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Moo

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  1. This trial obviously meant something entirely different in America. To the rest of the world, it couldn't have been more obvious that it was about convicting the murderer of two human beings - the murderer clearly being OJ Simpson. To America, it seemed to be about either convicting or acquitting him based solely on the colour of his skin. America is a mad country.
  2. As a Brit, I can say that I genuinely don't mind paying the license. It means no adverts and generally a much better quality of programme than the rest of the channels - sports coverage included. I can put up with £12 a month if it means I get a channel that's better than ITV.
  3. Lol, he's not immortal, no. But even if he was, I'd still probably go check on the guy I love who ran in to save the idiot friend of mine who'd got himself in yet more trouble with his terrible decision-making. The way the scene was played, Buffy would've had to walk past a downed Spike to get to a clearly breathing, being-seen-to-by-Robin Xander. I don't think it was unreasonable for her to stop off on her and check he was good. That's fine, I don't think their actions made them the worst people in the world, or even the worst friends. But there's no getting away from the fact that they acted like dickheads to her. Excusable because they're technically children? Maybe. But then, so are all Buffy's mistakes in that arc - of which I admit, she made a few. But I always tend to come down more on Buffy's side the same way I always did Harry in the Harry Potter books - simply because their traumas are far more hard-hitting and difficult to deal with. I don't think Willow being conked on the head and spending a few days in the hospital is half as bad as, say, being tortured recently after the woman you love was murdered, or having to kill what you consider the love of your life. If anyone had the real right to go after Buffy for disappearing so suddenly and selfishly, it was Giles. But then Giles was the only one mature enough to see that something truly awful must have happened. The rest were too busy being children, like you said. It was absolutely more important to her in WSWB that she make her two closest friends feel as much like shit as she could - that was her entire purpose. She was being a total bitch. But I think acting out in response to dying is a bit of a better excuse than she knocked the power out in her neighbourhood and had no-one to chat about it to. I'm not sure I understand your point about their emotional connection to Buffy. I'm not sure how anyone could deny that Buffy always had a strong emotional connection to her friends and family. She more than once put their lives and safety above that of the rest of the world, for instance. But I'm not sure what her friendship with them has to do with her work as the Slayer. I've had the same best friend since high school and we have always been extremely close. But I would not tolerate her coming into my office and issuing orders to the people I work with, simply because she happened to be my best friend. And if she threw a bitch fit when I called her on it, I'd be quite ashamed of her. But she wouldn't do any of those things, because the friendship she has with me exists outside the realm of my work. Same goes for Buffy. Just because the Scoobies helped her and loved her and she loved them, that didn't make them the Slayer. In S1 Willow says, "You're the Slayer and we're like your Slayerettes." That's the way it was, until the Scoobs got delusions of grandeur. As goes Buffy getting the scythe by herself, I'm not sure how to argue against "this happened because Buffy was wrong, but that happened because the writing was dumb". Either it's all there as canon or it's not, but it can't be both at once. And canon says that Buffy was right in EP. She went back, got the scythe and saved the day. As usual. TBH, I haven't watched EP in a while - it's hardly a laugh riot of an episode - but if Buffy decided she didn't want to sit in a room with a bunch of people who'd just essentially told her off like she was a naughty child and unfairly wrested control from her - something she was born to have - I can't say I blame her. I don't think I'd want to sit there, knowing I was right and they were wrong, and listen to them make terrible plans that would only get them blown up lol. That would be slightly frustrating for anyone of sense, no?
  4. But again, Buffy did not force Xander to go with them. Over the course of the show, she made it clear over and over that maybe he wasn't best placed to be in on the fighting, to which Xander more often than not got all butt-hurt and whined like a little schoolgirl until she gave in. Yes, he could be useful sometimes. But this time his luck ran out. Not in any way Buffy's fault IMO - I'm sorry, it just wasn't. It's like the smoker who sues the cigarette company when they get lung cancer. And as for going right back - she was right! What happened right after they unfairly booted her out of her own house? She went back and got the weapon that ended up saving all their arses, while they sat around coming up with plans that got them blown up. I'll bet if they could've gone back in time and listened to Buffy, they would have. No-one will ever be able to convince me that their behavior and treatment of Buffy in Empty Places was anything less than reprehensible and I sometimes like to rewatch the scenes of them being blown up just to satisfy my anger at them for being such disloyal little shits lol. I swear, normally I have full control of my emotions, but that episode... man, it's up there with leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor on my How To Piss Moo Off list. In First Date, on her way to see Xander, she stopped off to check Spike was okay, mainly for practical reasons - to further the romantic subplot in that episode, so Robin could see it, get annoyed and then they could end the scene with Xander asking "so how's your date going?", cue awkward three-way look. But even leaving aside the fact that it was less a character moment and more a writing device, I don't really see what's wrong with her checking on the guy she loves first. That's what I'd do - my partner trumps all, I'm afraid. And that's what Xander would do too. Given the choice between Anya and Buffy, I'm sure he would've checked on Anya first. And if he didn't, he bloody well should have lol.
