Warning: Hell's Bells Rant...Not Spoiler-y For Water Hold Me Down

[liz_marcs]

Awwwwww, thanks guys for all the B-day wishes. I always feel like a heel because LJ's B-Day notifications don't work so I tend to pick up who's birthday it is from my FList.

And sunnyd_lite wrote a drabble for me. Awwwwww. Thank you!

Anyway, mad props to ponderslife for lending me the S6 BtVS set. I know I could always go to the Buffy Dialogue Database to get what I needed, but I tend to think things through visually to a certain extent, so I had to see how actors played the lines.

So, I plopped myself on the couch and watched through Hell's Bells, Normal Again, Entropy, and Seeing Red because I needed to get some points exactly right for the next part.

Yike.

I think I remember why I was throwing things at my television set through most of S6.

And I tend to write post-Chosen BtVS. What am I? Nuts?

Don't answer that.



The sad thing is, I think this run of episodes in S6 was among the best in an otherwise really crappy season. Certainly, Normal Again is probably one of the best episodes in both S6 and S7.

Intellectually, I can see where ME was trying to go, I just don't think they pulled it off well at all. I've always maintained that the major problem with S6 and S7 wasn't so much the general themes and ideas, but came down to bad storytelling, pure and simple.

Now, I get that they wanted to challenge storytelling conventions in S6. If you're doing it for one episode, it can work very well and be interesting. For example, in The Wish, your protagonist (Cordelia) literally dies half-way into the episode and it ends with none of the people involved ever-the-wiser or having learned a lesson because none of them (with the exception of Anya) remembers what happened. I think it works very well in the case of Normal Again. I think it works very well in Conversations With Dead People.

However, challenging story conventions for an entire season, IMHO, doesn't work, especially when ME tried to have it both ways.

The entire season tossed out all the elements that make a darker storyline acceptable. For example, someone among your cast of main characters needs to be sane and happy for contrast against all that darkness. Someone in your cast of characters needs to be actually likeable so your audience has someone to root for. Your title character can suffer, but dragging her through the mud and leaving her there to the point where people think bad things should happen to the hero so she can "learn her lesson" is a huge no-no.

Yet after tossing storytelling conventions out the window, ME gives us a "traditional" ending to a "non-traditional" storyline. Happy endings: Giles and Buffy reconnect, Xander saves the day, apocalypse avoided, Willow returns to the side of the light, Anya seems to be willing to help fight the good fight, Buffy reconnects with her sister and life. We even get the traditional cliffhanger with Spike. The only sour note is Dead St. Tara of the Roses, who (like Xander in S7) was used as nothing more than a plot point to push other characters' storylines foreward.

There is a reason why storytelling conventions have held for thousands of years. Whether you're looking at comedies or tragedies, certain elements need to be in place if you're going to hold your audience (and BtVS did not do that: witness the ratings sink like a rock). Don't give me that bullshit about traditionalism and narrow-minded thinking. A good story has structure in it that makes use of all the traditional elements in various ways. Just because a story on the surface might look different or appear to be challenging those basic conventions, dig beneath the surface and reconstruct the basic plot elements, you'd be shocked how many well-loved stories and classics, the ones that are remembered for centuries, adhere to the bones despite unconventional presentation.

I know Joss Whedon has said that he wanted S6 and the ending of S7 to "ape" real life. Okay. Great. One problem: people do not get involved with stories because they want that close a reflection of "real life." There's something in the human psyche that wants, no demands, that stories have at minum a beginning, a middle, and an end.

JMS, oh great man of Babylon 5 fame, had the right idea. Babylon 5 did end with the "life goes on" element, but at the same time the major storylines and the characters involved also had an "endpoint." An open-ended endpoint where you knew they would go on with their lives and do other things, but the storylines that we invested five years in were resolved. JMS himself pointed out that if he didn't do it, the audience would have every right to feel cheated.

Certainly other shows have done the same, such as Deep Space Nine, which had an incredibly open-ended ending while still resolving all the storylines. Even "lesser" shows have pulled it off. Yet the ending of BtVS left a bad taste in my mouth because there was no coda, no actual end. It just hung there and left me going, "Yeah? And?"

If there was a tomorrow for these characters, you could live with that ending. Since there wasn't a tomorrow for these characters, the utter failure to resolve the mysteries of S7, which we were somewhat led to believe were rooted in S6, felt like a cheat.

[Side note: S7 was just incompetently put together, so I don't think anyone on the ME staff was looking logically at story elements within single episodes, let alone along a season-long story arc, so we'll not discuss S7 any further here.]

So, what does this overall rant about good storytelling have to do with the run of episodes between Hell's Bells through Seeing Red?

In my mind, this run of episodes (which to an extent was Xander's mini-arc in S6) perfectly encapsulates the problems with S6. Hell's Bells in particular manages to highlight all of S6's weaknesses.

Anyone who was aware of Xander's background prior to S6 could see the marriage to Anya was going to pose problems whether he went through with it or not. He comes from an alcoholic household, his parents are prone to fits of violence as evidenced by sounds of fighting and breaking things in previous episodes, and he literally has no mental blueprint for what makes a healthy relationship, let alone a good one. Yet, there were an awful lot of people who seemed utterly unaware of this family background. Granted, it was never in-your-face (with several exceptions) and it was certainly almost never directly addressed (except in Restless), but it was present.

What was needed was some in-your-face reminder that Xander wasn't just battling his own cold feet, but his family background. All that was needed was maybe two five-minute scenes: one where you see Anya and Xander interacting with his parents while they were drunk and fighting; maybe a second scene where a sober Xander repeats a nasty comment from that earlier fight and a look of concern on his face as he realizes he said it. Boom. Suddenly that nightmare vision has context, rather than seemingly coming from out of the blue like it did for some fans. The fact is that nightmare scenario was grounded in that character's subjective reality and from his point-of-view it was a frighteningly real possibility, yet S6 did nothing to remind the viewers of that fact.

The other thing that truly bothered me is that ME literally laid the blame at Xander's feet for the wedding not happening, a blame that got carried over into S7 to the point where all the other characters viewed Xander as the asshat on this matter. It's no wonder why fans followed ME's lead on this.

However: Xander was attacked by one of Anya's victims. Now, granted, Stuart Burns was a jerk and a playa. But getting turned into a demon and sent to a hell dimension because he dicked around? Really, that's a little over-the-top for revenge. No wonder why Stuart was pissed. Xander literally got caught in the crossfire.

Here's the thing: There is no indication anywhere in S6 that anyone other than Anya new the truth about the demon that planted the visions in Xander's head and then attacked her. I can't find anyone saying anything about the fact that Stuart was a victim of Anya.

Which means: Everyone (except Anya) thought it was a random demon attack. All Buffy sees is a demon laying the smack-down on Anya. All Xander knows is that a demon planted visions in his head. They kill the demon, who does not bother to tell them why he was there. Anya, it appears, kept her mouth shut.

Now, don't get me wrong. Going by the episodes reviewed, Xander wasn't exactly sharing his pain either.

Willow, Dawn, and Buffy seem utterly unaware that Xander was attacked. They don't make any mention of false visions. As far as they know, Xander took off just before the ceremony, returned just in time to see Buffy fighting the demon, he stepped in and killed it, and then he takes off again. Xander doesn't tell them why he ran. All he says is that he wasn't ready to get married.

