My Whedonverse Issues - Part 3,000,006
Apr. 14th, 2005 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxTurning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
~Yeats
You want to know what I think? I think Joss is a maddening, depressive git. No. Really. Ultimately, I think that's what a lot of my Whedonverse issues boil down to. Except it's not only that. I also (*gasp*) don't think Joss is anything like God. Or if he is, there's a reason why I tend to closely resemble an atheist.
Having read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
deborahmm Alexis Denisof's interview and elsaf musing on Whedonverse "romance" I find my minds eye unhappily cast back to Season 6 BtVS.
I remember Joss's post Season 6arrogant quote about how once fans calmed down we would eventually see the brilliance of Season 6. Well, I don't know whether I'm calm, but it's been three years and. . .still not seeing the brilliance.
The thing is, Joss loves tragedy and subverting expectations. And while that's a valid method of storytelling, simply subverting expecations doesn't necessarily mean that it's good storytelling. Making fans scream doesn't cannote brilliance. Controversy is not an accolade. It's not brilliant simply because it is outside story convention. That isn't to say that one must follow expectations to be good. It's just that Season 6 isn't bad because it subverted expectations and went down a dark path. It's bad because it's bad. . . regardless of subverted expectations.
I come back to the line "the centre cannot hold". That definitely seems to have been the goal of Season 6 BtVS. (And a recurring theme for Joss in general). I believe Joss even produced that quote once. And if in doubt there, Mutant Enemy actually used "Slouching toward Bethlehem" as an AtS title that same season. And the line "best lack all conviction" definitely harkens back to the Season 5 AtS ep "Conviction." And I wonder whether Season 6 Spike was to be "...the worst are full of passionate intensity."
Again, nothing is inherently wrong with such a story direction. I don't always hate such a story direction. In fact, my "TV's perfect season" contender of Farscape Season 3 personifies the "centre cannot hold" motif.
So, I contend the problem isn't that Joss and Marti took such a direction. The reason that Season 6 is apalling is that it was very poorly DONE.
It's true that Farscape Season 3 and BtVS Season 6 share "the centre cannot hold" mentality. But my reactions to the seasons are night and day. Farscape's Season of Death (whole season not just that episode) soared with angst and heartache, ending the season with all of the characters hopelessly emotionally (and physically) separated. It was beauty in its terribleness. BtVS also ended the season in heartache and despair and yet. . .I find no beauty there, just pain.
I think that what makes the difference is that Farscape's season appeared generated by character. When the group falls apart in Season 3 Farscape you can see no way for it to have happened differently. Given the same circumstances, the same characters would have done just about the same things because it was all so very true to who they were.
Every character's choices, though painful, were motivated organically out of the character's unique sensibilities, strengths, and weaknesses. They didn't come out of left field and you cannot see how they could have chosen any differently even though you ache for them and wish that they could.
See, that's it. You ache for them. They never lose your sympathy as the season spirals toward tragedy, miscommunication, devestating choices and pain... so much pain. BtVS's characters in Season 6 seemed pushed and prodded into contorted positions to make for more angst. The characters could have made different choices, but those choices while still in character, wouldn't have led to as much pain as ME wanted to inflict.
I still find it improbable, nigh on impossible to see why they plotted the AR... except for the most mean and manipulative of reasons. Yes, any character could be pushed to that breaking point, not just Spike. But isn't good plotting to have things happen out of character, not forcing a character to an emotional meltdown simply to cause aberrant behavior, not cornering your character and pushing them off a cliff!
And then there's Buffy. I lost any and all sympathy with Buffy. Her circumstances by the end of Season 6 are not because of choices she would inevitably make, but by her refusal to MAKE any damn decisions. I don't sympathize with her or her angst. . . I want to kick her ass.
Whereas the implosion of the Crichton/Aeryn relationship at the end of Season 3 makes me love the characters even more in their frailties and mistakes. . . I still want to kick Buffy's ass.
There was the loss of potential in Season 3 FS. I weep for Aeryn when she says "I could have changed. . ." and "I would have gone to earth with you. . ." And I'm so frustrated when she looks at John and tells him, "It's too late. It's too late for me." But I also completely empathize with why she says it. I know why she feels that way. At that point in time, after all the death and destruction and hurt... how could she not?
