Buffy 3x21: Graduation Day, Part 1

[fajrdrako]

A lot of this is set-up for the season finale. Fun, anyway.

I like the idea of Cordelia as 'a lone fashionable wolf'.

1. Another good Cordelia line: "Wow, you've really mastered the power of positive giving-up. "
   
   
2. Why does Xander slip into soldier-mode here? Just to remind us that he can?
   
   
3. Willow and Harmony sign each other's yearbooks and Willow confesses to Buffy that she hates Harmony. I'm not sure I understand that. Do people always act so weird at graduation, or is it that Willow's messed up because she's afraid what the Mayor will do?
   
   
4. Buffy says, "I just don't get the whole graduation thing. I mean you get a piece of paper and nothing changes." Why does she say that? A lot changes - she won't have to go to high school any more. How well I remember that happy day!
   
   
5. I like Willow's guesses about the commencement speaker - Siegfried, Roy, the tiger.
   
   
6. Faith kills Professor Worth. Love her last line: "I never thought to ask" why. Chilling.
   
   
7. Faith wears a dress. The Mayor acts fatherly. Awww. Is it a dream world? Is it just creepy, or is it a good thing in Faith's odd life?
   
   
8. I liked Willow's conversation with Percy, her success case: "History's important...I'm graduating tomorrow, can forget all this crap."
   
   
9. Lovely conversation between Anya and Xander:

   Anya: Men like sports. I'm sure of it.
   Xander: ...A thousand years of avenging our wrongs and that's all you've learned?

10. Buffy reads about the murder of Wirth and knows it's Faith: "One of her pieces. I recognize the brush work." How detailed was the newspaper photo? What made Buffy so sure?
    
    
11. Lovely Willow line: "Everybody does seem to be going a bit mad, lately. Faith has something of a head start."
    
    
12. Good Buffy line: "The Mayor's trying to hide. I say we go seek." Whedon's on a roll here.
    
    
13. And Wesley: "Aas that a yes? I have trouble keeping track." Gad, I do love him. Can't see why the others don't.
    
    
14. Nice exchange between Giles and Buffy:

    Giles: Nonetheless, keep watch. Faith has you at a disadvantage, Buffy.
    Buffy: Cause I'm not crazy or cause I don't kill people?
    Giles: Both, actually.

15. Wesley says: "Don't let your feelings about Faith interfere with your work." Does he mean that to sound as slashy as it does?
    
    
16. Nice line from Anya: "You've never seen a demon... All the demons that walk the earth are tainted, are human hybrids like vampires. The Ascension means that a human becomes pure demon. They're different." Scary foreshadowing, and a good bit of myth-building... for what it's worth.
    
    
17. Love it that the Mayor walks into the library. Cool. "That's one spunky little girl you've raised. I'm gonna eat her." Great dialogue and characterizatoin. I love it that it's Giles who tries to kill him.
    
    
18. Anya: "If there's a lunar shuttle going up anytime soon, I'm on it." I think I like Anya.
    
    
19. Buffy makes Joyce leave. Not sure how I feel about that. It makes sense logically. But in terms of story-telling? I'm not sure.
    
    
20. Lovely Willow/Oz kissing scene. "What are you doing?" "Panicking."
    
    
21. Interesting dialogue between Buffy and Angel:

    Buffy: Look, I don't need an escort. I'm a big girl. Superpowers, remember? I don't need you crowding me.
    Angel: I didn't think I was.
    Buffy: No, of course you don't. You just show up at the prom and then you disappear into the ozone. For all I know, you left town.
    Angel: Are you mad at me for being around too much or for not being around enough?
    Buffy: Duh. Yes.
    Angel: Which?

    I don't like it because it leads to their separation, but it's beautifully done.
    
    
22. Loved this:

    Vampire: Missed the heart.
    Faith: Meant to.

23. Nice Buffy line: "I've narrowed down my list of one suspect." She's in fine form.
    
    
24. Willow and Oz in bed. Oh my. Good. I like those two.
    
    
25. Good moment with the Mayor and Faith:Faith: You gotta give me something to do. There's no way I'm sleeping. Don't you need anyone dead? Or maimed? I can settle for maimed.
    Mayor: (chuckles) You little firecracker.The tone they set...!
    
    
26. Anya wants Xander to leave with her. That's sweet.
    
    
27. And Xander: "I can't ...I got friends on the line." One of his good moments.
    
    
28. A lot of scenes are ending here with lovers kissing, or refusing to kiss, or going further, or breaking up - interesting juxtapositions.
    
    
29. Wesley says to Buffy, "You can't turn your back on the Council." Why not? I like her answer: "I don't think they can tell which way my back is facing."
    
    
30. Great conversation between Wesley and Buffy here:

    Buffy: I have a strategy. You're not in it.
    Wesley: This is mutiny.
    Buffy: (long pause) I like to think of it as graduation.

31. Is Willow being cagy about the cure for Angel's problem? I think so.
    
    
32. Yup. Confimed. "Drain the blood of a Slayer." And there happens to be two convenient Slayers at hand.
    
    
33. Faith reads a comic book. Damn. I don't like her. I wish it were the characters I liked who read comic books.
    
    
34. Good fight between Buffy and Faith. I'm not usually fond of extended fight scenes, but this is one of the best - partly because it's been looming all season. Or do I mean pending?
    
    
35. So they find a picture of the demon. Looks big. Size counts. The problem is, size on a TV screen really isn't very scary. Nor, come to think of it, at all. I was never a Godzilla fan.
    
    
36. Eating bugs and talking about fibre is just so Mayor-like. Whedon is having too much fun with him. Good Mayor line: "We don't knock during dark rituals?"
    
    
37. So Faith, stabbed, falls out the window onto a moving vehicle so Buffy can't use her blood. How'd she manage that? Remarkable luck. Of course, I don't believe for a minute that she's dead or dying.
    
    
38. To be continued... climax next episode. Okay.

Comments

[toraks.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.. I guess I just have an aversion to (lack of understanding of?) the bad guys -- TV, books, movies. If you're supposed to not like them, I don't. Very susceptible to authorial intent.

Giles is definitely awesome. I was weirded out when he had the fling with Buffy's mom (season 1?) in a 'eeeeew parents getting it on, don't want to think about that' kind of way. It took a few years for me to not see him in avuncular mode. I definitely identified with the kids at first. :-D

Let's see. I like Buffy and Angel and Willow the most, probably. Giles is up there too. Spike, nope, that whole villain thing got in the way. Made some of the later seasons a bit weird.

Thinking on it, Willow may be my favorite character of the whole thing (BTVS & Angel). I think I identified with her quite a bit, besides, she's hot. Though I think attraction-wise, I found Buffy sexier. And Angel. Giles, too, but that later.

Hmmmm.... I don't think I just like the characters because I'm attracted to them in that way, but then, it does all go together for me, often. :-D

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I definitely identified with the kids at first. :-D

An advantage in my case of not seeing it when young, but of course Buffy didn't exist when I was young. Even when it first aired, I would have been nuts over Giles. And one of the reasons I didn't watch it when it first aired was that it seemed to be all about tiny teen girls.

I identify with Willow, too. And she is hot. But I identify more with Buffy - in some ways Willow is too much like me, in things I don't like about myself, like being shy. Buffy has all that honesty and concern for doing what's right. I don't know if I find Buffy sexy - sometimes yes, sometimes no - mostly yes. Angel only sometimes. Spike always. But then, he never seemed to me like a villain. Just a person whose agenda opposed Buffy's.

Yes, it does all go together. Most of the time.