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Feb. 13th, 2007 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsA day behind everyone else:
I liked lots of things about this episode. I liked Matt actually getting to act sort of heroic, even if it went wonky at the end; I liked poor Mohinder meeting Sylar, even if half of me wants to go "come on, he got conned by a double agent in disguise already"; I even like Mrs. Bennet's illness (sorry, Shati!) because I really, really want to see how Mr. Bennet reacts if it gets worse. (Sidenote, here: I love Mr. Bennet reacting to things just in general. He's so interestingly complex, and ambiguous, and I love him when he's creepy at the good guys and I love him more when he's genuinely concerned for his family. I also perhaps think it's hilarious that he remembered and liked my mom from high school even though she couldn't remember him at all.
. . . hang on, that's a little fishy, now that I think about it. OH NOES MR. BENNET BRAINWASHED MY MOM!!!!!!!!
. . . anyways.)
But what I want to talk about is Hiro and Ando's storyline, here. In general, I'm kind of sad that they've gone back on their own, because I loved their dynamics with . . . well, everyone else. They just kind of enhanced the awesome quotient of everyone on the show. But now they're on their own again, their storyline feels - cute, but vaguely irrelevant; it doesn't really seem important to SAVING THE WORLD that Hiro's family dynamics have been sorted out in a single-episode storyline.
This episode, I hope, will lead to something more relevant, so it's not that that I'm poking at. What bothered me about them this time was this: it's turning out that Ando never gets to be right. As a lifelong lover of the sidekick, this distresses me beyond measure, because it's something I always worry is going to happen. It happens in Harry Potter; whenever Ron and Harry argue, it's because Ron is in the wrong. It doesn't happen in Avatar, which is one of the reasons that I love it, because Sokka - the comic relief, the only one without OMGPOWERS - gets to disagree with the main characters because he's right, not just to create difficulties for them. Having superpowers does not automatically make you wiser than everyone else. And Ando's points to Hiro in this episode about doing what's right, about being a hero despite being ordinary, were completely valid and something I'd been hoping to see from him. And then it turns out it's just silly Ando falling for the wrong hot chick again.
I love Hiro. But - pretty soon - I really, really want him to be wrong, judgment-wise, and to let Ando be right.
I liked lots of things about this episode. I liked Matt actually getting to act sort of heroic, even if it went wonky at the end; I liked poor Mohinder meeting Sylar, even if half of me wants to go "come on, he got conned by a double agent in disguise already"; I even like Mrs. Bennet's illness (sorry, Shati!) because I really, really want to see how Mr. Bennet reacts if it gets worse. (Sidenote, here: I love Mr. Bennet reacting to things just in general. He's so interestingly complex, and ambiguous, and I love him when he's creepy at the good guys and I love him more when he's genuinely concerned for his family. I also perhaps think it's hilarious that he remembered and liked my mom from high school even though she couldn't remember him at all.
. . . hang on, that's a little fishy, now that I think about it. OH NOES MR. BENNET BRAINWASHED MY MOM!!!!!!!!
. . . anyways.)
But what I want to talk about is Hiro and Ando's storyline, here. In general, I'm kind of sad that they've gone back on their own, because I loved their dynamics with . . . well, everyone else. They just kind of enhanced the awesome quotient of everyone on the show. But now they're on their own again, their storyline feels - cute, but vaguely irrelevant; it doesn't really seem important to SAVING THE WORLD that Hiro's family dynamics have been sorted out in a single-episode storyline.
This episode, I hope, will lead to something more relevant, so it's not that that I'm poking at. What bothered me about them this time was this: it's turning out that Ando never gets to be right. As a lifelong lover of the sidekick, this distresses me beyond measure, because it's something I always worry is going to happen. It happens in Harry Potter; whenever Ron and Harry argue, it's because Ron is in the wrong. It doesn't happen in Avatar, which is one of the reasons that I love it, because Sokka - the comic relief, the only one without OMGPOWERS - gets to disagree with the main characters because he's right, not just to create difficulties for them. Having superpowers does not automatically make you wiser than everyone else. And Ando's points to Hiro in this episode about doing what's right, about being a hero despite being ordinary, were completely valid and something I'd been hoping to see from him. And then it turns out it's just silly Ando falling for the wrong hot chick again.
