Posts tagged 30 days of whedonverse

FAVOURITE SEASON/SERIES FINALE?

Buffy offered up some absolute corkers (‘Becoming’, ‘Graduation’, ‘Chosen’) but mine would be a toss up between Dollhouse’s season one final and the Angel series finale.

Epitaph One (Dollhouse) had everything - intrigue, suspense, answers, questions, consequences, misdirection and action. How many other shows could drop the main cast back to supporting roles (via flashbacks) to make way for a new group of characters and still manage to pull off one of the most engaging episodes of the series?!

Even if the rest of the episode was mediocre (which it wasn’t - cut to each member of the fang gang living out their last day before taking out The Circle of the Black Thorn), the final scene of Not Fade Away (Angel) is more than enough to make up for it. Angel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria stand in an alley in the pouring rain, contemplating the fury of hell that has been unleashed upon them and prepare to battle, going down fighting. Brilliant end to the series.

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Finally! It’s over! I feel so accomplished! Wow. That’s just sad. Thank-you for bearing with me, kind followers. Before I started this one, I was eyeing off a Lost 30-Day Challenge. But that’s definitely going on the backburner for now.

FAVOURITE FRIENDSHIP?

For me, there weren’t many friendships that defined themselves well enough to make an impression. Friendships always seemed to bleed into relationships or at least simmer with the tension of an impending romance, which annoyed me at times.

The obvious choice is Willow and Xander, and they would be my choice without a second thought - had it not been for Willow’s crush and their mini affair in season three. I love that superpower-less Xander is the one that brings Dark Willow back from the brink of destruction with his anecdotes from their past. And that they may drift apart emotionally once they leave high school but they still have genuine love and affection for each other.

Before they started quibbling over Fred, I really liked Wes and Gunn. Their vastly different backgrounds and style of fighting earned mutual respect because they fought on the same side, essentially for the same purpose. Gunn also seemed to be one of the factors that transformed Wes from pansyass to badass - in a much more positive way than being shot, cut, abandoned, etc.

FAVOURITE FAMILY MEMBERS?

Simon and River Tam.

For all number of reasons: the depth of their love for each other - he risked his life and everything in it to save her, she sacrificed herself to an army of Reavers in hopes that he’d survive (“You’re always saving me, Simon…my turn”); their classic sibling moments in her rare lucid moments (“Am I talking to Miranda now?”); his use of dry humour/sarcasm/wit; her ability to kick some serious butt; plus, they’re both super intelligent and brains are severely underrated.

SOMETHING THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN BUT SHOULD HAVE?

There’s never been anything major…it’s usually little things that I’ll only remember while rewatching/rereading/etc.

For example, I really liked that Spike (formerly William) and Halfrek (formerly Cecily) crossed paths after all those decades. “I wish” there’d been a little more interaction between them onscreen and an explanation of what turned the latter to vengeance.

SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED THAT YOU WISH HADN’T?

I always try to live by the ‘everything happens for a reason’ motto in Whedonverse. But I can’t see any reason for Wash’s death. Yes, he’s one of my favourite characters so I’m totally biased. Yes, it’s in the futility that the heartache lies. And, yes, where’s the fun in killing someone if they don’t have a bright future with a significant other. But, really? Him? He and Zoe were meant to have babies and live happily ever after.

FAVOURITE BAD-GUY-TURNED-GOOD OR GOOD-GUY-TURNED-BAD?

All my favourite characters fall into these categories - Spike (Buffy/Angel), Jayne (Firefly/Serenity), Faith (Buffy/Angel), Anya (Buffy), Wes (Buffy/Angel), Alpha (Dollhouse)…But since I’ve already paid each of them lip service, I’m going with one I haven’t even mentioned up until now (but absolutely adore).

Andrew Wells (Buffy/Angel). Baddie-turned-“guestage”-turned-goodie, he managed to inject clueless humour into the anxiety-ridden final series. Perfect example is his request for a lozenge when Giles slashes the throat of a Bringer, after it uses Andrew as a conduit.

FAVOURITE GUEST STAR?

Gosh, there have been so many!! The musical nerd in me loved seeing Joel Grey pop up in Buffy’s season five. The giggle girl inside me loved seeing our fearless leader Joss Whedon dancing as Numfar in Angel’s season two.

But Alan Tudyk absolutely blew my mind in ‘Briar Rose’ (Dollhouse). I was so grateful to have stayed away from all the spoilers because that was an incredible reveal! He was hilarious as a bumbling Stephen Kepler, then completely convincing and terrifying once he revealed himself as Alpha - utterly brilliant!

THE SADDEST CHARACTER DEATH?

Gosh, that’s hard…I feel another list coming on:

Jenny. Her death was my first experience of getting Jossed. I didn’t start watching Buffy until later in the first season so I missed Jesse’s death (which may have been enough of a ‘no-one-is-safe’ warning). I remember sitting there, caught up in the drama of her being chased through the school by Angelus, but never actually believing he would catch her - let alone kill her! And so brutally. Shocking and devastating.

Fred. The last few minutes between her and Wes in A Hole In The World chokes me up every single time. As does the closing scene of Shells: it might be everyone’s realisation that she’s not coming back; Kim Richey’s A Place Called Home; or the innocent hope and nervous excitement on Fred’s face as she’s driving off in the flashback.

Wash. Aside from the fact he was my second favourite character (behind Jayne), it was so sudden, so unexpected, and so incredibly sad (especially because of Zoe) that I’m still not over it. I remember gasping in utter horror and disbelief at the cinema; I didn’t resume regular breathing for a few minutes afterwards.

Anya was one of my favourite characters but her death was so sudden, in amongst so much turmoil, and so close to the end of the series, that it didn’t affect me as much as I expected it to. But I did love that Andrew attributed it to an act of heroism. I hated Wes’s death because he’d endured so much, he earned the right to survive - but it seemed like a relief after losing Fred. I loved Serenity’s moral compass, Shepherd Book, but without him on the ship in the BDM, his death didn’t hit home as hard as it would have during the series.

YOUR FAVOURITE BATTLE SCENE?

It’s hard to go past River’s epic fight scene with the Reavers in the BDM.

Honourable mentions go to Ballard and assassin Echo in the restaurant kitchen (Dollhouse, ‘Man on the Street’); Angelus and Buffy’s duel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ‘Becoming’); River’s bar fight (‘Serenity’); and the gang vs. The Beast (Angel, ‘Apocalypse Nowish’).

YOUR FAVOURITE WHEDON NON-TELEVISION PROJECT?

Tough…I would say Serenity (especially for the fan involvement and labour of love) except that seems too heavily linked to television to be a serious contender, as does Better Days and Those Left Behind. Toy Story…

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Quite aside from the awesome premise, fantastic layers and profound metaphors, these songs and quotes can get stuck in your head for days! I drove friends mad with constant outbursts of “What a crazy random happenstance!”, not to mention constantly humming So They Say.