Are we even sure Giles did anything to him? There seemed to be a scuffle but that could have been the minion trying to get off the chair knowing he was just about to be tied up and when he saw that they were going to do that he got scared and caved. Maybe he really did just change his mind without Giles interference.
@@Girl4Music Would have to go back and rewatch but I'm pretty sure there's a punch sound effect while the camera leaves Giles and the demon and the others aren't looking.
the sad irony of Tara this episode..she sacrificed her own sanity ( something she was terrified of when she found out thats what Glory can do ) to PROTECT Dawn, only to expose Dawn to Glory because she lost that very sanity. poor Tara.
Such a great episode. The fact that Willow is the only one who has managed to do any damage, even momentarily, to Glory shows how powerful she’s really become. Glory even admits it - “That witch really slowed me down.” Tara’s not lying when she says it’s frightening. And we get another glimpse of how scary Giles can be… if he weren’t getting knocked out all the time, he’d be a force to be reckoned with!
I love when we get these glimpses of Giles from from his Ripper days. We don't even get to see what he did to that demon & it only lasted a second but it was enough to make him talk straight away. We've only had stories & Giles acting a certain way as the Ripper persona leads us to belive he was a very scary & dangerous man.
In ‘Tough Love’ the fight between Willow and Tara escalates so quickly because Willow jumps to conclusions. Tara was absolutely talking about Willow’s accumulation of magical power that is what frightens her. It’s Willow that twists that around to mean her sexuality because she doesn’t like the whole “overusing magic is bad for you” argument. She’d rather be attacked for her “experimenting”. I get it from a writer’s point of view and really love that they included a conversation like this between them. But yeah, I certainly don’t think Tara deserved that bullshit. The twisting of her words, the gaslighting… ugh. Yeah. It was all Willow. But isn’t it always? 😑
Folks tend to mention Giles going all Ripper on the minion (rightly), but if you watch him open the door and hit the minion with it, he /knew/ someone untoward was out there. Rupert Giles: Tweed Warrior.
I just love Jinx and the minions, and their Olympic class sucking-up and *ss-kissing! Them sitting blindfolded by Glory's bathtub handing her mimosa cracks me up every time.
The best set of consecutive episodes in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ are, without a doubt, for me: ‘Tough Love’ ‘Spiral’ ‘The Weight Of The World’ ‘The Gift’ Why? Because it feels like a 4-part finale so it has enough screen-time to do everything that needs to be done to finish off the arc. It is the most cohesive and conclusive finale of the whole show. It’s SO. GOOD.
So good! This season's story arc is the most well written in BtVS. All the plot points are foreshadowed and the characters' actions have been motivated by events in previous episodes, and it all culminates in these last superb episodes.
@@seanmcmurphy4744 one piece of foreshadowing that really shocked me when I finally realized what they were doing with it. In ‘Family’ Ben gets stalked by the Lay-arch demon in the men’s locker room in the hospital. Next moment you see Glory come round the back of the demon and snatch him. And at the time you think “Where the hell did she come from?” Obviously she was always there … as BEN. Completely consistent plot and character writing all throughout the entire season!
The scene with giles and the minion went WAAYYYYY over my head when I first saw it as a teenager 😭🙌 ngl I LOVE how much Giles don’t play when it comes to his family. That’s FATHER and this is not a game 😤👏
We saw those “dark witch” eyes before, in S1E3, “The Witch,” when Amy’s Mom casts her final spell trying to kill Buffy. It’s crazy how Joss foreshadows stuff seasons in advance.
Season five is something else. Its like an epic fantasy. Actually its more like a JRPG, it starts in college and suddendly you and your friends have to defeat god with only the power of friendship. My favourite season, I love how Glory is so freaking scary and not even because how she acts, but because she is simply unstopabble
"You wouldn't last 5 minutes." And five minutes is what she lasted. "I'd do it. Right person. Person I loved. I'd do it." And, in fact, he did in the last episode.
and lest we forget Willow's role in messing everything up in Something Blue and in helping Dawn resurrect Joyce in Forever...and lest we forget the great Glorificus mind suck...lest we forget zed, NZed, XYZed...lest we forget that Buffy is a bildungsroman and that growing up isn't a linear process...
