#steven s. denight

[theforswornelite]

10 years ago, you had the visuals and fight sequences to rival Gareth Evan's The Raid and Park Chan-wook's Oldboy.

Whilst also adapting Alex Maleev's and Frank Miller's Visuals on screen

I'm just simply ASKING you to do it AGAIN.

[buffster]

Blood Ties (BTVS 5.13)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

It's Buffy's birthday! Prepare the sympathy cards.

This is a situation where I can understand Buffy's procrastination. Not telling Dawn she's The Key put her at risk. She doesn't know it's a horrible idea to be doing teenage things like sneaking out or trying to get in the middle of Glory-business. On the other hand...how do you tell a teenager they aren't real and are basically adopted? As if Dawn's emotions aren't unstable enough already.

We get some information on Glorificus. She ruled a hell dimension with her fellow hellgods but was cast out. The human body she's in seriously limits her powers and she's constantly on the brink of insanity. Tara in particular is disturbed by Glory's brain-sucking powers and implies she'd rather be dead. The rest of the gang is finally told the truth about Dawn.

It kind of seems like telling everyone else made telling Dawn inevitable because she picks up on the weirdness immediately. .

At Buffy's party, Dawn's present is a photo of the two of them surrounded by shells they picked on the beach when they visited Hank in San Diego. Except that never happened. Which...can we talk about how disturbing this is? Weaving memories like that has to be intense magic. Dawn seems so real to them it implies she must have influenced events (as opposed to a scenario where they just put her in the background of scenes like a ghost) so were their real memories taken away? Did Buffy persuade her dad to go shopping at the mall in the real timeline, but in the Dawn one she insisted they get ice cream so all the mall memories are gone? How has Buffy been changed from these memories? Idk, my mind is running away with me here.

Anyway, Dawn decides to sneak out and figure out what's going on. She runs into Spike, who's holding some birthday chocolates for Buffy and decides to take action on the one thing Buffy has approved of in the past: taking care of Joyce or Dawn. It blows up in his face anyway when Dawn learns she's The Key while they're out. Spike is totally unimpressed by this reveal.

Dawn is traumatized. She cuts herself and asks if she's real. She also tells Joyce she's not even her mother, which has gotta sting later.

Spike: You didn't think you could hide the truth from her forever, did you? Maybe if you had been honest with her in the first place, you wouldn't be trying to make yourself feel better with a round of Kick the Spike.

Buffy takes out her rage on Spike, a habit that grows pretty toxic.

Buffy: She probably feels like she can say or do anything now. It won't matter because she's not real. We're not her family. We don't even know what she it. Joyce: How can you talk about Dawn like she's a thing? Buffy: I'm not. I'm saying that's how she feels. Joyce: Then we need to show her it's not true. She needs to know that she's still a part of this family and we love her. Buffy: It's not that simple. We're not going to fix this with a hug and a kiss and a bowl of soup. Dawn needs to know what she is. She needs real answers. Joyce: What she needs is her sister, Buffy. Not the slayer.

I found this exchange really interesting. Joyce really helped Buffy hold on to her humanity and prioritize relationships over the mission. Buffy tends to disassociate and go into action mode, but Joyce was right here. Dawn does initially look for answers but she feels like shit until Buffy reassurers her that she's a Summers.

Unfortunately after only hearing the mean things Buffy said Dawn leaves again. This time she goes to the hospital to try and get some info from the mental patients. Orlando is there after Glory got to him, but he just freaks her out. Ben gives her hot chocolate and she confesses to him.

We see him turn into Glory. Big oh shit moment. Buffy comes in to kick ass before she learns anything but ends up tossed around herself. It looks hopeless until Willow does a teleportation spell that transports her above the city in midair. We learn no one is able to remember the Ben-Glory transformation.

I'm enjoying the brilliancy of Willow's magic usage and power increasing in a time of such desperation that no one thinks to be anything but grateful. Glory is nearly unstoppable and Willow is all that slows her down. Giles mentions the teleportation spell is dangerous, but everyone is too desperate to see the red flags.

Buffy tells Dawn that she is her sister and it seems like the moment cements it for Buffy as much as Dawn.

Character Notes:

Dawn Summers: She started keeping diaries at 7. She loves the mall like Buffy. She loves schnauzers in particular. She doesn't like marshmallows because Buffy told her their were monkey brains when she was little.

Spike: It takes him awhile to pick the lock at The Magic Shop because he's so used to just breaking the door.

Tara Maclay: The "if you felt lost where would you go?" "to you" line was adorable.

Willow Rosenberg: The birthday candles that don't go out scared her as a child.

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

making a 103 minute long audio rant and a 31 slide powerpoint and a newmann cut of the movie and a fix-it fic and a fully colored fix-it comic isn’t enough i need to fistfight steven s denight

making a 38 minute long audio rant about pacrim uprising isn’t enough i need to fistfight steven s deknight