Lie to me - thoughts on Ford

[Perny]

OK I just watched Lie to me, and the character of Ford kinda got to me. I disliked him throughout the episode until he revealed the fact that he was sick. Even though he did wrong, I still kinda feel for him, and sees his point.

I want to hear your opinions, and thoughts on Ford 🙂

RAMBLE AWAY

 

[Flannen]

I liked him when I was younger, I thought it was cute that he was a good friend of Buffy's and she used to have a crush on him, blah blah blah...but now, he really gets me. I just find everything he says is so cheesy and I can see him doing the look that Joey from Friends does when he's on Days of Our Lives (fart acting or something?) Haha.

But I do still kinda feel sorry for him, which is obviously the point in his character; debating where you draw the line with immortality/mortality etc. It's the same kind of thing you get in Dollhouse:

Spoiler

with the Internet mogul guy who's wife was killed and never got to see their house.

I do find it a bit strange that the fact Buffy and Ford are the lifelong friends at the start and then in the end it just kind of fizzles out and becomes a bit of a joke? Or is that just me?

 

[sk]

Personally I have always wondered how he managed to find out that Buffy is the slayer.
He must have read up on vampires and came across a text about the slayer and made some conclusions or something...

About his idea to becoming a vampire by sacrificing those vampire wannabe's and even his old friend Buffy I have no understanding for at all.
It's just wrong on every level. Can't come up with anything at all to justifiy it.

Love Buffy's little speach. It sums up my feeling about the whole thing pretty good.
"You have a choice. You don't have a good choice, but you do have a choice"

The obvious choice for me is to not kill other innocent people just because you are out of luck yourself.

It's a great episode though, Buffy as its best.

/SK

 

[Flannen]

^ Yeah it's one of my favourite episodes. You make a very good point, I had completely forgotten that he was going to sacrifice Lily and Marvin, was it? in order for him to get what he wanted. I do still feel a wee bit sorry for him, who knows how reckless we'd be with other people's lives if our own was in danger? I suppose you could give him that...what I really mean is, I'm sitting on the fence for now, I can see both sides!

 

[fly on the wall]

To be willing to become a vampire himself to avoid an untimely death, okay, that I can understand. But like sk78, I cannot sympathize with the fact that he was willing to sacrifice other peoples' lives, too. That is truly unforgivable and unjustifiable, IMO. Not to mention completely hypocritical. I would have felt worse for him had it been his lonely mission, rather than a plan that involved mass murder.

 

[Dancing man]

I didn't like Ford and I hated him for trapping all those people what a berk.

 

[Perny]

^But he didn't trap them. They wanted to be there by themselves. That they weren't going to be sired on the other hand, and Ford knew it was stupid. BUt they walked into the bunker out of free will

 

[Buffy Summers]

Yeah, but Ford LIED to them and told them they would be turned when he knew they wouldn't be.

 

[LizzieRainbow]

I never liked Ford, even though he was ill, i mean so many other people go through that and although its a horrible thing it doesnt give you any reason to kill others just so you can "live".

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

OK I just watched Lie to me, and the character of Ford kinda got to me. I disliked him throughout the episode until he revealed the fact that he was sick. Even though he did wrong, I still kinda feel for him, and sees his point.

I want to hear your opinions, and thoughts on Ford 🙂

RAMBLE AWAY

My thoughts on Ford? That was the point of his whole conflict. For us to have to question what's "right" and what's "wrong" in an ambiguous situation. Was Ford so wrong to want to save his own life, even at the expense of others? It's not an easy choice. I think Ford's attitude towards death is supposed to parallel and bring to our attention Buffy's own fear of her death. Easy as it was to villainize Ford, I always have felt bad for him. Who knows what we would be compelled to do if we were faced with a similar situation. We like to think we'd play the hero even when faced with death, but would we make the moral and "right" decision if it met letting ourselves die? If we were given the choice to live, what would we do? Besides, I feel bad for Ford. Sure, he was a moron (he should have never trusted Spike) but he only wanted to live. He was terrified to die, just like Buffy was in "Prophecy Girl."

 

[WhiteHat]

The first time I saw the ep, my first thought was "transparent stunt-casting" because the actor playing Ford was on the WB's Roswell at the time. I thought it was a good episode on the whole, especially since it introduced the character Chanterelle/Lilly... *daydreams a bit* Okay, I'm back. When they introduce a character so suddenly, it rarely spells good things.