For somebody to recognize goodness in another person they must have goodness in themselves. And it’s especially remarkable if that somebody is then-soulless. Please don’t forget that Spike doesn’t have a soul here and he still says this. Thinks like this. Which makes the whole “there’s nothing good about or in you” rhetoric absolutely bullshit. He would never be able to pick this up and see this in Dawn if it wasn’t. Spike is treated as less than a person during the entire time that he is soulless for. But he frequently displays “person-able” traits even more so than some humans do such as the trait of empathy. This is empathy. He is feeling Dawn’s conflicted feelings because he is very familiar with the opposite experience. And he can relate to the girl. A human girl. He understands the reason why she feels like she does in this moment. Knows where she is coming from. And so instead of simply saying “You’re wrong” and leaving it at that… he explains WHY she’s wrong. And it’s precisely because she RECOGNIZES that she has the capability to cause pain and evil why she’s not evil. Evil people don’t ever make the damn distinction. Look at Glory. She calls herself evil and does and says in the name of evil but she doesn’t recognise that she is evil. If she did - there would actually be hope for her. Spike RECOGNIZES that he is evil because he causes evil through Dawn recognizing it in herself. Which then means that he actually isn’t evil. Even soulless. He shouldn’t be able to empathise with Dawn at all as a soulless vampire but he sees her fears and tears and he understands immediately that there is nothing evil in this girl. How could there be when she’s this AWARE of her capability and capacity to be evil? So - how could he be either? People are mirrors. We always see in each other that of which already exists within ourselves. There’s no way to not do that. How the bloody hell can you make a distinction of it in another person? You obviously can because it exists within YOU. If it doesn’t, you can’t. Simple as that. Dawn could have turned around and told him “Hey, the fact that you can see this in me must mean that it is also in you because you wouldn’t see it otherwise.” I really hate the whole “Spike is evil because he is soulless” rhetoric because the NARRATIVE ITSELF shows you the opposite is what is actually true. Exhibit fucking A is this scene RIGHT HERE. The show itself contradicts its own lore/philosophy. It’s insane. How can you say that Spike is not a person while soulless when scenes LIKE THIS fucking exist? An actual evil soulless thing would not be able to do this! I’ll agree that Spike CAN be evil. Act with evil intention and what not. But as soon as the “soul lore” comes into it, I will immediately leave the fucking conversation because it is clearly fucking bullshit if the narrative itself can’t even keep to its own lore. The “you’re evil because you’re soulless”/“you’re soulless because you’re evil” is immediately void to me. People CAN be evil. People CAN be good. But they’re not inherently and solitarily one or the other. Bullshit. I love Buffy specifically because the moral lines blur. But this shit. This wonky ass soul lore. THIS drives me INSANE. It even drives me more insane that the demonic possession interpretation. You’ve got so many inhuman soulless characters that literally tell and show you otherwise. Spike especially. And you’ve got many human ensouled characters that behave like they’re the devil incarnate. It’s nuts. It is. My stance? Spike is animalistic. He is not evil Animalism is driven by emotion. Stunted emotion. Passion is an emotion. Spike is the epitome of passionate. It’s practically his character theme. Another character that’s driven by emotion? Willow. Ensouled. Human. A fucking Scooby. At her worst she is also very animalistic and does evil things. She is also not evil. Not inherently. And at her worst is reached by the empathy of another character. And I’ll keep saying it… until it sinks in. SPIKE is NO different to a human at their worst on most days. On his really good days - he is better! He performs more humanity than a lot of humans do. Anyway this rant is getting really long so I’ll just end it with one simple short sentence: fuck Joss Whedon!
And this is why I don’t care for the character of Spike. His character is plot driven. Goes against mythology out of fan service and his fans and ships eat it up and write essays about it. 🤢
This episode reminds me of Passion. Jenny had access to important information and was killed for it right before she and Giles could officially make up. Then Giles goes on a revenge rampage which Buffy predicted "I'm not worried about what he wants, I'm worried about what hes going to do." In this episode Tara gets badly injured and has her identity stripped away before she and Willow can make up. Im not sure whether to think its weird that Buffy didnt see it coming or weird that Willow hadn't learned from Giles? (Maybe she thinks shes m I re powerful than him?). In any case pretty hearbreaking what happens to Tara, but bittersweet watching Willow commit to taking care of her.
What song is willow singing about school at 4:43? I thought it was the "go shawty, it's your birthday" song, but if my googling is correct, that's In Da Club by 50 cent, from 2003, and this episode came out in 2001.
It was kind of just a thing people said in the ‘90s and early 2000s, to big anyone or anything that they liked up. “Go [X], it’s your birthday!” It was a meme of the era. 50 Cent used it in a lyric but he wasn’t the first to say it. Edited to add: I was a teen in that era so I well remember it, just in case you’re doubting my sources LOL!
Back in the 90´s, when someone discover herself gay, one of the first demons you have to fight against is the notion that this is wrong and dirty. I was shocked when I re-watched this episode and noticed that the first thing Tara said when she lost her sanity is that there was dirt all over her!
I think we can understand Willow wanting to use her magic powers to avenge Tara, but we can see it's also getting out of control. Even though Glory is a very entertaining Big Bad we tend to forget how utterly cruel and evil she is. We are beginning to see the slight fracturing of the Tillow relationship, and once Glory now knows Dawn is the key it will be hard for the Scoobies to save her. You are in for three brilliant closing episodes to S5 with a superb, stunning finale unmatched in the whole show.