And I ache for John and all his romantic (breaking) heart as he insists "I'm not letting the best thing in my life fly away..." and how "anyplace in the universe..." to be with her. Except, of course, it's too late. The center cannot hold. She leaves him... not in the dust in a "blowed-up-real-good" crypt, but stranded emotionally and physically in an abyss of black with nowhere to go. Utterly alone. Abadonned.
The Scoobs are scattered to the winds in Season 6 (though some halfhearted effort, crayola speech, and blooming oleander is supposed to patch over the emotional devestation) just as the crew of Moya have departed separate ways at the end of Season 3 Farscape -- Crais is dead, Talyn is dead, Chi is heading to...wherever, as are Jool, D'Argo, and Rygel. Crichton is left alone without even a home to go to (hell, even Moya inadvertantly abandons him).
On both shows, there's this spiral downward through the seasons as relationships fracture, hearts are broken, alliances lose their bonds. Yet, though Farscape's season finale is perhaps even more dark, it plays better. There is a sense in Farscape that these are good people who did their best, but it wasn't enough, the center simply could not hold (and each character returns the next season older, wiser, and more mature... unlike Buffy).
On BtVS... the characters were more often than not, simply hateful in Season 6. And while their behavior is no where near as consistently bad the next season, it never seems that it's because they learned and matured through Season 6. It's just "season 6 is over and we're trying not to be that dark now." Eh.
We don't blame Farscape's characters for breaking their bonds. Each choice is within character. How can Aeryn stay when being around John is killing her inside? How can John not be hurt by her turning away? Yes, Aeryn is harsh as she chooses to leave. Yes, John has his obsessions with home. I love the moment in the Season 3 finale when John realizes that his dream of home and his dream of Aeryn are mutally incompatible, when he admits aloud, "none of my dreams seem to work anymore." Yes, yes, yes. It's all there, in the characters. Not forced out of plot, but outgrowth of character. Whereas on BtVS Season 6, you want to shake the characters "Do something ELSE, you nitwit!" "God, you are CREATING this pain, you bitch!" Whereas you don't tend to feel that with Farscape's Season 3 characters. You hurt. It's terrible. But what else could they do and still be true to who they are? Aeryn would close down emotionally. Crichton would obsess. There would be jealousy. There would be heroism. There would be chances of death. They would hurt one another in a thousand ways. And the relationship... would implode.
Joss likes to claim that Season 6 is a disaster because people cannot embrace a dark tale of emotional destruction. I say, not true. Season 3 Farscape is that, and the season is GOOD.
I say Season 6 is a disaster because, isolated episodes aside, the arc isn't solid. It's often contrived and poorly told. It's frustrating, manipulative, ill-paced, and often acted listlessly [Yes, SMG I'm glaring at you].
It's either delusion or denial when Joss says that someday we'll all look back and realize how good Season 6 is. Er...uh... seriously, doubt it. There's not enough sea to change the current that significantly. I'm fairly certain I will always look back and see it as seriously flawed and a waste of potential. Not because it was dark. Dark can be brilliant, but because (again brilliant on-off eps aside) it isn't very good. The overall plot does not hold. The concept of the season could be done brilliantly (if it was character based more than "I want angst and pain" based). It isn't. Sorry, Joss, Marti. Angst in and of itself isn't bad... but bad angst is awful. Season 6 was a grand experiment gone woeofully awry with poor planning and spotty execution. (Which, sadly, still makes it superior to Season 7 that lacked due having no plan at all).
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
~Yeats
You want to know what I think? I think Joss is a maddening, depressive git. No. Really. Ultimately, I think that's what a lot of my Whedonverse issues boil down to. Except it's not only that. I also (*gasp*) don't think Joss is anything like God. Or if he is, there's a reason why I tend to closely resemble an atheist.
Having read
deborahmm Alexis Denisof's interview and elsaf musing on Whedonverse "romance" I find my minds eye unhappily cast back to Season 6 BtVS.I remember Joss's post Season 6
The thing is, Joss loves tragedy and subverting expectations. And while that's a valid method of storytelling, simply subverting expecations doesn't necessarily mean that it's good storytelling. Making fans scream doesn't cannote brilliance. Controversy is not an accolade. It's not brilliant simply because it is outside story convention. That isn't to say that one must follow expectations to be good. It's just that Season 6 isn't bad because it subverted expectations and went down a dark path. It's bad because it's bad. . . regardless of subverted expectations.
