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lilydalexf · 3 years

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Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Sarah Ellen Parsons

Sarah Ellen Parsons has 18 X-Files stories at Gossamer and 19 at AO3. If you want high quality fic with interesting characters, go read her stories. Some of my favorites of her fics are The Crouching Thing and My Constant Touchstone Who Makes Me A Whole Person (which are two very different stories!). Big thanks to Sarah Ellen for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

With today's binge-watching culture, I'm not at all surprised. You can watch a bunch of eps and then seek out fic that is where you are in the series.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

I took away a writer's group Yes, Virginia, that is still together. Mostly as friends, but whenever I write something, or someone else writes something, it's the first place we all run for machete beta. I have betad SO MANY novels.

We have a number of folks who are published writers since then and our time in X-Files fic brought us lifelong friendships IRL and made us all better at our craft. The majority of those folks were better writers than I am. And I make my living as a writer in my day-job.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

I belonged to a couple of the largest lists and posted there and bitched about the show on usenet with everyone else. We had our own Yahoo group for beta. We all had crappy GeoCities websites that we programmed the HTML for ourselves and hooked through various fandom link circles to get traffic to our stories. But the main method of distribution was the lists.

Fun fact, I found a free page counter thing that I used at work one time through fandom. So fandom pays off in skillz.

Even without social media, we managed to get our stories in front of readers who would enjoy them. Where there's a will, there's always someone ready to step up and find a way.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Again, I have lifelong friends IRL that I got solely from fanfiction. That's the best takeaway.

Fandom disappointed me because it, like everything else, is ruined by people's egos, backstabbing, and petty people who get in positions of power and then use those positions to punch down or dictate. I was young when I was writing X-Files and I still had hope that people would rise to their better natures, so I got involved in various futile efforts to try to make people behave the way I wanted them to behave, I guess. I did a lot of public bitching that didn't serve me or my friends well. I now put that effort into politics, where it does actual good.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

X-files was made for me. It combined science fiction, mystery, horror. I love all of those genres. Plus there was Scully. No matter how sexist that writer's room was, Scully was awesome. But you kept seeing bad writing. Even in the heyday seasons, like Season 3, there were really terrible eps that made you want to fix things.

I'm a lifelong speculative fiction fan and a published feminist science fiction author. I actually was published before I fell down the fic hole. I got involved in fanfic due to getting my fantasy novel turned down from every major publisher for being "too dark". And I needed to get readers to see my stuff to prove to myself that I wasn't terrible at writing. I got a ton of feedback and it was like market research to see what people wanted to read.

My time in fanfiction made me 100% a better writer than I was.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I went to the X-Files Expo to see if I could make contact with someone from Harper Collins because the tie-in novels sucked so hard. I got rejected with my pitch as I didn't have a literary agent.

Around that time, a pal who I watched X-Files with IRL was looking for a free X-files wallpaper for her work computer when she found the website where fans in Pennsylvania had fic archived. She read some and wrote to me - "you need to see this, and you can do better." So I started reading and was.... I probably CAN do better. So I wrote The Batman Plot. And made two friends I'm still friends with with that one story.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Nonexistent. I couldn't even watch the latest season and I saw only 2 of season one of whatever that was before I gave up. I have never watched the second movie.

X-files is my first fandom bad ex-husband. I loved it SO MUCH, but it betrayed me.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I was deep into Harry Potter for a while, but I didn't end up publishing anything in it. All my stories were novel-length and I was writing so much for work, I never completed anything. I called Snape/Lily when Prisoner of Azkaban was published and got Jossed by Rowling in one of my big ideas. (This is bad fandom ex-husband 2. JKR will never get a dime of money from me again because of her hateful stance on transfolk. I have RL friends who are trans and NO.)

I wrote fic in Supernatural. It was the obvious next thing after X-Files. However, the misogyny and bringing in all the Angel/Devil Christofascist stuff lost me. The ep where they declared all other religions other than Christianity as invalid and killed a Hindu god made me stop watching for good. I know enough Christofascists IRL that I can't tolerate it in my fiction. (Bad fandom ex-husband 3)

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

This list is far too long to actually make. But characters I spent time writing about include: Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Co. (I wrote three unpublished Star Trek novels before I found online fandom). King Arthur and Morgan Le Fay, Sherlock Holmes (I wrote a Sherlock Holmes play after seeing "Crucifer of Blood" and entered it in a national competition, where I got very nice comments back.), Mulder, Scully and Krycek, Rowling's Hermione and Snape (like him or not, its masterful characterization), Dean and Sam Winchester, John Winchester and Bobby Singer. I wrote one comedy story starring Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A couple of Roswell stories under a different name. Catwoman and Batman. I have some unpublished Avengers fanfic lying around as I'm an OG Marvel fan with a massive comic collection.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I was on a business trip a few years ago and FX had a marathon and I watched part of it when I was in my hotel room. Early seasons are comforting, but I don't go back there now.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I don't read X-Files fic anymore. I read a tiny bit of Star Wars after the second movie because Rian Johnson had it right. Now I don't care. I love Mandalorian, but am content to watch.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Too many to count. All of YV. Which reminds me, I need to go update our entry at Fanlore. I promised Punk I'd do it a while back. I need to at least get everyone linked. Right now it's only Punk and Sab.

But it was a ton of us. Marasmus, Maria Nicole, Cofax, CazQ, M. Sebasky, Livia Balaban, Kelly Keil, Wen, Ropobop, Jess Mabe, JET, fialka, and a bunch of others that I can't remember their fic names any more, just their real names because I know them all IRL. I need to go back and look up their fic names and link them up there.

In addition to my little group of pals, I loved reading Mustang Sally and Rivka T, Rachel Anton - I keep trying to find her to encourage her to write romance if she's not doing it already, but no dice, Dasha K., Anjou, there were so many great ones, but their names have slipped my mind in the past 20 years.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

I'm most known for Prone, and I'm proud of that story for all kinds of reasons, but I think my very best is The Crouching Thing.

I mostly didn't publish anything I didn't think was good and hadn't been machete betaed within an inch of its life, but I'm not sure much of the angsty romance stuff holds up as well. I think it worked when the show was still ON and we were all in that emotional headspace, but probably not now.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

Funny you ask. I am currently reworking a plot idea I had for an X-Files fic into a contemporary M/M novel, which I will publish under a different pen-name. The plot is the idea I had for X-Files, the characters are very, very different other than one is uptight and the other more easy-going. But no more Mulder and Scully.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I have been making my living as a writer for 25 years. I write the word count equivalent of 5 Tolkein novels a year, just for my day-job. I am turning back to original fiction, which is where I was before X-Files. I'm working on the M/M thing, a high fantasy thing, a low fantasy historical thing and a bunch of M/F Regency romances as I get time and energy. I publish Fantasy and SF under my real name. Romance has pen names as you don't want that getting back to your workplace, either.

SEP is fic only and here she will stay.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

I have too many ideas to count. I try to write them down when they come, so I won't forget. At least the outline of the idea. Often a scene. I've been like this my entire life. I started writing novels seriously at 15. I wrote a 500 plus page one about Morgan Le Fay during breaks in high school because "Mists of Avalon" pissed me off so bad as I'd read the original source material and that was a Wicca recruitment polemic.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Sarah Ellen was my great-grandma, Parsons was her grandma's last name.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

Half my friends ARE fic friends. Most of my friends know as does my brother, who thinks writing for free is dumb. This is universally agreed on by non-fic friends who know. My mother still doesn't know about the fic. Just the "real" writing. I write under a pen name to keep it away from my job and my published work.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

My X-files stuff is up on Gossamer mostly. I'm trying to get the stories all moved to AO3 for all the genres. I'm working on this now. SEP is really not a living thing anymore, but there was a time when she was more me than me.

If you want to find my "real" non-fic writing, write to me at se_parsons at yahoo dot com and I will point you at it.

And PLEASE someone, hunt down Rachel Anton and get her writing something we all can BUY. Where are my old Krycek bitches at? Do any of you know where she is? [Lilydale note: I’ve tried contacting Rachel Anton for this Old School X project but have not had luck. I would love to find her too!]

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

The community I loved has mostly moved on, but I think we left a legacy of solid work crafted out of our love for the show. Find a living community you love for a show you love. There are great people out there creating and get involved. It will be worth it.

(Posted by Lilydale on December 15, 2020)

#new post #old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #xf fanfic author interviews #sarah ellen parsons

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numberonepapermaker32 · 4 years

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 1 Review

SPOILER ALERT!!!

01. All’s Fair

The opening story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 1. It was nice to hear/see Spike and Dru's dialogs, but there wasn't that much more to the story except it was another one of their adventures. I was kinda misled to believe it would be set during the Boxer Rebellion, but instead, the time of it was the Chicago World's Fair in the 1930s. It was short and not that fun, the theme of the crazy scientist with a wondrous machine was even a bit silly. I didn't much enjoy the artwork, either. Spike and Dru don't look like themselves from the show. All in all, a quick and somewhat fun read.

02. The Origin

I loved this volume!! I have yet to watch the Buffy movie, somehow I can't make myself. So keep in mind I read this without knowing the plot and the facts from it. Buffyverse Wikia says how this comic is ''considered the canon story that replaces the events of this movie,'' so it's fair to say it gives us the whole backstory of Buffy's life prior to coming to Sunnydale. It shows Buffy already fighting vampires and eventually finding out about her Slayer destiny. We get the complete info because, on the show, they glossed over that part: how Buffy was quick in adjusting to this new life, figuring out how in order to beat more vampires at once, she should seek a priest to bless water for her to use, etc. Just as with Melaka Fray, here we see how Potentials transform into Slayers, being quick on their minds and feet. Another important part was how she tried to talk to the school's guidance counselor about vampires and the dreams she'd been having, and he didn't even listen to her but instead talked about himself. This is indicative and shows some good foreshadowing for the show. It tells us at this very beginning how no one will believe Buffy to be a sane person when she mentions these ''shadow activities'' of hers. The word crazy gets tossed around a lot, which I strongly dislike. I hate the stereotypical gender roles that Buffyverse keeps on projecting. The girls are pretty and dumbsih, the boys want sex with the pretty girls. Other than that, I really enjoyed this issue. Very much so!!

03. Viva Las Buffy

Wow, this issue was excellent!! Really fast-paced and I read it in a single breath! It's a prequel with more of Buffy's backstory, but also Angel's and Giles's, which I loved! Randomly picked thoughts: 01. The only thing I HATED about this issue is Pike. I mean, he's utterly horrible! Again, Buffyverse displays some stereotypical gender roles, and those are painfully obvious in this story. Pike is constantly whining and worrying about how Buffy will not like him and how he's a nuisance when we know as well as he does, Buffy doesn't need that kind of crap in her newfound life as a Slayer! I mean, the dude tries to kill himself in front of Buffy and actually thinks it's a good idea and a valid way to help her because he's so self-involved!!! Thank the heavens he leaves at the end, urgggh. 02. Dawn is in this comic, which I'm not sure how I feel about, and it also contradicts the show and movie (as Wikia suggests). I don't like her as a character on the show, except for when she is there for Buffy emotionally. 03. There are many scenes in this issue, as well as the next one, where we get info about the marriage between Joyce and Hank. It's difficult to read, really, knowing what we know after we've seen the show. The strain is huge, and Hank is strict, cold, and distant. 04. I loved to see how Giles became Buffy's Watcher. The use of Dark Magics is also indicative and comes full circle in the episode about his Ripper days, The Dark Age. Oh, and Wesley and Gwendolyn Post are also here! :) 05. Angel's story is quirky, so to speak. He follows Buffy to Las Vegas to watch over her (as we learned on the show from his talk from Whistler). He calls himself Angelus for some reason... Like, doesn't that only happen when he's soulless? Whatever. Then he gets into this messy situation with the casino manager regarding his vampire factory and ends up going through a temporal portal that leads him back to the manager's backstory. It was so fun when he said ''...So would someone like to tell me why I'm the only thing here in color?'' LoL, way to be meta, Angel. This is a great comic and I would recommend it to all Buffy fans!!

