Post by stargazer1682 on Oct 24, 2018 2:56:30 GMT
Well, I managed to get through three episodes of season 6 of Buffy before feeling the need to vent all of the frustrations of the season; even if albeit some of them haven't fully occurred yet and are still down the pike.
"Flooded" really strikes at so much of what I don't like about this season; which comes down to problems being problems of the sake making them a problem, instead of what would be the most reasonable answer.
Let's start with the bills that have been amassing all of these months. This appears to be something the full Scooby gang was aware of, including, it appeared, Dawn. The money Joyce left wasn't entirely gone, but they knew it was dwindling; and evidently some bills weren't even being paid that there was a stack of them to present to Buffy. What were Willow and Tara doing, living in the Summers household, letting things get that bad? Was their only plan to bring Buffy back to solve everything?
I'm torn as to whether the suggestion for Buffy to charge to save people was either just meant as a joke about Angel and company doing exactly that; or if they honestly just tossed that in there for the sake of making Anya look vapid. Don't get me wrong, I don't know how Angel Investigations makes it work; and we know they do struggle, yet the conceit through a significant portion of the series is that they at least do get by and make their living fighting the good fight. Ostensibly the clients that pay more often are the more boring cases we don't see and occasionally hear about when they ask about such and such file or closing a case.
Still, realistically Buffy is barely 20 in season 6; even with two of her friends living with her and were paying her rent, the fact that Tara and Willow were both still in college means they probably weren't working much if at all (no indication either were working even a part time job), it doesn't seem feasible for Buffy to stay in that house. It would make more sense to sell the house and find an apartment she and Dawn can move into; though that would still require income of some kind.
Which of course leads to the age old question of how is a slayer who survives to her 20s expected to support herself? The most common and sense solution would be that if the Slayers Council can pay their Watchers, of which there are exponentially more than there are Slayers, then they should be paying their Slayer; or at least supporting her to the point of dependency for her basic needs, with the knowledge that she's not in a position to earn much extra on her own and still be at her peak fighting ability. And if historically Slayers were financially supported by their Watcher derived from their stipend from the Council, as has been argued in the past on the old board, that makes Giles even more irresponsible for leaving.
Even barring any of those options, she could have offer self-defense classes in gym in the back of the Magic Box. Hell, working at the Magic Box should have been the path of least resistance, but they had to contrive a way to make it not, all so they can make things worse for Buffy. She could have joined the force. Or taken any number of part time jobs that would come easy to her.
My own preferred take would be that she become a funeral home director. In my opinion it's the best possible career for Buffy. On average you only need two year's worth of schooling for an associates degree, before apprenticing with an established mortician. It would put her in a prime position to exam the recently deceased to see if they might rise and take care of them before they're even in the ground; and would give her the perfect excuse for coming going from different cemeteries all the time. I say she could even create her own special embalming blend, by adding in some holy water - the second someone turn, they burst into flames.
I'm going to jump next to Xander and Anya - I think I've sort of glossed over their whole discussion/arguement on the street in this episode, where Anya wants to announce their engagement and is mad Xander isn't supportive. He goes on to talk about how he's still adjusting to having a real, proper job and living on his own; and there's the rub - once again, he, like Buffy, is barely 20. Which mind you isn't an impossible age to be making a living and being on your own, or even deciding to get married and have it last it endure for the next 60-70 years, but the vast majority of people at that age are still maturing and statistically he's a few years off from reaching a point where the decisions he makes, like getting married, are going to be tempered by a level of experience that will increase the likelihood that the choices he makes are good ones. The fact that he recognizes this is in itself a flash of maturity, which is overshadowed by a lack of experience telling him to see it through and explore why he has these doubts and reluctance to get married; even when he has no desire to be without Anya in his life.
And then there's the magic, or rather the qualms with it. Why the hell not use it to fix the pipes or make party favors? What good is it then? For that matter, if you have the ability, which by all accounts is not that simple, why not bring someone back to life? Sure, if you're pulling them from someplace that makes where you are look like hell, that's problematic, but on the whole it should be no different that using science to improve health, extend life expectancy or just generally make life more convenient. That whole conversation in season 5 about magic and medicine not mixing was such a BS cop out to let Joyce die. Ditto Tara, even to the point of having a veritable god saying her death couldn't be reversed because it wasn't mystical.
I've always thought this, but lately I've been reading the Harry Potter books for the first time and it only reaffirms my thoughts on this; because for the most part that's how magic should be use. I mean, they're complete lack of familiarity with the most basic function of non-magical life gets a little absurd, especially if magically children ostensibly spend of the first ten years of life going to non-magically based schools; and if, by all account, the average witch or wizard lives in communities that are to some degree populated by Muggles. Other than that though, seriously, of course you should use magic to prepare your food or pop from one place and appear in another in an instant. What's the point of magic otherwise? Willow's no more addicted to magic for whipping up decorations than I'm addicted to my car because I don't want to walk to the grocery store if I don't have to.
So if you're going to have a best friend who's a witch and lives under your roof, absolutely use her to fix your pipes. Or at the very least, check the mountain of bills to see if you have home owners insurance - which Joyce being Joyce and them living on a hellmouth, surely they did - get on the horn toot sweet and file a claim.