  5. The difficulty I have always had with the Scoobies is that when Buffy wants to slay without them, they complain and yet when they're called upon to take up arms in her absence - i.e. when it's no longer a choice, but a necessity - they complain. What is it they want to happen? I always wanted them to make up their minds. Do they think it's entirely on Buffy's shoulders? If they do, stop complaining when she tells you what to do and treats you as her subordinates. If they think they have an equal right to run the show and Buffy doesn't automatically get first choice cause she's the slayer, then stop whining when it all falls on you. You know what I mean? There's a choice to be made - shit or get off the pot, Scoobies. Unfortunately, they never did. From S2 to the very end of the show, they were a bunch of contrary marys, whining when they were treated like the help, and then whining when the universe treated them to a little of Buffy's responsibilities in her absence. With the end of S2/beginning of S3, I've never been able to justify their awful treatment of Buffy. Truly, I understand that it was unfair to leave them without letting them know she was okay. The worry she put them all through was awful and I would have had zero problem with them having a less than happy reunion with her, letting her know just how worried they were all summer. What I did not get at all was the passive-aggressive bullshit followed by the ganging up on her. And Willow's self-indulgent nonsense about floating pencils without her best friend. Give me a fucking break. I realise at the time they didn't know exactly what had gone down with her and Angelus/Angel. But surely unless they were mentally impaired they must have realised - say, like Giles did - that something truly terrible must have happened to cause her to just leave without a word. But they weren't really thinking about that, were they? They were too busy feeling sorry for themselves that for once they were being treated to a little of the slaying responsibility. And I get that. They were teenagers. Teenagers can be selfish assholes. Which is exactly what they were in Dead Man's Party: selfish assholes.
  6. I definitely agree that Buffy/Giles was her best relationship - before it was ruined in S7. Most definitely, he was her person more than any other. But still, there were parts of her he either didn't understand - her continued love for Angel, for instance - or simply couldn't accept as true. I always thought Giles never really accepted that Buffy had a darkness in her. He wanted the best for her - the way any father does - and was a little blind to her darker leanings. But yes, I still agree that he was her person in a way no other character on the whole show ever was. With Angel, I do agree that she was open with him in a way she never was again in her later relationships - Riley in particular suffered from that. I think it's because Angel and Buffy were each other's first loves - and that person always has that special place that no-one else can really touch. Leaving aside how damaged the relationship left Buffy in the end, Angel would always be that ever-elusive perfect love that she couldn't have. It's why IMO she felt able to confide in him in ways she couldn't with her friends - in Forever, for example. But do I think the Angel that appeared in Chosen really knew the Buffy that was in Chosen? No, I don't. And vice versa. They were entirely different people by then, shaped by experiences and life in a way they couldn't come back from. It's why even though a part of me will always be a Bangel shipper I did not for even a second think the cookie dough speech was an actual promise from either of them of continuing their relationship in the future. I think it was their way of always leaving the possibility there, the dangling promise of going back to your first love - something that probably feels very familiar and secure, even though it's long past its time. There's a comfort in that I think they both needed. But they didn't know each other any more IMO.
  7. I actually always thought it was the other way round. Angel never got the real Buffy, because what he had was the Buffy before life truly kicked the shit out of her. He never saw her down and dirty, at the end of her rope, back against the wall. He saw bubblegum Buffy - the Buffy who cared intensely about school dances and being normal and having a life. He knew kid Buffy - as creepy as that sounds lol. He didn't know her as an adult. Spike, on the other hand, got to see every side of Buffy that there was. He saw the good, the bad, the ugly - it's why his speech to her in Touched actually gets through to me as an audience member. He truly knows the best and worst of her in a way that no-one else ever did.