Once again, who's the only one (other than Xander) that seems to know he had nightmare visions planted in his head? That's right. Anya. And she knows only because Stuart Burns told her that he did it. What's even more interesting is that Stuart plays it down (probably to twist the knife) by saying, "That's all it took," implying that Xander was a straight-up coward jumping at shadows rather than someone who may have fears that are too grounded in reality. Now it could be that Stuart didn't know the nature of the visions, but the dismissive tone in which this news is delivered to Anya is designed to lead her (and to an extent, the audience) into painting Xander yellow.

Now, I'm not saying that Xander was an example of bravery and maturity here, but I think his reaction was understandable. After all, he just lived (not watched, lived) through himself turn into his father, his marriage becoming a sham, his daughter clearly the product of an affair, capped by him beating Anya (and possibly killing her) with a frying pan.

The first thing he asked when he snapped out of it? "Is she all right?"

So at the very least the reasons for him running may have something to do with protecting Anya from himself.

The real kicker here is this: Anya knows that Stuart was one of her victims looking for revenge. Anya knows that Xander got caught in the crossfire. Anya knows he was subjected to nightmare visions. Anya can see he's freaking out (she keeps telling him to calm down).

And she wants to march down the aisle right that second.

True, she had no idea what Xander saw, only that Stuart told her they were false. And Xander didn't even try to explain.

Yet, Xander is the bad guy, 100% completely at fault. All the sympathy is reserved for Anya, not just among the characters, but (going by the way this run of episodes is presented) among the writers as well. The truly annoying thing is that even when Xander and Anya finally broach the subject in S7, Xander insists he ran because he didn't think they were ready and doesn't spill about the visions (in character), but Anya never acknowledges that she bore a significant portion of the blame for the wedding not happening.

It's no wonder that fans followed right along that path. Xander kept getting blamed by writers and viewers, even though he was just about the only character in S6 who took responsibility (or at least tried) for his personal bad acts. He attempted to apologize in Entropy. He took the blame all on himself by simply stating that he wasn't ready to get married without explaining that there might be extenuating circumstances. He didn't once try to excuse his bad behavior.

Okay, can someone again tell me why Xander's 100% at fault and the bad guy here?

So, here we have it: all the beady eyes are pointed at Xander as the asshat.

What's the first thing Anya does? Goes back to vengence and tries to get him killed.

Yes, he left you at the altar, Anya. Key his car. Run up his credit card bills. Sue him for breach of contract. Make his life miserable.

But murder? And trying to get his friends to wish it on him?

If the sexes were reversed and Anya was the guy and Xander was the girl, I can almost guarantee you that this segment would not have been played for laughs. If Anya left Xander at the altar and Xander attempted a spell to get even, there would've been howls from here to the hills. Yet, the writers make their excuses for Anya by playing the attempts to get him killed up for laughs rather than as a potentially serious threat to Xander that it actually was.

In short: we're literally told to sympathize with Anya even though it seems to me that Xander got the brunt of the abuse.

If this were fanfic, this would be called "character bashing."

Now, to be fair, Xander wasn't the only one getting bashed. Buffy suffered repeated beatings to the head through S6 (and S7...grrrrrrr). Dawn was beaten up pretty severely (as MT pointed out in an interview, every year Dawn seemed to regress to a younger age and it drove her nuts). Willow was made to look bad (I don't think the writing was nearly as bash-y as in the case of Buffy and Xander).

It's no wonder Spike looked good by comparison, even though I thought his character was positively horrendous and a perfect example of what was wrong with S6 and S7. Because all the other characters were behaving so badly, Spike's multitude of sins were not only unremarkable, but made too look like no big deal. End result? ME decided to "remind" us that Spike was evil by handing us that lovely attempted rape in Seeing Red (a whole other rant for another day).

[Note: Up until Crush, Spike was my second favorite character after Xander. My love dropped with the stalker storyline, but I was willing to give Spike a chance in S6. Let's just say I had full-bore Spike-hate by the end of the Wrecked that remained unabated through the end of Chosen. S5 AtS redeemed him somewhat in my eyes since he was acting like Spike again, but he still remains third on my list of characters I'd like to shoot into the sun, right after Dawn and Andrew.]

Another thing that bothered me: Xander's mum, Jessica. In previous episodes, we are led to believe that Jessica was an alcoholic who gave as good as she got. We're told over and over again (by Xander himself) that both his parents are monsters. He dislikes them to such an extent, that he'd rather give Willow's mother a hug after Joyce dies.

Yet, in Hell's Bells, Jessica is a poor widdle wamb whose victimized constantly by her husband. She doesn't take so much as a sip of alcohol. The last view we have of them is Tony looming over Jessica and yelling at her while she sits in her chair and attempts to defend herself.

*headdesk*

I can only blame the "all men are jerks" attitudes about S6 for this little travesty in canon-breaking. A minor one, all things considered, but still grating. All the male characters got nailed by this wonderful thing: Xander, Spike, and Giles (sob!) were literally written out of character to drive this point home. The Tony-Jessica dynamic is just a microcosm of what happened to all of the major male characters in the BtVS cast in S6.

The killer is this: the women go along with it.

*hits characters with a cluestick*

Hey! Guys! How long have you known Xander? Has he ever physically run away from anything, no matter how bad? Emotional avoidance, oh yeah. He's big on that, people. Not admitting to problems? You can bet your life on that. But running the fuck away, leaving town, and not keeping in touch?

Hello, McFly! Hellooooooooooo! That should've been your first clue that there was something seriously fucked up going on.

Essentially, all of the (non-Xander) characters were written deliberately obtuse or just out-and-out dishonest.

Okay, I can see Buffy. Suffering from PTSD, depressed, brain's not really here. Plus, she was a little too invested in the wedding. When her lovelife goes to shit, she tended to live vicariously through Xander's and Anya's "perfect" relationship. Happened in Triangle where she declares that Xander and Anya have a "perfect, undying love," so Buffy's attitude about the wedding had some basis in the past. As someone who got whiplashed by the sudden implosion of "perfect relationships" among her friends, I can actually see where Buffy might be on the clueless side.

Can also see Willow, because she was incredibly self-centered during this time period between "magic addiction" (another rant for another time) and her obsessing over Tara.

Spike...well...Spike doesn't give a flying fuck about Xander, so that was in character as well. Plus, him taunting Xander about it just get Xander upset was also perfectly in character.

But, helloooooooo! Dawn? Dawnie? You'd think as the only character not going through major trauma that you might, just might, spare a little sympathy for Xander over this (which, by the way, you never did)? Maybe even point out, "Hey, guys! I'm thinking something more is going on here?" You're a smart girl. Hell, ME kept telling us you were a smart girl since one of the key problems flagged in your school was falling grades. Think you might use that brainpower to think about your friends and family? Just saying, chica.

Maybe St. Tara of the Roses might've said something, because, hey! She was in the wedding party! Nice of you to pay back Xander for threatening to feed your brother his teeth if he laid a hand on you back in Family.

And Anya...well, Anya had loads of reasons not to talk. And let's face it, all that sympathy for her might've dimmed if she came clean about the mess. Rather than take responsibility for her part (which she never once did in S6 and S7), she marches right back into vengence, the very thing that resulted in her messed up life in the first place.

