Buffy The Vampire Slayer - S06x18|♡Uncut Reaction &Review♡
Added 2022-10-07 14:35:34 +0000 UTCEntropy
Anya, secretly a demon again, attempts to get vengeance on Xander but fails. She finds comfort by sleeping with Spike, but the Geek Trio's cameras reveal the tryst to the gang. Meanwhile, Willow and Tara arrange a coffee date.
Link to the reaction:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ukavv693aoa5e0/Buffy%206x18.mp4?dl=0
Comments
Yeah, I think they do, because it's not as if they're vampires, and actually die and come back to life. Plus, vampires need to kill to live on basically a daily basis, so not having a soul is helpful, whereas vengeance demons have some kind of righteousness behind their actions, even if they're heinous.
Liv
2022-10-10 23:49:23 +0000 UTCAww haha, I absolutely adored your reaction to this, very similar to my own, especially your love and excitement for our girls Willow and Tara. I LOVE that kiss, so iconic, bringing those happy tears every time! And LOVE them.<3
Saga
2022-10-09 23:31:00 +0000 UTCThe show does clarify this point beyond doubt in season 7.
The Witch Hawk
2022-10-09 18:01:14 +0000 UTCYou're a little off from what I meant, maybe I didn't explain my thoughts clearly. I don't mean that they're different people in the sense that they don't share memories and many core personality traits, they certainly do both of these. When I say who they are as a person I mean what drives them forward, their base desires that motivate their actions. Disorientation is also absolutely a key point to what I mean. When Angel's soul returns in season 2, he experiences this disorientation, which is the clue that somethings happened. Afterwards you can see a change in who he "is" and what his desires are. It's not really relevant to me in this discussion where his soul was or wasn't in the meantime or even what a soul is, it only matters that what drives him on a foundational level has instantly changed. This is what you don't see in Anya. Season 3, when her neckless is broken, there's not even a hiccup of a change in who she is. The only reason that she even knows that something is different is because her curse doesn't work. Then, even after the curse fails, her only thought is to try again, hinting that what motivates her hasn't changed in the slightest. It's the same for her here, after she's regained the demon aspect there's zero perceivable difference between her prior to the wedding and now, to my mind at least.
JeffLee
2022-10-08 20:13:42 +0000 UTCI mean, Liam/Angel, Harmony, Darla - their core identities are all pretty contiguous. Angel has no concept of being somewhere else when his body doesn't have a soul - the way Buffy recalls being in heaven. There's disorientation at the moment of restoration, but other than that, the memories and consciousness for vampires is entirely tied to their body; and they have a singular sense of self that spans seamlessly from humanity to vampire - as Dru demonstrates, carrying her psychological trauma with her as a vampire, Liam/Angel's daddy issues. Harmony continues to be Harmony after she's turned. Darla runs the gamut of human to vampire to human to vampire again, and she's just Darla the whole time. There's no "other," there's no demon consciousness (just as Doyle was just Doyle). The show makes the suggestion early on that vampirism is like some sort of form of possession, but then refutes that again and again over the course of both shows. "I've Got You Under My Skin," shows that humans can be alive without a soul, and that they're as bad if not worse than some of the worst demons; making the Ehtros that tried to posses the *kid* terrified and long for death. The soul, by all rights, acts more like the Super-Ego, reconciling behavior with conceptions of applied morality. Without it vampires largely act on impulse and the pain-pleasure principal. The soul doesn't create or instill a different personality or supply memories.
Stargazer1682
2022-10-08 04:12:53 +0000 UTCI'm intrigued by your thought that vengeance demons are soulless. I don't recall the show ever expressly stating one way or the other and I always just assumed that they do have souls. I wonder if anyone knows if this is a question that's been answer or not. I will say that I think what may have led me to believe that they have souls is that who Anya is as a "person" doesn't seem to fundamentally change when she loses/gains her demon aspect in the same way that Angel/Angelus, Spike/William, or any other vampire does. In any event, if they are soulless then Anya is again.
JeffLee
2022-10-08 03:06:54 +0000 UTCAs for the rest of the season, here we go...
Valene
2022-10-08 03:05:09 +0000 UTCFor what...??
Stargazer1682
2022-10-08 02:58:27 +0000 UTCThank you both! I kinda figure that would be the case as it seams like they'd flow better that way but was curious anyway. I'm like half a season behind on Angel so I guess I'll catch up on them while waiting on the finales.
JeffLee
2022-10-08 02:48:04 +0000 UTCY'all...
