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dipenatesI'm writing (incredibly slowly) a post-Chosen Riley fic, and watched Dead Things again for reference. Of course, watching a single episode of Buffy is almost impossible, so I ended up watching through to Entropy. I always remember Entropy as a series of plot points; mini-explosions throwing some things together and blowing others apart, but there are some beautiful (and enraging) moments, which gave me some thoughts.
It's not you, it's me
It's in this episode that it becomes evident that, despite some tap-dancing and hand-waving, the show does not intend to satisfactorily explain Xander's decision to dump Anya on their wedding day.
Obsessed, as I am, with family dysfunction and origin stories, I might have been tempted to lean more heavily on Xander wigging out because he grew up in a house chock full of toxic relationships and emotional (at least) abuse. Or, the show could have used Anya's point-of-view to critique marriage and relationships, and reveal that after a lifetime of smiting errant suitors / husbands / boyfriends, Xander was afraid of meeting her expectations.
What we get instead is a confused mish-mash of Xander wanting a relationship but not being ready for marriage, and not letting Anya know about this soon enough. It feels almost like it's tapping in to that 'men are afraid of commitment' trope, which is a very conventional place for the show to go, as well as seeming a little bit incongruous within their relationship's arc.
Your friends in Lynchburg want you to enjoy this product responsibly
Not an original observation, I'm sure, but are we seriously supposed to believe that Giles is a Jack Daniels fan? Had I been responsible for the decision about which bottle Anya would pull out from under the register, I would have gone for a solid single malt, or one of those local spirits that you try on holiday and buy at the airport in a fit of enthusiasm, only for it to sit in the drinks cabinet. I'm sure that Anya and Spike could have got nicely drunk on Becherovka, or cherry schnapps.
My moment of squee
I have all the love in the world for the nod that Spike gives Anya after they have sex. As much as Spike isn't about the chivalry (I mean this to be a compliment), there is something almost courtly about it. It's not quite "you're a hell of a woman", but it's in the ballpark.
Bonus moment of squee: "Can you just be kissing me now?"
No vampire's gonna love my woma(/e)n
Xander is a total ass in this episode.
Most people are, of course, capable of extravagant meanness when confronting exes, and this applies even when the dumper is talking to the dumpee. Previous seasons have also amply demonstrated that Xander can get his self-righteous windbag on with the best of them (Into the Woods, anyone?). I think, though, that slut-shaming Anya (and Buffy) is a low point for him.
He maintains in Seeing Red that Spike's soullessness is the root of the problem he has with Buffy's relationship with him, but Buffy makes the excellent point that he was happy to slay with Spike while she was dead, and happy for him to take care of Dawn. The implication that it's sexytimes with Spike that blows Xander's mind is clear, and although Xander has form with finding his female friends' sexuality problematic, this level of hostility is a bit of a throwback to the days of Angel.
It's still all about him as we move through the rest of the narrative arc. ("You wanted me to feel something? Congratulations, it worked. I look at you and I feel sick. 'Cause you had sex with that." -Entropy "I know why Anya--. I understand, I do. But you-- All those times I told Spike to get lost. That he didn't have a chance with a girl like you." -Seeing Red) When Buffy says, in Seeing Red, "What I do with my personal life is none of your business", I kind of wish she had said "What I do with my vagina is none of your business", because I think it's both more true, and more salient.
It's not you, it's me
It's in this episode that it becomes evident that, despite some tap-dancing and hand-waving, the show does not intend to satisfactorily explain Xander's decision to dump Anya on their wedding day.
Obsessed, as I am, with family dysfunction and origin stories, I might have been tempted to lean more heavily on Xander wigging out because he grew up in a house chock full of toxic relationships and emotional (at least) abuse. Or, the show could have used Anya's point-of-view to critique marriage and relationships, and reveal that after a lifetime of smiting errant suitors / husbands / boyfriends, Xander was afraid of meeting her expectations.
What we get instead is a confused mish-mash of Xander wanting a relationship but not being ready for marriage, and not letting Anya know about this soon enough. It feels almost like it's tapping in to that 'men are afraid of commitment' trope, which is a very conventional place for the show to go, as well as seeming a little bit incongruous within their relationship's arc.
Your friends in Lynchburg want you to enjoy this product responsibly
Not an original observation, I'm sure, but are we seriously supposed to believe that Giles is a Jack Daniels fan? Had I been responsible for the decision about which bottle Anya would pull out from under the register, I would have gone for a solid single malt, or one of those local spirits that you try on holiday and buy at the airport in a fit of enthusiasm, only for it to sit in the drinks cabinet. I'm sure that Anya and Spike could have got nicely drunk on Becherovka, or cherry schnapps.
My moment of squee
I have all the love in the world for the nod that Spike gives Anya after they have sex. As much as Spike isn't about the chivalry (I mean this to be a compliment), there is something almost courtly about it. It's not quite "you're a hell of a woman", but it's in the ballpark.
Bonus moment of squee: "Can you just be kissing me now?"
No vampire's gonna love my woma(/e)n
Xander is a total ass in this episode.
Most people are, of course, capable of extravagant meanness when confronting exes, and this applies even when the dumper is talking to the dumpee. Previous seasons have also amply demonstrated that Xander can get his self-righteous windbag on with the best of them (Into the Woods, anyone?). I think, though, that slut-shaming Anya (and Buffy) is a low point for him.
He maintains in Seeing Red that Spike's soullessness is the root of the problem he has with Buffy's relationship with him, but Buffy makes the excellent point that he was happy to slay with Spike while she was dead, and happy for him to take care of Dawn. The implication that it's sexytimes with Spike that blows Xander's mind is clear, and although Xander has form with finding his female friends' sexuality problematic, this level of hostility is a bit of a throwback to the days of Angel.
It's still all about him as we move through the rest of the narrative arc. ("You wanted me to feel something? Congratulations, it worked. I look at you and I feel sick. 'Cause you had sex with that." -Entropy "I know why Anya--. I understand, I do. But you-- All those times I told Spike to get lost. That he didn't have a chance with a girl like you." -Seeing Red) When Buffy says, in Seeing Red, "What I do with my personal life is none of your business", I kind of wish she had said "What I do with my vagina is none of your business", because I think it's both more true, and more salient.
