nerd4hire
Certified Uncloneable
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2002
- Messages
- 9,102
BTVS the series has a history of embedding clues in the episodes that give indication something related to the clue is going to happen in a future episode.
An obvious example of this is the bit when Willow was trying to get Tara to help her with a Demon Seeking spell. The spell involved spilling powder on a map. Tara hid the powder and only pretended to do the spell. It turned out Tara believed she was part demon and wanted to hide this from Willow.
Here's the problem with clues, though. How do you know when it's a real clue and when it's a red herring (something that looks like a clue but it's only purpose is to throw viewers off the track of the truth)?
I think there's a way.
A red herring is acceptable if it can be explained within the context of what's happening within the individual scene or episode.
Here's an example; In Bring on the Night the turok-han follows Buffy up out of the hole and is immediately repelled by something. The sun is rising so our first reaction is sunlight has repelled the uber-vamp. On closer viewing though, we notice there is not only sunlight facing the turok-han. There is also the shadow of Giles. This could be significant. It could also be a red-herring. Either explanation is acceptable within the context of the scene.
Here is an of an example of a place where a red-herring is not acceptable; Again in Bring on the Night there is a scene where Wood and Buffy have been discussing movies. Wood tells Buffy he likes mystery movies then gives a sly smile. This bit has no purpose within that scene other that to tell viewers something is up. Inferior writers will use this kind of thing as a cheap, silly trick to intentionally throw viewers off, but the writers of Buffy are not bad writers. They know these episodes will be shown again, and again. If it turns out that this clue is only a trick, future clues and clues of the past would not be taken seriously. It would cheapen the whole series.
In my opinion they are telling you Wood really does love to solve a mystery and he thinks Buffy has one.
Based on this, I'm going to make a wild-eyed prediction. Wood is a government man (Please, spoiler-tag people. If it turns out I'm wrong, don't spoiler-tag me to prove it. I don't want to know, yet).
An obvious example of this is the bit when Willow was trying to get Tara to help her with a Demon Seeking spell. The spell involved spilling powder on a map. Tara hid the powder and only pretended to do the spell. It turned out Tara believed she was part demon and wanted to hide this from Willow.
Here's the problem with clues, though. How do you know when it's a real clue and when it's a red herring (something that looks like a clue but it's only purpose is to throw viewers off the track of the truth)?
I think there's a way.
A red herring is acceptable if it can be explained within the context of what's happening within the individual scene or episode.
Here's an example; In Bring on the Night the turok-han follows Buffy up out of the hole and is immediately repelled by something. The sun is rising so our first reaction is sunlight has repelled the uber-vamp. On closer viewing though, we notice there is not only sunlight facing the turok-han. There is also the shadow of Giles. This could be significant. It could also be a red-herring. Either explanation is acceptable within the context of the scene.
Here is an of an example of a place where a red-herring is not acceptable; Again in Bring on the Night there is a scene where Wood and Buffy have been discussing movies. Wood tells Buffy he likes mystery movies then gives a sly smile. This bit has no purpose within that scene other that to tell viewers something is up. Inferior writers will use this kind of thing as a cheap, silly trick to intentionally throw viewers off, but the writers of Buffy are not bad writers. They know these episodes will be shown again, and again. If it turns out that this clue is only a trick, future clues and clues of the past would not be taken seriously. It would cheapen the whole series.
In my opinion they are telling you Wood really does love to solve a mystery and he thinks Buffy has one.
Based on this, I'm going to make a wild-eyed prediction. Wood is a government man (Please, spoiler-tag people. If it turns out I'm wrong, don't spoiler-tag me to prove it. I don't want to know, yet).