Some say Xander is the worst member of the team but honestly Willow & Xander are tied. Willow gets hyperdefensive whenever she's challenged on anything. She just turned a disagreement about Buffy's parenting into "So you think I'm a fake lesbian?"
The only ACTUAL problem is that significant portions of the fandom TRULY believe that Xander is irredeemably awful (and somehow proves every negative thing said about Whedon, while completely erasing his long and successful career collaborating with a bunch of people multiple times. Almost like he isn't EXCLUSIVELY a narcissistic jerk, but a narcissistic jerk who is ALSO good to his friends) while they ALSO absolve Willow completely. The irony for me is that while I always thought Xander was funny, I never saw him as particularly great, and I AM a massive Willow Stan... but the decades of observation and participation in the fandom forces me to defend the former and criticise the latter. Fact is, they're both flawed people, who display consistent flaws throughout the show even as they grow and mature. (Willow has ALWAYS had a capacity to be rather defensive and jealous. Xander has ALWAYS felt inferior, left out and almost suicidally foolhardy in trying help. And they're BOTH extremely insecure. I genuinely think that a substantial section of fans are simply sexist (misandrist to be precise) and simple hold people to different standards based exclusively on their identity. That's probably true of my OWN feelings, based on a substantial crush on Allison Hannigan :P (but when you recognise a personal bias, you can at least TRY to approach things rationally. We ALL have biases. It is the denial of this that causes so many problems)
@@DmGray That's the thing. Xander and Willow are indeed flawed, but they don't receive consequences on an equal level. Willow screws up when she's [REDACTED] to [REDACTED] by season six while Xander screws up with his attitude since season one and doesn't receive any until season six. People have the good theory that Willow is the worst of the two since she's an underdog who was smart and female in high school. No boy likes that type of girl and sees that type of girl as a future wife, unless they're mature beyond their age. Oz, despite his self-control issues, screws up that idea. Willow wants control. Does that make her a bad person? No. It's the way she goes about it. With Xander, he makes jokes while using Buffy and the Scoobies as an escape hatch, due to having a chaotic family. He sees Buffy as the dream girl he can't have, Cordelia as a runner up, Willow as forbidden fruit and Anya as a powerless, controlled genie (which she is). He, like Willow, wants control. So does future characters in season six. Difference is Willow's [REDACTED] to [REDACTED] to get control is not based in the real world. Xander's control issues are, and, if he's an insert of JW, it's very telling of who was bullied/seduced/ignored by him on whatever show he produced or film he directed. That's why Willow gets a free pass by the fandom. The misogyny/misandry tightrope is an interesting subject within the Buffyverse. If it hasn't been covered in a term/thesis paper since the airing of the series and Angel, let alone the other TV works of JW, it should be, especially in the wake of the man's self-inflicted career suicide in 2022.
I felt the fight scene was very indicative of most actual normal relationships. It's their first big fight. Those usually turn to airing out everything else, even when it's unrelated, at once. Tara showed that she did have a bit of that fear, and they get it all out now in the same argument it all comes up when tensions are high.
@@Madbandit77 And I think a lot of what you describe really is just cope and excuse making. Willow had a pretty ideal childhood. "bi erasure" was likely a writing choice, but if we read entirely too much into it (as anyone writing a paper would absolutely do) then it points to a person in denial and that aint healthy. The idea that smart girls don't get picked is also, imo, nonsense. Girls do the picking, and I've yet to meet a girl who was even plain as hell who lacked options. Some simply didn't like their options. Honestly examine your own experiences here. Ask how often women who complain that men didn't like them because they're smart or whatever else... ALSO complain about being approached by men. The number will be non negligible. She does MANY of the same things as Xander for many of the same reasons surrounding insecurity. I'd ALSO add that she doesn't ACTUALLY endure many coinsequences at all. She gets basically immediate forgiveness no matter what she does. She and Xander kiss? Oz remains loyal, Cordy goes nuclear. (and note: while I hated that plot as much as everyone for the monkey paw it is... seeing two close friends who believe they're about to be murdered kissing shouldn't be seen the same way as when they're playing footsie in class, or kissing in the library. They had to short hand it for time and drama, obviously, but it always bothered me that THIS was the deal breaker. A single kiss under extreme duress) Willow basically escapes ANY consequence and Xander takes the ENTIRE blame... because he's the man and Willow has been in love with him since they were kids. As to Xander never facing consequences (until very late seasons) ... the man's life was pretty much UTTER shit until season 5. Sure, it's mostly his own damn fault, but just because it isn't prominently featured doesn't mean it isn't there. The man is pretty much getting murdered in S3 (perhaps raped?) and it's mostly played for laughs. Though it HAS been refreshing to see more people recognise that issue lately. Hell, you MIGHT suggest that much like most problems men face... people just don't give a shit. ESPECIALLY when it is seen as something they have done to themselves. Xander gets a hard time bc he's a man, and bc people don't like Whedon. Which is ironic, bc the same kind of people get warned about "fake virtue" all the time and it only ever seems to matter when it becomes a scandal that can't be denied. Whedon made the mistake of believing himself bullet proof. He REALLY needed one of his friends to give him a reality check. (I often compare it to the way fundamentalist/evangelical Christians behave. They're all immune from criticism until they're excommunicated, and then they're treated as the worst of the worst) I actually think it's a shame, bc the man has talent for television. (and note: I was disillusioned with the man a good 6 years before most people. Later revelations were not a shock to me, bc that is how these people all behave) I honestly wish I could be on the Xander hate train. I'd love to bash him for all the idiotic stuff he does, all the opportunities and love he squanders with his selfishness and insecurity (he has 3 ABSOLUTELY stunning women fall for him and fucks it up all 3 times. Why wouldn't I hate him guts?) But I can't bc too many people are COMPLETELY irrational with their hate and infer many ridiculous things. Like him not facing consequences or enduring trauma.
