Buffy stuff, The Good Wife etc

[shapinglight]

Along with doing some fic writing during my alone time (I now have an idea for a whole series of horrid ficlets for my evil twin's LJ), I've also been forging ahead with season 2 of The Good Wife, which continues to be wonderful stuff. I love Diane so much. The last episode I watched was ....

Very slight spoilers for season 2 of The Good Wife behind cut



...was the one with the corrupt politician accused of funding Muslim extremists (could something that ridiculous really happen?) with the judge who wanted everyone to say, "In my opinion" all the time. Diane was superb, as always. In fact, all the female characters in this show are superb, and I'd go so far as to say, all the characters. When, I wonder, will Will's request to (is it?) Brad to 'do something' about that therapist, which has ended up with the guy in hospital, come back to bite him in the arse? You know it's going to sometime. Anyway, it's all great, with the only downside being that my alone time ends at 5.45 (precisely) today and I don't know when, after that, I'll get the chance to watch any more.

The same is true of season 5 of BtVS, which I started re-watching the other night just for the hell of it, and because it's so long since I watched any actual episodes. I've got as far as Fool For Love and I think I'm going to have to stop there. Buggerit.

Could go on, I s'pose and watch as far as Into the Woods, which is a sort of turning point in some ways, but I don't know. I'd rather stop on a high point and FFL is certainly that.

Shallow thoughts on the rewatch: I like Riley in season 4 and Marc Blucas is an absolute sweetie, but boy did he have a thankless task in season 5. Some of the time he's supportive boyfriend, but most of it (and particularly after OOMM) he comes across as needy and obsessed with his own masculinity and how it's being impugned by having a girlfriend stronger than he is. Silly, silly man, and poor Buffy. I mean, maybe she did ignore him a bit when her mum was really ill, but come on, Riley! Put yourself in her shoes.

Elsewhere, Giles, Anya and Spike are all as wonderful as I remembered, Harmony is utterly cute (and Spike isn't mean to her all the time. They seem to live together reasonably amicably (for vampires) between OOMM and Crush, despite his Buffy obsession. The twenty questions scene is really sweet, in a twisted kind of way).

I'm not that interested in Willow and Tara as a couple, but Tara is a great foil for Willow, and I love that as early on as this, we get hints that Willow is getting a little too keen on finding magical solutions to things. Xander is fine - The Replacement is a very funny ep - and Dawn is a great addition to the cast.

In fact, the only fly in the ointment for me really is Glory. She's really annoying and I just don't like her.

See? Shallow. Anyway, I'm going to try and do a bit more writing.

:waves:

Comments

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

Why don't you fancy watching further then FFL?

[shapinglight]

I haven't time. Like I said, I have until about 6 this evening and that's it, and I want to do some writing this afternoon.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

I agree, what a thankless task in season 5 for Mark Blucas. But I don't think it was an issue for Riley that Buffy was physically stronger. That probably turned him on. I think it was that Buffy didn't love him – not on a deeper level. It was the elephant in the room. And if it hadn't been her mother, it would have shown up when some other crisis hit. I am in a tiny minority that actually felt a certain amount of sympathy for poor Riley. It was a losing battle from the start.

But on a happier note, best of luck with the writing! Best of luck to you and your evil twin!

[shapinglight]

:)

Thank you. We've both done rather well. I have five themed ficlets to post on my evil twin's LJ later. One of them is the really nasty one I mentioned the other day. The others aren't really Evil Twin material, but they're themed as I said (plus, one is a sort of coda to an Evil Twin story) so they have to go on the other LJ.

As for Riley, I'm not completely unsympathetic to him. I know he believes Buffy doesn't love him, but I think she actually does, even if not the way she loved Angel. But then she was never going to love anyone the way she loved Angel again, and good thing too. That sort of love is for the very young. She and Riley could have grown into love, I firmly believe, if he'd given it a chance.

