OMWF Question.

[Zeppelin92]

Was watching OMWF again today and I was just wondering why every song sung in the episode was heard by the other characters except for Giles song to Buffy. At the end of his song Buffy says "Did you say something?" when clearly they're in the same room.

Why was his song any different than the others? And if Sweet's ultimate goal was to create chaos by forcing people to confess themselves through song and dance until they burned, why wouldn't he want Giles' song to be heard by Buffy?

I'm curious to see what you guys think.

---------- Post added at 12:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 PM ----------

And I just realized I was still on season 5 board and not season 6. Lol epic fail on my part. If anyone can move this that'd be awesome haha.

 

[Lyri]

The song had nothing to do with Buffy, in my opinion. She wasn't supposed to hear it.

Giles has spent the last year or more thinking that Buffy doesn't need him anymore. He thinks he's in the way - hence the song - and she's grown past him. And he sings out his confession to her...and she doesn't hear him. She's not listening, which is Giles' whole problem, he thinks Buffy is dismissing him from her life, and Sweet prayed on this with that song.

 

[Blaze]

I've always seen as as a way to prove Giles' point; Buffy isn't listening to what he has to say.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Yeah I agree, I think it was meant to show that Buffy was in her on little bubble at that moment, a bit switched off. Another thing with OMWF is that I don't really get why Xander would do the spell in the first place... just seemed a bit out of character really. I believe it is his first/only spell on his own in the show?

 

[Lyri]

Another thing with OMWF is that I don't really get why Xander would do the spell in the first place... just seemed a bit out of character really. I believe it is his first/only spell on his own in the show?

Well, no...he was able to set the book on fire in S4, so we at least know his capable of casting a spell, even accidentally. But it might have been enough to think he had enough mojo to do something like this.

Besides, it's not the first time Xander has wanted to do a spell, especially if it's for his own personal gain, as seen in 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered'. He clearly didn't read the fine print when summoning Sweet, he just knew that Sweet would make them all tell the truth, and he would know what Anya was really thinking. He says it himself he 'wanted to make sure they would out, you know? Get a happy ending'. That was all he took into consideration.

I still think Xander should have dealt with what he did in that episode. By summoning Sweet, he got at least one person killed. Which means he is directly responsible for that death. I love Xander, he's one of my favorite characters, but he should have faced the consequences of his actions instead of the whole thing being shoved under the carpet.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

In "Primeval" 4ABB21, Xander was part of the spell where Buffy fought Adam.

I still can't recall Xander actually summoning Sweet. Anyone know where that happens?

 

[Lyri]

I still can't recall Xander actually summoning Sweet. Anyone know where that happens?

We don't actually see him summoning Sweet, he just admits it when Giles figures out that, if Sweet's amulet was in the shop, then it must have been one of the Scoobies who summoned him. Xander raises his hand and confesses that he summoned Sweet, but didn't know what was going to happened.

"I thought there'd be dances and songs."

Then, in the S7 episode 'Selfless', during one of Anya's flashbacks, we see Xander, as he falls asleep in his chair, mumbling about the spell - can't recall the words off the top of my head, but it's literally seconds before Anya starts singing her 'His Mrs' song.

 

[Zeppelin92]

Yah thats is weird especially when they're doing their "I've got a Theory" song and Xander blames some random evil witches. You'd think he'd just come clean about it, or at least after he finds out that people are dying because of him. But then again if that had happened there wouldn't have been a whole lot to the episode.

 

[Yosso]

Well, no...he was able to set the book on fire in S4, so we at least know his capable of casting a spell, even accidentally. But it might have been enough to think he had enough mojo to do something like this.

Besides, it's not the first time Xander has wanted to do a spell, especially if it's for his own personal gain, as seen in 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered'. He clearly didn't read the fine print when summoning Sweet, he just knew that Sweet would make them all tell the truth, and he would know what Anya was really thinking. He says it himself he 'wanted to make sure they would out, you know? Get a happy ending'. That was all he took into consideration.

I still think Xander should have dealt with what he did in that episode. By summoning Sweet, he got at least one person killed. Which means he is directly responsible for that death. I love Xander, he's one of my favorite characters, but he should have faced the consequences of his actions instead of the whole thing being shoved under the carpet.

That's a good point actually about Xander indirectly having killed at least one person through his spell. But really, Xander should know better. He's seen that magic is often unpredictable and goes wrong on many occasions already.

Also, I find it weird and quite out of character that he makes absolutely no attempt to reverse the spell once he finds out people are combusting and there could be a link between that and the singing.

In retrospect, OMWF makes Xander seem cowardly, stupid and uncharacteristically irresponsible. Which doesn't really connect with S6 Xander.

I don't think it was a good idea to make Xander the cause. Joss wasn't really thinking clearly on this one.

 

[Cordy_Chase]

Giles' number (which no contest is the most brilliant in the episode, Anthony Stewart Head's voice is just amazing) was clearly a soliloquy; the portrayal of a character thinking to him/herself thus not meant to be directed at or heard by another. Though not in song, you see a lot of these in Shakespeare. The character Iago in Othello uses the best examples of them frequently.

We don't actually see him summoning Sweet, he just admits it when Giles figures out that, if Sweet's amulet was in the shop

Thank you for clarifying this because when he came forward I had assumed I'd missed it and it didn't make a lot of sense. Xander doesn't seem that type. This is more characteristic of Willow. I also agree that it is messed up how this was not held against him while everyone else's crap is against them.