Remembering Lost...

Where do I begin? “At the beginning” just seems so… predictable. And linear. And Lost was neither of those things.



It’s a year later. On May 23, 2010, my favourite show came to an end. I remember that day… I was working on the final Finding Lost book in the series, trying to finish taking notes on the penultimate episode, “What They Died For,” before the finale began, because I wanted to be careful not to add any spoilers into any of the previous episode guides. I had this feeling of excitement, but also overwhelming dread. This rock was sitting in my stomach. Yes, there was a fear that the finale wouldn’t deliver, that it would have been built up so much in all our hearts and minds that it couldn’t possibly be as good as we needed it to be. But more than that, there was a sense that it would be over. All the questions would be answered. No more speculation, no more discussions, no more disputes, no more insane theories. All the things I loved about Lost were about to come to an end.

But I didn’t need to worry. The finale was polarizing, yes, but luckily (and I really do mean luckily because I’ve always felt so bad for the Lost fans who were unhappy with the ending), I loved it. I loved almost every single thing about it. And the answers weren’t offered on a plate. The speculation, discussions, disputes, and insane theories could continue!!

Unfortunately, I was only able to keep the intense discussions (and they were intense) going for a couple of days after it aired. After that, I had to switch gears and write a book based on all the notes I’d been making for months. Where other Lost fans were packing away their DVDs and needing time to themselves, time to digest what they’d just seen, I was forced right back to the first episode of the season and immediately began rewatching it all over again. I had to do my first live chat five minutes after the finale ended, and while “WTF?!” just scrolled by over and over again by thousands of confused Lost fans, I launched into my explanation of what had happened. By the following day, I was still there and hadn’t changed my opinion much at all.



I’m not going to analyze the finale. If you want that, check out my final book, Finding Lost: Season 6, where I devoted 22,000 words and 50 pages to a full analysis of “The End.” Instead, I want to talk about where we are a year later.

I want to know if there’s anyone out there who loathed that finale when they watched it, but now, with time, they’ve realized they no longer hate it. I want to know if there is anyone who had a discussion with someone else where the finale was put into a new perspective that made them appreciate the subtlety of it. And I also want to know who is still disappointed.

For me, I miss the show so much. But even more than the show itself, I miss the discussions. I miss the camaraderie that we Lost fans had week after week on this blog and countless others. I miss the weekly discussions that began moments after an episode happened and continued through to moments before the next one began. In the case of Nik at Nite, I miss that panicky mad scramble to get the post up the night of the episode.

I miss our haiku.

I miss the inside jokes and language that we used here that I haven’t seen anywhere else. The wacky definitions of verification words. “Palatable.”

I miss making fun of Jack.

I miss Jack. Terribly.

I miss the way we would gather together to take down the shippers in a massive organized, evil smackdown! (OK, that didn’t actually happen, but I miss that each of us were probably wishing it would, while putting on our polite faces and pretending that some of those people weren’t entirely batshit crazy.)

I miss coming up with superlatives to describe my affection for Desmond. And how others would come up with ways to describe their crushes on Sayid or Sawyer or Kate or Juliet.

I miss the torcha scrunchie.

I miss the photoshopped photos that were sent to me of people holding my books, or playing with their avatars, or playing with screen captures from the episodes to make other things happen.

I miss that we could have intense debates that would run so deep that someone could go and create a pdf map of Dharmaville to prove exactly where one person’s cabin was in conjunction to the next.

I miss the way we could actually have those debates without ever talking down to one another or being rude. I mean, when does that ever happen? Most of my family members can’t have a casual discussion without someone getting hurt, so the fact we could do this week after week was amazing.

I miss the personal emails I got from people off-list, and I’m happy that I still get some of those.

I miss the anticipation of next week’s episode and the excitement we found ourselves in week after week just imagining what would happen.

I remember.

I remember meeting the characters for the first time in season 1, and the twists and turns discovered through their backstories. I remember wishing Terry O’Quinn could be in every show I watch.



I remember the tension of season 2, whether it was with the new tailies being introduced, or the fact that ABC had wonked up the schedule so much it was difficult to keep track of everything, and I remember how the writers took what we knew in season 1 and turned it on its head.



I remember the utter grief of watching Charlie die at the end of season 3, followed by the thrill of realizing that the flashback we’d just seen was actually a flashforward.



I remember the excitement of season 4, the beauty of “The Constant” and the rivalry between Widmore and Ben. I remember wishing Michael Emerson could be in every show I watch.



I remember the complexity of season 5, and how much fun we all had trying to piece it together. And how it was the season where I realized I could no longer really explain to non-viewers what Lost was about.



I remember the crazy anticipation we all had leading up to season 6, the fan videos that were appearing, the way we were piecing together bits of the story we’d seen so far to figure out where the story would go next, linking John Locke and the Man in Black and learning of Jacob being in there. I remember this fan video in particular, and how it blew me away. I remember the creator emailing me asking if I’d post it, and I said sure, and within weeks it was everywhere, and even Damon tweeted about it. It’s still one of my favourite fan videos ever:



Breathtaking, isn’t it? I remember how season 6 built up quickly with every episode, and the panic that began to slowly creep in when half the season was gone and we hadn’t gotten many answers, and thinking the writers would run out of time.

I remember crying like I’ve never cried before when the show ended. I really don’t think I’ll ever cry like that again for another television show. I find it hard to imagine how that would be possible.

Lost was a show that ended with a simple message: that it’s not about where you end up, but the journey you took to get there. It’s about the connections you make in your life, which is why every character on the island seemed to have been interconnected even before they got on the plane. It’s about who you touch emotionally, and how those experiences and memories are the only things you can take with you to the next life. It’s about constancy. It’s about love and hope.

The sideways world turned out to be a place where everyone went after they died, with no memory of having been on the island at all, but instead working through their issues – the very issues that made each person so emotionally lost when they crashed on that island in the first place – without the island helping or hindering them along the way. When they came to a revelation about who they were or what their purpose was – a revelation that could only come through a connection – they could suddenly see everything, past present and future, clearly. And once they could see clearly, they knew that it was important to help other people come to that clarity, and only then could they move on to the afterlife. Jack was the last one to come on board, because he simply couldn’t step back from the minutiae of his life and see the big picture. But when he did, he saw that, like Dorothy and her ruby slippers, that the answers were there all along. And of all the people to impart the wisdom to him, it was his father:



Some fans have complained that the ending is too spiritual. Yes, the church setting could certainly make one say that, but the church itself is simply a visual cue in this case. It’s not meant to evoke a religion, but to suggest that the scene we are seeing in front of us is spiritual. That we don’t need to look to higher powers to find spirituality – it’s within us, and in the connections that we make. The friendships that everyone had on the island with each other, the connections and relationships they forged with one another, they were spiritual. They might not have seemed it, but in the end, they are what mattered. The church setting simply said, “What you are watching right now? It’s spiritual. Not in a God sense, but in an uplifting of the soul sense.”

Lost was an intensely personal show. In a way, it was like a religion. You can read the bible, or go to church and listen to a church official interpret the bible for you, but in the end, you will still make your own decisions and have your own take on things. You will feel your own personal relationship to God. Religion doesn’t hand you the answers; it gives you the tools with which to find those answers. Life doesn’t give you answers, but if you follow the right path and connect with the right people, you will determine what answers work for you.

Lost didn’t offer up answers, but it gave us the story of people who were similarly seeking answers, and showed us how they went about finding them. We, too, need to look within and outside ourselves to find those answers. Our very discussions on this blog were a way of us looking for those answers within the context of the show. We connected to each other, and were able to find some of the answers we sought just by talking it out with each other.

“The End” was extraordinary. But for me, the real beauty of Lost was the fun in getting there, both in watching the show and discussing it. A year later, Lost is firmly entrenched in my heart as not just a TV show, but an experience I will never forget.

Leaving Sunnydale High

This week we watched the "Graduation Day" episodes on Buffy, and we had to say goodbye to high school... not just the high school years, but the ACTUAL high school. So, to honour this big moment, I wanted to share with you some photos I took when I actually went to Sunnydale High.

Back in 2003, I was in LA to attend the Posting Board Party. Waaaay back when Buffy was still on the air, there was an online fan forum called The Bronze. It was run off the WB site, and then when Buffy split for UPN in season 6, it spun off into the Bronze Beta, run by the fans. It was a place where Joss Whedon would drop by to say hello, where the writers would ALWAYS post (writers are notorious for turning procrastination into an art form), and where if you were online at a certain time of night, you could say hello to Alyson Hannigan, Amber Benson, Nicholas Brendon, Seth Green, or any number of drive-bys conducted by the actors themselves. How did we know it was real and not an interloper? The VIPS were given a special code that would make their name light up a certain way, and only they knew what it was. That way you knew it wasn't someone masquerading as someone else. (It's like the "verified" Twitter accounts they have today.)

Starting in the show's second season, the fans came up with the idea of having a get-together in LA where fans could all fly in and meet each other, since they'd been spending every night chatting away at the Bronze. Someone stepped up to organize the shindig, and they came up with it being a select party with something like 300 tickets (I'm totally going by memory here), and the fans could buy the ticket that would allow them into a closed party where they could just schmooze with each other.

