Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 3x18 – Earshot
Dec. 30th, 2023 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsContinuing to clean out some backlog. Technically I had a couple eps of Frasier s4 done but they're mini-reviews anyway so I might as well do the last couple of written Buffy reviews.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 3x18 – Earshot
As I’ve been nursing a potential AU for later s3, there is one episode I always forget to consider how it would be affected in the AU. That being this one, if I need to say it (although I do sometimes have to remind myself that Doppelgangland exists too). This episode is really weird, in a way that I can’t decide if I like or not.
Once more we have the problem with a season long villain rearing its head. Because there end up being fits and starts to that plot being relevant. The Scoobies only just discovered that the Mayor was up to something, and they have very little to go on now, but because that puts them on a tight timetable that they know about, it feels like they’re wasting time not focusing on addressing the big bad. In a way I wish they had discovered that the Mayor was up to something earlier so that it didn’t seem like such a problem that they were going on with their lives without making it a huge deal. On the other, I know that the longer they know about a problem but do nothing about it is also quite frustrating.
Seeing how odd and…piecemeal this episode seems, reminds me of my thought experiment last time, and that would really fit. That they had expected to have a plot about the Books and a plot about Faith messing with Angel as separate episodes, but neither was quite enough to make a whole episode so they got forced together, leaving them with a spot to fill with…an unconventional filler episode. It couldn’t affect the greater plot because they had used up two episodes of plot motion last time, and they knew what they needed for the rest of the season. So this episode feels really out of place where it is.
Because this episode is very unconventional. None of the actual threats are supernatural, the only supernatural element is the threat to Buffy herself and that then puts them on the non-supernatural case around them. It also kind of feels like two PSA (about bullying/teen suicide and about school shootings) episodes smushed together, which is weird and trips over itself is a few ways.
The pacing of this episode is really weird too. And ties in with how I think they had pieces of this as a concept sitting around but hadn’t fully refined it into an episode. Then when they needed to make an episode out of it, it ends up a little unrefined.
I don’t do a lot of research for these reviews, be it for things I don’t understand or to know what fandoms thinks about them, but one thing I will do is look into high level production elements like writing and directing, and I think we have a two-fold issue here. This looks to be the only episode of the show this director ever did, so again it looks like this was seen as a B-tier episode that didn’t get a lot of attention from production.
But also, while my memory tells me that I like a lot of Jane Espenson’s episodes, looking over what she’s done so far with the show, all of them have some pacing foibles. I have a lot of love for Band Candy, but it has a strangely placed opening scene and there are issues with how it unfolds. Gingerbread, in spite of all I found to say about it because I think it was a good concept, also had a very abrupt opening and was a big mess at pacing the plot. While this one is weirdly paced as a story, it doesn’t have the same large impact of the other two that needed more thoughtful pacing; so in that regard this may be a step up.
And because this episode feels like such an afterthought to the season, I’m having a hard time finding a lot to say about the characters. Everything seems…ready to move on. Which would have some validity as a tone if it was intentional, since the characters are coming to the end of their senior year of high school and could be feeling very ready to move on; but it also doesn’t seem intentional in that way.
However, in one way, this episode seems absolutely necessary. It may prove a little redundant with Prom once I’ve watched it again, but this is one of the rare times when the show really treats the other students at Sunnydale High as part of the narrative. In a way, that’s a condemnation, because this episode kind of acts like they are well known background players, but most of them aren’t and only come into play this episode. But it is necessary to have at least one episode like this before this season’s finale when the whole school steps up to go to war.
In that, this almost feels retroactively inserted, like they needed a school episode before the finale and this was where they could fit it in.
All of this is weird, because this episode does have a complicated history, but not because it had trouble at that level of production. Unless it actually was redone; I don’t think it was, but I also kind of see ways it looks like maybe it was. Because part of the reason this has a complicated history is because of the Columbine shooting; which was a big enough deal to make them pull the episode, but there are lines in the episode that talk about school shootings being too common. And I can imagine there are seams of stitching around originally having a shooting plot instead of the clunky semi-comedy lunch lady villain. For starters, why did Jonathan need such a big gun if he was committing suicide?
