Passions
firing up for another Buffy challenge, It seems that this is narrated by Angel which is a different spin on previous episodes. After a quick snack, Angel is stalking his real prey. See now he has a purpose in this show! I like the fact that he is a soulless freak. Does passion rule us all? I feel passion may be something that is a powerful force that if used incorrectly could do more harm then good!
Now that is creepy! Angel can come and go when he pleases, good point Xander since when was the school library used and oh boy Giles is bad at his job! I use the "Na na na na na" strategy to battle all the time. Angel is not going to invade your car Cordelia, give it up already. It seems her influence on Xander is starting to show as HE IS REALLY GETTING ANNOYING!!!
Since when can a teacher let a student cover the class? I thought that is what emergency teachers are for, and great choice in the one with the lowest self esteem (although se is the smartest) Is Giles going to forgive Jenny or is he just going to use her for the knowledge? Lying is never the right thing to do "A man never has to remember the truth, but a lie he can never forget." Giles is a good man.
Mum no matter how many parenting books you've read I think you will be surprised! another spin off that didn't go past the drawing board in "Giles the BOOKMAN!" Now talk about intimidating, the old dead pet fish in the envelope trick. What is it with vampires and tormenting puppies? is that the way they show absolute evil by how they can torment a puppy?
Good to see the New Agers are putting the local Occult store owner's kids through college. Jenny is walking with a purpose and Buffy is not going to let her forget, yet she still wants what is best for Giles. Angel is a really good artist, I mean he is a sick monster. Good to see that his welcome has been revoked at the Summers household, now we better get on to that Car.......
The good old dot matrix printer, and since when did computers burst into flames when dropped on the floor. Angel seems to have too much fun as a soulless freak! I'm amazed that Jenny was able to run so far in heals however it seems this is the last we will see of Jenny. He killed her because he wanted to not because he was hungry and that is cold! It seems that after Buffy's chat with her mum she has grown up a little.
Angel now has done something worse than kill Giles, he has killed his spirit, his hope and his love. When this happens to a man even the most rational is capable of irrational actions.
It seems to me that the narrative that Angel is giving us about passion is one that is expressing his choice for refusing the cure of the curse. Passion is a wonderful thing that when used correctly can be a great personal trait, however if you allow your passion to consume you then you run the risk of losing control. If you have lost control you may live to regret your actions in the future.
This was a turning point episode with an out clause (the lesson kids is back up your files all the time!) They removed all doubt about what side Angel plays for now however if they ever want to make him switch again, it seems that Jenny's last redeeming act of selflessness is hidden between her desks.
note here is the transcipt for the narrative by angel (thanks April):
"Passion. It lies in all of us.
Sleeping......waiting... And though unwanted......unbidden...
it will stir......open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us... guides us... Passion rules us all.And we obey. What other choice do we have?
Passion is the source of our finest moments.
The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief.If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace.
But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank...Without passion,
we'd be truly dead."8/10
Killed by Death
Before I start this has to be the best title to an episode I have seen so far! Classic!
Alright lets go, you'd think that by this stage of the series they could afford a reasonable looking crematory. Buffy is sick with a fever and Angel is just sick! we start where we left off from last episode a nice fight scene with the assist from her friends, however Buffy is not in good shape and it seems the stress has got to her.
This is going to be a hard episode for me to watch as I have spend a many day in the hospital delusional and in a panic. (she must have good health insurance to get a single room!) Angel is back to play mind games I am enjoying evil Angel, (Another DC comics reference "Power Girl to the rescue" (DC 6 Marvel 3)
Buffy can't just rest she has to solve the mystery of death in a hospital! Why am I not surprise the Doctor has something to do with it. Well what ever he did Death is not happy and there is another kid traumatized for life!