And then the surprise came. For not only were the fans there, but... Joss, David Boreanaz, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Stewart Head... pretty much every single person on the show except for Sarah Michelle Gellar (she never showed up to any of them). From that point on, the Posting Board Parties became legendary, and happened every year, with more and more actors and writers showing up each year to mingle with the fans.

I attended in 2003 as one of the VIPs, and at that time it had really grown into a giant affair. No longer was it the intimate little gathering, but instead thousands of tickets were sold. I was in the VIP area, so I got to meet most of the stars down there before heading upstairs to the fan area. It was fantastic. It was mostly Angel actors that year (and a few Firefly peeps) but James Marsters (Spike) was probably the biggest hit of the party. Eliza Dushku (Faith) was there, as well as Julie Benz (Darla), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Joss Whedon, Alexis Denisof (Wesley), and many, many others (I'm being careful to only name characters that you guys would know at this point in the rewatch).

If you have the 2002 edition of my Bite Me! book, I had an entire chapter with tons of photos from each of the Posting Board Parties. Unfortunately, when it went to the Chosen edition, my editor thought that section could easily go because it was more fanny and less episode guidey. I always mourned the loss of that chapter, because I loved it and it was unique to Buffy. But if you can get your hands on that earlier edition, you'll see some great photos.

Anyway! The day before the party, I went on a tour of Sunnydale (aka Torrance, California) to see Sunnydale High and a few other important landmarks. The tour included major LA spots to see Angel buildings, but my favourite part of the tour was going to the high school. As many of you know, Torrance High was used previously on the 1990s version of 90210, so it's a school that's familiar to audiences. Here's a shot from across the street:



I'm standing on a grass island that separates the school from the main street behind me (remember back at the beginning of S3 when Buffy shows up with a picnic lunch for everyone? She sat on that island). Here's a view of the front lawn of the school:



Look in the foreground for the tree Giles walks into at the end of "Earshot." ;) And here's a closeup of the front doors of the school, where you can see the usual school sign, which was replaced with "Sunnydale High School" whenever it was shown on Buffy.



And here I am (yes, I was in my I-dyed-my-hair-red-to-match-Willow's phase here) sitting on one of the benches out front.



Now, if you walk behind where I'm sitting, away from that bench, you'll eventually turn left to go around to the side of the school, and when I did, I actually gasped aloud when I found this:



You may remember this as the outside corridor where Angel chased Jenny in "Passion," before she re-entered the school and he killed her in the window above the front door.

Now, go back to the front doors of the school and walk in the opposite direction from that outside corridor, and you'll find these stairs off to the far side of the school:



These are the stairs we saw several times (usually in night shots) where, for example, Ford pretended to kill the vampire when he was lying to Buffy in season 2's "Lie to Me." Continue around that corner, et voila, the best part of the school:



SO much happened here, and if you look to the top right of the photo, you'll see that the clock tower where Jonathan was loading his rifle in "Earshot" was actually added in digitally, because it doesn't exist on the school. I stood in that courtyard and just pictured everything... Buffy running up the cement side of the stairs to get Jonathan in "Earshot," the gang hanging out by the fountain, Cordelia's speeches, graduation day... SO much happened here. Now, standing in the spot where I took that photo, if you turn 180 degrees you see this:



This is where the giant fight happened on Graduation Day, where the vamps were standing and where Angel and his crew were behind them. These are the stairs the kids charged down to fight them.

Back over in the courtyard, I went up the stairs (eeeee!) and took this photo looking down. I had chills standing up there. Most scenes were actually filmed at the top of the stairs rather than here (it widens so I imagine they were able to fit more camera equipment there).



And then I went back down the stairs and took a closeup of them, thinking of Jonathan sitting at the bottom of the stairs drinking his Big Gulp, or how many times the gang would be chatting about something while standing there.



When the bus left Sunnydale High, we went down a street that's actually quite close to the high school for a special treat. We weren't allowed to disembark, and they asked us not to take photos (yeah, right) but voila... Buffy's house!!





The house exterior was used throughout the series for long shots, but after season 1, I think, they stopped using the interior of the actual house, and instead rebuilt the entire thing on a closed set so Buffy and her enemies could trash the place a little more easily, without worrying about the current real-world occupants. But apparently what we saw on the show was what the house actually looked like on the inside. Imagine living there? Hm. Maybe that would be a little creepy.

Anyway, those are my pictures of Sunnydale High. I have many memories of that school, not just from being there but from three years of watching it on the show. I'm gonna miss that school... until the next rewatch, that is. ;)

I Remember...

...but I can't let go yet. Monday marks the one-year anniversary of the finale of Lost, and I'll be posting more then, but until then, let's take a look back at the show that still has a grip on me.

Game of Thrones Ep 5: The Wolf and the Lion

Because Chris got his up a little quicker than I did, I'm going to totally steal his opening because it made me LOL.

Hi everyone, and welcome to installment five of the Game of Thrones co-blogging project, wherein I write as the GRRM veteran, and Nikki Stafford writes as one who has not read the books. I think it's safe to say that this most recent episode was a barn-burner, and we're sorry this week's post is a day later than usual. Nikki had to rush her direwolf to the vet -- poor thing ate a Lannister, and choked on the smugness.

*crickets*

Anyhoo, without further ado ...



Chris: Before I start, I thought I should offer a “what they changed” list for today, as there was a lot of deviation from the novel in this episode … almost always in intriguing and interesting ways.

What They Changed / Added

• Ned’s conversation with Barristan Selmy. Well, it’s broadly the same as it unfolds in the novel—starting with their discussion over Ser Hugh’s body, and ending with Barristan stating the King’s plan to take part in the joust (though in the novel it’s not the joust, it’s the melee). What’s interesting here is the establishment of Barristan’s bona fides as a knight—the bit where Ned says he’s happy they had not met in battle is added.
• Bran’s geography lesson. This was a neat little way to educate the audience about the geography of Westeros and its noble houses. Interesting that Bran cannot recall the Lannister family motto (which is, incidentally, “Hear Me Roar!”). Is this part of his mental block about how he fell?
• Theon and Rosie. The red-haired prostitute of Winterfell is having an interesting half-life on the show, considering she does not appear in the novel. I can’t decide whether this is HBO upping the skin factor (there was a lot of it in this episode), or using her as a means to give voice to the exploited and subjugated classes of Westeros. Though I suppose it doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
• Varys and Littlefinger. This conversation is entirely invented, though it is more or less implicit in the novel—Varys and Petyr are the two most devious characters in the books. I liked this exchange—it was sort of like the spy’s version of the pissing contest, seeing who knows more about the other. There has been the suggestion that they work together—such as when Varys informs Littlefinger of Catelyn’s arrive in King’s Landing, and shows up at the brothel—but this scene makes very clear that not only don’t they trust each other, they may well be enemies.
• No Brynden Tully! One of my favourite secondary characters in the novels has been left out—Brynden “Blackfish” Tully, Catelyn’s gruff uncle, who is in the service of her sister. Perhaps he will show up later, but I was looking forward to seeing him in this episode.
• Loras and Renly! There is the faintest suggestion in the novels that Robert’s brother and the Knight of Flowers are lovers, faint enough that it only occurred to me on later rereadings of the books. But there is nothing explicit. Well, so much for subtlety here—not only are they obviously lovers, but Loras is goading Renly to jockey for the crown. And all I’ll say on that point for the benefit of the other GRRM geeks reading this … veeeeerrrrrry interesting.
• The conversation between Robert and Cersei. I loved this, even though it goes farther toward making Cersei a more sympathetic character. His description of the state of the realm is lovely.
• The confrontation between Ned and Jaime. Almost spot-on, except that in the novel Ned is injured when his horse falls on top of him, and there is no swordfight between him and Jaime. In the novel, we never get a glimpse of Ned actually fighting—we assume he knows what he is doing with a sword, but no actual evidence, whereas Jaime’s prowess is constantly mentioned. So, interesting that they show us here that Ned can hold his own against the Kingslayer … until he is stabbed in the leg.

OK, so there we are. Nikki: what did you think of episode five? Two of our main storylines were simply ignored, as we don’t see the Wall or Daenerys.

Nikki: Thanks for that list, Chris! You covered off many of my questions right there; as I watched the Bran geography lesson, I immediately wondered if that was a way to sum up a lot of history in one quick scene. Great stuff.

And yes, I noticed the complete lack of Daenerys and the Dothraki. I missed her for sure. I enjoyed this episode a lot, but it was by far the goriest. From the joust in the beginning and what the Mountain does to his horse (gah!!) to the ambush on Catelyn’s group and Tyrion smashing the attacker’s head repeatedly with a shield (gyaaahh!!), to the fight at the end between Jaime and Ned’s group, complete with a dagger in the eye socket (nnnggggaayahhh) it was one cringeworthy episode. Definitely the one where you realize this ain’t for the squeamish. Luckily, despite my noisemaking throughout (which pretty much echoed what I wrote there), I thought it was pretty amazing.

