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Dec. 3rd, 2003 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxHaving spilled my guts about real life, off to fictional obsessions.
Well, I've ranted about it before. I ranted about the Spike torture (cutting off his hands really does seem gratuitous) and I went into my constant ME paranoia about the Humming Man. Quite honestly, both those freak-outs were more interesting to me than the summary of the ep.
That's not to say that I think this will be a bad episode. Given that it's SdK and DrewII writing it and it will give JM some interesting angst to play, it will probably play relatively well. However, just looking at the bare bones of it, this actual story somewhat underwhelms me. I really don't have a sense that this story is an essential part of the plot. It seems to have many issues we've seen before, and in a few ways it's a bit muddled.
I get that "Damage" is somewhat about the cycle of violence. But even though it's about that... it's really not a great example of it. I mean, yeah, Dana has been damaged due to violence and she damages Spike. But, guess what, Spike isn't the guy who damaged her. But (as ME shows) it's not like Spike didn't damage others... after all we get the Woody reference and we get that thing about Spike killing some slayer's mommy. So is Spike getting his just reward? Is he really going to 'get his' as he seems to conclude in the ep.
See, this is where the ep is... well... just so much bull. Dana is chopping off Spikey body parts because Spike killed Nikki Wood. Dana is doing the choppy with the bone saw because of something someone to her--something Spike had no part of (oh! Hee! Suddenly hit me that I wrote a Dana Scully and a bone saw scene in my X-Files fic "Mobius" years ago. No wonder those two things seem to go together for me). So despite all appearances, Spike really isn't paying for the sins he committed. He's paying because he got associated with the sins someone else committed... and then the writers say it's cosmically justified because Spike did bad things to someone else. Cycle of violence, see?
Except... not really. There's little in the way of cause and effect here.
And the whole Spike will pay for his misdeeds thing... er... only if you believe that life really does work on some karmic level. Personally, I don't believe that. The only "pay" is in the sense of guilt. Spike can't undo what he's done. And he's already gotten away with it. I don't see an endless line of "oopsies!" just crossed paths with another of his ex-victims... and in point of fact Dana isn't one of Spike's victims. So really... this is RANDOM violence, not a cycle. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong t-shirt. Spike isn't "getting what he deserves" with this, and it's not quid pro quo retribution... which, come on, if I did into some cosmic wheel thingie, hasn't Spike paid his debt to the Slayettes yet? He not only saved Buffy's slayer butt more time than Buffy deserved, but he died saving a whole slew of Slayerette ass.
This isn't about justice.
This is about punishment. Two different things. . . and ME basically believes that (to quote the Bare Naked Ladies) never is enough. Spike concludes that he's gonna pay one way or another. If the epiphany is more that he can't put right what once went wrong, great. But that's not my impression of what the summary said is going on. It sounds like Spike basically expects to suffer as punishment for his sins. . .which is why I find it all rather depressing.
ME has adopted something very fatalistic in all of this, and Barb was right when she said it's all basically silly. Exactly what does the souled vampire who wins the pissing contest and gets the shanshu do that his sins are expunged? If you can't make up for past crimes, then you can't make up for past crimes, pissing contest of not. (And I still want to know why saving the world for the old shanshu prophecy is superior to saving the world just cause you have some slayer butt to save. What? Is the NEXT world saving the one that REALLY counts? Why didn't the last one?)
At any rate, criticisms aside, in the end I don't have a lot of passion for the ep, not even in the form of outrage. I'm no longer as outraged about the dismemberment, just irritated that really it seems to be nothing more than a shock tactic and upping the Spike Torture. But the thing is I've been there, done that and like Willow, "bored now." I've seen Spike torture. Its lost it's novelty, dismemberment and all.
You know, apathy is probably a worse reaction than outrage. But in the end, I'm sort of left wondering "and the point was?" (Oh, of course, the point is that Spike suffers, Spike feels remorse, Spike doesn't feel special any more. Except, already there, folks. No sure there's anything new in the return trip.)
Oh well.
Again I'm back with a less than passionate response to the sides. At the moment I'm having X-File flashbacks. You know, XF really loved their claustrophobic submarine episodes. And I'm not thrilled with Evil Comic Relief Spike in juxtaposition with Captain America Angel. I don't read anything super significant in that, I tend to think that this is more along the lines of costume drama. It's an Angel-centric ep with a side of free-range evil Spike. (Although for some really weird reason I keep thinking of X-Files episode "Triangle"... I don't know WHY I keep making that association because the plot isn't the same. I guess it's the whole WWII thing. But something keeps reminding me of "Triangle.")
So again, I'm left with thinking that like Ep 11, this episode will probably be interesting enough to watch. I don't think it will be a bad episode. And, truthfully, I can se where it fits into the grand scheme of things better than Ep 11 does. But all in all, I'm a bit tepid about it. Of course, that would probably be my reaction to any episode that had Angel called "Captain America" -- blech. I don't hate Angel, but superspy? Gah! The many lives of souled Angel are beginning to resemble the every changing history of John Black. It's just a tad SILLY. Really, the Captain America aspect of it pushes this thing just a half a bridge too far for me.
It will probably be interesting and reasonably enjoyable, but I think it will be another ep where when you scratch the surface you realize that ME isn't nearly as deep as they like to tell themselves that they are.
And boy, did ME wuss out on the whole Slayerette Spell or what? There was interesting potential there, but as usual, ME chooses to whitewash it's questionable logic and sweep it off screen rather than pursue what might actually be a really challenging ethical question. It's far easier to just have Angel brood and Spike snark and be tortured, than actually have ME really question the parameters of the universer they created. Hypocritical wimps.