04. Dawn and Hoopy the Bear

Oh my everloving lord, was this bad!!! Like, why would someone write and publish this in an otherwise great series!?? I'm only giving it 3 instead of 2 stars because the artwork is amazing. But seriously! Some guy who we don't even get to meet chants and calls upon a demon* to curse a teddy bear into killing the Slayer. A teddy bear. A. TEDDY. BEAR. Without knowing who or where the Slayer is. Dawn is just as irritating as on the show, yelling ''What about ME?'' All right already... The nice thing is that the bear protects Dawn because Buffy ran away to Las Vegas, so it's a lovely touch. The parents are getting more distant, so Dawn is kinda alone. Oh, but then?? The ending? The freaking ending?! ''...He came to life and became a real bear. But he turned out to be a naughty bear...'' ''Oh, Dawny, what an imagination you have!'' AND THEN: THE END!! And we see the bear sitting in a dark alley with a beer in his hand. Sorry, paw. WHAAAAAAT??! I mean, was this supposed to be funny?? It's horribly sad and wrong and why am I even thinking about this bear and why does this idiotic story bother me so much?? Omg... * The demon at the beginning looks a lot like the Asphyx demon that gave Spike a soul at the end of s06 of the show. I asked the folks over on reddit about it, but so far haven't gotten an answer. IF ANYBODY KNOWS ANYTHING, LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS :)

05. Slayer, Interrupted

Yeah, this is the best installment in the Omnibus vol.1 collection, mainly because it completes everyone's backstory prior to the show's s01, after they all arrive in Sunnydale. This volume is set around Buffy's time in the mental institution which we learned about in s06 of the show, this gives us details. Basically, Dawn being Dawn, the insufferable idiot she is, goes on and reads Buffy's diary which makes their parents decide to send Buffy to a mental hospital. She can't possibly be sane if she's writing about vampires, right?? Urghh, Dawn. Anyway, the doctors set a diagnosis of a ''severe neuroses paranoia'' and ''a Messiah complex.'' Then they go on to decide she should get medication prior to electro-shock treatment. OMG... Like, did they actually do that stuff in the 90es still?? Eventually, we find out that, of course, the asylum is laden with the supernatural. The head doctor turns out to be the Rakagore demon who sires teenage brides. Yuck, again with this gender stereotype crap. BUT! This episode does raise some interesting foreshadowing. Buffy's problem with authority and the almost complete lack of faith from adults in general. There's this scene where she describes her childhood with her father. He reads her Alice in Wonderland (of course, what else, geez) and she then felt safe. The symbolism is clear even for Buffy and she raises an excellent point of how the word 'crazy' is just awful and plain wrong. Random thoughts: 01. Giles's story of passing this super-difficult test by facing his inner demons, or rather his younger self was kinda weak. However, I was happy to see how he and Buffy have other things in common, here namely father figure issues. 02. We get this short glimpse of Sunnydale Hight with Cordelia and Willow and that makes me super happy!! I wish there was more! 03. There's a couple of scenes with Angel and Whistler that are completely unnecessary because they give us no exposition whatsoever. 04. There's this great foreshadowing at the end when Buffy visits Alice in the hospital and offers her a Doublemeat burger.

#buffy the vampire slayer #comics #review

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buffster · 5 years

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The Yoko Factor (BTVS 4.20)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

All I remembered about the Scooby fight was that it happened. I had forgotten how, and I actually do think it makes more sense now. It wasn’t about their friendship, it was about attacking each of their insecurities and making them feel that everyone else in the group had noticed them too. This was possible because the friendship has been so fractured that no one feels supported or even seen. They have no reason not to think they’re being judged.

Unfortunately, the resolution to all this never really comes around. There is a ton of good stuff here--Buffy’s increased reliance on herself, Willow’s moving away from her computer skills and into witchcraft as a solution to everything, Xander not feeling respected and seeing Anya as an extension of that, Giles losing his sense of leadership and importance--but we never really get an acknowledgement of any of that until much later. And the real problem that Spike landed on--that the Scoobies aren’t paying a bit of attention to one another--gets a quick patch over but continues to be a problem. Yes, Buffy isn’t judging Willow, but is that a good thing or just a symptom of her ignoring her entirely?

Spike is the one who comes up with this plan to incite drama, which I do feel makes sense for his character. He’s insightful and incredibly good at stuff like this. It’s also fun to see his perspective on Buffy and how fascinated/afraid of her he is. He keeps insisting to Adam that he needs to consider her a bigger threat. You can sense the admiration beneath the irritation.

Adam: You feel smothered. Trapped like an animal, pure in its ferocity, unable to actualize the urges within… Clinging to one truth like a flame struggling to burn within an enclosed glass… That a beast this powerful cannot be contained. Inevitably it will break free and savage the land again… I will make you whole again. Make you savage.

This is the episode in which Forrest is killed. He claims his problem with Buffy is that Riley is willing to commit treason over her and turn against their “family”. I would have loved to see some more backstory on Forrest: either have him be an orphan who found his family through Riley and now he feels abandoned or have him have a romantic interest in him. Then you could even have had him join Adam willingly as a way to get his family back.

Angel’s return also doesn’t fit into the story well. I covered over in Sanctuary why his coming here made no sense, and his drama with Riley was nothing but fan-baiting. It also felt like a bit of a step back for Angel’s character; he always seems less mature over on Buffy. On Angel he seems sad but resigned to the fact that he can’t have Buffy and she comes off as wanting more than he can give. But here he seems like a petty, jealous ex. I don’t see a scenario where he would like Riley, but beating him up, refusing to explain he’s not evil, and insinuating he might have slept with Buffy is ridiculous. The end scene where he says “I don’t like him” in a tone of resigned sadness makes more sense than everything before it.

Buffy: Look, I… you weren't entirely wrong, what you said in L.A. We don't live in each other's worlds anymore. I can't just barge in on yours and make judgments.

Angel: I'm still sorry.

Buffy: Thank you.

Xander is the one who gives Riley the information on what turned Angel evil. Why does he have this habit of venting inappropriately when it comes to Buffy’s boyfriends (here, and when he tells Dawn Spike tried to rape Buffy)? In the script Xander decides to tell Riley even though it’s clear Buffy doesn’t want him to know, but in the episode it plays like Xander accidentally spilled the beans.

As far as Buffy’s decision on this, I get it. It’s a bit easier for Willow, for example, to be totally honest with Tara about her past with Oz. She loved him, the wolf thing became a problem, he left. Angel will always hold power over Buffy and she will always have feelings for him, and basically the only reason they’re not together is because they can’t be. How do you tell a boyfriend that if your ex suddenly became human you’d be tempted to run right back into his arms? It’s unresolved and messy.

Riley: I went a little nuts, you know? I mean, on the one hand, I should believe in us. But, on the other, sometimes things just happen between ex's and then I saw he was bad

Buffy: He wasn't bad.

Riley: Seriously? That's a "good" day? Well there you go. Even when he's good he's all Mr. Billowy Coat King of Pain and girls really-

After their talk they say I love you to each other and then Buffy has to tell him about Forrest. He abruptly leaves, and the cliff-hanger is that he goes to Adam.

Let’s get in to the Scooby drama. It’s clear Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles haven’t been paying much attention to each other lately, but you know who has been paying attention? Spike.

Spike: Think you're neglecting the past tense there, Rupert. Besides, she barely listened when you were in charge. I've seen the way she treats you.

We’ve seen a few hints that Giles is insecure about losing his job as librarian and, more importantly, Watcher. He was fired way back in season three, but when Buffy belonged to the Council she continued to look to him for guidance and ignored the replacements. When she decided to drop the Council and stop taking orders she also stopped looking to him. She’s the leader now.

Xander: This is so like them lately. It's all about them and the college life. You know what college is? It's high school without the actual going to class. Well, high school was sort of like that too but the point is, I'm the one working hard to earn a living and it's a huge joke to them.

Anya: They look down on you.

Xander: And they hate you…

Anya: But they don't look down on me.

Xander is struggling to find his footing post-high school, which we actually have seen hints of throughout. The ironic part is Buffy and Willow will be in the same place after college, but by then Xander is finding a place in construction and doing a bit better. Spike suggests they mentioned him going to the military, which was a strange choice. It would be fairly easy for them to shut down having ever said that if it came up. Spike only gets away with it because the fight is so chaotic.

Willow: I am a whiz!

Tara: She is a whiz.

Willow’s insecurity is about her new relationship with Tara and her friend’s feelings about it. Spike slips up here; he says Xander said she was being trendy but Xander doesn’t even know about the relationship at this point. Spike points out something interesting here--Willow isn’t as focused on her computer skills lately. But that’s not something she or anyone else will be concerned about for awhile.

Spike doesn’t say anything to Buffy, which makes sense because she’s sort of the center of this whole universe. Buffy has a lot of concerns, but her friends not liking or needing her isn’t one of them. The interesting thing about all this drama is that none of the friends care a bit about what the others are going through; they’re too focused on their own drama. Buffy and Willow don’t think about Xander’s employment issues, Buffy and Xander don’t think about Willow’s sexual preferences or her obsession with wicca, and Buffy, Xander, and Willow don’t think about Giles’ lack of employment in any real way.

Tensions escalate when they all convene at Giles’ house because everyone is overly sensitive (Buffy is totally lost).

Giles: You never train with me anymore. Adam's gonna kick your ass.

Buffy: Giles?!

Giles: Sorry! Didn't mean to be so honest. Terribly sorry.

After seeing Forrest die, Buffy isn’t eager for anyone to come along with her. And that just further taps into their feelings of inadequacy.

Xander: And if I did join the army I'd be great. You know why? Because maybe they'd give me a job that couldn't be done by any well-trained Border Collie.

Willow: Sure, you'd be wonderful in the army -- you think the umbilical cord between you and Anya would stretch that far?

Xander: I knew it. I knew you hated her.

Willow: Hey, I'm not the one being judgmental, here. I'll leave that territory to you and Buffy.

Buffy: Judgmental? If I was any more open minded about the choices you two make my whole brain would fall out.

Xander: Oh. And superior. Don't forget that. Just because you're better than us doesn't mean you can be all superior.

Buffy: Guys, stop this. What happened to you today?

Willow: It's not today. Buffy, everything's been wrong for a while. Don't you see that?

Buffy: Willow, what do you mean things have been wrong? Things don't have to be wrong, do they?

A major problem with the Scooby friendship is that Buffy is the leader--and she is both too distracted and too inclined to ignore emotional issues to lead effectively. Buffy is an avoidance type and so the entire group avoids talking or working through their feelings with each other. This is something Giles noticed in Once More With Feeling but it never gets fixed. The group is missing someone like Faith or Spike...someone who would be more willing to call out issues and bring them out in the open. Buffy hates that, but sometimes it’s necessary. Just look what happened to everyone in season six...

Character Notes:

The Initiative: They want Riley back. They (correctly) realize they can’t harm Buffy if they ever want to bring him back into the fold. When the relationship between them ends they do eventually lure him back, so good call there.

Spike: We learn he can’t even point a useless gun with the chip in his head. It appears to be activated by intent to harm rather than ability, which makes sense. He lists his past fun night outs as deflowering a virgin princess, killing a minister mid-sermon, and seeing the Sex Pistols in ‘76.

Adam: His favorite Beatles song is ‘Helter Skelter’.

#theyokofactor #doug petrie #buffy summers #willow rosenberg #xander harris #rupert giles #spike #anya jenkins #angel #buffy/angel #riley finn #buffy/riley #xander/anya #tara maclay #willow/tara #forrest gates #adam #buffy/spike

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marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer · 6 years

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MTVS Epic Rewatch #208

Don’t forget to vote on the season 7 polls!!

BTVS 7x21 End of Days

Stray thoughts

1) So this is how Faith is doing as the leader…

…and this is how Buffy is doing as the outcast Slayer…

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I wonder who’s the boss… (maybe we should ask Abed.)

2) I don’t like seeing Faith hurt, but I do get a very sick (I admit it) satisfaction at seeing all these girls hurt and scared because they kicked Buffy out and they screwed everything up in the worst possible fashion. I know that by having Faith lead them into yet another trap the writers were trying to prove the point that what happened at the vineyard could’ve happened to anyone and that it wasn’t Buffy’s fault (Buffy will make this same point herself later on the episode.) Both Buffy and Faith were trying to do what they thought was best, yet it backfired. Shit happens yada yada yada. Yet I just can’t help but feel personally vindicated when I see Faith and the potentials fuck everything up so spectacularly.

On the other hand, not only was Buffy able to pull herself together after the group (and her friends! Her family!) kicked her out and made her feel like the worst piece of shit in the whole world, but she also managed to A) get the scythe and B) make Caleb nervous, which was a first. So yeah. #teamBuffy

3) So why exactly were the Scoobies looking for Buffy? I mean, didn’t they kick her out literally the day before? And now they’re suddenly worried about her or something? The only person who followed Buffy after they all kicked her out was Faith. Faith! Do you see how wrong/ironic that this? Do you see how painful it must’ve been for Buffy not to have NONE OF HER FRIENDS – not Xander, not Willow, not Giles, not even her own sister! – go after her to see if she was okay? To ask her where she was going or what she was going to do? The only person who showed any concern whatsoever about her was probably the only person she would’ve labeled a potential enemy.

Damn you all, I’m still pissed off. I hate this. I hate having to feel this way about the characters I’ve loved for seven seasons in the FINAL EPISODES OF THE SHOW. It just feels so wrong, but I can’t help but HATE THEM. What the hell was this fucking writing choice? I hate it. I hate everything about it.

4) If I have to say something in favor of Kennedy is this, when shit hit the fan, she was the only one who wasn’t screaming like a moron and who was actually trying to fight off the Turok-Han. So yeah. The girl got spunk.