Willow is so naive not knowing what the term playing Doctor means. It just came to me this thought, why don't the vampires in this show turn into bats? Willow and Buffy, on the snoop again. I think Giles would of rather of faced the invisible killer than work with Cordelia, (can't blame him!) (And the award for the worst piece of child acting in a flashback in Buffy goes to........ the kid playing Celia.) I should of really stated to take a tally of how many times Willow has saved Buffy's life! Also just when you thought it was safe to watch this show, they bring out the really bad make up! (a bit more effort needed into the look of this demon. it really does let the show down they got the look of the vampires better but it seems that demons they trying a little too hard to make them look scary but they just look hokey! with bad special effects to boot.) A little giggle in the end of the episode is not enough to save this one.
I will sum up this episode in one word:
BORING!
It is one thing to hate an episode due to bad writing or acting but when it is so boring that you lose interest and the best thing about it is a reference to a little known DC Character (but a cool one with an interesting back story) it doesn't say much,
I have no feeling for this one so I'll break down the scoring as such
one for the powergirl reference, one for it keeping up with continuity, one for the giggle at the end with the kids picture.
so that is a total of
3/10
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4 comments:
Ok there’s seriously something wrong with your marking scheme when passion gets the same score as “bewitched bothered bewildered” it deserved at least 9/10.
Anyways, I’ll get to Angelus’ narrative at the end. But first the show
Ok I think the purpose of this episode is to show us/Buffy that there is nothing left in Angelus that even resembles humanity. This guy is not just evil, he’s quite sick and twisted.
Trust Cordy to only think of herself when knowing that once a vamp is invited in he’s always welcome. I mean seriously her car?? And her selflessness at giving said car to her grandmother of all people! Looks like last episode didn’t teach her much.
Once again Kudos to Giles for putting Buffy ahead of jenny, and he’s not even her father, a lot of single parents now-a-days wouldn’t have that kind of selflessness.
‘Joyce: Don't tell me. He's changed. He's not the same guy you fell for? – oh how true! I wonder if Buffy had of spoken to her mother before she “did the deed” if anything would have been different? It’s amazing how Joyce is written in such a way that she provides comforts Buffy without even knowing what’s going on (I think good parenting involves being able to read you kids without them having to speak – although I’m not a parent so it’s easy for me to say that)
Given vampire’s aversion to sunshine why did dru call the dog that?? Angel is really running the roost huh? He doesn’t even co-operate with his fellow vamps and really has started to grate on spike……..
I gotta say Buffy shows more maturity then I currently have. I know when I’m hurting I tend to make the lives of those around me horrible. Let alone to have a focus for that pain. It’s amazing that she is allowing Jenny to have the one thing that Jenny denied her –love. I’m still in awe
How creepy is it knowing how evil angelus is then seeing him play the good guy in front of joyce…….too bad we don’t have that kind of insight in real life.
Ok the first time I saw this episode I gotta say I thought Buffy would save jenny. But angel snapping her neck is just…..COLD….i mean he didn’t even feed, Makes you think that evil uses some just to further it’s own cause (feed) and others it just destroys because their created on Gods image…..hmmm maybe a little far fetched but that’s what I thought.
Poor Giles………..he finally thinks he’ll be able to patch things up with Jenny over a romantic evening, how cruel is what angelus did him. Him running his hand through his hair just before going up those stairs is heartbreaking. No wonder he lost all sense of reason (recall the speech on vengeance)
Spike: Uh-uh. No fair going into the ring unless he tags you first. – LOL see angelus if you don’t play nice with the other baddies………..
I could have done without the Buffy voiceover at the end. I think the audience was smart enough to realize she is now ready to kill angelus without her having to say it.
Now the narrative: I think it’s really well written and is almost true.
Passion - from the latin patior, meaning to suffer or to endure is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for anything and often requiring action. Passion often applies to lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love.
I’m going to go with this definition and not the Orthodox Christian one as I can’t seem to get an accurate definition of that. I mean a lot of church fathers talk about being free from passion from desire……but surely it’s not about being free of all passion and desire as defined above but rather having those passions and desires purified and hence ultimately fulfilled in Christ??
