shipperx | They Live

They Live! Part I

I haven't really hashed through all my feelings about the AtS finale. I can say that in the wake of the AtS finale I'm happy... and in the wake of Chosen I was a mixture of sad and furious. "Chosen" ended with my hating nearly every character on BtVS with the exceptions of Spike, Anya, Faith, and Andrew. That's a sad way to end. More sad was that I have been unable to enjoy anything about the Buffyverse since then (Buffyverse being separate to Whedonverse). I cannot watch BtVS reruns because at the sight of Buffy I usually react by spontaneously saying "bitch." Reading the review for the Season 6 DVDs today brought back just how much I loathe what was done to BtVS. For the last two years of the show I found it absolutely miserable to watch. Because of this I have held off on buying AtS DVDs. I did NOT want the same thing to happen again. I wasn't going to buy a bunch of DVDs that would sit forever unwatched on a shelf. This week, I finally allowed myself to buy AtS DVDs.

That's not to say I don't have quibbles with AtS. That's not to say that they didn't make mistakes. It's also not to say that I don't remain horrified by the underpinnings of the Whedonverse. I have to say that all of

thedeadlyhook's criticisms are pretty spot on. Still, the difference is that though I may dislike the philosophies that Whedon goes on about (I find his universe pretty much hopeless and loveless) I can still love the characters. I spent "Don't Fade Away" saying, "Damn, I love Gunn." "Boy, Illyria ROCKS!" "Oh, my beautiful, Spike," "Poor, poor Wesley." Though these characters live in a bleak world, I still love these characters. Therin lies the difference between BtVS and AtS. I think I realized that when reading

elsaf's criticisms of "Don't Fade Away" and AtS. I don't disagree with what she identifies as AtS's flaws. There are very fundamental differences between AtS and BtVS. There was something essentially soapy about BtVS with it's ships, angst filled romance, and black/white world. I agree with her that AtS inhabited a different world. The thing was while I might love soapy ship. . .I tended to believe in AtS's world a bit more. In the end BtVS's black/white reasoning does not reasonate. I hated that about BtVS. AtS had a more complex morality than BtVS. I loved Darla. I loved the fact that in AtS the good guys weren't always considered the "good guys" just because Angel was a "hero" didn't make him right. That was the problem I had with BtVS. No matter what a heinous, godawful, selfish, using BITCH Buffy was. . .the story always twisted inside out to make her right. Buffy was a shitty general and Faith's plan made one hell of a lot more sense than Buffys, but everything turned inside out so that poor wittle Buffy would be right. (Bitch!... see, what I mean by the spontaneous outburst thing? :) On AtS, Angel could be WRONG. I don't end AtS thinking that Angel necessarily made the right decision in "Not Fade Away." I hae SERIOUS reservations about his plans. However, I don't doubt his good intentions. I don't doubt any of the Fang Gang's intentions. I don't doubt that they feel. I know that they see the hard choices in life... they aren't willfully blind to them the way Scoobs were. They aren't so egocentric that they think whatever they did was right and everyone else is wrong simply by virtue of fact of who they are (damn scoobs!) The Fang Gang had the quality of self reflection, from Gunn's trying to atone for his mistake (though of course he never could) to Spike's "monster" conversation in "Damage." (BTW I loved Angel's lecture to Gunn about how Fred's death would keep Gunn up at night. . . because Gunn is a good man--a good man who had made a horrible mistake and one made out of selfishness. But it is to Gunn's credit that he realized it and he was sorry for it because he "was a good man." I bet Buffy, Xander, and Willow sleep just fine. They don't question their mistakes. They didn't question who died to give them the time to fish in Africa, party in Rio, or be utterly useless in Rome.They were and are essentially weightless characters because they were unable to admit their own flaws (or rather Joss was unable to admit them) to themselves. AtS characters weren't as "high concept" to Joss. He didn't see any of them as the embodiment of feminism so he could actually treat them as CHARACTERS. . .and they were all the better for it. (and at this point let me also give kudos to the acting. Amy Acker did a great job. As I said to someone, Amy Acker made me believe that a demon hellgod felt real grief and love. . .SMG couldn't convince me that the HUMAN Buffy did.So, in the end, the difference is that I left BtVS hating the characters and I leave AtS loving them. . .and that's all the difference.