I come back to the line "the centre cannot hold". That definitely seems to have been the goal of Season 6 BtVS. (And a recurring theme for Joss in general). I believe Joss even produced that quote once. And if in doubt there, Mutant Enemy actually used "Slouching toward Bethlehem" as an AtS title that same season. And the line "best lack all conviction" definitely harkens back to the Season 5 AtS ep "Conviction." And I wonder whether Season 6 Spike was to be "...the worst are full of passionate intensity."
Again, nothing is inherently wrong with such a story direction. I don't always hate such a story direction. In fact, my "TV's perfect season" contender of Farscape Season 3 personifies the "centre cannot hold" motif.
So, I contend the problem isn't that Joss and Marti took such a direction. The reason that Season 6 is apalling is that it was very poorly DONE.
It's true that Farscape Season 3 and BtVS Season 6 share "the centre cannot hold" mentality. But my reactions to the seasons are night and day. Farscape's Season of Death (whole season not just that episode) soared with angst and heartache, ending the season with all of the characters hopelessly emotionally (and physically) separated. It was beauty in its terribleness. BtVS also ended the season in heartache and despair and yet. . .I find no beauty there, just pain.
I think that what makes the difference is that Farscape's season appeared generated by character. When the group falls apart in Season 3 Farscape you can see no way for it to have happened differently. Given the same circumstances, the same characters would have done just about the same things because it was all so very true to who they were.
Every character's choices, though painful, were motivated organically out of the character's unique sensibilities, strengths, and weaknesses. They didn't come out of left field and you cannot see how they could have chosen any differently even though you ache for them and wish that they could.
See, that's it. You ache for them. They never lose your sympathy as the season spirals toward tragedy, miscommunication, devestating choices and pain... so much pain. BtVS's characters in Season 6 seemed pushed and prodded into contorted positions to make for more angst. The characters could have made different choices, but those choices while still in character, wouldn't have led to as much pain as ME wanted to inflict.
I still find it improbable, nigh on impossible to see why they plotted the AR... except for the most mean and manipulative of reasons. Yes, any character could be pushed to that breaking point, not just Spike. But isn't good plotting to have things happen out of character, not forcing a character to an emotional meltdown simply to cause aberrant behavior, not cornering your character and pushing them off a cliff!
And then there's Buffy. I lost any and all sympathy with Buffy. Her circumstances by the end of Season 6 are not because of choices she would inevitably make, but by her refusal to MAKE any damn decisions. I don't sympathize with her or her angst. . . I want to kick her ass.
Whereas the implosion of the Crichton/Aeryn relationship at the end of Season 3 makes me love the characters even more in their frailties and mistakes. . . I still want to kick Buffy's ass.
There was the loss of potential in Season 3 FS. I weep for Aeryn when she says "I could have changed. . ." and "I would have gone to earth with you. . ." And I'm so frustrated when she looks at John and tells him, "It's too late. It's too late for me." But I also completely empathize with why she says it. I know why she feels that way. At that point in time, after all the death and destruction and hurt... how could she not?
And I ache for John and all his romantic (breaking) heart as he insists "I'm not letting the best thing in my life fly away..." and how "anyplace in the universe..." to be with her. Except, of course, it's too late. The center cannot hold. She leaves him... not in the dust in a "blowed-up-real-good" crypt, but stranded emotionally and physically in an abyss of black with nowhere to go. Utterly alone. Abadonned.
The Scoobs are scattered to the winds in Season 6 (though some halfhearted effort, crayola speech, and blooming oleander is supposed to patch over the emotional devestation) just as the crew of Moya have departed separate ways at the end of Season 3 Farscape -- Crais is dead, Talyn is dead, Chi is heading to...wherever, as are Jool, D'Argo, and Rygel. Crichton is left alone without even a home to go to (hell, even Moya inadvertantly abandons him).
