And Everything Old Is New Again
May. 3rd, 2007 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxSo the Buffy Season 8 comics are out and it looks like shipping wars are here again. I have to laugh at the reports of B/Aers declaring victory because of 
Seriously?
You really want to find the 'proof' of your OTP in a pic of chubby cherubs, trains going in tunnels, volcanos spewing, and -- oh yeah -- a three way?! Seems to me if this is "proof", you're officially desperate. Not that it matters (at least to me) who is annointed with the glow of Buffy's glittery hoo-hah. I'm just wondering how in the hell Buffy the 'feminist icon' became so inconsequential that she's reduced to being a vagina tug of war between fanfactions... with Joss Whedon gleefully egging it on.
Doesn't this pic strike anyone as mockery? Enjoy the comic porn (it is amusing), but forego searching the artwork for serious allusions. Dude! It's comic cherubs. If it was meant to be serious (which is isn't) it would still be chessier than a cheddar factory.
Just as ridiculous but less amusing was![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shapinglight's report that the next issue promises letters with strong opinions about Spike.
Jeez.
Of course Spike (and Spike fans) must be beaten down as evul intruders into the pure world of core four and Bangel 4 evah! ...Or something. I don't know. I do know that this is probably at least half the reason I've dreaded the whole comic 'canon' thing. It resurrects tired, old shipper wars (and we're back to the war for Buffy's diamond-plated vagina.) One thing about a closed canon with a deliberately vague conclusion is that it left avenues for every fan faction to think whatever they want. And, with time and distance, factions slowly (more or less) left opposing factions alone. After all, nothing was at stake any more. Now, [sarcasm]OMG a comic book future is at stake, and the opposing faction must be DESTROYED![/sarcasm]
The other part of my 'why open canon again...'
If I had hope that Joss's resurrection of the Buffyverse would lead anywhere new or productive, maybe I'd feel different (doubtful, but maybe). But the thing is, Season 7 BtVS struck me as Joss running Buffy's story on fumes. Season 7 didn't say much new about Buffy and smacked of a desire to rewind to season 1... which didn't work, and couldn't work, and is part of why so much of Season 7 is ::shrug:: 'eh'.
Nothing I've seen or heard about the Season 8 comics has convinced me that Joss has suddenly come up with something new to say about Buffy, or that he's suddenly decided to take a stand on any issue. Thus far it's old tricks and old issues. It feels like a retread with a new round of shipper baiting. And, unlike Season 2 and Season 6, I don't think the shippy stuff is actually leading to story of some sort. This feels like the shipper baiting is used to generate interest (and sales). But, and here's the thing, I don't think that Joss is going to go anywhere we haven't been with ships. In fact, I'm pretty darn convinced we're going to end up exactly where we were left in The Girl in Question. Buffy 'moved on', the vamps ambiguously 'in her heart,' and shippers at each other throats.
Oh fun. Why would I want to miss that?
Oh well, as long as someone is enjoying it (someone IS enjoying it, right? I hope so.)
On a slightly different note, for reasons unknown other than the subconscious can drag up all sorts of detritus in our heads, the other morning I woke up thinking about "Chosen." The thought in my sleep deprived mind was that I understood the flow of Spike's arc in the last several episodes. For better or worse, whether I liked it or not, I could see the flow. I could see the steps of A -> B -> C -> D. And, for the life of me, I can't see the same organic flow of Buffy's final arc.
Not to go over the entire season again, but to pick up at the point where Buffy goes out on a date with Wood. In the hallway scene, Spike visibly tries to make himself 'okay' with this. Of course, the date goes awry. But, at the end of the episode, Spike floats the idea that he leave town. Buffy tells him not to go. The thing here, though, is the way she phrases it. It's not "I don't want to lose you" or "I'd miss you" or (god forbid) "I WANT you {to stay}". She uses the odd turn of phrase "I'm not ready for you not to be here." Which then begs the question... "And when you are ready...?" That's what's unsaid, isn't it? That this is a phase. That there will be a parting in the future.
Buffy is facing a huge crisis. Spike knows it. He knows he's a danger as well, but he's also Buffy's most staunch (and physically powerful) ally. She requests that he stay, and he stays.