Posting my BUFFY REWATCH recap for ‘Tough Love’. May contain spoilers. In 'Tough Love', Willow and Tara have a fight about several things, but mainly and eventually the point of Tara being frightened by how powerful Willow is becoming as a Wiccan and what that means for her "fitting into her life" going forward as she accumulates more and more power. Willow immediately interprets that as her not trusting her when it comes to her sexuality. That she'll suddenly "switch" to straight again. Remember - bisexuality wasn't something very well understood back then, so the choice to avoid mentioning it in TV was less controversial. It was either you were straight or you were gay. Pick one. This argument between Willow and Tara shows you how conscious and careful the writers were in how they wrote this relationship, and specifically, how Willow perceives it compared to Tara or the other characters. Willow absolutely perceives herself as a GAY WOMAN. She's not confused or conflicted. Could they have written the transitioning for Willow from straight-to gay better? Of course they could. They could have written a coming-out story for her and not just a coming-out confession to Buffy. But see, the thing is, they knew that they were walking a fine line between writing Willow's experiences accurately and explicitly... And writing the relationship in such a way where the audience watching might perceive it as not being a serious and committed relationship. Might perceive it as just being college experimentation. And so they have the character themselves express how insulted they feel by that perception. And even with their own girlfriend. Willow is basically stating "you can't decide for me" and that's absolutely in line with their whole character arc. The “this is my decision”. This decision being that they have identified themselves as “gay”. A person being able to identify themselves is incredibly important, and showcasing that in TV, especially in the 90′s/early 2000′s, is incredibly validating for anyone who relates to this character for their self-identification. Yes, Willow is just a fictional character and obviously so are the other characters. I get that. But I also get that art/entertainment is a reflection of real life. So that means Willow, and the other characters, are a reflection of real people. Willow, the person, identifies themselves as “gay”, they express themselves emphatically as “gay”, and they aren't comfortable with being perceived as anything other than “gay”.
So, Buffy is worried about genuine issues with Dawn and Willow gets so defensive she turns it into whether people see her as a real lesbian or not? How does that line of thought even work (not a genuine question, but I'll still put a thinking emoji for the sarcastic effect I mean this comment to have)? 🤔 Poor Tara. Being the new member of the group didn't turn out well for her. The defiant look on her face towards Glory was perfect, though. Which Scooby Member thought it was a good idea to put a brain sucked Tara and Dawn in the same room?
Tara's defiant face when Glory is crushing her hand and asking her who the Key is, always gets to me.
Amber was going A-game with that scene.
Ripper came out for a split second. He's a very, scary man.
Are we even sure Giles did anything to him? There seemed to be a scuffle but that could have been the minion trying to get off the chair knowing he was just about to be tied up and when he saw that they were going to do that he got scared and caved. Maybe he really did just change his mind without Giles interference.
@@Girl4Music Would have to go back and rewatch but I'm pretty sure there's a punch sound effect while the camera leaves Giles and the demon and the others aren't looking.
@@jarock-wh9ljsounded like a cracking bone to me.
"Can this episode give me a break?" Ahahaha! Just wait until the next ep( which you've seen already)
the sad irony of Tara this episode..she sacrificed her own sanity ( something she was terrified of when she found out thats what Glory can do ) to PROTECT Dawn, only to expose Dawn to Glory because she lost that very sanity. poor Tara.
Poor Tara sacrifices herself to protect Dawn only to end up being the one who gives her away because of what Glory did to her.
"So many key points in this episode..." I see what you did.
Such a great episode. The fact that Willow is the only one who has managed to do any damage, even momentarily, to Glory shows how powerful she’s really become. Glory even admits it - “That witch really slowed me down.” Tara’s not lying when she says it’s frightening. And we get another glimpse of how scary Giles can be… if he weren’t getting knocked out all the time, he’d be a force to be reckoned with!