5) But she’s nothing compared to our designated BAMF.

6) No one is kicking Buffy out now, HUH? HUH???????????????????

Yes. Yes, you did.

8) And this is exactly why they shouldn’t have kicked her out or “rebelled” against her or whatever the fuck they thought they were doing.

BUFFY You guys, it was a trap. It's not her fault. That could've just as easily happened to me.

9) While I do appreciate the pun and the side glances between Buffy and Willow…

I still feel it’s very wrong they’re all just talking and Giles is playing around with the scythe as if the last time they’d been together they HADN’T HUMILIATED BUFFY AND KICKED HER OUT OF HER OWN FUCKING HOUSE???? LIKE SERIOUSLY??? In Willow’s own words, you're not gonna jokey-rhyme your way out of this one.

Like, I know the apocalypse takes precedence, but maybe say “sorry for kicking you out” and “thank you for saving us AGAIN”.

10)

11) Again, I get the same feeling with Xander. Like, did they all suddenly forget they had left Buffy alone and kicked her out of her own house? Xander is all like, “I don’t need you to protect me just because I lost an eye” but literally a day before he was telling her it was HER fault he’d lost it, and using that as a justification not only for removing her from her role as a leader but also TO KICK HER OUT OF HER OWN HOUSE. And now it’s just like nothing ever happened? How is that possible? How is literally no one apologizing to Buffy? And not only is he not apologizing, but Buffy is telling him that he’s her heart and the reason she’s still alive, which okay, it’s all kind of true, but he’s also the guy WHO BLAMED YOU FOR LOSING HIS EYE AND WHO KICKED YOU OUT OF YOUR OWN HOUSE THE DAY BEFORE?!

I didn’t know that End of Days could make me as angry as Empty Places but here I am.

We’re 14 minutes into the episode and still, no one has apologized to Buffy and they’re all pretending like they didn’t turn their backs on her and it’s pissing me off. I hate feeling this way in the episode prior to the series finale. This is not how a fan should be feeling right before the show ends!

12) Not only do I know what a glottal stop is but I’ve also learned how to pronounce it. Or at least I was able to pronounce it a few years ago.

13) And hence the fate of Miss Kitty Fantastico was finally revealed…

DAWN Xander, my crossbow is not out here. I told you, I don't leave crossbows around all willy-nilly. Not since that time with Miss Kitty Fantastico.

If you must hate Dawn, it should only be for this.

14) Did anyone really believe Xander would hurt Dawn?

15) What was the point of this scene…?

…I mean, other than to give us Nathan Fillion’s orgasm face?

16) And this is the difference between Buffy and the rest… just remember how everyone reacted and treated Buffy after the vineyard, and see how she acts here after literally the same happened with Faith in charge…

FAITH What do you want me to say? I blew it.

BUFFY You didn't blow it.

FAITH Tell that to—

BUFFY People die. You lead them into battle, they're gonna die. It doesn't matter how ready you are or how smart you are. War is about death. Needless, stupid death.

She’s understanding and reassuring, she’s not pointing fingers or kicking people out. And that’s why she’s a hero and the rest are a fucking bunch of morons. I’m sorry, I’m still so angry about Empty Places and this episode is not making things any better.

17) But I do love when my two slayers see eye to eye…

FAITH So, here's the laugh riot. My whole life I've been a loner.(…) No ties, no buddies, no relationships that lasted longer than... (…) Me, by myself all the time. I'm looking at you, everything you have, and, I don't know, jealous. Then there I am. Everybody's looking to me, trusting me to lead them, and I've never felt so alone in my entire life.

BUFFY Yeah.

FAITH And that's you every day, isn't it?

BUFFY I love my friends. I'm very grateful for them. But that's the price. Being a slayer.

FAITH There's only supposed to be one. Maybe that's why you and I can never get along. We're not supposed to exist together.

BUFFY Also, you went evil and were killing people.

FAITH Good point. Also a factor.

BUFFY But you're right. I mean, I... I guess everyone's alone. But being a slayer? There's a burden we can't share.

FAITH And no one else can feel it. Thank God we're hot chicks with superpowers.

BUFFY Takes the edge off.

FAITH Comforting.

BUFFY Mm-hmm.

This is something that had been a long time coming. Since day one, Faith had envied Buffy. Just like Buffy saw in Faith her road not taken, Faith saw in Buffy the life she could’ve had but didn’t. She envied it and she wanted it for herself. She literally tried to steal it away several times. So if she couldn’t have it, if it wasn’t meant for her, then she could take Buffy away from it, drive her to the dark side, where she lived. Every attempt was futile, even stealing Buffy’s body and literally taking her life. It only made her feel more undeserving, more inadequate, more unworthy. But every time she’d taken a shot at being the leader, it was by playing tricks, by taking what it wasn’t rightfully hers. This time around, she had somehow earned it. There was no foul play on her part. Others made the decision for her and gave her the role she’d craved for so long. And she finally understood that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Yes, Buffy did have friends and people who looked up to her and cared about her. But when push comes to shove, when tough calls must be made, the Slayer is always alone. The weight of the world is only on her shoulders, and she can’t share the burden. It took four seasons but Faith finally got it. And she could finally let go of all the envy and jealousy.

18) I just love the fact that for the first time Buffy is the one who opens up to Spike. She’s always been the one who pretends there’s nothing between them and who skirts around her feelings and dismisses his. But not this time. And for me, it was enough that she acknowledged that it meant something, even if they – and we – don’t know exactly what that was.

BUFFY You're a dope.

SPIKE I'm a what?

BUFFY You're a dope. And a bonehead. And you're shirty.

SPIKE Have you gone completely carrot-top?

BUFFY Do you see this? This may actually help me fight my war. This might be the key to everything. And the reason I'm holding it is because of you. Because of the strength that you gave me last night. Look, I am tired of defensiveness and weird, mixed signals. You know, I have Faith for that. Let's just get to the truth here, OK? I don't know how you felt about last night, but I will not—

SPIKE Terrified.

BUFFY Of what?

SPIKE Last night was... God, I'm such a jerk. I can't do this.

BUFFY Spike...

SPIKE It was the best night of my life. If you poke fun at me, you bloody well better use that, 'cause I couldn't bear it. It may not mean that much to you, but—

BUFFY I just told you it did.

SPIKE Yeah... I hear you say it, but... I've lived for soddin' ever, Buffy. I've done everything. Done things with you I can't spell, but... I've never... been close... to anyone. Least of all, you. 'Til last night. All I did was... hold you, watch you sleep. And it was the best night of my life. So, yeah... I'm... terrified.

BUFFY You don't have to be.

SPIKE Were you there with me?

BUFFY I was.

SPIKE What does that mean?

BUFFY I don't know. Does it have to mean something?

SPIKE No. Not right now.

19) Update: 29 minutes in and I’m still waiting for someone to apologize to Buffy.

20) Am I the only who thinks this speech is okay but like, the writers were trying too hard to give Anya her “Anya Speech Moment” of the season and it kind of feels a bit, I don’t know, forced?

ANYA Well...I guess I was...kinda new to bein' around humans before. But now I've... seen a lot more, gotten to know people... seen what they're capable of, and... I guess I just realized...how amazingly screwed-up they all are. I mean really, really screwed-up in a monumental fashion. And they have no purpose that unites them, so they just drift around, blundering through life until they die...which they...they know is coming, yet every single one of them is surprised when it happens to them. They're incapable of thinking about what they want beyond the moment. They kill each other, which is clearly insane. And yet, here's the thing. When it's something that really matters, they fight. I mean, they're lame morons for fighting, but they do. They never... never quit. So I guess I will keep fighting, too.

21) #priorities

22) And in another episode of Plots Totally Pulled Out of the Writer’s Ass… (a.k.a. Joss Whedon Tries to Rectify the Fact that He Wrote a Bunch of Men Violating the Original Slayer by Putting a Demon Inside of Her and Thus Utterly Destroyed the Whole Slayerness Equals Feminism Theme)

WOMAN We forged it in secrecy and kept it hidden from the Shadow Men, who...

BUFFY Yeah. Met those guys. Didn't really care too much for 'em.

WOMAN Ahh, yes. Then you know. And they became the watchers. And the watchers watched the slayers. But we were watching them.

BUFFY Oh! So you're like... what are you?

WOMAN Guardians. Women who want to help and protect you. We forged this centuries ago, halfway around the world.

Okay, I get it, I get what you were trying to do, but it was so fucking obvious, it was so transparent. Like, I know most of the so-called metaphors in this show were not so subtle (think the fucking monster-penis in Doublemeat Palace, for instance.) But the feminist struggle in the slayer vs the council struggle was always something that I personally enjoyed. And this is how Joss’s brand of “feminism” began to crumble down, in my opinion. This is what a white dude who is a self-proclaimed feminist believes to be a Good feminist storyline, but it’s so clichéd and self-evident it's almost cringe-worthy. Like, you get a bunch of Evil Men quite literally raping a Poor Woman, who is faked Empowered (her powers were lent to her by the Evil Men and the source of her powers is Evil, Demonic in nature because duh! she is a Woman) so that they can Manipulate her and Use her for the benefit of the Patriarchy. But oh wait! This is a Feminist Show! So in spite of what the Evil Men who were supposedly the Powerful ones did, there always were These Great and Powerful Women behind it all, the True Guardians of the Slayer, This has been a Matriarchy all along, you see?! PLOT TWIST!

Yawn.

The worst part? I can imagine all the writers patting themselves on the back for writing such a groundbreaking and Feminist storyline and for sticking it to the Men.

23) And btw, just to show you how big a Feminist Show this is, we get this…

I guess since this is a Feminist Show and Angel is the hero here and Buffy the damsel in distress, that makes Angel a woman, right?

But hey, at least he (or she?) literally let Buffy deliver the lethal blow…

24) And yes, this totally makes sense!

because Angel has not claimed to be in love with Cordelia and Buffy has not just had her more honest heart-toheart with Spike. Let’s just disregard whatever arcs have been developed in both shows in order to deliver a Ship Moment for the Bangel fans, right? Who cares about character development, right? Because I’m positive this is what former lovers do after not seeing each other in over a year, being currently emotionally unavailable, and facing the greatest evil of all. Suck face.

25) Update: minute 42 and I’m STILL waiting for someone to apologize to Buffy.

26) Sorry for the bitter rant!

27) If you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi. Thanks!

#Buffy the Vampire Slayer #BTVS #Buffy Summers #Faith Lehane #The Chosen One #MTVSepicrewatch #mine #recap #End of Days #BTVSrewatch2015 #btvsrecap

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layla256 · 5 years

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Key to Her Heart Chapter 2/52: Children’s Games

And here we go, the second chapter! I know the Slayerfest would have probably been a better episode to do this prompt with, but I don’t really have access to the episode since I’m on a cruise ship with no internet right as I’m writing this, so I figured I’d go with the next episode in season two.

Cause I love me some season two. Wonder why?

This was hell to write. Frankly, there’s about 200 words missing from this chapter, mostly because of the 2000 word limit. I was gonna have Faith finally show up in all her Single-Slayer glory, there was an entire conversation Buffy has with Spike about Ford and their friendship, there was a lovely torture scene where Spike’s feelings for Buffy start to come through, there’s an entire sub-plot with Buffy’s Mom and her gallery.

None of which I got to touch. So I’ve decided, since I have the extra time on my hands, I’ll start writing shoot-offs of the series. Things that have nothing to do with the Prompts as I’m writing them, but will definitely flush out the over-all story.

The prompt this time was: The most dangerous game.

Again, Slayerfest would have been perfect, but I barely remember the episode. I’ll have to start re-watching when I get home.

Buffy wasn’t sure if she wanted to be flattered by Spike’s defense of her supposedly sullied honor or still horrified that his response to her assault had been to slaughter an entire frat house in her and her friends’ names.

Being fair, they were sacrificing teenage girls to a giant snake demon, so she wasn’t exactly upset that they were dead, but a voice sounding incredibly like her mother insisted that murder was still a very wrong thing and wasn’t to be encouraged.

Either way, Buffy had some serious thinking to do, which she figured was best done at the Bronze with bestie back up.

“Well,” Xander said, “I’ve given my opinion on the guys, so . . .”

Willow and Buffy both sighed. “‘Fuck ‘em,’” they quoted. It had been his mantra all night. Sure, he’d been the first on the Let’s-Stake-Spike train right along with Giles when he’d first heard, but the second his actual intentions had been revealed, they suddenly changed their tones.

“Extenuating circumstances,” Giles had called it, while cleaning his glasses for the fifteenth time that conversation.

“Well, someone got a potty-mouth while I was gone!” a strained voice called, bringing Buffy’s attention around to the familiar figure behind her.

“FORD!” She yelled out, not seeing the grin on his face.