On both shows, there's this spiral downward through the seasons as relationships fracture, hearts are broken, alliances lose their bonds. Yet, though Farscape's season finale is perhaps even more dark, it plays better. There is a sense in Farscape that these are good people who did their best, but it wasn't enough, the center simply could not hold (and each character returns the next season older, wiser, and more mature... unlike Buffy).
On BtVS... the characters were more often than not, simply hateful in Season 6. And while their behavior is no where near as consistently bad the next season, it never seems that it's because they learned and matured through Season 6. It's just "season 6 is over and we're trying not to be that dark now." Eh.
We don't blame Farscape's characters for breaking their bonds. Each choice is within character. How can Aeryn stay when being around John is killing her inside? How can John not be hurt by her turning away? Yes, Aeryn is harsh as she chooses to leave. Yes, John has his obsessions with home. I love the moment in the Season 3 finale when John realizes that his dream of home and his dream of Aeryn are mutally incompatible, when he admits aloud, "none of my dreams seem to work anymore." Yes, yes, yes. It's all there, in the characters. Not forced out of plot, but outgrowth of character. Whereas on BtVS Season 6, you want to shake the characters "Do something ELSE, you nitwit!" "God, you are CREATING this pain, you bitch!" Whereas you don't tend to feel that with Farscape's Season 3 characters. You hurt. It's terrible. But what else could they do and still be true to who they are? Aeryn would close down emotionally. Crichton would obsess. There would be jealousy. There would be heroism. There would be chances of death. They would hurt one another in a thousand ways. And the relationship... would implode.
Joss likes to claim that Season 6 is a disaster because people cannot embrace a dark tale of emotional destruction. I say, not true. Season 3 Farscape is that, and the season is GOOD.
I say Season 6 is a disaster because, isolated episodes aside, the arc isn't solid. It's often contrived and poorly told. It's frustrating, manipulative, ill-paced, and often acted listlessly [Yes, SMG I'm glaring at you].
It's either delusion or denial when Joss says that someday we'll all look back and realize how good Season 6 is. Er...uh... seriously, doubt it. There's not enough sea to change the current that significantly. I'm fairly certain I will always look back and see it as seriously flawed and a waste of potential. Not because it was dark. Dark can be brilliant, but because (again brilliant on-off eps aside) it isn't very good. The overall plot does not hold. The concept of the season could be done brilliantly (if it was character based more than "I want angst and pain" based). It isn't. Sorry, Joss, Marti. Angst in and of itself isn't bad... but bad angst is awful. Season 6 was a grand experiment gone woeofully awry with poor planning and spotty execution. (Which, sadly, still makes it superior to Season 7 that lacked due having no plan at all).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-04-14 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-14 09:24 pm (UTC)Except I personally want to kick Buffy to death with razor bladed boots.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-14 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-14 10:29 pm (UTC)Also, it was a lot larger leap from the dramatic but ultimately optimistic viewpoint of TNG to the horrors faced by the DS9 cast than was ever seen in Buffy. TNG had people who talked about how they were so evolved that they worked simply for their own self-fulfillment and knowledge, rather than any hopes of material gain. DS9 took that same culture, looked at it under the lens of extended wartime, and saw it engaged in deliberate genocide, assassinations, biological warfare, treason, terrorism, martial law, and just about anything else you could think of. Because the stories were told well, people didn't turn it off in droves; in fact, it was the most-watched syndicated show in the world.
So. Yes. Stuff it, Joss.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-14 10:30 pm (UTC)After abandoning the series during season 3 (starcrossed lovers that couldn't be, oh how sad *sarcasm*, together just didn't do anything for me, especially considering now there would have been away for Angel to hop over to the black continent and Lurky to get his precious soul fixed...) I lost any interest. season 4 consisted of boring normal boyfriend routine (and why the hell thought Joss, girls would want to be with "normal" boys? Because everyone is eager to make his or her life as boring as possible?) and, before we knew the first "fevil" evil, the worst big bad ever (Yeah, Adam was really really annoying...) Season five was rather well done, but if you were out of the loop relatively long you had no chance of catching up. Fool for love helped as did Something Blue but in the end it was OMWF that made me a BtVS-fan again. And after that I stayed because the blossoming relationship between Spike and Buffy was very intriguing. I even love SR, because I don't think calling it an AR is even remotely accurate. In fact I think it shows the opposite of what most people make out of it: Spike stopping in time(!) after realizing that he had hurt his girl, feeling so very guilty about it although nothing was really done, that he decided do the very thing hated most: becoming Angel II and quite possible his hated human self. Also the trio was brilliant. Warren finally showed something we all knew but seemed to be ignored until then: humans can be just as bad if not badder then demons although they are supposed to have one of Buffys precious souls. Also The downfall of Willow and her becoming the seasons big bad was very well done. Since season 4 we watched her doing reckless stupid and dangerous things with her power, but everyone just ignored it and turned back to normal. Here we finally saw the conclusion of a story that continued through the whole show until then.
