MILES to GO || before I sleep

So I got to reading pamgutz's very intriguing essay on exactly why (complete with in-book citations) Edward Cullen is an abusive boyfriend, and so not worth all the fangirl-gasm he gets. And being that "Twilight" is, at best, amusing/entertaining/a strangely addicting read but I still STRONGLY dislike the characters, the writing style, and the disappointing plot, I've got a fic bunny.

Remember a while back how I said I'd never write "Twilight" fics because the fandom scares me? It's still true. But now I've got a bit more of a bunny that I had before, so I'm setting it free here on the 'Net, because if I ever become masochistic, I might revisit this post. If anyone else were to ever undertake this and make it Very Good, I'd want to read it (which is saying a lot for something involving the "Twilight" fandom).

( Vampire-verses cross )

Yeah, this post got longer than I planned.

Random aside: why are there no good Rainbow Text generators online? Why do generators always have to spit out bad/deprecated HTML code? Use CSS! Use hex codes with quotes and pound-signs, or use the damn color names! Yeesh.

Well, it won't be long until the wide, grand populous of America (that is to say, those with TVs) finds themselves glued to the tube once more. After all, last season produced some rather... interesting finales, to say the least.

Of the ones I covered in one of my former entries, "Glued to the Tube," "Xander Saves The Day (At Last)!" and others, I covered shows like Alias, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Charmed.

Now, I wasn't expecting to write this entry at all-- not until mid to late September, when the press/media goes on a frenzy advertising snippets of what's to come. To tell you the truth, nothing short of what I read on E! Online today could get me any more excited-- producers and writers alike are all taking that "I totally did NOT expect THAT" route with the premieres. Now, most of this may be gossip, but plenty of it is bona fide interview, along with a lot of angry responses that people on message boards have seen. So let's get started, shall we?

In the finale of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," a lot of things came together-- Willow, who had been trying to get off her "magic high" and do away with any kind of spell that would a) make her life easier b) impose her will on otherwise stubborn forces or c) break her relationship of trust even further with Tara. And it was working-- up until a vengeful and back-stabbing leader of "The Trio," Warren decided to go and shoot Buffy. The first bullet missed -Xander leaped upon him- but the second one hit. Where'd the missed bullet go? Straight into Tara's heart. She and Willow, recently reconciled, had been making love most of the episode, and upon getting up, Tara freezes... and falls to the floor. The episode "Seeing Red," made several viewers just that-- as far as they were concerned, Joss had suddenly, and unnecessarily removed one of the only realistically portrayed lesbian couples on TV!

To a certain extent, I agree with the viewers-- I mean, I didn't expect Tara to die, and once I heard it would happen, I knew Willow would go ballistic, and quickly go back into uber-demon-girl mode again. After all, what more of an unexpected season finale enemy could you get when the Slayer's own best friend is turned against her? The fun part, of course, was watching Xander save her. His character grew a lot in that episode, though a lot of people seem to forget he was there at all.

It seems Joss Whedon's decision wasn't well accepted though, even by members of his own cast. Several interviews from Robert A. Black's article and its follow up reveal that Whedon looked at Tara's death as a "necessity" -- she was never a full-time cast member anyway, and in order to bring out the underlying subplot of Willow going "back to the dark side," you had to give her a good reason to. However, the new season has a lot of old themes that viewers aren't going to expect-- probably because Buffy's fought The Master, Angel, another Slayer, a corrupt politician, a half-human Goddess of Hell, a technological Terror, and of course, a Trio of idiots. Supposedly, the new season will bring back the Goddess, the Master, and even Tara- though not necessarily in that order, in the roles we know them in. ^^ So surprises are sure to be in wait.

As for the spin off show, Angel, it's getting more irritating by the second. I should say now that I am 99.9% always a fan of canon couples. That is to say, if the show implies that a certain pair will get together, and they do, I root for that couple... even if the show is a spin off. Do you get where I'm going with this? I wasn't a big fan of Groo, but I honestly thought it was ridiculous that Cordy and Angel "suddenly realize" that they love each other. I know for a fact that this will be another premiere where months have gone by-- it's summer's end now, and "where is everybody?" Well, Wesley's exploring a potential relationship (*coughcough* LILAH *coughcough*) with Wolfram and Hart, while Gunn and Fred, who have spent the whole summer together, go with Connor/Steve (E! Online also called him C. Diddy, which I thought was kinda funny) to look for his dad. Of course, they'll eventually find him-- or perhaps Angel will break free on his own. But Angel goes on the hunt for Cordy, who has been missing all this time too. She's still a regular, but won't appear in the first (few?) episode(s) since she's up in her Other Realm gathering forces (for what? E didn't say). When people ask Angel why he's collecting certain artifacts, he says it's "for someone that is very important to me." (the line was originally "for someone I love very much." BLECH!) Talk about too many things going on at once! The worst part is, now Angel's got his own counterpart wandering around Sunnydale-- Spike, recently resouled (and again, I ask, WHY DIDN'T THEY THINK OF THIS EARLIER?!) is all broody-- how will he NOT end up like Angel?

It's safe to say that Seth Green's busy schedule won't him to come back on the show, but former Slayer-now-in-LA-prison just may. What about former Officer Jenny (bad joke) and Wolfram and Hart exec Lindsay? In both shows, "unexpected reappearances" lead the parade, since Buffy's new enemy isn't all that new at all, she won't be working at the Doublemeat Palace (and again, viewers complain that Whedon won't listen to his fans and keep the relationship between W/T intact, but is glad to oblige a major corporate sponsor) and she (but what about ANGEL?) is bound to find out about Spike sooner than later. What's more, the season is supposed to be Dawn-centric (FINALLY) as she starts "coming of age" and coming into power (well she still IS the KEY. It took them long enough). Lastly, rumors (and they ARE only rumors) have been circulating about Sarah Michelle Gellar's lack of a return for an eighth (that's the season after next-- the season starting this September will be the SEVENTH) season. I doubt the show can continue without a slayer-- even though they KILLED Buffy last season, she still had to show up in the premiere. Go figure. And by 'a slayer,' I do not mean a resurrected Kendra, a freed Faith, or Dawn with muscle. The show is BUFFY the Vampire Slayer.

--MORE? Alias, Charmed, Star Trek and others... I have yet to find out what's ahead for them. Drop me a note if you have any juicy rumors!