Watched "The Wish"

[shadowscast]

Still loving having DVDs. Tonight I watched "The Wish," through sheer whimminess. (That's not a word, but it should be.)

It's really cool that they brought the Master back for this episode. It makes such perfect sense: what's the first thing Buffy did in Sunnydale? Stopped the Master from emerging. So if she never showed up, then "Welcome to the Hellmouth"/"The Harvest" would have ended with the Master loose in Sunnydale.

I noticed that the vampire empire established by the Master in the Wishverse is quite different in look and feel than one might expect from S1. The Master was all creepy and gothic and faux biblical speech, all dusty prophecies and traditional power structures. deborahmm suggested a little while ago (in the comments to this post) that "School Hard" is "like a second 'pilot' episode, if only because so much changed in Sunnydale when the vampires went from being boring semi-Anne Rice types who worshipped an all-powerful 'Master' and chanted a lot, to being ruled by someone as anarchic and irreverent as Spike. It changed everything." I think this is a neat way of looking at it, definitely with some truth to it—but the S3 Master seems like the kind of guy Spike would like hanging out with. (Come to think of it, why wasn't Spike kicking around in the Wishverse? Well, maybe he was and we just didn't see him.) Seriously, the Wishverse Bronze looked and sounded exactly like Goth/Industrial night at my local club.

Then again, the Master did always wear leather, even in S1.

How much do I love vamp!Xander and vamp!Willow? Lots and lots! Especially together. (Has anyone ever written vamp!Xander/vamp!Willow fic? 'Cause that's the sort of thing that really should exist.)

I noticed that vamp!Xander referred to Cordy as an "old crush." Given my theory that in in the Wishverse Xander got vamped during the events of WttH/tH (since in canon, Buffy saved him at that point), this would imply that Xander actually had a crush on Cordelia before the series ever started. So that kiss in the basement didn't come out of nowhere! (Poor Willow.)

It's wrong of me to enjoy vamp!Willow and vamp!Xander torturing the "puppy," right? Terribly, terribly wrong. I'm going to hell.

Giles at one point refers to Willow and Xander as the Master's "most vicious minions." So, go them! They may be sidekicks in any reality, but they are top sidekick material—if they're not the Slayer's most important allies, they're the Master's most vicious killers.

I think it's great that despite being a reset-button episode on the surface, this ep actually had a pretty profound and lasting impact. For one thing, duh!—the introduction and humanifying of Anya. For another, the reappearance of vamp!Willow later. Plus, also regarding Willow, the "bored now" thing will come back three years later in one of the most deeply scary moments in the series—which wouldn't have had the same impact without this setup.

Yup. I love this episode.

Plus, we get to see almost all the main characters die! Fun, fun, fun! *g*

Comments

[shadowscast.livejournal.com]

There are probably other things too which I just didn't notice because they didn't involve Spike. Heh!

Hee. Nothing wrong with a little healthy obsession. :)