Spike couldn’t believe his fucking luck! He knew that Faith was a royal bitch to everyone (Buffy had complained about it plenty of times for him to get the picture), but to have a childhood friend turn her over to a Master Vampire to save his own skin? Spike had originally had his doubts when some posh human came and offered him the slayer on a silver platter in exchange for immortality. Had he not been able to smell the sick and medicine on the kid, he would have smelled a trap instead. Kid was dying and desperate, and Spike was just the kind of bad, rude man to take advantage

He would kill Faith, Dru would be able to drink her dry, then . . .

Then they would leave. Just like he wanted three months ago. His Dark Princess all healed up, they’d paint the town red before moving onto the next. This was, literally, the sole reason he came to this ruddy town.

Not why we stay, his demon whispered. Never before had he felt so strongly the urge to physically kick the damn thing. Yes, he knew bloody well that wasn’t why he stayed, or why the idea of leaving left him feeling more bereft than before, but it was completely and utterly a non-issue.

Before he could remind himself all the reasons why it was a non-issue, a hand came across his face, scratching as it went.

Ah, Dru was in that kind of a mood today then.

“Stop all that glowing,” she demanded. “You’ll burn up my daisies!”

Spike sighed heavily, drawing on a full century of loving Dru through all these fits to keep his temper. “Dru, Princess, ‘m not glowin‘.” He calmly took both of her hands into his own, holding them firmly so she couldn’t attack him again.

“You are!” she insisted, struggling in his grip. Normally, she could have broken it by now, but that mob had really done a number on her. “You glow with her! I’ll not burn up with you! No sunshine for Daddy’s princess!”

Spike was in game face in an instant. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, that’s all he sodding heard about. Every damn night his Dark Princess insisted on bringing up her wretched sire, asking after him, commenting on whatever he was doing, all of it. Frankly he was fucking sick of it at this point.

“A hundred,” he growled at her, shaking her in his grip. “A hundred fucking years, I’ve stood by you. When Darla left cause she couldn’t put up with your fits, when he left because of that fucking soul, I stayed and took care of you, loved you through every sodding demon you opened your legs for. Kept you safe and happy, and stayed. Never strayed a once. So whatever Miss Edith told you, get it out of your head now.”

As he panted with unnecessary breath, he saw tears well up in her eyes. Immediately, he felt like a pillock. He knew it wasn’t Dru’s fault. Between the visions and the regular bouts of insanity, the poor girl couldn’t tell up from down half the time. It had been decades since he’d lost his temper with her.

“Princess,” he whispered, moving to bring her into his arms. “Princess I-”

“Princess wants her Daddy!” she wailed, crumbling to the floor.

And, for the first time in a hundred and eight years, Spike let her and walked out of the room.

He had a Slayer to kill.

“Let’s go people-watching,” Ford suddenly said, drawing Buffy out of her Algebra-induced state. Something she was grateful for because, frankly, she was getting sick of those trains. However, when his words registered, she gave him a sarcastic look, raising her eye brow at him in what looked like a very Spike-ish expression. “Come on,” he needled, sitting up straight on her couch. “It’ll be just like old times! You used to love playing ‘Story Time’.”

Buffy shuddered at the name. “Yeah, until we made that amazing love story.” Buffy didn’t have to finish the rest. It had been her favorite story by far, full of drama, romance, and perhaps a hidden connection to the Dutch throne (did the Dutch even have a monarchy? It wasn’t something she’d considered when she was ten) rivaling any she’d come up with before. All of which had come crashing down when she’d caught the morning news and discovered the guy was actually a serial killer and the woman his latest victim.

Story Time stopped being fun after that. These were actual lives. Sure, it was fun to joke that the old man feeding the pigeons was a retired CIA spy who had a Bond Girl retiree waiting for him at home, but for all Buffy knew he was a widower trying to make it day by day.

“I don’t know Ford,” Buffy finally said. “It’s just not a fun game anymore. Besides, it’s gonna be dark soon.”

Ford shook his head. “Look, I know this club, it’s just full of a bunch of teenagers. It’s, like, ten minutes from here. No big deal.” He smiled at her, exuding confidence and almost jittering with energy. “Come on. For me?”

Buffy sighed. “We’re back by nine though,” she caved. “I’ve totally got to actually finish this Algebra homework or Ms. Jefferson’s gonna eat my soul or something. She wasn’t very clear.”

Buffy already wanted to leave, and they hadn’t even spoken to anyone.

A vampire club. Ford had taken her to a fucking vampire club, and she was pissed.

Sure, she knew these kinds of places existed. There were a few in LA. Hell, there was a ball held there every now and then. She’d thought it sounded glamourous when she’d first heard of it in high school. The pictures she saw in one of the goth kid’s lockers showed big ball gowns and costumes everywhere. She’d even thought about going to one once. If only for an excuse to dress up.

Then she found out that A.) Vampires and demons were real and they were far from glamorous, B.) She might be one of them, and C.) Some of the people at those things took the whole thing way too seriously.

She wanted to tell Ford that moment that she was going home. Fuck the game, fuck this club, and, a tiny bit, fuck Ford, but she couldn’t bring herself to do or say it. He was still her friend and, frankly, she wasn’t comfortable leaving him wandering Sunnydale by himself at night.

“Let’s pick,” Ford said, his tone an odd one that Buffy couldn’t quite place. She looked over and saw a smirk across his face, but it wasn’t mischievous or knowing. It was frightening. It reminded Buffy strongly of her night at the frat, and she found herself moving away from him carefully, gently reminding herself that she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in hours, so nothing was in her system.

While Buffy was focusing on her breathing, Ford seemed to find what he was looking for. “Oh, how about them!” He pointed below them. “Those two probably aren’t going to murder each other tonight.”

Buffy wanted to scold him. The game wasn’t fun or entertaining, and what had happened to that poor girl wasn’t something he should be making fun of. However, her eyes drifted to who he was pointing to, and her throat closed.

Spike. Spike was here with Drusilla.

And apparently this Vampire Bar had a few more actual vampires than Buffy had originally thought.

“Ford,” Buffy said, “I’m leaving. Let’s go.”

Ford shook his head. “What? You don’t like my new friend?”

Buffy’s eyes widened. “Friend? Since when do you even know Spike?” Before Ford could answer, she was shaking her head. “You know what? No. Doesn’t even matter. So low on the mattering scale I can’t even see it. We need to leave. Now.”

Buffy knew how Spike was. If he was there with Drusilla, they were planning on feeding. Buffy couldn’t protect everyone.

Ford seemed to hesitate but nodded. “Alright. We’ll go out the back way, so he doesn’t see us.”

And Buffy was so thankful he hadn’t argued with her, she didn’t even think of how bad an idea that was.

Spike was mere seconds away from ripping the little wannabe behind him apart with his teeth when one of his men signaled him. Ford had actually managed to get the slayer into the alley. Bloody hell, he certainly owed the kid.

Moving quickly, he left Drusilla behind. She hadn’t spoken to him since the incident that morning, but Spike frankly couldn’t bring himself to care.

Stepping outside with a grin, he started swaggering towards the two figures, curious why he didn’t smell Slayer. Taking a deep breath, Spike scented the medicine and sick from the boy, the beer and vomit from the alley, and finally, a familiar vanilla and steel.

Buffy.

He must have said her name aloud, because the two turned and looked at him, a smile on the boy’s lips and terror on hers. “Spike,” Buffy hedged, putting herself between him and the boy. The lying little shit. “Spike, please. He’s my old friend, just leave him alone, please.”

Suddenly, it all fell into place. The shit hadn’t lied. Not to him at least. He was just a sodding fool. A sodding fool who hadn’t tried to sell him Faith, but Buffy.

“Buffy,” he said firmly. “Go home, lock your doors, and make sure your mum’s all tucked in.” He stalked towards Ford.

“Spike please no. I don’t know what he said—”

She was cut off when Spike grabbed Ford by his throat. “He sold you to me Buffy,” Spike growled through his fangs. “Swore your blood to me in exchanged for being turned.”

Kill the demon demanded. He was inclined to agree.

“We- We had a deal!” Ford gasped, clawing at Spike’s hands futilely.

“Not anymore,” Spike declared.

The next night, Buffy was sitting next to Ford’s grave, a stake clutched in her hands and tears in her eyes. “I’m not talking to you,” she said, not even bothering to look at Spike as he approached from behind. “You had no right to have your minions haul me off while you—” she cut herself off with a choked sob.

Spike sat next to her, gently taking the stake from her hands. “I didn’t turn him,” he assured her, “But I wasn’t letting you stay for what happened.”

Buffy wanted to be furious with him. To hit and scream until her heart stopped hurting.

Instead, she just sat next to her friend’s killer and cried on his shoulders.

#spuffy #Fanfiction challenge #52 prompt challenge #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #buffy #spike #ep 2x07 #lie to me

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parallel5ths · 5 years

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Buffy paper!

I had to write a paper for my English class and wrote this in about 12 hours. It's definitely a little haywire, but a good starting point for expanding on the universe.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has become a cult classic since it’s premier in 1997. After it’s unsuccessful predecessor by the same moniker, no one would have imagined it would explode to the icon it is today. Buffy Summers, introduced as a high school sophomore, has a destiny and that is to be the Vampire Slayer. Each generation, there is only one Slayer who is chosen in her teenage years. Buffy’s path from high schooler to adult is an obvious one in age, but less obvious in other ways. This series is widely appreciated for its exemplars on serious issues such as depression, addiction, and death. Through these outlined examples, the mystical are used to illustrate the complex problems faced by ordinary people throughout their lives creating a series that is entertaining, serious, and relatable.

Buffy seamlessly interweaved the real world with the mystical to find a unique way to tell a story. This gave it a unique following due to the numerous subjects it tackled. “Buffy used the monsters that crossed into the human world through the Hellmouth as a metaphor for the horrors of high school, which in turn were a metaphor for the horrors of life in general” (Genzlinger 2017). Season Five is a great example of this. This season finds a way to weave interpersonal family dynamics with an otherwise outrageous storyline. While Buffy navigates a romantic relationship as well as being a big sister to a whiny teenager, she also must find balance in her role as the Slayer. One moment of distraction is all that is needed for someone to get the upper hand, a point which she is very familiar with after her brief death in the first season. As if all of that wasn’t enough, her mother then falls ill. Buffy had been surrounded by the reality of death for years now, but there is something vulnerable about it being your mother.

In a show usually filled with comedy to offset the seriousness, the episodes about Joyce Summers had a very different feel to them. The music is either very quiet or completely absent, only making the backdrop starker. In the hospital scene where it is revealed Joyce has a brain tumor, we are met with a close-up of Buffy’s face as the color drains and the sound falls away. Dr. Michael Bryant, who uses this scene in his medical classes comments “Patients’ minds often fixate onto the most serious condition possible, once told they have a brain tumour. Any other words become white noise and static, and float past on empty currents of dead air.” This portrayal of that heartbeat in your head feeling when confronted with news you cannot comprehend is relatable.

Episodes pass, and we are lulled into a false sense of security. Up to this point, we have lost characters but none this close to the main group. As I Was Made to Love You ends, you see Buffy arrive home, putting her jacket down and calling for her mom as the audience sees a blurry background behind. She turns, pulling this into focus as we see Joyce laying lifeless on the couch. Buffy calls her again, hoping for her to wake but the reality starts setting in. Her voice softening, she says “Mommy?”, a departure from the “mom” directly before as the screen cuts to black. Amidst the monsters and boogeymen of Sunnydale, they found the monsters we really face every day.

Throughout the season, Buffy is seen becoming unsure of her roles as parent, sister, and Slayer as they start to conflict. The episode Intervention begins to show Buffy’s depression and detachment forming. Buffy goes on a vision quest to find answers about her role while the Buffybot fools the rest of the Scooby Gang into thinking she’s the real deal. This is the first stark difference between the Buffy from season one and who she has become now. “The relentlessly cheery Buffybot functions as an idealized version of the Slayer, restoring something of the human Buffy’s youthful chirpiness and being used as an emotional substitute by Dawn who actually lies down on the bed next to her as if she were the real thing” (James 147). With a few exceptions, the Buffybot is able to take Buffy’s place in all roles of her life while also being more likable to her friends and family. Buffy’s resurrection at the beginning of the penultimate season is the final nail in the coffin before Buffy’s depression is shown in the foreground.

At the end of After Life, the audience gets the moment they have been waiting for. Buffy has her heart-to-heart with Dawn, thanks her friends for saving her from a hell dimension and there’s a group hug. She walks out the back door into the sun which is almost too bright, a reference to Buffy’s time in the afterlife. The speech that follows is one any Buffy fan will remember vividly. After Buffy’s sacrifice to save her family and the world, she was rewarded with Heaven. She was finally happy, loved and at peace. She was ripped away from perfection by the people in her life who love her most and they can never know. Knowing what she lost was already weighing on her as she mentions how everything on Earth is “hard and bright and violent” (“After Life” (41:42-41:47). As the tragic hero figure she is, the episode ends with her emphasizing that no one can know what she has shared.