I think what made season 6 appear bad is the crappy-ness of season 7. not even one story arc of season 6 was continued. The viewers were left hanging with a big bad who could do no harm besides annoying people into suicide (and calling that first evil? please, how stupid must the writers have thought we are...), formerly deeply involved relationships fully ignored (oh yeah, the writers thought we would know Spike and Dawn had there quality time off-screen...stupid idiots) and then there was a whole bunch of even more annoying-then-Adam teenage girls nobody knew (and nobody would get really involved into because last season and everything...) all over the set. And lets not forget the worst story-conclusion ever: making a whole lot of unchaperoned formerly normal and hormone raging teenage girls into super strong super soldiers all over the world while everything it really needed to save the world was the disgusting, evil thing of last season... Uh yeah, strong dislike for season 7 here...
Just realized I got a bit carried away... please feel free to delete everything. I really didn't want to spam your Journal!
Sorry!
no subject
Date: 2005-04-15 12:03 am (UTC)Oh, I agree with this statement. As many issues as I have with Season 6, I don't think it's flaws were fatal in and of themselves (though I will always have big issues with the choice of the AR rather than other potential options. Hello, Marti, remember metaphor? It served a purpose, ya know). But ultimately what sinks BtVS is not Season 6 but Season 7. It's part of the general ME problem of not really wanting to deal with the fall out insofar as Buffy and the core Scoobs were concerned. It goes back to my issues with Grave and Buffy's crawling out of the grave to see the blooming Oleander. I'm sorry. I saw too many moments where Buffy would, could, should have changed and improved. The only thing different in Grave was that it happened to be the finale. The same goes with Xander's issues concerning his behavior in Season 6. And finally there's Willow who did a very, very bad thing. . . but which there was an incredible reluctance to deal with in Season 7.
If Season 7 had come back to try to work on the issues raised in Season 6 and had the characters admit their mistakes then show them facing them again to overcome them, Season 6 wouldn't feel so fruitless. But, while some efforts were made in that department with Spike (some, even there... it's often hard to find the direct corellation), they seemed to quickly sidestep the issues with the other characters. In Season 7 we have Buffy say "I've never been evil"... um,guess I blacked out on the end part of Dead Things then because, that looked fairly evil to me.
In fact, Dead Things itself is an example of where I think ME went haywire. I didn't initially dislike the ep. I didn't initially decide that this was something Buffy could never really overcome in the series. I LIKED Dead Things... it was the complete and utter failure to follow up Dead Things that kills it. When Buffy cried at the end of Dead Things after she beat the shit out of Spike I thought that she was horrified by what she had done to Spike and saw the monstrosity of that. I glossed over in my head the "What he makes me do" part. I had thought there was a signficant moment there... until the utter lack of follow-up in OaFA where she looks at Spike's battered face and never flinches or looks embarrassed. In retrospect I can only assume she had cried for HERSELF and herself alone in Dead Things.
In many ways it's the same with Season 7. I tend to think when Buffy looks back she says "I was never evil" and somehow the implosion of trouble in Season 6 is merely shame at having been with soulless Spike. Um... well... as far as I'm concerned that was the least of Buffy's problems. Yeah, it was a co-dependent relationship... but that's 'co' and Buffy has her rightful share of problems. And yet in Season 7 she was supposedly okay... only not. Because Buffy really wasn't any different just less depressive.