  8. Unpopular opinions... I have a few. 1) I liked Dawn. I genuinely did. I thought MT was a half decent actress and Dawn never felt shoe-horned in to the Scoobies the way Riley did. 2) Never really cared about Jenny. I thought she was smug and intensely unlikeable for pretty much her whole time on the show. 3) Never bought Giles/Jenny as in love and as a result, his reaction to her murder (the whole suicide mission thing) always felt way OTT. Passion works because of the horrendous way Giles discovers Jenny's body. The shock, the intimacy of it... but not because I bought them as deeply in love. I think they fancied each other and he should have been shocked and saddened that she died. End of. So him going all firestarter never really rang true for me. 4) Spuffy made perfect sense to me in S6. For me, it makes perfect sense that two extremely similar, emotionally damaged, violently inclined people coming together in a sexual relationship at the lowest point of their lives would tear each other to pieces. 5) I think if Buffy had shown even the slightest romantic interest in Xander in the later seasons, he'd have dropped Anya like a hot potato. 6) I think Spike's origin as William the Bloody Awful Poet was lame as shit lol. It was deeply disappointing that when we finally got a backstory for what had once been the coolest character on the show, with the most acerbic wit, he turned out to be a wet mummy's boy. What were they thinking?
  9. I totally agree with this. I always saw it this way too. And it's one of the main reasons I think Xander is so horribly blind to his faults - something that was aided by the fact that no-one ever really called him out on them. Xander essentially 'lost his soul' and tried to rape Buffy, something the souled version of him would NEVER do no matter how strongly he pined for her. I can understand how a teenage boy's ego wouldn't allow him to ever actively like Angel (and later Spike) for having the part of Buffy he so desperately wanted, but I could never see my way past how he couldn't understand the difference between souled and unsouled Angel, considering he'd experienced the exact.same.thing. the year before. That's just blindness and it went on for years, transferring from Angel to Spike. I don't hate Xander, I never did. But I hated his behavior on more than one occasion. I thought he could be tremendously nasty to Buffy, all because she was the big rejection in his adolescence that really hit him where it hurt. A propensity towards cruelty is not a nice trait to have and Xander had it in spades. But on the other hand, he could also be incredibly encouraging and loyal and fiercely protective of his friends and loved ones - all traits that are IMO heroic, and not a superpower in sight. So was he perfect? Nowhere near it. But it kinda made me like him more. One area that always gets me riled is when people try to blame Buffy for Xander losing his eye. I cannot count the amount of times Xander begged and whined and pleaded to be in the gang, included in any decision and brought along for any mission they undertook. When eventually his luck ran out and for once HE was the one who took one for the team, what happens? People blame Buffy and say how awful it was she put him in that position. Right. Because Buffy hadn't been saying for years that maybe the Scoobies shouldn't be in the field with her. Nope. Never heard those words come out of her mouth. Xander's heroism was entirely down to him. And so were his failings.
  10. Oh, they don't offend me or anything. Like I said, as characters together on paper I think they work very well, and they do have chemistry. I just find myself disappointed at how little physical chemistry I see them have.
  11. I think I must be the only person in the universe that doesn't see any sexual chemistry between SA and ER. Or rather, I don't see any physical sexual chemistry. At all. On the jet when they're sharing a look together - wowza, I see it then. But the second they kiss, it all just disappears and it looks like they're just two wet fish. I wish I could see it, because as characters they work together. I've noticed that while ER has chemistry with a lot of characters, every kiss she's shared onscreen looked very awkward, so maybe it's just her thing. I don't know. Either way, for that reason, the sex scene did not work for me. The goodbye scene worked... until they went all cold fish again. Ugh. I hate when things fall at the last hurdle.
  12. From what I remember, Katherine was fine as a human until she was drained by Damon and Silas. It was then she started to age rapidly. But wasn't she also incapable of being turned into a vamp again? It seems like such a silly thing to do to one of the characters on this show, if indeed they plan to. And I can't help but think - what with the way DE were talking about human Elena v vamp Elena the other week - that it must be Elena who finally gets the cure. Perhaps a way to dredge up the old triangle for what's probably the last season of the show? That scene where the writers essentially said Human Elena Loves Stefan, Vamp Elena Loves Damon was pretty anvilicious. God, I hope not. I like that DE are happy, kinda stable and mostly in the background while the real focus is on the plot for once. I don't want to go back to squeezing out pointless drama from a triangle that people stopped caring about 4 seasons ago. I'm a little sad that SC got the DE treatment i.e. their first time together was muddied by questionable consent/intent. That sucks a little. But eh, they have crazy chemistry so I'll take it. I like that Bonnie is treading on the dark side a little, but can we now maybe give her some fun for once? Kat Graham has a nice smile. It'd be nice to see it once every few seasons. Mama Salvatore's veiny buds creeped me out a little, I won't lie. I skipped Alaric, Jo and Enzo. Which sucks because I like Ric and Enzo. I just can't stand watching them do nothing.
