Billy_Blood
Potential
I got this off another board I go to. You can find the entire thread here: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59019
This guy's idea was brilliant! I almost wish that he wrote this season. Not thatI'm saying that I didn't like the season as it was, but yeah there were some things that didn't make sense, but I prefer to concentrate on the good stuff.
Originally Posted By Sam:
1) The First would exploit its nature as the embodiment of the evil in every being. This was something the writers played with haphazardly throughout the season -- the idea of magnifying the evil in normal people, or Willow being possessed by the First when she tried to tap into her darker magics, of Caleb having a special relationship with the First through being such a heartless, sadistic SOB.
I'd play with that more. The First is inside you. It's all the worst parts of who and what you are. Unless you're on your guard, it can act from within you, goad you into acting on your worst impulses. The regular humans have it bad; Wood's thirst for vengeance, Giles' ruthlessness, and so forth.
Buffy and Willow have it even worse; both of them have direct connections to the First. Willow through her darker self, Buffy through the source of the Slayer power.
And Spike is pretty much under the First's control whenever the First wants it, for at least a good part of the season. Much the way they actually did, except it'd actually be used, and the explanation would simply be that as a being steeped in metaphysical evil by his very nature, he belongs to the First. The First is the worst thing in everyone -- but as a guy who's as much a demon as a person, the First makes up just as much of Spike as the soul does. His soul allows him to struggle and break free at times, but the First always regains control, for a time at least.
And when Spike becomes one with the First, he doesn't just go GRAAAGH! He's season 2 Spike at his sarcastic, hilarious, unrepentantly brutal best.
And all the other non-souled demons in Sunnydale are nearly as much a part of the First as the Bringers. Imagine the gang's -- and the audience's -- reaction when Clem tries to chew Dawn's face off, while still having that bubbly, affable personality everybody loves so much.
2) I'd actually make use of the First's primary ability -- the capacity to really mind**** the heroes by being people they've loved. Joyce. Jenny. Or hey, here's what should be an obvious one... can anyone explain to me why Willow didn't have a single heart to heart with the man she murdered this season? How about a pissed off Ben guilt tripping Giles?
Want a real headjob? What happens when the First turns into Hank Summers? "Yeah, you were so worried about a bunch of schoolgirls it never even occured to you to give your old man a call. These guys in robes just showed up... The things they did to me..."
Or here's an oldy but a goody -- Angelus. (And we'll be seeing Angelus in the flesh again, too... 'Cause when Angel shows up, the same thing'll be true of him as was true of Spike. Just when they thought it was safe to stop worrying and had Spike cured...)
3) After maybe three or four episodes, the heroes would have managed some sort of status quo with most of the above. The impact will be blunted. We're maybe halfway through the season. The gang are starting to realize that once they've got themselves on guard against those tricks, the incorporeal First can't do a whole lot. We'd get that Taunter line here.
And then Caleb would show up, kick everyone's ass, kill most of the Potential Slayers by simply kicking down the Summers household's door and having his way with them, and poke out Xander's eye.
The idea behind Caleb is a sound one: A strong right arm to balance the First's incorporeal, spiritual threat. And Nathan Fillion has the acting chops to stay a good villain for a lot longer than he was actually used.
4) No Ubervamps. They were just lame. Buffy's midseason asskicking comes from Caleb instead.
The "activation of all the Slayers" thing is, likewise, done just to take down Caleb. A dozen or so Slayers vs. Caleb, and they barely win.
5) While I understand that the activation of all Slayers everywhere is necessary to show the triumph of Mystical Feminine Wonderfulness, I'd throw an extra spin on it. Yes, it allows them to beat Caleb.
But it also, it turns out, is exactly what the First wanted all along. It never wanted the destruction of the Slayer line. That's just what it told them to get them to do exactly the wrong thing. Because the force the Shadowmen tapped into to create the Slayer in the first place was a tiny little sliver of the First Evil. Two Slayers existing simultaneously allowed the First to act directly. With hundreds, the balance has just just been catastrophically tipped, and the First becomes flesh. Unstoppable, unkillable flesh that makes Caleb look like as insubstantial as a fart in a hurricane.
The final episode is spent desperately trying to stop this being, and failing. Mucho cast member death. More potential Slayers, Anya, Wood, maybe even Faith or Giles.
The final answer, they realize, is that they need to *stop* being Slayers. The Slayer has always been portrayed as a necessary evil; one of the themes of this season seemed to be that fighting evil with evil is a bad idea. So Willow's big massive spell at the end isn't the activation of all the Slayers. It's the very destruction of the Slayer line they strove to prevent up to that point. Once there are no more Slayers, the First reverts to being incorporeal and totally powerless over the material world.
And this doesn't even remove the female empowerment theme. On the contrary, it pushes it far more coherently, since you can send the message that these girls' power now comes entirely from themselves, and not from some prehistoric patriarchs.
The First still exists, however. He has one trick left up his sleeve -- cause hey, he's the First Evil.
"Bet you're all feeling real sure of yourselves. Bet you forgot I own every demon in this town. Bet you didn't know that this whole time, I've had the whole lot of them creating one massive blood sacrifice to open the Hellmouth and bring my evil back into this world the old fashioned way!"
"Bet again."
Cut to the Hellmouth, where Spike does his thing with the amulet. That bit, all the way to the implosion of Sunnydale, happens just like it did at the end, as that was actually quite a good bit.