While they spent Season 6 hammering into our heads that Willow's problems weren't WILLOW, they were addiction. Suddenly in Season 7 it wasn't treated as either addiction or Willow. She was just grieving... overlooking that most of her trouble (double murder aside) occured long before grief.
As I clumsily tried to say. It isn't the darkness in and of itself that is wrong with Season 6. Its problems were in pacing and in lack of emotional catharsis. That catharsis could have occured in Season 7 thereby making Season 6 better in retrospect. But Season 7's inability to follow up in Season 7 leaves Season 6 looking suspiciously like an exercise in creating angst for angst's sake and little more. If it had served greater purpose then why not DEAL with its aftermath rather than desperately trying to gloss it over with a return to high school and a slew of pointless potentials?
(And I agree with you about the problems of Season 4. I had all but stopped watching in Season 4 myself)
no subject
Date: 2005-04-15 02:50 pm (UTC)You did, however, hit the meat of the matter with this statement (which was before the cut, so I didn't realize there was a lot of Farscape comparison): So, I contend the problem isn't that Joss and Marti took such a direction. The reason that Season 6 is apalling is that it was very poorly DONE.
One of the serious structural problems I've felt the series had from S4 on was that they had hit the end of the show's basic manifesto ("High School is Hell") and never really found a new one. Worse, they seem to have known they didn't have a manifesto and kept floundering. Frankly, I think it was Joss keeping a firm hand on what was going on that kept the show from completely falling off the tightrope they walked in S4 and S5 (and there are some serious structural problems in those seasons as well).
Then Joss found something shiny and left Marti in charge. Marti doesn't have the touch to walk that tightrope (see: Point Pleasant). His attention wasn't focused and things began spiraling out of their control. No, I don't argue with the direction -- it could have been a damn good direction and I happen to like the first part of the season quite a bit. But the execution itself is severely flawed and the blame lies firmly with Joss for not keeping the hands on the reins and with Marti for not seeing the center in favor of pursuing her own personal biases. (I was working at the time with someone who knew Marti -- I have heard stories about the supposed "vampire boyfriend" and shall a lot seems to depend on the POV.)
no subject
Date: 2005-04-15 04:39 pm (UTC)Absolutely. He has his strong points, he can be a good writer when he likes the subject, but his plotting skills seriously suck.
It's just that Season 6 isn't bad because it subverted expectations and went down a dark path. It's bad because it's bad. . . regardless of subverted expectations.
Thank you! It's bad....cause it's really really bad. There is no arc, no humour, characters are pathetic and downright unlikeable.
And then there's Buffy. I lost any and all sympathy with Buffy. Her circumstances by the end of Season 6 are not because of choices she would inevitably make, but by her refusal to MAKE any damn decisions. I don't sympathize with her or her angst. . . I want to kick her ass.
Again, a big thank you. She was never a favorite of mine, but I started to actively dislike her in Season 6. She could have made thousands of different choices. Depression isn't something you choose, but trying to find a way to snap out of it is. But Buffy loved being miserable. As Spike said "She was in love with the misery".
It's either delusion or denial when Joss says that someday we'll all look back and realize how good Season 6 is. Er...uh... seriously, doubt it.
I think it's delusion. It's been 3 years and I am still waiting for the day which stupid me suddenly will realize how brilliantly dark was Season 6.
Angst in and of itself isn't bad... but bad angst is awful.
Amen. Angst with a reason is good, but bad angst...*shudder*
(Which, sadly, still makes it superior to Season 7 that lacked due having no plan at all).
God, don't even remind me Season 7. No plotting, no decent acting (apart from James), no arc, nothing. Bitchy, manipulative Buffy, useless Dawn and Xander, Pod!Giles, ineffective Willow, waste of time Potentials...And..who could ever forget!!! Cookie Dough! *feels sick*
no subject
Date: 2005-04-15 06:08 pm (UTC)TV!season 7 just showed that the writers and some of the actors *coughtSMGcought* lost every interest they ever had in the story. They had no plans and no ideas (besides very few stand-alone Eps like LMPTM and CWDP) and they seemed to have forgotten all character development, not only season 6 but nearly every season before (especially obvious with Willow..)
