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Buffy Season Two Episode Eight
Oct. 18th, 2009 08:28 am"I'm so used to you being a grown-up, and then I find out you're a person."
"Most grown-ups are."
"Who would have thought?"
"Some are even short-sighted, foolish people."
"So, after all this time we finally find out we do have something in common."
Rupert's dark ages. Solid episode, very few missteps in tone, Willow and Angel eventually providing an ingenious solution to the problem, and this time the end-of-episode platitudes between Giles and Buffy are genuinely touching, she* offering him support and understanding (she gets that his being a watcher separates him from normal life), he demonstrating that duties and desires (and duties and other duties) can conflict for him, just as they do for her, and he doesn't always know the right balance - so he gets to screw it up too, hence is real, a person. Nice staging, too: talking, facing each other in the hallway, reaction shots, his rueful confession, her concern, then the two settling back against the wall in a two shot as they affirm their similarity.
( Disengagement, and Cordelia watch )
*Right, OK, "she" doesn't feel right, but neither does "her." I think "she" is right, 'cause "offering" is acting as a present participle rather than as just a gerund (I just looked up the distinction today on Wikipedia; can't say I quite get it, but "offering" is functioning as a verb rather than the start of a noun phrase, I guess, though I suppose it can go either way [as could "you being a grown-up" and "your being a grown-up," but the first is vastly more idiomatic for Buffy]). Whereas "his being a watcher" is clearly right. EDIT: Oops, xpost.
"Most grown-ups are."
"Who would have thought?"
"Some are even short-sighted, foolish people."
"So, after all this time we finally find out we do have something in common."
Rupert's dark ages. Solid episode, very few missteps in tone, Willow and Angel eventually providing an ingenious solution to the problem, and this time the end-of-episode platitudes between Giles and Buffy are genuinely touching, she* offering him support and understanding (she gets that his being a watcher separates him from normal life), he demonstrating that duties and desires (and duties and other duties) can conflict for him, just as they do for her, and he doesn't always know the right balance - so he gets to screw it up too, hence is real, a person. Nice staging, too: talking, facing each other in the hallway, reaction shots, his rueful confession, her concern, then the two settling back against the wall in a two shot as they affirm their similarity.
( Disengagement, and Cordelia watch )
*Right, OK, "she" doesn't feel right, but neither does "her." I think "she" is right, 'cause "offering" is acting as a present participle rather than as just a gerund (I just looked up the distinction today on Wikipedia; can't say I quite get it, but "offering" is functioning as a verb rather than the start of a noun phrase, I guess, though I suppose it can go either way [as could "you being a grown-up" and "your being a grown-up," but the first is vastly more idiomatic for Buffy]). Whereas "his being a watcher" is clearly right. EDIT: Oops, xpost.
