Wings Over the Pyre - March 13th, 2003

07:13 am

Angel: Just one word about the most recent Angel episode: "Damn."

Having Faith back on the show (and Wes in full-bore Neitzhean-hero mode) reminds me, painfully, of how much I've come to hate and despise watching the character of Buffy, and how SMG portrays her. In Faith we have a dynamic, driven, thin-black-line character who's over the top, passionate, and -- above all -- acted well. In the past two years of Buffy, she's been drained of all passion, she's really not that interesting to watch (Xander, Dawn, Willow, and Anya, in descending order, are the true icons there), and she's utterly unbelievable as a demon-ass-whupping hero of the Light. Which, granted, is interesting given Wes' brutal effectiveness now, having embraced exactly his position in life -- that the only people who are intelligent and effective in the Jossverse had become those who embraced the Darkness, whether for Good or Evil. I'd utterly watch a Wes/Faith spinoff show, every -- single -- day -- of -- my -- life, as long as they kept the Dark Hero angle going. Every single day.

The embracement of Darkness motif is worth examining from a meta-position outside of the context of either Angel or Buffy individually. In the past year, it appears that Joss has, perhaps subconsciously, recognized that given the premises of his show the only sane course is into the Night. Angel himself has only been effective at destroying Evil when he acts with Darkness, else he gets made into Evil's bitch, to paraphrase. Buffy has denied, in the strongest possible terms, any connection with or rooting from Darkness, at first (jn Season Sux) by withdrawing from everything, and now by refusing to accept, acknowledge, and internalize who and what she is -- and The First is actively, maliciously, and brilliantly reminding her of that tie, those bonds, with every interaction. Similarly, consider the Watcher's Council as seen most recently (well, most recently its in itty bits); the Watchers were rigid, structured, capable of only empty threats, and almost wholly reactive -- their essential tie to Darkness, once strong -- after all, you don't run an international conspiracy of occultists on sweetness and light, you use wetwork teams -- has significantly faded into almost rote, and the First appears to have exploited the complacancy. Willow's turn as the Big Bad of Season Sux (the highlight of the season, bar none) says this as well, as when she was Evil Veiny Willow, she said all the things the smart viewers had been wanting to beat into Buffy's head all year, and was only stopped in the end not because of any intrinsic force in Xander, but because he weakened her tie to Darkness.

So, it seems clear that Joss wants us to see that Darkness is a necessary dynamic when fighting the forces of Evil. Of course, I could have this entirely wrong -- though if Joss creates a plot which is resolved by refuting this fact, which punishes Wes for his choice to do what is necessary, that elevates Buffy for being weak and stupid instead of strong, then I, for one, will be deeply disapointed at the inconsistancy, and perhaps the hypocracy.

(Wes has already been punished for being soft by the death of Lilah, whom we know he cared about, even if he didn't admit it to himself. He then embraced the Night that much tighter and took it on himself to make sure she could never rise as a vampire. It would be a serious mixed message to go back on that telling, and gripping, moment.)

Faith's return to Sunnydale (a forgone act at this point, likely end of next episode) should serve to cast Buffy's failings in very, very sharp relief. Where Buffy is trying to raise an army and only equipping them with fatalism and demotivation, I suspect Faith will go right to the heart of the matter in the most incisive way possible. She is the Slayer, after all, and knows it, knows it right to her core. Buffy, I'm beginning to think, recognizes that she is not the Chosen One, anymore, and hasn't decided what that means in the grander scheme; that loss and aimlessness leads straight to her deriliction of role and place.

Oooooh, I am all ranty about the Jossverse tonight. On to other (admittedly dark) subjects.

Hell: I've picked up a couple more Sorcerer suppliments. I can't help it, at $4 to $6 each, the things are like candy -- I just can't stop eating them.

First up is Demon Cops. From the site:

This mini-supplement does not present a realistic setting. It’s an urban backdrop with a strong dose of dark magic and demon-stuff, based on Japanese anime film and some similar sources. It's pretty light, in Sorcerer terms. The setting is a reasonably interesting excuse for grotesquerie, crime-solving, a little bit of humor and soap opera, and knock-down, drag-out action.

Sanity. Compassion. Reason. That which separates us from animals. The human soul. What happens when a sorcerer loses final hold over that most precious of possessions? Is there redemption for those who would barter it for a taste of power? Within, discover the depths to which every sorcerer may sink, and climb from those pits to redemption.

Where other games end, this one just begins ... Welcome to Hell.

Current Mood: geeky

07:36 am

Damn you, Bruce: Oh, and one more thing ... damn you bruceb for convincing me to reinstall Diablo II EX! Now I'll not get anything done for months!

Current Mood: aggravated

04:15 pm

Lords of the Rhymes: Now, rapping Ents is bad enough, but what do you do when they go and produce a video? Me, I'm fond of Sauron's Flying V remix, m'self.

Elf booty got soul! Elf girls like to rock 'n roll!

Current Mood: amused