Way to go Anya! You perfect example of victimized womanhood you!

*pant, pant, pant*

That said, I actually did notice something kind of interesting in the episode, one that has gone completely unremarked in any summary I can see and it all almost comes down to how certain scenes were played.

I remember at the time it aired that people were decrying Xander for being an idiot for falling for Stuart's ruse since the blue-eyed actor didn't even look anything like hazel-eyed NB who practically towered over the guy. Those of us who were defending the guy were blaming the writers for bad writing and bad casting. I seem to recall my paticular whine that they should've either fitted NB or his twin brother with prosthetic make up to make them look old if they wanted us to believe that Xander had reason to fall for for the con.

Then again, none of Xander's family looked related to him--hell, Jessica looked like she might be Willow's mother--nor did Tony look like he did in Restless, so the bad casting accusation had some grounding in fact. This disparity, by the way, has left us with a legacy of "Xander's real father" stories, so thanks a whole fucking lot ME. (That's not to say I don't find some of them clever. I'm getting a chuckle over two stories at Twisting the Hellmouth by lisaroquin where Xander's real father is Snape. Heh.)

*ahem*

Anyway, on rewatching the scene, I realied that NB was playing it as if he were hypnotized.

Prior to seeing the "magic ball of nightmares," Xander does not belive the guy's story. First, he thinks Stuart's a relative. Stuart declares that he is Xander Harris and Xander's all, "You are crazy. Go away. You bother me. I've got other things to do and I don't need this shit."

For a brief moment, he's distracted because his drunk father is making a toast. He looks away and remarks that he left orders with the bartender not to serve drinks before the ceremony.

When he looks back at Stuart, Stuart pulls out his "magic ball." It flashes while Xander's looking right at it. When NB looks up at this point, there's a very definite blank look on his face. Stuart is able to pull him away from the crowd without Xander so much as raising a peep, although he does again get slightly distracted by Tony's horrible toast. NB still has the blank look as he follows Stuart into a private room and it remains there when he stares back into the magic ball and gets sucked in.

I can't see any stage directions for this in the Dialogue Database, nor can I find it on any script site. I almost wonder if it was done by direction or if that was the way NB decided to play it. Either way, subtly done and *well* done. Something that can only be picked up by rewatching that scene (and it's only the third time I've done so). At first, I was so unsure that I actually saw the blankness, that I had to rewatch several times. Insert, "Son of a bitch! I can't believe I missed that" for the full effect the scene had on me.

Given that S6 and Hell's Bells in particular was full of histronics, it's no wonder something that subtle got missed.

Either way, the hypnotism argument makes sense. It explains Xander's sudden acceptance of Stuart as himself (when just seconds before he's telling Stuart to get lost), despite the physical differences. It explains why Xander does not so much as peep in protest as he gets led away. It would also make him more receptive to the false visions to the point where he feels like he's living through it as opposed to seeing it.

Given the possible "hypnotism" angle plus the fact that Xander didn't realize that he was targeted by one of Anya's victims, this exchange from Water Hold Me Down Part 3 reads entirely differently to me now:

"That’s…that’s a very interesting story,” he finally said.

“It’s not every man who’s willing to face down a demon for his soon-to-be wife,” Anya beamed across the kitchen table at him. She had sat down at some point during her story, which meant that Xander had to resist reacting as she reached the not-so-thrilling conclusion.

“Unh, said demon being one of your former victims if I remember what you said right,” Xander said.

Anya looked down like she’d be slapped and Xander immediately felt like a shitheel. He noticed other Xander wasn’t exactly leaping to his wife’s defense.

“Look, I just…I wasn’t accusing it’s just…” he took a breath that was deep enough to hurt and looked to other him who was standing nearby with the meat cleaver still in a death grip. “It’s just incredible. Nasty visions. Living out an unhappy life before it happens. And you marched down the aisle anyway.” He was back to looking at his gummy cold oatmeal. “Not sure I’d be that brave,” he added quietly.

Suddenly, it doesn't read to me as if Xander's stuck his foot in it or is trying to cover up what he knows.

That sentence: "“Unh, said demon being one of your former victims if I remember what you said right.” Now sounds a little angry and accusatory in my head.



I must've subconsciously realized all of the above because certainly that detail wasn't planned on my part. I doubt that the realization of above will have an overall impact on the story other than color (the plot points are already set). However, it does throw a new light on Anya's character and makes her future actions in the story make more sense to me.

Unh, thanks for sticking around to the end of this rant. Heh.

Comments

[gloss]

These are fascinating thoughts, and I need to come back and read them when I'm not *utterly* mentally wiped.

So at the very least the reasons for him running may have something to do with protecting Anya from himself.
Duuuuuude. Get out of my (almost finished) Oz/Xander fic! Hell's Bells and Wild at Heart parallels are minemineMINE. ;)

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Far be it from me to step on a classic.

YAY! MORE 'NICE SHIRT!'

Ahem. Sorry. I really gotta FB that, don't I?

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Belated birthday greetings - like you, I tend to rely on other people on my F-list to remind me of birthdays.

Good essay, well thought out. I disagree with you about certain aspects; I feel that Anya didn't get the support she should have received from the other Scoobies after the not-wedding, and that she probably wouldn't have reverted to vengeance demon status if they had been more supportive. Being left to trail weeping up the aisle herself and announce that the wedding was off was particularly cruel; and the person at fault for that was Willow. As a Best Man she was a disaster. Totally and utterly remiss in her duties; she should have made the announcement for Xander. Actually according to the traditions of my people she should have married Anya herself, but I suppose that wasn't really feasible. Buffy, on the other hand, went above and beyond the call of duty and managed to win back a lot of the respect from me that she'd lost earlier in the season. In effect Buffy was the Best Man; Willow and Tara were useless bridesmaids.

But the person most at fault was, of course, Marti "I've got issues and I'm not afraid to use them" Noxon.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Well...if Willow lived in Massachusetts, could happen...(spoken as a proud Bostonian).

I agree. Buffy went above and beyond the call of duty during the wedding and Willow failed, failed, failed miserably.

In fact, I have a "don't blame Buffy" vibe (which might not have come across). There were a lot of extenuating circumstances going on in Buffy's life that, as far as I am concerned, summarily excuse her for dealing poorly with the aftermath.

In fact, I rather felt for Buffy when they were sitting on the couch. A few people were, "Way to make it about you Buffy!" while she was talking about Xander's and Anya's happiness being her hope. I'm going, "Right there with ya girlfriend," because I've been in that spot. Not a wedding, but definitely broken engagements, boyfriends moving out suddenly and, most recently, a friend's marriage falling apart for now reason.

My rant is more tied to the aftermath and is more aimed at people (not Buffy, who did everything she could and had circumstances or Spike, who simply didn't give a shit nor should he be expected to) for not clueing in that Xander was not acting at all like himself.

Willow (bestest bud) never even questioned what happened. Dawn (used to have a crush on Xander) never questioned it. Tara (who was supposed to be all-wise and all-understanding) didn't say a word.

As for Anya's support or lack thereof, we actually don't have any evidence one way or the other. Buffy and Willow mention in Normal Again that they were with her while she sobbed afterwards and then she just up and left. Then Anya goes vengence, comes back, and starts talking smack about Xander.