But I really must begin by asking you about Catelyn’s sister… whose name escapes me (of course). That woman gave me the heebs from the moment her 10-year-old (or older?) son stopped breastfeeding momentarily to look up. Good god. I’m a big proponent of breastfeeding, but… :::shudder::: And that kid does not appear to be playing with a full deck. Have you seen the episode of 30 Rock where Paul Reubens plays the inbred prince? Yep. He reminded me of THAT guy.

Her castle was glorious in its frightworthiness, though. Did it live up to the description in the book? And is she as loopy in the book as she is on the show?


Chris: Actually, believe it or not, they’ve downplayed Lysa’s batshit insanity a little bit. Not much, mind you—but still. I think the boy is supposed to be six years old in the novel. If you want a comparison, here’s a representative passage from the novel, from Catelyn’s POV:

“‘Quiet!’ Lysa snapped at her. ‘You’re scaring the boy.’ Little Robert took a quick peek over his shoulder at Catelyn and began to tremble. His doll fell to the rushes, and he pressed himself against his mother. ‘Don’t be afraid, my sweet baby,’ Lysa whispered. ‘Mother’s here, nothing will hurt you.’ She opened her robe and drew out a pale, heavy breast, tipped with red. The boy grabbed for it eagerly, his face buried against her chest, and began to suck. Lysa stroked his hair. Catelyn was at a loss for words.”

The little Lord Robert actually gets ever creepier as the novels go on, as does his mother.

The Eyrie—Lysa’s castle—I was so-so on. I thought the interior was brilliantly done, as was Tyrion’s cell. But our first view of it from a distance was the first time the series has disappointed me with its mise-en-scene—it looked pretty fake.

A friend of mine who has been watching the episodes on torrent recently told me that in the comments on episode four there were complaints about how slow-moving the series has been—that it wasn’t like a fantasy novel at all. I think this episode puts those complaints to rest. All of the swordplay and violence we’ve been waiting for sort of just comes all at once here, no? And if the series keeps faith with the books, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Next week’s episode is titled “A Golden Crown”—and all I’ll say to the n00bs is: (1) We’ll be seeing Daenerys and the Dothraki again, and (2) Gah!

I think my favourite part of the episode was the war of words between Littlefinger and Varys. Knowing what I do of their characters, I have a much better sense of who is plotting what, and where their respective loyalties lie. What did you make of that exchange, Nikki? If you had to trust one of them, whom would it be?

Nikki: That passage from the book made me shudder. Eep.

I’m surprised to hear the criticism. The people who would complain that these episodes are slow-moving are probably the same ones who said they just didn’t “get” The Wire. It’s too bad. (And having seen next week’s episode, I second your “Gah!” and can tell everyone it’s probably my favourite episode of the six.)

I, too, was intrigued by the scene between those two, because I don’t trust either one of them. They’re both underhanded and seem to be playing Ned in one way or the other, and both actors have this way of looking at him in a sidelong glance that makes you think they’re up to something. So when they go head to head… it was almost as if they were both lying, both bluffing in this game of chess they’re playing, tiptoeing around the issue and daring the other one to go further than he has already gone. So you’ve stumped me with that question. If I had to choose one of them, I might choose Baelish, because there are moments of humanity in him, especially when he talks to Catelyn. I haven’t seen anything similar in Varys yet. But I simply don’t understand why they’re offering to help Ned, and what could be gained by doing so.

Are we to assume that Jon Arryn was trying to round up the king’s bastards to prove they were all dark-haired, as opposed to the platinum-blond non heirs that are roaming the castle right now as his children? Presumably the queen’s children are ones she’s had by Jaime, and not Robert. But what’s to be gained by this? I’m intrigued by what Ned will put together here… and why Baelish is leading him down that path.

Speaking of the king and queen, how about that scene between the two of them? There are times where the king is absolutely loathsome, and I wonder if he’s very different from the man that Ned once knew? Becoming a king has not only made him too fat, but he’s excessive in everything and seems quite ineffectual as a king. He’s heartless to Cersei in this scene as she reminisces with him over their sham of a marriage. He tells her that nothing has filled the hole that Ned’s sister left behind, and she admits that she actually felt something for him once and asks if there’d ever been a single moment in their marriage where he felt the same. “No,” he declares after a thoughtful pause, followed by, “Does that make you feel better or worse?” She replies, “I don’t feel anything.” The conversation was shocking and devastating to watch.

Was the conversation the same in the book? It also made me wonder about the relationship with Jaime: she may trust him and be having an affair with him, but I wonder if that weighs on her? Could someone be truly happy being in a sexual relationship with her brother? Isn’t there a part of her that is in anguish that this is the only love she can find? Is he using her in some way? He doesn’t seem to love her so much as possess her.

Chris: The conversation between the king and queen was quite well done, I thought—and it’s not actually in the book. Every chapter is from a particular character’s point of view, and we don’t have that from either Robert or Cersei—so while the conversation might have happened, we could never know (ditto for the Varys/Littlefinger exchange). However hurtful Robert and Cersei have been to one another, there was a sense of understanding between them in this scene, however grudging or underlined with malice. We don’t get that in the book—the only feelings between them are Robert’s contempt for Cersei and her loathing of Robert.

The sexual relationship between Jaime and Cersei is played somewhat more ambivalently in the series, at least on Cersei’s part. In the novels, it is more of a long-standing thing—basically since even before they knew what they were doing, they were together sexually. Though they are not of one mind: Jaime is utterly devoted to Cersei, and is oddly faithful to her … but there is the sense that she is more opportunistic, and more concerned with her own power and ambition. That’s one of the reasons I loved Jaime’s chilling promise to kill everyone but him and her—that captured his ruthless, single- minded devotion perfectly. He would be perfectly happy having the world know about them, and damn the consequences. Cersei, conversely, it rather more circumspect.

I said something to this effect in my first post on GoT, but I have to imagine it’s the Littlefingers and Varyses, much more than the jousting, swordplay, and other staples of fantasy, that drew HBO to GRRM’s books. This goes to those who find the series boring, you are probably absolutely right to observe, are the same as those who just couldn’t get into The Wire. HBO certainly does not stint on giving us violence, or graphic sex and nudity, but the commonalty between its best shows is this degree of complexity and the frequent preoccupation with power. The scheming and plotting in King’s Landing echoes that which we see between the prisoner factions in Oz, the mob politics of The Sopranos, and the nascent democracy of Deadwood. As we see with such a spectacularly bad series as Spartacus, the blood and sex is easy to do. But without good, intelligent writing, it collapses on itself.

Nikki: So well put. I agree that writing is king on HBO. I think going hand-in-hand with that is the acting. The ensemble cast is so well put together on this show – they work well together, there’s chemistry where there needs to be, and the acting is absolutely superb. I have to point out Dinklage again: the look on his face when he sees Catelyn’s sister (and her tiny weirdo) is priceless. And when she accuses him of killing the hand of the king, he says, “Oh! Did I kill him, too? I’ve been a VERY busy man.” I just love Tyrion.

Even the secondary characters are superb. That scene of the king’s council flatly telling Ned how they need to put the Targaryens down is superb, with Littlefinger using the analogy of slicing a woman’s throat without a second thought, Robert simply raging against their family, Varys quietly agreeing with everyone, and Ned standing there in utter shock at the madness of it all. I loved that scene.

It’s interesting that HBO could take a book that, by your description, sounds like it’s entirely in first person from various points of view, and turns it into an objective, third-person narrative. Amazing. Yes, the writer is definitely king.

Chris:Just to clarify: the character POVs in GRRM’s books are third-person limited, not first person; but that doesn’t take away from your observation that the writers’ accomplishment is tremendous.

Speaking of the writers, it’s probably high time we gave them a shout-out: D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, who are responsible for having brought this to the small screen to start with, have done the lion’s share of the work on this series in terms of the writing. Looking at their resumes on IMDb.com, one wouldn’t have predicted it: Benioff has graced us with such brilliant screenplays as X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Troy (though also Brothers and The 25th Hour, which I can’t comment on, not having seen them), and Weiss’ only credit for anything is Game of Thrones. But even if everything they do from this point on is shite, they will have my eternal respect for this series. They have managed at once to be faithful to the source material, to deftly incorporate GRRM’s own dialogue at key points, and augment the narrative with scenes of their own invention that work seamlessly.

We should also note that episode eight, “The Pointy End,” is written by GRRM himself—so it will be interesting to see how the novelist’s episode compares to those of his adaptors.

And with episode five, we are also at the halfway point in season one: five down, five to go, and I have to say it has thus far exceeded my expectations. For the final word, Nikki, what are your thoughts as we sit at the Ides of Game of Thrones?

Nikki: Only that I’m enjoying co-blogging with you immensely. This is fun!

Thanks for the shout-out for Benioff and Weiss… I wonder if Benioff’s background as a novelist has helped him envision how a novel could be brought to the screen? I think they’ve done a helluva job. I was shocked when I first saw this season would only be 10 episodes (I was hoping for the usual HBO 13) but so far they’re doing a brilliant job in truncating such a vast book into 10 hours.

I can’t wait for reader reactions to this Sunday’s episode… it was the last of the episodes that HBO sent to me in advance, and it’s a shocker. Enjoy!