Smaller point, but it’s ridiculous how much the Scoobies talk in front of the newspaper guy. They’re covering a lot of topics worthy of comment, but don’t seem to get any.
Also, again, this show was just killing time with Cordy at this point. There’s no story in when she’s willing to work with the Scoobies and when she wants to keep her distance. Her and Wesley’s…thing is a running joke but it doesn’t tell us much about their characters, and really just reminds us of how bad the WB casting could be for supposed teenagers.
All that said, I guess I do have a few of my more usual type of points to make. For one, could they take Buffy somewhere farther away from people to buy some more time for her before losing her mind? Maybe even just to the mansion, that was supposedly on the outskirts of town.
But also…I’m not sure how to feel about Buffy/Angel in this one. I think I’m supposed to take it at face value and see this as sweet and loving and very meaningful vows of staying together forever. But…I don’t take it at face value. I see Buffy having a lot of trust issues with Angel, both ones that are and ones that aren’t tied to her unresolved feelings about all that happened with Angelus. Also the potential of Angelus round 2 if they ever actually progress their relationship. For all their big declarations of how much they love each other, they’re in a holding pattern that they can’t get out of, and realistically never will be able to.
And Angel just seems dumb and creepy. Does he think of his experiences as Angelus as being him or not? Because, given what we were shown in Becoming, souled-Angel shunned being around humanity, and one would assume that it included being with other women. Also if he had been with others in that century, he would probably have either discovered his curse, or would have questions because it wouldn’t just be sex that lost his soul. So yeah, he hasn’t loved anyone but Buffy, back when he was human he was a hooligan who didn’t really love; then he was a vampire, and whether or not vampires have a version of love, it probably isn’t something current-Angel would consider love; then he was recluse for another century or so without human connection. Yeah, sure, there’s no comparison to his feelings for Buffy, but I’m not sure that’s saying much.
What am I shipping?
I like the Willow/Oz stuff we get, and I can do stuff with what Buffy/Giles content there is.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 3x18 – Earshot
As I’ve been nursing a potential AU for later s3, there is one episode I always forget to consider how it would be affected in the AU. That being this one, if I need to say it (although I do sometimes have to remind myself that Doppelgangland exists too). This episode is really weird, in a way that I can’t decide if I like or not.
Once more we have the problem with a season long villain rearing its head. Because there end up being fits and starts to that plot being relevant. The Scoobies only just discovered that the Mayor was up to something, and they have very little to go on now, but because that puts them on a tight timetable that they know about, it feels like they’re wasting time not focusing on addressing the big bad. In a way I wish they had discovered that the Mayor was up to something earlier so that it didn’t seem like such a problem that they were going on with their lives without making it a huge deal. On the other, I know that the longer they know about a problem but do nothing about it is also quite frustrating.
Seeing how odd and…piecemeal this episode seems, reminds me of my thought experiment last time, and that would really fit. That they had expected to have a plot about the Books and a plot about Faith messing with Angel as separate episodes, but neither was quite enough to make a whole episode so they got forced together, leaving them with a spot to fill with…an unconventional filler episode. It couldn’t affect the greater plot because they had used up two episodes of plot motion last time, and they knew what they needed for the rest of the season. So this episode feels really out of place where it is.
Because this episode is very unconventional. None of the actual threats are supernatural, the only supernatural element is the threat to Buffy herself and that then puts them on the non-supernatural case around them. It also kind of feels like two PSA (about bullying/teen suicide and about school shootings) episodes smushed together, which is weird and trips over itself is a few ways.
The pacing of this episode is really weird too. And ties in with how I think they had pieces of this as a concept sitting around but hadn’t fully refined it into an episode. Then when they needed to make an episode out of it, it ends up a little unrefined.