The Witch Hawk
2022-10-08 02:46:17 +0000 UTCBe patient
The Witch Hawk
2022-10-08 02:46:01 +0000 UTCI have a fan theory - or fanfiction - where we actually see Xander and Anya get married, the demon doesn't attack Xander and they're actually doing pretty well - until Anya gets sick. The doctors don't know what's happening, but it's like every organ in her body is failing simultaneously. The Scoobies explore every reason or solution, but they've got no answers. Xander's final resort is calling up D'Hoffryn. Xander figures if vengeance demons have the power to bend reality to their will, they can help Anya. D'Hoffryn tells Xander that he knows exactly what's happening to Anya. When she came to grant Cordelia's wish 3 years ago, she assumed the guise of a rich socialite teen, someone very much modeled after Cordelia herself, in an effort to appeal to Cordelia's own vanity. Anyanka even "borrowed" some of the Chase wealth from across time and space to help her sell the part more. When she lost her powers, the money stayed with her (which she talked about running out of in season 5) and is also why the Chases lost everything. But more importantly, when she lost her powers Anya was stuck in that persona - but, D'Hoffryn tells Xander - it was never designed to be a permanent body. It was a borrowed form, after all. One that was, again, modeled after Cordelia and her passions in life; which at that time boiled down Xander and money. And sarcasm. So much sarcasm. Little by little though, this form, which was just a shell, was deteriorating. There were signs, like the fact that she had a car in season 3 and fully knew how to drive, but in season 5 said she was only just driving for the first time. Her core Cordelia-like personality traits also started becoming more condenses and caricaturized. Xander understands. He's heartbroken, but he's also resolute. He insist he knows that D'Hoffryn has the power to save her. "You know my price?" D'Hoffryn asks. "I think I have an idea," Xander says. "Well then, all you have to do is say the magic words." "... I wish..." And just like that, Anya lives, but at a price.
Stargazer1682
2022-10-08 02:20:23 +0000 UTCI have wondered whether or not Anya had a soul when she was originally a vengeance demon; because just being a demon doesn't mean you don't have a soul. It would certainly make everything she did as a vengeance demon worse, but then it also raises the question, if she didn't have a soul, does that necessarily mean she got it back when her power center was destroyed; and does she not have a soul again now?
Stargazer1682
2022-10-08 02:20:19 +0000 UTCAh, you're right. I was looking at the original watch order, not the reactor's version
Miah
2022-10-08 02:09:44 +0000 UTCSo, I really don't like Xander. He's a tool. Even when he makes a valid point about something, it's usually in the most assholish way possible. That said, one of the major issues I have with "Hells Bells" is the divided reasoning for the wedding not to happening. On the one hand you have Xander walking out because he got cold feet; which is really what they're running with and playing up in the aftermath, especially in this episode. But then on the flip side of that, we have a demon having Xander *experience* the worst possible future, from the firsthand perspective, that plays on all his insecurities; AND culminates in him swinging a frying pan at Anya's head, which would at the very least seriously harm her, if not presumably killing her. It wasn't just having doubts or fears about the future, he lived out those fears, he felt the weight of the frying pan in his hand and the rage building in his body to the point that he released it all and physically aimed it at Anya, the woman he loves, brutally assaulting her. Knowing that it wasn't real doesn't magically take away an experience that was probably more real than any dream - it would probably be as close to reality as you can get without it being real; possibly on par with what Buffy experienced in Normal Again. Something like that would be incredibly traumatizing for any one of us - I would hope. But even though you find out it didn't happen, that it wasn't real, that's arguably the sort of experience that's going to stay with you for a while; especially if it's playing on existing insecurities and fears. You're not going to be okay right after something like that, maybe not even for a while after that. And I do think, regardless of however else Xander felt about getting married in general, it wasn't okay to expect him to just shrug it off and proceed with the wedding as if nothing happened. He was emotionally abused by this demon and was not okay. But the frustrating thing is, they do that and then they basically pretend it didn't happen; and act like he just got nervous and had second thoughts. Like, why even bother including it? On a semi-related note though, I think there's also a disparity in how we perceive Xander's actions and his and Anya's relationship, by virtue of how old the actors are by this point in the series; and how old they were supposed to be. Xander would have been 20, maybe 21 in Hells Bells; whereas Nicky Brendon was 30, and *looked* 30. While there are some people who are mature enough to get married at 21, and people who are in their 30s are who complete fuck-ups, I do think it skews our general perception of the characters and the stage of life they're in now. Basically, picture season 1 Xander, then shave off another 5 years, and THAT's the guy putting on the tux or deciding he's not ready to get married... 🤷♂️ Still hate the guy, for which this episodes gives at least a few reasons.
Stargazer1682
2022-10-08 02:05:16 +0000 UTCNext is the last 2 eps of Angel season 3, then last 4 of Buffy s6
Ariel17
2022-10-08 00:41:47 +0000 UTCThe watch order has the final four episodes of Angel S4 next and then the final four of Buffy S6 followed by the first 3 of Buffy S7.
Miah
2022-10-08 00:35:04 +0000 UTCWhat's the watch order from here? Is it back to Angel or continuing Buffy? I'm really hoping for a run out of Buffy. Buckle up it's a wild ride!
JeffLee
2022-10-07 22:58:46 +0000 UTCOnce again Xander is trippin’! If you didn’t think so, Anya said it right there! He’s in no position to judge others for what they’re doing in the slightest! 😤
R3v1v4L
2022-10-07 20:51:46 +0000 UTCCan't wait for the next few episodes
Jasmine Bellucci
2022-10-07 20:09:15 +0000 UTC{igotyoufam .gif}
Absolute0
2022-10-07 18:49:04 +0000 UTCWell here we go! The rest of the season is wild. I can’t wait for your reactions Sofie! x
HollieJolly
2022-10-07 17:47:16 +0000 UTCThank you.
safae mokadem
2022-10-07 17:33:05 +0000 UTCOh man, these final episodes of the season are insane, can't wait for your reactions!
Kristine Friling
2022-10-07 16:44:19 +0000 UTCAlison Krauss, That Kind of Love https://youtu.be/ZPATw2aNSfw
Absolute0
2022-10-07 15:36:27 +0000 UTC
