do that), just making her increasingly (and insanely) ruthless about the way she goes in pursuing her goal.
And it would have actually been subtle in the sense that now instead of seeking something bad (vengeance) in a ruthless way, she'd now be seeking something good (a joyous existence with Tara) in an even more insanely cosmos-destroying way -- consistent with the idea that her last infusion of power came from Giles's good magic, unlike the first two infusions which came from evil sources (the dark magic books and Rack)
So, yeah -- this point: also disappointing. "Destroying the world to make the pain go away" isn't even remotely compelling or new as an idea. Who hasn't felt like that from time to time? :-)
However in the end this whole sequence is redeemed in its perfect resolution, which is merely the fact that Willow can choose to destroy the whole world but she can't choose to destroy Xander, not when he's standing in front of her and keeps telling her he loves her. A tactic which works perfectly exactly because it's the opposite of all the previous failures to appeal to rationality and to morality -- it's utterly irrational (Willow *logically* already knew that destroying the world includes killing Xander) but it goes straight to the heart (and hey, consistent with Xander being the heart of the group, same as Giles is the mind, Willow the spirit, and Buffy the hand -- as defined way back in the 4th season).
It also reminds me of one of the climaxes in "It's Walky" when Sal goes uberpowerful and uberinsane and same as Willow, her envisioned destruction of the world doesn't seem to include the one person she couldn't hurt and confronted with that inconsistency, the ruthless mask shatters and, same as Willow, Sal collapses in tears.
I loved it in "It's Walky" and I loved it here. You don't need to debate morality when you can still reach someone's humanity. Feeling is deeper than thinking. This single scene was worth all the final arc of the season for me.
--
One point which is really vague and confusing to me though, is why would Buffy get over her depression because of the events of these eps. Is this a case of having to argue the worth of living to Willow ending up convincing herself? Feeling relief that the world isn't destroyed making her realize she still wants to be part of it?
Because objectively speaking, Buffy's life seems at the absolutely worst right now, with a friend murdered in a attempt directed against Buffy herself, another friend turned insanely evil as consequence, another person she had trusted having recently attempted to rape her, and she not yet knowing whether Giles is alive or not.
Perhaps it's just that existence has hit so much rock-bottom that she realizes there's no other way but up -- but frankly despite all the explanations I can potentially give, it all seemed utterly arbitrary to me, just the way the writers chose to say "hey, Buffy won't be so gloomy and broody next year as she was in this one".
Arbitrary. So that point is also rather "bleh" -- but am looking forward to the 7th season nonetheless.
Thoughts on the final arc of Buffy's 6th season: (HEAVY HEAVY SPOILERS ABOUT EVERYTHING)
I had unfortunately been spoiled myself for most of the events that would be happening in these last few eps... so pretty much nothing came as a surprise, and I can't judge the eps on that basis... on other aspects, there was the good and then there was the bad.
Emotionally I was opposed to the writers -- when Buffy (and the eps' writers) obviously were trying to prevent Willow from killing the trio, I was hoping she'd flay alive *all* three of them, or that they'd have similarly gruesome death as Warren did (who hey, died way too easy -- I'd prolong his death by about 50 years of torment if I had been in Willow's place).
Rationally of course, all the arguments Buffy & friends made were proper, that'd they lose Willow, that her addictive-tendencies personality would now get addicted to the bloodlust. And the moral perspective about the wrongness of vengeance, etc -- all very good. But they had no place in Willow's heart, and yo, since i was cheering her on, I guess not in mine either. Not when the love of her life was dead.
So yeah, on an emotional level I'm rather disappointed the twerps escaped with their lives.
But critically these last eps only disappointed me in one place really, when midway through the last ep, Willow's goals changed from "I want to kill the murderer and his associates, and will destroy anyone who stands in my way" to "I want to destroy all the world to make the pain go away".
I would have preferred it if the continuously more unhinged and ruthless dark magics she was using had instead made her go "I need to destroy the universe in order to create a bubble dimension where I'll trap myself and Tara's soul and we can live together happily ever after remolding all of existence to our whims" -- this would be consistent with the idea that the dark magics weren't actually changing her motivations (bringing Tara back, vengeance when she can't do that), just making her increasingly (and insanely) ruthless about the way she goes in pursuing her goal.
And it would have actually been subtle in the sense that now instead of seeking something bad (vengeance) in a ruthless way, she'd now be seeking something good (a joyous existence with Tara) in an even more insanely cosmos-destroying way -- consistent with the idea that her last infusion of power came from Giles's good magic, unlike the first two infusions which came from evil sources (the dark magic books and Rack)
So, yeah -- this point: also disappointing. "Destroying the world to make the pain go away" isn't even remotely compelling or new as an idea. Who hasn't felt like that from time to time? :-)
However in the end this whole sequence is redeemed in its perfect resolution, which is merely the fact that Willow can choose to destroy the whole world but she can't choose to destroy Xander, not when he's standing in front of her and keeps telling her he loves her. A tactic which works perfectly exactly because it's the opposite of all the previous failures to appeal to rationality and to morality -- it's utterly irrational (Willow *logically* already knew that destroying the world includes killing Xander) but it goes straight to the heart (and hey, consistent with Xander being the heart of the group, same as Giles is the mind, Willow the spirit, and Buffy the hand -- as defined way back in the 4th season).
It also reminds me of one of the climaxes in "It's Walky" when Sal goes uberpowerful and uberinsane and same as Willow, her envisioned destruction of the world doesn't seem to include the one person she couldn't hurt and confronted with that inconsistency, the ruthless mask shatters and, same as Willow, Sal collapses in tears.
I loved it in "It's Walky" and I loved it here. You don't need to debate morality when you can still reach someone's humanity. Feeling is deeper than thinking. This single scene was worth all the final arc of the season for me.
--
One point which is really vague and confusing to me though, is why would Buffy get over her depression because of the events of these eps. Is this a case of having to argue the worth of living to Willow ending up convincing herself? Feeling relief that the world isn't destroyed making her realize she still wants to be part of it?
Because objectively speaking, Buffy's life seems at the absolutely worst right now, with a friend murdered in a attempt directed against Buffy herself, another friend turned insanely evil as consequence, another person she had trusted having recently attempted to rape her, and she not yet knowing whether Giles is alive or not.
Perhaps it's just that existence has hit so much rock-bottom that she realizes there's no other way but up -- but frankly despite all the explanations I can potentially give, it all seemed utterly arbitrary to me, just the way the writers chose to say "hey, Buffy won't be so gloomy and broody next year as she was in this one".
Arbitrary. So that point is also rather "bleh" -- but am looking forward to the 7th season nonetheless.
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