Given that Faith is doing hard time and Buffy isn’t, no, accessory to murder doesn’t count for much in Sunnyvale.
Referring to Faith’s staking the assistant mayor? First, I don’t think that was murder. It was an accident. Second, Buffy didn’t participate in the staking or in Faith’s attempt to dispose of the body. Buffy’s guilty of at most obstuction of justice. Still a serious offense but not as serious as accessory to murder.
Wow… Faith just showed up on FX last night. This should be interesting!
Watched my tape again today trying to focus on the “nice touches” behind the main story. Such as:
In “I’ve Got a Theory,” Willow sings about being trapped in someone’s Broadway dream and Tara does jazz hands.
Anya classifying the songs. “Was it a breakout pop hit or more of a book number?”
Tara and Willow each did a glitter swirl thing and Willow’s was larger and more elaborate, speaking to the dynamics of the relationship.
The newspaper headline in “I’ll Never Tell”: “MAYHEM CAUSED–Monsters Certainly Not Involved, Officials Say”
Oh, and not a nice touch, but the explanation for The Kiss. Buffy’s last line before The Kiss, “This isn’t real but I just want to feel.”
I’ve been a Buffy fan from the beginning. They’ve had their ups and downs, but overall this is still one of the best shows on television, including last night’s episode. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t overly optimistic, but it turned out it’s going to be one of my favorites. There was a lot of humor already pointed out here, many one-liners that just cracked me up, especially the “She needs backup” line.
And when the Mutant Enemy logo appeared at the end, the “Grrr-arrgh!” tag was sang. I didn’t even notice that, what with getting over the shock of seeing Giles kissing Anya. It made a lot of sense, though. Joss has always seemed to be fond of suprising the fans. Just as soon as you see Buffy and Spike kissing, you’re patting yourself on the back and saying “I saw it coming all along.” Then Joss says “Oh yeah?” and he slips in the clip of Giles and Anya.
The last song seems particularly appropriate. “Where do we go from here?” indeed. I look forward to the rest of this year’s shows.
Buffy could possibly be considered an accessory after the fact. And I believe she would be manslaughter versus murder given the accidental nature of the killing (she thought she was killing a vampire) and lack of pre-meditation. Now, Faith might also have been guilt of obstruction of justice for attempting to destroy the evidence (in by weighting and sinking the body).
But again, as was being discussed in the mythology thread, it’s questionable whether Faith is in jail for killing the deputy mayor. I’m more inclined to believe she’s doing time for the damage she did in LA.
I suspect being the mayor’s protege probably prevented prosecution of the crimes she commit in Sunnydale while working for the mayor, but one never knows…
Just MHO anyway…
Willow and Tara were so sweet when they where together. Kudos to Joss for the innuendo. Brave boy.
I loved seeing Marti (and I think it was David) singing for the camera. Delightful!
The “emotional” songs in the episode left me a little cold, but when Buffy was singing “Give me something to sing about”, I was very affected. This surprised me because I was getting sick and tired of watching Buffy mope. I wished that she would just suck it up already. The look on her face stirred me.
I had been wondering how they would explain Giles’ leaving. Heartbreaking.
In general, I hate musicals. But for some reason I was excited about this episode, and wasn’t disappointed.
I guess my focus was different than other people’s because I barely noticed Tara or Willow’s singing (guess I’ll watch it again this weekend) The things I liked best were:
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Anya’s part about the bunnies. It was…just funny and reminicent of Monty Pyton and the “fear itself” episode, not to mention wholly within character.
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Spikes song. Wow, I love the lyrics, and his voice isn’t bad at all. It got me thinking, he’s pretty deep for someone without a soul.
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Giles singing about/to Buffy. That’s really heart-breaking.
I too thought the ending was stupid though, but not because Xander was the one who summoned the devil. The devil just says oh well, now you’ll have to deal with the truth and leave? Hard to believe.
As for the preview for next week, I too was totally shocked- until I read the decription for the episode at http://www.tvguide.com.
Rather than hijack this thread, I have started this one to discuss why Buffy isn’t in jail.
Same thing most people said. I dislike musicals yet loved the episode. Joss is simply amazing. A couple things:
My three favorite funny parts were 1) In the first song, the demon singing as he’s getting stabbed and singing Ouch! and 2) When Willow and Tara were walking, and Willow points out two guys who were checking Tara out. Tara’s response that “Wow, I’m cured” and running after the boys just cracked me up. 3) The sung version of the ending “Grrrr…Arrrggghh” was unexpected and just killed me. Kudos.