Customer Service Warning... Bloomex = BAD

I never, ever do this, but I just have to this time. Please, please don't order flowers from Bloomex. It's an online flower delivery service that is based out of Canada, but I think they also have a US arm of their service. I ordered Mother's Day flowers for my mom and stepmom. Seemed easy enough... except they delivered them the Tuesday after Mother's Day. When they hadn't arrived by the Monday, I contacted Bloomex via phone. The phone service asks if you want to order or if you have a question about an existing order. If you choose the latter, you're put through to a voicemail service that asks you to leave a message. Even if you say, "here is my number, please call me I don't want an email" they will look up your order number, match it to your account, find your email address, and email you. They will not call you.

So when I did that, they simply sent some form letter via email saying sorry for the inconvenience, the flowers you ordered were out of stock and we had to wait an extra day for new stock to arrive.

??

So I left it, and they arrived on Tuesday. I ordered a planter's basket for both of my moms, something that wouldn't die right away. Bloomex delivered yellow roses... which, I might add, were cheaper than the baskets because roses were half-price. Did I mention one of the moms doesn't like roses? When I called again to complain and ask for a refund, asking them to PLEASE call me so I could discuss this with someone, I simply received an email saying not to worry about a refund, they were resending the proper baskets out immediately.

Today I get an email from my stepmom saying she's about to go away on a trip, and she still hasn't received her basket. A WEEK LATER.

So I called Bloomex back. This time I pressed 1 for a new order. Sure enough, I finally get a real live person (Bloomex assumes you're giving them money rather than asking for it back, so they'll treat you REALLY well until they have your cash). I got a customer service rep and talked to her about it and said I was really happy to speak to a live person, and laughed, and she did, too, and I explained the issue. She said no problem, but that she was on orders and she'd have a manager call me back immediately. I said I just wanted a refund, and didn't want to deal with this anymore, and she said she'd let them know that and a manager would call me back.

Only a few minutes later, someone did call me back. She started off very kindly, just asking what the issue was (rep #1 asked for all the details and then didn't pass any of them on) and so I ran through all of it again and said I just wanted a refund. I've worked in customer service years and years ago... I think people who just call up and yell and swear at people who had nothing to do with the actual problem are rude, so I'm never like that. So I was very calm and cheerful, and laughed it off and said look, one of my moms doesn't even like roses, so I look like I don't even know her. I'd just like a refund and I can go and get her something she does like.

The manager said, "It is our policy at Bloomex to not issue refunds of any kind. I can give you store credit or redeliver the flowers, that's it." I said you must offer refunds. She said nope, I had to get them redelivered. I said I'd asked for that a week ago and no one sent them, so I could say ok, sure, redeliver them, and nothing will happen and I'll just have to make this phone call again. She said if I'd wanted a refund, I had to contact them within 7 day and it's outside of 7 days. I said I DID call them within 7 days, and they didn't call me back and instead reassured me the issue would be dealt with. She said sorry, I didn't follow their policy. I should have asked for a refund within 7 days.

???

I said, "OK, so just to reiterate [realizing as I said it I sounded exactly like my husband], I ordered flowers, you sent them two days late, and then you sent the wrong ones, and then you didn't call me back when I called to request a callback, and then you promised to redeliver, and you haven't redelivered, and now you won't do anything for me? Seriously? What can I do here?"

"I'm sorry, we can't issue a refund."

I said, "Actually, you have my credit card; any company that can take a credit card CAN reissue a credit back onto it, you just choose NOT to. It's not that you can't, it's that you won't. You won't redeliver, and even if you did, you'd probably send the wrong thing anyway and I'll have to call again. Is it really cheaper for you to send the flowers six times rather than just issue my refund and keep me as a future customer?"

"Ma'am!!" she suddenly bellowed into the phone quite abruptly. "LISTEN TO ME. I am a HUMAN BEING." No, really. She said that. "You simply CANNOT scream and yell at me the way you are right now." Irony moment? She was yelling as she said this.

Now, anyone who knows me knows I can be excitable, and my voice rises, but not in an angry or yelling (and definitely not screaming) sort of way. I never swore at her, nor was I rude or talked down to her in any way. She doesn't know rude if she thinks I'm being rude. I told her that I wasn't yelling at her, that I was simply frustrated, and-- and she cut me off to say I most definitely WAS yelling, and she was a HUMAN BEING and CANNOT be treated in this way.

Now, I could have responded angrily. I could have said, "Actually, in this particular case you're not a human being. You're a representative of your company, a faceless voice on the other end of the phone that I'm speaking with to try to resolve an issue," but I didn't. I doubt she would have gotten the subtlety. I asked her what her name was, and there was a long pause before she said, "Michelle." (I don't for an instant believe that's actually her name.) "Michelle," I said, as quietly as I could with her still being able to hear me, "I'm sorry if you thought I was shouting at you. I'm very frustrated right now. I know you didn't put through the wrong order, nor are you the person who delivered them late, nor are you the one who reassured me I didn't need a refund and my flowers would be redelivered. But right now, you're the first person who's called me back. You're the only one who can help me. I'm frustrated. What was supposed to be a thoughtful Mother's Day gift looks like an afterthought, something I ordered the day after because of the timing of the delivery, and you sent the wrong thing to boot. I look like I don't even know what my own mother would want. I don't know if you're a mom, and that's none of my business. But I'm one, and Mother's Day means a lot to me. The flowers were what I sent as a gift, and it was a screw-up. So please, please, can you help me?"

"You know," she said, clearly now on speakerphone because obviously my booming crazy voice was too loud for her eardrums, "You can sit there and scream and yell until you're blue in the face, and I'll sit here all day and listen to you. I don't care. I can do other work while you're screaming. We have a policy. I'm not changing it. You either take a company credit for your next purchase or I will redeliver the flowers to you."

She said that, after I had just apologized to her. I've been inconvenienced, humiliated, wronged, and ignored, and instead of an apology, I just apologized to her. And I did so in my "indoor voice." And she again accused me of screaming at her. Which meant her earlier freakout that I was screaming at her and not treating her like a human being was some weird put-upon thing acted out by a drama queen who doesn't understand how to do customer service.

"I don't want a store credit," I said as calmly as I could, despite the fact my hands were shaking in fury. (Why do our hands shake when we get angry??) "Because, if you don't fix this, I will never use your store again. That's not an idle threat, and I'm sure you don't really care, actually, but this has been one of the most frustrating customer service experiences I've ever had. The only option you're giving me is to have you redeliver the flowers. And I'm going to hang up this phone and you won't redeliver them. And then I'll have to make this call again. I don't want to do this. Could you just please help me?"

"We. Can't. Refund. Your. Money. You give me a date to send those flowers, and I will. But otherwise, I can't help you."

I sat for half a second, and finally just told her to send the one bunch at the end of the month when my stepmum is back from her trip, and send the other one immediately. I felt completely defeated, talked down to, and this woman who had the nerve to act like I was a shrieking banshee had just won.

What Bloomex did was reassure me twice within the 7-day refund period that they would send out my flowers again. They delayed me until I was outside the 7-day period, and then threw their hands up and said, "Whoops! Looks like you can't get a refund now, Missy!" And that was that.

I'll never use them again. They may be convenient, but it's just as convenient to pick up a phone and call your local florist. I've never used a local one I didn't love, and the only reason I didn't use one in this instance was because I didn't know if one that would deliver to a rural route address. But I'll find out who does, and use them the next time.

I hope me telling you this will dissuade some others from ever using them, too. I really hope as the world begins to move online, customer service doesn't dwindle to a world where the customer is never right, and we have to bow down and apologize because they've got our money and there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

UPDATE: As I mentioned in the comments yesterday, after I hung up from Bloomex I contacted my credit card company to dispute the charge, and they are launching an investigation. But thanks to all the comments I've received on this post, I realized that there's a reason Bloomex doesn't offer refunds: their incompetence and terrible customer service is legen -- wait for it -- DARY. I'm thinking maybe it won't be too difficult to get the charge wiped from my credit card because the credit card companies have probably been inundated with complaints. Here's hoping, as Toronto Star columnist Ellen Roseman suggests, if enough people complain, the credit card companies will simply stop dealing with Bloomex.

When I tweeted the link to this blog post, I did a quick search for "Bloomex" on Twitter and found out they have their own Twitter name... wait for it again... @bloomexcares. HAHAHA! And here's their description of themselves:

Bloomex Customer Service - Industry leading policies supported by our amazing customer service agents. Need help with an order, PM us with your order number.

At least I got a really good laugh out of this whole experience. ;) Their Twitter feed is locked, so I'm thinking it's because it's filled with complaints and they won't let people see their feed... it's probably just them dealing with angry customers.

