Random Observation

[shipperx]

For whatever reason, this morning I was flipping through channels and hit on the final scene of...er... can't remember the name of the Harmony centric AtS Season 5 episode.  Anyway, I landed on the scene of Spike in the bar saying how he couldn't board the ship to find Buffy and where Harmony was complaining about not being important to anyone... and it struck me.

You know, Mercedes McKnab (or however it's spelled.  I've forgotten) is a darn fine little actress.  There was this moment where when Spike was talking about someone caring and Harm looked over at him...   There was just such subtle longing.  In fact her expression didn't change all that much, but it just sort of came from her aura.  I was impressed that she didn't overplay it, it was't overt, and yet the message was subtly conveyed just from a look.    

I suppose because Harm was such a broad character and such a two-dimensional one, that I never noticed that the actress was actually talented beyond broad comedy.  Rewatching that little moment, I was impressed with how much she conveyed with how little change in expression.

It made me wonder what BtVS would have been if she actually had landed the part of Buffy (as she originally nearly did).   It seems totally weird to think it because Harm was such a total ditz and vapid, but it seems to be that there's a distinct possibility that Mercedes is far more subtly expressive than SMG.  There were times where it truly beat the hell out of me what Buffy was thinking because SMG when required to be subtle was often simply blank.

I'm impressed when someone can convey a thought and feeling with nothing but their eyes and in that one little beat in the Spike/Harm scene, MM did just that (and I'll sign off before I begin a critique on SMG "acting" in the latter seasons).

Comments

[spikeylover.livejournal.com]

hmmm..Never thought of Mercedes that much, but you are right--you definitely knew what she felt.

As for SMG, I think we all know by now that (as an actress) she didn't want Buffy to love Spike, so we weren't getting that from her. There were times when you went WO (like SHOWTIME ending) but usually you were left guessing. It's only when Joss was standing over her directing that she really played that up. (LESSONS, BENEATH YOU ending, CHOSEN) I think it fits with her character's shut down though, General Buffy and all that--and she was in denial about her feelings for Spike. Try as she may, she couldn't kill the chemistry between them. When you have IT, you have IT.

I think early on in season six, she did want this very much (and had even campaigned for it) but she hated the second half like many Spike fans did. James on the other hand, may have not approved of Spuffy, but her certainly realized that the character he played loved Buffy and played it as such.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

While I agree that SMG was also being opinionated and trying to underplay stuff, I also believe it's a legitimate limitation of SMG's. I'm basing at least as much of the observation on her stint on "All My Children" (some episodes of which showed up on SoapNet from time to time) and her stuff in the Dangerous Liasons rip off. SMG can do broad strokes. When Buffy is the huge, overwrought teary mess in Season 2 (or most of her time as Kendall Hart) she can do that broad emotion fairly well. She can do bitchy quite easily. It's when it's supposed to be toned down and subtle that she rather consistently just ends up mostly expressionless. When stripped of the broad strokes and BIG emotions, she can't seem to express it when it's supposed to be hidden and subtle.

It's like when people spoke of Buffy's repression. I get that Buffy is repressed and I don't have problems with repressed characters. Claudia Black's Aeryn Sun was usually repressed. Gillian Anderson's Scully was ALWAYS repressed, but I positively adored both of those actresses work and their characters. Gillian Anderson could express a world of emotion while being impossibly restrained. Aeryn could be bitchy as hell and distancing someone, and yet I could always read under it all that Aeryn was feeling something and it terrified her.

With SMG I frequently feel like the viewer is having to do all the work. Yeah, I can understand why Buffy is repressed, angry, wary... but I read none of that on SMG's face. I'm interpolating the text and I found it tiresome to have to work so hard. I shouldn't have to work up sympathy for Buffy, SMG should inspire it. I shouldn't have to figure out what Buffy is thinking, SMG should have expressed it.

It's just that when required to do tiny emotions and restrained acting, she's consistently fell short IMHO. She always did fine with it's supposed to be big and larger than life. But, maybe when all is said and done, she better suited to being a soap actress. She does tears and tantrums well. She just never seems to bring the same expressiveness and emotion any time the script demads subtle. She doesn't seem to handle subtext all that well.

JMHO, of course.

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

Word.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. SMG always felt klimited to me...you could even tell when the actress wasn't feeling well. Yet on Smallville I challenge *anyone* to pick out the scenes JM filmed with a badly sprained ankle.

OTOH, Mercedes had me crying for her in the episode and scene you described.

[spikeylover.livejournal.com]

I didn't see AMC, and I'd agree with you except for episodes like LESSONS when Joss was there. Spike had tried to rape Buffy, so there should be no feeling, yet you get this face...



Therefore, I don't think she's a bad actress, I just think she needed direction..(and yes, Joss said she might not be old enough to grasp what was going on in season six, didn't he?)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

The thing is... is that expression disgust or upset or what? She's indecipherable.

[fishsanwitt]

Sneaking in to say I love your Spuffy icon :)

[owenthurman.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy watching SMG when she is acting. Mostly for big stuff like the lips, the eyes, body motion, head twists, the way she too rarely uses her tongue, &c. I even watched Simply Irresistible all the way through and there is nothing good about that movie.

She's not so much with the subtle, though.

But I wonder if Mercedes McNabb would have really been putting in the effort in BtVS S7 when she already decided that she had to fulfil her contract but her big time movie career was being drained away by the unfortunate Buffy role she'd signed up for. Because I'm pretty sure that is the underlying emotion SMG was acting in S7.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It's still unprofessional. She was paid a nice salary for a role that took her out of being a soap actress. Because she feels she's 'destined for bigger things' doesn't give leave to phone in her performances for a year.