Skip forward to the final episodes. Everyone turns on Buffy. Spike seeks her out. He goes to his knees, pouring out his thoughts and feelings to build her up again. And there's an exhaustion in him with the mention of how long he's lived. It's not the old, energetic Spike. But he's there, and he's offering. The next morning she's gone. When he finds her, much like when he offered to leave Sunnydale, he tries to underplay things. He's not going to bring up the previous night, or that she left him alone, got the magic ax, returned to the house, and never included him. There's the "Were you with me" "Does it have to mean anything" conversation. And it's clear that Spike deflates at "does it have to mean anything?"
It's the same old pattern. Buffy comes close, then slips away, and she doesn't want to attach meaning to the time in between.
His response is "let's go be heroes." Let's go one more step toward her being ready for him not to be there...
Skip forward to Spike finding her, again, going on her mission without him. Then add, her playing tonsil hockey with Angel and...
In my heart, that always felt like 'that's it' for Spike. Since earlier in the season he had been grappling with feeling the need to let go and the lure of not letting go. The lure was a last, tiny shred of hope that 'maybe...' But End of Days, with the way she had left him the night before, her 'does it have to mean anything' and her insta-snog with Angel and it's like pulling a release cord on a repelling harness.
Of course, when he's dying, she says "I love you." And it makes perfect sense to me, every step along the way that brought Spike to the point, when he says, "No. You don't. But thanks for saying it." His emotional through-line makes sense. I see exactly how he reached that point in his journey.
On the other hand, I have a really, really hard time comprehending Buffy's final arc. I mean, first of all, I have to start with the assumption that Joss is wanting to say something positive about Buffy. She's his heroine. Of course he means something positive. And I see all the points on the line he's trying to hit. I suppose I get the messages Joss tries to send.
We have Spike voice all the positive things we're to see in her. We have Giles acknowlege her 'brilliance.' We have her give power to the Potentials. We have her have a final moment with the vamps. And we have her given the 'freedom' of a normal girl. I get the POINTS. What I don't get is A -> B -> C. I don't see the path Buffy is taking. It doesn't feel (to me) as though the events flow.
Everyone abandons Buffy post massacre. They point out her flaws. They then go WAY overboard. They cast her out.
Spike finds her. Gives her a pep talk. Buffy admits that she deliberately shuts people out and its her own character flaw.
Does she change?
Well, she leaves Spike with nothing but a note.
Buffy finds the sword on her own.
She returns to the fold.
Except... wait. WHY is Buffy welcomed back to the fold? Did she change? Did someone else think she changed? No. Potentials have simply turned on Faith because her plan went bust.
Potentials follow Buffy again, based on... uh... unfortunate circumstance that Faith's more logical plan didn't work out. Buffy's plan, on the other hand, makes no more sense than it did the day before when they kicked her out. It's still all her instict and no evidence. It's intuition. Which was... uh... what they all were complaining about before. So... yeah. Not seeing the progression.
Anyway, the point is she's accepting leadership and supposedly including the Potentials. Surely the Slayer spell means that she's including the Potentials.
But her interaction with the potentials is no different than before. Yeah, there's the vote. But, really, what's the option of saying 'no'? They've been being murdered by The First. And is there any way for Willow to do a partial spell? And if a vote means we're suddenly closer to our leader... guess our current political leaders would be more popular than they are. Buffy is as compartmentalized from the Potentials as ever. She still walks outside-- away from everyone-- the night before. She still tries to send Dawn away. She still quietly escapes to hold up with Spike... in silence.
So, I see what the point is, but I don't see the emotional development that would support it.
We see Buffy snogging Angel. Then we watch her send him away. We hear her say she's cookie dough. And we hear her say maybe 'someday.' What, about this is really a substantial change from...er... anything she's done before?
We see the core four montage. And it's to harken back to the Season 1... only it's not Season 1. The montage doesn't highlight growth and change in the characters. It's an echo of who they were. It's not who they ARE. It's an echo and it doesn't work for me because of that.
And, I won't go into the actual tactics of Buffy's 'brilliant' plan because Joss isn't good at tactics. He just... isn't. All of Buffy's plans (and Angel's) have their share of head desk moments, so I'm not going to single out the lack of logic in her tactics. I don't really fault Buffy for the doomed nature of the plan. It is what it is.
