Decisions we never got over

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I admit that when Buffybot and Spike initially got together, I was a little weirded out. I mean, you get so used to comedic Spike and the fact that Buffy just kicks his ass everytime that it’s hard to picture them actually having a serious relationship on par with the one Buffy and Angel have. However, after watching the show over and over, I kind of warmed up so Spike and Buffy’s relationship. I understood that they both saw in each other so much loneliness, but at the same time recognized each other as fighters. Their relationship was of course, not the cookie-cutter one; obviously if we had all gotten our way Angel and Buffy would end up together and it would have been rather poetic. Except Joss Whedon, the master, knows that reality needs to kick in somewhere in a show about a girl fighting vampires in a town called Sunnydale, and Joss I would follow blindly.

But one thing I never really got over was how sexual it had gotten. Yes, I understand that at season 6 they had come into their own (the characters) and that some maturity needed to be injected. That’s fine. But I thought that they had addressed that at season 5. Joyce’s death as well as Buffy’s sacrifice was pretty dark. Although I agreed with the decision for Buffy to “go there” in the direction of having this sort of dangerous and lusty affair with Spike, I didn’t think there needed to be that much of an emphasis on it. I also don’t think it melled very well with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s persona. I mean, here’s the girl who tried to wrench herself from the whole Buffy good-girl image and went and did Cruel Intentions, where she shares one of the most memorable onscreen smooches in film history. Do you really need to reiterate that the girl is sexy?

Another decision I couldn’t get over was Oz leaving and Anya dying. Oz and Anya brought something totally different to the show. Oz was so cool and laid-back, and was definitely someone I thought would have been totally fun to see evolve as the show moved on. Anya dying was just a punch in the gut for me. I feel like Xander has never really been given an opportunity to be happy, and the fact that Anya was killed during the final moments was just such a loss. I keep praying that the writers in Season 8 will find a way to bring her back though.

Riley is one of the changes that a lot of Buffy enthusiasts don’t exactly agree with. I’m the exception though.

I loved Riley’s character, contrary to popular opinion. I went to the Buffy Once More with Feeling showing and they had this music video featuring Riley as the “coin-operated boy”. It was pretty darn funny. The inevitable downside, unfortunately, was when he left too. I thought it was one of the most heartbreaking parts of the whole show, behind The Body, Touched and the season 2 finale, of course. For some reason Buffy always gets left behind by her significant others. I’m not quite sure if this was a creative plan by the writers to make it seem like Buffy (since her dad) doesn’t really have a permanent male presence in her life (except maybe for Spike or Xander or Giles, who’ve been with her through the whole thing). Okay, that’s the psychologist in me talking. Will can it now.

Charmed

I’m telling you, I was a huge Charmed fan before. And then Prue got lamely killed off because Shannen Doherty was being such a bitch on set. So now enter Rose McGowan. She never filled Prue’s shoes, in my opinion. And after Prue, I think the show started going downhill. I mean, I think it was too much about Phoebe and her men than anything else. Plus, I hated the effects. I just think it was bad storytelling for them after Prue died.

Prison Break

Now, I can probably say nothing bad about Prison Break, but I have to say, Robin Tunney’s character Veronica getting killed off was not only a shocker, but a completely off-the-rocker shocker. It was not only unexpected, I think it was premature as well. I mean, who gets killed off after one season? Oh, wait. Lost does that sort of thing all the time.

Desperate Housewives

I really hated it when they killed off Rex (wait, for some reason I’m whining about wrong decisions about who got killed off). I think he was a cool character, and I was rooting for him and Bree to get their shit together. Anyway, I’ve lost interest in the show. I think it’s just all fancy brouhaha now.

Veronica Mars

Best show ever, right? Unfortunately, like all good things, the best ones always seem to get cancelled [*coughFIREFLYcough*]. Anyway, I think seasons 1 & 2 were awesome, but season 3 had kind of a weird atmosphere. There was the whole Veronica-Logan thing that seemed to be getting old. Also, they killed off Sherriff Lam! What the heck? I watched the show because of Michael Muhney! And of course, the worst decision ever was to cancel the show! Season 4 would have been awesome if they had pursued the whole Veronica-goes-to-New-York thing for her FBI internship. Ah, like I said, all good things…

Lost

It takes a lot to shock the hell out of me, mostly because I’m a cynic when it comes to shows I know are planning to blindside you as a viewer. So you can understand that it’s a pretty big deal that the show has actually caused me to have my jaw drop from utter shock and confusion. The most shocking axed-off-the-show moment? Shannon getting shot by Ana Lucia. It just came out of frickin’ nowhere! There Sayid was, professing his undying love to her, and she gets shot! And what’s more, she gets shot by a totally unlikable character! I wanted to beat the crap out of Ana Lucia, and I wish Sayid did. Although when presented from Ana Lucia’s group’s point of view, they had cause for alarm when they heard running in the woods, as a cop shouldn’t she know that she needs to see who she shoots at before she gets all gung-ho about it? Anyway, I was so mad!

