Maybe I should have said that the character assassination express started with Hell's Bells. While he probably was acting in character (and hey, being a guy who's still not on the ball about the whole commitment thing, I sympathize), after that it became all about what Xander did wrong. Never mind that it was Anya who ended the relationship itself and became a vengeance demon who tried to wreak her wrath on him (played for laughs).
Relationships end, and it's not always pretty. But it's almost never just the fault of one of them (except where there's abuse, in which case I'm all about the finger pointin'). Nobody asks Xander about the false visions. Nobody cares. They let him take the brunt of him and he accepts it.
It's probably part of the reason he was so backgrounded in S7. The larger part of the guilt and blame rested on him, but he couldn't exactly be redeemed since it wasn't exactly deserved. So you stick him in the background, have him crack wise on cue, give him his wacky slapstick episode, a few rousing speeches, and a poke in the eye...
I'm not bitter.
I'm of the opinion that Seeing Red was nothing but misogyny dressed up as feminism. And not very well, either. "He has to try to rape her to be redeemed!" This isn't General Hospital, people (thankfully).
I contend that Dawn could be a really interested character if they would have just rewatched Season 1 and taken notes on how they used to write characters who were around that age. She was in permanent 13-year-old land, and you could almost see Michelle Trachtenberg's embarassment. The character became a little more tolerable in S7, though.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2005-01-10 09:19 pm (UTC)Relationships end, and it's not always pretty. But it's almost never just the fault of one of them (except where there's abuse, in which case I'm all about the finger pointin'). Nobody asks Xander about the false visions. Nobody cares. They let him take the brunt of him and he accepts it.
It's probably part of the reason he was so backgrounded in S7. The larger part of the guilt and blame rested on him, but he couldn't exactly be redeemed since it wasn't exactly deserved. So you stick him in the background, have him crack wise on cue, give him his wacky slapstick episode, a few rousing speeches, and a poke in the eye...
I'm not bitter.
I'm of the opinion that Seeing Red was nothing but misogyny dressed up as feminism. And not very well, either. "He has to try to rape her to be redeemed!" This isn't General Hospital, people (thankfully).
I contend that Dawn could be a really interested character if they would have just rewatched Season 1 and taken notes on how they used to write characters who were around that age. She was in permanent 13-year-old land, and you could almost see Michelle Trachtenberg's embarassment. The character became a little more tolerable in S7, though.