But the thing is, the sharing of power, is purely on the mystical level. She's never shown to have opened up to these girls at all. In fact, as she's smiling over what is essentially their graves at the end of the episode. Buffy hasn't morphed into Ms. Empathy nor has she morphed into a great leader. There are macho male war movies with more grieving over the lost (Seriously, go watch "Band of Brothers." Not as a comparison, but simply because it's a brilliant and beautiful series in its own right). And she's not shown as a great leader of soldiers ala Band of Brother's Major Winters. Buffy really hasn't changed from the Buffy she was before. I see the point Joss is making. Metaphor is all over the place. Hell, if it's that obvious, is it even metaphor any more? It's more text than subtext. But, for all that obviousness, there's still virtually no emotional development on screen to support it.
And, this is the problem with the "I love you." I think this is why the "I love you" is so damn enigmatic. We hear the words, but like nearly everything else with Buffy in the finale, we don't have the context to support it.
Are we to buy the metaphors of burning hands and to listen to her words? Elsewhere we're supposed to. With potentials and with core four, we're to believe what we're told. But... its unconvincing with Potentials and Core Four as well. And when Buffy says the words "I love you." I cannot fault Spike for disbelieving her. Because, quite frankly, her actions have never reached a point where it's overwhelmingly convincing.
As I'm typing, I'm seeing a Doctor Who icon. And, you know, when Rose and 10 are parted, 10 never does manage to get the words "I love you" out. But that's okay. They aren't necessary. His actions had long since convinced us of the truth of the emotion. With Buffy... not so much. Her actions are so full of denials. I'm not talking about Buffy queen of denial (though that's true as well). It's that even when Buffy takes ship positive action in Season 7 its as easily ascribed to pity and guilt as it is to affection or (gasp) love. There's always but always a possible alternate explanation, plasible deniability. They're actions on textural quicksand. Add that in with all the myriad things she does which cut and hurt Spike and... we're back to having problems making the context square with the text.
For the life of me, I cannot pin down whether Buffy really meant the words, or if she meant them whether she meant them romantically. And, I think, I would be more sanguine with that if I thought that the ambiguity was simply an artistic choice. But, the thing that nags at me is that to this day I cannot really pin down what I think Joss intended. Did he intend it to be a tragic "words are too late" moment. Did he intend it to be a grand case of agape in lieu of eros? Or was it eros? Strange if it was eros when the entire relationship had to be neutered to reach a point where it's allowed to be called anything approaching respectable or 'good.' (As BTW was done to B/A, as well) Did Joss intend us to think it was consolation for a dying man? Did he INTEND anything, or was he simply thrilled with creating the moment of endlessly debateable ambiguity? Did he create shipping moments in the finale with the intent to not convey something specific, but to convey just enough to pacify various fanfaction? If it was really for pacification... did her words then mean anything at all?
If words and deeds aren't derived from character journey, what are they?
Sometimes I suspect they very little in the end of BtVS was derived from character. Really, how does the emotional A ->B -> C work here? Spike gives the pep talk, and Buffy leaves him in the bed. She acts offended that he's not pressing issues, then she goes to 'does it have to mean anything'? She glows and throws herself at Angel, then she follows with "I love you" to Spike. How do these things lead from one moment to the next? They seem like a procession of plot points not an emotional through-line. Buffy hits her marks, but I can't determine what takes her from emotion A to emotion B.
Then we end with the 'happy ending' which I won't try to dissect beyond saying that it existed.
The thing here is, how did this conclude BtVS?
Let me rephrase.
How did Joss come up with this kind of episode? If it's "all about Buffy" then why is Spike's emotional arc far more clear when Buffy's is so muddled and clouded? Why is it hard to perceive motivation from point A to point B and how on earth it relates to point C? If it's all about Buffy, why does it feel so much like going through the motions?
That, I think, is the real weakness of Chosen. That more than who got cookie crumbs and how insanely dumb the tactics of Buffy's plans were. Watching the final eps, I can clearly see what brings Spike to those final moments. I see the steps that brought him there. In fact, I can clearly see where and why Anya is there. Hell, I can understand Andrew's arc. But Buffy's?
I still don't see the flow of her arc. I see the points. I see all the marks Joss wanted her to hit. I just can't make a rational throughline such that I see how she moved from emotion A to action B to emotion C to action D. In the end, her choices -- and her words --remain an enigma to me. And somehow, that left me hollow. (Truthfully, I didn't even cry over Spike's death during Chosen. At least, I didn't cry over Spike's death until weeks later when I rewatched the Farscape ep "Icarus Abides" where Crichton dies and I bawled that Crichton died at peace -- with the respect of the man who hated him, and the love of the woman he loved. I cried for Crichton (I do every time I watch "Icarus Abides"), but that time I also bawled for Spike... who was never allowed the respect in death that Crichton was allowed). Chosen itself just left me numb and vaguely angry about the numbness. It took another series to bring out the grief at BtVS's passing.
