Rewatch notes on BtVS 5.06 "Family"
Jul. 10th, 2021 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thenewbuzwuzzObviously, I like the chosen family subtext becoming text, and Tara's family is impressively awful, and it's great how Tara breaks free of them and finds a place among the Scoobies. That's a given. Let's hyperfixate on insignificant details now.
* I see what some fans mean about Willow's "baby voice" when she talks to Tara. The ship is adorable, sometimes bordering on twee. But as queer representation goes, too cute is by far not the worst possible problem.
* Aw yeah, Spike's other Buffy dream. *chinhands* (Harmony, sweetie, dump him!!)
* I remembered the first Taglarian mythic rites line, but I had forgotten that it was actually a running gag in the episode. At the start of the episode, Tara's insect reflection joke establishes that she has some niche interests and the Scoobies don't understand what she's talking about, and she feels self-conscious about this. Then later as Tara and Willow are entering the Magic Box, we find out that Tara explained the Taglarian mythic rites joke to Willow and Willow got it!! \o/ (oh, to be understood when you make odd little jokes) And at the end of the episode at Tara's birthday party, Tara has explained the joke to Anya, and Anya understands it but still doesn't think it's funny. Is this a Josslike ironic twist saying Tara gets to make friends, but Tara's jokes are simply not good? Or maybe it's about Anya's deadpan reaction. Anyhow, the important thing is that Tara is comfortable enough to have a conversation about it with one of Willow's friends, and they get her on some level.
* When Tara tells her dad that magic doesn't feel evil, he answers, "Evil never does," and the opportunity to apply this principle to himself goes right over his head. I wonder if he thinks in terms of good and evil when he makes decisions, or if these concepts are just a tool for controlling his family. Does he think his own actions are good? Or does he think that's not the point? Could be either way, really.
* Dawn asks permission to buy a magic book with her own money, and Buffy says no. :C BUFFY, WHY. I guess Buffy wants to protect Dawn from the supernatural world, but curating some lovely, Giles-approved white magic books for Dawn would be a great way to do that! As opposed to letting Dawn resort to sneaking around. :C Dawn and magic: will they ever be together? (They will, of course.)
* Harmony's iconic "a bargain's a bargain" line. :) Spike's face. :))
* "I didn't want you to see what I am"
Tara saying this to Willow feels like the wrong era. Season 4 before they got together, I could see that. I could also see Tara being anxious about what Willow's friends will think about her, but she's saying this to Willow. But I guess my problem is that I can't separate the in-universe demon thing from the subtextual magic as gay love and bigoted family thing. Obviously, Willow knows that Tara isn't straight. But, in-universe, Tara thinks she's a literal demon, so sure, fine.
* Dawn is the first one to join Buffy in standing up for Tara. Very nice. It's just the two of them for a long beat -- we get Tara's dad's second reaction and Buffy's reaction to his reaction before Giles and Xander join in.
BUFFY: You heard me. You wanna take Tara out of here against her will? You gotta come through me.
DAWN: And me!
MR. MACLAY: Is this a joke? I'm not gonna be threatened by two little girls.
DAWN: You don't wanna mess with us.
BUFFY: She's a hair-puller.
GILES: And ... you're not just dealing with, uh, two little girls.
XANDER: You're dealing with all of us.
transcript link
I suppose what this achieves is linking Tara's episode arc to the bigger arc of Buffy accepting Dawn as family and resolving to protect her.
* I see what some fans mean about Willow's "baby voice" when she talks to Tara. The ship is adorable, sometimes bordering on twee. But as queer representation goes, too cute is by far not the worst possible problem.
* Aw yeah, Spike's other Buffy dream. *chinhands* (Harmony, sweetie, dump him!!)
* I remembered the first Taglarian mythic rites line, but I had forgotten that it was actually a running gag in the episode. At the start of the episode, Tara's insect reflection joke establishes that she has some niche interests and the Scoobies don't understand what she's talking about, and she feels self-conscious about this. Then later as Tara and Willow are entering the Magic Box, we find out that Tara explained the Taglarian mythic rites joke to Willow and Willow got it!! \o/ (oh, to be understood when you make odd little jokes) And at the end of the episode at Tara's birthday party, Tara has explained the joke to Anya, and Anya understands it but still doesn't think it's funny. Is this a Josslike ironic twist saying Tara gets to make friends, but Tara's jokes are simply not good? Or maybe it's about Anya's deadpan reaction. Anyhow, the important thing is that Tara is comfortable enough to have a conversation about it with one of Willow's friends, and they get her on some level.
