kaydeefalls | still no buffy icon.

Into "New Moon Rising" on Buffy, just past "Five by Five" on Angel. NNGK. Recent notes:

1. I have a bit of a bulletproof kink for bodyswap episodes, or anything along those lines -- one actor playing another actor's character for a scene, i.e. Cassandra hopping between the Doctor & Rose's bodies in "New Earth", Victor downloading Topher's imprint in Dollhouse, etc. So it should be no surprise that Buffy and Faith swapping bodies in that one episode made me unreasonably happy. (This is a small part of my attraction to theater -- I love love LOVE seeing different actors' takes on the same roles. And it's all about the acting; I have zero interest in the bodyswap trope in fic, oddly enough.)

2. Faith's breakdown in her fight with Angel in "Five by Five" BROKE MY HEART. And I'm not even particularly fond of Faith (though I love watching her, I very much don't love her, if that makes any sense). But, gah. There have been clear signs of her rapidly deteriorating mental state through the end of S3 BtVS and in her showdown with Buffy in "Who Are You?", but that scene. Oh man. And I love that the episode just cuts out there, with no catharsis. (In general, I adore Whedon's cuts at the end of episodes, especially as the series mature -- they always feel very true to me, without being pat or cutesy.)

3. I'm all of ten minutes into "New Moon Rising", and OH GOD, how is it possible that I simultaneously ship both Willow/Tara AND Willow/Oz? I feel obscurely guilty about it, too. I just -- can't we all have a happy triad and ride off into the sunset together? Why must there be choosing involved? It also seems unbalanced, as a viewer, because at this point we flat out know Oz a hell of a lot better than we know Tara, who is very sweet and has a great deal of potential for awesomeness but, well, hasn't been around for very long yet. (I'm trying to set aside factors like the groundbreaking nature of showing a healthy lesbian relationship on primetime television, which obviously skews me in favor of Willow/Tara, and the fact that I know which relationship "wins".) Just, oh, Joss. You had to do this as painfully and realistically as possible, didn't you? Bastard. [ETA: I just got to the part where Oz confronts Tara, and that swung me pretty strongly over to the Tara camp. Oh shit Oz.]
[ETA #2: Remember how I just mentioned loving the way Whedon ends episodes? THIS. OH MY GOODNESS. With Willow's offer and Tara blowing out the candle and OH MY HEART. Ok, firmly on Team Tara now, though saying goodbye to Oz AGAIN made me all teary AGAIN.]

4. Trading in Doyle for Wesley was NOT step up, in my opinion. Yes, I know Wesley improves with time, and I've been told he has one of the more compelling character arcs over the course of the series. I'm just SAYING.

5. I'm coming to realize exactly how much Russell T Davies yoinked from these shows for Torchwood, right down to the sneakily-including-Adam-in-opening-credits trick a la Jonathan in "Superstar". SO SUBTLE RUSTY.

6. Just about every episode has a guest star I recognize from elsewhere. In particular, I'm starting to track Buffy episodes by which X-Files alum has appeared where, but there are others. Oscar-winning Jeremy Renner has been an evil vampire progeny of Angel, Band of Brothers' Webster and Bull Randleman have been possessed by a hyena and an undead hooligan, respectively, and Mrs Landingham abused a bunch of kids into becoming malevolent poltergeists in Riley's frat house. FUN TIMES.

7. SPIIIIIKE. That is all.