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Buffy: Ugh, Riley
Aug. 7th, 2015 02:17 pmI just watched Riley leave Buffy. And I've got to say, good.
Not good that the guy felt that messed up in the first place. He got messed with biochemically, got depressed (see moping, drinking alone, sitting in the dark, and being convinced nobody loves him and he's useless now), went looking for extreme experiences to feel something through the grey, especially adrenalin rush stuff, and ended up really screwed up.
But he blamed Buffy for how he was feeling. Instead of saying 'I feel disconnected' he's all 'she's distant'. And I get the sinking feeling the source text meant to agree. Like, the writers actually think Buffy did something wrong. Xander's little speech as writer ventriloquism.
Problem though? It's utterly baseless. ( Read more... )
But the further it gets from the moment of production the more prominent the last problem gets:
Riley has a phone.
Riley has a mobile phone, in his pocket, which he used to phone the army guys in the previous episode. And which Willow then used to phone him. So Riley has a perfectly ordinary phone with a phone number the Scoobies know.
Buffy is in the alley behind the magic shop, which has a phone.
And Buffy has 20 minutes to get a message to Riley.
... the more we get used to everyone having a phone, the more egregiously stupid missing each other by seconds looks.
But okay, the writers wanted rid of reliable Riley, so they demolished him and sent him away.
Spike is fun, but a story that gets rid of the solid guy to make room for super drama is less fun this time around.
Also, I cannot understand why Riley didn't stake him. I mean, that's an ongoing problem, but Riley fake staking him just makes no sense no way up. Intervention of writer.
The story we actually saw, where Buffy is right and Riley couldn't cope with her being strong and in charge so he stopped doing what she told him and just pissed around trying to get a reaction, that's an interesting story about masculinity and the flaws thereof.
The story Riley and Xander tell us we saw? Ugh.
Just blame Buffy for her boyfriend being a dick while she was dealing with life and death stuff elsewhere. Why not. Ugh.
I think sometimes the liking Whedon stories is based on reading it one way up and the epic dislike is reading it the other way up but it's usually duckrabbit and both is there. Only sometimes he'll do something where it's all ducked up and then you just look at all the other times you thought it was rabbit and start to doubt it ever was.
Xander is so wrong. And if he's wrong, the story is interesting.
I just am making such yuck face at the idea the writers think he's right.
Not good that the guy felt that messed up in the first place. He got messed with biochemically, got depressed (see moping, drinking alone, sitting in the dark, and being convinced nobody loves him and he's useless now), went looking for extreme experiences to feel something through the grey, especially adrenalin rush stuff, and ended up really screwed up.
But he blamed Buffy for how he was feeling. Instead of saying 'I feel disconnected' he's all 'she's distant'. And I get the sinking feeling the source text meant to agree. Like, the writers actually think Buffy did something wrong. Xander's little speech as writer ventriloquism.
Problem though? It's utterly baseless. ( Read more... )
But the further it gets from the moment of production the more prominent the last problem gets:
Riley has a phone.
Riley has a mobile phone, in his pocket, which he used to phone the army guys in the previous episode. And which Willow then used to phone him. So Riley has a perfectly ordinary phone with a phone number the Scoobies know.
Buffy is in the alley behind the magic shop, which has a phone.
And Buffy has 20 minutes to get a message to Riley.
... the more we get used to everyone having a phone, the more egregiously stupid missing each other by seconds looks.
But okay, the writers wanted rid of reliable Riley, so they demolished him and sent him away.
Spike is fun, but a story that gets rid of the solid guy to make room for super drama is less fun this time around.
Also, I cannot understand why Riley didn't stake him. I mean, that's an ongoing problem, but Riley fake staking him just makes no sense no way up. Intervention of writer.
The story we actually saw, where Buffy is right and Riley couldn't cope with her being strong and in charge so he stopped doing what she told him and just pissed around trying to get a reaction, that's an interesting story about masculinity and the flaws thereof.
The story Riley and Xander tell us we saw? Ugh.
Just blame Buffy for her boyfriend being a dick while she was dealing with life and death stuff elsewhere. Why not. Ugh.
I think sometimes the liking Whedon stories is based on reading it one way up and the epic dislike is reading it the other way up but it's usually duckrabbit and both is there. Only sometimes he'll do something where it's all ducked up and then you just look at all the other times you thought it was rabbit and start to doubt it ever was.
Xander is so wrong. And if he's wrong, the story is interesting.
I just am making such yuck face at the idea the writers think he's right.