It's hard to evaluate an episode from such a late season when you don't watch the show, but even from a musical theatre standpoint, I didn't like the episode. I found it really boring--there were a LOT of ballads, which made the episode drag for me, and I found most of the lyrics heightened to the point of being ridiculous, especially in Buffy's big number at the end ("Something To Sing About," I think it's called). I don't mind that the vast majority of numbers are about character, rather than plot--especially since the revelations in those songs feature hugely in the storyline overall--but those songs didn't tell me anything about who those characters are, except that Spike and Buffy are angsty. The songwriting in Dr. Horrible, which I'll write about later, is much better in my opinion.
I don't think the episode is bad; I say a lot of good things about it in my article. I just don't see what's so great about it, and I certainly don't think it's the best musical episode ever. A lot of my dislike may simply stem from my dislike of Buffy overall. The show is too precious, takes itself too seriously, and tries too hard to be funny and weird for my taste. I know this is just a personal preference thing; again, I know a ton of people who love Buffy. It's also possible that I just don't like Joss Whedon's TV shows, since I couldn't make it through the Firefly pilot.
(Although I hear the show gets better, and if I judged all shows by pilots, I wouldn't like True Blood or Battlestar Galactica.) I like Dr. Horrible a lot, though, and as I've mentioned before, I LOVE Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men, so I'm willing to say that my taste is just weird and leave it at that.
Firefly is eight kinds of good. I'd watch a few before making the final judgment on it. And it's such a tiny time investment if you do get sucked in -- like most of Joss' ventures, it was canceled one season in.
ReplyDeleteSerenity (the movie) is totally different in tone and character. It frightened me more than it entertained me.
I've been told multiple times to give Firefly another chance, and I definitely plan to. Especially since, again, I try not to judge a show on its pilot. Thanks for the endorsement! I'm currently making my way through all of the Simpsons ever (I wasn't allowed to watch it growing up and have gotten tired of feeling culturally left out), so Firefly will be next. Or I'll use it for the break I'm sure I'll need around like, season 7 or something :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of Buffy, but I can definitely see how if you hadn't been following the show, you wouldn't enjoy the episode. I really love Spike's song (it could also have to do with the fact that he's one of the few whose voice wasn't painful to listen to). "Something To Sing About" isn't a great song, but it does reveal a lot about what happened to Buffy when she died. What musical episodes do you like? I was a fan of "Influenza" (Even Stevens) and the Scrubs musical was pretty good too.
ReplyDeleteI like Spike's song, too, even though I totally don't know what he's saying--the music is great, and yeah, his voice didn't make me crazy :) I love the Scrubs musical & the Daria musical--I must have seen other musical episodes, but I'm totally blanking on them right now. I haven't seen the Even Stevens one, but I will. I'll be seeing a lot of them as part of this series I'm writing for MTI, so I'll gladly take suggestions.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete