Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 5x19 Full Reaction
Added 2024-10-09 13:35:46 +0000 UTC"Tough Love"
Comments
I thought the Buffyverse reactions would be dropping left and right to make up for the long (semi unplanned) break in september but i was wrong... 🥲🥲
madfem
2024-10-11 18:16:43 +0000 UTCSunnydale Hospital is doing this because of the extreme number of psych patients they have currently. Remember that Glory has been brain-sucking people for months now, there are just way too many for them to keep them all. :( Don't forget that Giles is also Ripper - he has a dark side, a scary side, and I personally love to see it. We weren't meant to know what he did to Glory's minion, only that it was swift and painful enough to make the minion immediately break. Even with her mixed feelings toward Spike after the Buffy-bot, one thing was proven without doubt in the last episode "Intervention" - Spike will absolutely protect Dawn with his life. That makes him a good choice to leave Dawn with for safety if Buffy can't be with her at the moment. Re: Willow and Tara, there was no indication that Tara DID think that. It was Willow's own insecurities and uncertainties that caused that whole argument. Tara looked as blindsided as the rest of us by the whole thing. :(
dreamsofspike
2024-10-10 20:11:37 +0000 UTCI hope we get all final 3 soooon.🤣
Gregor
2024-10-10 08:39:31 +0000 UTCI think everything got covered with the "Giles/Ripper" thing and Willow's inherent insecurity that is present throughout her life. A little more detail in Willow's case might be the difference in philosophy between Tara and Willow in magic. Tara strikes me as very much "Right-hand Path" as in she doesn't perform magic to further her own goals so much as provide comfort and guidance. Willow however, she (thanks to her basic insecurity) goes "Left-hand Path" in that she uses magic to further her own desires. These representations are less about "Light/Dark" as opposed to "Thy will be done" and "MY will be done" yet obviously, it is easier to go "dark" when it's about one's own desires. Also I noted that in spite of Willow doing magic out of frustration and hurt at times... this time Willow performed magic when truly angry. This is not a good look as to her potential and maybe a part of Tara's fear I think since she would have a lot of knowledge about Willow's weaknesses as an insecure human and her tendency to push well past her experience level. I hope this adds to the convo.
Michael Labs
2024-10-10 06:36:51 +0000 UTCLike others have said the fight between Willow and Tara was a lot more about Willow's insecurities. It's also one more sign post along an overarching character arc regarding Willow's use of magic. Notice Willow might have been a little snippy, but when Tara accidentally expressed her fears about Willow's level of power that is when she became angry. We saw something similar in season 4, both when she got annoyed at Oz expressing concern over her magic, and asked why he wasn't being supportive boyfriend, and also when she shouted 'I'm not your sidekick' at Buffy, before storming off in a huff. Willow's use of magic has not been healthy for a long while. Speaking of magic, the spell Willow uses to try and fight Glory in this episode is one of my absolute favourites in the show. It's so well written in terms of the deities Willow calls on: Kali, Hera, Cronus, Cthonic, and Cassiel. Kali has a destroyer form, but is also known as a Goddess who destroys evil to protect the innocent, Hera is a Greek Goddess sometimes known for her almost insane levels of jealousy and retribution, Cronus castrated his own father with a scythe and is sometimes associated with the personification of death, Cthonic refers to the Greek underworld in general, and Cassiel is an extracanonical angel mentioned in Jewish, Islamic and Christian mystical texts, who is sometimes associated with being the Angel of Death, and also called the 'Angel of Tears'. The deities Willow called on alone show she was not messing about with trying to take down Glory. All that power though, and all she succeeded in doing is slowing Glory down.
Claire Eyles
2024-10-10 03:06:37 +0000 UTCI disagree. There was definitely a deliberate cracking sound that played while the camera wasn't on Giles.
Lime Pie
2024-10-10 02:25:08 +0000 UTCNothing happened between Giles and Glory’s minion. It’s just that once the threat of being tied up was mentioned, he broke down. He’s just a wimp…..wants to be loyal, but the threat of something physical scared the ”bleep” out of him and he spilled the tea.
Andrea Frank
2024-10-10 00:48:27 +0000 UTCAs others have mentioned, I think the Willow and Tara fight escalated because Willow is very insecure about what people think of her, but I also want to point out that Willow said Tara and her never fought before this. So, when Willow got upset at Tara because she wasn't feeling valued, every insecurity that they had been piling up blew to the surface and turned what should have been a healthy conversation into a heated argument. Also, you weren't missing any phrase when Xander said "I'm coming up all bras". He was trying to think of objects that give support, but he didn't want to tell Buffy to think of him as her bra for obvious reasons.
Lime Pie
2024-10-10 00:43:32 +0000 UTCI think you forgot that Giles used to be... Ripper :) Certain writers like to play with certain aspects of certain characters y'know. Also Giles has always been calm and collected (except when he's surrounded by computers lmao)
madfem
2024-10-09 23:17:59 +0000 UTCi hope we get ep 20 sooooon 🤩 with that cliffhanger
madfem
2024-10-09 23:12:25 +0000 UTCi understand why willow began talking about how she thought tara would maybe think they're relationship wasn't "real". willow is very insecure and obsessed with the way people see her. in the s4 finale (restless), willow's dream has that sequence where buffy keeps on telling willow to take off her costume, then willow "takes it off" and she's in her s1 clothes. willow herself feels insecure in her new style, her new hobbies and her new relationships, because she thinks people will just keep on seeing her as she was before and think she's just putting up a show. i don't think tara saw willow as just someone who was "experimenting", i think she just agreed 'cause she was mad in the moment, but willow is projecting her own insecurities about it onto tara
Joana
2024-10-09 22:34:46 +0000 UTC"Paranoia will destroy 'ya" Everyone in this episode is losing their temper, frustrated things aren't going their way, and put off by the negative responses they get, and acting all offended. This of course leads to tragedy. Anya is upset at the money not coming in like she wants, and so blames communism?, Dawn gets in trouble at school and refuses to be told what to do by Buffy, Buffy gets angry at the new heap of trouble landing on her, and also Giles refusing to be the father figure to her and to Dawn, Willow can't handle any pushback at all from "her girlfriend" so lashes out. There was an episode earlier called "Listening to Fear" , but this was the one where they actually were listening to their fears and acting all a bit irrational about them. Like losing your sanity, they can feel control slipping away, being taken away by circumstances, wandering around in unfamiliar and dangerous territory. Buffy does not know how to protect Dawn from Glory, and for the first time is scared she cannot fight Glory and win. Willow is hitting some rocky relationship territory with Tara, and just like her is taking a selfish view, that it is all about her and what she wants. She is reckless with her magic, with her relationship, assuming Tara will just always be her follower, never going against her. The first time Tara questions her she threatens to blow the whole thing up, hitting Tara with her worst fears right in the heart. She is definitely going to feel guilty later. Dawn had her personal crisis with dealing with her fake existence, Spike had his with his falling in love with Buffy, Anya with being human, Joyce with her illness, Xander with his inability to grow up and be an adult, Giles had his last season, losing his job as watcher and realizing his need to return to his life in England, as well as losing is relevance as Buffy's teacher, now Willow's big relationship is breaking (broken?) and she is going into dark places, and on the other side Glory and Ben are totally at odds, with Glory blowing Ben's life up and all. Tara did not try to do any magic with Glory -- it showed a strength of character that even Willow did not have. She knew Glory would kill the innocent people there, and that trying to cast a spell in fear or anger would not be the way, not her way. Instead she just gave Glory a firm look in the eye, and act of bravery, knowing it might be her last act on earth.
spikeysnack
2024-10-09 21:44:14 +0000 UTCMichelle Tratchtenberg's 'lightning rod of pain' speech is a particular highlight in this episode for me; great acting!
James Smith
2024-10-09 21:14:07 +0000 UTCAbout Tara thinking Willow was just "experimenting" while in college, it's Willow that suggested it, I don't think Tara was honest when she agreed, she was just angry. In the end they're both insecure about their relationship and it came out badly during the fight.
slypeartree
2024-10-09 20:16:43 +0000 UTCI think it's more the fact that they're overrun with mentally ill patients because of Glory, they've mentioned before that they could not keep those patients long because there were too many of them.
slypeartree
2024-10-09 20:14:02 +0000 UTCYeah, I imagine the writers didn't especially love that part. It's like, we've got to make up an argument between two people who've been about as loving as possible for over a year into all of three minutes or so! Like you say, they kinda did the best they could, but it's difficult not to look at it as anything other than a plot device.
Antonio
2024-10-09 19:50:35 +0000 UTCAs for why they released Tara didn’t you hear the doctor say “ we have to hold her overnight for observation and then you can take the home “ it’s a hospital not an asylum
Michael Matthews
2024-10-09 19:42:22 +0000 UTCIt was Giles having one of his Ripper moments, he opened the door and slammed it because he heard someone, there was a crunch noise when the girls turned to the counter presumably Giles cracked the minion’s fingers we don’t see it, remember Giles has a dark side and yes he was cool and collected because that’s who he is
Michael Matthews
2024-10-09 19:38:52 +0000 UTCGlory has been brain sucking people constantly so Sunnydale Hospital is probably overrun with mental patients. I'd imagine they are desperate to clear beds so are sending people home when normally they would keep them for observation.
Stephen Knueppel
2024-10-09 18:06:48 +0000 UTCTara would have probably been let go from the hospital due to overcapacity caused by the severe influx of patients ie Glory sucking the brain juice out of the residents of Sunnydale.
Preaching to the Horse's Mouth
2024-10-09 17:35:42 +0000 UTCThe fight between Willow and Tara does indeed seem to come a little out nowhere. I suspect the writers wanted to get an argument in before what happens to Tara and so the bad news is we kinda have to generate one out of thin air. The good news is that as a conversation it does mostly work from a perspective of where it starts v where it ends, it just progresses *really* fast. As with a lot of things in this or any series, I've become cool with it now that I've seen the show so many times as to take a step back and examine it from a writing perspective. The implication is that Giles went Ripper-mode and hurt the Glory minion when he asked the girls to get the twine. As far as I can remember we don't yet have a species name for the minions.
Preaching to the Horse's Mouth
2024-10-09 17:21:13 +0000 UTCoh this one is a hard one, can't stand seeing Tara suffer
Carol Gonçalves
2024-10-09 16:22:33 +0000 UTCI love when we get to see his Ripper side ❤️🔥
jenny from thebes
2024-10-09 15:50:21 +0000 UTCwith Giles, i think it’s just Ripper coming out a little. it happens sometimes. like you said, with Spike and also back in season 3 with Snyder too.
Belle GC
2024-10-09 14:56:20 +0000 UTCWooooooo
Melissa Reynolds
2024-10-09 13:38:34 +0000 UTC
