Kly's thoughts on "Dirty Girls"

What was important in this episode? Pretty much everything. But to trim it down:

***

The important thing is that the bad guy

- is the most amazing misogynist.

- is a Man of the Cloth.

- likes to keep things simple.

The important thing is that Buffy was wrong. (Why?)

The important thing was Shirtless Spike! (My id insisted on checking in...)

To deal with these more or less in that order:

***

The Bad Guy

The instrument of the Big Bad, I mean; that nice-looking well-spoken young minister, Caleb, the psychopathic misogynist serial killer. I'll deal with him first because I think we can see what the season is about, and is going to be about, by looking at him.

First, in a season devoted to Girl Power, Caleb is an incredible woman-hater. In fact "woman-hater" doesn't begin to describe him. Sweet heaven, who wrote those lines? (Ultimate Drew, naturally.) Just the ones that struck me (quoting from memory here):

"Did it occur to you they were chasing you because you're a whore?"

"No, I don't mean to preach - so much filth in your head the words'd just curdle in your ears."

"It's not your fault you were born without a soul, and with that gaping maw that swallows men up - makes me puke to think on it".

"I stabbed all those slits for you."

"Wasted a good knife on her, had to clean her filthy blood out of my car.."

Okay, so I think it's fair to say that being a misogynist is not good, because the Big Bad's instrument is such a vile example.

Second, he is a representative of organized (Christian) religion, whose teachings he perverts for use as the basis for his misogyny. But in a season dedicated to throwing off the chains of patriarchy, perhaps it's not an accident that the Big Bad is a representative of a patriarchal institution whose teachings have often been misused to support the oppression, fear and hatred of women.

And, please, I am certainly not saying that there is any organized religion, Christian or otherwise, that would support anything Caleb says or does. I am only saying that the misogyny often seen as, and historically often actually part of, organized religion, is the particular chord that's resonating here in the portrayal of Caleb. I don't think Joss isn't going to end seven years of BtVS with a heavy-handed rejection of any particular faith, or of organized religion in general. But I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Caleb, like the Council, represents the patriarchal institutions that have been perfectly willing to use, and use up, women to their own ends. As the Council has Slayers; and as we saw Caleb do, when he burned the Potential, stabbed her, and threw her out into the road - as a message for Buffy.

Just as a side-note: I've often wondered if there was a "sex is bad" subtext to the Buffyverse, because, well, anytime anyone has sex, it turns out badly. But Caleb's loathing and hatred of any form of sexual desire is a clue that in the Buffyverse, that's the wrong way to think.

Third: Caleb likes to "keep things simple". Finds the Bible too complicated, for example; he likes to keep it to good guys, bad - girls, actually; clean - guys, dirty - girls. And this is a clue that simple black-and-white choosing of sides is not going to provide a good reading of this season, or of the Buffyverse in general. It's all about complexity this year. Perhaps it's no accident that Xander, who sees everything pretty clearly (this year) has been blinded in ONE eye - the Big Bad wants him, and everyone, to have a one-sided view.

Which tells us, also, that Andrew's one-sided view of Faith is not only wrong - it plays right into the Big Bad's hands. And in that it has sown division in the ranks (once again), we can even see how that's going to work.

Xander's one-sided view of Buffy as the infallible, the invulnerable, the one who Cares, who has Sacrificed Herself For You Twice Over, the one who can Get You Out, the one who Always Wins (a view Andrew shares) is similarly, it turns out, too simple. Buffy isn't invulnerable and she isn't always going to win; nor is she always going to be able to protect everyone. Not even Xander.

I'm puzzled by Caleb's voice-over monologue at the end. He likes strength; he hates women; but the Big Bad keeps appearing to him as a woman, and he likes that. Is there a tie-in with last week's Angel, I wonder? Not that I've seen it yet, but I've reprehensibly been reading other people's comments ...

***

Buffy was wrong. Why?

Buffy decided to rely on a surprise show of force, and take a bunch of Potentials with her to fight the bad guy. She ignored Xander's advice that this sounded very much like a trap and Giles' advice that they should wait until they knew enough about their enemy to be able to plan their attack. She left Giles behind to teach the girls who still needed him (ouch), because (I assume) she doesn't trust him anymore; and she left Willow behind to guard the girls. The result was that two of the girls died, Kennedy got whaled on (heh), and Xander has lost an eye.

(Ignoble thought:

Was anyone else enjoying watching Kennedy get whaled on? I'm no longer sure they're setting her up to be the bad guy, cause, hey, she's a girl and misogyny turns out to be bad. Still, I, well, I probably shouldn't have enjoyed it and I should feel bad about that now.)

How did this fiasco happen?

She rejected Giles' good advice; she accepted Wood's bad advice; she went with her instincts without doing any research; she was manipulated by an enemy that could predict her movements; and she didn't take her most important allies with her.

Giles has forfeited any claim he had to moral or intellectual authority, and I was astonished to find him in the house at all. His advice all year, moreover, has been foot-dragging caution, so when - after trying to kill Spike - he comes out with yet another no, no, Buffy, I was not in the slightest surprised that she ignored him.

So whose advice did she take? Wood's. Was this smart? Duh. This would be the Wood who, when she said she needed him on her side, said "that's good to know", not "of course I'm on your side". And when she asked if they were good, said "yes" and then fired her. And then advised her to take the Potentials out to fight the Big Bad. This man is not her friend.