* When Tara tells her dad that magic doesn't feel evil, he answers, "Evil never does," and the opportunity to apply this principle to himself goes right over his head. I wonder if he thinks in terms of good and evil when he makes decisions, or if these concepts are just a tool for controlling his family. Does he think his own actions are good? Or does he think that's not the point? Could be either way, really.
* Dawn asks permission to buy a magic book with her own money, and Buffy says no. :C BUFFY, WHY. I guess Buffy wants to protect Dawn from the supernatural world, but curating some lovely, Giles-approved white magic books for Dawn would be a great way to do that! As opposed to letting Dawn resort to sneaking around. :C Dawn and magic: will they ever be together? (They will, of course.)
* Harmony's iconic "a bargain's a bargain" line. :) Spike's face. :))
* "I didn't want you to see what I am"
Tara saying this to Willow feels like the wrong era. Season 4 before they got together, I could see that. I could also see Tara being anxious about what Willow's friends will think about her, but she's saying this to Willow. But I guess my problem is that I can't separate the in-universe demon thing from the subtextual magic as gay love and bigoted family thing. Obviously, Willow knows that Tara isn't straight. But, in-universe, Tara thinks she's a literal demon, so sure, fine.
* Dawn is the first one to join Buffy in standing up for Tara. Very nice. It's just the two of them for a long beat -- we get Tara's dad's second reaction and Buffy's reaction to his reaction before Giles and Xander join in.
BUFFY: You heard me. You wanna take Tara out of here against her will? You gotta come through me.
DAWN: And me!
MR. MACLAY: Is this a joke? I'm not gonna be threatened by two little girls.
DAWN: You don't wanna mess with us.
BUFFY: She's a hair-puller.
GILES: And ... you're not just dealing with, uh, two little girls.
XANDER: You're dealing with all of us.
transcript link
I suppose what this achieves is linking Tara's episode arc to the bigger arc of Buffy accepting Dawn as family and resolving to protect her.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-10 03:33 pm (UTC)“Except Spike.”
“I don’t care what happens.”
I love this episode a very very lot and my headcanon is that the reason Anya and Tara got to discussing the joke is because they started out talking about different kinds of demons (per the earlier revelation). I just love how every person gets to contribute to the whole climax.
I’ve been reading some really excellent meta over on tumblr (have you seen impalementation’s writing?) about, among other things, how s6 is the season where everyone breaks down in communication and reverts to their worst thoughts about themselves. Thinking about s6 in that way, and what a shining star Tara is in that season, makes this episode resonate differently with me. If Tara’s great flaw or tendency is to hide and not speak up, this is the episode where that really shows up for her. And afterwards she becomes so much more confident sharing her opinions around the group and speaking up about things. I absolutely love tracing Tara’s arc looking back, because it happens so subtly and yet so beautifully, and this episode is key! So I guess I think about it less in terms of a metaphor and more in terms of Tara’s own growth—we see why she has always been so timid, and then we see how that’s been holding her back from real connection—and now she doesn’t have to anymore.
And we see the whole group showing up for her the way she will show up for them next season excuse me I made myself sadno subject
Date: 2021-07-10 04:10 pm (UTC)“I don’t care what happens.”
Hell yeah, that line is amazing.
I follow and admire impalementation, but I haven't had the attention span to read their latest posts.
"If Tara’s great flaw or tendency is to hide and not speak up, this is the episode where that really shows up for her."
Absolutely. Here and when she sabotaged Willow's demon-finding spell in s4, but there's more at stake and a lot more depth here - as you said, we find out why she's been doing that. Great point!
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 06:13 pm (UTC)Also excellent point about Dawn. They seem to have written her for maximal drama for no reason. I would much rather have had Giles take her in hand and train her
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 06:37 pm (UTC)That would have been so cool.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-11 08:12 pm (UTC)