I finally understand what this season is about. :smack:
It was during the “previously on Buffy” this week when it hit me: this is the reiteration season, and the reason everything seems so lame and disjointed for many is because we’ve seen it all before during the previous six years.
That lame episode in the basement where Dawn got friends: the first season where Buffy gets her Scoobies.
Spike being controlled and eating people: Spike reprising his role as the Big Bad (and having to play Drusilla as well, since she ain’t around)
The Ubervamp: The mayor (and the few SITs there are akin to Buffy rallying her graduating class)
The SITs: Riley and the army boys (don’t forget going back down there for Spike’s chip removal)
Caleb: Glory
Xander’s eye: Buffy’s sacrifice
Buffy being kicked out of the house: Buffy being yanked out of heaven.
I’m sure there are plenty more parallels for the picking, but I’m not trying to write an MA thesis this morning.
Damn. It all fits, and I feel like a tool for not seeing it earlier. I got thrown by the First Evil saying “We’re going all the way back to the beginning,” in that first episode of this season. I thought that meant hitting rewind-- but what ME really did was hit restart!
I predict that we’re soon gonna see Buffy finally re-realizing that she can’t be in charge all the time, and rescuing the world isn’t a job for her and her alone, just like she realized at the end of season 6 when she asked Dawn to help her.
And, because Angel and Buffy are supposedly theoretically linked this season, defeating TFE is going to come about some sort of unifying power of love and trust.
So in the finale, we’ll get to the point in the series where they restarted, which means they’ll recap the whole series until they get to the point where they restarted, at which point they’ll recap the whole series until they get to the point where they restarted …
until UPN says “Scheherazade much?” and pulls the plug.
That sounds really stupid. Not wrong mind you, just stupid.
Hey, what ever happened to “From beneath you it devours?” They were saying that every fifteen minutes early in the season, then they just stopped. What the hell was that all about?
That made an encore this week-when Giles and Willow were Jedi mind-tricking the cop a local loon was being dragged into the station hollaring “From beneath you it devours!” Heywaitaminute-mental patients with extra-demonic perception-sounds familiar…… and season 5 is just starting on Space channel!
I like Andrew’s version of it:”It eats you,starting with your bottom”. I wonder if the First’s big weapon is amoebic dysentery?
Well, the guy the cops were dragging into the station at the start of this weeks episode was screaming it. Don’t know if that means they’re actually going to explain it, or if they just decided to toss it in for shits and giggles.
YMMV, of course. But when did you stop watching? To me, the arc of this season is on par with Buffy S.3. Sure, there’s been some clunkers. And yes, there has been a lot of episodes of Buffy that are better. But as a storyline, arc, Angel this year, IMO, is up there with the best season of Buffy. Which makes it one of the four or five best things on television the last five years.
“From beneath you it devours” has already been explained – it refers to The First, which has been empowered in part by the opening of the Gate of Danthezar in the basement – and which has an army down there too.
I think that “From beneath you it devours” is just a phrase the writers came up with, trying to find something cool, eerie, creepy for the Scoobies to say. Sadly, they have so far failed to explain it properly, as so many other things this year, so Iäm gonna see it, the way the writers do: just a phrase.
And I’ll say it again: With the quality Angel is showing, the writers/producers/directors of ME has shown that they gaven’t lost their touch. The problem with BtVS is that nobody’s heart is in it anymore. I bet SMG’s decision to leave was clear during last summer, but they kept it hushed up to try to keep the interest alive. When the deal with Dushke about a Faith spin off didn’t pan out, they finally lost it.
I’m now only hoping to see some good old Big Bads for the finale, the way we got the morphing scene in 7.01. But more. Each can get there own SIT to play with, and I’ll give Kennedy to the Mayor.
I wonder if the First’s big weapon is amoebic dysentery?