And she knows it, though she's still hoping, wrongly, to add him to her army. Why then did she take his advice? Because it agreed with what she had already decided to do, I think; not because she trusts Wood more than Giles (how could she?) Her instinct was to attack at once and hope to overwhelm with surprise. But, unfortunately, the Big Bad was (see above) playing her like a violin, through its instrument, the psychopathic misogynistic serial killer of young girls - that nice-looking young minister, Caleb. Who knew that she would accept the bait, and, apparently, expected her to come with friends.

Footnote on Wood - why does she want to add him to the army? Because she's still thinking of it as an army, that needs soldiers. Something someone said last week makes me realise that she shouldn't be thinking in terms of an "army" at all. The First has got her fooled on that point too.

Her biggest mistake, however, was I think that she didn't take Willow with her. Giles' advice will probably turn out to be useful at least once in future, if only she should have taken it this week. But Willow is the most powerful person on the team, and she should have been there. Buffy was over-confident in both her judgement and her strength.

The fallout of the battle is: two girls dead; several wounded; Xander permanently blind in one constantly-observing eye; Buffy will have lost what faith she had in her abilities as a general; and the Potentials will have lost their faith in her as well.

If the result is that they realise they have to rely on themselves, not Buffy, for protection, this will be all to the good.

But my suspicion is that the important thing will turn out to be maintaining balance. Giles is morally untrustworthy, but he's not stupid, and she may have to rely on his brain as well as her instincts. And on Willow's magic. And on Xander's narrative sense (it's a trap, Slayer!) And on Spike's - but here my id is clouding my vision, so on with the Buffy and Spike commentary:

***

The important stuff:

Shirtless Spike! Lounging! In bed! with bed-hair! Well-lit!

Black t-shirt Spike!

Smoking Spike!

Flirting Spike!

Spike and Buffy:

A few points.

1) Buffy's explanation of Spike to Faith, when they first meet: "He's with me." Later clarified to "he fights on my side". But if she'd been a dog (instead of - wait, I like Buffy now, I wasn't going to say that) she would have been peeing in a little circle all around him.

2) And they were out patrolling alone together. Isn't that, like, almost second base or something?

3) The obvious thing, that Buffy wasn't pleased to see Faith and Spike obviously vibing, while lounging comfortably on his bed. And she'd come straight downstairs - to see Spike - on returning home. Does she always do that?

4) Never mind the new Slayer in town, Spike is her second-in-command. When they came down the stairs in the winery he was literally on her right hand, right at the front.

5) Spike grabbed Buffy and said "we are leaving!" when she was, frankly, about to lose the fight with Caleb. And she let him drag her away.

6) Spike was definitely flirting with Faith - it wasn't all one way by a long shot. I can't help but think that springing that Oedipal problem with Mama has freed him up to consider his options.

My conclusion: Rocks!Back Spike is here at last.

These last two points make it clear that we are watching a new entity, whom for convenience I will call Rocks!Back Spike. Getting rid of that Oedipal thing has integrated Old Spike and Souled Spike. So far this season Souled Spike has been deferring to Buffy; Rocks!Back Spike makes his own decisions and overrides her if he sees the need ("we are leaving!") Souled Spike was a Victorian virgin, uncomfortable at any sign of sexual interest (think of how he treated Anya); Rocks!Back Spike, um, wow, that scene with Faith - I'd say his sexuality has returned full force, no shame at all. The return of Spike the sex god. My television fogged up. (Maybe I shouldn't have been sitting so close?)

(Favourite line: "oh, you HAVE been away ...")

And the birth of Rocks!Back Spike completely changes the Spike/Buffy dynamic. For one thing, he dragged her out of that fight with Caleb, and she let him; try to imagine that happening before now. I can't.

For another, this Spike is perfectly capable of moving on. One thing Old Spike and Souled Spike had in common - both were willing to accept whatever scraps Buffy threw them and never look elsewhere. Rocks!Back Spike, on the other hand - well, I don't think his interest in Faith's sex life was entirely academic.

Not that I think he's moved on already. But he's not going to be interested in being kept dangling. Old and Souled Spike both felt grateful to get that much; but not this Spike. He's not expecting to get anywhere with her (judging from his speech to Wood, last week), and (judging from the scene with Faith) I'd say he feels that he's pretty much a free agent now. If Buffy wants him she's going to have to come and say so, and I think she probably shouldn't let it go too long, either. I expect some kind of resolution soon. (Well, it would have to be soon, wouldn't it.)

More resolution-foreshadowing

Buffy's not going to be happy to hear that when Faith was wandering around in Angel's mind she didn't see any sign of Buffy there. Buffy has been using the cold, dead memory of her trainwreck with Angel to shield herself from ever really entering any other relationship, and it's time she let that fantasy go. The Spike/Angel comparison is already being set up. I don't think Joss is going to let her die (or whatever) with her heart still frozen; "heroes can't love" is not the message for the troops (that would be us). Now, whether she grows up and figures out what she really wants in time - that is, before Spike has walked into the sunset - well, suddenly that's a more interesting question than I was expecting it to be.

I'm expecting a parade with 76 trombones, actually.