 

[foreverdark]

Ford, he was kinda boring. He didn't make me feel like he was scared to die, I felt more like he wanted to stay young. I don't know if it was the Char or the actor but I just couldn't get into it.

There was one part that I LOVED, and that was when Angel showed up at the Bronze when they were playing pool and Ford made some comments on Angel and Xander's comments, just cracks me up each time!! 😀

BTW, how did Ford find a group of vamp wannabes so fast?

 

[Washburne]

Who knows what we would be compelled to do if we were faced with a similar situation. We like to think we'd play the hero even when faced with death, but would we make the moral and "right" decision if it met letting ourselves die?

It's always easier to make the right decision when you're not faced with the choice yourself. But no matter what I think we all can agree that Ford did wrong. You can't get around that. Understand his decision maybe but that's not the same as to think that he was right.

I do think a lot of people would "sacrifice" other peoples life (even if it's only one) to save their own. Maybe I'm one of those people but I hope not. I can here and now say that I definitely would give my life to save (or at least increase their chances) some certain people's life because 1) I care that much for them 2) I think their lives is more important than my own. But the will to live is strong in people so who knows how I would react in an extreme situation. You never know how you'll react until it happens. But there's still good/right and bad/wrong choices. Ford made what he thought was a good decision for him personally (he was wrong about that but didn't know that) but from a bigger perspective it's obviously the wrong one.

he was a moron (he should have never trusted Spike)

No he shouldn't. He shouldn't trust vampires at all. But he had seen the movies (and maybe even some reading) so he thought he knew what he was doing.

 

[tvnerdgirl]

I never cared for Ford as a character, but I REALLY sympathised with Buffy throughout the episode. Here was this guy who she knew from her old life, who she thought she could trust who not only betrays her, but becomes her enemy by virtue of his attempts to kill others so that he may live.

This is one of my all time favourite episodes because of the many shades of grey it presents. Up until this point the bad guys have always been fairly black and white for Buffy. She finds out who the baddie is, stops them, and all is right in the world. This is the episode that sort of changes her world a bit. She sees this guy who is doing an incredibly horrific thing and her brain wants to say "bad guy"...until she finds out that he himself is dying. It doesn't make what he's doing all right, or even justifiable, but it does force her to sympathise with him and up until now, she has never had that. She's never had to feel sorry for somebody who was comitting an evil act and it throws her.

I love her line at the end where she says "It would be simpler if I could just hate him."

LOVE LOVE LOVE this episode.

 

[sk]

Besides, I feel bad for Ford. Sure, he was a moron (he should have never trusted Spike) but he only wanted to live.

A question.
Is it not Ford that Buffy stakes at the end of episode?

I have always had a hard time seeing who it really is, but that's how I have understand it.
If that's the case wouldn't that mean that Spike actually kept his word and turned Ford instead of killing him?

Not that he should've trust a vampire anyway...

/SK

 

[tvnerdgirl]

That's what I had always assumed...that Spike did keep his word and that's why she and Giles were waiting by the grave for him to rise.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

That's what I had always assumed...that Spike did keep his word and that's why she and Giles were waiting by the grave for him to rise.

Wait, huh? Spike kept his word. I guess I should watch that episode again. I'm hazy on the details. My understanding was that he didn't keep is word with siring Ford...someone else sired Ford, yes? Even so, if Spike did keep his word and indeed did sire Ford, that's not surprising. Spike, despite not having a soul, is usually honest and trustworthy.

 

[Washburne]

I'm not sure if we ever got a certain answer to if it's Ford or not in the end. I remember the discussions going on in VH when we had that big dormcompetition. 😛 For you that weren't here at the time or didn't take part one of the questions were who killed Ford. But it feels like it should be him.

I'm curently rewatching Buffy and am now on season two (will soon be on this episode) and I'm ashamed to say that it hasn't hit me how similar it is to Inca Mummy Girl. Not the episodes themselves but the main story. A young teenager get robbed of their life way too early and given the chance to get it back/prolong it they're willing to sacrifice the life of others.

 

[Aleris]

TK - That's because it's a good story line. In that you feel sorry for the bad guy, and it's hard to feel sorry for the bad guy if there isn't a heart-wrenching excuse for why they're doing what they're doing. 😀

 

[Bluebird]

I think it's fairly obvious that Spike sires Ford, knowing that Buffy will have to stake him. Buffy and Giles waiting in the graveyard at the end, knowing that she'll have to kill him, and the reaction on her face says a lot.

And that lingering shot on Spike and Dru looking at Ford is brilliant.