Tonight’s episode is one of the few Anya-centric episodes of Buffy. I personally enjoyed the musical number quite a bit.
10 replies on “Buffy Discussion – “Selfless””
Bigger Themes
I was going to post something similar last week but was not sure if it would hold up under the rest of the season, after this episode I am sure. If you noticed in every episode so far there has been at least some talk of the responsibilities of the slayer and the decisions they have to make. Decisions such as how much time to spend saving people(the "ghosts" in the premier) or who makes the difficult decisions(tonight’s ep). Of course all these decisions have consequences that Buffy has to deal with. I don’t exactly know where I am going with this(not enough sleep I suppose) but I thought that it would be nice to see others take on this. My thought is that this is all a discussion about power (power as in "there is no good, there is no evil…").
-Jack
Re: Bigger Themes
I agree power, responsiblity, and choice are definetly themes ruling this season. Although every season deals with these issues. I’m hoping that this season will enter into more gray territory. When right and wrong aren’t so clear. When you have to choose the lessor of two evils. Knowing that the big bad will still come and this is just a band aid to stem the tide. There are so many possiblities from the return of Willow who hasn’t completed her training and has powers she’s afraid to use and can not completely control. To Anya’s struggles between being a demon and a human. Not to mention Buffy’s need to protect even though she can not and will not always succeed (I refer to “Help” episode aired 10/15).
The season opener threw me for a loop when they cycled through all villians past. What I thought was most curious was that the last image Spike sees is Buffy and the last thing she says is a comment on power. Are the writers trying to hint that this season’s villian will be Buffy?
The funny thing about power is that it comes with a price. Look at the prices Buffy paid everytime she defeated a villian. Dying was the price to close the hellmouth. Killing herself was the price to stop Glory and Armageddon from raining down on the world.
I think this season will once again test how far she’s willing to go to live up to her responsiblities as the slayer. What more can she give? She’s given up her need to be a normal girl, she has already given her life, twice; and she gave up the love of her life.
What’s left? One thing I can think of is her judgement. Her ability to cleary identify right and wrong. What happens if the evil she must face is herself? What happens when the decisions she makes however well intentioned turn out to create the very thing she has been fighting against all along. Buffy has the responsiblity to protect the world and the power to carry it out; does she have the ability to judge herself? Even if her decisions made in good faith have created the very thing that can destroy everything she has fought so hard to protect? We can be our own worst enemy.
After the last season I am looking forward to what this season will bring. So far it’s shaping up to be pretty good.
Serenity ~
Best line:
“It’s like somebody killed an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue.”
Re: Best line:
“It’s like somebody killed an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue.”
Yup the best onliner of the episode for sure.
Hilarious
The scenes of Anya, um Aud, back in old Sweden were the best. Her odd fear of bunnies is even wierder now that I know she used to raise them.
It’s about time they got around to filling in some backstory on Anya. Her history hasn’t really been developed much in the 3(?) seasons she’s been on the show. Now we know that she dislikes load-bearing barmaids (Is there any other kind?) and we even get a new musical number. It was like Christmas. But without the fat white guy. Or the carolers. Or the… okay, it wasn’t like Christmas, but it was good.
I do feel the need to rant about UPN’s need to re-run the season opener next week. Call me crotchety, but in my day they waited until the end of the season to start playing reruns.
Re: Hilarious
I suspect the musical number was one that was originally filmed for “Once more with feeling” but had to be cut for time.
Re: Hilarious
I suspect the musical number was one that was originally filmed for “Once more with feeling” but had to be cut for time.
That seems doubtful, given how well “I’m the Mrs.” fit into the episode’s theme of Anya defining herself in terms of others. Also, her hair was a notably different color.
Re: Hilarious
I agree it was also hilarious but the fast abrupt cut to the impaled Anya was one of the more emotionally intense moments I’ve seen on TV. Especially because of the cut from music to dead silence. Power is the theme of the season and this ep had it in spades.
