Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.buffy
Titolo: Same Time, Same Place: Domino

http://www.scoopme.com/tv/articles/default.asp?article_id=73909
spoiler
There is nothing you can do when you're next in line.
If any one thing can be written about the opening bars of Episode 7: The
Attack of Year One, it's that, before Buffy can start taking on the (demon)
world again, she first must get all of her affairs, vis-à-vis season 6, in
order.
Week one got Little Bit squared away. Hell mouth, Dawn. Dawn, hell mouth.
Which way to chem. lab?
Week two brought the artist formerly known as Spike back into her fold.
Soul, Buffy. Buffy, Soul. Which way to hell?
Week three brings not-quite-entirely-cured Willow to American soil for the
first time since she went all Cher on us. Willow, doubt. Doubt, Willow.
Which way to redemption?
Hey, you just gotta go, domino.
Rapidly fading Genesis references aside, tonight was entirely about Willow's
return. Everything else got put on hold, save some interesting Anyanka
developments (she cares, she knows which side she wants to be on), to be
sure we didn't miss a single nuance of The Return.
Spike has a soul and Buffy knows about it? Let's save that for next week (we
can only hope, tragic UPN promo ridiculousness notwithstanding). Forget that
it's not clear that Buffy shared this miniscule detail with Xander or Dawn.
Forget that we still don't know how Spike got off that cross. Or why? It can
wait. It's Willow's turn.
The hell mouth is brewing some boil, boil, toil and trouble? It's
potentially the biggest crisis to face humanity since the cola wars went
lemon. Just relax. It can wait. It's Willow's turn.
I'm thrilled, mind you. I love Willow. I love everything about her
character, even the things I can't stand. Hands down, Willow is the one
character on the show I couldn't live without.
I'd miss Xander, mind you, but I'd survive.
I'd wade cautiously into a Buffy without Buffy. SMG would be missed too,
but, hey, what can you do?
I've already been forced to live without Giles for extended periods. I hate
it, but I'm still here.
Dawn? Puh-lease. I still remember life before her.
Anya? We'd better get used to it, anyway.
Spike? I've already lost Oz and Angel.
But never Willow, which is really scary seeing as he career away from Buffy
most resembles a career. Eliza Dushku would stab the deputy mayor of a
mid-sized city through the heart with a jagged slab of wood for a career in
the neighborhood of what Ms. Hannigan has carved out for herself. I mean,
she was in My Stepmother Is An Alien, for god's sake. This movie breeds
Oscar winners! After American Wedding, where Alyson is reportedly bumping
all the way up to co-star status, motion pictures might make an offer she
can't refuse.
I can't even think about it, life without Willow. Won't.
So, "Yea" for my team when Willow got the Very Special Buffy Reunion
treatment tonight. As you can no doubt tell from some of the above, I wish
they brought her back in a more consistent outing - one where Spike's soul
wasn't brushed under the rug, nor one where the impending doom of the hell
mouth wasn't idly forgotten - but, in the end, Willow's still back.
Thank you very much.
You've got to hand it to Joss for dealing with her issues head on. In a
world gone so incredibly awry, where Chris Carter believes he can end the
X-Files with more questions than from which he began...in a world, where
Zach from Saved by the Bell has a starring role on NYPD Blue...in a world,
where Jason Alexander has gone from the heights of George Constanza to the
depths of KFC and Carrot Top is on my television upwards of 20 times a
night, it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if the Scooby gang was just
a tad too accommodating, a tad too joyous, a tad too complacent.
But to have Buffy worrying - actually believing - that Willow was flaying
new victims immediately upon her arrival...that's ballsy. It's also honest.
Few shows ever adhere to their own reality as well as BtVS does on a weekly
basis. It's why we love it. It's why critic after critic, fan after fan,
rants about just how real Buffy is to anyone who will listen, knowing full
well we are talking about a show that prominently features vampires, man
eating insects, and government initiatives to harness the demon underworld.
No wonder the world thinks we're nuts.
But they do it every time.