This guy's idea was brilliant! I almost wish that he wrote this season. Not thatI'm saying that I didn't like the season as it was, but yeah there were some things that didn't make sense, but I prefer to concentrate on the good stuff.
Originally Posted By Sam:
1) The First would exploit its nature as the embodiment of the evil in every being. This was something the writers played with haphazardly throughout the season -- the idea of magnifying the evil in normal people, or Willow being possessed by the First when she tried to tap into her darker magics, of Caleb having a special relationship with the First through being such a heartless, sadistic SOB.
I'd play with that more. The First is inside you. It's all the worst parts of who and what you are. Unless you're on your guard, it can act from within you, goad you into acting on your worst impulses. The regular humans have it bad; Wood's thirst for vengeance, Giles' ruthlessness, and so forth.
Buffy and Willow have it even worse; both of them have direct connections to the First. Willow through her darker self, Buffy through the source of the Slayer power.
And Spike is pretty much under the First's control whenever the First wants it, for at least a good part of the season. Much the way they actually did, except it'd actually be used, and the explanation would simply be that as a being steeped in metaphysical evil by his very nature, he belongs to the First. The First is the worst thing in everyone -- but as a guy who's as much a demon as a person, the First makes up just as much of Spike as the soul does. His soul allows him to struggle and break free at times, but the First always regains control, for a time at least.
And when Spike becomes one with the First, he doesn't just go GRAAAGH! He's season 2 Spike at his sarcastic, hilarious, unrepentantly brutal best.
And all the other non-souled demons in Sunnydale are nearly as much a part of the First as the Bringers. Imagine the gang's -- and the audience's -- reaction when Clem tries to chew Dawn's face off, while still having that bubbly, affable personality everybody loves so much.
2) I'd actually make use of the First's primary ability -- the capacity to really mind**** the heroes by being people they've loved. Joyce. Jenny. Or hey, here's what should be an obvious one... can anyone explain to me why Willow didn't have a single heart to heart with the man she murdered this season? How about a pissed off Ben guilt tripping Giles?
Want a real headjob? What happens when the First turns into Hank Summers? "Yeah, you were so worried about a bunch of schoolgirls it never even occured to you to give your old man a call. These guys in robes just showed up... The things they did to me..."
Or here's an oldy but a goody -- Angelus. (And we'll be seeing Angelus in the flesh again, too... 'Cause when Angel shows up, the same thing'll be true of him as was true of Spike. Just when they thought it was safe to stop worrying and had Spike cured...)
3) After maybe three or four episodes, the heroes would have managed some sort of status quo with most of the above. The impact will be blunted. We're maybe halfway through the season. The gang are starting to realize that once they've got themselves on guard against those tricks, the incorporeal First can't do a whole lot. We'd get that Taunter line here.
And then Caleb would show up, kick everyone's ass, kill most of the Potential Slayers by simply kicking down the Summers household's door and having his way with them, and poke out Xander's eye.
The idea behind Caleb is a sound one: A strong right arm to balance the First's incorporeal, spiritual threat. And Nathan Fillion has the acting chops to stay a good villain for a lot longer than he was actually used.
4) No Ubervamps. They were just lame. Buffy's midseason asskicking comes from Caleb instead.
The "activation of all the Slayers" thing is, likewise, done just to take down Caleb. A dozen or so Slayers vs. Caleb, and they barely win.
5) While I understand that the activation of all Slayers everywhere is necessary to show the triumph of Mystical Feminine Wonderfulness, I'd throw an extra spin on it. Yes, it allows them to beat Caleb.
But it also, it turns out, is exactly what the First wanted all along. It never wanted the destruction of the Slayer line. That's just what it told them to get them to do exactly the wrong thing. Because the force the Shadowmen tapped into to create the Slayer in the first place was a tiny little sliver of the First Evil. Two Slayers existing simultaneously allowed the First to act directly. With hundreds, the balance has just just been catastrophically tipped, and the First becomes flesh. Unstoppable, unkillable flesh that makes Caleb look like as insubstantial as a fart in a hurricane.
The final episode is spent desperately trying to stop this being, and failing. Mucho cast member death. More potential Slayers, Anya, Wood, maybe even Faith or Giles.
The final answer, they realize, is that they need to *stop* being Slayers. The Slayer has always been portrayed as a necessary evil; one of the themes of this season seemed to be that fighting evil with evil is a bad idea. So Willow's big massive spell at the end isn't the activation of all the Slayers. It's the very destruction of the Slayer line they strove to prevent up to that point. Once there are no more Slayers, the First reverts to being incorporeal and totally powerless over the material world.
And this doesn't even remove the female empowerment theme. On the contrary, it pushes it far more coherently, since you can send the message that these girls' power now comes entirely from themselves, and not from some prehistoric patriarchs.
The First still exists, however. He has one trick left up his sleeve -- cause hey, he's the First Evil.
"Bet you're all feeling real sure of yourselves. Bet you forgot I own every demon in this town. Bet you didn't know that this whole time, I've had the whole lot of them creating one massive blood sacrifice to open the Hellmouth and bring my evil back into this world the old fashioned way!"
"Bet again."
Cut to the Hellmouth, where Spike does his thing with the amulet. That bit, all the way to the implosion of Sunnydale, happens just like it did at the end, as that was actually quite a good bit.
