Thursday, January 20, 2011

Season 2, Episode 16

“Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”

I hate Valentine’s Day so I think on that basis alone I have always disliked this episode. Plus the fact that it’s mostly about Cordelia. So this post will be short, just covering a few things I want to point out instead of summarizing because I’m sure you don’t want to hear me rant for 5 paragraphs about how I don’t like Cordelia.

To start off with I hate Harmony more than Cordelia. Not only is she a bitch, she's also really dumb and there is nothing I hate more than stupidity. And as Cordelia points out at the end of the episode, Harmony is “a sheep”. She just follows people around doing whatever they do because she thinks that’ll make her more “cool”. At least Cordelia has a few good qualities; Harmony is just so dumb that it’s pathetic.

I know this episode is an attempt to make us like Cordelia more, but she's still rude and annoying. She may change her mind at the end, but she still dumped Xander on Valentine's Day in order to please her "friends". She does start to show that she has some redeeming qualities. It’s sweet how she is wearing the necklace Xander gave her. I think this is the first time we see that she has a heart.

We get to see how vampires celebrate Valentine’s Day. Spike, always the romantic, gives Dru a necklace. Angelus, always the insane psychopath, gives Dru a fresh human heart. I totally get why Spike hates Angel. When they are both bad, Spike feels he can never be as bad as Angelus. When they both have souls, Spike is always trying to be better than Angel. With Drusilla, Angelus created her. He was with her first. That is something that Spike will never be able to compete with. This is why “Destiny” is one of my favorite episodes of Angel; it addresses a lot of the issues Spike and Angel have with each other. Like their overwhelming sexual tension. 


The spell that Xander has Amy cast backfires to where instead of Cordelia falling in love with him, every girl but her does. Buffy throwing herself at him is his dream come true, but he refuses her. It's nice gender role reversal since typically the female is telling the male they don't want to do anything purely physical without any real emotions behind it. It's also quite hilarious when Drusilla protects him from Angel and responds with "I really did drive you insane."

Side note about Angel. Sending the roses with a note saying "Soon" is pretty good psychological warfare on Buffy. It's creepy without giving away any clues to what awaits her. We'll be seeing those roses again soon. :(

It’s a nice lesson for Xander about how you shouldn’t mess with the forces behind magic just to get revenge on someone especially playing with love spells. Even Amy tries to warn him that you have to have pure intentions. I absolutely love another consequence of his spell is that because of Willow being upset, Oz punches Xander. In addition, Giles points out what we learn in Harry Potter, you can't make someone love you, it's only obsession. On the subject of Giles, Ms. Calendar tries to talk to him and he brushes her off so she charges into the library and is all "Hey buddy, you listen to me! Oh hi Xander, um... what was I... Xander I like your bulging... muscles..." But still, we see Giles and Ms. Calendar starting to talk again.

That’s something else that bothers me about Cordelia. When she finds out that Xander wasn’t trying to get other girls to fall in love for him, that the spell was meant for Cordelia, she thinks it’s sweet! If I found out someone was trying to put a love spell on me, the last thing I would think it was is sweet.

Lastly, I hope Xander’s carpenter skills improve a lot in the next couple seasons because you can’t nail a door shut that PULLS OPEN like that.


Favorite Line, especially the way he says it:
Giles: We have to catch the Buffy-rat!

Sarah's Notes

I, like Kali, also hate Valentine's Day with a passion. However, for this episode, I have some different opinions than Kali because of two differences between us 1) I like Cordelia and 2) I'm a teenager.

Let's start with number 1; I'm not saying I love her because I don't for a long time, but I don't hate her and I always see potential in her to become the great people she was on Angel. She's strong and independent and thinks for herself, and this is the start of her growth.

Last season in "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" we heard from her about how she feels lonely even though she's popular and a lot of the school wants to be like her/friends with her. This gives us our first glimpse into her potential as a person and introduces us to the confusion she currently has about high school and her place in it in comparison to the rest of the world and her place within there.

Going back to the second difference, I am still a teenager and I was just in high school 2 years ago. Because of my age, I feel like I'm still feeling my way and trying to understand who I am and who I want to be which is where I feel Cordelia is at. At this moment in time, as a high school junior, she is just beginning to picture herself outside of a high school setting and all of what that entails. Just like soldiers in a war, it's necessary for them to have guns and armor whereas when they return home those things will earn them strange looks; Cordelia is facing the same types of issues on a greatly smaller scale.

Every one's been through, is going through, or will be going through high school and everyone learns how to survive it. Cordelia had an easier time since she became popular and didn't have to deal with being rejected. However, this doesn't mean she doesn't struggle with her own identity.

The reason why I like Cordelia and Joss for creating her is that everyone who isn't in the popular group who are more likely the not the main portion of people watching Buffy thought to themselves that popularity would solve their issues and Cordelia is here to disprove this theory. She has what we outcasts thought we wanted most and she isn't happy.

The episode deals with the balance of pleasing herself and that with pleasing those around her; with protecting herself and still treating Xander fairly. The whole point is she can't do any of this stuff well! The only thing she successfully does is make her friends "happy" with her but, as Kali pointed out earlier, Harmony is dumb and pathetic and will probably forget what Cordelia did to her within a few minutes. I like the end of this episode because we experience Cordelia begin to understand how to get out of the mindset of high school survival mode and shift to creating her own life and being the person she's meant to become. There is definitely hope for her and I can say that she is one of my favorite characters once she fully forms herself within Angel.

Favorite Line: Buffy: I seem to be having a slight case of nudity here. Oz: But you're not a rat, so call it an upside (Oz is amazing)

-Sarah!

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