Reader Fred directed me to the Wikipedia page, which was shocking. I've learned my lesson: Next time, do your research on the company, no matter how insignificant the purchase seems to be. This is from the Wikipedia page:


Controversy

On March 1, 2008, Toronto Star business and consumer affairs columnist Ellen Roseman reported on Bloomex online complaints, offering one customer's experience with a promised same-day delivery as an example of company unresponsiveness. In a follow-up Star column the next week, company president Lokhonia examined Roseman's late-delivery example, explaining that the order was entered past the deadline for same-day delivery, it was delivered according to the company's published terms and conditions, and the company never refunds delivery charges in such cases in order to maintain its low prices.[4] Lokhonia also alleged that some complaints were actually written by small retail florists in competition with Bloomex,[5] a statement that drew fresh online complaints.[6]

In June 2008, Bloomex issued a press release admitting that the company had made mistakes in the past due to unexpectedly strong sales growth, and announced new systems to improve customer satisfaction.[7]

Following Mother's Day 2009, Roseman noted many new complaints about late or damaged deliveries and advised consumers to seek chargebacks from their credit-card companies rather than pursuing Bloomex for refunds.[8]

In April 2010, the CBC News television program Marketplace tested Bloomex's promises, reporting that the company "...sometimes substitutes one item for something completely different, without checking with the customer, or doesn't deliver at all". A "Chocolate Lovers" basket contained far less chocolate than promised; of three floral arrangements ordered, one failed to arrive and the other two were not as advertised, receiving a "thumbs down" from a professional flower judge.[9]

As of December 2010, the Canadian Better Business Bureau (BBB) continues to give Bloomex its lowest possible rating, an "F", due to the company's overall complaint history, number of unresolved complaints, and Bloomex's failure to resolve the underlying causes of a pattern of complaints.[10]

UPDATE #2It is now two days later, and I just received an automated message from Bloomex saying that both of the redeliveries were now complete. I called them, and left a message asking for someone to call me back, no one did, so I did the same thing I did the last time and got a callback, and I asked her if the one order (to the mom who IS NOT THERE) actually was delivered despite reassurances that it wouldn't go out until May 30. She checked and said, "Yes, it was delivered last night. Why? Is that a problem?" I said yes, actually, it's a problem, because the person living there won't be back for another week, so she'll return to a box of dead, wilting flowers on her porch. She wrote on my file a "request" that the flowers be redelivered in another week.

Three deliveries. But apparently that was cheaper than just giving me my money back. I called my mother to see if she got her flowers and she said yes, she got a second plant (and because I hadn't warned her, she thought I was going to start sending her flowers every week!) and said both times no one knocked at the door, and they dropped it off last night and never knocked so she didn't know it was there until this morning. She had to remove some of the plants from the basket because they'd wilted overnight (SERIOUSLY) but she said otherwise, it was very nice. But she added that they stuck three small plants in the basket and then some tiny flowers, and just for my own knowledge I should know that I could probably have bought these plants at a grocery store for $3 each and stuck them in a planter. I groaned and she said, "Oh no, don't think that I don't love them, because I do!" But it was just another reason not to use them.

I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau last night. They have an F rating there, the lowest rating you can possibly get. I doubt anything will come of the complaint, but at least I'll be one more customer on the list of people they let down.

Buffy Rewatch Week 20

3.21 Graduation Day, Part 1
3.22 Graduation Day, Part 2
**Read along on pages 212-215 of Bite Me!

And now for part 2 of why fans bitched about Buffy’s broadcast schedule in season 3. As I mentioned back in “Earshot,” they pre-empted the episode about Jonathan coming to school with a gun because it was to air only days after the Columbine school massacre (and lines like Oz saying that school shootings was bordering on trendy didn’t help). It was a good call, because the wounds were still very fresh in a world still reeling from it, and while the episode had a good message about why these things happen, it was just too soon.

But then... on May 24, 1999, the WB decided to pre-empt Part 2 of “Graduation Day.” Oh, they played Part 1. They left things on a cliffhanger. But apparently, as I ranted in Bite Me, there was a rampant fear that kids would show up to their graduation days with weapons, since the fear of giant snake demons was apparently on the rise. While Whedon agreed to the “Earshot” decision, he simply couldn’t fathom how delaying the finale was a good idea in any reality.

Meanwhile, north of the border, in cold, arctic Canada, Canucks huddled around their television sets in their igloos, watching the only channel available. (This is the sort of fantasy the WB probably envisioned when it thought of their viewers.) See, in Canada at that time, certain stations bought the rights to shows with the caveat that they be allowed to air the shows first. This was before Napster and file sharing, so there wasn’t a fear that someone would record the episode and put it on the Interwebs like there is today. Networks in the US often agreed to this, so Canadians got to see shows a day early. The WB made the decision to pull the finale the night of Monday, May 24, the day before it was to air in the US. Problem was... it had just finished airing in Canada. We Canuckians had just finished watching the episode and were thrilled by it, not knowing our poor neighbours to the south were about to lose out altogether.

When Joss Whedon discovered what had happened, and that certain northern fans had seen it, he immediately sent out a notice to Canadians, and I quote: “BOOTLEG THAT PUPPY!!”

And so... we did. I personally went onto a message board and said I’d be happy to send tapes (yes, tapes) to anyone who would pay for the shipping and the $2 cost of the tape. I began getting emails within seconds from upset American fans saying they didn’t get the episode. (Remember... this was BEFORE file sharing. I know this must sound positively prehistoric to some readers.)

And then I got a note from someone who worked on the show itself. She said she wanted to help out, and she sent me a copy of Earshot so I could see it, and she also sent me this awesome tape of the dailies from “I Robot, You Jane,” so I could watch the gang shoot scenes over and over again, goofing off (and Alyson swearing like a trucker) in between cuts while poking each other and constantly laughing. After I received Earshot, I began adding that to the tapes I was sending out, and soon Americans were getting my tapes – and the tapes from other Canadians – and passing them around. I sent out dozens of them.

And that is why I’ve seen both Earshot and Graduation Day over 30 times each... I typically had to be in the room to record them and switch from one show to the other when taping. And no matter how many times I’ve seen them, I still love both episodes.

So, with a giant snake and a bunch of explosives, we say goodbye to season 3 and Sunnydale High. But tune in to this blog later this week, because I’ve got a special surprise for y’all... I went to Sunnydale High in person in 2003, and took a lot of pictures. I’m getting them scanned right now, and will be posting them for you so you can see what that school really looks like (hint: It looks a lot like it does on Buffy!!)

Highlights:
• Xander: Guess who our commencement speaker is?
Willow: Siegfried?
Xander: No.
Willow: Roy?
Xander: No.
Willow: One of the tigers?
Xander: Come out of the fantasy, Will.
• Xander calling Wesley “Monarchy Boy.”
• I adore the Mayor’s goody-two-shoes attitude to everything, even while he’s set to be the most horrific demon on earth. “‘The beast will walk upon the earth and darkness will follow. The several races of man will be as one in their terror and destruction.’ Aw, that's kind of sweet. Different races coming together.”
• “What are you doing?” “Panicking.” ♥♥♥
• Angel comes into the room by tripping loudly over a mop. Buffy: “Stealthy.”
• Xander: “Boy, it’s a good thing no one ever wanted to check out any of these books, huh?” LOL! Exactly what fans had been joking about for years.
• Oz’s response when Willow tells him Angel thought she was Buffy: “You too, huh?”
• I’ve always loved the eroticism of the slow-mo scene of Angel and Buffy falling to the floor as he drains her.
• The entire scene in the library with the gang planning the attack on the Mayor.
• Buffy: “Am I crazy?”
Willow: “Well, crazy is such a strong word.”
Giles: “Let’s not rule it out, then.”…
Cordy: “I personally don’t think it’s possible to come up with a crazier plan.”
Oz: “We attack the Mayor with hummus.”
Cordy: “I stand corrected.”
Oz: “Just keeping things in perspective.”
• Mayor to his vampire lackies: “No snacking! I see blood on your lips, it’s a visit to the wood shed for you boys.”
• Snyder’s hilarious speech: “This is a time of celebration, so sit still and be quiet.”
• Buffy realizing with horror that the Mayor’s going to be doing his full speech. Willow: “Just ascend, already.”
• No matter how many times I’ve seen this episode, that part where the Mayor begins flipping through his index cards telling them he had this whole section on civic pride never fails to make me LOL.

Did You Notice?
• Without spoiling, I’ll just say that the professor Faith killed was a volcanologist. That’s hilarious if you’ve seen season 7. And if you haven’t, wait for it. ;)
• Does anyone else watch scenes with Wesley and Willow and try to see if they’re looking at each other at all?
• A lot of people have suggested that Eliza Dushku is a one-note actress, but she’s very tough in this show, and much softer in Dollhouse. Both are characters who have to be strong, yet vulnerable, but she plays them very differently.
• When Buffy goes to Faith’s to kill her, she’s wearing the outfit that her season 3 action figure has on.
• The dream sequences on Buffy are always masterful. In the dream sequence with Buffy and Faith in “Part 2,” there are many things that probably make no sense to the newcomer right now, but they will mean something to you by the end of the series. Joss was already anticipating major things to come, and he dropped hints about them in this ep.
• While it would appear that Wesley may have been taking advantage of a young girl when he kissed Cordy, Charisma Carpenter was actually 29 when they filmed that scene (Alexis Denisof was 33).
• They are SO not sitting in alphabetical order at the graduation ceremony.
• Fastest eclipse ever.


