I'll try to answer your questions, Joan
🙂
So...I just watched 'I Only Have Eyes For You.' Episode Motto: Teacher/Student Relationships Never End Well, lol.
Some thoughts:
I must say, I had forgotten what an interesting dynamic Buffy and Angelus had. Interesting how the idea of "forever love" is suggested to be a negative thing in this episode, considering isn't that what we're led to believe Buffy and Angel stand for? I can't help but think that Joss is somehow subverting their theme in this ep.
Sad how much Giles wants the 'ghost' to be Jenny. He obviously likes the idea of Jenny still being around. Probably makes him feel closer to her to think that there's a chance he could contact her.
I forgot that both Xander and Angelus call Buffy "Buff."
Dru tells Spike that The Slayer, is "ready for you" "she's dancing, dancing with death." This is sort of foreshadowing later when he tells her in 'Fool For Love' "you know you wanna dance."
A big theme in this episode is forgiveness - Perhaps James' desire for forgiveness as Buffy says is meant to parallel Angel's desire for Buffy's forgiveness? Giles says that James is in his own personal Hell (purgatory) because he's doomed to kill the woman he loves over and over again. Much like Buffy is doomed to see the result of her love for Angel - that fact that he's know, because of her, a evil demon. Buffy says that James destroyed the person he truly loved in a moment of blind passion - for her, that's unforgiveable. ...but isn't that what Buffy did? "Destroyed" Angel's soul in their moment of blind passion? Is this why she is so upset about it? "Over-identify much?" as Cordelia says. Buffy can identify with James, which is of course why she ends up possessed by him later in the episode.
That's what I got from the way she was acting. She obviously felt guilty and responsible. I even think still in Becoming she thinks so by her saying "What happened to Angel wasn't his fault." Even when Jenny told her that Angel could lose his soul in a moment of true happiness, she says "So it was me. I did it." She pretty much blamed herself from the beginning.
I guess I never realized how interesting this episode was, I hadn't seen it in so long.
Question: Why does Ghost!James decide to posses Buffy and why does Grace decide to possess Angelus? How do they know Buffy and Angel are connected? Buffy says that James can relate to her - how? Because they both "destroyed" the one they loved in a moment of blind passion? ...I think I get it now;
does Buffy think she should apologize to Angel for "destroying" his soul?
James wanted forgiveness, which was why he was playing out the scene. But he never got it, because the woman Grace possessed always ended up getting shot. With Grace possessing Angelus, he finally got the chance to get forgiveness because bullets don't kill vampires.
As for James relating with Buffy, that's the only thing I can think of.
I'm not sure if Buffy wants to apologize, but I do believe she feels responsible for it.
Angel feels violated by having forced to kiss Buffy - why? He washes his hands like he has her blood on them. Then, he expresses the desire to go kill something to get her love out of his "system." What's this all about? I'm not understanding the significance.
Angelus felt what Grace was feeling for James, and I think he felt the love Buffy had for Angel in the moment after James & Grace had left their bodies. Obviously, Angelus hates feeling anything like a human, so he felt dirty... at least that's what I got from that scene.
Anynow, I can see on some level why people find Bangel so interesting, especially in this ep.
"Tell me you don't love me", "Love is forever" - these are quotes that are used later in the series. Later, Buffy tells Spike "tell me you love me" and Angel tells Spike in TGIQ that his and Buffy's is a "forever love" - significance or coincidence? Not sure, but worth noting.
The cross-gender possession is really fascinating. Buffy kissing Angelus is just...wrong. The look on her face is SO SAD when she says "Angel?" and he pushes her away and rushes off.
If James "shot" Grace, why did Angelus rise and stop Buffy from killing herself? Was it really him doing that? Was he no longer possessed by Grace? Huh?
They were still possessed until that light came above them while they were kissing. Angelus realized what had happened and he ran out.
Anyone else have thoughts on this ep?
This is one of my favorite episodes. It really shows just how much the situation with Angel has affected Buffy, and not from just the fact that he's evil now. Like I stated above, it sounded like to me, that she really blamed herself and that she feels like she should be punished for it.
At the beginning of the episode, she even tells the guy she rejected that she was never seeing anyone ever again. After watching the episode more than once, I don't think that was just from her 'breakup' with Angel, but also because she does blame herself and she doesn't want to be responsible for something like that ever again.
Just what I got from the episode
🙂 It really is a favorite of mine and I think the acting is great. I heard this episode was the one that convinced Joss DB could handle his own show, and I definitely agree with that
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