I think it’s true that passion is unbidden and oft unwanted and will HOWL as it’s put in the narrative, I think all humanity lives with some level of restlessness, desiring yet at the same never being able to fulfill it’s passion because “he has set eternity in their hearts” as C.S Lewis says if I find that I desire something that nothing in this world can fulfill then I must conclude that I was made for another world.
I think in that sense passion rules us, unfortunately we oft do not follow it to its logical conclusion but rather dwell on the smaller passions of our immediate lives despite that these do not offer siation to that howl inside.
I agree that passion is the source of our finest moments - the joy of love yes. Clarity of hatred?? Nope sorry hatred blinds it is very much akin to vengeance. Ecstasy of grief – actually that phrasing is quite true, ecstasy when traced back to its roots means “to see ones face” i.e being besides ones self. This is so true of grief you are beside yourself, you see yourself go through the day to day motions yet you are detached. I don’t see how grief relates to passion though.
If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank...Without passion, we'd be truly dead.
This is beyond truth, a real definition of hell. In hell there are none of the normal worldly passions the body, reborn in it’s spiritual form no longer has these passions…..if we haven’t taken time to develop the only passion that lasts – we’ll be truly dead.
Ok this is long enough so I won’t post my comments on the other episode.
The next 2 episodes aren’t so great but until the finally of Dr horrible and the season finally of buffy - the status is NOT quo
Just to clarify my ratings for the two episodes in question, They were different animals and it would not be fair to compare the two. One was a well written comedic farce which had strong character development.
The other was a psychological thriller which had strong character development! I honestly can't say I enjoyed one over the other. They both were great and both had flaws.
Also April you never cease to amaze me with your in dept and poetic view on this show. I enjoy reading your comments more than I do writing my own.
Hopefully in the next few days the next post will be up.
Ok I’m adding another long comment about killed by death mainly because I’m so gutted by act 3 of Dr horrible to comment on it now.
Ok I agree this was a pretty bad episode over all but there are just one or two points that stood out.
Xander: My whole life just flashed before my eyes! I gotta get me a life! – possibly my favorite Buffy-verse line (I’m sure I’ll feel the same if my life flashes before my eyes) Does obsessively reading/watching/listening to anything Whedon related constitute a life?
Love xander knowing the futility of trying to stop angelus yet trying anyways (and hey it pays off!!)
Giles: Well, sometimes small children *do* see something we adults
don't: us. Our true selves, our, our... our hidden faces. – must admit I reall love this line. Children are so much more intune with the spritiual world (before we turn then into jaded adults and make them only trust what is tangible) very much reminds me of a song by my favorite Christian artist – Nichole nordeman I gotta include the lyrics to this song (well just the first verse although the rest is just as good) – if you want the rest let me know:
When I was maybe eight or nine
And I believed
When Jesus walked on waters blue
And if He helped me, I could too
If I believed
Before rationale, analysis and systematic thinking
Robbed me of a sweet simplicity
When wonders and when mysteries
Were far less often silly dreams
And childhood fantasies
Help me believe
Cause I don't want to miss any miracles
Maybe I'd see much better by closing my eyes
And I would shed this grownup skin I'm in
To touch an angel's wing
And I would be free
Help me believe
LOL – willow played doctor the same way I did!! (And now I do it for a living how sad is that!)
LOL @ willows crazy frog fear – “don’t warn the tadpoles”
Ok that’s my bit. I’m going to go back to moping over the AWESOME but hugely gut wrenching ending to Dr horrible………and eat frozen yougurt and watch an uplifting Disney flick. And I’ll comment on dr horrible tomorrow.
Hey, we have the same blog layout. Cool.
As for Passion (no 's' - that's the soap opera :p ), I'd honestly call that my favorite BtVS episode of all time. I love the "gimmick" eps, but this one always gets to me. I'm with april_fool82 - at least a 9 outta 10. At least.
Killed by Death is one I've never particularly cared for, but I think it has a little bit of everything for everyone (everyone being the actual characters). It's a better episode in terms of character, than actual plot.
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