"Flooded" really strikes at so much of what I don't like about this season; which comes down to problems being problems of the sake making them a problem, instead of what would be the most reasonable answer.
Let's start with the bills that have been amassing all of these months. This appears to be something the full Scooby gang was aware of, including, it appeared, Dawn. The money Joyce left wasn't entirely gone, but they knew it was dwindling; and evidently some bills weren't even being paid that there was a stack of them to present to Buffy. What were Willow and Tara doing, living in the Summers household, letting things get that bad? Was their only plan to bring Buffy back to solve everything?
I'm torn as to whether the suggestion for Buffy to charge to save people was either just meant as a joke about Angel and company doing exactly that; or if they honestly just tossed that in there for the sake of making Anya look vapid. Don't get me wrong, I don't know how Angel Investigations makes it work; and we know they do struggle, yet the conceit through a significant portion of the series is that they at least do get by and make their living fighting the good fight. Ostensibly the clients that pay more often are the more boring cases we don't see and occasionally hear about when they ask about such and such file or closing a case.
Still, realistically Buffy is barely 20 in season 6; even with two of her friends living with her and were paying her rent, the fact that Tara and Willow were both still in college means they probably weren't working much if at all (no indication either were working even a part time job), it doesn't seem feasible for Buffy to stay in that house. It would make more sense to sell the house and find an apartment she and Dawn can move into; though that would still require income of some kind.
Which of course leads to the age old question of how is a slayer who survives to her 20s expected to support herself? The most common and sense solution would be that if the Slayers Council can pay their Watchers, of which there are exponentially more than there are Slayers, then they should be paying their Slayer; or at least supporting her to the point of dependency for her basic needs, with the knowledge that she's not in a position to earn much extra on her own and still be at her peak fighting ability. And if historically Slayers were financially supported by their Watcher derived from their stipend from the Council, as has been argued in the past on the old board, that makes Giles even more irresponsible for leaving.
Even barring any of those options, she could have offer self-defense classes in gym in the back of the Magic Box. Hell, working at the Magic Box should have been the path of least resistance, but they had to contrive a way to make it not, all so they can make things worse for Buffy. She could have joined the force. Or taken any number of part time jobs that would come easy to her.
My own preferred take would be that she become a funeral home director. In my opinion it's the best possible career for Buffy. On average you only need two year's worth of schooling for an associates degree, before apprenticing with an established mortician. It would put her in a prime position to exam the recently deceased to see if they might rise and take care of them before they're even in the ground; and would give her the perfect excuse for coming going from different cemeteries all the time. I say she could even create her own special embalming blend, by adding in some holy water - the second someone turn, they burst into flames.
I'm going to jump next to Xander and Anya - I think I've sort of glossed over their whole discussion/arguement on the street in this episode, where Anya wants to announce their engagement and is mad Xander isn't supportive. He goes on to talk about how he's still adjusting to having a real, proper job and living on his own; and there's the rub - once again, he, like Buffy, is barely 20. Which mind you isn't an impossible age to be making a living and being on your own, or even deciding to get married and have it last it endure for the next 60-70 years, but the vast majority of people at that age are still maturing and statistically he's a few years off from reaching a point where the decisions he makes, like getting married, are going to be tempered by a level of experience that will increase the likelihood that the choices he makes are good ones. The fact that he recognizes this is in itself a flash of maturity, which is overshadowed by a lack of experience telling him to see it through and explore why he has these doubts and reluctance to get married; even when he has no desire to be without Anya in his life.
And then there's the magic, or rather the qualms with it. Why the hell not use it to fix the pipes or make party favors? What good is it then? For that matter, if you have the ability, which by all accounts is not that simple, why not bring someone back to life? Sure, if you're pulling them from someplace that makes where you are look like hell, that's problematic, but on the whole it should be no different that using science to improve health, extend life expectancy or just generally make life more convenient. That whole conversation in season 5 about magic and medicine not mixing was such a BS cop out to let Joyce die. Ditto Tara, even to the point of having a veritable god saying her death couldn't be reversed because it wasn't mystical.
I've always thought this, but lately I've been reading the Harry Potter books for the first time and it only reaffirms my thoughts on this; because for the most part that's how magic should be use. I mean, they're complete lack of familiarity with the most basic function of non-magical life gets a little absurd, especially if magically children ostensibly spend of the first ten years of life going to non-magically based schools; and if, by all account, the average witch or wizard lives in communities that are to some degree populated by Muggles. Other than that though, seriously, of course you should use magic to prepare your food or pop from one place and appear in another in an instant. What's the point of magic otherwise? Willow's no more addicted to magic for whipping up decorations than I'm addicted to my car because I don't want to walk to the grocery store if I don't have to.
So if you're going to have a best friend who's a witch and lives under your roof, absolutely use her to fix your pipes. Or at the very least, check the mountain of bills to see if you have home owners insurance - which Joyce being Joyce and them living on a hellmouth, surely they did - get on the horn toot sweet and file a claim.