Though I still maintain, she can't do subtle. She can do broad strokes, but when it has to be scaled down she can't convey much emotion unless resorting to tears or pout.

It was when I really thought back on her AMC career then compared it to BtVS that I realized, she pretty much always sucked at subtle. The times I've liked her was when she's in full blown melodrama, the times I've hated her are were when she was supposed to be restrained and subtle. And that's regardless of whether she was Kendal Hart or Buffy Summers.

[mlgm.livejournal.com]

Though I still maintain, she can't do subtle. It was when I really thought back on her AMC career then compared it to BtVS that I realized, she pretty much always sucked at subtle. The times I've liked her was when she's in full blown melodrama, the times I've hated her are were when she was supposed to be restrained and subtle. And that's regardless of whether she was Kendal Hart or Buffy Summers.
Link

This becomes all the more evident when you see the current Kendal, who could outact SMG while tap dancing and juggling.

Claudia and Gillian both invested so much intelligence and emotion in their repressed characters that SMG never managed to convey in hers.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Truthfully, you simply can't convince me that SMG is as good an actress as GA or CB. She may have managed to get a lot of exposure with her being a teen idol. But sheer talent? GA and CB beat her upside down and sideways.

[deborahc.livejournal.com]

You know, Mercedes McKnab (or however it's spelled. I've forgotten) is a darn fine little actress. There was this moment where when Spike was talking about someone caring and Harm looked over at him... There was just such subtle longing. In fact her expression didn't change all that much, but it just sort of came from her aura. I was impressed that she didn't overplay it, it was't overt, and yet the message was subtly conveyed just from a look.

ITA. But just as impressive to me was the first scene with Spike in the beginning of the episode, when he returns to W&H to say his goodbyes before leaving for Europe. The look on Harmony's face when she sees him turn and walk away after completely ignoring her - without sparing her a single word - is heart wrenching. I was disgusted with Spike at that moment for being such an insensitive, heartless, bastard (as I believe I was intended to be). I'm still not entirely clear on how and why, especially since he regained his soul, Spike, ordinarily the most sensitive guy around to the emotions of others (which is not to say sympathetic to them - just savvy), would be oblivious to how Harmony must feel or, if not oblivious, then so deliberately callous. Maybe some deep, repressed guilt about how badly he'd treated her caused him to put up a wall against her, because he didn't want to feel bad for making her feel bad. Or maybe he didn't want to give her an opening by showing her any kind attention for fear of encouraging her feelings for him. In any case, MM really pulled my heart-strings there. She's a very emotive, subtle actress.

As for SMG, I practically gave myself brain and eye strain trying to detect the underlying emotions that Buffy surely must have been struggling to conceal and keep under her iron control beneath the wooden expression she wore in so many of her S7 interactions with Spike. I've always wondered what, if any, stage direction SMG had been given in playing those scenes. Mindful of her *views* concerning Buffy's feelings (or lack there of) toward Spike, I assume that all those times when, despite really wanting to see and believe that they were there, I could find no trace of conflicted, repressed love coming from her, that their absence was because SMG had no incentive to express them unless expressly directed to do so.

Of course in all fairness, I suppose that her direction could have been to be opaque in the scenes where she was, so as to keep us all guessing - much in the way Joss deliberately concealed Spike's intent in going to Africa, even from JM. And if that was the case, then it was just as stupid misguided in the case of the latter as it was in the former.

[molliemole.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally agree with every word of criticism about SMG's acting skills. Her idea of expressing repressed emotion is a tight-lipped turned-down mouth in a stone face. But that's not even what I dislike most about her acting; it's the way she says all her lines at lightning speed. Sometimes I can't even make out what she's said.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I just know that I learned to hate the pout, the eyeroll, and the giddy -- which were three of her five emotions that she appeared capable of expressing (rage and self pity being the other two).

[owenthurman.livejournal.com]

I like MM's work, too in the Spike scenes.

But I think in the context of the episode, we're supposed to see all the neglect and ignoring of Harmony as exaggerated from her point of view. Angel behaves in the same awful way later on.

We're not supposed to take it seriously as Spike or Angel behavior.

[deborahc.livejournal.com]

But I think in the context of the episode, we're supposed to see all the neglect and ignoring of Harmony as exaggerated from her point of view.

Ah. There is that. Good point. And a very effective job they made of it too, seeing as they had me resenting Angel and Spike so much on her behalf. Of course, I've always felt bad for Harmony when Spike treated her like sh*t, and all those other instances in all those other episodes weren't deliberately magnifying his meaness to her through her POV. I guess it's because I've always felt so bad when Spike's tender feelings have been denied, trampled or scorned, that I've winced when he shows the same callous disregard for Harmony's. But then I wouldn't have it any other way, either. Spike can be a right bastard, and he wouldn't be nearly as interesting and compelling if he always did right by everybody, and went out of his way to be *understanding* whether he liked you or not. That said, I can still be pissed at him when he's mean to someone who genuinely cares for him.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Good point. It was entirely from her POV.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I'm cynical enough to think that the reason it was impossible to detect subtext in SMG's performance was that there WAS no subtext. I think she's purely a text and only the text kind of girl (hence why she can pull off the big moves but sucks whenever asked to be subtle.)

[herself_nyc]

The kind of comedy McNab makes look so easy is, I think, just as tough to get right as serious drama. I think she's a tremendous talent and it's too bad she'll probably never be a star. Her work was among the very finest of all the BtVS players.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think I'm just realizing that I always took the poor girl for granted.