Now everyone's kind of in a tough spot and Anya's putting them there. They may be friends with both (sort of in Anya's case), but Xander was there first. If nothing else, I thought the delicate balancing act put forward by Buffy, Willow, Tara, and Dawn was believable while Anya tried to get them to wish.

But my point is this: Anya knew that there was more to Xander running away than "cold feet." In fact, she was the only one in possession of all the pieces to the puzzle. Xander didn't know he was a pawn in a revenge scheme. Buffy, Willow, Dawn, and Tara didn't know that Xander was attacked. Anya and Xander are the only two who knew there were fake visions involved.

Now, if Anya was willing to delay the wedding or at least do something to show she was willing to hold off until things calm down (for all we know, an hour or two might've done it), I'd agree with you. However, Anya wanted down that aisle right that second. It was like she was looking at Xander like some sort of brass ring and what he went through was immaterial to her Bridezilla instincts.

Heh. Different strokes I guess.

But, yeah, this is definitely a "Marti" issue. Needless to say, I plan to give her new series a huge-ass miss.

[stephanierb.livejournal.com]

Interesting commentary. I too have a lot of problems with Seasons 6 and 7 and I think you make some great points as to why both failed so miserably.

I guess I'm one of the few fans that didn't blame Xander 100% for what happened. I felt sorry for both of them, and while I thought Xander handled things poorly, I didn't see him as the callous jerk that everyone made him out to be. As you said, his reasons for running were understandable given his family history. I can understand Anya being angry that he left her at the altar and humiliated her in front of their friends and family, but given that she did know what happened with the demon, she should've been more sympathetic.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading your perspective. I hope to read your rants on "Seeing Red" and Willow's "magic addiction. I'd love to know your thoughts on both.

[lastscorpion.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear! That's really well-put.

I'm pretty sure we thought at the time that Xander believed that guy because of the magic in the shiny thing. ITA that Willow was the Worst Best Man Ever -- she should have spent all her effort before the wedding day trying to talk Xander out of it (while there was still time!), and all her effort on the wedding day making sure (dogging his every step!) that he didn't run off. That's what a Best Man is for!

[(Anonymous)]

You're right, these were some of the best episodes in S6, along with the one in which they all get locked in the house on Buffy's birthday. Certainly, they are miles and miles above such dreck as ::shudder:: "Doublemeat Palace." I hear they're making some of the detainees at Gitmo watch that one repeatedly as a particularly effective but mercilessly cruel torture technique.

I have to disagree with you about "Hell's Bells" not presenting a strong picture of Xander's family background, specifically his parents' dysfunctional relationship. I think the episode did a remarkably subtle but effective job of showing that Tony and Jessica have a marriage and family that's basically attractive on the surface (married for 20+ years, successful son, helping to pay for the wedding, etc.) but a decaying, festering mess underneath. What you see as Jessica being painted as a victim, I see as a depiction of her passive-aggressive behavior being used quite effectively as a weapon against her husband and son. Witness Jessica fretting to Xander in the first few minutes about the wedding pictures and that she won't be in them--but that's OK. Xander's weary protestations that yes, of course she will, of course he and Anya want her in the pictures, tell us that he's been through this cycle a million times, and he knows there's no way for him to stop it or come out on top.

At the hall, Jessica snipes at Tony, Tony drinks and lashes out at Jessica and everyone else, Jessica alternately yells back and withdraws into herself. Even before Demon Guy comes along, you can see Xander glancing at them and wondering if he and Anya are doomed to repeat this cycle, that he'll become an overbearing ass who cows her into a bitter, miserable shadow of her vibrant, outspoken self and that she'll turn into a shrew who resorts to pity-seeking behavior to get attention and approval. The visions are almost overkill; the "real" future is horrific enough.

And of course, Xander and Anya's actions after the not-a-wedding show just how far from ready they were for marriage. She immediately gives up on the whole being-human thing and reverts to her old ways, while he falls into the self-destructive behavior he dreads by drinking excessively and, in "Seeing Red" and "Entropy," lashing out at his friends. If this is how they react to the first serious problem in their relationship, then imagine what would have happened if they'd gotten married. The marriage would either have been over within a few months or they would have made the Harrises look like Ozzie and Harriet.

And yeah, I hated how Xander was made out to be the bad guy while Anya was the poor abandoned bride with no friends. I remember having a discussion online during S6 with someone who insisted that if Buffy, Willow, Tara, and Dawn were REALLY Anya's friends, they would have cheerfully agreed with Anya that yes, Xander deserved to have his intestines used as clothesline while flesh-eating bacteria nibbled away at his testicles. I pointed out that all four knew that Anya used to be a vengeance demon and also knew just how powerful words can be and that maybe that's why they declined to tell Anya in excruciating detail exactly how he should be punished. Or that they're Xander's friends as well as Anya's and can't in good conscience tear him down just to do the female-bonding thing with Anya. Fell on deaf ears, of course, as the other person felt very strongly that the Scoobs were dead wrong to defend Xander at all.

Xander was heartily disliked in certain areas of BTVS fandom before "Hell's Bells," but that episode made him almost universally loathed. Odd that on a show that regularly depicts murder, various forms of violence, and even torture that a man leaving a woman at the altar is considered the most heinous crime, no?

[(Anonymous)]

Xander was heartily disliked in certain areas of BTVS fandom before "Hell's Bells," but that episode made him almost universally loathed. Odd that on a show that regularly depicts murder, various forms of violence, and even torture that a man leaving a woman at the altar is considered the most heinous crime, no?

Oh, lord, truer words were never spoken. To this day, there are folks who insist that Xander's major flaw to be overcome (but wasn't) was his "commitment issues" or "fear of commitment." They cite not only this episode, but the "fluke" with Willow, as proof that Xander is forever unable to be emotionally ready for a mature romantic relationship.

*headbangswall*

What grates about this attitude is that, hello, Xander's been in exactly two relationships in his first 22 years of life. Beyond that, he's had a handful of dates with demon women who ended up trying to kill him, a one-night stand with a woman who later tried to kill him, a clandestine affair that consisted of "illicit smoochies" with a woman who much later tried to...you know, and (at least) one unrequited crush on a woman who...actually, typing all that out is really kind of...depressing.

One of the perversely fascinating, yet still destructive to the show, aspects of Marti's tenure as showrunner of S6 is her wholehearted embrace of a typical soap opera ethos to a show that was supposedly about the upheaval of stereotypical sexual roles in TV. It brought with it such subtextual messages as, "No woman is capable of having sex without love," (see: Spuffy) and "Any man who proposes marriage is morally and contractually bound to follow through and marry or else he is irredeemable pond scum."

That's one of the grating things about Joss: at the San Diego ComicCon in-between S6 and S7, he unequivocably stated his opinion that rape and attempted rape are of course forgivable if the perpetrator is truly sorry. Much like Spike until Damage, Joss displayed, IMO, a contemptible lack of empathy or understanding of how the experience affects the actual victims of this crime. But of course, realizing that oneself really isn't ready to get married, especially at the very last minute (although absolutely bad timing), is unforgivable.

