Ugh, making me choose between performnaces! UNPOSSIBLE. Picked Sarah Michelle Gellar in the end because she is amazing in all of her scenes, which is why I picked act 1 as my favourite long scene - the panic and disconnection is so amazingly done.
I wouldn't say the vampire is necessary to the episode but I really like it being there. I think it's a very brutal reminder that the world can only stop for so long, even when you think it should stop forever - but also it fits with the episode title. The vampire is a demon inside a dead human - it's taken over the body, stolen it. Joyce's body is quite empty because there's no Joyce and no demon - it's just there now, just a shell with nothing inside. The body is only important to us - but how very, very important!
Joyce's death, definietely. All of the deaths make me cry but this episode is a stunner and the whole thing is amazingly done. Five stars.
1- Act One. I love the entire sequence, the way Buffy reacts and SMG's performance. I adore when Buffy opens the door and see that outside is still a sunny day. This scene gets me everytime.
2- It's really hard to decide: the actors are really good, especially SMG, Emma and Alyson. But, in the end, SMG. She did a great job.
3- I wouldn't say necessary, but it feels right. It's kinda the meeting of supernatural death (And Buffy is a show based on supernatural deaths) and real death. Also I love that the vampire is naked and, still, Buffy seems vulnerable and "naked" than him.
4- Joyce's death is the saddest and the more realistic. I think that Anya's death potentially could be as harmful as Joyce's, but it happens in the final episode, so we don't really have time to feel the loss. Jenny's death is very "horror-style", but it still feels bad because is a way for Angelus to destroy the gang, and I feel sorry for them. But, in the end, I would say Joyce's death.
It's SMG's "Should I make her warm" that makes me well up and start to wibble like a baby. God, that scene GETS to me.
And before that, the very beginning, "Mom? Mom? ....Mommy?" SMG goes from secure 20-something-old to terrified child in seconds. Such a fantastic scene.
And before that, the very beginning, "Mom? Mom? ....Mommy?" SMG goes from secure 20-something-old to terrified child in seconds. Such a fantastic scene.
Oh god YES. that moment is what started the waterworks for me, and SMG just doesn't let up in that entire sequence, up to "We're not supposed to touch the body!" and her horrified realization. *cue more tears*
1. The first act, it's so hard to watch yet it feels so real.
2. I almost went with Kristin Sutherland because she does play a corspe very convincingly (and I know I couldn't lie still for that long) but then I remembered SMG's expression after she shouts "We're not supposed to move the body!" So yeah, she won it hands down in the end.
3. The vampire makes sense to me. Vampires are just another everyday boring aspect of Buffy's life. Plus, the forces of darkness aren't going to give her a night off because she's grieving.
4. Joyce. I'm not sure why, but she reminds me a tiny bit of my own mother, and I'm around the same age as Buffy is here. It's too easy to imagine this happening to me *shudder*.
5. Five stars. Painful as it is, I do think it's one of the best of the whole series.
1. This is probably just a matter of experience. I have not had a parent die, nor have I, within my adult years, had any close family members die. But I have had tragedy strike those around me, and have felt the panic that is associated with this. As a feat of filmmaking, I think the first or second acts are probably the best, but my heart lies with the Scoobies in Act Three
( ... )
She's incredible. I still chose SMG (mostly because this is the rare episode where I actually don't dislike her acting... I gotta give props), but Act Two is my favorite of the episode - when Michelle screams in the hallway, I lose it every time*
** helps that my baby sister looks like the love child of Michelle T and Claire Danes - so when either is in pain, I pretty much lose my mind
But I do think this episode is flawed. I never liked the Christmas flashback scene. It's out of place and takes me out of the episode, every.single.time.
Also, and this is just a personal gripe of mine: I've always found the writers' reactions to speculation on the board that Dawn might be able to bring Joyce back to life by touching her in the last scene quite irritating. It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion, given what we knew of Dawn at the time this episode aired. *huffs*
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I wouldn't say the vampire is necessary to the episode but I really like it being there. I think it's a very brutal reminder that the world can only stop for so long, even when you think it should stop forever - but also it fits with the episode title. The vampire is a demon inside a dead human - it's taken over the body, stolen it. Joyce's body is quite empty because there's no Joyce and no demon - it's just there now, just a shell with nothing inside. The body is only important to us - but how very, very important!
Joyce's death, definietely. All of the deaths make me cry but this episode is a stunner and the whole thing is amazingly done. Five stars.
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2- It's really hard to decide: the actors are really good, especially SMG, Emma and Alyson. But, in the end, SMG. She did a great job.
3- I wouldn't say necessary, but it feels right. It's kinda the meeting of supernatural death (And Buffy is a show based on supernatural deaths) and real death. Also I love that the vampire is naked and, still, Buffy seems vulnerable and "naked" than him.
4- Joyce's death is the saddest and the more realistic. I think that Anya's death potentially could be as harmful as Joyce's, but it happens in the final episode, so we don't really have time to feel the loss. Jenny's death is very "horror-style", but it still feels bad because is a way for Angelus to destroy the gang, and I feel sorry for them. But, in the end, I would say Joyce's death.
5- Five stars.
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2. *nods*
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And before that, the very beginning, "Mom? Mom? ....Mommy?" SMG goes from secure 20-something-old to terrified child in seconds. Such a fantastic scene.
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Oh god YES. that moment is what started the waterworks for me, and SMG just doesn't let up in that entire sequence, up to "We're not supposed to touch the body!" and her horrified realization. *cue more tears*
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2. I almost went with Kristin Sutherland because she does play a corspe very convincingly (and I know I couldn't lie still for that long) but then I remembered SMG's expression after she shouts "We're not supposed to move the body!" So yeah, she won it hands down in the end.
3. The vampire makes sense to me. Vampires are just another everyday boring aspect of Buffy's life. Plus, the forces of darkness aren't going to give her a night off because she's grieving.
4. Joyce. I'm not sure why, but she reminds me a tiny bit of my own mother, and I'm around the same age as Buffy is here. It's too easy to imagine this happening to me *shudder*.
5. Five stars. Painful as it is, I do think it's one of the best of the whole series.
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Though I'm glad to see someone did pick Kristin Sutherland!
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She's incredible. I still chose SMG (mostly because this is the rare episode where I actually don't dislike her acting... I gotta give props), but Act Two is my favorite of the episode - when Michelle screams in the hallway, I lose it every time*
** helps that my baby sister looks like the love child of Michelle T and Claire Danes - so when either is in pain, I pretty much lose my mind
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Yes. This.
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5. Definitely one of the series' best. *nods*
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But I do think this episode is flawed. I never liked the Christmas flashback scene. It's out of place and takes me out of the episode, every.single.time.
Also, and this is just a personal gripe of mine: I've always found the writers' reactions to speculation on the board that Dawn might be able to bring Joyce back to life by touching her in the last scene quite irritating. It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion, given what we knew of Dawn at the time this episode aired. *huffs*
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