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BSV Forum - General - Episode Discussions
Gone
The opening shot shows a table (in Willow's room) with tarot cards and some vaguely magic type junk. Three cards are shown more or less visibly - On the left you see a man with white hair, dressed in a black coat holding a white sword (or cross?) in front of him. There may be a grave in front of the sword, it's hard to tell. This is not a real tarot card, but one made up for the show. Naturally, we think of Spike, especially since its on the left or sinister side.
On the right is another fake card of a person kneeling with their hands outstretched on the ground. It has a despairing nature to it. Willow?
In the middle is a real tarot card - the two of cups, reversed. This is a card for lovers, but the upside down presentation does not bode well for Spike and Buffy. It's also interesting that the card design, which appears sort of Picasso like, does not match the more traditional style of the other two cards.
Later in the scene, Buffy wants to get rid of Kokopelli, the "fertility" god. Kokopelli was an actual Pueblo god (as opposed to the stuff the writers usually made up) who is frequently seen with a magic flute or a poison blow dart. He's also a trickster god. Spike again. Buffy then searches inside the couch (why would she do that?) and finds Spike's lighter. One wonders how it got there. She tosses the lighter into the junk box (but moments later retrieves it.) She may talk a good line about getting the sex god out of her life, but she's not quite ready.
The huge bulge of Spike's crotch when he is sitting down in that chair, when the social worker comes in.
Buffy hacking off her hair--being called Goldilocks by Spike or him not giving her an orgasm and doing out of spite--either one is right stupid.
The invisible sex at the crypt--unnecessarily forceful. Not just how it started, but with the trashing of the crypt. Buffy's initiation of the rough sex, not that that's new.
Xander is retardedly oblivious, and I'm not sure why, since he usually "sees" things. I really didn't get it.
If the social worker's there, how come there is no mention of Hank and child support checks? I mean, might as well go all the way if you're going to go that route--as in being all technical with parental responsibilities and so forth....
That's all I got for now.
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I've been busy finishing my Xander/Angel fic for the Xangel ficathon, I didn't have time to watch this episode. All I can say at the moment is:
I hate how Buffy childishly played with the social worker as revenge after she went invisible. The social worker was doing her job and it's not her fault that Buffy isn't competent enough. Buffy doesn't even have a job yet.
Xander is retardedly oblivious, and I'm not sure why, since he usually "sees" things. I really didn't get it.
I believe it's more about denial than being stupid. That's why it'll hit him so hard when Spike reveals that Buffy used to sleep with him. Xander looks up to Buffy and thinks Spike is beneath her, he believes Buffy thinks the same way.
I don't think Xander becomes the one who "sees" until S7, it's something he gains with maturity, he's not born with it.
That was mostly sarcasm on my part, as in how could he not "see" Spike's ear move by itself or hear the sucking noises? Or Buffy's little pants and moans? I guess he thought Spike liked a feminine sex soundtrack to play while he does his push ups in bed, even if there is no stereo down there, or if there was, it shut off all on its lonesome.
I wasn't bothered too much by the social worker thing, though making her seem crazy and/or possibly losing her job was a bit much though. She really was just doing her job.
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That was mostly sarcasm on my part, as in how could he not "see" Spike's ear move by itself or hear the sucking noises? Or Buffy's little pants and moans? I guess he thought Spike liked a feminine sex soundtrack to play while he does his push ups in bed, even if there is no stereo down there, or if there was, it shut off all on its lonesome.
That's the power of denial :D
I just found her to be really rude, even if she was just doing her job.
But she didn't deserve Buffy making her appear nuts in front her co-workers or as Scarlet said the possibility of losing her job. The social worker only showed up to evaluate the healthy environment Dawn is living in, and all she saw was an incompetent young woman who obviously can't take care herself, let alone her sister. Buffy going through a lot isn't the social worker's concern. If Buffy isn't fit to take care of Dawn, then someone else should do it.
That doesn't make her a bad woman, it's just her doing her job in the end and deciding what's best for Dawn.
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Xander is retardedly oblivious, and I'm not sure why, since he usually "sees" things. I really didn't get it. It's ridiculous the way they have Xander ignore seeing Spike's hands on Buffy's -- whatever he had is hand on -- in the kitchen scene. The ear thing, the moans, Spike swatting his hand behind him in that weird way, Xander would have to be brain dead not to notice that stuff.
Cheapest fight scene in history - I had to laugh and Buffy beating up the Trio when none of them was invisible. Guess the stunt actors got a week off.
Lamest joke of all seasons - The "blinvisible" thing was mind numbingly stupid.
I didn't wanna die - Buffy's statement at the end. I attribute Buffy's return to living entirely to her relationship with Spike, because nothing else is working for her.
