The Animal Family*, BtVS, life lesson

[oiran]

Exciting day at the vet's office. My dog is officially fat! And I'm adopting a pair of "orphan" parakeets. Which means I'll be spamming you with photos of every single pet sooner rather than later. This will bring us up to five birds and proves I do have a maternal instinct, although it's not stimulated at all by my own species.

~~~

So we're watching S5 Buffy, and...fuck: more Riley. He's nice. He loves Buffy. He's stubborn and has a bit of a temper, but nothing relationship-damaging. He looks like Howdy Doody (with really nice arms), but that's not necessarily terrible. Still, I hate him. I feel bad about it, but I keep hoping he'll DIE, DIE, DIE. I know enough about the future of the show and upcoming relationships that I'm aware he will vacate the boyfriend position eventually, but it can't be soon enough for me. Riley is making me gleefully anticipate proof of the adage "nice guys finish last." Why does this character vex and annoy me so? Well, I do have some theories, but I'm resisting letting Riley take over my brain even temporarily. I resent his very existence. When Riley episodes were airing, did people mostly love or hate him? FWIW, Mr. Glove hates him, too.

~~~

Life lesson: Pride goeth before a fall. Sprinkle hubris on top. And impatience...aaaaand a little more. Ignore for awhile, then serve cold.

I am of the opinion that more things should "goeth," rather than just "go." It's jauntier, somehow.

~~~
*the title of a book by Randall Jarrell, which I read as a child and continue to hold onto as an example of perfection on a number of fronts

Comments

[isagel.livejournal.com]

Personally, I hated "Captain Cardboard" (Thank you, Spike, for that lovely moniker.) when the show was running. Boring, boring, boring, wholesome, boring. I couldn't help feeling that he was an extreme symptom of Buffy's denial of the darkness within herself, representing a normalcy she wasn't made to have. Spike, again, was right when he said she needed a little monster in her man, and I read Riley as an attempt on her part to pretend that wasn't so. The problem with that is of course that I suspect the show wanted Buffy's need for the bad and dangerous in her romantic partners to come across as something unhealthy - hence Riley as the normal, stable boyfriend who offers possibilities for healing - while I just found it fascinating and hot. Riley couldn't hold a candle to either Angel or Spike, and if the producers wanted him to come across as a viable alternative, they certainly went wrong somewhere along the way.

Also, I never understood the Angel/Riley slash. It's existence just leaves me baffled.

Re:

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

See, I think that's very interesting, because it's been my assumption that they want us to notice how boring and uninteresting he is, just as uber-normalcy is boring and uninteresting. Perhaps I am naive in thinking that the show is nearly 100% subversive in mode and intent. This is why I'm excited about the big scholarly Buffy con happening here in March ;)

Also, I never understood the Angel/Riley slash. It's existence just leaves me baffled.

In a word: ew.

I haven't read Buffy fic. I did start one loooooong one recommended by Jacyn, but it was Spike/Xander, and I just don't buy it.

Re:

[isagel.livejournal.com]

I think Riley is problematic because the PTB are sending us mixed messages about normalcy the entire time he is there. On the one hand, he is set up as the good guy who can give the heroine the sane, safe, *clean* love she ought to want - most clearly evidenced in the ep where Faith is in Buffy's body and offers Riley all sorts of kinky sex, only to be truly, deeply touched when he opts for sweet vanilla flavour. Riley's brand of normal is very clearly showcased as of the good in that scene. On the other hand, at the same time Spike is constantly dangling the dangerous and perverted in front of both the audience and Buffy, and making it look damn good. What he points out to Buffy is a passion that dares to touch the dark side of human existence, and which because of that reaches deeper than anything Riley could offer her. Is it sane? - Of course not. But the force of it says that sanity is overrated and guys like Riley are living only half lives. So the message is double, and gets perhaps more so when Riley himself starts chasing the darkness to understand its appeal for Buffy. Though I too think of BtVS as a deeply subversive show, I really don't know what they were trying to say there.

When it comes to fanfic, my Buffyverse interests were always more focused on Angel. I like Angel/Spike, or indeed all types of stories centred around the dysfunctional family unit of Angel/Darla/Dru/Spike, and I can enjoy good Wesley stories. The only things I wrote myself that I'm proud of, though, are Angel/Doyle. Doyle was my boy, identification-wise. I very much liked writing him.

Re:

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

You're very right, re: the Faith-Buffy bodyswitch sex... Huh. All I can say is that I'd rather fuck Spike, and anyone I care to associate with would want that, too ;)

I found Angel reasonably physically attractive in the first season of Buffy, but since then he's really too bulky for my taste. However, I like the character very much, completely independent of Buffy. I like him better on his own show than I ever did on Buffy.

I haven't the foggiest who Doyle is/was (except I know he's dead, and saw a tiny bit of him in the 100th Angel ep). Not only did he seem to be a favorite of the characters, but fans, as well, so I'm looking forward to eventually meeting him. Was he on Buffy, or just Angel? We're going to be playing catch-up with Angel soon, too.

Re:

[isagel.livejournal.com]

I'm not that big on Angel physically, either, but I had this period when I was completely fascinated by his character. All that angst, you know. I started writing some pretty horrible, philosophical stories featuring him that thankfully will never see the light of day. *g*

Doyle was only on Angel. He is a half-demon with an Irish accent(gotta love that Jossverse love of accents *g*) whom the Powers That Be send visions of people in need of help. In the first episode they tell him to seek out Angel and get him to help fight the evil he sees. Hence the whole Angel Investigations thing. Doyle is funny, laid-back and chatty where Angel is shut off from the world, but he carries around a lot of self-loathing because of his demon side, which didn't manifest itself till he was twenty-one, and the way he handled that. He used to be a third grade teacher, married to a woman he loved, but by the time the show starts he has no job, his wife has left him, and he's drowning in gambling debts. He drinks too much, hits on Cordelia, talks dreamily about Angel in his leather coat and finally dies a hero's death. And he's pretty much adorable. *g*

Gratuitous linkage:

Some Doyle pics:

http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/CastPics/Doyle/Doyle7.gif
http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/CastPics/Doyle/Glenn.jpg
http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/CastPics/Doyle/Doyle1.jpg

And my fic Till the Moon Has Left the Sky which was rather popular when new, though I think I've come a way as a writer since then:

http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/BAfanfic/TillTheMoon_Isagel.html