tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post7876075453164500491..comments2024-01-15T02:19:13.716-08:00Comments on Fragments Of My Imagination: Dead ThingsMark Fieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-2715351713338728642016-09-29T05:49:25.187-07:002016-09-29T05:49:25.187-07:00I have never really been able to bring myself to l...I have never really been able to bring myself to like this episode that much despite a lot of the praise it garners by some Buffy critics. While there is a lot to appreciate it doesn't really come together on the whole for me.<br /><br />The part I like the most is definitely the Trio dark turn. The whole thing was an effective eye-opening experience for them as the darkness of their actions was laid bare particularly in the silent aftermath of Katrina's death. Was effective for the viewer as well since you kind of get caught up in the goofy antics. This was definitely needed by this point in the season as by Gone they were starting to get rather lame. Wish Warren had kept his scratch mark for the rest of the season though, would have made a cool villain scar.<br /><br />I think my big problem with this one is that it borrows from so much of the "Buffy feels responsible for murder"/Faith stuff but doesn't really do enough to not feel like a rip-off. This is the third time now where Buffy feels guilt for murder and either is not actually responsible and/or is told to not be too concerned for the guilt. What people may point to as parallels with the past with the "scales" and the beating someone up while beating yourself I kind of view as being a rip-off of previous things the show has done. Maybe it does enough different for you but given how minimal the plot is on this one anyway I could have used a bit more fresh material to avoid the similarities, or at the very least have someone bring up the past to at least acknowledge the parallels they're making.<br /><br />I also got to say I'm not a fan of the song they use in the crypt scene. It just feels really out of place with the rest of the show for whatever reason. I also feel like the the time distortion and dream sequence just feel like they're there to make things needlessly confusing and artsy, implying added depth when not a whole lot exists.<br /><br />While I can agree that it's one of the stronger episodes in this portion of the season (which admittedly isn't saying that much) as MikeJer said it still doesn't do enough for me to stand out as some masterwork and it sure as hell isn't going to touch my Top 10 anytime soon but to each their own.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-88636350007466294572016-07-25T11:57:39.893-07:002016-07-25T11:57:39.893-07:00Really good comment for an excellent episode!
Jus...Really good comment for an excellent episode!<br /><br />Just one parallel I'd like to add (which leads to me disagreeing on one little thing), namely what happens to Dawn in All the way. As you say, everything is about Buffy so then Dawn's situation is quite telling: there's a clear attraction and affection between her and her date/vampire. He is quite cute with her. They discussed about how she steals after he himself stole a purse and more importantly, after she discovered that he is a vampire she isn't that frightened and almost seems to agree with him turning her. She is saved only by Giles' arrival. (Then she does save herself by dusting him.) <br /><br />It's quite telling that Buffy never calls on Spike when he says she belongs to darkness with him; she is truly contemplating the idea as Dawn was. I don't think that Buffy has for a second forgotten that Spike is 'an evil on leash' (we did; not her).<br /><br />So far Buffy has learnt that she doesn't want to die, that she can't take the slayer away but that her jobs bore her and in this episode she learns that she might be depressed, but she is not Faith, and even less so a potential vampire. She still has her own moral codes and obligations to abide for. <br /><br />A good but difficult reminder that there is no escape on her long path to not being depressed. <br /><br />A side note: troubling that she blames on Spike what he 'does to her' when from what we have seen on the screen she has initiated things between them and they keep on having that conversation on how Spike is amazed by how Buffy can be wild. I'm not too sure I understand what the writers are trying to tell us here. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-22198146816401548662012-11-11T08:47:51.564-08:002012-11-11T08:47:51.564-08:00The Weston comparison is a good one, as is Dr. Hor...The Weston comparison is a good one, as is Dr. Horrible, though he's even more sympathetic than Warren.<br /><br />Your final paragraph is an excellent argument against turning herself in. Thanks.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-58480715245508615222012-11-11T08:32:48.590-08:002012-11-11T08:32:48.590-08:00Hi Mark~ I agree this is one of the best Buffy ep...Hi Mark~ I agree this is one of the best Buffy episodes, and one of the reasons S6 is strong and powerful, if disturbing. I agree with you and Rachel, especially on two key issues: the segue from the Trio into true evil, and Buffy's lack of self awareness regarding her emotions - with Spike in particular, but also in general.