Re: Hilarious
I agree it was also hilarious but the fast abrupt cut to the impaled Anya was one of the more emotionally intense moments I’ve seen on TV. Especially because of the cut from music to dead silence. Power is the theme of the season and this ep had it in spades.
Heck, yeah. Also impressive was the “old Willow” making a brief appearance, the song (wonder if there will be more songs cropping up during the season), and the scene with Spike & Buffy… and Buffy. As I said to my wife, “so much for the lighter Season 7”. But I agree, the show stopper had to be the transition from “I’m the Mrs”, which was already dark, to Anya impaled on the sword. Wow. What an amazing season. Last season was great, and this keeps topping it. If this is the last year, they’ll definitely be going out with a bang.
Oh, and totally offtopic- wasn’t her husband from Parker Lewis Can’t Lose?
Subtitles
I loved the flashback with the “foreign film” look and the oddly
phrased subtitles. The husband/troll to be saying he dislikes the
bar maiden because “her hips are wide, like those of a baltic
woman” and he likes Anya/Aud because her hips are “Narrow, like
the hips of a baltic woman from a slightly more arid region”.
Bigger Themes
I was going to post something similar last week but was not sure if it would hold up under the rest of the season, after this episode I am sure. If you noticed in every episode so far there has been at least some talk of the responsibilities of the slayer and the decisions they have to make. Decisions such as how much time to spend saving people(the "ghosts" in the premier) or who makes the difficult decisions(tonight’s ep). Of course all these decisions have consequences that Buffy has to deal with. I don’t exactly know where I am going with this(not enough sleep I suppose) but I thought that it would be nice to see others take on this. My thought is that this is all a discussion about power (power as in "there is no good, there is no evil…").
-Jack
Re: Bigger Themes
Best line:
“It’s like somebody killed an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue.”
Re: Best line:
Yup the best onliner of the episode for sure.
Hilarious
The scenes of Anya, um Aud, back in old Sweden were the best. Her odd fear of bunnies is even wierder now that I know she used to raise them.
It’s about time they got around to filling in some backstory on Anya. Her history hasn’t really been developed much in the 3(?) seasons she’s been on the show. Now we know that she dislikes load-bearing barmaids (Is there any other kind?) and we even get a new musical number. It was like Christmas. But without the fat white guy. Or the carolers. Or the… okay, it wasn’t like Christmas, but it was good.
I do feel the need to rant about UPN’s need to re-run the season opener next week. Call me crotchety, but in my day they waited until the end of the season to start playing reruns.
Re: Hilarious
I suspect the musical number was one that was originally filmed for “Once more with feeling” but had to be cut for time.
Re: Hilarious
That seems doubtful, given how well “I’m the Mrs.” fit into the episode’s theme of Anya defining herself in terms of others. Also, her hair was a notably different color.
Re: Hilarious
I agree it was also hilarious but the fast abrupt cut to the impaled Anya was one of the more emotionally intense moments I’ve seen on TV. Especially because of the cut from music to dead silence. Power is the theme of the season and this ep had it in spades.
Re: Hilarious
Heck, yeah. Also impressive was the “old Willow” making a brief appearance, the song (wonder if there will be more songs cropping up during the season), and the scene with Spike & Buffy… and Buffy. As I said to my wife, “so much for the lighter Season 7”. But I agree, the show stopper had to be the transition from “I’m the Mrs”, which was already dark, to Anya impaled on the sword. Wow. What an amazing season. Last season was great, and this keeps topping it. If this is the last year, they’ll definitely be going out with a bang.
Oh, and totally offtopic- wasn’t her husband from Parker Lewis Can’t Lose?
Subtitles
I loved the flashback with the “foreign film” look and the oddly
phrased subtitles. The husband/troll to be saying he dislikes the
bar maiden because “her hips are wide, like those of a baltic
woman” and he likes Anya/Aud because her hips are “Narrow, like
the hips of a baltic woman from a slightly more arid region”.