(The show's deliberate failure to handle Buffy post-Seeing Red in a psychologically realistic manner in order to artificially shore up its message of "forgiveness and love are maturity, resentment and any desire for vengeance or punishment are childish" [especially when that message of "maturity" was applied only to Spike -- but that's a rant for another day], was when the show jumped the shark for me and ceased being a reflection of how people actually feel and think in real life. It's when the desire to reach into the TV screen, pull Joss Whedon out, and beat him in the head with a two by four while shouting, "Fuckwit, you aren't smarter or wiser than the rest of us," took hold of me. Because even though I'm sure Joss doesn't want that, it sure as hell is what he needs.

But, I digress, and I rant.)

The real problem is that by Hell's Belles, Xander had long since ceased to be treated by the writers as a separate, three-dimensional, well-rounded character with a character arc of his own, and was only being used as a plot point to further along other characters' stories -- most likely because Joss and the writers had long ago convinced themselves that Nick Brendon wasn't as capable an actor as Sarah Gellar or their personal favorites Marsters and Hannigan. Again, that's a rant for another day.

Sorry to hijack your LJ, Liz.

--skippcomet

[mara-sho.livejournal.com]

*applause* - again!

I've had this debate on several fourms and lists and never in my wildest dreams would I have been able to put forward the main points of the argument so eloquently.

The final straw for me with Hells Bells is the post-wedding moment with Willow, Buffy and Dawn sitting on Buffy's couch and Willow says "My heart hurts for her."

I literally said "huh?" at that point because there was some little part of me who clung to the hope that this was still the redhead I identified so strongly with in previous years. She wasn't. Willow, who barely tolerated Anya, who was never her friend, felt so bad for the poor girl that she threw away her lifelong friendship with Xander without a thought?

Grrr.

And yes - absolutely, if the lead up to Hells Bells had included some reference to the hideousness of Xander's family life (other than that one sweet scene where he and Anya are hiding in the bathroom and we can hear arguments from the other room, but even that was more about Anya than Xander). If the audience at large had some clues that there was more to the impending cold feet than resentment at Anya's take-chargeness (one might almost say hen-pecking) then the audience at large may have understood where it came from.

Xander was at fault for walking away, but he wasn't the only one. Trying to convince non-Xander fans of that is damn hard. So again, thank you for this!

Random Access Commentary

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

I have the more-or-less complete shooting scripts. They're at the office, though. Should I zip 'em all up for you? Just S6?

I've noticed and commented on Jessica, too. Thing is, if Jessica had fought back, then the general "Men Bad, Women Good" theme would've been broken. Well, it should've been, but I didn't have a voice in the production meetings, did I? I've always found connection between Tony/Jessica and Xander/Cordy, and I think that comes from Jessica being a strong woman who would stand up to Tony. Remember how Xander didn't show signs of attraction toward Willow until Buffy's influence started to make her more confident, right?

Xander, when he's upset, retreats. Willow should know this most of all, because she tried to call Xander when he was retreating in "Prophecy Girl" and he hung up and took the phone off the hook. I could easily see Buffy, Dawn and even Anya not knowing that, because I can't think of many S4-S6 points where he did so, but Willow was there. (Buffy was otherwise occupied in "Prophecy Girl", wasn't she?) Think back to "Revelations" where, after the emotional failed intervention. Xander is alone in the Bronze playing pool, and when Faith came up, the last thing he wanted to do is chat. So, I kinda quibble with you here. Willow could've recognized the signs, but she's messed up (and let's face it, kinda self-centered) and Dawn would've seen non-Xander behavior but not known what it meant.

Of coruse, that's minor stuff. In the general case, I'm with you 100%.

Re: Random Access Commentary

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Also, the joy of post-"Chosen" is that from S4 on, you have a group that increasingly has nothing in common but is held together by writer's fiat, and post-"Chosen", you can actually break 'em up or find more logical ways to keep 'em together. It's not nuts at all.

[thepeopleseason.livejournal.com]

Here via mutant_allies. Thanks for writing this. I got rather tired of Buffy fandom after "Hell's Bells," precisely because so many fans demonized Xander so mercilessly (consider also I had to sit through many DragonCon panels where it was all Xander-bashing).

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Oh, I largely agree. Particularly, w/regards to the setup. In addition to the "men are bad" -fest and the muddiness...

What was needed was some in-your-face reminder that Xander wasn't just battling his own cold feet, but his family background.

For me, the pet scene would have been an obligatory "Xander and Anya do pre-marriage couples counseling" scene. Opportunity for good humor and pathos, instead of the two-dimensional treatment the pre-wedding X/A scenes got when everybody knew that they'd be busted up because that's how ME was going to work things -- but where no one could "feel" the setup because ME wasn't laying the proper groundwork needed for it to follow through well.

[luminosity]

Lovely rantessay! Wandered in from mutant_allies.

I've had problems with Anya since she first showed up. Her character always grated on me. I tried. God knows I tried. sigh I had mentioned the "Xander's under a spell" theory when the ep first aired, and I was totally drowned out by the poor-li'l-Anya-how-dare-that-bastard-leave-her contingency. *Everything* he did from the moment he looked into the crystal ball until he killed the demon was NOT the Xander I knew and loved.

If ME were actually, consciously trying to play up the "actions have consequences" side of things, this would have been a marvelous wake-up call for Anya, who just spent, ohhhh, 1100 years as a vengeance demon. But no. No of course not. Instead, it was "let's make Xander a bastard and Anya a victim. It's a motif this year! Go us!" Sometimes, even 2.5 years later, I want to slap Marti Noxon upside the head.

shutting up now.

[nikitangel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, very interesting. And all so sadly true ...

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

Ooo, this is a good one to obsess about...

I happen to agree with you on most of the major points of Hell's Bells, although there are days I hate it even more. I was one of the few pitying Xander unequivocably, and who was shocked that other people didn't. I *do* think he handled it badly-- he should've stayed long enough to call off the wedding, telling all those gathered that it was his choice, not Anya's, his fault, and not hers. But I did understand why he just walked off shell-shocked into the rain, instead of staying to deal. But in that whole awful day, that comes out as a fairly third-level problem.

Part of the problem, too, is that GILES WASN'T THERE. Argh. I'm not someone who thinks he could've solved this, or made it come out differently; but of all of Anya and Xander's friends, he was the only one who had misgivings when they announced their engagement. He was the only one who tried to give Xander a reality-check at Halloween. He was the only one who *was* friends with Anya as well, in most ways. I would expect Willow to take Xander's side, and Buffy had justifiable issues (which you've explained better than I could). Giles might dope-slap Xander, but he would've been there to comfort Anya, and I can't help but think he would've seen D'Hoffryn coming and headed it off. Willow or Buffy or Tara should've stayed with her, tried to make sure she didn't flip out, but it didn't even seem to occur to them. Sloppy writing. And NONE of them track down Xander and stay with him, even though it's nearly inconceivable to me that Willow didn't, as close as they're supposed to have been. Even *more* sloppy writing.

Half the reason I think Anya's second descent into vengeance doesn't work out, is because she *did* have friends during her second mortal go-round, even if they weren't always there for her. She couldn't quite work up as much quality rage, because their opinions still mattered to her. Before, it was her and Olaf, no one else: getting revenge on the whole world was just fine when no one else was there to care. Selfless had a lot of problems seventh season, but the background they gave her explained a lot about Anya. I loved the ending (although most of the middle was questionable) with her and Xander as *friends* again, and her realizing she needed to work out her own identity, something which had never really been addressed before. But Xander *understood* this in that ep. Sixth season, they were just ignoring this after the wedding. Very, very, very annoying.