Another shocker was, of course, the season 2 finale featuring deranged Michael shooting Ana Lucia and Libby. Of course, everyone had a suspicion that they were axed off the show because they had the whole thing with the DUI in Hawaii, but apparently the Lost execs say it was all planned (yeah, right). I was happy Ana Lucia was axed off. She annoyed my socks off.

And still another decision that I’m still trying to get over? Charlie’s exit. It was the saddest frickin’ episode of all, especially during the part when Charlie makes the sign of the cross before he passes. What’s funny is during half of the season we already knew it was coming. Desmond was saying that he couldn’t keep saving Charlie, and that for them to be saved, he had to die. We knew that was coming, and yet we mourned when it actually did happen. Just goes to show Charlie was one of the best-loved characters on the show. I was happy that he was brought back for the 4th season premiere The Beginning of the End, though.

Who knows what the Lost masterminds have in store for us this season. I’ve already been wowed so far, especially with the last episode when Ben revealed some very exciting tidbits about the “rescuers”. I’m expecting a jaw-dropping episode sometime soon.

Heroes

Why?! Why did you kill off Nathan?! Why did you bring back Maya?! WHY?!?!?!?!

Firefly

Fox is the worst television network on the planet. They cancelled one of the most potentially brilliant shows out there, after six episodes! You just missed a potential BSG-ish hit, Fox! Way to get behind your TV shows! Fox has a history of cancelling shows prematurely, so it’s really no surprise, but I’m just so pissed off because Firefly is off the air.

They made him do it

Dude. My little cousin is pulling some serious Donnie Darko shit. I’m completely freaked out. He wakes up in the middle of the night, crying and making whining noises, and he can barely talk. He doesn’t want to sleep, and he says he’s afraid of something, but he won’t tell me why.

If he’s seeing things, I hope he sees a giant bunny rabbit instead and not something else. Gah. Fucking Halloween.

A peace to end all wars

I saw the play Lysistrata today at the Howard Brubeck Theater. The play is based on Aristophanes’ play and is directed by Michael Mufson.

“No peace, no pussy” pretty much sums up the entire play. A war was raging between Sparta and Greece and the women were growing more and more restless worrying about whether their husbands would be able to come home safely from the gruesome battlefield. Lysistrata recruits women from all over Greece and even some from Sparta in an attempt to end the war as peacefully as possible. She proposes to the women: when their husbands come home from the war, the women must refuse to have sex with their husbands. At first, the proposition elicits shocked gasps and the vigorous shaking of heads. The women are reluctant to submit to this proposition because they themselves feel they haven’t been getting adequate attention from their husbands as well. But Lysistrata tells them that it is the only way to end the war permanently and without casualties. Eventually the women consent and Lysistrata formulates a plan to march to the city treasury and use their feminine wiles to take it over from the guards. Then they must lock themselves in the treasury and refuse to attend to the demands of the men until the peace treaty is signed. Lysistrata hopes that withholding the pleasure of sex from their husbands and controlling the money as well should be enough to force the men to submit to the peace treaty. Basically, she’s trying to say that men are driven by only two things: women and power. Taking away both will weaken them.

Lysistrata is the epitome of feminine strength and intelligence. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. The play is a reflection of the roles that men and women play in society. Women are supposed to be submissive and should only concern themselves with taking care of their husbands and giving birth to more children. Men are supposed to be arbiters of strength and power, protecting their countries and providing food and luxury for their wives. When men downplay the role of women, the women are smart enough to know that they are indeed capable of bringing about change. At one point in the play, when the men constantly refuse the women’s proposal, a character declares that the women will ultimately stop giving birth. They refuse to give birth to boys who will be sent to die on the battlefield. They refuse to give birth to girls who will be forced to give birth to even more children. The men realize that child-bearing is one of the things that women have complete control over and with an ultimatum like “peace or complete annihilation”, the men are likely to concede.

I thought the play was very well-cast. I thought it was extremely funny. The actress who played Lysistrata was very eloquent and had very good stage presence. The audience seemed very receptive to the play, even when one of the characters proclaims she would “pawn her vibrator collection” just to end the war. Even when profanities were being thrown around, and the play was riddled with plenty of sexual innuendo and sexist remarks, the audience seemed pretty open to them. Overall, I thought the play was hilarious. My only criticism would be the slapstick-like acting of some of the minor characters.