Reactions to last night's ep (Spoilers for Goodbye Iowa)

[Erin <erin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

First off, Rodrigo is right; some people here are going to not like
Riley, and some people here are. It's no reason for anyone to get
upset, or take it personally. If you want to see what *that* can do
to a group of friends, just witness any of the Joxer wars on any Xena
group.

Some spoiler space would be in order...
>
I don't much like Riley either, MB's acting is a little wooden, and I
don't buy the chemistry that's supposed to exist between Buffy and
Riley. There was a lot more chemistry between Buffy & Faith (whoa,
boy, was there), and even between Buffy & Parker. At least you could
see where that relationship was, and where it was going (even though
he played the conniving bastard the whole time). I just don't "get"
the whole Buffy/Riley thing (and it's not just because I think she
should be with Willow. Although she should).

And he pushed Willow. Not just pushed, *threw* her to the ground.
Although I suppose if Willow can forgive Angel for putting her in the
hospital, she can probably forgive Riley. I won't, but she can.
That's the type of person Willow is.

The Tara-sabotaging-their-spellcasting thing last night bothered me,
though. Didn't give me a whole lot of warm fuzzies about the
Tara/Willow relationship. But David Fury, one of the writers, assured
people on the posting board that Tara wasn't evil, if that can be
trusted.

I'd like to see the Scooby Gang's relationship with each other get
back on track. Kimber's right, Buffy has been "absentee friend"
lately, and in response to that, Willow is creating her own distance.
Xander and Giles are the most distant of all, only tangentially
existing in the grrls' lives.

Doesn't bode well for subtext.

Oh well, I suppose it just means I'll have to write a bunch of alt fic
about how things *should've* been. ;)

Erin
--
"I question the stability of a company whose future depends on
Microsoft programs being intelligent. I don't question the idea
that Office Assistants are the most advanced Microsoft technology."
-- Joel Ray "Piquan" Holveck
*email: erin@xxxxxxxxxxx