Now on to our guest hosts for the week. As always, if you see a white space and you're not a first-time watcher, highlight it with your mouse to see what's hidden underneath (warning for the newbies: There be spoilers!)

First up, our beloved Steve Halfyard, who will tell us all about the music from this week’s ep!

“You killed me”: Buffy, Faith and the Death of Slayers
Steve Halfyard

Graduation Day (Parts 1 and 2) give us a new kind of season finale in the Buffyverse. On one level, it's not new at all: we have definitely been here before, with Buffy in danger, apocalypse threatening, death and mayhem all around, and people sort of but not entirely dying. First it was Mr Fruit-Punch Mouth trying to open the hellmouth; then it was Angelus trying to open a gate into a hell dimension. First time Buffy died (but only briefly); second time, Angel died (only not – we say he died but actually he just spent a few hundred years being tortured). So one similarity is that again tone of the principal characters maybe sort of dies only not dies: Faith is the one having a semi-death but not the real thing.

The first difference is that no one is opening anything: the big bad evil is the ascension where the Mayor transforms himself from an invincible man into a large snake. It does sometimes seem to me that when characters decide to be the big bad they lose all sense of perspective and logic. (Spike mused on this himself in season 2 when he enlisted Buffy's help to get Dru back: his line about liking the world the way it is, with people like happy meals on legs is one of my favourites). The Master's desire to open the hellmouth was completely understandable: he was stuck inside it and wanted to get out – anything else getting out was collateral damage, about which he gave not a fig. Angelus's reasons for getting the world sucked into a demon dimension were altogether less clear in terms of what he was going to get out of it (did he just think it might be fun?); but why the Mayor wants to give up his opposable thumbs is beyond me. There he is, a hundred years old and change, running his own town, minions to do his bidding, probably gets his moist towelettes and supply of mints courtesy of the municipal budget, and he wants to give this all up to be a large snake. Has it occurred to him that a lack of hands is going to make using moist towelettes very difficult? And lack of feet and shoes to wear upon them means he's going to be in full bodily contact with the pavement (sorry, sidewalk) everywhere he goes? It doesn't seem like a great plan for someone who is germ-verse. And what is he going to do with his days? No more mini-golf, that's for sure. Surely munching down Sunnydale's citizens will pall after a while.

But enough of that. The big difference is that for the first time, Buffy is up against her shadow double. The idea of the shadow double in Buffy is something scholars have been talking about ever since Faith came on the scene: she is the dark Slayer, quite literally, brunette to Buffy's blonde. She's that bit taller, her voice is that bit deeper, she likes to wear leather (something Buffy emulates in the big fight scene), she is that bit more reckless and daring, but she lacks Buffy's unerring moral compass, she sticks her stake in the wrong body and now she's gone over to the dark side. And so they line up for the final showdown, Buffy against Faith with the Mayor positioned as a shadow double for Giles as the older man taking on the paternal role for a girl with no father of her own in the picture. Spoilers now (I don't normally) but the shadow doubles pile up as adversaries after this: the Initiative doubles the Council of Watchers at the global level, with the soldiers on the ground, Riley among them, doubling the Scooby Gang; Giles again finds a double in Maggie, competing for Buffy's trust; Adam is a truly horrific double for Buffy, the demon-hybrid creation of the Initiative as we ultimately learn the slayers were the demon-hybrid creations of the original Council. Season 5, Glory is a very pretty double for Buffy, what Buffy might be like if she applied her preternatural abilities to superheroic amounts of shopping instead of the saving the world. It gets altogether more complicated in the final two seasons, but that's a long way off – suffice to say that where we have had finales so far which simply pit the Slayer, her Watcher and her friends against an enemy, for the first time the enemy looks like them.

Well, I suppose I should mention the music, shouldn't I? It does have some rather special moments in this double episode. My focus is definitely on the sequence that links across the break between parts 1 and 2. If there was anywhere that we were going to get the death motif, it would be here, surely? Well, yes and no. The motif is absolutely absent in any form until about a minute from the end of Graduation Day part 1. And even then, it isn’t quite our death motif: it’s something similar, something related, but different; and what’s more, it isn’t new – we’ve heard it before; and we’re going to hear it again.

But let’s start here, in this episode, right in the middle as Buffy and Faith fight. The fight music itself is superior Beck – he always does fights well, but this is good even for him. Buffy pulls out that knife – and stabs Faith with it. Faith has never believed Buffy really has it in her to be ruthless – 'you did it' she says, 'you killed me'. The music at this point is very high pitched, a slow ascending motif (F-G-G-A flat, if you are interested) and is, in fact, a version of the death motif, an inversion. That's the thing about motifs (as Danny Elfman would tell you – he's the master of this kind of transformation): you can play with them, write them backwards and upside down, but it is still all the one musical idea at root. In the original death motif, we have a falling major second in a basically descending motif; here, it’s the same intervals but the opposite way round, an ascending major second in an ascending motif. In the context of the episode, this is logical: the death motif is the threat of death but here it appears that Faith has actually been killed, the threat realised: we’re somewhere new now, and so is the music. But the other musical idea embedded in this new version of the motif is the series theme tune itself, which is also characterized by the same pattern of these rising three notes. As Faith utters her final lines and falls from the roof we hear a saxophone (very unusual instrument for Beck) playing a short phrase which is a very clear reference to the theme tune but again with an inversion – in the theme tune, you get three rising notes and then a fourth one, lower; here the fourth note is bumped up an octave, but it's still the four notes that open the theme. As slayer kills slayer, we have a musical idea which recalls both the theme tune that identifies the slayer and the death motif that has pursued them both across the second half of this season.

But I said this new version of the death motif, which I like to call “you killed me”, is actually not new at all: and we hear this exact idea in the episode where Buffy and Faith have their first real, physical fight with each other: 'Revelations', episode 7 of this season, where Gwendolen Post sets Faith and Buffy against each other. They fight; Faith realises that she has been duped by Gwendolen but it's too late – she's clearly humiliated by being the slayer in the wrong. At the very end of the episode, Buffy goes to the motel to make peace with Faith. It’s as she leaves that we hear “you killed me” for the first time, as she stands on the motel steps, low in pitch now, but very clearly the same musical phrase. There have been some tensions from the start with the two slayers, but this is the first time that Buffy feels the need to tell Faith 'you can trust me' – just having to say that points to the fact that she realises that the trust is gone. This is a very important moment in things going wrong in their relationship, and the music marking that moment in episode 7 comes back in the season finale, at the absolute climax of their conflict: it frames the start and end of their clash in season 3.

So, on to Graduation Day Part 2. An interesting thing about the previously-on segments is that they don’t normally use thematic material from the episodes: there are a small number of cues and themes that Beck uses specifically for scoring previously-on material that is utterly distinct from the themes of the episodes themselves. But not so here: the previously-on music in both parts of Graduation Day is the same. When we hear it at the start of Graduation Day part 1, it might passed unnoticed; but when you hear it at the start of part 2, especially if you've just finished watching part 1, it's hard to miss that it has lot in common with the death motif and 'you killed me' – it's a thing called thematic development which means you take a motif and you constantly rearrange its parts to create things that are simultaneously new but also part of group; and this ploddingly ominous melody (minor thirds have become major thirds, major seconds have become minor seconds) is definitely part of the group.

And if we were in any doubt, this then merges into the teaser, and the previously-on music transforms into a combination of the notes of the original death motif itself played on a solo cello – real, not synthesized, but in the shape of 'you killed me' (repeated note in the middle of the phrase). Again, picking up from ideas at the end of the last episode, we also have elements of the theme tune coming out: after a couple of renditions of the death motif, the music starts to move upwards in phrases that all start with the three notes of the theme tune. So effectively we have three different ideas here in the music – the 'you killed me' idea that stands for Faith’s apparent death, with the notes of the motif that have been warning us about the death of slayers for the last eleven episodes, and the theme that symbolizes Buffy's calling as slayer, all rolled into one: but as she leaves, and the mayor arrives on the scene, they collapse back into the old familiar form of the death motif itself as he stands at the broken window looking out at the scene of the battle: the threat, the fear of death is now his as he worries about Faith, reassuring himself that she'll be all right.

So, a little three note motif that starts in 'Helpless' (or maybe even earlier, back in 'Revelations') carries us right the way through to the climax of the season, transforming along the way, accruing meaning, those meanings changing as the plot develops. It’s not a big theme: until the finale it doesn’t draw much attention to itself at all, but it’s there, and it’s speaking to us if we listen. I mentioned that we hear the 'you killed me' idea again and we do, way into season 4, but that's for another day.

There are a couple of other musical ideas from this finale that are worth mentioning: firstly, the music that we hear early in part 1 when the Mayor and Faith are in her apartment and she tries on her summer dress. The music here is lovely – a sort of Aaron Copland pastorale that describes his love for her: that's one of his strengths as a character that the music helps to bring out. Whatever his other flaws, he does genuinely love Faith for herself – it’s another aspect of the doubling of the relationship between him and Faith, and Buffy and Giles, that the father's love and the daughter's trust are absolutely sincere. The music in the dream/ coma sequence for Buffy and Faith is another really lovely cue that's also going to come back again in season 4 (hmm, I wonder where that will be?!).
***

Thank you, Steve! And now, Jennifer K. Stuller! Jennifer was last with us to discuss the season 1 finale, “Prophecy Girl,” and she’s back with another excellent rundown of this season’s finale.