Personally, I was quite moved by Willow's isolation, nor was I surprised at
its eventual cause. Putting the flesh eating hobgoblin histrionics aside for
the moment, I think they did a decent job of setting the tone of Willow's
reintroduction into the gang. Without them ever sharing a scene, the
Scoobies' concerns, fears, and doubts - about Willow, about their own
loyalties - really came across.
BtVS has gone mature on us. It happened last year, and the process was, at
times, brutal. The last vestiges of adolescence have been cast aside.
Now the gang's all here, and they all have their own adult baggage.
Forgiveness, doubt, remorse, and loss...they were all here too. And once
again, they made me believe.
It isn't just Willow who needs to come to grips with what she has done. It
isn't just for Willow to learn what she has become. Our favorite Scooby is
in uncharted waters here. She has gone beyond power, beyond evil, beyond
control...but what is she now? We trust she is good. We have to. And,
knowing her the way we do, our trust is most likely well-placed. Yet, the
possibility - of the other - exists. Giles, and, by extension, the Watchers
Council, are taking a risk, even if they have no alternative. Willow is too
strong to destroy. Too connected to all magic to be severed from it.
So they'd better take care to surround her with as much comfort and
reassurance as possible.
Which brings us to the emotion, the state of mind, the location that signals
the full embodiment of what it means to truly grow up.
Home.
Welcome home, Willow.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
My Precious...did anyone tell Peter Jackson (or J.R.R. Tolkein for that
matter) that Gollum is loose? In Hollywood? With an agent?
UPN (in its continued "scenes" ineptitude) touted the monster du jour as, oh
dearies, and I quote, "the Hannibal Lector of the demon world," when they
really should have been sending a basket of mini-muffins over to New Line
Cinema for the loaner. To be fair, this guy wasn't exactly like Gollum. He
was more like the ill-fated off-spring of a chance drunk encounter between
the Lord of the Rings beasty and that S&M General guy from
FarScape...performing in the all male review at Caesar's Palace.
Cringe worthy, simply cringe worthy.
This is a common complaint of mine with Buffy. The only consistent one, in
fact. With a few notable exceptions (Hush), the demon makeup on BtVS always
leave me wanting more. Not true, actually. They leave me demanding less.
Memo to Joss: I don't really need to see the demons. Not really. I just need
to believe that (a) they're there, and (b) they're terrifying. Let's be
honest, with Buffy, we get a lot of latex. Steven Spielberg simply never
showed us the shark. (He did it because the damn thing wouldn't work right,
but that doesn't matter.) Show me less, let me believe more. Because it just
doesn't do it if you are seeing Richard Simmons in a Lord of the Rings
rubber suit when you should be seeing your worst nightmare.
--
Jolan Tru
Filippo "Hytok" Simone
Vice Oracolo Ufficiale di Sunnydale
http://www.ussexcalibur.it/
http://www.startrekitaliamagazine.it/
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/hyterdeflok/
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/starcontrek/


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Grazie per aver postato l'articolo, molto interessante.
E' vero, quel mostro sembrava Gollum. Ed è vero, sono andati troppo sul
grafico, in questa puntata, in modo un po' superfluo... Ed è vero, nessuna
meraviglia che il mondo intero pensa che noi fans siamo pazzi! ^__^
Willow mi piace di più, consideravo. Ora che si è tolta quell'aria da
secchiona che aveva una volta e che deve rimboccarsi a ragione le maniche
per risalire dagli abissi in cui è sprofondata. AH tra l'altro mi meraviglia
sia ancora nello show, è troppo brava. Mi ha fatto piangere quella
disgraziata alla fine della puntata!!!
Infine, è vero che ogni volta ci sono dei "salti" logici nella trama, e
questo è davvero un peccato. Beh, ora che tutti i pezzi del mosaico (o
domino?) si sono ricomposti, col ritorno di Willow, si spera si possa
partire *davvero*  con la stagione, no?
Io mi aspetto il peggio e spero per il meglio, come diceva Brenda di Beverly
Hills :)
Ciao,
Anya

 E' vero, quel mostro sembrava Gollum.
In tre a casa mia abbiamo esclamato: nooo Gollum.......ed di seguito........
e' la mmmmmia willllllllloww