Through the next few episodes, we see Buffy once again struggle with where she fits in. Buffy’s “rebirth” symbolizes her official birth in adulthood in many ways. The rest of the Scooby Gang has established their lives while she was gone. Everyone is in committed relationships, they have jobs or are in school and she is just the Slayer. Her new “enemies” in this season even comment that she is unfocused while jumping job to job. She is stuck in two roles she didn’t choose, despite the name “Chosen One”. It’s at this point she starts spending more time with Spike, the only one who seems to see her pain and understand how she feels. He understands more about the supernatural side of her that no one else can relate to. In Once More with Feeling, the musical episode, there is no disguising Buffy’s pain. Through the various songs she features in, she describes going through the motions and being unable to feel anything. Buffy’s secret is laid bare to the rest of the gang, forced to reveal she was in Heaven. Finally, she tells Sweets, the demon orchestrating these catchy numbers, to “give me something to sing about. Please, give me something” (43:48-44:00). Her depression has progressed to the point where she doesn’t feel like she has anything left. She immediately starts dancing, eventually spinning in circles progressively faster until she appears to start burning. An assisted suicide attempt in front of everyone she loves. Yet, Spike is the one who jumps in to save her, from the fires of Hell it seems, by telling her she has to keep on living. The episode ends on Buffy “getting the fire back” and kissing Spike, the beginning to a complex relationship between Buffy’s human and supernatural side.

Although the rest of the season primarily focuses on Willow and her addiction to magic, Buffy is still fighting her battles throughout. She takes a minimum wage food service job to make money since she is now the sole provider and has no qualifications she could put on a resume. Dawn starts acting out by stealing and sneaking out with boys, a cry for help and attention. Buffy is drowning too deep in all her own roles conflicting while also battling the lack of desire to do so to notice what is happening. In rapid fire, Buffy finds out about Dawn stealing, her ex-boyfriend shows up with a wife and Xander abandons Anya at the altar. Everything is completely in flux, but it is always her responsibility to hold everyone and everything together.

With Buffy as her most confused and detached, her best friend needs her the absolute most. Once again, things start getting back to normal when Tara is suddenly shot and killed. With Buffy also in critical condition, Willow no longer has the desire or ability to hold back her rage. From the beginning of the show, Buffy has many moments of powerlessness, but this time is different. Willow is stronger, faster and has nothing left to live for. This is also the ultimate betrayal to Buffy. Willow was her first friend when she came to Sunnydale and has been there through everything. Not only has Willow killed a human but has tried to kill Buffy’s sister and father figure. In Willow’s effort to kill her pain by giving further into her magic addiction by literally absorbing it from Giles, she can feel everyone’s emotions at once. A throwback to the third season when Buffy hears everyone’s thoughts after she’s infected by demon blood, we see how differently they deal with their depression.

As the season starts to come to an end, Buffy and Willow’s storylines diverge. Having handled their problems differently, it makes sense their paths parted, and they end them separately. Buffy and Dawn become trapped together in the Earth by Willow’s hand, in a similar way that she was forced to dig her way out earlier. The Summers sisters are forced to finally face each other and talk. Buffy comes to terms with the fact that Dawn is also becoming an adult like she did and shielding her isn’t the same as protecting her. Willow’s solution to the pain in the world, hers included, is to end the world. A departure from previous seasons, Willow cannot be defeated by magic or strength. Xander, the final piece of the trio and Willow’s friend from childhood, talks to her and reminds her of who she is. As Dawn and Buffy fight a parade of demons off side by side, Xander refuses to leave Willow’s side. Despite the threat of death and being pushed away, he continues to tell her he loves her after each lashing. Her power fades as she starts to feel again, crumbling to tears as the weight of all the pain and loss hits her. “When Willow took the power from Giles, she exulted in feeling ‘connected to everything’. But that connection was false, and it led Willow to try to end the world. Buffy found the true connection in her inner humanity” (Field 540). When the scene switches to Buffy, she breaks down in happy tears, happy she has time to fix everything she has neglected. Standing with her as they were both faced with death opened her eyes to how much she had been ignoring.

Although many viewers were understandably upset with the finale, it was important to the overall arc of Buffy Summers’ growth. As opposed to their usual triumphant ending where they beat the bad guy, their denial, pain, and grief were killing them instead. At some point, these feelings needed to explode in order to resolve. From these examples, we see two women who have gone down the same path but react differently to it. Having flawed characters who fight their demons, physically and metaphorically, in an unperfect way is important for young people and older alike. Showing vulnerability in a female character while also keeping her strong is a tough feat few writers have achieved. Buffy the Vampire Slayer does it time and time again. It is no surprise to the fanbase that there is a new show coming out. Into every generation, a Slayer is born, and this generation needs one to look up to too.

#buffy #btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #Joss whedon #whedonverse #buffyverse #depression #addiction #psychology #essay #paper

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sunalsolove · 6 years

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Sunalso’s Spuffy Fic Recs

(With Shameless Self Promotion-because, hey, I was asked!)

I’m not one for a lot of dark fic/angst as real life tends to punch me enough. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy conflict in a story, but it does mean that my recs tend to be a little biased towards things I want to escape into after a hard day at work. I read all ratings, but prefer the smuts, and I enjoy all the wide world of possibilities in fics, from baby stories to all human, from canon compliant to complete AUs. I love fanfiction, I love Spuffy, and I REALLY love both together!! (I also love chihuahuas.) All stories completed except those in the WIP section. Most links to Elysian Fields. You have to sign up to read NC-17 fics, but it’s a quick process, and then you can receive emails when authors (like, cough, me) post a new story, or you can follow a favorite WIP and know when new chapters post. Handy!

Under the cut because this is a LONG list!

Long Fics

Only Time Will Tell by damperandspoons (NC-17, 75K) A fun time-travel romance! There’s sex in a carriage! This is one of the very first Spuffy fics I ever read and it’s still one of my favorites. It’s the sort of story you squee over and then cry over...and then go back to squeeing. There’s a delicious HEA as well.

Echoes by Holly (NC-17, 116K) Holly is a brilliant writer and this is THE prime example. She takes the Buffyverse, sets it on its ear, and the result is wholly magical. Buffy and Spike start off existing in a vastly different context, one little demon bargain later, and Buffy finds herself 300 years in the future and dealing with present-day Sunnydale.

Hide and Seek by dreamweaver (NC-17, 37K) Post series. Buffy’s in Rome and wait...who’s that history scholar...and that vampire?? I really enjoy watching everything collide in this fic.

In Heat by Nautibitz (NC-17, 31K) In the summer after S5 (in a world where Buffy didn’t die) the weather is hot and there are demons that release a pheromone that makes poor Buffy even hotter. What’s a girl to do?

Superstar Revamped by kantayra (NC-17, 54K) Set during S4′s Superstar. A very fun romp through the episode, as Spike and Buffy figure out both the spell and each other. I could use so many more Spuffy fics set during that episode!

sex, lies, and sonograms by sabershadowkat (NC-17, 31K) Buffy’s pregnant post S2...I get a huge kick from this story because it’s like a time capsule. It was written LONG before S5 (so no FFL) so is contains all kinds of early Spuffy stuff. I <3 it!

Future Imperfect by cousinjean (R, 38K) Set 335 years post The Gift. A little angstier than many recs on this list. Buffy is humanities last hope and Spike is her only connection to her past. Lovely writing and so many feels. Also...Spuffy on the moon.

Awakening by tempestt (PG-13, 32K) After a planewreck that leaves them alone and hunted in the wilderness, Buffy and Spike both have to survive and Buffy finds out she has more inside her than she ever knew.

Frontierland by Gort (R, 66K) S5. Willow casts a spell, causing Spike to dream so he’ll see that things between him and Buffy can never work out. Buffy comes along for the ride. It does not go as Willow expects. Spike wears a cowboy hat. This is a touching story that dives deep into Spike’s head and is nuanced and carfully done. I can’t recommend it enough.

Sunny Days by Gort (NC-17, 103K) Sequel to Frontierland, but we’re starting off in Riley’s head this time, but Buffy and Spike aren’t going to let that stand. Spike’s a hot english professor that wears a fedora. (If you need to know anything besides that...I don’t know what to tell you ;-)

Dreamer by Gort (NC-17, 86K) S4, starts with HLOD. Buffy and Spike end up captured by the Initiative and form a deep bond by the time their released. A close look at just how messed up the Initiative is. Also hair kink.

Reveries and Ramifications by mak324 (NC-17, 386K) Spike and Buffy are drawn together and into a web of deceit involving the Initiative. No one does first person POV like mak324. it’s stunning and completely enthralling and you get through the 386 K and want more.

Stitched Up by bewildered (NC-17, 50K) A sock gets a soul. It’s freaking hilarious while still being insightful. Buffy and Spike are adorable and it’s so enjoyable to watch the sock do his best to help them out!

Send to All by Carrie-Ann (NC-17, 75K) A sexy text gets sent to everyone on Buffy’s contact list. Oops? A hilarious ride with a showstopper climax!

With A Painted Ribbon by Apfeltorte (NC-17, 151K) Starts with Buffy in the mental hospital and goes like a freight train from there.

Taking Chances by sandy_s (R, 107K) Starts with Something Blue, goes to an alternate dimension, and ends with the Initiative being destroyed. YAY. Is also a thoughful and detailed look at Buffy, Spike, Willow, Joyce, and others as they go through a great deal of emotional maturing that is badly needed by all. I compare the sheer imagination of the other dimension to Edgar Rice Burrows, it’s just that amazing.

Etched in Stone by flowerofthewolf (NC-17, 116K) Dru turns Spike into a statue in Restfield cemetery in 1977. He sits there for twenty years with only himself to talk to until one perky Slayer takes a shine to him. Is both poignant and laugh out loud funny.

Second String by Solstice (PG-13, 48K) Spike’s a watcher in need of a Slayer, Buffy’s a Slayer in need of a Watcher. Wonderfully written and winner of the best OC ever award. And best Xander characterization award.

Short Fics

Fantasie Segrete by Holly (NC-17, 7.7K) Post series. Buffy’s friends treat her to a little valentine’s day surprise. I love how Buffy’s mind works in this story and it’s so much fun and so satisfying!

As in ‘Recent’ by Nautibitz (Nc-17, 1.2K) The S7 smut we all wish would have happened.

Vanishing Act by Nautibitz (PG-13, 1.6K) S6, post Gone...and DUH, Xander.

Memories Without Words by kantayra (PG-13, 3.2K) 500,000 years in the future, The One is reunited with someone special. I love this fic so much and it gives me so many feels!

Watching by kantayra (PG-13, 3K) One of my favorite fics of all time, and it’s Riley’s POV during the first half of S5. This fic is brilliant.

If the Plane’s A-Rockin by Baphrosia (NC-17, 1K) What SHOULD have been the outcome of TGIQ.

Independence Day by pfeifferpack (G, 4K) Post NFA. A loving and nuanced look at what Buffy’s life might be like. Amazing Buffy and Dawn interaction and a hopeful ending.

#hashtagapocolypse by Wonder and Ashes (PG-13, 1.5Kish) A Buffy story told on twitter! It’s freaking hilarious.

Circulation by theblueeyedvampire (NC-17, 4.8 K) Pangs smut. Enough said.

The Switch by Gort (NC-17, 13K) Buffy and Spike swap bodies in S4. It goes EXACTLY how you want it to. Bless you, Gort.

Sinfully Delicious (NC-17, 843) Buffy catches Spike wanking. The title says it all. I seriously could read a million iterations of this (PLEASE).

Bliss by kantayra (R, 1.8K) Spike comes to find Buffy in heaven. It’s happy and I still cry like a baby over it EVERY TIME.

Young Robots in Love by Elsa Frohman (PG, 11K) William!bot meets Buffy!bot, sparks fly. Hilarious and touching

An Arousing Sexual Encounter Between Buffy Summers and William "Spike" Pratt by gabrielleabelle (NC-17, 523) How every Spuffy sex encounter goes! Hee!

All Human

People get weird about AH. I’ve heard every excuse but they all boil down to: I don’t want to look/sound uncool. Thanks, 50 shades. AH allows authors to have fun way outside the usual playing field while still making the characters recognizably themselves. That’s the challenge and the draw. Embrace it, have fun with it. Don’t let being worried you’re not a cool enough fanfic person if you like these stories stand in your way of a great read.

The Poet and His Muse by Addie Logan (NC-17, 45K) Spike’s a poet who can’t meet his deadline and Buffy--a muse with a less than stellar track record--is sent to help. They are simply adorable together!

Unexpected Company by Paganbaby (NC-17, 25K) How can I say this? Paganbaby’s stories are an...aquaried taste? They are unashamedly my guilty pleasure. She’s got a size kink and I swear Buffy must have a tape measure handy at all times because there are regularly detailed measurements. This fic is experienced Buffy and virginal William that ends with Willow walking in on them with a ballgag involved.