Graduation Day: The Future is Ours
Jennifer K. Stuller

“We don’t need heroes so much as recognizing ourselves as heroes.” – Joss Whedon

“Fire Bad. Tree Pretty.” – Buffy Summers

I’m thrilled to be back guest posting for the Great Buffy Rewatch of 2011! And wouldn’t you know it? I asked for another season finale.

Last time, it was “Prophecy Girl” – the conclusion of an arc that took Buffy from girl to girl hero. This time, with “Graduation Day” we conclude both the arc of season three itself, as well as the arc of the high-school-is-hell metaphor in which the series is based. We see our Scoobies graduate from Sunnydale High – the school built on a hellmouth – as well as navigate some of the more formative experiences of life. You know, losing your virginity to your werewolf boyfriend, saying goodbye to your vampire lover, killing a demon, putting your mortal enemy and metaphoric dark side in a coma, blowing up your school . . .

Of course, I didn’t do any of these things. (Okay, not all of them.) But I did graduate with the original class of 90210 back in nineteen-ninety (cough cough cough – Google it if you must).

Now I can’t prove that Redwood High was built on a hellmouth, but there was a rumor – started by a playful art teacher – that the school was designed by the same architects as a famous local state prison. An impossibility considering they were built over a 100 years apart. (Unless Mayor Wilkins was somehow involved . . .)

Regardless, it sure felt like prison.

And one of the things that strikes me most about this rewatch is how often contributors have spoken to how Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes them feel. One of the brilliances of the show is that it resonates with us emotionally – as much as it might entertain or intellectually stimulate. Even for those of us who are re-watching and know what’s going to happen, it continues to make us feel – a sign of truly engaging storytelling.

We, are story-experiencing.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons I’ve been drawn to write on season finales. They provide some of the most rewarding resonance and emotional punch, simultaneously resolving storylines in a satisfying, if occasionally, maybe even necessarily, painful way, as they foreshadow the future. And “Graduation Day” has it all: love, loss, sweet sex, sexy sex, pain, a kick-ass rumble, a mighty battle, riddles, pop culture references, metaphor, the funny, explosions, high stakes, and flame throwers. Because, according to Whedon, “you gotta have flame throwers.”

“Graduation Day” explores the changes that come from growing up and moving forward in our life journeys. Buffy leaves the Watcher’s Council. Willow loses her virginity. Wesley, though he doesn’t quite have the backbone he will grow, realizes what’s truly important and where loyalties should lie. Anya struggles with adolescent hormones and becoming a new person (quite literally, a person). The world as we know it is ending . . . again. And Buffy and Faith continue to reflect two sides of a “What if?”

What if Buffy killed a human? What if Faith had a supportive and loving family?

The “Light “ and “Dark” symbolism we’ve seen between the two Slayers begins to blur. Buffy, self-sacrificial and “good,” and Faith, selfish and “evil,” prove emotionally complicated and morally gray. Faith basks in the loving support of her father figure (as Buffy does with Giles) just as we see Buffy willing to murder a human – not for pleasure, but definitely with intention. If Buffy kills Faith to save Angel, will she lose herself? Will she become her shadow double?

And what of the big battle? Isn’t high school an extended campaign culminating in one last contest and, hopefully, victory celebration? Aren’t you surprised that sometimes it happens with the help of people you didn’t even know you could count on?

Whedon has said that

“The idea of the whole school coming together was thematically a big part of the arc of that season. Buffy had always been a loner. The [Scoobies] had always been outside. The idea that all the kids – it’s like in [the episode] “Earshot” – it’s sort of the idea that they all had their own pain – and we sort of took that and said ‘and now they’re all going to band together – they’re all going to fight together.’”

Buffy, with the support of the Scoobies, draws on the recognition her student peers offered her in “The Prom” with their gift of the Sunnyale High “Class Protector” award to secure their aid in the big, and possibly final battle.

She is able rally the graduating masses because her leadership, and commitment to protecting the innocent, inspires bravery and dedication in others.

As I wrote in Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors this recognition of Buffy’s compassionate and often anonymous heroism inspires the students to recognize their own heroic nature when she asks them to risk their lives to save the world.

Thus, once again, the hero myth is turned is on its head as Buffy enables everyone’s heroism. This reaffirms Whedon’s statement that, “We don’t need heroes so much as recognizing ourselves as heroes.”

When the students remove their gowns to reveal weapons – flame units, archers, hand-to-hand combat – I cheer.

But this story is about so much more than the battle. It’s about the journey.

The Mayor, evil though he may be, said it best:

“What is a journey? Is it just distance traveled? Time spent? No, it's what happens on the way. It's the things that shape you. At the end of the journey, you're not the same. Today is about change. Graduation doesn't just mean your circumstances change, it means you do. You ascend to a higher level. Nothing will ever be the same. Nothing.”

Highlights


The Drama
“Well, look at you. All dressed up in big sister's clothes.” – Faith to Buffy, and dear God, do I love when they throw down.

“I’m not gonna say goodbye.” – Angel tells Buffy he’s just going to leave after the fight, and breaks our hearts

“There is something I can do that I can do better than anyone else in the world.” - Buffy sends her mom away to safety and Joyce finally trusts her daughter.

The Awkward
“I’ll drop you a line sometime.” – Wesley

“That’d be neat.” – Cordy

Cordy and Wesley’s embarrassing kiss. – Yeah, we should have seen that coming. But what we can’t predict is how unbelievably sexy Wes will become.

“When I think that something could happen to you, it feels bad inside, like I might vomit.” - Anya struggling with her transformation from vengeance demon to insecure high school girl. Here she merely serves to move the plot along – being the only person alive to have seen an ascension – but you will fall in love with her. Reasons might include: Bunnies, Fruit Punch, and a promise involving the phrase “sex poodle.”

The Sex
Oz panics – and don’t you just love them together?

Angel drinks Buffy, and as Whedon notes, the erotic scene was one of their thinner metaphors. It’s damn sexy what with all the grabbing, the falling, the taking. (And the sucking and moaning.) It also totally reinforces why Angel. Needs. To. Leave.

The Oh, SNAP!
“It’s just good to know that when the chips are down, and things look grim, you’ll feed off the girl who loves you to save your own ass.” – Xander, who is pretty harsh, but again reinforces why Buffy and Angel – even with the big eternal love – are ultimately toxic for one another.

The Awwww
“I just don’t want to lose you.” – Xander, worried Buffy will turn to the dark side if she kills a human.

“I managed to ferret this out of the wreckage. Now it may not interest you but I'd say you earned it.” – Giles, who gives his slayer her diploma

“Just take what you need.” – Faith gives her strength to Buffy. They are an undeniable part of each other (And Buffy will say something similar to Willow in a future season.)

The Funny
“Any boys that manage to survive will be lining up to ask you out.” – Mayor Wilkins, on Faith’s sundress

“Tea is soothing. I wish to be tense.” – Giles, on preferring coffee, even though it tastes like Colombian lighter fluid

“You got fired and you still hang around like a big loser. Why can’t he?” – Cordy, who always says exactly what she means

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” –Xander, on the foldout illustration of the snake demon

“We don’t knock, during dark rituals?” – The Mayor, who values good manners

“I say we attack the mayor with hummus.” – Oz, on what shall forever be known as “The Hummus Offensive”

“Congratulations to the class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate.” – Snyder, who got exactly what he deserved.

“My god, he’s gonna do the entire speech.” – Buffy

“Man, just ascend already.” -- Willow

“Evil.” – Buffy (On Mayor Wilkins speech, which took a hundred years to write, and echoes themes in the episode about change, growth, friendship, and destiny)

“Well, Gosh.” – the mayor’s last words

“Fire Bad. Tree Pretty.” – Buffy, whose brain can only handle so much

“Guys, take a moment to deal with this. . . . Not the battle. High School. We’re taking a moment. And we’re done.” – Oz, who really does have great hair

The Foreshadowing
“Little Miss Muffet Counting Down from 7-3-0.” – You either know, or you’re going to have to wait!

The “There’s Something in my Eye”
The moment when Angel steps out of the smoke and he and Buffy see each other – and he doesn’t say goodbye, but he lets her know he’s okay, is usually when I start sobbing like . . . well, like a schoolgirl.


Now, if someone could just wake me when it’s time to go to college, that’d be great!
***

Thanks, Jennifer!

Next week: We begin season 4 with... me as your guest host.

