Notes on Buffy 3.09: The Wish

[2maggie2]

Note: These notes are not particularly long (by our standards), but LJ seems to think they are.  The usual disclaimers are cut so the post will fit.

Buffy 3.09  The Wish, in Which Buffy Does Not Smile.

Comments

[vamp_mogs]

Great notes!

Buffy: You’ve covered most of the things I’d want to say about Buffy so I don’t have a lot to say about her character. I do find it very interesting that even in the Wishverse Buffy is quite flexible about breaking the rules. She agrees to form a partnership with a vampire based solely on the fact that they have an enemy in common (echoing her deal with Spike in Becoming) and her Watcher apparently often has trouble reaching her. As focused on the mission as Buffy may be she’s most certainly not the “Watcher’s pet” Kendra was

[vamp_mogs]

Continued...

Angel: I think this episode gives us some good insight into Angel, especially his S1 persona which is always a bit hard to judge. Firstly, it tells us that if Buffy hadn’t showed up Angel would still have tried to help people and fight the Master. I also think it proves, to some extent, that Angel isn’t completely motivated by promises of “destiny” like a lot of people accuse him of being. Yes, he considered Buffy his destiny and that’s what spurred him into action but when his destiny didn’t show, he still tried to do the right thing and save people. We’ll see in City Of... that he also spends 3 months killing monsters and saving girls in alleys before Doyle ever shows up and offers him a higher purpose

Buffy Forums

[sophist]

Quick question: for the last 6 weeks or so, I can't access BuffyForums. I can pull up the pages, but no forums or links appear. There's just a message saying "there are no posts in this forum". Did they institute a registration system or something?

Re: Buffy Forums

[vamp_mogs]

Yeah the forum was running very slow so the only way the mods could solve the problem was to make all the threads private to non-members. I don't know exactly how it works but apparently it helped so I doubt they'll be changing it back anytime soon! It is unfortunate for people who just like to read the threads :(

[2maggie2]

That's a good take on their POV. And you're very right that this is the point where Xander gets marginalized in the group dynamic. I hadn't associated it with the Willow break-up but yeah -- that's got to be a huge part of it. We're on our way to Zeppo.

[local_max]

I hadn't associated it with the Willow break-up but yeah -- that's got to be a huge part of it. We're on our way to Zeppo.(Didn't I argue this already? :) ) Yeah--and Willow saying "My hands have got to be for Oz only" really does play into that. It's good not to touch him. But I think she also needs to push him away in order to ensure she doesn't "touch" him. Willow/Xander scenes alone don't happen very much at all going forward, and I think ensuring that she makes Oz always come first is a big part of that

[2maggie2]

You did! But I need to keep being told some things before they sink in. And when it does, I'll be sure it's my brilliant insight! :)

[blackfrancine]

Y'all made some really excellent observations:

Love the Xander/Willow vampire arrested development.

Great point on how the episode demystifies Bangel--pointing out her lack of care vs. his anguished cry, and the real time staking vs. the slow mo staking of the Scoobies.

I also love the run down of the karmic retribution in the episode--and how Anya also gets her own dose of karma.

Also excellent points about Xander/Anya's complicated relationship.

The Master’s plan of gathering up humans and slaughtering them is going to last about five minutes before he drives humans into extinction. YES. Especially with sparse population in Sunnydale. It just wouldn't be cost effective to set up a distribution center there--you'd have to bring in humans from neighboring areas. Better just to move the whole operation to Sao Paolo or some huge population center. I don't know what movie or show it was (perhaps Blade the Series that came on SpikeTV?), but the vampires had a system of keeping the humans alive and siphoning off their blood.

[blackfrancine]

Cordelia doesn’t *get* it. Maybe on one level she does-but not on a level she’s ready to act on or deal with emotionally. Because she’s still blaming Buffy for all her problems. She blames Buffy for making the losers seem more appealing, and she blames the losers for her fall from “grace.” And it’s natural to lash out when you’re as down as Cordelia is here-I don’t want be too hard on her; I feel for her tremendously. And I think the parallels that are pointed out are really interesting-the way they approach each other in the alley, especially. But to me, the parallels only serve to underline that these two are fundamentally opposed, despite the surface similarities. There’s something innately kind in Buffy. She goes after Cordelia because she senses that Cordelia is alone, that she’s hurt. So she wants to offer her some comfort-to let her know that she doesn’t want to hurt her or see her hurt. Cordelia comes after Buffy perhaps with good intentions-but calling her a bitch is a leeetle bit different than asking if she’s okay

[blackfrancine]

Yeah, I completely agree. I really, really feel a lot of sympathy for Cordelia in this episode--and in general. I like her. I just don't think she ever comes anywhere close to being actualized in Sunnydale. And as awful as I feel about all the things that she goes through, it's frustrating to continually watch her blame Buffy for everything that goes wrong, when she clearly knows it's not Buffy's fault.

And yes! Poor Harmony. That's one of the main things that jumped out at me when watching this episode--it's as if Harmony is ceasing the opportunity for revenge on Cordelia. It's not just random mean-girling--Harmony and her followers are targeting Cordelia, and they're determined to take her down another couple of pegs. It's personal. And if Cordelia had ever shown any real friendship to them when she was Queen C, it probably wouldn't have happened.

[angearia]

I'm imagining that Strudel hasn't checked comments yet and him clicking on this post...

[2maggie2]

He does worry (a lot) about not getting enough comments on these posts! I hope he appreciates the effort that's being made here!!!

[norwie2010]

Yes! Isn't that fantastic? Nearly hundred posts in one night!

Congratulations to all of you!

Strudel here

[angearia]

You're right, Angearia: this was a bit of a shock wading into all this. It will take me some time to read everything.

Which is good. Very good. Thanks to everybody commenting.

[staringiscaring]

The Asian Girl Introduced to Be a Red Shirt.

Huh, I thought that was Aura, once of Cordettes, not a random extra. Maybe I am wrong.

This post inspired me to pull out the DVDs.

[sophist]

I'm pretty sure it was Aurra.

[sophist]

I was sure until I checked the cast list. While the victim was a Cordette, it was a different actress than the one who played Aura. The latter was Persia White, the victim in The Wish was Nicole Bilderback.