But for peak Paganbaby you need to read:

The Sitter by Paganbaby (NC-17, 95K) Underage twincest + 26 year old Buffy. You’re welcome. (I unashamedly LIKE this story)

The Ghost of Christmas Present by Gort (NC-17, 22K) Buffy’s a lawyer sent to oversee the sale of a charming inn haunted by one William Pratt. BEST CHRISTMAS STORY EVER. I’m going to marry this story. I want to roll around in it. I LOVE IT.

Not My Reality by dawnofme (NC-17, 44K) Buffy’s on the bachelor and Angel’s the fellow in question. He’s so dreamy...except who’s this bleached blond camera guy? This story is the definition of FUN. I reread it whenever I need a pick-me-up. Great Fred and Cordelia too.

Closer to Midnight by xaphania (PG-13, 38K) Buffy and Spike meet up on a tour of a haunted island. They find themselves falling in love but there’s a ghost story waiting in the wings and everything isn’t what it seems. There’s a lovely NC-17 outtake of the sex scene for those who want it!

WIPs

It’s hard to recommend stories that aren’t finished an might never be, but sometimes the journey is worth it even if you don’t ever reach the destination.

This Means War by mak324 (R) A newly chipped Spike meets up with a sick Buffy instead of Willow. Shenanigans follow as Buffy and Spike dance around each other.

Prisoners of Love, Blue Skies Above by bewildered (NC-17) Post Something Blue Spike goes on a drunken ramage, Buffy ends up having to pretend to be his wife. It’s all sexy and adorable. It’s the very first Spuffy fanfic I ever read. I still have hope it’ll be finished one day.

Buffy the Victorian Slayer by Flights of Fancy (R) Buffy’s the slayer in Victorian England. One night she saves one William Pratt from a vampire...things roll from there. I talk more about the WIP than any other!

My Own Stories

I love all my fics, but there’s always a few I’m extra eager for people to read!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by sunalso (Explicit, 135K) A very depressed Buffy is sent back from a post Chosen world to S2. She still means to die...but other things happen instead. I adore my mad hatter’s party scene with Dru in this fic, and the fact that Buffy and Spike can’t hide anything from anyone (the poor azaleas!)

World on Fire by sunalso (NC-17, 4.6K) I was not allowed to make the summary: Buffy boinks 1900 Spike because the author wanted her to. However, that’s the gist of it!

Cursed by sunalso (R, 177K) Buffy and Drusilla switch bodies every time the sun goes down. This ended up being everything I wanted it to and Dru is a very strong character in it even though she’s not the main POV.

Room Service by sunalso (NC-17) Boink or die! Only it’s so warm and fuzzy!

Thing of Doom by sunalso (Explicit, 60K) During AtS S5 Spike is split into two parts (William and Demon). Much smut ensues. I’m overly critical of the first chapter, but the rest is a really fun ride!

Someday by sunalso (NC-17, 54K) My accidental novel. Buffy has one day each season to save the world. However will she do it? This is stuffed full of tropes I like and I seriously named one of the sex scenes. Sort of peak me in this one.

Pumpkin Spike by sunalso(R, 2.8K) Spike’s a pumpkin.

Every Rose by sunalso (NC-17, WIP) A current project. Wishverse Buffy is sent back to 1880 to kill a newly risen Spike. She gets there a little early. Anne just wants grandbabies.

Strange Partners by sunalso and Gort (NC-17, 42K) This is still SO FUNNY and I co-wrote it. I can’t believe I wrote it. It’s seriously funny, but with a cohesive plot as well. Don’t drink and read, it’s a choking hazard.

There we have it! I probably forgot half the stuff I’d like to rec and am probably way too over critical of my own stuff, especially the newer stuff, which makes it hard to rec. I hope you find some fun things to read and please, if you enjoy something, let the author know!

Cheers!

#spuffy #fic rec #btvs #fanfic #buffy x spike

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flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash · 6 years

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Hey Ash! Can you please recommend me a few good slow burn fics that's like 100k? It doesn't matter which fandom :) thanks!

Okay, so I went through my bookmarks and such all over my laptop, because it actually was reminding me of older slow burns I loved and now I want to re read some of them. A lot of these are well over 100k. When I go for slow burns, I don’t play around lol. I also tend to prefer reading ships with 2 canon characters for slow burns, rather than OC characters, but that’s just a personal preference, so that’s why these are mainly ships. Enjoy!

Forward to a Time Past by Unbridled Brunette (~270k words, Buffy/Spike) This is a time travel slow burn, if you’re into that pairing. It’s AMAZING! Buffy goes back in time to Victorian London, when Spike is the still human, very shy, very virginal William. It’s brilliant. And it was the first fic that had me all in with the idea of an inexperienced man who is “taught” by the woman. It has that Pride & Prejudice vibe, where it’s scandalous to even touch bare hands, let alone make love to someone when unmarried, and I’m such a sucker for that. I remember being upset when I finished this story, because I knew I wouldn’t find a Spike/Buffy slow burn that I loved this much ever again…and I haven’t.

You Know Better by @xteenwolfwritingsx (~77k words, Peter Hale/OC, Teen Wolf) This is hands down the best long Peter fic I have ever read! As I said, I don’t typically go for OC/you characters for longer fics, but this OC was so relatable and well-written, and I remember reading the first chapter of this and having to put my phone down, because I was just like, “Holy shit, I’m gonna become so obsessed with this story”. And I am. I read it twice in two weeks. I haven’t read the newest couple of chapters, purely because I know the author said that it’s going to be finished soon, so I’m waiting until it’s completed so I can go back and read it a third time from the beginning and take it all in, start to finish. The premise is that the OC/you asks Peter to teach her how to fight, so she’s not just the helpless human of the group. And oh boy…Peter as a fighting instructor…god…yea…it’s hot. I was about to scream waiting for them to finally rip each other’s clothes off, and god it was so worth the wait when they did! If you’re at all into Peter, read this!

Your Hands Can Heal, Your Hands Can Bruise by blackestnight10 (~430k words, Daryl Dixon/OC) Sadly, this is not a completed story. And honestly, I don’t remember a lot of details about it, but it was the first long Walking Dead fic I ever read. It’s Daryl with an OC character, and the two things I do remember is that the OC kicked ass and yet was also likeable and intriguing, and that it was a torturous slow burn. I mean, it’s realistic to Daryl, because I don’t see him as someone who jumps in bed with anyone, so the author stayed really in canon with his character. And I stayed up late many a night devouring it.

Spiced Molasses by MonDieu666 (~140k words, Daryl/Beth) - This one is a fantastic AU slow burn. Beth’s parents are assassinated, and she and her two siblings have to be put into protective custody in separate locations. Rick calls in Daryl, the irritable lone ranger agent, to watch Beth. Cue one of my favorite tropes: them stuck unwillingly in a tiny apartment together, at first not liking each other, where they dance around each other until finally giving in to their desires. It’s a fabulous story!

18 Miles Out by MonDieu666 (~190k words, Daryl/Beth) - I’ll admit that I don’t remember a whole lot of details on this one…but I DO remember that I wrote down which chapters the smut is in and kept it handy, because I went back countless times to re read those chapters, since they were so sexy. This author is fabulous for her longer Bethyl fics (she wrote the previous one and this next one, as well).

Damaged Heroes by MonDieu666 (~135k words, Daryl/Beth) - I’m also struggling to remember the details of this one. I think I get this story and 18 Miles Out mixed up a lot, and it’s been years since I read them, but they were both fabulous and worth a read.

I’ll Be Yours for a Song by dynamicsymmetry (~380k words, Daryl/Beth) This is a breathtakingly beautiful AU fic. In the first chapter, Daryl drives down a country road and finds Beth walking, soaking wet, in the rain. He debates on if he should stop and offer her a ride, and when he does, it kick starts a romance that is just…ugh, so good. I will admit that I didn’t get the entire way through it (it’s a pretty long fic) because I kept getting side tracked by other fics, but it’s one that I still, even over a year later, keep open on a Safari tab on my phone, and I want to go back and re read it from the beginning at some point…maybe that’ll be my goal for the beginning of 2018. This author writes Daryl and Beth exactly how I picture they would be together. The hesitation, the fear of falling in love, the hurdles of their age difference (Beth is still in high school at the beginning of it, altho I believe she’s 18). It’s just magical.

Howl by dynamicsymmetry (~383k words and still being written, Daryl/Beth) This is another story that I need to catch up on, because I’ve gotten way behind on it. It’s another AU, this time with Rick and the gang being werewolf shapeshifters, and Beth being…well…I don’t want to spoil the surprise, because that’s part of the mystery, is her discovering who she is and how she stumbles upon werewolf Daryl in the beginning. This fic hit some kinks I didn’t even realize I had…and I’m not ashamed to admit that I still have some fanart saved on my phone based off this fic, of Daryl in werewolf form banging human Beth XD

Eden by obsessmuch (~265k words, Hermione Granger/Lucius Malfoy) Sooo this story is FUCKED UP! I mean seriously, it is not for the faint of heart. I don’t think I’ve ever read a more angst-ridden fic in my entire life…but holy shit, I loved it. This is not a fluffy romantic type of slow burn, ohhh no. This is Lucius at his most vicious. He tortures the fuck outta Hermione in the beginning, and you hate him with a fiery passion, the same way Hermione does. And yet, this Stockholm-Syndrome type obsession starts between them, and forms into a fucked up version of love. Also, the ending…oh my god, I still sometimes sit and think about the ending. If you’re at all intrigued by the idea of a dark as hell fic that’ll chew you up and spit you back out with all the feels, give this one a chance. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you ;)

Chasing the Sun by Loten (490k words, Hermione/Snape) This was my first fandom ship, over a decade ago, and I just started diving back into it a few months ago, so I have a ton of long fics to catch up on. However, Loten currently is, and I think quite likely will always be, my favorite Snamione author. Both this fic and the next one on the list by her are my immediate recommendations for someone wanting to try out this pairing. She dives into the psychology of Snape in a way that is just…perfect. I don’t know how anyone can question them being together as a couple after reading both her long fics. The slow burn in this is slow…reallll slow, but holy fuck is the smut worth the wait. But it makes sense, because it starts out when Hermione is 15 or 16, I think (there’s zero romance or even physical awareness of each other until she’s 17, though, since that’s the Wizarding age of consent). It’s more a journey of their interactions together, and it’s honestly a beautiful story. It sticks to canon in the beginning, then goes off the rails, but in a way that I really enjoyed. It was Snape getting the part in the war and taking down Voldemort that he deserved, in my opinion. Loten also includes Crookshanks in her stories, and I really wish more Snamione authors would do this. The scenes with Crookshanks and Snape added so much humor and fluff to the story, both this one and the next fic.

Post Tenebras, Lux by Loten (~310k words, Hermione/Snape) So, where the last fic was how Hermione and Snape would come together while she was still at school and during the war, this fic takes a look at how they would get together 10 years after the war is over. Snape has disappeared, most people think he died in the Shrieking Shack, even tho a body was never found…until Hermione literally runs into him one day, 10 years later, and it kicks start their interactions. Since the war is over in this fic, it is 100% character driven, and focuses solely on the development of the relationship of these two. If you need swash buckling action and a grand, dramatic plot like taking down Voldemort in a fic, this isn’t for you. But I LOVED it. It’s not as slow a burn as Loten’s other fic, but it delves into the post-war traumas and psychology of both Snape and Hermione in a way that had me hooked from the very beginning. It spans years of their relationship, and how they would develop not just from meeting to falling in love (like where most fics then stop) but beyond and throughout their entire lives. And, like Loten’s other fic, it gave Snape the true love and happy ending that I believe he deserves, and it had me grinning like a fool the rest of the day after I finished it.

Pet Project by Caeria (~340k words, Hermione/Snape) This is quite the epic slow burn…I mean, when I say it’s slow, it’s SLOW (literally 95% of it is the slow burn). It had me so captivated, and I loved Hermione’s personal “mission” to try and show Snape that he had someone on his side..without him realizing someone was actually trying to be on his side. They were both so in character, especially while they were at Hogwarts. This is another one where she starts out as a student, but it’s once again not romantic or sexual until she’s at least 17. The part where she makes him magical sheets is a scene that will always stick out in my memory. As is the scene where they sit together on the staircase of Grimmauld Place.

Okay, I’m gonna stop now. Those are the main ones I found when scouring my google sheets, laptop bookmarks, and bookmarks on sites like ao3 and FF.

If anyone reads any of these and wants to discuss them, PLEASE feel free to message me! I LOVE discussing fics, especially slow burn fics that give me all the feels, so that I can squeal with someone else over the feels.

#the walking dead #daryl dixon #bethyl #snamione #severus snape #hermione granger #lucius malfoy #harry potter #peter hale #teen wolf #spike #buffy #spuffy #slow burn #fic recs #ash reads #Anonymous

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tialovestelevision · 7 years

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The most recent episode of Buffy was good. Really good. Really, really good.

