tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post8053411986024442633..comments2024-03-18T21:20:17.786-04:00Comments on Doux Reviews: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Empty PlacesBillie Douxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17141769005175631213noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-44110735105651303072023-03-27T12:28:13.564-04:002023-03-27T12:28:13.564-04:00There’s defeat in the air. Sunnydale has surrende...There’s defeat in the air. Sunnydale has surrendered, Clem is fleeing, the police are seemingly possessed. <br /><br />The potentials are terrified of Caleb and think he’s unbeatable. <br />Rona: I’m mostly terrified of him.<br />Amanda: Nothing works, nothing will.<br />Kennedy: His ability to render a slayer useless with one punch.<br /><br />It does seem like he’s just playing with Buffy. I guess he’s just waiting for the First’s army to be amassed? She’s the only one to feel the urgency to fight before he’s at full strength. But Caleb puts her lights out while plans are being made. <br /><br />— Dawn notices the connection of the Mission.<br />— Giles sends off Spike & Andrew on the Mission mission, his two least favorites, to check out the very tenuous lead. I’m not trusting Giles here. If it’s so important, why slow Spike down with Andrew? And if Caleb is there, gathering souvenirs, who’s going to watch Spike’s back?<br />— What could be taking Buffy so long at the school? Who knows? Couldn’t be Caleb. While we do more waiting, let’s go to the Bronze. That’ll help. Good thing all the potentials brought their dress up clothes while they were fleeing for their lives.<br /><br />Buffy returns and asks Giles if the police files she’d left with them had been helpful. Giles at first seems confused. “Uh, uh, yes. Very much so, I think.” Or, in other words, Police files? What police files? Oh yeah, the ones I sent Spike to check out.” <br /><br />It’s nice to hear that she recognizes Spike is the only one who always watches her back. (And dang, is she ever proven right!) A lot has changed since she taunted him with it in “Smashed.” (“What are you going to do, walk behind me to death?” And, “All you can do is follow me around, making moon eyes.”) <br /><br />A lot of Spike’s watching is understated, the way he always flanks her, or follows her, supports her decisions and defends her in battle, not expecting her to defend him, like everyone else needs her to do. And she almost always listens to his advice about their adversaries, voiced from a century’s experience on the dark side. Too bad Giles can’t recognize that. If he wants to convince her they all have her back, then conspiring behind it to kill Spike is not exactly the way.<br /><br />Faith makes her views clear that she thinks Buffy was wrong to take the girls to the vineyard, even before she knew Buffy wanted to return there, saying she had put the casualties in danger. Hasn’t Faith ever learned that losing a battle doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have fought?<br /><br />The betrayal. Geez, it’s hard to comment on. Xander’s home! Yay! Just in time to negate his trust Buffy speech from yesterday. Welcome home, Xand. Sorry we didn’t have time to decorate, we were doing important stuff at the Bronze. <br /><br />Buffy laid out the need to go back to the vineyard very succinctly. But no one wanted to follow. They were all understandably afraid, Xander, Willow, even Giles, but they didn’t want to discuss strategies, like Buffy did. They just flat out didn’t want to go. And they staged a coup over it. Wow, I wanted to throttle the worthless Anya. Faith may have protested the outcome, but hers was the first voice in the Nay column. Dawn’s was the last. Horrific. Poor Buffy. <br /><br />Huh. I didn’t realize how bitterly I felt about this episode till I started writing this comment.<br />Mågenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-9918888674489001402021-10-10T15:33:28.310-04:002021-10-10T15:33:28.310-04:00"Of course, these guys have incredibly strong..."Of course, these guys have incredibly strong sternums so it's a lot like driving a wooden stake through solid steel. But you guys are all super-strong, right?"<br />"Um... no?"