the best kdrama i watched this year

"Uh...nevermind"

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1997-2003)

honestly it's less specific things and more, like, this very weird vibe that I get from some people who talk about Svetlana. The girlboss of it all, if I'm being honest. Or the way that they tie her life so completely to Ilya despite there being a great deal of evidence to the contrary. Or even the assumption that she would be willing to do certain things for Ilya that would limit her own autonomy--marry him for citizenship, carry a child for him and Shane, just to name a few.

I know that Ilya says that thing about Svetlana being willing to help him in the case of the citizenship stuff and it's not really challenged in the narrative, but I have my issues with it. Svetlana has a great deal of love for Ilya but I don't know. Knowing that Svetlana in the show is Black, that her mother is specifically a Black American woman (I believe that this is implied given the Svetlana having American citizenship thing) and knowing how that would inherently change her character versus Book Svetlana, I just...feel like that should have been changed or addressed in some way. Or at least it should have been made clear that that's a symptom of Ilya himself having blinders about Svetlana and her race. Which would make sense, but I think that's something that people would be REALLY mad about me talking about so I won't.

Whenever people talk about Svetlana I think about my Black wife and my Black MIL and my Black extended family and I find it hard to think that the things that people are saying about Svetlana are nearly as nuanced as they think they are. Like, oh Svetlana is so strong! Svetlana is the sensible one! Svetlana would do anything for Ilya! She has no romantic feelings for him and never has and in fact Svetlana isn't interested in romance at all! That last one specifically bothers me and it is EVERYWHERE in this fandom. That's not to say that you can't headcanon a character as aromantic but why Svetlana specifically? Why not Rose? Why not, like, Luca fucking Haas? Why the only Black woman? These are the questions we need to be asking ourselves.

For contrast, I see people giving Rose so much more internality than they give Svetlana and it bothers me a lot. Even I'm guilty of this at times, I fear. This is a reason why, frankly, I'm a little bothered by the Roselana stuff. At times it seems like people are trying to 'soften' Svetlana by pairing her with Rose, or else that they are trying to make her...I don't know, less of a threat to Shane? By pairing her with Shane's girl bestie? It feels dismissive. Not to mention I've never been fully satisfied by any of the portrayals of Roselana as a couple that I've seen. The realities of being in an interracial relationship, ESPECIALLY with a Black woman, are much more complex than anyone is willing to recognize. And these are things that you absolutely NEED Black people in your life to even begin to understand. I have been with my wife for nearly eight years and I have learned so much in that time and I am still constantly improving myself.

The things that I see people say sometimes just completely dismiss the context that Svetlana in the show is Black and treat it as something to be ignored or as some sort of inconvenient truth. Almost the only time I ever see it addressed is in anecdotes about Svetlana being bullied growing up in Russia. Which like. That's not fair. At LEAST as much attention should be paid to the ways in which being a Black woman have shaped Svetlana for the better. I've had the privilege to be around the culture that my wife grew up in and it's so rich and nuanced and special to the people who cultivate it. Black women are the driving force behind so much good. Sometimes it seems like this fandom only wants to talk about the characters of color in the context of how much they hate being people of color. Which is. Not good!

"but you know me, i'm lazy, so." "i don't know that side of you at all."

"is that what we are going to do? relax?" "i hope so. i would like to relax with you. for once."

"because you like to be bad." "hey, that's not what this is. you and me. maybe it was at first but, not now, and not for a long time."

to the point where it even usurps other peoples interpretations of ilya before he gets the chance to internalize them -

"but, you hate him." "no. i mean, i get that. but no. i love him."

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER | 3.12 & 2.19

Cordelia asking the important questions

BONUS: // 2.21

Buffy Summers & Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2x14 | "Innocence"

bonus: