quote:
Originally posted by Corinthian:
Let's remember a few things. Marti is not Joss, so please don't expect her to sound or behave like him in interviews. She IS Joss's right hand on this show. Even so, Joss is her boss and she must answer to him. He has final say on the show's direction. If Joss doesn't like what Marti has done, he'll fire her. Nothing has been done during S6 without his approval, and the overall theme was (probably) created by him over a year ago. I for one am withholding all judgement until the credits roll on Ep. 22.
And I'll second that. Buffy is Joss' baby through and through; and I rather think he'd pull the plug entirely before he would ever allow this show to become anything other than what he fully intends it to be. Any doubters only need to look back as far as "The Body" to know just how vehemently he feels about that.
The "problem" with Season 6, if there is a problem at all, is that by turning the focus from external demons to internal demons, there was (and is) a huge risk that so much of the message will fly right over a whole lot of people's heads. More people than usual, that is. Talk about opening a huge can of worms, what with all the unavoidable amibiguities and "shades of gray" that wreak havoc with all our own better judgments and on-going attempts to just "grow up." So much easier it would be if all we ever had to do was stake a vamp, or face down a hellgod, if that's all there was to accomplish the task of growing up.
Yes, there have been many mixed messages planted throughout the season. Intentionally, I'd wager. Not to mention a whole lot of heretofore unmatched angst that at times borders on heavily-laced oppression and downright depression. And that has proved frustrating, to say the least, especially for those of us who prefer our "monsters" to be more clearly defined....and a lot easier to challenge and eventually conquer. We like that sort of "guarantee" that we can just cut to the chase and be assured that the good guys win out in the end.
But guess what? That's not the way it works with growing up. "Answers" are rarely so forthcoming, choices are never so cut-and-dried, the "demons" are hardly ever so clearly defined, and there is no finish line to cross where you finally get to excuse yourself from participating any longer. Contrary to what Xander said in Hell's Bells, you are NEVER All. Growed. Up.
Now I'm not saying that ME has succeeded in what they set out to accomplish with this season. I don't think it's fair to judge this season until the whole season has played out. But I do have to hand it to them for even attempting to tackle this season's theme. A lesser creative group and show would never even have considered it, much less set themselves up for such a risk-laden challenge, IMHO.
There is one other aspect of all this that, whether ME intended it to happen or not, certainly seems to have transpired....and that is that the audience has become just as much a part of this season's theme as the characters in the show themselves. I won't get into the Spuffy spoilage, or even the Xanya speculation, because, really, all that stuff doesn't hold a candle to our concern for Willow and Tara. We've seen our girls spend most of this season apart and miserable, which, in turn, has left us feeling quite miserable; and now, just when they're finally being reunited, and we're starting to feel like we've gotten past all that misery and all is finally about to be made right in the world again, we're faced with our worst fears -- a dead Tara and an Evil Willow. How many of us don't feel dead inside and more than just a little like spewing evil venom in the direction of ME over this?
I'm not saying what I'm about to suggest was intentional on ME's part, but I'm not saying it wasn't either. Hey, I'd never underestimate Joss. But here we are chewing ourselves up inside over our most basic insecurity with regards to Willow and Tara...that they would never be allowed to last in Buffyverse. Here we are doubting everything we've seen and come to believe on the show up to this point, and everything we've been told by Joss, Marti, et al, over the course of the past two years that should make us believe that Willow's and Tara's is indeed a True Love that will survive and continue despite whatever badness they will have to overcome along the way. Here we are still fearing very, very deeply that it will all be taken away from us. Sound familiar much? Anybody not fully in empathy mode with what Willow's struggles have been like for her this season? Yes, it's been easy for some of us to sit back and second-guess her storyline; I mean, how could Willow possibly think that Tara wouldn't still and always love her, regardless of her magical abilities or her fear that, without it, she's "just plain old (and therefore unlovable) Willow." Why couldn't she just take a step back and see just how much Tara really, truly loves her? It's so obvious, we say...she could have avoided so much pain and anguish for them both if she'd only realized what was right there in front of her face the whole damned time.
But it's rarely so obvious when you're right in the middle of it; and it's harder still to take that necessary step back to more objectively consider who and where you are, how you got there, and what you really are prepared to do and believe in if you're sincere about seeing things through to "right" again. What seems to be and what really is...the differences can be wafer-thin, or gaping chasms apart. But the first step across is always a leap of faith...
I, for one, still have faith...They. Will. Always. Find. Each Other.
Edited because I had to run to catch a bus and didn't have time to proof-read earlier...and then just skrewed it up again.
[This message has been edited by The Big I-T (edited March 29, 2002).]
[This message has been edited by The Big I-T (edited March 29, 2002).]