Barb (rahirah ) posted today that it felt like Spuffies never got the one clear moment. And, that's true, I think. At least for many Spuffies.
I think part of what frustrates me is that I still cannot determine what in the hell Joss even MEANT by the way he handled it, because I have no idea what Buffy felt or thought or how she progressed from one scene to the next. I don't see the path she took. And I think that's why I haven't been particularly interested in whatever path she might take after "Chosen".
And the thing is, all I've seen and heard of the comics, Buffy seems as murky and indecipherable as she was for...well... since she died in Season 5. Maybe the absence of an organic flow in Buffy's emotional journey is what has reduced her to the glittery-hoo-hah prize fussed over by fanfactions rather than passionate character journey of her own. It seems very much about who she ends up with, rather than how in the heck she gets to the point of loving either of them in any vital, in-the-present, comprehensible way.
Is it really Buffy the enigma, or Buffy the cipher? Or is it just a writer so attached to plausible deniability that he sometimes forgets to figure out what Buffy is really supposed to be feeling. Or is it that Joss has said all that he really had to say about Buffy and now he's as lost as many of the rest of us, so he keeps saying the same things over and over again.
Or, maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe Joss has a clear-eyed plan and new directions and I just cannot see it because I've become so cynical, based on all the other things he's done.
It's probably all of the above.
Unfortunately, the net result is that I don't really care what happens with Buffy. I'd rather find out what happened to either of the vamps. I think I lost interest in Buffy (canon Buffy) when I stopped being capable of understanding how Buffy went from emotion A to emotion B (which may be why fanfic Buffy can still appeal to me while Joss's Buffy tends to lead me to little more than a shrug). When three simple words like "I love you" can lead to years of open ended debate with no way to know what she felt and no way to decipher how she reached that place, leaving a climactic finale moment as something every Tom, Dianne, Jane, and Harry can ascribe damn near any meaning to... well, if that's not the definition of a muddled, what is?
And I've probably rattled on too long since I really don't have much of a point to this. Other than just to discuss thoughts which came to me the other day.
And for something entirely different. I thought tonight's Supernatural was quite interesting.
Seriously?
You really want to find the 'proof' of your OTP in a pic of chubby cherubs, trains going in tunnels, volcanos spewing, and -- oh yeah -- a three way?! Seems to me if this is "proof", you're officially desperate. Not that it matters (at least to me) who is annointed with the glow of Buffy's glittery hoo-hah. I'm just wondering how in the hell Buffy the 'feminist icon' became so inconsequential that she's reduced to being a vagina tug of war between fanfactions... with Joss Whedon gleefully egging it on.
Doesn't this pic strike anyone as mockery? Enjoy the comic porn (it is amusing), but forego searching the artwork for serious allusions. Dude! It's comic cherubs. If it was meant to be serious (which is isn't) it would still be chessier than a cheddar factory.
Just as ridiculous but less amusing was
shapinglight's report that the next issue promises letters with strong opinions about Spike. Jeez.
Of course Spike (and Spike fans) must be beaten down as evul intruders into the pure world of core four and Bangel 4 evah! ...Or something. I don't know. I do know that this is probably at least half the reason I've dreaded the whole comic 'canon' thing. It resurrects tired, old shipper wars (and we're back to the war for Buffy's diamond-plated vagina.) One thing about a closed canon with a deliberately vague conclusion is that it left avenues for every fan faction to think whatever they want. And, with time and distance, factions slowly (more or less) left opposing factions alone. After all, nothing was at stake any more. Now, [sarcasm]OMG a comic book future is at stake, and the opposing faction must be DESTROYED![/sarcasm]
The other part of my 'why open canon again...'
If I had hope that Joss's resurrection of the Buffyverse would lead anywhere new or productive, maybe I'd feel different (doubtful, but maybe). But the thing is, Season 7 BtVS struck me as Joss running Buffy's story on fumes. Season 7 didn't say much new about Buffy and smacked of a desire to rewind to season 1... which didn't work, and couldn't work, and is part of why so much of Season 7 is ::shrug:: 'eh'.
