More thoughts on "Empty Places"

[estepheia]

I spent the better part of this morning looking at various LJs reading reviews of last night's episode.

More thoughts behind the cut, spoilers for "Empty Places" only:


Not many people liked it, and those who disliked it did so for different reasons. What really fascinates me is how you can see a clear cut going through the fandom, with one half expressing the opinion that Buffy acts irrationally all the time because she's constantly thinking about Spike and putting him before the mission and the other half thinking that Buffy loves Spike but puts the mission first. Interesting.

There seem to be people who yelled 'Yay Dawn!' at the screen when Dawn told Buffy to leave. Others think that Dawn was out of character. There is similar dissent regarding Xander's and Willow's behaviour.
I'm beginning to wonder if ME is deliberately trying to be ambiguous, trying to allow different interpretations. Is it born out of a desire to give everybody what they want? Because that way they just end up pissing everybody off.

I know I am.

Comments

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

What I find fascinating about my own reaction is that I'm mad at ME, not at the characters. Maybe I'm just in writer mode these days, but I watched Empty Places with a technical eye, not an emotionally invested one.