Skulls and bones - there are numerous references or visuals to bones and skulls: Buffy plays with a skull in the Magic Box, we get a shot of some bones in the window of Spike's crypt right before he opens the refrigerator door, Jonathan calls Andrew a bonehead, Warren tells Jonathan and Andrew they have thick skulls.
Social Worker Doris - I thought this was hillarious. Doris deserved it. She's a pompous bureacrat with no more sense than a flea. Dawn is living in a nice home, has enough to eat and nobody is hurting her (uh - except Willow). It doesn't really make sense that she'd be involved with Dawn anyway. If the parents or guardians of every kid who had bad grades got a knock on the door from Big Brother, there'd have to be about five times as many social workers as there are now.
The stuff I remember....
Can't seem to make the quote thing work, but yep, totally agree with that. She made it seem like just because Dawn had a broken arm, she must be abused. Buffy cared for her sister as much as she could, I doubt anyone else would have been able to handle Dawn.
But the social worker doesn't know that. All she knows is that Dawn's grades are falling down, she's got a broken arm and her gaurdian doesn't have a job. All good reasons to think Buffy isn't doing a good job taking care of Dawn.
The "blinvisible" thing was mind numbingly stupid.
I didn't even get it. Can someone explain it to me?
While I'll agree that failing grades is not a reason for social services to intervene, it wasn't just that. I'll agree with Sosa here. She sees Dawn who has failing grades, who's late to school with a broken arm, strange males in the house and giving her rides (Spike and Xander), Buffy not knowing what day it was, and possibly drugs in the house (magic supplies, but looked like something else). Also, the house was a bit unkempt what with moving Willow's magic stuff out. And Dawn seemed very unhappy with Buffy as she stormed out of the house. There was nothing that suggested it was a good home for a teen girl that day, beyond the fact that the house was actually there. Also, I have to wonder if Social Services were there due to Dawn's accident. Surely she had to go to the hospital, what with not having slayer healing, and what excuse do you suppose they gave the doctors to Dawn's injury? Probably something dumb and wicked suspicious, if using words like "blinvisble" is any indication. And no sorry--can't explain it, and I'm not sure I want to try :P
And Buffy doesn't do much in the way of "handling" Dawn. If she were with Hank, he probably would have sent her to some private school where he wouldn't have to deal with her, but she'd get a good education and wouldn't be in mortal danger (at least not nearly as much as living in that house). Also, she'd probably would be more independent, which is a HUGE plus considering how much she's babied in Sunnydale.
Plainly Spike likes it that way as they tear up his crypt again in the next episode.
Buffy likes it, so he's not going to complain. That wasn't Spike's thing till he started having sex with her. At least from nothing we're shown. We are in fact shown the opposite.
Skulls and bones - there are numerous references or visuals to bones and skulls
I'm not sure that has any real significance. Maybe with Buffy using a skull as a mouth piece when she's invisible cause she was dead, and even then, I'm not putting too much stock in that.
ETA: I knew about the wig thing--I just thought the writers could have found a better reason to explain her new haircut, or better yet, not have it at all. It's a haircut for crying out loud--do we really need an explanation? It's not as if it wasn't short before. Anya changed her hair almost every couple of episodes, and there wasn't a story behind it. Also, "Goldilocks" was a pretty stupid nickname then (as opposed to s5), cause that hair was pretty dark. The wig was practically brown.
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- I would have thought that Dawn would be happy about getting rid of Willow's magic stuff. Now she's all "Why do we have to get rid of so many things I like?"….
- At Buffy finding the lighter… grrrr, I'm sick of the parallel between Buffy and Willow and how when Buffy talks about Willow, she's also talking about herself.
- Who says Willow doesn't take responsibility or feel remorse for her actions? I think this episode shows Willow feeling guilty and willing to give up magic for those she loves. She even feels that it's unfair that Dawn is being hard on Buffy, that she should only be hard on Willow for what she had done to her.
-BUFFY: Who was drowning. My best friend. And I was too wrapped up in my own dumb life to even notice.
This can be said about all of them. None of them is noticing that the other is "drowning", all concerned with their dilemmas. Buffy is addicted to self-loathing, Willow is addicted to magic, and Xander is struggling with self-doubt and being not ready for marriage.
- Last time Spike was at the Summers' living room was in All the Way, so he didn't smoke a cigarette since then? Bad writing much?
- "Sweetheart" and "My little goldilocks"? Are you serious, Spike?!!! And I thought the "baby"s Willow calls Tara were bad enough.
- Hmmm I'm thinking that Xander compares himself to Spike. He used to have this unrequited love for Buffy, and Spike apparently has the same. In Normal Again, Xander admits that he feels bad for Spike because he'd been there. Maybe that also plays to his huge denial about Buffy ever returning Spike's feelings or even sleeping with him.
- XANDER: Only a complete loser would ever hook up with you.