Nothing I've seen or heard about the Season 8 comics has convinced me that Joss has suddenly come up with something new to say about Buffy, or that he's suddenly decided to take a stand on any issue. Thus far it's old tricks and old issues. It feels like a retread with a new round of shipper baiting. And, unlike Season 2 and Season 6, I don't think the shippy stuff is actually leading to story of some sort. This feels like the shipper baiting is used to generate interest (and sales). But, and here's the thing, I don't think that Joss is going to go anywhere we haven't been with ships. In fact, I'm pretty darn convinced we're going to end up exactly where we were left in The Girl in Question. Buffy 'moved on', the vamps ambiguously 'in her heart,' and shippers at each other throats.
Oh fun. Why would I want to miss that?
Oh well, as long as someone is enjoying it (someone IS enjoying it, right? I hope so.)
On a slightly different note, for reasons unknown other than the subconscious can drag up all sorts of detritus in our heads, the other morning I woke up thinking about "Chosen." The thought in my sleep deprived mind was that I understood the flow of Spike's arc in the last several episodes. For better or worse, whether I liked it or not, I could see the flow. I could see the steps of A -> B -> C -> D. And, for the life of me, I can't see the same organic flow of Buffy's final arc.
Not to go over the entire season again, but to pick up at the point where Buffy goes out on a date with Wood. In the hallway scene, Spike visibly tries to make himself 'okay' with this. Of course, the date goes awry. But, at the end of the episode, Spike floats the idea that he leave town. Buffy tells him not to go. The thing here, though, is the way she phrases it. It's not "I don't want to lose you" or "I'd miss you" or (god forbid) "I WANT you {to stay}". She uses the odd turn of phrase "I'm not ready for you not to be here." Which then begs the question... "And when you are ready...?" That's what's unsaid, isn't it? That this is a phase. That there will be a parting in the future.
Buffy is facing a huge crisis. Spike knows it. He knows he's a danger as well, but he's also Buffy's most staunch (and physically powerful) ally. She requests that he stay, and he stays.
Skip forward to the final episodes. Everyone turns on Buffy. Spike seeks her out. He goes to his knees, pouring out his thoughts and feelings to build her up again. And there's an exhaustion in him with the mention of how long he's lived. It's not the old, energetic Spike. But he's there, and he's offering. The next morning she's gone. When he finds her, much like when he offered to leave Sunnydale, he tries to underplay things. He's not going to bring up the previous night, or that she left him alone, got the magic ax, returned to the house, and never included him. There's the "Were you with me" "Does it have to mean anything" conversation. And it's clear that Spike deflates at "does it have to mean anything?"
It's the same old pattern. Buffy comes close, then slips away, and she doesn't want to attach meaning to the time in between.
His response is "let's go be heroes." Let's go one more step toward her being ready for him not to be there...
Skip forward to Spike finding her, again, going on her mission without him. Then add, her playing tonsil hockey with Angel and...
In my heart, that always felt like 'that's it' for Spike. Since earlier in the season he had been grappling with feeling the need to let go and the lure of not letting go. The lure was a last, tiny shred of hope that 'maybe...' But End of Days, with the way she had left him the night before, her 'does it have to mean anything' and her insta-snog with Angel and it's like pulling a release cord on a repelling harness.
Of course, when he's dying, she says "I love you." And it makes perfect sense to me, every step along the way that brought Spike to the point, when he says, "No. You don't. But thanks for saying it." His emotional through-line makes sense. I see exactly how he reached that point in his journey.
On the other hand, I have a really, really hard time comprehending Buffy's final arc. I mean, first of all, I have to start with the assumption that Joss is wanting to say something positive about Buffy. She's his heroine. Of course he means something positive. And I see all the points on the line he's trying to hit. I suppose I get the messages Joss tries to send.
We have Spike voice all the positive things we're to see in her. We have Giles acknowlege her 'brilliance.' We have her give power to the Potentials. We have her have a final moment with the vamps. And we have her given the 'freedom' of a normal girl. I get the POINTS. What I don't get is A -> B -> C. I don't see the path Buffy is taking. It doesn't feel (to me) as though the events flow.
Everyone abandons Buffy post massacre. They point out her flaws. They then go WAY overboard. They cast her out.
Spike finds her. Gives her a pep talk. Buffy admits that she deliberately shuts people out and its her own character flaw.
Does she change?
Well, she leaves Spike with nothing but a note.
Buffy finds the sword on her own.
She returns to the fold.
Except... wait. WHY is Buffy welcomed back to the fold? Did she change? Did someone else think she changed? No. Potentials have simply turned on Faith because her plan went bust.