Ahem. Anyway. I think I've seen Veggiebelle say that she's seen more people want to smack Xander for the demon-dancing wish than for the "Kick his ass" comment and the wedding combined. I didn't realize, until after you said it here, that none of the other characters knew why he'd run away, so I'm not surprised that most of the audience missed that Willow and Buffy didn't know that either. It never occurred to me. *sigh*

Aside from a deeply amusing story of Anya meeting Mulder while she's "mourning" her wedding, this ep really is annoying as all hell. But I think that about S6 all the time. I loved parts of it. OMWTF, parts of Wrecked, Tabula Rasa... but other parts were just badly written. I wish they'd gotten consistent casting, too.

I'm off to read lisa roquin's stories now, but I can already recommend "Bridges" by Tassos on tthfanfic.net, for Jack O'Neil as Xander's real dad. Heh. Much, much improvement.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem, too, is that GILES WASN'T THERE. Argh. I'm not someone who thinks he could've solved this, or made it come out differently; but of all of Anya and Xander's friends, he was the only one who had misgivings when they announced their engagement.

In theory, Giles might have been the character to suggest they go to a very common and common-sense marriage counseling session before the wedding. Which probably wouldn't have mattered if we have a Bride-zilla Anya and a repressing, head-in-the-sand Xander before the wedding, but would have at least given some pathos and setup. As it were, IMHO, everybody knew the wedding wasn't going through -- and it seemed like instead of really getting something out of the plotline, ME just half-assed it.

Willow or Buffy or Tara should've stayed with her, tried to make sure she didn't flip out, but it didn't even seem to occur to them. Sloppy writing.

I don't think it occurs to the characters to go looking for either Xander or Anya, largely because it never occurred to the writers that the characters would do so. Considering recent events with Dawn, it easily makes sense that Buffy would stick with her instead of running off, but the writing doesn't even mention that. I guess ME forgot that (1) these characters are supposed to be friends and (2) that's what friends do.

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Thaaaaaaaank you. I have had this argument (without the Oh My God Why Didn't I See That of realizing that nowhere did they ever confirm that anyone but Anya knew the demon was a former victim, or that anyone but Xander and Anya knew about the orb-visions at all ) to such levels of frustration with people who didn't like Xander in the first place and now have no respect for him after the wedding arc.

Just on the basis of us having seen the visions, you'd think there'd be a connection with the horror of "I just lived through hitting my wife with a frying pan, pssibly killing her, some understanding of why Xander stumbled out of the church with no coherent ability to explain why he couldn't go through with it.

But I keep hearing "He should at least have gone in with Anya to explain things to the guests together," and "His cold feet all season weren't fair to her," and and and and... and my issue (as, admittedly, a Xander-lover) is that the other characters may not have been clearheaded enough to see the position that Xander was in, but damn if we the viewers hadn't been given enough history in the mast, and explication in the present, to understand his reaction. It bugs me because I keep seeing siding with Anya and calling Xander (as she did, but at least her accusation was corrcetly timed and had a bit of merit) an immature little boy, as some kind of feminst requirement in people's minds.

(And I've been ranting about the Magic Crack arc myself, it seems to be the week for Season 6 (and bad followup thereon) complaints.

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

And someday I will remember that we can now spellcheck comments...

[spiralleds.livejournal.com]

Huh. It never hit me that Buffy, Willow, etc., may never have been clued into what Xander saw flash before his eyes. Thank you.

Could the cowering Jessica thing be fanwanked that behind closed doors she gives as good as she gets but in public she plays the victim in order to get the sympathy votes?

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Great rant and I agree with all of it.

It also points up alarger problem of season 6 and 7. Characters no loner had any depth and motives were either incomprehensible or changed, seemingly at random.

In seasons 1-5, when things occurred I never felt that one character's pov was the writer's mouthpiece. Motivations were complex, no one was completely right or wrong, it was just like real life in that sense. That all disappeared in the last two seasons as clearly some characters seemingly could do no wrong no matter what their actual actions.

The Real Problem

[ladylavinia.livejournal.com]

The real problem with Seasons 6 and 7 is that the Scoobies were growing up and changing. They could not remain as they had been during high school and during Buffy and Willow's first year in college . . . and the fans could not deal with it. The fans could not deal with the characters developing into adults and dealing (however effectively)with the problems of young adults. Everyone wanted the characters to remain the same as they had been back in good old Sunnydale High. They didn't want the characters become more ambiguous, make mistakes and slowly drift apart.

The real problem with Seasons 6 and 7? Buffy and the Scoobies were becoming adults and the fans could not deal with it.

[sunnyd-lite.livejournal.com]

firstly- you're welcome (and not in a Cordy-way) hope you enjoyed the drabble and Happy B-day. It was great meeting you at writers' con and I've enjoyed your essays here on your lj.

I particularly enjoyed this essay. In OMWF BOTH Xander and Anya had concerns about the marriage and yet they didn't show them talking it out, just soldiering on.

Thank you for your well reasoned and supported commentary on 'where ME writers went wrong'.

Part One

[(Anonymous)]

Okay. Having read through everybody's comments about Xander and Hell's Belles, and the links to discussion about the Willow/Magiccrack arc, I've got some thoughts I want to share, and I apologize in advance for hijacking your LJ, Liz.

1) Xander and Anya: Despite the acting of Nick and Emma in a few key episodes, I never got the impression from the writing or direction that ME treated the Xanya ship with the amount of thought or consideration that they were reserving for Buffy's relationships or for Willow's relationships with Oz and Tara. In fact, I've long suspected that if not for Xanya, ME would have had to either start treating Xander like an important part of the cast and story again, or else decide not to bring him back after his post-high school road trip.

I base this on the show's treatment of Xander from S4 on. Clearly, except for a few key scenes in some episodes scattered through the show's last four seasons, the writers decided from that point on that the only thing Xander (and by implication, Nick) brought to the table was "comic relief" and that they had little to no interest in treating Xander like a serious and integral part of the cast -- except, of course, when it was necessary to the plot and/or to the eventual progression of other character's stories.

Now imagine Xander's..."plot," if you can call it that, in S4, without Xanya. The only one of his friends still in Sunnydale who hasn't gone to college, Xander's living in his parents' basement and is working an endless series of dead-end jobs in order to make ends meet. Meanwhile, his friends are caught up in the whirlwind college experience, complete with new friends, romantic partners, and experiences, and have subconsciously bought into the idea that because Xander's not in college with them, that he's no longer on the same level as them, that he's somehow lower than them, and that his situation and problems just aren't as serious as theirs, and thus their interaction with him for most of the season is tinged with a bit of alienation and condescension.

