"Is It Dangerous?"

[Living Dead Boy]

Hey guys! Haven't been on here in a while. But I picked up on something during one of my rewatches. I was watching "Doppelgangland", one of my favorite, well, everyone's favorite, episodes 😉. I was then struck by the scene when Anya approached Willow on the staircase, inferring about the spell. Willow then giddily asked, "say, is it dangerous? Can we pretend it is?" It seemed like a throwaway line all these years, but then I remembered the groundbreaking, iconic episode "Wrecked" 😛, and while Amy and Willow were walking to Rack's place, Willow asked, this time much more seriously, "is it dangerous?" I've never known of any discussion about the connection between that line, but it actually kind of made sense. Both episodes, one critically acclaimed, the other, not so much, but both focused very heavily on Willow's development, and her ascent into magic. Season 3 era Willow was much more excited about the possibilities of magic, whereas season 6 Willow sees that development turning very sour. It also helped that "Doppelgangland" also saw the birth of the phrase "Bored Now". Did anybody else notice that too, or is it too far of a stretch?

 

[Fuffy]

That's some very sneaky foreshadowing right there 🙄

 

[Blaze]

Good catch! I never noticed this! Interesting, you can really see that even in early seasons, you can still see the same characteristic in Willow that led her to become addicted to magic.

 

[MarlieTheSlayer]

Great find. The foreshadowing in Buffy is simple amazing! 😀

 

[RoxySilver]

Wow indeed!
I always admire those foreshadowing... how do they do that?
Do they have this bits and pieces in mind and keep them on hold for as long as necessary? Do they watch back the episodes and say "this, we can use!"? Or do they know the characters so well it simply flows?
It's impressive.

 

[Blaze]

Do they watch back the episodes and say "this, we can use!"?

lol if all shows did that TV would be a better place. I swear on some shows the writers forget they ever wrote certain scenes. In the case of BtVS, you truly gotta wonder sometimes though how far ahead things were planned. We know at least 2-3 seasons, since even with Restless some of the stuff foreshadowed s7.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I swear on some shows the writers forget they ever wrote certain scenes..

but they did that alot in Buffy also.

 

[RoxySilver]

but they did that alot in Buffy also.

I don't have any example on the top of my head. When did that happen? I know there are some inconsistencies, but I don't remember the 😉

 

[Fuffy]

but they did that alot in Buffy also.

Have you ever seen Glee ? the lack of continuity and the amount of inconsistencies in Buffy is nothing in comparison to Glee.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I don't have any example on the top of my head. When did that happen? I know there are some inconsistencies, but I don't remember the 😉

Call them 'inconsistencies' or simply not caring about what was previously written... here's a few though.

In the episode where Angel first meets Buffy. Angel drives to the high school in the middle of the day with the windows blacked out. How can he see to drive?

Drusilla (as the First) touching Spikes hair... and it moves. This was before they thought that the First was not corporeal.

Angel was Spikes sire. Then became his grandsire.

Spike knew of Star Wars then later had no clue about it.

Spike got drunk and was often seen drinking. Yet later its said that vampires cant get drunk.

In School Hard, after the vamps are fought off, Synder is making up the PCP story and Buffy says that everyone was safe. So why did she leave Willow and Cordy in the closet to hide the whole night?

Xander had to give Buffy CPR because vampires have no breath, yet both Angel and Spike can exhale smoke. So they do have breath later, when the story needs it.

Angelus destroys Jenny's computer because it has the spell on it. Yet a few episodes later Willow said she was using Jenny's computer for lesson plans and research.

Throughout the entire Into the Woods episode Riley always stated he was 'leaving tonight' but when Buffy talks to Xander she says he is leaving at midnight. It was never mentioned anywhere he was leaving at midnight. He also never said where he was leaving from, yet she was able to run straight to the location.

There were numerous occasions where two members had a conversation and then later met a third member that knew all about the conversation without being told.

 

[Blaze]

@Mr. Pole, those are some good examples of inconsistencies, but I think overall they are fairly small. I was talking more about big plot point that are completely forgotten about. Some shows have awful continuity, at least Buffy fallows with the plot points.

 

[Living Dead Boy]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think we also have to consider that Joss never particularly cared about the little small inconsistencies, compared to the big ones. He brought that up amidst confusion about how all of a sudden, the Ubervamps became so easy to kill in "Chosen." I got to say, I agree with his sentiment. TV shows mess up all the time. Things like that are sort of inevitable. No show is perfect. But like stated before, a big part of Joss's TV shows are about the characters, and the journeys that they go through. And I appreciate that.