I love when we get these glimpses of Giles from from his Ripper days. We don't even get to see what he did to that demon & it only lasted a second but it was enough to make him talk straight away. We've only had stories & Giles acting a certain way as the Ripper persona leads us to belive he was a very scary & dangerous man.
In ‘Tough Love’ the fight between Willow and Tara escalates so quickly because Willow jumps to conclusions. Tara was absolutely talking about Willow’s accumulation of magical power that is what frightens her. It’s Willow that twists that around to mean her sexuality because she doesn’t like the whole “overusing magic is bad for you” argument. She’d rather be attacked for her “experimenting”. I get it from a writer’s point of view and really love that they included a conversation like this between them. But yeah, I certainly don’t think Tara deserved that bullshit. The twisting of her words, the gaslighting… ugh. Yeah. It was all Willow. But isn’t it always? 😑
Willow continues to go down her dark path. Her ego knows no bounds.
1:44 Yeah I don’t know, either. It’s like the scene was trying to suggest there was some type of connection between Ben and Glory.
Wait, are you saying there’s some type of connection between Ben and Glory?
@@heather9857 Maybe. But what kind?
So you’re saying Ben and Glory… have a connection?
@@HerHollyness Maybe! But… what kind?!
Folks tend to mention Giles going all Ripper on the minion (rightly), but if you watch him open the door and hit the minion with it, he /knew/ someone untoward was out there. Rupert Giles: Tweed Warrior.
I just love Jinx and the minions, and their Olympic class sucking-up and *ss-kissing! Them sitting blindfolded by Glory's bathtub handing her mimosa cracks me up every time.
The best set of consecutive episodes in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ are, without a doubt, for me:
‘Tough Love’
‘Spiral’
‘The Weight Of The World’
‘The Gift’
Why? Because it feels like a 4-part finale so it has enough screen-time to do everything that needs to be done to finish off the arc. It is the most cohesive and conclusive finale of the whole show. It’s SO. GOOD.
💯
So good! This season's story arc is the most well written in BtVS. All the plot points are foreshadowed and the characters' actions have been motivated by events in previous episodes, and it all culminates in these last superb episodes.
@@seanmcmurphy4744 one piece of foreshadowing that really shocked me when I finally realized what they were doing with it.
In ‘Family’ Ben gets stalked by the Lay-arch demon in the men’s locker room in the hospital. Next moment you see Glory come round the back of the demon and snatch him. And at the time you think “Where the hell did she come from?”
Obviously she was always there … as BEN.
Completely consistent plot and character writing all throughout the entire season!
Allyson Hannigan is the world champ of cry-acting. Doesn’t matter what role she’s playing, if her character starts crying, it just breaks my heart.
I still think she's runner up.
SMG is the champ, imo.
It's criminally unfair they're in the same show and have the same superpower :P
The scene with giles and the minion went WAAYYYYY over my head when I first saw it as a teenager 😭🙌 ngl I LOVE how much Giles don’t play when it comes to his family. That’s FATHER and this is not a game 😤👏
Wonderful to rewatch this wonderful show through your eyes. Thanks!
We saw those “dark witch” eyes before, in S1E3, “The Witch,” when Amy’s Mom casts her final spell trying to kill Buffy.
It’s crazy how Joss foreshadows stuff seasons in advance.
I doubt that was 'foreshadowing'... Its simple. Dark eyes = dark magic.
Season five is something else. Its like an epic fantasy. Actually its more like a JRPG, it starts in college and suddendly you and your friends have to defeat god with only the power of friendship. My favourite season, I love how Glory is so freaking scary and not even because how she acts, but because she is simply unstopabble
"You wouldn't last 5 minutes."
And five minutes is what she lasted.
"I'd do it. Right person. Person I loved. I'd do it."
And, in fact, he did in the last episode.
and lest we forget Willow's role in messing everything up in Something Blue and in helping Dawn resurrect Joyce in Forever...and lest we forget the great Glorificus mind suck...lest we forget zed, NZed, XYZed...lest we forget that Buffy is a bildungsroman and that growing up isn't a linear process...
For somebody to recognize goodness in another person they must have goodness in themselves.
And it’s especially remarkable if that somebody is then-soulless. Please don’t forget that Spike doesn’t have a soul here and he still says this. Thinks like this. Which makes the whole “there’s nothing good about or in you” rhetoric absolutely bullshit. He would never be able to pick this up and see this in Dawn if it wasn’t. Spike is treated as less than a person during the entire time that he is soulless for. But he frequently displays “person-able” traits even more so than some humans do such as the trait of empathy.
This is empathy. He is feeling Dawn’s conflicted feelings because he is very familiar with the opposite experience. And he can relate to the girl. A human girl. He understands the reason why she feels like she does in this moment. Knows where she is coming from. And so instead of simply saying “You’re wrong” and leaving it at that… he explains WHY she’s wrong. And it’s precisely because she RECOGNIZES that she has the capability to cause pain and evil why she’s not evil.
Evil people don’t ever make the damn distinction. Look at Glory. She calls herself evil and does and says in the name of evil but she doesn’t recognise that she is evil. If she did - there would actually be hope for her.
Spike RECOGNIZES that he is evil because he causes evil through Dawn recognizing it in herself. Which then means that he actually isn’t evil. Even soulless.
He shouldn’t be able to empathise with Dawn at all as a soulless vampire but he sees her fears and tears and he understands immediately that there is nothing evil in this girl. How could there be when she’s this AWARE of her capability and capacity to be evil?
So - how could he be either? People are mirrors. We always see in each other that of which already exists within ourselves. There’s no way to not do that. How the bloody hell can you make a distinction of it in another person? You obviously can because it exists within YOU. If it doesn’t, you can’t. Simple as that.
Dawn could have turned around and told him “Hey, the fact that you can see this in me must mean that it is also in you because you wouldn’t see it otherwise.”
I really hate the whole “Spike is evil because he is soulless” rhetoric because the NARRATIVE ITSELF shows you the opposite is what is actually true.
Exhibit fucking A is this scene RIGHT HERE. The show itself contradicts its own lore/philosophy. It’s insane. How can you say that Spike is not a person while soulless when scenes LIKE THIS fucking exist? An actual evil soulless thing would not be able to do this!
I’ll agree that Spike CAN be evil. Act with evil intention and what not. But as soon as the “soul lore” comes into it, I will immediately leave the fucking conversation because it is clearly fucking bullshit if the narrative itself can’t even keep to its own lore. The “you’re evil because you’re soulless”/“you’re soulless because you’re evil” is immediately void to me.
People CAN be evil. People CAN be good. But they’re not inherently and solitarily one or the other. Bullshit.
I love Buffy specifically because the moral lines blur.
But this shit. This wonky ass soul lore.
THIS drives me INSANE. It even drives me more insane that the demonic possession interpretation. You’ve got so many inhuman soulless characters that literally tell and show you otherwise. Spike especially. And you’ve got many human ensouled characters that behave like they’re the devil incarnate. It’s nuts. It is.
My stance? Spike is animalistic. He is not evil
Animalism is driven by emotion. Stunted emotion. Passion is an emotion. Spike is the epitome of passionate. It’s practically his character theme.
Another character that’s driven by emotion? Willow.
Ensouled. Human. A fucking Scooby.
At her worst she is also very animalistic and does evil things. She is also not evil. Not inherently. And at her worst is reached by the empathy of another character.
And I’ll keep saying it… until it sinks in.
SPIKE is NO different to a human at their worst on most days. On his really good days - he is better! He performs more humanity than a lot of humans do. Anyway this rant is getting really long so I’ll just end it with one simple short sentence: fuck Joss Whedon!
💯
And this is why I don’t care for the character of Spike. His character is plot driven. Goes against mythology out of fan service and his fans and ships eat it up and write essays about it. 🤢
2 videos in one day?
Ambassador, you spoil us!
This episode reminds me of Passion. Jenny had access to important information and was killed for it right before she and Giles could officially make up. Then Giles goes on a revenge rampage which Buffy predicted "I'm not worried about what he wants, I'm worried about what hes going to do."
In this episode Tara gets badly injured and has her identity stripped away before she and Willow can make up. Im not sure whether to think its weird that Buffy didnt see it coming or weird that Willow hadn't learned from Giles? (Maybe she thinks shes m I re powerful than him?). In any case pretty hearbreaking what happens to Tara, but bittersweet watching Willow commit to taking care of her.
Love the scene Spike and Dawn❤️ And Yep....Enter Hints of Darth Willow (Dark Side Theme Song)🎵 🤘 Ah Dakara enjoy the ride
Willow is a badass
Badass Witch Willow is very intense and scary, but I do admit I love when she says to Glory, "Bag of knives." SHIVER!
loved hearing DARK WILLOW
Maybe my favorite 4 episode stretch starts here.
Willow is now officially the big gun, what the Avengers movies called “Code Green.”
What song is willow singing about school at 4:43? I thought it was the "go shawty, it's your birthday" song, but if my googling is correct, that's In Da Club by 50 cent, from 2003, and this episode came out in 2001.
It was kind of just a thing people said in the ‘90s and early 2000s, to big anyone or anything that they liked up. “Go [X], it’s your birthday!” It was a meme of the era. 50 Cent used it in a lyric but he wasn’t the first to say it.
Edited to add: I was a teen in that era so I well remember it, just in case you’re doubting my sources LOL!