And since you're the king of losers… :D Sorry, can't help the Spander.
- Uh-oh, Dawn saying that Buffy will get her into another car accident in front of the social worker isn't of the good.
- LOL at Spike trying to help Buffy with Doris only to make it worse :D
- Seriously, I can't blame the social worker for worrying about Dawn. First of all, Dawn went out of the house with a grimace and a broken arm, saying that Buffy would get her in another car accident. And there are the strange people who live in the house… and of course: DRUGS. How do you expect her to react? Dawn's grades are falling since last year and her guardian is an unemployed. In the end, Doris' main concern is Dawn. Whatever happens in Buffy's life doesn't concern her.
- Poor Spike wanted to comfort Buffy, but she's too upset and pissed to accept.
- How pathetic of Buffy to keep the lighter in her pocket, and then breathe in pleasure as he moves his hand in her pocket to take it. He calls her "goldilocks" again, and now Buffy is too embarrassed and hurt, all the pressure on her shoulders, so she takes it on her golden locks.
- Is Buffy's shirt a see-through? I can see her bra so clearly.
- So, Xander and Anya never leave the Magic Box? Lol
- I love how Buffy and Anya engage into a silly haircut chat before Xander drags them into the main issue… so adorable.
- Again, Buffy leaves the others to work on her "problems." Tsk, tsk, what would Giles say about that?
- Sigh, why didn’t you have this talk with Willow in Wrecked, Xander? Too late to play the concerned best friend part.
- XANDER: Rhymes with ... 'blinvisible'?
Still don't get it.
- But I did laugh at Xander's sarcastic tone when he talked about Buffy's haircut. Hee.
- Can you really blame him for accusing you, Willow? After everything you've done?
- How old is Buffy? Her playing with innocent people isn't that funny. And who says that Buffy is above stealing?
- I'm sorry. What Buffy did to Doris is too childish, petty, and cruel. She could have stolen the file or changed the written without attempting to get the poor woman fired. She didn't do anything wrong.
- Buffy whistles "Going Through the Motions", this is probably telling us something. Buffy is too bored with life she doesn't care anymore.
- Awww, Willow and Xander having a nice scene together, apologizing and working again. It's been awhile since I've seen Xander separated from Anya and interacting with his friends. I know you love Anya, Xander, but give some of your time to your friends here. Anya is one of those people who come and go, but Buffy and Willow are for life.
- No wonder Xander didn't suspect Spike was having sex with Buffy, he's too hypnotized by Spike's perfect body. ;)
- I love Spike standing up for himself and kicking Buffy out. :)
- Anyway, this episode is about Buffy and Willow making their first steps into healing territory. Buffy learns that she wants to live and Willow learns that she can go a day without using magic.
That was the last time we saw him there, not the last time he was in the house. I've mentioned this on other threads, but there wasn't a camera on them 24/7. Spike did not disappear--at the very least, he still saw Dawn (regularly, as her sentence in SR suggests).
Is Buffy's shirt a see-through? I can see her bra so clearly.
Yes--it was a transparent black shirt.
Anyway, this episode is about Buffy and Willow making their first steps into healing territory.
Was it really? Relapsing aside, I really didn't see it as being about that at all. So, how many things were gone?
Willow's use of magic (for now) and magic supplies, Buffy's maturity, Spike for five minutes, Xander's common sense, Buffy's appearance, Dawn's longing for everyone to be around her (again, for five minutes), Buffy's hair, The Trio's anonymous status (or rather, their existence as "villains" is revealed), Spike wants Buffy gone from his crypt, and...is Tara in this ep, or is she "gone" too? So yeah, I'd say it was about stuff being gone, and not about healing in the least.
ETA: "Buffy whistling"
I don't remember this part, but if she was, she seems a lot happier being invisible, free from responsibility, and therefore, feels more alive by being free of worldly limitations (well, the ones that involve being seen by others, anyway). Buffy feels that by not being seen gives her a chance to be more lighthearted (immature) and carefree for some reason.
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and I like the connection of Buffy - Goldilocks - and the three bears which could be three nerds forever in the childhood world - Plus there is, a sleezy stretch perhaps, Goldilocks and the eating of the poridge from the fairy.
Excellent comment:
I didn't wanna die - Buffy's statement at the end. I attribute Buffy's return to living entirely to her relationship with Spike, because nothing else is working for her.
Makes for a great title connection plus the wonderful mirror world contrast - Spike gives her life and she wants to live - but ultimately she will turn away and destroy this Life Source. I love all the visuals that are such an interesting layer to the series.