And I do think her being stronger than him bothered him - or not so much her being stronger, but her being the one in charge, the one with a mission. Certainly, when Graham taunts him in OOMM that he used to have a mission and now he's just the mission's boyfriend, it hits a nerve.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

I should know better than to respond to this because this level of analysis (with others) is soooooo not my thing! You think you're being shallow, but I'm sure I outshine you in that area. My appreciation of an episode is largely based on what Spike says and does, what he's wearing, his facial expressions and the like. But here goes:

She and Riley could have grown into love, I firmly believe, if he'd given it a chance.

*weeps* How many women have said that about someone who was wrong for them? Also, I think he got bothered by the comment about being mission’s boyfriend only because he was insecure about her love in the first place. If he knew without a doubt he had a place in her life, the other stuff would not have gotten to him so much and he would have found his own way to shine. He needed to be let in, and I don't think Buffy would have ever let him in, not because of life situations, but because of who Buffy had become. I don't blame her (too much) except when it came to the way she treated Spike, but I don't think she could help it. I believe it was part of the Slayer package. I don't really think she could have maintained a truly connected relationship with any man as long as she was the slayer. Unless maybe it was someone who was her equal in a more mystical sense.

Okay no more thinky stuff for me. Where's the porn!? I will anxiously await. :)

[shapinglight]

The porn (not that all of it's porn) is posted on my other LJ. Hope you enjoy.

As for Buffy/Riley, I suppose I might have more of a tolerance for growing into loving people because I know so many people who have done just that after having arranged marriages. It is less common these days, though, and obviously Buffy and Riley are not Asian.

You could well be right about the insecurity coming first. You are, in fact. But I do think Riley had trouble being second fiddle to anyone. I also think that his dynamic with Buffy is interesting, in that he's stuck in the traditional feminine role and in tradtional drama men often are quite emotionally distant and their wives just have to get on with it. Riley couldn't do it when the boot was on the other foot, or whatever.

But anyway. Got to go now.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Riley discussion! I agree that he had a thankless task, though I think it was doomed from the start, as you'd expect when a relationship gets going in an episode named "Doomed". I've mentioned this somewhere before, but at a talk with Jane E. earlier this year, she said that everybody explained to Blucas when he started that the character was going to come in for a lot of fan hate, because it was a bridge relationship. I think she actually used the phrase "thankless task"! To me, "bridge" implies that it was never designed to last; it was the way from A to S, as it were. I see the Buffy/Riley fault lines hinted at from the very beginning, and rewatch always highlights the troubles for me.

That said, I think they had a pretty good run for a lot of the time. They each loosened the other up in some important ways, and had fun, and accomplished some good things. Not every relationship has to be the perfect one to be valuable.

I'm not sure that it was her physical strength that bothered him, though. I think it was more her self-sufficiency, which is another kind of strength (though it includes the physical). He really wanted her to NEED him, on any level — emotionally, tactically, physically, sexually. She just didn't, and he acted out in the ways that had previously shown him to be strong, and when that didn't work, he tried other stuff that quickly put him out of his depth. Poor guy.

I think they could have had a perfectly fine life together, but I don't think it would have ever had magic, if you know what I mean.

P.S. Glory annoys me, too. And, while I like Dawn a lot, the amount of whining from her AND Glory is altogether too much in S5.

[shapinglight]

I've mentioned this somewhere before, but at a talk with Jane E. earlier this year, she said that everybody explained to Blucas when he started that the character was going to come in for a lot of fan hate, because it was a bridge relationship. I think she actually used the phrase "thankless task"!

Ooh, that's interesting. I think I must have missed you posting about this before. Did she actually say anything about Spuffy, as I have problems believing that Joss had thought of doing it as early as the beginning of season 4.

You're probably right about it being more her self-sufficency than her strength that bothered him, which sort of proves my point really. In drama, the protagonist (nearly always male) usually is self-sufficient and those orbiting around him (often female) have to sort of suck it up. Riley couldn't take it when the boot was on the other foot.

Mostly, though, as I said, I like the character.

I think they could have had a perfectly fine life together, but I don't think it would have ever had magic, if you know what I mean.

Yes, which again sounds to me like so many arranged marriage stories I've heard.