I was watching parts of Him yesterday because despite the fact that I’m not supposed to like it because it’s misogynistic and whatnot, I kind of love it a lot. I love Xander for hating Spike and taking him in anyway, I love Buffy for mollycoddling her vampire, I love James Marsters for how tortured and miserable he looks, I love Buffy and Dawn’s bleacher conversation (the sisterliness...), I love the bazooka scene, I love Xander and Spike working together, and I lovelovelovelovelovelovelove Anya and Willow’s “his physical presence has a penis!” argument (Alyson Hannigan and Emma Caulfield, y’all are brilliant and beautiful and I adore you).
I like that episode too and as I was saying upthread, I found out when I got into fandom on LJ that I'm not supposed to but I do. I guess it's funny enough that I'm willing to overlook the more objectionable bits (except I won't rewatch the cheerleading sequence). I really do enjoy all the callbacks to all the prior seasons. And the fact that "Him" has a lot to do with where Xander is at the moment in his maturity; and the way all of Buffy's relationships haunt this episode, with callbacks to Angel, Riley and of course Spike.
And it makes me laugh. (There really needed to be more Anya and Willow in that show. "You'd kill for a chocolate bar!")
I also always wonder about the bazooka scene and the fact that Spike is the one chasing Buffy because it seems like it could be a triggery situation for the characters.
And now I feel bad for admitting that that never occurred to me at all. Again, I was caught up in the comedy? (I've seen that sort of scene "Someone is oblivious to hijinks going on right outside their window" played a hundred times in tv and movies but it never made me laugh until I saw this version of it.) But now that you mention it I wonder how I could have overlooked it. Hmmm....
Obviously this is very different from the tone of the show but ye gods you have captured Xander here so, so perfectly. Fiend for characterization here, and I'm not Xander's biggest fan but I liked him in S7 and this feels very right.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-12-12 07:09 pm (UTC)I like that episode too and as I was saying upthread, I found out when I got into fandom on LJ that I'm not supposed to but I do. I guess it's funny enough that I'm willing to overlook the more objectionable bits (except I won't rewatch the cheerleading sequence). I really do enjoy all the callbacks to all the prior seasons. And the fact that "Him" has a lot to do with where Xander is at the moment in his maturity; and the way all of Buffy's relationships haunt this episode, with callbacks to Angel, Riley and of course Spike.
And it makes me laugh. (There really needed to be more Anya and Willow in that show. "You'd kill for a chocolate bar!")
I also always wonder about the bazooka scene and the fact that Spike is the one chasing Buffy because it seems like it could be a triggery situation for the characters.
And now I feel bad for admitting that that never occurred to me at all. Again, I was caught up in the comedy? (I've seen that sort of scene "Someone is oblivious to hijinks going on right outside their window" played a hundred times in tv and movies but it never made me laugh until I saw this version of it.) But now that you mention it I wonder how I could have overlooked it. Hmmm....
Obviously this is very different from the tone of the show but ye gods you have captured Xander here so, so perfectly. Fiend for characterization here, and I'm not Xander's biggest fan but I liked him in S7 and this feels very right.