it's never over

you turned into your worst fears… [ for @missusgordo ]

“We don’t belong to ourselves. We belong in the world, fighting.”

Sometimes I get asks that I feel I am highly unqualified to answer and this is one of those. I tend to be overly literal. I don’t always immediately see the metaphors and the literary references in stories because my focus is usually so much on character arcs, development, psychology, character motivation, emotions etc. (This is why me and BtVS s7 don’t mix). This is one of those lines that I think carries a great deal of significance but that has always landed oddly for me. 

One the one hand it is a favorite line for those who criticize B/A for being “teen melodrama” but I believe there is more to it than that. I have read some good analysis on this line from @kairosimperative here and discussed with @gracenm who has helped me see that maybe this statement carried some greater significance (and maybe she will chime in with her insight on this!).

Because I am more of a “fire bad, tree pretty” kinda gal, the line to me pretty much felt like Buffy being a little overdramatic (I agree with Kairos in her blog post she doesn’t really want to die) but she wants Angel to understand that the feelings she has are real and valid and he needs to get over it. Angel’s hesitation at pursuing a relationship is frustrating her. She knows that there is something there, feelings are growing between them but Angel, who has basically been living in isolation for decades, is understandably concerned that things won’t go well if they get together. Spoiler alert: he’s kinda right! Like Kairos says in the above-linked review, Buffy and Angel have a ways to go before they hit a healthier relationship stride. But it’s fun to see them fall in love. :)

I think it likely appealed to the writer because it evoked “la petite mort”/orgasm and kept the sexual innuendo of the conversation going. Angel talks about “one thing leading to another” and things getting out of control. He tells Buffy it’s not going to be all fairy-tale romance and she’s basically like, “No kidding, dumbass, but this burning lust isn’t going to just take care of itself.”

Except that reading of the line doesn’t really work for teenage Buffy. It’s too literary/poetic and ends up sounding overly melodramatic.

But I still like it because I think it hints at themes that are explored later in the season/show. 

“See, this is what I hate about you vampires. Sex and death and love and pain—it’s all the same damn thing to you.” (7x07, Conversations with Dead People)

giles + talking about boys