On any other show, this would have been seen as fertile grounds for angst, character conflict, strained relations, and character growth and change. We could have seen Xander come to grips with the realization that his own sense of self-worth and self-esteem is not dependent on the strength of his friendships. We could have seen Xander realize, and maybe get a little fed with, his friends' incremental efforts to push him away and keep him at an emotionally lower arm's length. (Cue up a thousand badly launched "Xander-gets-pissed-and-leaves" fics: "What, I was good enough for you to pal around with in high school, but not anymore?") Or we could have seen Xander and the others' realize that they'd been gradually drifting apart from Xander since the middle of the third season and either decide to confront the reasons why (IMO, dating back to events in Revelations and the aftermath of the Clothes Fluke) or decide that they were not particularly unhappy with Xander's lessened importance in the their lives.

(cont.) skipp

Part Two

[(Anonymous)]

(cont.) Instead, ME decided that they were going to sweep all that aside and treat Xander's S4 status quo as grounds for comic relief. *headdesk* However, they apparently realized that doing so would risk making them look really, really bad (not to mention nakedly betray the fact that they no longer considered Xander an important part of the cast). So, how to ameliorate things?

Theoretical Writer One: "Hey, remember Anya, who started out as a demon (and thus knows about the Hellmouth and Slaying) but is now a powerless human, kind of flailing about? Who asked Xander to the prom because he had no other prospects for a date and she really wanted to go but didn't understand why? Who fled the apocalypse but asked Xander to come with her? What if we brought her back specifically to pursue a relationship with Xander, and she decided really quick that she likes having lots of offscreen sex with Xander, but doesn't get that your sex life just isn't something you talk about openly? Wouldn't that be funny?

TW Two: "Not only that, but it would make our plans to only use Xander for comic relief easier. Who won't think, 'Xander may live in a basement, work crummy jobs, and find himself alienated from his friends, but how bad can it be when he's got a pretty girl willing to sleep with him?' We don't even have to pretend that it's a serious relationship, unless we decide to make Emma a regular. Not to mention that it takes care of the problem with Nick still having some chemistry with both Alyson and Sarah (especially more than Marc does in The Freshman) by pairing him with a girl who, thanks to both their histories, he'd better not cheat on or break up with less than amicably, and we don't do amicable on this show. It's Brilliant!"

Eventually, they decided to make Emma a regular, and Xanya started becoming marginally more serious in WtWTA when, in contrast to all the B/R sex, Xander and Anya are no longer having sex Every Night. But even though they gave her a job at the Magic Box to give her something more to do, her purpose on the show was still Xander's Girlfriend. This was confirmed not only by Emma's drastically reduced screentime in S7 but by Jane Espenson's admission in a Succubus Club interview that after Selfless the writers pretty much lost interest in Anya.

Hell's Belles was, until Selfless, the most serious and significant episode in Xander and Anya's relationship, which had at best been used to justify both Xander and Anya's presence, and at worst used as cheap comic relief. But HB and its aftermath were a jarring change in tone that ME never adjusted to. And, looking back, it still feels as though, it was used mainly as a springboard for setting up developments in Other Characters' Stories. (The nonwedding leads Anya back to vengeance demonhood and to solace sex with Spike, which leads to the revelation of B/S, the Attempted Rape, the soul quest, and the setup for Spike's S7 story, not to mention how Buffy's actions in Selfless directly informed her approach to Souled Spike.)

2)A key problem with S6-7 is their radically different approaches to the use of metaphor compared to S1-S5. In S6, the use of metaphor was, in a word, shallow. It was shallowly thought through, used, and executed. (Or, "The subtext became text" but without any new subtext.) In S7, apparently Joss decided to overcompensate and overloaded S7 with metaphor. So much that it overwhelmed continuity, characterization, the need to properly use the show's existing cast, story logic, and well, common sense. In the past, I'd been able to appreciate the use of metaphor, but truthfully, I cared far more for the characters. Without them, I really wouldn't have cared about the metaphors used, or much else, and the show felt like it had become Joss's Soapbox on how Life, Love, and Growing Up Should Be, and Anybody Who Doesn't Accept It Just Isn't Smart Enough to Get It. (Which, IMO, is just a tad condescending on Joss's part, not to mention it highlights both Joss's weaknesses as a writer/showrunner and his ego/hubris).

--skippcomet

[djinanna.livejournal.com]

This is a lovely and eloquent critique of Those Bastards at ME who didn't appreciate Our Xander. ::fie on them::

I checked back and saw that I got my LJ about a month after Hell's Bells first aired. Which means that I was totally uninvolved in the fannish conversation at that point, so I can't say "I had lots of arguments in forums/elsewhere defending Xander".

I did have some sympathy with Anya during HB, even (especially?) since it was partly based on "ouch, her past came back and bit her on the ass". But I was totally enraged at the cavalier and shallow manner in which Those Bastards demoted Xander to "stupid guy/comic relief" rather than "great guy who *mistakenly thinks* he's stupid and comic relief".

But there were so many problems with seasons 6 & 7 ... it's enough to cause hair loss via pulling one's hair out.

Anyway, I don't really have anything intelligent to add, just that I appreciated the essay.

(And the link to Xander Snape ... that was fun!)

[4thdixiechick.livejournal.com]

great essay!
You put into words what I've been feeling for the second half of the series' run.
I recently watched the first season of Buffy on DVD, and while I enjoyed the episodes, they also made me very angry at how, later in the series, the writers just abandoned Xander's character unless they needed him for a plot point.

[(Anonymous)]

[quote] [Side note: S7 was just incompetently put together, so I don't think anyone on the ME staff was looking logically at story elements within single episodes, let alone along a season-long story arc, so we'll not discuss S7 any further here.] [/quote]

For some reason I see Liz here gesturing emphatically, "Season seven! It is a filthy season! We shall speak of it no more!"

[quote] Xander, when he's upset, retreats. Willow should know this most of all, because she tried to call Xander when he was retreating in "Prophecy Girl" and he hung up and took the phone off the hook. [/quote]

On a side note, I wonder if that phone call was part of Xander's motivation to get off his bed, stop listening to country music and go out to save Buffy, or die trying? It would be just Xander-jonesing Willow's luck that her phone call to Xander, proving that she hadn't given up on him, was the motivation for him to decide not to give up on Buffy...

I pretty much agree with everything here. Anya is a favorite character, and Emma is easily my favorite eye-candy since Cordelia left, but I never considered her a character that I was supposed to feel any sort of sympathy for. I always considered her to be just a bit of a sociopath, actually, in that she seemed to be unable to empathize with other people. Then again, Buffy and Willow have similar all-about-me egocentric issues (which makes me wonder how a show touted as feminist can consistently portray it's female characters as raving egomaniacs unable to deal with any sort of power, authority or responsibility)...

Set

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Then again, Buffy and Willow have similar all-about-me egocentric issues (which makes me wonder how a show touted as feminist can consistently portray it's female characters as raving egomaniacs unable to deal with any sort of power, authority or responsibility)...

And those traits are hardly limited to the female characters. It starts to make one wonder about the psychology of the writing staff...

[koos73.livejournal.com]

I'm late in reacting (I really should read your LJ more, Liz), but I wanted to bring in my two cents. First a little remark: I don't want to bash any of the other characters. Especially not Anya: I love Anya. But Anya IS Anya and that is the main issue here. Key episodes to her characterization prior to Selfless are The Replacement and Triangle.

Anya is not willing to adapt, she rude and unconsiderate and has no problem with massacres.

The whole thing was to show Anya that men are not evil. They can do stupid things, but they mean it right and are not evil. The whole thing wasn't so much for Xander characterization, but for Anya. To force her into self-reflection.