Back in the 90´s, when someone discover herself gay, one of the first demons you have to fight against is the notion that this is wrong and dirty. I was shocked when I re-watched this episode and noticed that the first thing Tara said when she lost her sanity is that there was dirt all over her!
Buffy ❤❤❤
This will be a amazing season ❤❤❤ love it
She did to Tara what she did to everyone else we saw her do the brain suck to
Wait?!? Are you saying Ben and Glory are the same person?
Now if we think about it there could be some kind of connection between Ben and Glory.
I think we can understand Willow wanting to use her magic powers to avenge Tara, but we can see it's also getting out of control. Even though Glory is a very entertaining Big Bad we tend to forget how utterly cruel and evil she is. We are beginning to see the slight fracturing of the Tillow relationship, and once Glory now knows Dawn is the key it will be hard for the Scoobies to save her. You are in for three brilliant closing episodes to S5 with a superb, stunning finale unmatched in the whole show.
Some say Xander is the worst member of the team but honestly Willow & Xander are tied. Willow gets hyperdefensive whenever she's challenged on anything. She just turned a disagreement about Buffy's parenting into "So you think I'm a fake lesbian?"
Xander got better after season 1/2 Willow got worse imo
The only ACTUAL problem is that significant portions of the fandom TRULY believe that Xander is irredeemably awful (and somehow proves every negative thing said about Whedon, while completely erasing his long and successful career collaborating with a bunch of people multiple times. Almost like he isn't EXCLUSIVELY a narcissistic jerk, but a narcissistic jerk who is ALSO good to his friends) while they ALSO absolve Willow completely.
The irony for me is that while I always thought Xander was funny, I never saw him as particularly great, and I AM a massive Willow Stan... but the decades of observation and participation in the fandom forces me to defend the former and criticise the latter.
Fact is, they're both flawed people, who display consistent flaws throughout the show even as they grow and mature. (Willow has ALWAYS had a capacity to be rather defensive and jealous. Xander has ALWAYS felt inferior, left out and almost suicidally foolhardy in trying help. And they're BOTH extremely insecure.
I genuinely think that a substantial section of fans are simply sexist (misandrist to be precise) and simple hold people to different standards based exclusively on their identity.
That's probably true of my OWN feelings, based on a substantial crush on Allison Hannigan :P (but when you recognise a personal bias, you can at least TRY to approach things rationally. We ALL have biases. It is the denial of this that causes so many problems)
@@DmGray That's the thing. Xander and Willow are indeed flawed, but they don't receive consequences on an equal level. Willow screws up when she's [REDACTED] to [REDACTED] by season six while Xander screws up with his attitude since season one and doesn't receive any until season six. People have the good theory that Willow is the worst of the two since she's an underdog who was smart and female in high school. No boy likes that type of girl and sees that type of girl as a future wife, unless they're mature beyond their age. Oz, despite his self-control issues, screws up that idea. Willow wants control. Does that make her a bad person? No. It's the way she goes about it.
With Xander, he makes jokes while using Buffy and the Scoobies as an escape hatch, due to having a chaotic family. He sees Buffy as the dream girl he can't have, Cordelia as a runner up, Willow as forbidden fruit and Anya as a powerless, controlled genie (which she is). He, like Willow, wants control. So does future characters in season six. Difference is Willow's [REDACTED] to [REDACTED] to get control is not based in the real world. Xander's control issues are, and, if he's an insert of JW, it's very telling of who was bullied/seduced/ignored by him on whatever show he produced or film he directed. That's why Willow gets a free pass by the fandom.
The misogyny/misandry tightrope is an interesting subject within the Buffyverse. If it hasn't been covered in a term/thesis paper since the airing of the series and Angel, let alone the other TV works of JW, it should be, especially in the wake of the man's self-inflicted career suicide in 2022.
I felt the fight scene was very indicative of most actual normal relationships. It's their first big fight. Those usually turn to airing out everything else, even when it's unrelated, at once. Tara showed that she did have a bit of that fear, and they get it all out now in the same argument it all comes up when tensions are high.
@@Madbandit77
And I think a lot of what you describe really is just cope and excuse making.
Willow had a pretty ideal childhood.
"bi erasure" was likely a writing choice, but if we read entirely too much into it (as anyone writing a paper would absolutely do) then it points to a person in denial and that aint healthy.
The idea that smart girls don't get picked is also, imo, nonsense. Girls do the picking, and I've yet to meet a girl who was even plain as hell who lacked options. Some simply didn't like their options.
Honestly examine your own experiences here. Ask how often women who complain that men didn't like them because they're smart or whatever else... ALSO complain about being approached by men. The number will be non negligible.
She does MANY of the same things as Xander for many of the same reasons surrounding insecurity.
I'd ALSO add that she doesn't ACTUALLY endure many coinsequences at all.