  13. I was really looking forward to Bonnie coming back, because I've actually grown to like her over the last year or two. But in this episode, it was hammered home why when she is around I don't care about her that much: she's not the best actress. I wish it wasn't true but I just can't take scene after scene of her talking through her teeth to show she's feeling feelings. Ugh. I'm also not a huge fan of Damon being on his own little island. His character works best when he's interacting with everyone. I got a little sick of the 'you can tell we're cool coz of the angry guitar riff' that appeared whenever Caro was doing her thing. But I can ignore that because I'm looking forward to seeing her totally overwhelmed by psycho Stefan in the coming eps. She's still controlled without her humanity, but he's like John Wayne Gacy lol. That'll be fun. Finally, the only one in this episode who was actually acting sensibly and decently was Elena. She's kinda awesome when she's like this.
  14. S3: Although it's not my favourite version of the Scoobies (I really couldn't take much Cordelia and this was also the season of Wesley, god save us from his nonsense), this was the season where everything coalesced perfectly - the actors had nailed their characters, the writers had a great plan for the year, fab villain, great side-stories that feed into the main arc, the singular eps are exceptional... it really was firing on all cylinders in S3. S5: For all the reasons I've outlined above, S5 is my second favourite. It just wasn't quite as perfectly streamed as S3, with a few duds along the way (Into The Woods, Shadow anyone?). And Glory was introduced far too early. I loved her, don't get me wrong. But she was sitting around with her crusty minions for far too long doing nothing, which made her seem inept and less threatening than she should have been. S2: The season where Joss realised what they could do. It was such an eye-opener and it kicked the show into an entirely different league. But again, the first half had a few clunkers (Some Assembly Required, Inca Mummy Girl, Reptile Boy) and it also had the most random momentum-killing episode to ever grace the second half of a Buffy season. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Go Fish. S6: Contrary to popular opinion, I've always thought this was one of the better years. Was it the most fun? Nu-uh. But that's almost what I loved about it. I grew up with the show. When S6 came along, I had hit that early-twenties feeling sorry for myself, real life is hard stage and S6 was all about that. It made sense to me. I didn't rewatch much S2/3/4 that year. I was all about the depression lol. It's an essential part of growing up, and I think S6 is an essential part of the overall Buffy journey. S4: Lots of funny episodes. Probably the highest concentration over the whole show. But it doesn't make up for a whole host of unsympathetic new characters, a boring main villain, a romantic lead with the charisma of a rusty bicycle and a main arc that some fanfics have actually improved upon. That's scary. S1: Yes, it hooked me at the time but in hindsight, while the writing was there and the characters were fresh and loveable, holy canoly the production values were terrible and the over-abundance of monster of the week stuff (and the monsters themselves being ridiculous - preying mantis lady, Robbie-the-Robot, invisible Clea DuVall) was just too silly. When I tell people to watch Buffy, I always tell them to just get past S1 because while there were flashes of greatness (Angel, PG etc.), it is more of a chore to get through than it should be. S7: It's sad that it's the worst IMO. The idea wasn't bad - Buffy sharing her power, passing the mantle - but the execution was not good. At all. Bits worked - the Spuffy stuff, the beginning up until CWDP, the uber-vamps - but the rest was just so tired. The actors, the writers... everyone seemed tired by that stage. There was far too little Scoobie interaction. Far too little Giles/Buffy bonding. Far too many potentials sucking up the screen-time. I get why; they had to make us care about them. The problem was we didn't, and they wasted the last half of the last season of Buffy giving us scenes with unknown characters having sleepovers while the characters we'd loved for years were all in separate scenes bitching about each other. That's not cool.
  15. Kennedy. I cannot stand her. It saddens me that she took up so much screentime in the last season. She was a whiny, bitchy, self-absorbed little twat. I used to detest Riley back in the day when I was a rabid (and I mean, r-a-b-i-d) BA and later BS shipper. But now, he's just so damn blah that I can't bring myself to get worked up about him. Blink and he's gone. And he did give us one of my favourite lines: "I'm cowboy guy!"
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