Friday, June 17, 2016

Poor Willow

Buffy S4E6 - E9

“Wild at Heart”

And we’re back to the show we know and love, the one that rips out our hearts and then stomps on them and worst of all makes Willow cry. Oz becomes attracted to a sexy singer werewolf girl, Veruca, whose movements are probably supposed to convey some animalistic sensuality but instead make her look like confused poultry.

Please compare Veruca the werewolf to Poppy the chicken.
Willow is not stupid, and knows something is up. She tries to get advice, and Xander suggests she actually talk to Oz about it.



But Oz’s taciturn stoicism becomes less endearing when he totally gaslights Willow, telling her that nothing is wrong. Apparently getting loose on the full moon and having crazy werewolf sex doesn’t constitute “something wrong”.

When Willow finds out, she goes to the chem lab to do a spell in revenge. Veruca catches up to her as the moon rises and threatens her, so Oz, in his werewolf state, kills Veruca… and everybody’s okay with that. I mean, she is human, after all. She won’t lock herself up, but on the other hand, she has complete memory of what she does as a wolf, and that kind of implies she has control over her actions. Is murder really the only solution? Anyway, it’s a convenient ending that allows us to focus back on Willow, who’s completely shattered. Alyson Hannigan is amazing, and there’s this beautifully tender moment where Buffy is holding Willow, and drops a kiss on her head.



“The Initiative”

Riley’s a secret agent! He and all the frat bros are actually undercover demon fighters. They’ve given Spike a brain implant that keeps him from hurting humans. So he’s become a neutered vampire and the jokes write themselves, over and over.

Riley also has finally figured out that he’s interested in Buffy, so asks for help from Willow, who with her broken heart, is reluctant.

SPOILERS, Willow!
Her good nature brings her around, though.



“Pangs”

Oh it’s the embarrassing Thanksgiving episode. I felt fewer “Pangs” and more “Cringing”. So Xander discovers the forgotten Sunnydale Mission* while on a construction job. Turns out he’s unleashed a Chumash avenging spirit who gives him syphilis, along with causing other trouble.

*for a town on the California coast, there sure are a lot of dry underground caverns

So it seems like it’s trying to make a point about Thanksgiving and Native American genocide but besides a little “wow, those Spanish missions were really, really terrible for the indigenous people” it was all Willow and Buffy trying to be awkwardly PC. I get that this was 1999, and that I in 2016 travel in rather social-justicey circles, but the episode spends much more time finding humor in Willow objecting to Thanksgiving traditions than to making any sort of cohesive statement about history.

Also, I am reasonably sure that the Chumash did not traditionally wear fringed buckskin clothing. That would be additional minus points for lazy stereotyping, for those keeping track.

It also has Angel being absolutely useless. He shows up, warns people that Buffy is in danger, and then doesn’t do anything about it besides some token fighting. But it sets up for “I Will Remember You”.


“Something Blue”

Willow is still trying to deal with the fallout Oz left behind, and when her friends don’t ease her grief, she turns to magic. And her spell didn’t actually go haywire this time. It worked exactly as it should, and very powerfully. Willow just didn’t think through the consequences.

So when Willow lashes out verbally, she makes Giles blind, Xander a “demon magnet”, and compels Spike and Buffy to plan a wedding. This is hilarious, of course, but the chaos created by Willow’s spell attracts the attention of Anya’s old boss, D’Hoffryn. Seeing how powerful she is, he offers her a job as a vengeance demon, which Willow turns down.


Willow runs back to fix the damage, and when she breaks the spell, it’s mid-kiss for Buffy and Spike. Buffy leaps away in disgust, and Spike… Spike takes a moment to decide exactly what to do. It’s only a moment, and it could be surprise, or it could be something else, but it’s there. I mean, it’s not there for very long. They go back to squabbling as soon as possible.



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