4.1 The Freshman
4.2 Living Conditions
4.3 The Harsh Light of Day

For those of you following along with Angel (and I hope that's most of you!) you need to watch:

1.1 City Of
1.2 Lonely Hearts
1.3 In the Dark
**Read along in Once Bitten on pages 105-112.

**And for the Lost fans out there, see if you can spot a certain Lost regular in the Angel pilot. You'll squeal when you see it. ;)

Buffy Rewatch Week 20: Spoiler Forum

Here is the place where you can talk about this week's episodes -- Graduation Day, Parts 1 & 2 -- without fear of spoilers. Just a few notes of my own:

Spoilery Bits:
• Anya stands in the hallway and says that she’s afraid they’ll die, and she just wants them both to run away. It’s the very hallway where she’ll be sliced in half and killed in “Chosen.”
• I used to cheer when Buffy stands up to Wesley and Giles backs her, and yes, I still love her in this moment (though I’ve always hated the “Get a job” line), but after seeing season 5 of Angel, I feel very badly for him here. We now know that Wesley’s father was a hard-ass who pushed him very hard and he desperately tried to show him he could prove himself worthy. Imagine the terror that must have run through him when Buffy let him go like this.
• Faith says, “Look at you! All dressed up in big sister’s clothes,” and many fans later saw this as a foreshadowing of the arrival of Dawn.
• The dream featuring Buffy and Faith in “Part 2” is very foreshadowy as well... when Faith says, “Little Miss Muffet counting down from 7-3-0,” it’s not only a reference to the arrival of Dawn (who is referred to as Miss Muffet and Curds and Whey when she appears) but exactly 730 days after this episode aired was the season 5 finale, where Buffy made a decision to save Dawn’s life and sacrificed herself instead. In other words, in this episode Buffy only has 730 days left to live.
• Watch when Harmony runs at the vampires... you see the moment where she’s turned into one. (I’ve often wondered, what kind of vampire decides not to kill, but to turn a person in the midst of a freakin’ apocalypse?!)

To Angel or Not to Angel

When Buffy started its fourth season in September 1999, it aired from 8 to 9 p.m. Immediately following that broadcast on the WB network was the first and only Buffy spinoff, Angel, which aired from 9 to 10 p.m. It was touted as the more adult version of Joss Whedon’s cult show, set in the dark and seamy underbelly of L.A., rather than the hellmouth and high school of Sunnydale, California. Where Buffy was a drama centering on a girl struggling with growing up, huge responsibilities, relationships, and the weight of the world on her shoulders, Angel was about a vampire with a history, with a film noir sensibility (complete with detective agency), usually set at night. Buffy’s theme song was loud rock music; Angel’s was a mournful string quartet (with rock band accompaniment).

In other words, Angel is a very different show from BtVS. So the question I’ve gotten from about the third week of Angel’s existence is... should I be watching that show, too? For me, it seemed like a no-brainer. Of course I’d be watching Angel. If I love Joss’s writing as much as I do, and if I’ve come to care about Angel, Cordelia, and other characters as much as I do, would I really not be the least bit curious? I was there from the first episode, and never stopped. But many other fans didn’t hold on the same way. Because it was so different, they simply weren’t interested. I never felt like watching Angel was a slog, nor was I watching it out of any sense of duty to Joss Whedon.

If you’re still with us in this rewatch, then I can tell you the same thing I tell the first-time Buffy fans (for, you are no longer newbies if you’re already about to enter season 4). You have to make it through the first season of Angel, and you will be rewarded. Season 1 is very monster-of-the-week, running alongside the difficult season 4 of Buffy (a season that is absolutely worth watching because it contains some of the most stunning episodes of the entire series, even if the overall arc is less-than-appealing). Season 2 of Angel, however, is much like season 2 of Buffy: it takes the mythologies and relationships established in season 1 and builds on them. It runs alongside season 5 of Buffy, and was the last time both shows appeared on the same network. When Buffy jumped ship to UPN the following year, season 3 of Angel was left on its own, and it... is... AMAZING. Season 3 of Angel just might be the single best season of any Joss Whedon property, in my opinion. I’m sure I’ll have many detractors, so let me say again, IN MY OPINION. It contains highs and lows that left me absolutely gutted. I thought my heart was ripped out of my chest in “Passion” and stomped on in “Becoming, Part 2,” but season 3 of Angel took what was left and dropped it into a vat of acid. Pain... heartbreak... romantic love... filial love... friendships ripped apart... it’s amazing. And one character stands above all the others in that season... one who is currently on Buffy at the end of season 3, so I won’t say who. But Angel fans will concur that his particular arc on that show rivals the character development of any other. His story is what made Angel spectacular. David Boreanaz is great, but Angel’s story takes a back seat to the anguish this character goes through.

So, as you may have surmised, my answer is yes, you should watch Angel. The question is, how? When both shows were still on and I was getting people hooked on both of them in time for Buffy’s final season, I would lend them my videotapes (yes, I said videotapes... recorded from the TV with the original dancing frog WB commercials in them), and urge them to go back and forth. Buffy episode 1 season 4, then Angel episode 1 season 1. Buffy episode 2 season 4; Angel episode 2 season 1. Back and forth... The first person who did it said it was perfect, although she said it would have been fine to have jumped ahead and maybe watched three episodes at a time. As long as you have a list of the crossover episodes of Buffy in the first season, you’d be fine doing that (stay tuned to the end of this post for that list). After that, I continued suggesting that to people even after we moved into DVDs. That’s when it became more difficult. You pop out a DVD, you have to wait for it to load, then go to the episode, remember which one you watched last, and move to the next. It’s not as easy as VCR tapes, where you pop them in and they’re in the same place you last left them. So people began watching Buffy’s entire fourth season, followed by Angel’s first. And even then, they told me they could have just watched Buffy on its own, finished the entire series, and THEN watched Angel. I disagreed, but everyone can watch them however they’d like.

Last year, the most recent work colleague to get turned on to Buffy ventured into the show, and she followed the advice of those who said you could watch all of Buffy followed by Angel. By the time she was into Angel’s second season (surprisingly quickly... she is a whiz at watching TV!) she was loving it, but said something felt flat, especially in the crossovers. She said she wished she’d watched them together. She’d already said goodbye to the Buffy characters at the end of season 7, and suddenly she’s gone back in time four years and is in Angel territory. Buffy ended in May 2003, and Angel continued for one more year without it, so it was weird for her to pinpoint where the other show ended, and try to remember the feeling, especially when characters who survived the finale of Buffy began appearing in the fifth season of Angel.

So, I think my original assessment is right. I would urge you to watch them together, at the same time, so you’re keeping with the sensibility of the show. And when I say at the same time, I mean you could watch the entire season of one show, followed by the simultaneous season of the other (with the exception of season 1, which needs to be watched closer together, as I'll explain below).

While I would LOVE to conduct a simultaneous rewatch of Angel each week, I simply don’t have that kind of time. Even the Buffy rewatch is starting to become a little bit much for me on top of everything else in my life. However, I will direct you to my Angel episode guide, Once Bitten, which is more indepth than my Buffy book simply because it came later in my writing career, when I found myself with far more to say (see Finding Lost for when things truly got out of control). In certain Angel episodes, I mention what episodes of Buffy happen simultaneously with it, if relevant, and I also mention any other Buffy connections (hints, allusions to the other series, etc.) that were dropped in each one.

But here’s what I’ll do. There are a few key Angel episodes in season 1 that involve Buffy and the gang, and I’ll mention those specifically during the rewatch. Each week when I say what’s coming next week, I’ll also mention which Angel episodes you should be watching to keep caught up. Again, you could watch a group of Buffys followed by a group of Angels, but here are the key ones to make sure you watch together:

Season 1
There’s a quick crossover in the pilot episode of Angel with S4E1 of Buffy, one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments. See if you can find it.

S1E3 of Angel, "In the Dark," is the conclusion to a story that begins in Buffy's third episode, "Harsh Light of Day." So be sure to watch the Angel ep right after the Buffy one.

Watch S4E8 of Buffy (“Pangs”) before S1E8 of Angel (“I Will Remember You”). And honestly, even if you don’t plan to watch Angel, try to catch this one episode. It’s the best non-Buffy Buffy episode ever.

The two-part episode 18-19 of Angel, “Five by Five” and “Sanctuary,” come after the Buffy S4 episode, “Who Are You?”, episode 16.

Seasons 2-5
After season 1, the Buffy connection grew weaker as Angel became its own show. In season 2, episode 7 of Angel (I won’t say the title name, because it’s a little spoilery), follows the S5 Buffy episode, “Fool for Love.”

The next crossover isn’t until S4 of Angel, “Orpheus,” but you don’t really have to watch that in tandem with S7 Buffy, since the crossover is barely mentioned over there.

And that’s pretty much it for crossovers. So essentially, watching season 1 of Angel in tandem with S4 of Buffy is a good idea. After that, you could watch one season of one show, followed by its sister season on the other, and you’ll keep pretty much up to date with both of them.

I do hope that you check out Angel, and stick with it to find out why the Whedonists love that series as much as they do Buffy.

Happy 20 Years!

Has it really been 20 years? Yep... and I was listening to them from their very first EP (even though I wasn't old enough to get into their first gig in town...) I've probably seen them 20 times now, so I've made up for it. This is for all the Sloan fans. And if you haven't heard of Sloan, listen to their first single at the end of this post. Still some of my favourite lyrics.



And here's Underwhelmed: