I’ve previously made my thoughts of this final season pretty clear, and this ep was pretty consistent, so I won’t repeat all that. Just a couple of questions, thoughts.
Has Clem always had glowing red eyes?
And why was Buffy so hoarse at the beginning? And she looked especially thin - even for SMG’s standards.
The inscription looked like a combo of Latin and Greek to me. The first line clearly appeared to be Latin (at least as clear as I can say based on paying little attention during Latin classes in HS and coll 2 decades ago!) But the subsequent lines definitely used Greek characters, not used in Latin.
Do I need a spoiler box for a prdiction based on nothing other than my WAG?
Dawn will be “key” to defeating TFE. I am simply guessing that Dawn is the “she” referred to in the inscription as being aboe to “wield it”, as well as what struck me as Dawn’s excessive use of first person singular rather than plural in the Buffy-ousting final scenes.
After the ep, my wife said she sure hopes we get some yucks before the series ends. I agree, tho would wager the odds are low.
Yes, Clem has always had red eyes. (And the actor who plays him is totally freakin’ hot.)
Sounds like SMG had a bad cold. That’s what I always sound like when I get strep, actually. I kept wanting her to clear her throat. And she’s been way too thin lately in general. She looked way better in the first three seasons when she could actually fill out her clothes.
And I think the art dept. just fudged the inscription. It looks Greek/Latin enough for the average viewer. They might not care so much since they’re losing their jobs soon.
Give me a friggin’ break. Pander much? By the end of it, I was expect to see Dawn leap into Andrew’s arms or Giles into the arms of Anya. Yeesh, it looked like every 'ship was covered in that one. Although Spandrew would have been better. . .
FWIW, next week’s episode is called Touched and it’s written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner (Help, Tabula Rasa, Out of My Mind).
Also, the shooting script for this episode doesn’t specify the language. The people in set design probably just threw together some random letters from Greek and Latin and thought it looked pretty. The script just said “At first they can’t read it, then Spike translates.”
I’m way past the age where I would tune in to a show, because I find a character/actress hot or charismatic. Yes, I find Dushku to be a babe, in a slutty, sultry fun in the sack sort of way. The character Faith is certainly not my type of woman.
But I do think there is a story to tell, about Faith, The Vampire Slayer. I don’t know if it’s enough to build a whole franchise in a spinoff, or if she could be added to Ats, but the way she acted, the emotions Faith show, and the personal problems she has to fight are interesting.
I know she rubs some viewers the wrong way and I know Dushku has signed on to do something else, but still.
When it comes to the scoobies, Dawn et al, kicking Buffy out, it’s been brewing for a long time. This wasn’t a decision made in haste or even one the others had to sit down and talk about. Buffy’s been incredibly grating a large part of this season, and I wonder now if it was on purpose, leading up to this. That might be putting too much trust in the writers, though.
The first two words are Latin, mean “not to you”. The rest is gibberish writting with Greek letters. It’s strange that they would have legitimite language for just a couple of words. I mean, with all the Latin chanting they’ve done on this show, they should have been able to manage the rest of the inscription
The whole “Dawn kicking Buffy out of the house” thing was just so out of left field that I was left wondering if it was the same kind of maladroit fakeout that ME did when Buffy killed the first ubervamp a few episodes back. I’m inclined to think not. But on the whole, I disliked the episode. Strident and humorless Buffy is much less fun than wisecracking Buffy.
Uninformed speculation follows:
I wondered if this meant that the First Evil and Caleb’s little plan of leading the slayer into a trap has gone awry. Then I began to wonder if the Latin/Greek inscription thingy is the trap. There has to be some reason why Caleb doesn’t just go and wipe out all the SITs and Buffy and Faith with them. (Heck, he can blow up the whole Watcher council – a suburban home is not much of a fortress.) So I’m wondering if there’s some doomsday weapon that Buffy has to be manipulated into wielding. That would at least be more satisfying a plot turn than a * deus ex machina * magic freaking sword. Especially because ME has already mocked the fortuitous magic magic bullet this season in the episode where Angel became Angelus.
I don’t really see why everyone’s so surprised re: Dawn kicking Buffy out. Did we all forget that Joyce came back from the dead to tell her, “Buffy won’t be with you–she’ll be against you.” ? Dawn has always had a better relationship with her mother than with Buffy (sure it was all conjured up, but…), so naturally she’s been thinking long and hard about this. I’d just also like to add that I like the way that confrontation developed–everyone’s selfish, not-always-good arguments (i.e., Anya, who didn’t have a leg to stand on, IMO), dragging Faith into it, etc.–a strategy meeting that just went way out of control. That’s how those things really seem to occur.