Michael Tomasello is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
For one thing, Buffy initiated sex two episodes before, and then used the most hurtful words possible to Spike and got him on the defensive, then asked him for his help while pretending the sex meant nothing. Now, she decides she wants to start a bout of rough sex and tells him its okay because nothing she does at the moment, invisible, matters. "I thought this was what you wanted," Buffy says, but Spike doesn't just want sex, and he kicks her out, making a decision in their relationship. But half the times later on, the writers seem to forget Spike doesn't want just sex, and the other half make it a twisted form of lust-love that doesn't match how Spike's changed over the summer and such. I always wondered how the season would have been different if Spike had kept to his decision of wanting to have 'all' of Buffy and not just the physical part. We don't even get to see him making the decision to change his mind and be with her for sex, like if he's doing it just because he wants sex, or he's accepted that's all he'll get from her, or that he thinks it's all he can do to help connect her to the world and maybe comfort her... we never get a motivation. We just have him doing her against an alley wall in the next episode. Huh? Joss admits that a big part of OMWF was that Spike's love wasn't to be taken for granted anymore, because he sang for Buffy to go away, it was making them more equals and him not just always there for whatever she needed without asking for anything. Then Spike goes back to acting like he and Buffy aren't equals and his feelings don't matter, if he even has feelings beyond lust.
Buffy says she doesn't wanna die at the end, but at the next episode she gets that awful, soul-sucking job while struggling with apathy and weariness about it and how this is life now for her. Watching season six felt like a bunch of different writers cobbling together a season with episodes that had only vaguely the same ideas for plot and characters.
Cuting her hair off for spite was also annoying, though I get that the writers wanted to show a reason, so they could have that funny exchange between Buffy and Anya and justify paying for a salon haircut when money's supposed to be tight. i wonder if we're supposed to be getting the idea that Buffy wants to change herself to be unattractive to Spike, in looks here but also in her behavior toward him, trying to push him away because she can't stop herself from wanting to go to him when she feels so isolated from the others.
I do remember what I said. The promise. To protect her. If I had done that... even if I didn't make it... you wouldn't have had to jump. But I want you to know that I did save you. Not when it counted, of course, but after that. Every night after that. I'd see it all again. Do something different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways...
Every night I save you.
Plus he have his comments to her about that job is killing her - and she does nothing but stay in that job - Buffy is a perfect "PushMePullMe" in her signals to Spike - her words say one thing, the metaphors say another, and her actions give voice to her primal desires and needs and then her punishments of those needs; sublimated onto Spike.
NICE POST -
Michael Tomasello is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
On a side note, I think Dawn probably should have gone with Hank at this point. Buffy hasn't been able to take care of her since she got back, and now that both Willow and Tara are out of commission, Dawn's pretty much free to do whatever she wants. Hank would probably care about her grades, and has a job.
IMHO, Buffy's epiphany was handled pretty badly. She gets the news she's going to die after spending the day without the responsiblilities of life, getting into fights with both Dawn and Spike, living in a sort of 'heaven' if you will. There's been nothing up to this point that would make Buffy "want to live." A moment between her and anyone beforehand (Dawn, Willow, Xander) would have made her saying it a lot less shaky.
Buffy is a perfect "PushMePullMe" in her signals to Spike - they're both like this. Spike would be better off if he told Buffy to take a hike, but he just can't for long. We see in OMWF in one verse he's singing about killing her and in the very next line he sings he'd better go help her. The show plays out this ambiguity by Spike over and over - Kill Her Kiss Her.
Skulls/set decorations - I doubt the skulls mean much either, it was just kind of clever. One of the best things about Buffy is the depth of set dressings, such as the little scene with the tarot cards on the table. It lasted maybe ten seconds, but they put a lot of work into it. I think JM said on one of the disks that they dressed the set more at the level of a movie than a television show. The visuals and the music make it all extra special.
Too cold, too hot and just right, eh? Interesting, cept I doubt it applies. Let's face it--no one was "just right" for Buffy, and even if it was a euphemism for sex, there'd be no "too hot..." Maybe a "too warm." :P
We see in OMWF in one verse he's singing about killing her and in the very next line he sings he'd better go help her.
That wasn't a genuine "kill her," that was more of a "rip your head off and let it drip from your brain stem" kill her. Spike was stuck. He couldn't leave. And even when he did, he couldn't help but come back, the tard.
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Guest
You said it, Buffy's actions against Doris was apalling. The woman's job means she has long hours, shtty pay and is constantly being faced with the dregs of humanity - not many people are willing to do that and yet because Buffy doesn't want Doris interfering with her mess of a life, she's the enemy.
Yet another example where a first string Scooby gets away scott free for doing something they'd otherwise condemn anyone else for doing.
There are real life horror stories that can be traced to ill advised actions by people in Social and Human Services, but the great majority of people who work and devote their lives to trying to help people and families are doing a great service to our communities.
Hope everyone had a great day watching our new president and vice president being sworn in as the new leaders of our nation - I am taking a little break from all the hours I have spent watching all the celebrations and political commentary -
Michael Tomasello is co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
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