1. I DO blame Xander for what happened. Nobody else is to blame, but him. He is the one who ran away and at the most horrible moment. And I don't think it was OOC either.

2. I DO NOT blame Xander for the way how it happened. He loved Anya and did want to marry her and as such it took until wedding day before he could tell he couldn't marry her. See in addition point 6.

3. All of the past wishes that Anya had granted were made undone when Giles had destroyed her powercenter. There was no victim from her past as a vengeance demon. Only Olaf was left as a victim of her vengeance past and that was before she became a vengeance demon. A HUGE plothole, which made me think it was originally meant for the real Xander from the future that had travelled back in time to warn him.

4. Xander calling off the wedding by himself (instead of Anya or his best man) might have been the right thing to do and I think it would be more in character if he had done so himself, but considering his state of mind at that moment it wouldn't make sense. He was going through a personal hell and was lost. Xander's human afterall.

5. Xander did take the responsibility for his actions here. Over and over again he told Anya how sorry he was. He told her that they had issues to go through, together. While this is definitely refering to Anya's demonness, it is still possible Xander also meant his own issues. Because this has barely to never shown before, it doesn't mean he hadn't tried. If you watch The Replacement carefully you can see that Anya didn't want to know that part of Xander when she had to choose between ScruffyXander or ConfidentXander. And she totally ignored his problems the whole episode. She didn't even know his construction job might have ended that day. Not once has Anya shown any interest in Xander's personal life in the entire series or his problems. Never has she stand up for him either. I don't blame Anya for this, it's who she is: she is still a demon. Only from Selfless on Anya started to realize this.

6. Xander's father was the trigger, but not the main reason why Xander had left her. Anya, despite being a human, was still in core a demon. And Xander saw her like that. His unconsciousness referred to her as being a demon in OMWF and Restless. Even after more than two years, Xander still saw Anya as a demon. Then Anya's best friend came along and later her other 'friends', which reminded him how much of demon Anya still was. The fact that Anya immediately became a vengeance demon is perfectly within that characterization. And in End Of Days (to Andrew) she sees herself as not being part of humanity. She never became a human, which is logical considering 1100 years of having been a demon. Also in Xander's nightmare vision, Anya was portrayed as acting like a demon (who has cheated him with a demon). This was the fear that drove Xander and tried to do something about it. Xander knew for certain that he one day he'd kill Anya if he'd marry her, because Anya would have driven him nuts. The driving nuts part is what makes himself compare with his father. Anya needed reflection on herself before she could ever marry him, which she did during S7. Sadly enought they could never marry, because EC wanted Anya to die.

[djinanna.livejournal.com]

>>Anyway, on rewatching the scene, I realied that NB was playing it as if he were hypnotized.<< and etc

NB really is the most under-rated actor of the BtVS/AtS casts. Probably because he was mostly called on for comic relief, but when necessary, he could do evil, menacing, traumatized, angry, romantic, etc etc etc. Some of the others got more props for their acting ability when their performances were blatant, shrill and over-the-top. NB's best work had a subtlety that often gets overlooked by more flashy performances -- and especially was overlooked in his case because Xander's "comic relief" role *seemed* like NB's own "flashy" performance.

*argh*

[(Anonymous)]

They had *themes* in S6? They wanted to portray all men as evil and show his family live as horrible?
You sure have a hell more confidence in the writers about that episode then I do.

To me, it looked like they orignially had Xander paired up with Anya for a short term, and therefore didn't bother to write him a new girlfriend but simply recycled a character they liked withoout bothering to wonder if she fit with Xander, if they had any connection and if she had the right personalety/background so would have any reason to like her, and therefor overcompensated in the writing over the years to make them nice together.

And after S5, when they finally succeded and people believe they belonged together, they remembered Joss Rule of All Relations Are Doomed, and yelled:
"HELP, we've got a Happy Couple! We got to Bucher it now it makes the most impackt, or else we're stuck with a Happy People!"

And in stead of wondering looking for flaws in the relationship to have it collapse over (or if it could be worse for Xander to go through with the wedding), they picked the fanfic-hype of his bad parents and forced it through.

My 4 reasons why I can not find the parent-thing convincing at all:

1) All the 6 previous years they managed fine with leaving Xanders parents open to interpretation of the audience (and it worked), and now they are suddenly crucial for his behaviour?
They were mentioned twice in season 1-3; in ThePack when ordering Pizza, and once in an insult from Cordelia. Not really a basis to suddenly stample them as childabusing peadophiles or whatever fanfics made of them.

If he hated them so much, why are they at his wedding at all?
(Same goes Anya's demonfriends, not a single one ever visited her since she turned human)


2) The previous (and latter) episodes they had desperately been trying to write in some flaws in the relationship (Anya 'changing' to please Xander, Xander annoyed by her capitalist talk), and they were not even mentioned in the episode.

Why bother to write in these problems conflicting with S4/5 canon when your're no going to use them anyway?

3) It has absolutely nothing to do with the relationship at all (a common ending for all Non-Buffy relationships), other then just being a simple and cheap way to end it.

Which is a shame, because there were definitally some flaws in the relationship.
(Both mostly desperately committing to each other because they wanted to fit in or didn't believe they could get someone else, Xander not believing haooy relations could exist on a Hellmoth, Anya not having any friends of her own, etc).

They were not dealed withl they were not even mentioned, as were those mentioned under point 2.


4) They never ever did anything with it afterwards. If his parents made such a big impackt on his capebilety to date, shouldn;t he visit a pshyiatirst? Or at the very least have a traditional BTVS Methaphoric-Monster-mirrorring-real-trauma episode?

But no, afterwards he just got commitmentfear and the whole issue (including the characters) is forgotten untill they know Anya is going to die and they can patch them, up without reason, because there is no risk of Happy Couple anymore. (She's gonna killed off)

In other words, his parents didn't have any influence at Xanders view on live AT ALL in the rest of Jossverse, they just needed a horrifying plot-of-the-week fitting their 'Dark Season'-theme.



My second big issue is with Xander being the one who ended the relationship is the over-all message it gives off.
He was already the one who messed up with Cordelia; 2 times in a row, was Cordelia right that there are 'Losers' who are not ment to have relationships at all, ever? (And will destroy their own happiness because they are destinied to do so?)

Or with the parent-issue used in the episode, are people simply doomed because of their upbringing no matter how much they grow up, and have no choise in their behaviour?

Pretty dark messages, especially for a show like BTVS that was famous (S1-3) for the importance of personal choise and the capebileties of those looked down on by general society to defy the steriotype.



MBB

[(Anonymous)]

PS:
Reading this back I notice I may have reacted too little on your rant.
I did read it, and agree with your insights on the how and why Xander came out as the bad guy (that was new to me), and how the seeson made Spike look better in comparison to some people (had notced that as well).

Unfortunately, that left me little to comment on, hence my choise to focus on the flaws in episode itself in stead of the seasonarc.

If I had to pick one thing you mentioned, it would be that if Buffy really believed Xander/Anya was her New Hope, she would have invested more time and attention at their relationship in stead of ***ing Spike at the Xander-Anya danceparty.

But then, Buffy made so little sense that season it barelyregisters.

MBB