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Quick question, because I only saw the preview for a millisecond, but are we sure it was Anya that Giles was kissing. Like I said I only saw a bit, but I thought, until seeing this thread, that it was Buffy, which really pissed me off. I’m less pissed off (but not happy) to find out it was Anya. It was her right? Right? Please tell me it was Anya.
Actually, if you were listening, they did not abandon that. Didn’t you hear Xander and Anya arguing later? “I do not have hairy toes!”
And as for Buffy’s “Did you say something?” after Giles’ number, that’s just the way she’s been this whole season.
I thought this episode kicked ass. It was absolutely brilliant!
One thing tho’. I heard that the episode was supposed to run about ten minutes long-- but it was only an hour.
I’m wondering if my local Canadian channel edited it down-- or if the extra time was just for commercial breaks.
Cable broadcasting is nifty up north. American simulcasts get pre-empted by the canadian channel (and canuck ads), so i actually managed to see the ending twice. Seemed the same both times…
Yes, Hamlet that was Anya.
Barbarian - I don’t know what’s going on in your neck of the woods, but the show ran long here in Massachusetts.
Yeah, Barbarian, they must have edited out Tara & Willow’s strip scene. Bummer.
Wow. Thanks for the link.
Possible spoiler space
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Wasn’t there a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where everyone lost partial memory such that the authority and affections got all switched around?
I don’t remember who said it last page, but when Tara and Giles were singing Tara was singing about leaving Willow, not going to England like Giles is.
I loved the episode. Especially Tara’s songs… I didn’t realize that she had such a powerful voice. She and Giles vocally carried the cast.
And yeah, Allyson Hannigan has admitted that she can’t sing a lick.
Oh, and if you didn’t catch it, writer David Fury was the “we got the mustard out” guy when they opened the door to see if anyone else was being affected, and writer/producer Marti Noxon was the parking ticket woman.
She needs backup. Hee.
To Barbarian:
They did essentially abandon it by making no repercusions for Xander and Anya. A five second ‘argument’ doesn’t make for any repercussions especially since it won’t be brought up again as anything other than a gag. And The Buffy line of “Did you say something” was a gag line and wasn’t really represenitive of Buffy’s behavior this season. Buffy hasn’t been oblivious just withdrawn. And not noticing someone singing right in front of you especially when at first they are hurling shrukiens at you is pretty oblivious.
Tara’s outfit at the end did make her look ‘big’ which I alway thought she was. Since she is basicly the homely husky Wiccan lesbian stereotype. While Willow’s the LUG Wiccan.
The “She needs backup line” was really funny as well I had forgotten about it. But man that ‘bridge’ (or was it a breakdown? I have no idea, I’ll just call it the HERKY JERKY part) in that song just sucked.
And Xander’s “Respect the Krueller. Tame the Donut.” Was another funny line, especially since I had just watched Magnolia.
Rewatched the tape last night (4th time through, still great!)
Other Highlights
1)When Willow sings,
Tara is doing “jazz hands”
2)The strong Sondheim influence in the songwriting; the combination of spoken word and singing together; songs used as conversations; the “minor second” note in Buffy’s last song, “Life’s A Show.”
3)The hint of oral sex on the bed at the end of Tara’s song and levitation as a visual metaphor for orgasm
Did anyone else get a little weepy? I have cried each time I watch Giles and Tara’s duet, and when Giles is singing to Buffy.
Elaborate on Wiccan types. Is HHWL someone like Witchy-Poo or Broom Hilda? And what’s a LUGW? That’s basicly all I need to know right now, 'Fool.
I think the final song, where Buffy’s facing off against the demon, kept switching back and forth between singing and dancing because the demon wanted to see her dance herself to death, but she kept fighting free and going back to singing; the last time she started dancing, she was saved by Spike.
Anybody but me confused as to how Spike was able to attack people at the funeral without triggering his continuity chip?
Thank you!!!
I was afraid to say that I found the show very “Sondheimesque” because I was afraid of being shot. I LOVE Sondheim (Ok, worship would be a better term) so it’s the highest compliment I could give to Buffy the Musical.