Potentials follow Buffy again, based on... uh... unfortunate circumstance that Faith's more logical plan didn't work out. Buffy's plan, on the other hand, makes no more sense than it did the day before when they kicked her out. It's still all her instict and no evidence. It's intuition. Which was... uh... what they all were complaining about before. So... yeah. Not seeing the progression.
Anyway, the point is she's accepting leadership and supposedly including the Potentials. Surely the Slayer spell means that she's including the Potentials.
But her interaction with the potentials is no different than before. Yeah, there's the vote. But, really, what's the option of saying 'no'? They've been being murdered by The First. And is there any way for Willow to do a partial spell? And if a vote means we're suddenly closer to our leader... guess our current political leaders would be more popular than they are. Buffy is as compartmentalized from the Potentials as ever. She still walks outside-- away from everyone-- the night before. She still tries to send Dawn away. She still quietly escapes to hold up with Spike... in silence.
So, I see what the point is, but I don't see the emotional development that would support it.
We see Buffy snogging Angel. Then we watch her send him away. We hear her say she's cookie dough. And we hear her say maybe 'someday.' What, about this is really a substantial change from...er... anything she's done before?
We see the core four montage. And it's to harken back to the Season 1... only it's not Season 1. The montage doesn't highlight growth and change in the characters. It's an echo of who they were. It's not who they ARE. It's an echo and it doesn't work for me because of that.
And, I won't go into the actual tactics of Buffy's 'brilliant' plan because Joss isn't good at tactics. He just... isn't. All of Buffy's plans (and Angel's) have their share of head desk moments, so I'm not going to single out the lack of logic in her tactics. I don't really fault Buffy for the doomed nature of the plan. It is what it is.
But the thing is, the sharing of power, is purely on the mystical level. She's never shown to have opened up to these girls at all. In fact, as she's smiling over what is essentially their graves at the end of the episode. Buffy hasn't morphed into Ms. Empathy nor has she morphed into a great leader. There are macho male war movies with more grieving over the lost (Seriously, go watch "Band of Brothers." Not as a comparison, but simply because it's a brilliant and beautiful series in its own right). And she's not shown as a great leader of soldiers ala Band of Brother's Major Winters. Buffy really hasn't changed from the Buffy she was before. I see the point Joss is making. Metaphor is all over the place. Hell, if it's that obvious, is it even metaphor any more? It's more text than subtext. But, for all that obviousness, there's still virtually no emotional development on screen to support it.
And, this is the problem with the "I love you." I think this is why the "I love you" is so damn enigmatic. We hear the words, but like nearly everything else with Buffy in the finale, we don't have the context to support it.
Are we to buy the metaphors of burning hands and to listen to her words? Elsewhere we're supposed to. With potentials and with core four, we're to believe what we're told. But... its unconvincing with Potentials and Core Four as well. And when Buffy says the words "I love you." I cannot fault Spike for disbelieving her. Because, quite frankly, her actions have never reached a point where it's overwhelmingly convincing.
As I'm typing, I'm seeing a Doctor Who icon. And, you know, when Rose and 10 are parted, 10 never does manage to get the words "I love you" out. But that's okay. They aren't necessary. His actions had long since convinced us of the truth of the emotion. With Buffy... not so much. Her actions are so full of denials. I'm not talking about Buffy queen of denial (though that's true as well). It's that even when Buffy takes ship positive action in Season 7 its as easily ascribed to pity and guilt as it is to affection or (gasp) love. There's always but always a possible alternate explanation, plasible deniability. They're actions on textural quicksand. Add that in with all the myriad things she does which cut and hurt Spike and... we're back to having problems making the context square with the text.
For the life of me, I cannot pin down whether Buffy really meant the words, or if she meant them whether she meant them romantically. And, I think, I would be more sanguine with that if I thought that the ambiguity was simply an artistic choice. But, the thing that nags at me is that to this day I cannot really pin down what I think Joss intended. Did he intend it to be a tragic "words are too late" moment. Did he intend it to be a grand case of agape in lieu of eros? Or was it eros? Strange if it was eros when the entire relationship had to be neutered to reach a point where it's allowed to be called anything approaching respectable or 'good.' (As BTW was done to B/A, as well) Did Joss intend us to think it was consolation for a dying man? Did he INTEND anything, or was he simply thrilled with creating the moment of endlessly debateable ambiguity? Did he create shipping moments in the finale with the intent to not convey something specific, but to convey just enough to pacify various fanfaction? If it was really for pacification... did her words then mean anything at all?
If words and deeds aren't derived from character journey, what are they?
Sometimes I suspect they very little in the end of BtVS was derived from character. Really, how does the emotional A ->B -> C work here? Spike gives the pep talk, and Buffy leaves him in the bed. She acts offended that he's not pressing issues, then she goes to 'does it have to mean anything'? She glows and throws herself at Angel, then she follows with "I love you" to Spike. How do these things lead from one moment to the next? They seem like a procession of plot points not an emotional through-line. Buffy hits her marks, but I can't determine what takes her from emotion A to emotion B.
Then we end with the 'happy ending' which I won't try to dissect beyond saying that it existed.
The thing here is, how did this conclude BtVS?
Let me rephrase.
How did Joss come up with this kind of episode? If it's "all about Buffy" then why is Spike's emotional arc far more clear when Buffy's is so muddled and clouded? Why is it hard to perceive motivation from point A to point B and how on earth it relates to point C? If it's all about Buffy, why does it feel so much like going through the motions?
That, I think, is the real weakness of Chosen. That more than who got cookie crumbs and how insanely dumb the tactics of Buffy's plans were. Watching the final eps, I can clearly see what brings Spike to those final moments. I see the steps that brought him there. In fact, I can clearly see where and why Anya is there. Hell, I can understand Andrew's arc. But Buffy's?
I still don't see the flow of her arc. I see the points. I see all the marks Joss wanted her to hit. I just can't make a rational throughline such that I see how she moved from emotion A to action B to emotion C to action D. In the end, her choices -- and her words --remain an enigma to me. And somehow, that left me hollow. (Truthfully, I didn't even cry over Spike's death during Chosen. At least, I didn't cry over Spike's death until weeks later when I rewatched the Farscape ep "Icarus Abides" where Crichton dies and I bawled that Crichton died at peace -- with the respect of the man who hated him, and the love of the woman he loved. I cried for Crichton (I do every time I watch "Icarus Abides"), but that time I also bawled for Spike... who was never allowed the respect in death that Crichton was allowed). Chosen itself just left me numb and vaguely angry about the numbness. It took another series to bring out the grief at BtVS's passing.
Barb (
rahirah ) posted today that it felt like Spuffies never got the one clear moment. And, that's true, I think. At least for many Spuffies. I think part of what frustrates me is that I still cannot determine what in the hell Joss even MEANT by the way he handled it, because I have no idea what Buffy felt or thought or how she progressed from one scene to the next. I don't see the path she took. And I think that's why I haven't been particularly interested in whatever path she might take after "Chosen".
And the thing is, all I've seen and heard of the comics, Buffy seems as murky and indecipherable as she was for...well... since she died in Season 5. Maybe the absence of an organic flow in Buffy's emotional journey is what has reduced her to the glittery-hoo-hah prize fussed over by fanfactions rather than passionate character journey of her own. It seems very much about who she ends up with, rather than how in the heck she gets to the point of loving either of them in any vital, in-the-present, comprehensible way.
Is it really Buffy the enigma, or Buffy the cipher? Or is it just a writer so attached to plausible deniability that he sometimes forgets to figure out what Buffy is really supposed to be feeling. Or is it that Joss has said all that he really had to say about Buffy and now he's as lost as many of the rest of us, so he keeps saying the same things over and over again.
Or, maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe Joss has a clear-eyed plan and new directions and I just cannot see it because I've become so cynical, based on all the other things he's done.
It's probably all of the above.
Unfortunately, the net result is that I don't really care what happens with Buffy. I'd rather find out what happened to either of the vamps. I think I lost interest in Buffy (canon Buffy) when I stopped being capable of understanding how Buffy went from emotion A to emotion B (which may be why fanfic Buffy can still appeal to me while Joss's Buffy tends to lead me to little more than a shrug). When three simple words like "I love you" can lead to years of open ended debate with no way to know what she felt and no way to decipher how she reached that place, leaving a climactic finale moment as something every Tom, Dianne, Jane, and Harry can ascribe damn near any meaning to... well, if that's not the definition of a muddled, what is?
And I've probably rattled on too long since I really don't have much of a point to this. Other than just to discuss thoughts which came to me the other day.
And for something entirely different. I thought tonight's Supernatural was quite interesting.
