Buffy Rewatch: 1.10 Nightmares
- Thread starter Buffy Summers
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jesterjay
Potential
This episode is so much fun. But also so very dark. The subject matter doesn't revolve around much explanation, but that anyone's nightmares could come true at any given moment...that is terrifying. And obviously Billy is super endearing.
thrasherpix
Scooby
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I noticed a small detail this time: when the nightmares end, Willow and Xander are back in their normal clothes.
Willow shows a bit more of her mean side. She smiles as she sees Cordelia being dragged by nerds, and despite her harrowing ordeal on stage laughs at Xander for the time he got so scared at the birthday party years ago. Bad willow! Have some karma... 😛 (She also started to laugh about Xander's nudity to Giles but quickly swallowed it under Xander's glare...though after his hand-spider prank on Xander he didn't have room to glare.)
Heh, the look Wendell, having says he loves spiders, gives Xander when Xander asks something along the lines of, "We're talking platonic, right?" 😀 (Maybe Xander should've had an extra nightmare of Ms. French showing back up...)
If Joss wants to milk the franchise with comics and books, here's an idea: do a short story in an anthology or a comic series on side characters in many of the episodes like this one. For example, the nightmares of Joyce (who convinced herself it was just a dream), or the coach. And even more so: Jenny, Angel, and Snyder! Or even the Mayor...
Willow shows a bit more of her mean side. She smiles as she sees Cordelia being dragged by nerds, and despite her harrowing ordeal on stage laughs at Xander for the time he got so scared at the birthday party years ago. Bad willow! Have some karma... 😛 (She also started to laugh about Xander's nudity to Giles but quickly swallowed it under Xander's glare...though after his hand-spider prank on Xander he didn't have room to glare.)
Heh, the look Wendell, having says he loves spiders, gives Xander when Xander asks something along the lines of, "We're talking platonic, right?" 😀 (Maybe Xander should've had an extra nightmare of Ms. French showing back up...)
If Joss wants to milk the franchise with comics and books, here's an idea: do a short story in an anthology or a comic series on side characters in many of the episodes like this one. For example, the nightmares of Joyce (who convinced herself it was just a dream), or the coach. And even more so: Jenny, Angel, and Snyder! Or even the Mayor...
DeadlyDuo
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Ths is one of the only two episodes where we get to see Hank Summers and it's clear he was character assassinated after his last appearance in When She Was Bad. It's a shame that a show that likes to beak the mould eg turning the stereotypical dumb blonde victim into a monster killer, still perpetuates the stereotype that divorce is a terrible thing.
Divorce is often viewed negatively because it is the result of a marriage breaking down, despite the fact that it is actually the mechanism for freeing two people from a marriage in which one or both participants are unhappy. The matter can get complicated, particularly when there are children and pets involved, and it can get nasty in regards to money. However, it's not the divorce itself which is the problem, but the terms of agreeing the divorce.
In movies and tv, divorce is usually presented one of two ways: either the couple (usually parents of a character) get back together by the end, or one parent vanishes and is never seen again.
Buffy initially seems to subvert this with Hank and Joyce. They're divorced but it is very amicable and Hank makes an effort to spend time with Buffy. She even spends the whole summer with him between Seasons 1 and 2 where e expresses concern to Joyce that Buffy seemed "distant". One of Buffy's nightmares is that she's the reason her parents divorced and Hank confirms this, however it's clear by the end of the episode that Hank does not feel that way at all and is very happy to be spending time with his daughter. In Season 2, when Hank is unable to take Buffy to the ice show (which has been a tradition with them), he still sends her the tickets so she can go with someone else. It's not that he can't be bothered, he literally isn't available due to work.
However, the show falls into the trap of making Hank disappear from Buffy's life for good and he doesn't care about her anymore. Hank just seems like one more casualty of the writers forcing Dawn into the show and trying to push Giles as a Father substitute. There's no reason why both Hank and Giles couldn't play fatherly roles in Buffy's life. It's a shame because in this episode you can still see Hank trying to be a good father to Buffy which is a far cry from Season 5 where he can't be bothered to contact his daughter(s) after Joyce dies.
Also we have the kid from Dante's Peak.
Divorce is often viewed negatively because it is the result of a marriage breaking down, despite the fact that it is actually the mechanism for freeing two people from a marriage in which one or both participants are unhappy. The matter can get complicated, particularly when there are children and pets involved, and it can get nasty in regards to money. However, it's not the divorce itself which is the problem, but the terms of agreeing the divorce.
In movies and tv, divorce is usually presented one of two ways: either the couple (usually parents of a character) get back together by the end, or one parent vanishes and is never seen again.
Buffy initially seems to subvert this with Hank and Joyce. They're divorced but it is very amicable and Hank makes an effort to spend time with Buffy. She even spends the whole summer with him between Seasons 1 and 2 where e expresses concern to Joyce that Buffy seemed "distant". One of Buffy's nightmares is that she's the reason her parents divorced and Hank confirms this, however it's clear by the end of the episode that Hank does not feel that way at all and is very happy to be spending time with his daughter. In Season 2, when Hank is unable to take Buffy to the ice show (which has been a tradition with them), he still sends her the tickets so she can go with someone else. It's not that he can't be bothered, he literally isn't available due to work.
However, the show falls into the trap of making Hank disappear from Buffy's life for good and he doesn't care about her anymore. Hank just seems like one more casualty of the writers forcing Dawn into the show and trying to push Giles as a Father substitute. There's no reason why both Hank and Giles couldn't play fatherly roles in Buffy's life. It's a shame because in this episode you can still see Hank trying to be a good father to Buffy which is a far cry from Season 5 where he can't be bothered to contact his daughter(s) after Joyce dies.
Also we have the kid from Dante's Peak.
So agree about Hank. How he was written out was a disgrace (hes in Spain with his secretary) but an easy cop out on Joss part.