av Mr Chase » tor mar 11, 2004 23:25
Mr Chase blir profetisk:
12. Prophecy Girl
An awesome season finale for an awesome TV show, even if it had it's ups and downs in this first season. But all in all it ranks much higher than most other shows in terms of quality and maturity.
Buffy finds out that it is prophesised that she's going to face the Master and die and naturally she freaks. Who wouldn't? Her teenage angst is painful to watch and the exchange she has with Giles and Angel after finding out about it is one of the best scenes ever on "Buffy". The famous "I quit" speech is extremely moving: "I don't care. Giles, I'm sixteen years old. I don't want to die." It just breaks your heart. Great acting from Sarah Michelle Gellar.
But in the end she of course accepts her fate but then it is Giles who can't accept it, trying to defy prophecy and his books to fight the Master himself. He really, really cares for his little slayer and doesn't want anything to happen to her. Very moving.
And Xander, even after he is rejected by Buffy, he's the one who seeks out Angel and gets him to take them to where the Master is lurking. Talk about being loyal. He even brings Buffy back to life with CPR. Hopefully his insane hormonal infatuation with Buffy is over by now.
True to developments from "Out of mind, Out of sight" we also get to see a bit of Cordelia being useful for a change, when she saves Willow and Ms Calendar from a vampire horde by driving *through* the school and eventually biting a vampire herself. You go, Cordy! And she seemed to care about that Kevin guy, but colour me green when I say that I was a bit pleased when he turned out to be vampire fodder. She also treated Willow like a human being. Her character is now being subjected to the Joss Whedon twisting of our expectations and it's just great to watch.
Xander gets to deliver the funniest lines, like the "and then we can observe their mating rituals and tag them before they migrate..." when he's practicing to ask Buffy to the Spring Fling. And of course his interaction with Angel: "You were looking at my neck... I told you to eat before we left."
I wasn't sorry to see the Master go. He never really impressed me as a villain even if he got better in this episode. The next season will introduce us to much better antagonists for Buffy and the gang. And the Anointed One was, well, the annoying one! Was that his only purpose, to take Buffy underground to meet the Master? I can't wait until they get rid of him too!
Rupert Giles: "I'll be back in the Middle Ages."
Miss Calendar: "Did you ever leave?"