And I think why Spikes story was still the best about the season was due to JMs love for his role and therefore the influence he had on Spike...
no subject
Date: 2005-04-15 06:32 pm (UTC)They built to OMWF. OMWF didn't "build" to the next episode. The next episode is mostly an anti-climax (going into sweeps no less). The show doesn't build toward an apex. It wallows in the much for six months. It doesn't build to a conclusion. It continues wallowing in the muck (some muck worse than others) and then it's over. . .and everything is better. Why? Because they showed the characters getting better? Not so much. It's better because the flowers are blooming and because they say so.
The audience doesn't feel the build then the resolution. They observe. There's no momentum given the endless false starts.
Regardless of whether one likes or dislikes Farscape Season 3. There is a logical developmental structure to it.
It begins by concluding Season 2's arc. Aeryn is resurrected in the season premiere. The consequence is revealed: Zaahn must die in order for Aeryn's resurrection. Zaahn's absense (much like Giles) leaves the group without its emotional mentor. The characters are on their own. The Crichtons are split. Aeryn/Talyn-Crichton admit their love and get together. Crichton sans Aeryn obsesses on wormholes in order to get home. Talyn-Crichton discovers the consequence of that technology and dies. Aeryn sees that the cost of what Crichton is doing is potentially death. She grieves. She closes down emotionally. Seeing Moya-Crichton is exquisitely painful because "her" Crichton died... and she sees the surviving Crichton going down the same path and she cannot deal with it. Crichton, though he tries, cannot understand her problem and wants a commitment. Big plan, beat the bad guy and win their battle... but the relationship fractures. The "Big Bad" is defeated. . .leaving the crew with no compelling REASON to have to stick together any longer. They mourn those who die and decide to move on from one another. It is complete. There is a beginning, a climax, and an end and each step builds logically on one another.
BtVS Season 6 does a hell of a lot of meandering. And the emotional arcs aren't don't have a logical beginning, pivot point, and conclusion. It's Buffy's depressed. Buffy is depressed some more. Buffy is really, really, REALLY depressed. Buffy is suicidally depressed. Buffy is abusively depressed. Buffy is insane depressed. Lots of false epiphanies. Season's over and Buffy's better. WTH?!
Where's the momentum? Where's the ability to carry the audience WITH the character? Where the hell is the excitement? The humor? The reason to tune in next week.
There's little to no underlying structure in either Season 6 or Season 7. One step doesn't build the next one. It just wanders around and it may or may not have anything to do with what comes after it. It is quite simply shoddy work.
Even if something isn't what one would choose, craft is craft. Regardless of whether one likes Season 3 Farscape, the arc was well crafted. Even if one likes BtVS Season 6 stuff, the arc was sloppy at best. It just wasn't a well plotted season. It had it's points... but it wasn't paced in a reasonable manner (it felt like it lasted freaking FOREVER!) and it didn't build to a conclusion. And... Marti sux.
(And it really wouldn't surprise me at all that the 'vampire boyfriend' in life wasn't the bad guy. I always thought that part of the reasoning behind the AR was Marti in shock that the audience wasn't siding with Buffy in the "bad boyfriend" plot. And since Marti had turned Buffy into her Mary Sue, Marti had to make sure that the audience saw that she wasn't the bad guy. I don't think Marti liked the idea that a huge portion of the audience saw her as the bad guy in the relationship.
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Date: 2005-04-18 05:26 pm (UTC)Would you mind if I friended you?
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Date: 2005-04-30 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-30 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-23 02:24 pm (UTC)Would you mind if I link to it?
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Date: 2008-07-23 02:57 pm (UTC)Boy, it's been ages since I wrote that one. It was like reading something written by someone else (only nodding a lot because I still agree with just about all of it. :)
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Date: 2008-07-23 07:01 pm (UTC)I remember Joss's post Season 6
arrogantquote about how once fans calmed down we would eventually see the brilliance of Season 6. Well, I don't know whether I'm calm, but it's been three years and. . .still not seeing the brilliance.Annnnnd, it's three years on since you wrote this essay, and Season 6 is still bad. And the only thing that keeps me from buying a stadium full of S7 DVDs and burning them is Spike's story, the one redeeming feature of that snooze of a season.
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Date: 2008-07-23 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-23 08:26 pm (UTC)