Can we do two? Can we go for two?

1. Previously On. Nobody sings. Then Buffy is patrolling in a long sweater that I initially thought was a bathrobe. She sees Spike. He asks if they can talk. Buffy does not want to talk. Spike wants to talk about them kissing. Buffy says she will never kiss him or touch him again, then she tackles Spike to keep him from getting staked. It’s a shark. And two minions. He calls him Mr. Spike. Spike owes him kittens. He’s a loan shark. The loan shark likes funny. He doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt. He sends his minions. Buffy fights his minions. The loan shark wants Buffy to get into debt collecting. Spike has left. They’re going to find Spike and talk to him more. Now the loan shark and his minions are leaving. Buffy wishes she could stop saving Spike because things would get simpler. Opening credits no Tara.

2. Xander’s house. The group is talking about what it might have been like for Buffy in Heaven. Tara says there are a zillion heavens. Willow is all guilty. So’s Xander. Willow talks about having been selfish. Xander feels weird about feeling bad that his friend’s not dead. Tara says they have to stop drowning in guilt and make things better. Xander suggests dinners. Willow says to use a spell, but Tara says no. Tara is chewing out Willow about using magic. Willow says she has a spell to make Buffy forget she was in Heaven, and Tara flips. Understandably. Tara says she knows about Willow’s spell. Willow tries to apologize; Tara stays on the topic. “How could you, Willow? How could you, after what Glory did to me?” Willow is making excuses. Tara points out that this is how Willow does everything. “You’re helping yourself now. Fixing things to your liking, including me.” Tara is breaking up with her. Willow says she won’t do magic for a month. Tara really doesn’t want to break up with Willow. Tara says to go a week, and they’ll see. She says she thinks they both need some space. “I can’t believe I’m saying this.” Willow is still in disbelief.

3. Giles and Buffy are in the training room. Giles is talking about the fact that he’s leaving. Buffy urgently wants and needs him not to. He thinks she needs him to leave. Giles: “You’ll always turn to me, when you come across something that you don’t think you can handle. And I’ll step in, because… because I can’t stand to see you suffer.” Buffy: “Me too. Hate suffering. Had about as much of it as I can take.” Good God, Giles, you’re right, but she does not need more destabilization right now. Giles stays firm on the decision; Buffy stomps out.

4. Summers house. Dawn and Tara are ready to go. Willow is not. Willow uses magic to get ready, so that’s a promise broken already. She goes to the cabinet and gets more lethe’s bramble. Oh god, really Willow? She’s erasing both Buffy and Tara’s memories, though the spell will only take effect once the bramble finishes burning.

5. Magic Box. The others think this is a meeting about a monster. It’s a meeting about Giles leaving. Willow and Xander come in late. Spike came in and is all smoldering. And wearing a schoolboy outfit. And a hat. A silly, silly hat. He wants asylum. He’s running from the loan shark and seeking asylum. We cut to the Summers house, where an ember from the fire catches Willow’s whole bag of lethe’s bramble on fire. Seriously, Willow? I mean… seriously? You just left that there? I no longer believe this episode. I no longer believe this arc. I no longer believe this season. That is just… such… so very… I mean seriously… that is DUMB. I know it’s being sold to us as a dumb act by Willow, but the girl is both a genius and a witch and is actively trying to keep what she’s doing a secret and this is NOT something that someone who’s trying to keep a secret would miss. The writing there is just bad. Dear god, the writing there is bad. You want the spell to glitch? Spells glitch in this show all the damned time, without needing someone to do something as absurdly stupid as it is out of character. Hell, the spell glitching on its own sells Tara’s warnings about the dangers of magic far better than this does. This. Is. Stupid. ANYWAY… Giles continues his announcement. Tara looks heartbroken after his announcement. Buffy can’t do this. She’s leaving. Buffy is angry and overwhelmed. Then she drops. Then everyone drops. The fire is out. The stupid, stupid fire.

6. Everyone’s still unconscious. Willow’s on top of Xander. Buffy wakes up first. It’s dark now. They were out for a while. Buffy turns the light on. Everyone is confused. Giles fell asleep with his head on Anya’s back. Spike falls off the counter, and his scream wakes everybody else up. Dawn asks who these people are. Buffy tells her not to worry. She doesn’t know anyone here either. Or what her name is. Xander doesn’t know who any of them either. None of them know who they are. None of them remember anything. Giles suggests that they all got drunk. No booze, no head bumps, no Allan Funt, so that kills that theory. Xander isn’t panicking. Buffy tries to calm it down. Willow is trying to figure out where they are. Now they know they’re in a magic shop. Giles doesn’t believe in magic. He’s British. And a man, with glasses. Dawn doesn’t like this. Buffy says they’ll take care of each other. Spike finds out he’s English in a very, very funny scene. Anya says there’s a ruggedly handsome resemblance between Giles and Spike. Giles feels like Spike is familiar. And disappointing. Giles: “Older brother?” Spike: “Father. Oh, god, how I must hate you.” Giles: “What did I do?” Spike: “There’s always something. And what’s with the trollop?” Anya thinks she and Giles are engaged. Willow comes up with the idea of driver’s licenses. She’s wearing Xander’s work jacket… They’re looking for licenses. Xander found his name. So did Willow. Tara thinks her name is pretty. Tara found her name, and that she and Willow are students. Dawn doesn’t have a wallet. Neither does Buffy. But Dawn has a necklace with her name. Giles knows his name now. Anya likes it. He threatens to spank Spike. Spike doesn’t have a wallet, but his jacket is made with care for Randy. So he’s obviously Randy Giles. Spike: “Why not just call me Horny Giles, or Desperate-For-A-Shag Giles? I knew there was a reason I hated you.” Willow finds Xander’s name on her jacket, so they’re theorizing that she dates either his theoretical brother or him. Anya found her name on the forms, but not its pronunciation, and now knows that she and Rupert own the shop together. Dawn is sad Buffy doesn’t have a name, and offers to name her. Buffy names herself Joan. Dawn doesn’t like it, but Joan does. They know they’re sisters now. They hug, and Randy complains that Rupert never shows him affection like that. Joan wants to get help. They’re going to head out to the hospital. Randy suggests that Rupert drive in his red shiny penis car. They find vampires outside. Randy is startled to learn there are vampires. Willow suggests moving large objects in front of doors. Tara points out that they need their memories back to know if they knew about vampires. Rupert suggests fighting them with magic. The vampires demand Spike, and Rupert thinks they want spikes. Randy gets some stakes and wants to give them to the vampires, but the vampires start demanding “Slayer” and they all think the vampires are saying “Slay her” so they’ll use the spikes to slay someone. Willow and Xander found a trap door in the basement to the sewer. The vampires come in the windows and kick down the door. Xander is praying. A vampire grabs Randy. Vampire: “You owe us.” Randy: “Who, me?” Vampire: “You’ve got the boss’s kittens.” Randy: “Kittens?” Joan is fighting a vampire off, then the slays the vampire who had Randy pinned. Willow: “What did you just do?” Joan: “I don’t know… but it was COOL.” The surviving vampire runs. Joan knows why she’s the boss. She’s a superhero.

7. Vampires are briefing the loan shark on what happened. They still want to attack. The loan shark wants to wait it out. Joan wants to go attack the vampires with Randy. Randy doesn’t like the plan. Anya and Giles want to do spells. Randy and Joan are going after the vampires, but first Rupert wants to hug Randy. Now they attack. Or run through the vampires. One of the vampires grabs Randy, who puts his game face on, punches the vampire, and declares himself a superhero. Joan is less convinced on this superhero thing. She runs away. Randy wants to know where she’s going, but he gets punched.

8. Randy is fighting the vampires. Big fight scene. He’s beaten them up and chases after Joan. Meanwhile, the others come down the ladder. Willow and Tara give each other a meaningful look. They found a vampire, so they turn and run the other way.

9. Rupert and Anya are in the shop, looking for spells. Rupert finds his plane tickets in his pocket. Goddamn it, Giles, why are they in your pocket? Anya found a book. Using her intuition. Anya summoned a bunny.

10. Joan just tackled Randy. She’s surprised to find out he doesn’t know who he is. He’s surprised to learn he’s a vampire. Randy doesn’t want to bite her. He’s confused. He decides he’s a noble vampire on a mission of redemption. Helps the helpless. Has a soul. Joan thinks that’s lame.

11. Anya has summoned a lot of bunnies. She’s trying to banish them. She’s terrified. She summons another. There’s a bunch of albino bunnies. Joan and Randy are arguing, but the vampires caught up to them. The others are still running through the sewers. Tara found a route out. They’re cornered. Tara and Willow are very close to each other. Staring. Anya has made a bunny cloud. Joan and Randy are still fighting vampires. There’s the loan shark. Joan has a stake now. It’s huge. It’s a mailbox post. Rupert is now fighting a skeleton. Willow checks on Dawn. Dawn finds this familiar. Willow is confused. She thinks she’s kinda gay.

12. Now they have a monster in the shop. Rupert says he’s leaving her. Anya is heartbroken. She throws her engagement ring at him.

13. The vampire’s found the group. Xander is going to confront it. He gets punched and thrown. He punches back. Rupert manages to banish the monster and the bunnies. Anya gets her engagement ring back. She’s very glad to have it back. Anya apologizes for having the wrong book. Rupert is apologizing, and Anya asks him not to leave her. Now they’re reconciled and kissing.

14. Tara gets tackled by Willow to save her from a vampire. Dawn gets a stake to save Xander with. Xander stakes the vampire. Now Willow and Tara are about to kiss. Xander steps on the crystal Willow used for the spell. And Tara pushes Willow off of her. Memories are back. Giles and Anya stop kissing very suddenly. And Buffy gets her memories back and immediately gets kicked in the head.

15. Buffy is getting beaten up by a vampire, and Spike is fighting more of them off. Tara is staring pure shattered rage at Willow. Xander and Dawn found the crystal bits, and Dawn has the most betrayed look on her face. Xander giggles, but it’s because he got back his memory of seeing King Ralph. There’s a dated cultural reference, which is something Buffy usually avoids. Pretty sure it was dated at the time, too… yeah, the movie was a decade old when this episode came out. Willow is kneeling in the middle of the group. Xander says they should get back. Willow starts to her feet, Tara has the expression of someone who has a million things to say an no words to say the with, and is sobbing as they walk.

16. Giles and Anya are cleaning. A few yards apart. Spike has killed the vampires, so Buffy is safe. Spike grabs the loan shark and promises to pay him. The loan shark is leaving. Spike goes to help Buffy up. Asks if she’s all right. She doesn’t take his help, and starts stumbling back toward the shop. Spike looks hurt and confused and resigned.

17. Bronze. A band is playing. They don’t have Sweet. Buffy is sitting at the bar and staring into space. Tara is moving out of the Summers house. God, her face. Willow is sitting against a cabinet and not moving or looking at anything. Giles is on a plane, flying back to England, because nothing will talk him out of this plan. “Goodbye to you/Goodbye to everything that I knew…” Spike meets Buffy at the bar. Buffy won’t look at him. Spike leaves. Tara walks out the front door and sees Dawn and offers her a hug. Dawn stomps off into the house. And we see Spike and Buffy making out behind the stairs at the Bronze. Episode end.

Overall: Ye gods, that was… weird?

There was a REALLY GOOD EPISODE in there. The stuff with them figuring out who they were, the assumptions that were accurate and the ones that weren’t, was wonderful. It was funny and it was heartwarming. Buffy and Dawn recognizing each other as sisters, Spike and Giles trying to bond, an entire marital drama playing out in a half-hour between Anya and Giles… that was all great stuff. So was picking up the obvious chemistry between Anya and Giles and running with it for an episode. Loved all of that. The action scenes were really good. The loan shark was a terrible pun but the show was so delighted to be making it that it came off charming. Like… the main body of this episode was great!

Then you threw in the fact that it’s in Season Six, and thus has to carry out the emotional and story arcs of this particular season, and it just doesn’t work. I know I harped on how badly conceived Willow’s mistake with her spell is, but I just can’t get off that idea. I get it, we’re telling a story about someone with an addiction, but a person with an addiction who’s hiding it from their loved ones actually hides it! Tara knows what Lethe’s bramble is. She’s figured it out once. Giles would likely recognize it if he stumbled on it, and Dawn is both absurdly clever and fascinated with magic. You never quite know what she’ll know. Willow did the equivalent of a teenager who smokes marijuana leaving a whole bag of weed on the kitchen table, and that’s just not the kind of mistake a person in that position makes. And it weakens the greater point of that arc - magic is inherently dangerous. The spell simply malfunctioning would sell everything better. So would Willow making a subtler mistake with the spell.