<br /><br />Made me grin, and it made the kicking-out scene slightly easier to swallow. There is no reason why these girls should agree to hitting the same spot again or why they shouldn't assume Caleb has already planned for Buffy to obsess over returning to her only real clue. <br /><br />Anyway the dread of last episode was gone, even with Caleb's surprise appearance here. It was a more enjoyable episode even knowing this is the episode that ended with Buffy being kicked out. Faith came out looking OK despite her stupid "Could you follow?" And Xander's utmost reluctance is understandable too. Willow was more disappointing than enraging. It really wasn't that bad... well, Anya did piss me off. Giles, too. I keep thinking of him and Professor Walsh, how she was the more masculine of the two in their parental approaches. I'm not feeling this version of Giles at all. <br /><br />So does Andrew and Spike being absent mean they would've stuck up for her? I really wish they were there. Also WHY COULDN'T THEY JUST TURN HER INTO A NON-VOTING AFFILIATE? IT'S NOT SAFE OUT THERE BUFFY DRY YOUR PEEPS AND COME BACK INSIDE AT ONCEOnigirlihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10070327483035350298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-43841375291311536352017-04-12T18:43:52.453-04:002017-04-12T18:43:52.453-04:00Doing a rewatch here and I realized that this is a...Doing a rewatch here and I realized that this is about the point in S7 that it kind of loses its magic because it gets so dark for Buffy. I think it's really crappy having everyone turn on her, while at the same time acknowledging that they have a point - what would be different this time? I can't help but feel that if Buffy had taken the time to listen and to find another way (like she has done in the past) then maybe things wouldn't have turned out that way. I also get that Buffy IS the general and a war is coming. She feels that weight, but also acknowledges that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to win the war (as much as Giles seems to think she's lost site of that in her feelings for Spike - she hasn't! She's right that he's one of the strongest fighters she has and they need all the allies they get for the war that is coming). Still this episode was a big downer with Buffy getting the boot and poor Xander looking all sad with his eye bandaged up. However, I do like Faith getting a chance to lead and see how hard it is. She's never worn the weight of the world like Buffy before.BahiaPortfoliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17041510676839611464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-3074088764706970592014-02-02T01:14:12.077-05:002014-02-02T01:14:12.077-05:00I can see their point about Buffy. She was warned...I can see their point about Buffy. She was warned about a trap. It was.<br />RoidyJohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08331973898742106341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-68064236488165224512011-09-07T01:16:07.194-04:002011-09-07T01:16:07.194-04:00About Spike and the Greek:
First, it isn't Gr...About Spike and the Greek:<br /><br />First, it isn't Greek. The script is Greek majuscule, but the language is latin. In latin characters, it reads "non tibi est ei solae tractare licet." First, the very idea of an inscription of latin using greek letters seemed very off, but I'm a language specialist so I asked an old professor who is an expert in greek epigraphy. She had never heard of such a thing. Also, Spike's translation and the latin are both off. "non tibi est" literally means "it is not for you" but not with the sense "you can't have it." A better translation is "it isn't yours." The next lines Spike translates as "it is for her alone to wield." First, this time "it is" comes from the single impersonal verb "licet," which means "it is permissible." Second, as Spike doesn't know what "it" is, there's no way he would translate "tractare" as "to wield." The verb means handling, touching, or in general manipulating objects with the hands. One would only translate it as "wield" if the object in question was something one would wield (like a sword or axe), but Spike doesn't know that this translation would work because he doesn't know what the object is.Oberonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13727952.post-64868794786754268792011-04-13T06:14:14.106-04:002011-04-13T06:14:14.106-04:00I feel really let down by Giles in this series and...I feel really let down by Giles in this series and this episode made me actually dislike him. He is supposed to be there for Buffy "like a father" as she looks to him. Why are they doing this to Giles's character? I do not like it because I used to love him. <br />Why did no one stick up for Buffy? It was horrible to watch everyone turn on her. Call themselves her friends?! They turfed her out of HER OWN HOME! It makes me shake with anger. Selfish brats.Tomminoreply@blogger.com