<br /><br />IMO, one of the true horrors of evil is that it is often mundane, ordinary, not really "Big Baddish" and epic, but petty and small...even so with horrendous consequences. The Trio always reminded me of the character Weston in C.S. Lewis' Christian adventure Perelandra. Weston is a geek scientist too, who can appear intelligent or immature. He uses intelligence as a tool, and discards it for mindless torture if it suits his purpose. I've always admired S6 for its portrayal of that kind of evil. <br /><br />SPOILERS<br /><br />Sure we have Dark Willow as the Big Bad. But in fact (ignoring her own self determined actions) what sets her in motion is more mundane evil - a random, stray bullet. <br /><br />I agree I also really like how Katrina becomes sort of like a Truthsayer, the voice of 'mundane' morality - the Trio are contemplating rape. They have made CHOICES. It's the flip side of Angel's famous quote. All that matters is what we (choose) to do.<br /><br />And Buffy. No, she doesn't love Spike. She is using him, and she realizes it now. I do think, at this point, however Spike loves Buffy as best as a vampire can love. He's not entirely selfless about it, but he's experiencing more and more humanity through his relationship with her. Notice it's Spike who notices they are having an actual conversation. We keep getting mixed messages from the writers, whether intentional or not. For me, the scene at the door of the crypt is very romantic, where both sense something in the other (that's needed and good?)and both also sense the inherent dysfunction. Spike says she needs to come to the dark side because that's where he is, and he hasn't yet realized he's moved away from that place. So, he's still a work in progress. But in this relationship, he's the one with more emotion invested, who cares more about the relationship as a whole rather than the sex alone. <br /><br />I also agree with his conclusion that Buffy should not turn herself in to the police. She is wrong to do so, and Dawn is right to see it as an escape. Faith and Spike are both wrong in trying to articulate an "eye for an eye" balance as the REASON, but they are NOT wrong in recognizing that conventional justice will not serve. Buffy does need to submit to authority, maybe the Watcher's Council, or maybe her own judgment, adult judgment, with this as a burden on her. It's exactly like Angel's burden. He can't erase his past, but must recognize consequences and atone for it with his future actions . Acting the martyr does not really represent acceptance of consequences, and the police are not at all able to 'judge' Buffy in any way. I'd even argue that part of the emotional challenge of growing up is recognizing that sometimes one must bear the burden of one's guilt and act as one's own judge, and move forward. <br /><br />Karennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-53824649116541925352012-11-11T08:31:24.011-08:002012-11-11T08:31:24.011-08:00Thank you. I agree with all of your spoilery point...Thank you. I agree with all of your spoilery points, but especially with the last paragraph.<br /><br />I've seen your comments on Primeval, which are terrific, and I'll respond there.Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-47262609384840017282012-11-11T08:03:10.183-08:002012-11-11T08:03:10.183-08:00SPOILERISH
Wonderful write up, again—
I also lov...SPOILERISH<br /><br />Wonderful write up, again—<br /><br />I also love this episode: it is one of my favorites, for all the reasons you describe, hard as I find it to watch—but then, that is one of the things that makes it so brilliant...<br /><br />I do not have much to add—<br /><br />I do think Buffy has Angel in mind in SR—but I do not think that she sees her passion for Spike as the same as her passionate love for Angel. She was in love with Angel, and I do not think that she is in love with Spike.<br /><br />That said, I do think she feels for him, feels a species of affection and care that she cannot describe and would not want to admit to—for it is too close to a kind of love—not romantic, and not love itself, but approaching a kind of love. And this makes the realization that he loves her—something that, I agree, she has not been willing to face until now—even harder to take, because she cannot dismiss it as coming from a soulless thing: her heart feels him to be more than that, no matter what her head says.