The Willow/Tara breakup story is pure misery in a show that’s already drowning in it around its main character. Buffy has always been a dark show, but this season in particular is just pure dreariness, and it makes even the silly bits - Horny Giles, the mummy hand with the tongs, Andrew’s Death Star on the van - hard to enjoy. “Once More With Feeling” transcended that on pure episode quality and novelty; this one, while for the most part well-written and well-performed all the way through, isn’t up to that task.

I see where Giles is coming from. In a world where there are competent, genre-savvy therapists and the Watcher’s Council excels at anything but making things worse and turning problems into crises, I might even agree with him - what Buffy needs is an actual Watcher, a stipend from the Council to reduce her financial stress, and a really good therapist - but this world doesn’t offer those things. It has mentor figures and friends, and Buffy needs as many of those as she can get, because the world is trying actively to crush her under its weight. Her support network is dissolving when she needs it most, and I would expect Giles, a man of exceptional emotional intelligence, to recognize that and act to mitigate it instead of making it worse.

This is the Season of Bad Decisions that are Profoundly Out of Character, and I’m really not enjoying it, in spite of some lovely laughs at Randy’s expense here.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy season 6 #tabula rasa #season 6 #randy giles

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marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer · 6 years

Text

MTVS Epic Rewatch #189

BTVS 7x08 Sleeper

Obligatory soundtrack: Early One Morning - Pavlov’s Bell

Stray thoughts

1) If the fact that Spike was feeding and turning people wasn’t enough of a clue that something was amiss, then him humming a lullaby while digging graves most certainly was.

2) I love that whenever we hear a British man speaking in this show we immediately know he’s a watcher. Side note, this watcher was totally shacking up with his slayer, right?

3) Okay, so Dawn told Willow all about seeing “Joyce” but she didn’t disclose Joyce’s warning about Buffy. Willow then proceeds to tell her that she’d seen someone, too, but it was the Big Bad. Dawn, understandably, convinces herself that Joyce couldn’t have been an evil manifestation. I get why her first reaction is to believe she’d seen her mom. She’s a kid who’s had a rough two years, whose mom died suddenly, who was almost sacrificed to open up a portal to a hell dimension, whose sister killed herself shortly after, and who spent hours in a bedroom with the body of her stand-in mom before anyone came to check on either of them. Joyce represents the normalcy and stability her life is lacking, so it’s absolutely understandable she’s so eager to believe she’s seen her mom. What I don’t get is why – other than because it suited the writers’ purpose – she didn’t talk about this with Buffy (even if she didn’t feel like opening up about the actual warning...) and why it was never brought up again (that I remember, at least.) I’ve talked about this in my previous recap, but I must hand it to The First, it played its cards right by manipulating Dawn. She was the only one who 100% bought the lies, and the fact that she didn’t discuss this any further – especially not with Buffy – and that she kept believing her “mom”’s warning all along had far-reaching consequences. Dawn was probably the only character not mature enough to realize she was being duped. Joyce/The First warned Dawn that “when it's bad, Buffy won't choose you. She'll be against you.” Not only does this warning foreshadow what will come to happen in Empty Places, but it is the precise reason why that happens, except that the roles are reserved: when things get bad, Dawn won’t choose Buffy, she’ll be against her…

4) I do appreciate that Xander truly tries to be objective here and to see things from a purely rational perspective. It’s a very nice change of pace from his “slay first, ask questions later approach”, and it is in fact exactly what Buffy needed. Emotionally, she can’t bring herself to believe Spike’d be able to be killing people while having a soul. I think the church scene from Beneath You is what drives Buffy to believe having a soul has truly changed him. Of course, she’s letting herself be driven by her emotions (which, btw, we know are her strength…) So it was necessary for her to hear the voice of reason. And I’m grateful for the fact that Xander was actually written as a reasonable voice of reason - unlike what they did with his speech to Buffy in Into the Woods… where we were supposed to buy into what he was saying (he didn’t even have all the fact!) and take his word as the voice of reason.

*gets herself angry at remembering Into the Woods*

*breathes furiously*

*tries to calm self down*

*watches videos of puppies*

*resumes writing*

Anywho, this is their exchange in this episode:

XANDER Why would a vampire lie about who sired him. What's that? Some kind of status symbol for the undead. My sire can beat up your sire. (sits)

BUFFY I'm not saying I don't believe him.

XANDER You just don't want to. OK, let's look at this objectively. Figure it out in a cold, impersonal, CSI-like manner 'cause we're a couple of carpet fibers away from a case.

BUFFY Spike can't be the one doing this. He couldn't if he wanted to.

XANDER Why not?

BUFFY Well, for one thing, pain chip, remember? He can't hurt anyone.

XANDER Didn't stop him from hurting you. Hey, objective here. Maybe the chip's not working anymore.

BUFFY Oh, it's working. I've seen it.

XANDER Is it? Or is that what Spike wants you to think?

BUFFY You think it's an act?

XANDER I don't really know. And neither do you.

BUFFY No, mm-mmm. There's something. I-I can feel it. He's different. He's changed. And, if it is an act, then the Oscar goes to...

I just appreciate the fact that he was trying to help Buffy see the situation from every angle, instead of taking a stand and only viewing the evidence that would support her belief.

5) These two truly had a very lively sex life…

XANDER You're gonna be fine.

ANYA Better be, because if I get vamped, I'm gonna bite your ass.

XANDER Wouldn't be the first time.

ANYA What was that?

6) And this is exactly why they should’ve talked to Dawn more about the whole seeing Joyce thing…

WILLOW Buffy, this thing knows us. It made us think that we were talking to people we knew. Mine said it came with a message from Tara. But Dawn actually saw... your Mother. This thing—it had me for a while—I mean, before it started letting loose with the pulse-pounding terror. But before that, the lies were very convincing. It just seems real.

BUFFY Lies.

WILLOW I mean maybe—maybe to confuse us, to mess us up. Or maybe just to be cool.

Unfortunately, Buffy was too concerned with the urgent issue of a potential serial killer vampire on the loose to take the time to talk to her sister. She should have done it, though. I mean, even if she assumed Dawn had understood what she’d seen wasn’t real, Buffy should’ve known that seeing Joyce again, even if it was a fake Joyce, probably had messed her up. I think that Buffy not approaching Dawn about this probably fed Dawn’s belief that she’d seen the real Joyce.

7) Sweet Jebus, this man…

8) Bless Anya.

SPIKE Anya, do be specific and tell a fellow just exactly what you're doing here.

ANYA Well, Spike... I'm here, obviously... for...um...sex.

SPIKE Uh, beg pardon.

ANYA You and me. Here and now. Let's go. Let's... get it on, you big bad boy.

SPIKE Wait, wait, Anya. Just a minute. This is not exactly—is that a stake?

ANYA Yes. Kinky.

SPIKE Uh, well, yeah, but what do you—?

ANYA Shh. No questions. No talking. I can't help it. I can't stop thinking about you and us and our brief but unforgettable time together. I mean, it's—why else would I be here? I mean, it's not like I'm snooping around looking for proof that you're some sort of wacked out serial killer. I don't know why I said that. Forget I said that. It's craziness talking. It's just nerves. Nerves. Nerves and-and horniness. Oh, just shut up, William, and take me. Take me now.

I think... I think she looks kind of riled up and disappointed he didn’t take her up on her offer?

9) Where do all this people come from? This street has never been this crowded! Sunnydale doesn’t have that big of a population!

SERIOUSLY!!!

Like, I get it, they needed the streets to be super crowded so that it would be believable for Buffy to lose track of Spike, but THIS IS NOT BELIEVABLE! A) My point above and B) any citizen of Sunydale who isn’t as dumb as a brick won’t go out at night!!!

10) Awww, Buffy woke him up by throwing him across the room just like in the old days…

11) I had to stop writing during this scene, I was simply enthralled by James’ delivery of each of his lines. I truly don’t think Spike would’ve been a redeemable character if it hadn’t been for James’ portrayal. He brings so much emotion into every word and every gesture, and it truly makes you feel for the character. Well, unless you hate Spike, of course.

SPIKE Well, I certainly didn't off her. Where are you getting this? (grabs a shirt) You know I can't.

BUFFY Right. The chip.

SPIKE No, not the chip! Not the chip, dammit. You honestly think I'd go to the end of the underworld and back to get my soul and then— Buffy, I can barely live with what I did. It haunts me. All of it. If you think that I would add to the body count now, you are crazy.

SPIKE Yeah, I talk to people. Women. Talk to them 'cause I can't talk to you.

BUFFY Oh, Spike, save it.

SPIKE As daft a notion as "Soulful Spike the Killer" is, it is nothing compared to the idea that another girl could mean anything to me. This chip—they did to me. I couldn't help it. But the soul, I got on my own—for you.

BUFFY I know.

SPIKE So, yeah. I go and pass the time... with someone. But that's all it is is time, 'cause—God, help me, Buffy—it's still all about you.

12) FYI, If you don’t remember what you’ve done the night before, that’s a BIG FAT warning sign.

13) I get that Willow’s line is meant to feed Dawn’s belief that she did, in fact, talk to Joyce, but this just doesn’t make any sense?????

DAWN You only think Spike is turning people 'cause that vampire told you so, right? But that night we were all told things that weren't true.

WILLOW Maybe.

DAWN What? What maybe.

WILLOW Well, just because those weren't the spirits of, you know, our people—just because it was some evil thing, doesn't mean what they said can't be true.

Like, why would the Big Bad disclose information that might actually help them????

14) The music choice for this episode is so absolutely perfect, I mean, Pavlov’s Bell? Accurate AF.

15) She’s a quick learner, right?

YOUNG WOMAN Huh. I get it. You'd rather I slip into something more comfortable. Should we pick off the crowd one-by-one, or block the exits and ravish the place?

SPIKE Get away from me.

YOUNG WOMAN What's with the wallflower act? You didn't seem so shy when you were biting me. I'm not asking if you wanna be soul mates, just figured you'd wanna have some fun. I take him, you take her—or the other way around. Whatever.

I love how this scene is reminiscent of Spike and Drusilla prowling the Bronze in Crush, except this time Spike does not want to play.

16) This fucking show.

YOUNG WOMAN Is that all I was to you—a one-bite stand?

17) I swear to god. THIS. FUCKING. SHOW.

18)

BUFFY Oh, uh, actually, I need some help. I'm looking for this guy. Bleach-blonde hair, leather jacket, British accent? Kind of sallow, but in a hot way?

BOUNCER Yeah, yeah, I know the guy. Billy Idol wannabe?

BUFFY Actually, Billy Idol stole his look from—never mind. Has he been here?

19) This. Fucking. Show.

AIMEE MANN Man, I hate playing vampire towns

I just love the fact that she uses the plural, “towns” like she’s fucking aware Sunnydale is not the only town infested with vampires.

It’s so amazing to see a regular someone supposedly not in the know – after 7 freaking seasons! – acknowledge the supernatural because even though it’s a staple of the genre that people are ignorant of the paranormal or choose to find more “rational” explanations for every odd occurrence, sometimes they just end up looking very dumb.

20) And this is why The First was kind of a dumb Big Bad, like, how couldn’t he have known that tasting Buffy would have the opposite effect on Spike?

21) It’s really heartbreaking that Spike not only assumes that Buffy is going to stake him but he welcomes it, I think he wants the pain to end and wants an easy way out from the things he’s done (that’s why he pleads for her - or it? - to “make him forget”)

22) Buffy reads the situation right, though. She understands that someone or something has been using Spike as a puppet and that killing him won’t really accomplish anything other than doing exactly what it wants them to do.

23) I gotta admit, I’d be Xander in this situation…

BUFFY You didn't see him down there. He really didn't know what he'd done. It wasn't in his control.

XANDER Oh, an out of control serial killer. You're right, that is a great houseguest.

24) I love how they’re talking as if he was deaf or not there, and he’s obviously listening to every single word they're saying. HE IS SITTING RIGHT THERE FOR FUCK’S SAKE!!!

Sorry, I just hate when they do that on shows or movies, okay?

25) Cliffhanger! IS GILES DEAD! DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!

There’s no fucking way Giles would’ve survived that, okay? I mean, I’m glad he’s alive, but they probably should’ve faded to black BEFORE the axe was about to chop his head off. Just seeing the demon brandishing the axe would’ve done the trick, and then it wouldn’t have felt as they were retconning the scene.

26) This is not a great episode. It’s not bad, either, but I feel the reveal that Spike was killing again and the why he was doing it should’ve been placed further apart (although I understand they were trying to get people to like Spike again, so that might’ve been detrimental to that purpose…) I don’t know, there’s something that just doesn’t work about this episode. The scenes between Buffy and Spike are great, but the whole episode feels somewhat disjointed. What do you think? Is this when season 7 started to go south?

27) If you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting my blog on ko-fi. Thanks!

#Buffy the Vampire Slayer #BTVS #Buffy Summers #Spike #Rupert Giles #MTVSepicrewatch #BTVSrewatch2015 #mine #Sleeper #recap #btvsrecap

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