No one seems to be bringing it up, so I will–the inscription “It is not for thee–it is for her to wield” (or whatever the exact verbiage was) pissed off Caleb, according to the monk. My guess is that HE wants to be the instrument of whatever’s about to happen, but this inscription is telling him that he’s just going to be a bit player. And worse, a “filthy woman” is the chosen one…
I don’t really see why everyone’s so surprised re: Dawn kicking Buffy out. Did we all forget that Joyce came back from the dead to tell her, “Buffy won’t be with you–she’ll be against you.” ? Dawn has always had a better relationship with her mother than with Buffy (sure it was all conjured up, but…), so naturally she’s been thinking long and hard about this. I’d just also like to add that I like the way that confrontation developed–everyone’s selfish, not-always-good arguments (i.e., Anya, who didn’t have a leg to stand on, IMO), dragging Faith into it, etc.–a strategy meeting that just went way out of control. That’s how those things really seem to occur.
No one seems to be bringing it up, so I will–the inscription “It is not for thee–it is for her to wield” (or whatever the exact verbiage was) pissed off Caleb, according to the monk. My guess is that HE wants to be the instrument of whatever’s about to happen, but this inscription is telling him that he’s just going to be a bit player. And worse, a “filthy woman” is the chosen one…
I’ve heard this opinion stated on the board before, and it’s starting to make sense: Maybe Caleb’s some kind of slayer. Either he got the slayer powers accidentally or he’s the FE’s version of a slayer. Either way, the inscription was telling him he’s not the one, he’s not what he wishes he was. It would also explain his obsession with “dirty girls” and the slayer in particular. It’s a thought.
It might be interesting if there were some kind of device that only one person (not Caleb, hence the miffed) can wield. But I expect that the “it” in question is just the power, perhaps the power inherint in being a slayer.
That was one of the many things that didn’t make sense to me…
The two that stick out are - the mass exodus from Sunnydale. Yes, things are getting weird. Yes, many people will leave. But without a huge, weird major event (which there has not yet been) they won’t all leave at the same time. It’ll be a steady flow out of town as family after family decides that Sunnydale is no longer the place for them. None of the clogging the streets stuff that we saw. There’s no reason for everyone to leave all at that instant.
Kicking Buffy out - what the hell was that?
Yes, she was disagreeing with the group, and no, they didn’t need to follow her. But there was no reason for everyone staying in that house to be unified in plan, thinking with one mind, unless they were, at that moment, actively engaged in executing the plan.
It may have been necessary to not include Buffy in strategy meetings (and that’s a big “may,” even though here she was clearly about to walk into a trap) but that certainly did not mean she couldn’t sleep in her room, take showers in her bathroom, and eat her food while the strategy sessions were happening in the livingroom and basement.
Plus, logistically, what did they expect her to do that night? “We’ve decided to kick you out onto the street with no clothes, food, or money. See ya later!” Someone, explain that to me. I ended up completely dissatisfied with the whole decision making process going on there.
Maybe they’re trying to make me not miss them when they’re gone.
Yeah, I thought it was pretty sillly for THEM to kick Buffy out of HER house. I’d tell all those whiny free-loading weasels to get the hell out of my house.
NO SPOILER, BUT JUST MY GUESS ABOUT THE FINALE:
My guess is that they are having all the residents leave to make way for a big bang ending. I figure they’ll close the portal of the hellmouth and the whole town of Sunnydale will be sucked back into the earth or something like that. ME has a penchant for blowing up things. This is an easy way to ensure no viewer will be left saying, "Buffy FINALLY closes the hellmouth, but at the expense of thousands of innocent residents. "
Actually I though she said that “Buffy will have to make choice, and she won’t choose you” Much more ambivilent. And not for the first time either, as the Gift was based on that premise as well.
My guess, based on the previews is [wag follows, no real spoiler]
the “it” is that nifty sword the Buffster is shown with in the previews. Maybe it is what she can fight Caleb or the First with. Although I sure as hell would be looking for Olaf’s hammer and that Nifty rocket launcher about now. . .
Right after the previews, my first reaction was “Wow, I didn’t know Giles was with Interpol. Cool!” Followed ten seconds later with “Oh.”
As for “it” and what Caleb is…
Caleb is the result of Buffy dying that second time. She split the Slayer line the first time the Master killed her, resulting in Kendra and eventually Faith. But unless I missed something, we never saw what happened as a result of her dying a second time. The first split caused the line to go to an unworthy delinquent, Faith. The second split resulted in it going to an unworthy MALE delinquent, Caleb. He’s a little touchy about not being the “one true slayer” and having two more legitimate–and female, he’s a pathological misogynist–slayers standing between him and that mantle (which the Greco-Latin inscription told him he isn’t getting).
Oh come on. Clearly the all get their money from the Magic Endless Pocket of Cash, since the Watcher’s Council is no more and the income from a fast food job clearly isn’t enough to feed a small army of whining bastards.