Post by stargazer1682 on Jan 16, 2019 4:54:24 GMT
I'll never get over SMG's performance in this episode. The character is night and day, even just within the episode when she's overwhelmed right before the spell takes effect and then after. It really highlights something I think the show lost overtime, which is Buffy's underlying happiness; and the the tone it projects not just on her, but the show as a whole. It's constantly one piling of shit on top of the next heaped on her, with very little the way of reason for her to have hope or happiness. When that all gets lifted and she's a blank slate, she bright and chipper, yet still kicks ass; and the look on her face when she kills the vamp instinctively and thinks it's so cool. It's natural for her to feel beaten down after everything that happens by that point, but man, the effect is such that I've always thought SMG actually looks younger throughout this this episode when not having to act bogged down by Buffy's burdens.
And there's something to be said about the nature of the concept of the spell in terms of helping Buffy. Certainly not the extent the spell had or the fact that Willow did it without her consent, but it does make me think about this counselor I heard speak on the subject of trauma and abuse victims and some of the methods of treatment and coping that they use; and one of those methods is actually designed to desensitize the memories they have of that trauma, so they can retain some level of knowledge that it happened, but not necessarily the nuance or details of the experience.
So in that regard, I could see the benefit of maybe vaguing-up her memories of being in heaven - again, only with her consent; and definitely allowing her to retain the knowledge that it happened, just not the experience itself, because I don't know how anyone would be expected to actually make that sort transition from paradise to the mortal plane with any hope for a sense of true normalcy. From a theological standpoint, that's not something meant for mortal perception; humans only ever get a vaguest glimpse, because anything more cuts so close to witnessing divinity that it would drive them insane; especially if you get pulled back to an infinitesimally lower plane.
And there's something to be said about the nature of the concept of the spell in terms of helping Buffy. Certainly not the extent the spell had or the fact that Willow did it without her consent, but it does make me think about this counselor I heard speak on the subject of trauma and abuse victims and some of the methods of treatment and coping that they use; and one of those methods is actually designed to desensitize the memories they have of that trauma, so they can retain some level of knowledge that it happened, but not necessarily the nuance or details of the experience.
So in that regard, I could see the benefit of maybe vaguing-up her memories of being in heaven - again, only with her consent; and definitely allowing her to retain the knowledge that it happened, just not the experience itself, because I don't know how anyone would be expected to actually make that sort transition from paradise to the mortal plane with any hope for a sense of true normalcy. From a theological standpoint, that's not something meant for mortal perception; humans only ever get a vaguest glimpse, because anything more cuts so close to witnessing divinity that it would drive them insane; especially if you get pulled back to an infinitesimally lower plane.