That and -- they DID. NOT. DIE! I know, I know. I've seen those convinced it was hopeless. I've seen those who prefer the deadly slaughter ending. But. . .I just didn't feel "death" looming over them at the end. It just didn't feel that way to me at the end. When the final fight came I looked at the characters marching toward them and my reaction was a smile and "Oh yeah, our boys -- and gal-- can take them!" They'll MOURNE the death of Wesley (because they aren't souless heartless monsters like Scoobs). But this isn't "Butch and Sundance." This is a universe where every season rolled around with the heroes facing down some impossible fight, and always some out of nowhere deus ex machina or epiphany suddenly saved their butts. That we didn't see it yet in now way convinces me that it wasn't there and wouldn't be there. This is a far more comic book universe. It's also a universe built on Mutant Enemy unsupported "gotchas." Because the battle looked impossible doesn't mean that in the twinkling of an eye something else would happen. It happened so, so often, how am I supposed to think that this time that can't happen? I do think it can. And I think that's a valid reading of the show. Wesley didn't think he was going to die. ..and he did. Angel thought he would, and he didn't. You don't know. The outcome is uncertain. You just know you have to fight. . .and out boys (and goddess) did. But I wasn't left with the feeling they had to die. I'm firmly convinced they didn't. Wesley will be honored and mourned. . . but those he left behind continuing to fight (instead of going off to Italy acting like a ho! :)

They Live! Part II

Besides, how in the hell am I supposed to take on screen death even halfway seriously with DULL still on air? Guh! Just when you think that Joss Whedon is the biggest, asshole producer in the world... along comes Ken Cordy to make sure you realize what real assholes are like. Worse, they're getting some of the promotion they wanted out of this shit. They're in Entertainment Weekly this week.

* * *
Quotage:
The streets of Salem, USA -- the friendly Midwestern city at the heart
of the NBC soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' -- began running with blood on
Sept. 29, 2003. {...} Over the next seven months, Salemites lived under a
cloud of fear as ten residents -- many of them played not by dispensable
newcomers but by beloved veteran actors whose combined airtime totaled
an astonishing 158 years -- dropped like clay pigeons. Viewers recoiled
in disbelief.

Aside from seeming like a cheap demographic ploy (i.e., knocking off old
folks to make room for a slew of models-turned-actors), the so-called
Salem Stalker story line grew more graphic (and ironic) each day.
Recovering alcoholic Maggie Horton (Suzanne Rogers) was bludgeoned
by a liquor bottle. The bloody corpse of troubled teen Cassie DiMera
(Alexis Thorpe) tumbled out of a turkey-shaped piñata on Thanksgiving
Day. And the town's patron saint, Alice Horton (played since the first
episode in 1965 by 89-year-old Frances Reid)? Poor thing choked on a
doughnut -- her culinary specialty -- that was forced down her throat.
Even a nonfan would agree: That's just cold! [Reilly's] stories
elicited two distinct reactions from fans: I love this nonsense! or What
the #@!* happened to my show?! For many, though, Reilly's solution
was just too drastic. Loyal fans were outraged, some vowing never to
watch again. (Even ''Days'' devotee Julia Roberts says, ''They've gotten
a little wacko.'') Soap critics derided the show's quick decline into death,
gore, camp, and supernaturalism. ''This whole story reeks of cynicism
about the genre, the characters, and the audience,'' says Soap Opera
Weekly columnist Mimi Torchin. ''If we want to watch cartoons, we'll turn
to Disney.''

Reilly stumbled into soaps when he appeared as an extra on ''The Young
and the Restless'' in 1980, understands fans' wrath but isn't fazed by it.
''I was never trying to destroy the fabric of this show. But I did have to
shake it up because it was really in trouble,'' he says. ''Be angry at me!
Hate me! It shows that you are involved. But watch the show to see
what happens. Stay tuned.''
* * *

To call this man abhorrent would be an understatement. He actually makes Marti Noxon look talented and well balanced in comparison. (Yes, he really is that bad). A bud e-mailed to me the articles from next week's SOD. Yes, every, single one of the murder victims is alive and well and living The Most Stupid Plot in Daytime History! (come on, I have to mock this "The biggest twist in daytime mystery" promotional bullshit!)