I don’t do a lot of research for these reviews, be it for things I don’t understand or to know what fandoms thinks about them, but one thing I will do is look into high level production elements like writing and directing, and I think we have a two-fold issue here. This looks to be the only episode of the show this director ever did, so again it looks like this was seen as a B-tier episode that didn’t get a lot of attention from production.
But also, while my memory tells me that I like a lot of Jane Espenson’s episodes, looking over what she’s done so far with the show, all of them have some pacing foibles. I have a lot of love for Band Candy, but it has a strangely placed opening scene and there are issues with how it unfolds. Gingerbread, in spite of all I found to say about it because I think it was a good concept, also had a very abrupt opening and was a big mess at pacing the plot. While this one is weirdly paced as a story, it doesn’t have the same large impact of the other two that needed more thoughtful pacing; so in that regard this may be a step up.
And because this episode feels like such an afterthought to the season, I’m having a hard time finding a lot to say about the characters. Everything seems…ready to move on. Which would have some validity as a tone if it was intentional, since the characters are coming to the end of their senior year of high school and could be feeling very ready to move on; but it also doesn’t seem intentional in that way.
However, in one way, this episode seems absolutely necessary. It may prove a little redundant with Prom once I’ve watched it again, but this is one of the rare times when the show really treats the other students at Sunnydale High as part of the narrative. In a way, that’s a condemnation, because this episode kind of acts like they are well known background players, but most of them aren’t and only come into play this episode. But it is necessary to have at least one episode like this before this season’s finale when the whole school steps up to go to war.
In that, this almost feels retroactively inserted, like they needed a school episode before the finale and this was where they could fit it in.
All of this is weird, because this episode does have a complicated history, but not because it had trouble at that level of production. Unless it actually was redone; I don’t think it was, but I also kind of see ways it looks like maybe it was. Because part of the reason this has a complicated history is because of the Columbine shooting; which was a big enough deal to make them pull the episode, but there are lines in the episode that talk about school shootings being too common. And I can imagine there are seams of stitching around originally having a shooting plot instead of the clunky semi-comedy lunch lady villain. For starters, why did Jonathan need such a big gun if he was committing suicide?
Smaller point, but it’s ridiculous how much the Scoobies talk in front of the newspaper guy. They’re covering a lot of topics worthy of comment, but don’t seem to get any.
Also, again, this show was just killing time with Cordy at this point. There’s no story in when she’s willing to work with the Scoobies and when she wants to keep her distance. Her and Wesley’s…thing is a running joke but it doesn’t tell us much about their characters, and really just reminds us of how bad the WB casting could be for supposed teenagers.
All that said, I guess I do have a few of my more usual type of points to make. For one, could they take Buffy somewhere farther away from people to buy some more time for her before losing her mind? Maybe even just to the mansion, that was supposedly on the outskirts of town.
But also…I’m not sure how to feel about Buffy/Angel in this one. I think I’m supposed to take it at face value and see this as sweet and loving and very meaningful vows of staying together forever. But…I don’t take it at face value. I see Buffy having a lot of trust issues with Angel, both ones that are and ones that aren’t tied to her unresolved feelings about all that happened with Angelus. Also the potential of Angelus round 2 if they ever actually progress their relationship. For all their big declarations of how much they love each other, they’re in a holding pattern that they can’t get out of, and realistically never will be able to.
And Angel just seems dumb and creepy. Does he think of his experiences as Angelus as being him or not? Because, given what we were shown in Becoming, souled-Angel shunned being around humanity, and one would assume that it included being with other women. Also if he had been with others in that century, he would probably have either discovered his curse, or would have questions because it wouldn’t just be sex that lost his soul. So yeah, he hasn’t loved anyone but Buffy, back when he was human he was a hooligan who didn’t really love; then he was a vampire, and whether or not vampires have a version of love, it probably isn’t something current-Angel would consider love; then he was recluse for another century or so without human connection. Yeah, sure, there’s no comparison to his feelings for Buffy, but I’m not sure that’s saying much.
What am I shipping?
I like the Willow/Oz stuff we get, and I can do stuff with what Buffy/Giles content there is.