I love Hiro. But - pretty soon - I really, really want him to be wrong, judgment-wise, and to let Ando be right.
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:04 am (UTC)Okay, hypocritically, I don't actually think they did a good job of showing Xander being the heart of the group -- I mostly took that as a "shit, how do we describe what Xander does?" in "Primeval." In early seasons Willow seemed to need the gang most, and did the most smoothing over of conflict, and Buffy was the one who glued it back together in S4. They were lost without Giles in S6. Buffy is the reason it exists in the first place. Willow held it together when Buffy was dead. I mean, I love that they call Xander the heart and Buffy the fist, because I am easily pleased with gender reversals, but I don't actually see it until later.
Which may have to do with the vagueness of "heart of the group." *g*
That was part of my point -- Willow starts out standard female sidekick, and goes on to surpass Buffy in terms of power. (And even importance to the story. In S6 the climax of the season is all Willow, and Xander, come to think of it. Buffy is peripheral.) So whether or not Xander gets shafted -- which he does in screentime, IMO, though not in Being Right -- overall sidekicking in the show is pretty profitable.
Not really relevant, tentatively thought through: it occurred to me a while ago that Xander is the only member of the gang who's got much power in the real world, except possibly Giles. (Late season, here -- I don't know how much the working class background is fanon and how much it's canon, but there's that in earlier seasons.) He has a very well-paying job where he's in a position of authority. He's also a white male, whereas Willow is a Jewish witch and Buffy is a single mom. The superpowers may be balancing out the scales. (Giles has more of a supernatural role? thing? but not so much powers.) We don't see this play out on-screen much, but I wonder if any of it was intentional.
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 07:22 am (UTC)Well, my aunts do okay?
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:30 am (UTC)Anyway, Willow also has no income. Which really should have been addressed.
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:15 am (UTC)Joss Whedon loves him some Scoobies. I am not arguing this. *giggles* It is one of the reasons why I like Buffy! Since, as you know, your identification with Buffy herself and mine differ to vast degrees. And I would agree with the Xander becoming more the 'heart' later, actually. *changes position like ze wind!* I think . . . hmmm. In early seasons, there's a lot of gender-reversal "let's rescue Xander!", actually, which I think the writers were very much having fun with. He doesn't get to do a lot that's useful. That may be my beef, in fact, more than whether or not he gets to be right. When he's useful, it's because he loves Buffy so much (see: end of S1), not because of anything he does. So in that sense, he is the heart. But yes. I may have lost track of what I'm trying to prove, here. But I think he gets to be right more, later, because it's the way in which he can be useful.
Response to tentative thought: this is definitely a later season thing, and I think it's interesting that there's a very clear moment when Xander realizes that power. The episode that I can't remember the name of with Positive Xander and Negative Xander - and that episode totally plays on the expectations the show's set up that Xander's always going to be a loser, unsuccessful, the punching bag of the show. And then is like "hey, he can do something useful after all." (And I would bet anything that, as the white male, his early role is deliberate reversal, likeI said above.)
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:28 am (UTC)In early seasons Xander was less about the emotional support (first I really remember of that is S4) -- more about the...I don't know. Judgment, sometimes good and sometimes bad. And the deciding to charge in -- for all he's rescued, he does a lot of cavalrying himself. And then there's "The Zeppo"...
Though I can see why you'd resent his role -- he's rescued, his role shrinks even as he is saintified, his role tends to be defined by his love life more than Buffy's or Willow's, it's a lot of stuff that would annoy me the genders weren't reversed. I just...you know. Love it because they are.