<br /><br />Even more, admitting that Spike loves her and, even more, that she might feel anything for him both bring her perilously close to feeling, and everything in her being currently militates against feelings of all kinds—safe self-loathing and guilt, of course. That is what depression is, of course: a buttress against feeling, a barrier between her and the welter of emotions—anger, primarily, but also unspeakable pain, resentment—that emerged with her from the grave. So to feel for Spike, of all people... <br /><br />END SPOILERS<br /><br />There would be more to say, but I have been putting my time into the relational identity post, which is finally up. Apologies for burying it under Primeval, where no one is probably going to read it, but it makes the most sense there, as you'll see. This is only the first step, as the articulation of relational identity only begins there... My plan, way back when, had been to write up posts for the finales of each of the next seasons, but I think I'll skip S5 and try to bundle everything I was going to say there into the finale of S6, if I can get it ready in time (I need an essay by Levinas—I do not have all my books here, so I had to recall it from the library, and someone is being reluctant... ). It will pick up on the comments on ethics, which are especially important in the S5 finale, and go on, I hope, to more about ethics and power (S6). StateOfSiege97https://www.blogger.com/profile/07100795610748395322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-44537358357712278502012-11-08T11:58:12.262-08:002012-11-08T11:58:12.262-08:00It's both interesting and sad that Buffy antic...It's both interesting and sad that Buffy anticipated something like the violentacrez situation. There are definitely some similarities there.<br /><br />"Personally, I think Buffy isn't very self aware of how she feels for Spike."<br /><br />Agreed. She's a classic case of having feelings that are intense but variable.<br /><br />SPOILERS FOR SEEING RED<br /><br />I also agree with your point about Buffy's statement in SR. To be clear, I don't think that rules out the feelings that Buffy has for Angel. I just think it means that she now recognizes that passion alone doesn't make a relationship. Spike's view is the same in SR as it was in Lover's Walk, but in my view we were supposed to see him as wrong then and wrong now. Mark Fieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16661801011668244109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5913356479406165601.post-54406542344383927452012-11-08T11:38:07.411-08:002012-11-08T11:38:07.411-08:00Anonymous commented on your OMWF post pointing us ...Anonymous commented on your OMWF post pointing us towards this article: <br /><br />http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/10/15/1008591/violentacrez-buffy-the-vampire-slayer/?mobile=nc<br /><br />about Buffy predicting geek misogyny. <br /><br />It's impressive that the trio's story arch is so relevant to today's world. Had the episode been written today, there might have been references to the reddit creepshot controversy in Gone. The trio mentions a desire to become invisible (similar to the fierce protection of anonymity on reddit) so that they could sneak into a women's spa. A line about taking pictures there and posting them would have naturally fit in. <br /><br /><br />SPOILERS <br />also note the camera use in Entropy and how quickly Warren connected spying on people against their will with pornography. <br />END SPOILERS<br /><br />It's particularly satisfying to me when Warren becomes unambiguously evil. I get frustrated by sympathy for the smart/superior white male outcast character pretty quickly. I'm glad Buffy decided to take on this issue, because it's nice to see it finally (well, for me watching in 2007) taken seriously.<br /><br /><br />As for Spike and Buffy, I was pretty convinced in her breakdown with Tara that Buffy did not really love Spike. But then compare with her repetition of the phrase, "You always hurt the one you love" in reference to Warren and Katrina. This could be an acknowledgement that Spike was correct in claiming she loved him in the alley. On the other hand, Warren certainly didn't show much evidence of love for Katrina. Perhaps in Buffy equating her feelings for Spike with Warren's feelings for Katrina, she is admitting she doesn't have any real love for Spike. <br /><br /><br />Personally, I think Buffy isn't very self aware of how she feels for Spike. Comparing herself with Warren is indicative of her fear that actually loving Spike will be destructive. Every step she takes toward him is wrought with anxiety like "this can never work, this is so wrong." Sometimes she likes to "roll around" in that anxiety, in the wrongness of it. But I don't think she ever really abandons that anxiety long enough to examine how she feels clearly. <br /><br />SPOILERS<br />Especially her line in SR "(it consumes) until nothing is left. Love like that doesn't last." What experience does she have with love like that? I see it as a reference to her experience with Angel, that she fears if she falls in love with Spike, or takes their relationship seriously at all, it will end in them consuming each other until nothing is left. Similar to her insecurities in season 2 that she "destroyed the one thing she loved in a moment of blind passion." Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06283394667030940700noreply@blogger.com