* * *
Anyway SOD Quotage: "Well, I can't tell you that," says Executive Producer
Ken Corday. "We saw them all die, eviscerated, bludgeoned, and then they all
woke up from kind of a drugged sleep and here they are, fine. How? Stay tuned."
{...}

On April 1st Corday addressed the cast and crew of DAYS, introduced all of
the killed-off cast members in the order of their characters' murders. Turns out,
the rumors were true. First things first: The only actor who was killed off
and knew from the get-go that she was coming back was Frances Reid. The
other nine actors didn't. For Corday, dismissing long-time veterans, knowing
he'd be asking them back months later, wasn't easy. "I knew I was being
duplicitous. It was like `Oh boy, good-bye. I wish I could tell you I would
be coming to you in six months to say "Please come back". It wouldn't have
surprised me if some of them had said no. They could have said, `This is
horrible. You put us through an amazing amount of agony. And I don't want
to play anymore.' Lucky for us, they were all wonderful team players." (Or
to be more exact unemployed, over 40 soap actors.) I think the viewers will
feel somewhat the same. `Why did you make us suffer through all this
unendurable agony, just to tell us they're all alive?' But hey, it's
a soap opera. It's fairy-tale-entertainment and we wanted to push the envelope."
* * *

I'm honestly not sure how much of this is complete and total bullshit. I think at least part of it is the fan outrage and the fact that ratings are falling. Gee, after awhile gory murders of characters we grew up with becomes rather... boring, actually.

* * *
Giving speeches at the goodbye cakes at the studio forced Corday to
have to be an entertainer himself. "I'm a terrible actor. When this started,
I said to him (Reilly) `How am I going to stand up there and look at these
people and cry with them and say goodbye?'
* * *

Did I mention Corday is a total asshat?

* * *
And knowing I'm a terrible actor Reilly said `You better one up'. So, I had
to sell it and the Tiffany ring that Corday gave Reid was the cherry on the sundae."
* * *

You know, Frances is a canny old broad. (Which is why I love her). I'm sure she smiled graciously took that ring and silently (or with it being Frances maybe not so silently) thought "I'll take the ring, but you're still an ass, kiddo."

* * *
"On April's Fool's Day, when we told the cast and crew, I felt I could
show my face over there and they wouldn't hate me. Hopefully, the viewers
will feel the same."
* * *

I think most long time viewers crowned you and Reilly king of asshats ages ago, Kenny.

* * *
But who is behind it all? Stefano is the logical conclusion. "Been
there, done that," shrugs Corday. "That's the knee-jerk and that's what
the viewers will think and that's what the people on this island will probably think.."
* * *

Did I mention that all the victims wake up in a picture perfect duplicate Salem on an island? (Have to laugh because my first thought was, "Way to go with saving money on building new sets, guys!"

* * *
As for what's ahead on the island, "It ain't Salem," he cracks. "You
won't see any extras walking about. There's a whole different feel to it.
There's a great mystery that will have to be solved there. They can't
get off the island, they can't get outside of the compound. It will
take awhile before we see them all back in the real Salem. Be patient."
* * *

And, because I started the whole thing 18 years ago as a poor Matt Ashford fan, a few of his comments about the story:

* * *
SOD: How did you feel when Ken called you about returning?
Ashford: It's not everyday your producer calls you! I thought,
"Oh, well, that's interesting." I figured something was up, so we got
together and talked. To say the least, I was surprised and pleased,
because leaving was a surprise. And I could see Ken was
pleased and excited about the prospect of doing this and that made
it exciting. It wasn't just business as usual.

SOD: Did you have any hesitation about returning?
Ashford: Not exactly. I just had to go with my gut feeling
and say, "This feels good," so I did.
* * *

(Honestly, I think it's because he's just too damn comfortable at DULL. He loves Jack. He loves Missy Reeves. And lightening never strikes supercouples twice. Jack and Jen are his one shot at OTP 4 eva! (Hey, at least MA has the advantage that MR is on the same page. I laughed at her tonight on the pre-emmy show with how gleeful she was to have MA back "My husband is ALIVE!{Careful, Missy, Scooter might be listening and he probably hasn't forgotten your past peccadillos. ... you know I always have wondered how Scooter and Christina Ashford put up with the obvious lovefest between MA and MR. Weird.) Anway. Missy: " Jennifer won't stop at anything to get him back!" Er.. yeah, right. Not buying that one, but nice thought Missy -- Hey, after years of putting up with SMG, I do get a little pleasure at seeing a leading lady who actually WANTS the couple together.) Also, as much as I can't stand Vanessa Marcil, I actually got a bit misty during the Emmy's when she started to cry over the death of Anna Lee.

* * *
SOD: How was the April 1 reveal at the studio for you?
Ashford:I felt like we were these Norse mythology characters
returning from the netherworld or something. They could battle all
day and cut each other and hack each other to pieces and then
magically pull everything together and come back and meet
and greet, you know?
* * *

Anyway, know I'm verring off into Soapland as opposed to Whedonverse... but hell, gotta have SOMTHING to bitch about. :)