(Oh, definitely.) And yes. Just, possible reason why he doesn't need superpowers. Meta-ly speaking.
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:42 am (UTC)But I do think he is shown to be Less Competent than the others 95% of the time. And it bothers me when the one who is powerless and 'unspecial' and the comic relieef is also assumed to be non-competent. . . . I also think it bothers me more, now that I've seen really good examples where they can be ordinary and funny and very competent. Damn you, Avatar!
("The Zeppo" I have also not seen. There are large gaps in my Buffeducation. *tragic*)
I get the meta reasons for making it the way it is, I really do. And I agree with them, in part. Buffy started as a genre inversion, and I think it is very cool! But I am glad that he got to be competent at building by the end, because years of him being incompetent was enough to hammer the point home.
. . . I need a Xander icon.
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:45 am (UTC)I also just plain sympathized most with Xander when he was being pathetic, so there's that. NOT THAT I AM PATHETIC IN ANY WAY EVER.
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:49 am (UTC). . . however, I will admit to a now redoubled desire to see it, because it um sounds sort of exactly designed to appeal to my sympathies.
I, too, sympathize with Xander when he is being pathetic! But then on the occasions where he got to be awesome, it is like, "look, IF HE CAN ROCK THEN I MIGHT CONCEIVABLY ALSO DO SO IN A SIMILAR SITUATION. Being as I am neither super-strong nor super-smart nor super-tweedy."
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:53 am (UTC)*and perhaps implausibly*
This is true! I sympathize with all the Scoobies and glee when they are awesome, but possibly Xander least because we are alikest in lack of super magic powers but I think least alikest in personality. (Not counting Giles.)
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:03 am (UTC)I do as well! But. Hmmm. I am least alikest Buffy, I think, and probably most alikest early Willow in personality almost to the uncomfortably so sometimes as regards presonality flaws. (Also I saw later seasons first, which I am not alikest to her, but do have her as significantly more evil. You know.) So I gravitate to Xander as midground.
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:10 am (UTC)I'm not sure whether I sympathize more with Xander or Willow. *ponders*
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:13 am (UTC). . . okay, often in Joss Whedon shows especially.
*curious* What with late Willow do you identify with?
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:18 am (UTC)I mean. I don't know if it's hardcore identification, and I actually think I'm much less insecure than Willow (strange feeling! I am not the securest of secures), but I find her flaws more compelling? I mean -- unrequited puppy love doesn't really grab me. But Willow going off the deep end of denial and hubris (aside from stupid crack allegory), totally interesting. And S7 Willow with the guilt! I totally sympathize with guilt. And I liked her hair in S7.
Also, I woulda stabbed the fawn. With that same expression.
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:27 am (UTC)(It is hard to be more insecure than Willow, admittedly. *pats her*)
- well, I too return sympathizing with S7 Willow and the guilt. But she is sane again! Makes it easier.
S5-6 loses my - not my sympathy, but my identification, I think, somewhat - because it is all about ze romance and ze power, and ze romance as equated to power and ze power as equated to crack. And while the power dynamics/need for power thing can I think be done very well and identifiably, it did not grab me in this case.
I identify with Principal Snyder, dammit!
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:33 am (UTC)"Bargaining" Willow, though, I'm with her all the way. She and S7 Willow were who I was thinking of, mostly.
I love early Willow, but pretty much completely from the outside, if that makes any sense. Less so with later Willow.
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:40 am (UTC)I'm trying to think of who has my sympathies in "Bargaining," and I think it's probably Dawn. But I respect Willow there more than I do for a lot of the rest of the season.
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:43 am (UTC)Possibly this is why I like "Bargaining" so much.
Crack addict Willow, btw, I have nearly succeeded in blocking entirely from my memory.
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:55 am (UTC). . . would I were so lucky. *wistful*
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-02-14 07:46 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-02-14 08:10 am (UTC)