She gets basically immediate forgiveness no matter what she does.
She and Xander kiss? Oz remains loyal, Cordy goes nuclear. (and note: while I hated that plot as much as everyone for the monkey paw it is... seeing two close friends who believe they're about to be murdered kissing shouldn't be seen the same way as when they're playing footsie in class, or kissing in the library. They had to short hand it for time and drama, obviously, but it always bothered me that THIS was the deal breaker. A single kiss under extreme duress) Willow basically escapes ANY consequence and Xander takes the ENTIRE blame... because he's the man and Willow has been in love with him since they were kids.
As to Xander never facing consequences (until very late seasons)
... the man's life was pretty much UTTER shit until season 5. Sure, it's mostly his own damn fault, but just because it isn't prominently featured doesn't mean it isn't there.
The man is pretty much getting murdered in S3 (perhaps raped?) and it's mostly played for laughs. Though it HAS been refreshing to see more people recognise that issue lately.
Hell, you MIGHT suggest that much like most problems men face... people just don't give a shit. ESPECIALLY when it is seen as something they have done to themselves.
Xander gets a hard time bc he's a man, and bc people don't like Whedon.
Which is ironic, bc the same kind of people get warned about "fake virtue" all the time and it only ever seems to matter when it becomes a scandal that can't be denied.
Whedon made the mistake of believing himself bullet proof. He REALLY needed one of his friends to give him a reality check. (I often compare it to the way fundamentalist/evangelical Christians behave. They're all immune from criticism until they're excommunicated, and then they're treated as the worst of the worst)
I actually think it's a shame, bc the man has talent for television. (and note: I was disillusioned with the man a good 6 years before most people. Later revelations were not a shock to me, bc that is how these people all behave)
I honestly wish I could be on the Xander hate train. I'd love to bash him for all the idiotic stuff he does, all the opportunities and love he squanders with his selfishness and insecurity (he has 3 ABSOLUTELY stunning women fall for him and fucks it up all 3 times. Why wouldn't I hate him guts?)
But I can't bc too many people are COMPLETELY irrational with their hate and infer many ridiculous things. Like him not facing consequences or enduring trauma.
Posting my BUFFY REWATCH recap for ‘Tough Love’. May contain spoilers.
In 'Tough Love', Willow and Tara have a fight about several things, but mainly and eventually the point of Tara being frightened by how powerful Willow is becoming as a Wiccan and what that means for her "fitting into her life" going forward as she accumulates more and more power. Willow immediately interprets that as her not trusting her when it comes to her sexuality. That she'll suddenly "switch" to straight again. Remember - bisexuality wasn't something very well understood back then, so the choice to avoid mentioning it in TV was less controversial. It was either you were straight or you were gay. Pick one.
This argument between Willow and Tara shows you how conscious and careful the writers were in how they wrote this relationship, and specifically, how Willow perceives it compared to Tara or the other characters. Willow absolutely perceives herself as a GAY WOMAN. She's not confused or conflicted. Could they have written the transitioning for Willow from straight-to gay better? Of course they could. They could have written a coming-out story for her and not just a coming-out confession to Buffy. But see, the thing is, they knew that they were walking a fine line between writing Willow's experiences accurately and explicitly... And writing the relationship in such a way where the audience watching might perceive it as not being a serious and committed relationship. Might perceive it as just being college experimentation. And so they have the character themselves express how insulted they feel by that perception. And even with their own girlfriend. Willow is basically stating "you can't decide for me" and that's absolutely in line with their whole character arc. The “this is my decision”. This decision being that they have identified themselves as “gay”.
A person being able to identify themselves is incredibly important, and showcasing that in TV, especially in the 90′s/early 2000′s, is incredibly validating for anyone who relates to this character for their self-identification. Yes, Willow is just a fictional character and obviously so are the other characters. I get that. But I also get that art/entertainment is a reflection of real life. So that means Willow, and the other characters, are a reflection of real people. Willow, the person, identifies themselves as “gay”, they express themselves emphatically as “gay”, and they aren't comfortable with being perceived as anything other than “gay”.
Spitting IS super gross, imagine being the actor/actress getting spit at, just yikes.
So, Buffy is worried about genuine issues with Dawn and Willow gets so defensive she turns it into whether people see her as a real lesbian or not? How does that line of thought even work (not a genuine question, but I'll still put a thinking emoji for the sarcastic effect I mean this comment to have)? 🤔
Poor Tara. Being the new member of the group didn't turn out well for her. The defiant look on her face towards Glory was perfect, though.
Which Scooby Member thought it was a good idea to put a brain sucked Tara and Dawn in the same room?
For Willow, well, she sees everything as being about her. 🤷
@@ernesthakey3396 👍
0:51 - The Stink Eye
Hello, BEN-jamin 😠😠😠 A.K.A. GLORY!