Well, I've ranted about it before. I ranted about the Spike torture (cutting off his hands really does seem gratuitous) and I went into my constant ME paranoia about the Humming Man. Quite honestly, both those freak-outs were more interesting to me than the summary of the ep.
That's not to say that I think this will be a bad episode. Given that it's SdK and DrewII writing it and it will give JM some interesting angst to play, it will probably play relatively well. However, just looking at the bare bones of it, this actual story somewhat underwhelms me. I really don't have a sense that this story is an essential part of the plot. It seems to have many issues we've seen before, and in a few ways it's a bit muddled.
I get that "Damage" is somewhat about the cycle of violence. But even though it's about that... it's really not a great example of it. I mean, yeah, Dana has been damaged due to violence and she damages Spike. But, guess what, Spike isn't the guy who damaged her. But (as ME shows) it's not like Spike didn't damage others... after all we get the Woody reference and we get that thing about Spike killing some slayer's mommy. So is Spike getting his just reward? Is he really going to 'get his' as he seems to conclude in the ep.
See, this is where the ep is... well... just so much bull. Dana is chopping off Spikey body parts because Spike killed Nikki Wood. Dana is doing the choppy with the bone saw because of something someone to her--something Spike had no part of (oh! Hee! Suddenly hit me that I wrote a Dana Scully and a bone saw scene in my X-Files fic "Mobius" years ago. No wonder those two things seem to go together for me). So despite all appearances, Spike really isn't paying for the sins he committed. He's paying because he got associated with the sins someone else committed... and then the writers say it's cosmically justified because Spike did bad things to someone else. Cycle of violence, see?
Except... not really. There's little in the way of cause and effect here.
And the whole Spike will pay for his misdeeds thing... er... only if you believe that life really does work on some karmic level. Personally, I don't believe that. The only "pay" is in the sense of guilt. Spike can't undo what he's done. And he's already gotten away with it. I don't see an endless line of "oopsies!" just crossed paths with another of his ex-victims... and in point of fact Dana isn't one of Spike's victims. So really... this is RANDOM violence, not a cycle. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong t-shirt. Spike isn't "getting what he deserves" with this, and it's not quid pro quo retribution... which, come on, if I did into some cosmic wheel thingie, hasn't Spike paid his debt to the Slayettes yet? He not only saved Buffy's slayer butt more time than Buffy deserved, but he died saving a whole slew of Slayerette ass.
This isn't about justice.
This is about punishment. Two different things. . . and ME basically believes that (to quote the Bare Naked Ladies) never is enough. Spike concludes that he's gonna pay one way or another. If the epiphany is more that he can't put right what once went wrong, great. But that's not my impression of what the summary said is going on. It sounds like Spike basically expects to suffer as punishment for his sins. . .which is why I find it all rather depressing.
ME has adopted something very fatalistic in all of this, and Barb was right when she said it's all basically silly. Exactly what does the souled vampire who wins the pissing contest and gets the shanshu do that his sins are expunged? If you can't make up for past crimes, then you can't make up for past crimes, pissing contest of not. (And I still want to know why saving the world for the old shanshu prophecy is superior to saving the world just cause you have some slayer butt to save. What? Is the NEXT world saving the one that REALLY counts? Why didn't the last one?)
At any rate, criticisms aside, in the end I don't have a lot of passion for the ep, not even in the form of outrage. I'm no longer as outraged about the dismemberment, just irritated that really it seems to be nothing more than a shock tactic and upping the Spike Torture. But the thing is I've been there, done that and like Willow, "bored now." I've seen Spike torture. Its lost it's novelty, dismemberment and all.
You know, apathy is probably a worse reaction than outrage. But in the end, I'm sort of left wondering "and the point was?" (Oh, of course, the point is that Spike suffers, Spike feels remorse, Spike doesn't feel special any more. Except, already there, folks. No sure there's anything new in the return trip.)
Oh well.
Again I'm back with a less than passionate response to the sides. At the moment I'm having X-File flashbacks. You know, XF really loved their claustrophobic submarine episodes. And I'm not thrilled with Evil Comic Relief Spike in juxtaposition with Captain America Angel. I don't read anything super significant in that, I tend to think that this is more along the lines of costume drama. It's an Angel-centric ep with a side of free-range evil Spike. (Although for some really weird reason I keep thinking of X-Files episode "Triangle"... I don't know WHY I keep making that association because the plot isn't the same. I guess it's the whole WWII thing. But something keeps reminding me of "Triangle.")
So again, I'm left with thinking that like Ep 11, this episode will probably be interesting enough to watch. I don't think it will be a bad episode. And, truthfully, I can se where it fits into the grand scheme of things better than Ep 11 does. But all in all, I'm a bit tepid about it. Of course, that would probably be my reaction to any episode that had Angel called "Captain America" -- blech. I don't hate Angel, but superspy? Gah! The many lives of souled Angel are beginning to resemble the every changing history of John Black. It's just a tad SILLY. Really, the Captain America aspect of it pushes this thing just a half a bridge too far for me.
It will probably be interesting and reasonably enjoyable, but I think it will be another ep where when you scratch the surface you realize that ME isn't nearly as deep as they like to tell themselves that they are.
And boy, did ME wuss out on the whole Slayerette Spell or what? There was interesting potential there, but as usual, ME chooses to whitewash it's questionable logic and sweep it off screen rather than pursue what might actually be a really challenging ethical question. It's far easier to just have Angel brood and Spike snark and be tortured, than actually have ME really question the parameters of the universer they created. Hypocritical wimps.
