Single Most Disgusting MOW ever seen on Buffy...

POSTED BY: bobknaptor
UPDATED: Friday, October 11, 2002 21:06
VIEWED: 6838
PAGE 1 of 1

BOBKNAPTOR

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 5:41 PM (P)

Ok, did anybody else think the skin-eating demon was the most gory, disgusting thing they've ever shown on Buffy? EW! It was a great episode, but man... they really really really went overboard on the gross-out factor.

Loved the Spike scene with Willow on the one side and Buffy and Xander on the other. Jane Espenson is getting to have a much better understanding of the characters.

______________
That's a great idea - Tie ourselves to the crazy vampire.

THEGN

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 6:13 PM (P)

That was awesome.

Hannigan didn't do a very good job with that scene though. If someone was peeling off and eating your skin, I think that you would react with more then wimpering.

It's neat how Whedon never leaves a character to return to being good after being evil without a satifactory punishment. Angel spent a lifetime in hell, and Willow gets munched on by a skin eating troll.

You gotta love it.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

ZICSOFT

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 7:18 PM (P)

The skin-eater strikes me as being closer to a traditional horror monster than most Buffy monsters. Not so many psychological issues, lots of ickiness. But by the standards of, say Clive Barker, rather on the tame side. Which suits me fine.

Somebody did some serious work on designing and implementing that monster. And yet they did the usual Buffy thing of holding him back as long as they could. Which is a good way to build suspense, but most TV shows just throw all their "good stuff" on the screen at the first opportunity.

Best ep of the season, so far. I particularly liked the mutual-invisibility mystery.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

ZICSOFT

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 7:19 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Thegn:
If someone was peeling off and eating your skin, I think that you would react with more then wimpering.

Uhm, you did notice that she was paralyzed?

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

THEGN

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 9:27 PM (P)

Yeah, but she wasn't completely paralyzed. She certainly wasn't paralyzed in the medical sense of the word. She was breathing and her eye's and vocal cords were all unaffected, as well as some facial muscles. I don't know if the audience was supposed to just overlook these things or not, but if she wanted to portray total medical paralysis, then she shouldn't have had any facial expression or eye movements at all, it seems. So maybe I'm not supposed to notice that, but I did.

I sort of think she should have done more with it. She should have screamed under the paralysis or something; Trachtenberg was doing a good job at portraying the frustration of not being able to move. She actually came accross more distraught then Hannigan.

Not that I think Hannigan is a bad actress, I just think she could have handled this better. It was, prehaps, a challenging role. I don't know.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

TINYTIMM

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 9:54 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Thegn:
Hannigan didn't do a very good job with that scene though. If someone was peeling off and eating your skin, I think that you would react with more then wimpering.

The monster first poisioned her with a paralyzing compound. Remember Dawn on the couch? Nothing more horrifying than being skinned alive and not even being able to scream.

Jeff
Who is gonna have nightmares, if he ever catches up on sleep.

THEGN

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 10:01 PM (P)

No. She could scream. Dawn was screaming, and no one was eating her skin. Willow should have been screaming too. It just didn't mesh.

Screaming in a paralyzed kind of way, that is.

It's a small matter though.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

ZICSOFT

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 10:14 PM (P)

You mean you wanted to hear her scream! I'm sure it would have been very sexy. But Willow is a powerful witch, she isn't gonna have a meltdown just because she's getting eaten alive!

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

THEGN

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 10:24 PM (P)

And I supposed when she became evil and started skinning people alive and destroying the world and all, she was being calm and collected.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

ZICSOFT

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 10:46 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Thegn:
And I supposed when she became evil and started skinning people alive and destroying the world and all, she was being calm and collected.

Well, yeah actually.

I don't recall Dark Willow so much as raising her voice in any of those three episodes. That's what made that performance so chilling.

And I think there's still a lot of Dark Willow in the current version of Willow. Not just the magical skills. The sense of detachment. The sometimes scary calmness. I think we've seen the last of the nervous self-effacing geek who was afraid of frogs.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

JAYNESGIRLFRIEND

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 11:55 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Thegn:
No. She could scream. Dawn was screaming, and no one was eating her skin. Willow should have been screaming too. It just didn't mesh.

Screaming in a paralyzed kind of way, that is.

It's a small matter though.

Well, we don't know all that much about her new witchy powers yet, but there is the possibility that she was able to dampen the pain by using her abilities. They didn't work against Gnarl, but that wouldn't stop her from using them on herself. I really didn't even see the pain in her eyes or the limited facial expressions. The fear at being helpless and the hurt at being abandoned by her friends was coming through loud and clear though. To me anyway.

"I was gonna get me an ear, too." - Jayne

ZICSOFT

Thursday, October 10, 2002 12:14 AM (P)

Quote:
The fear at being helpless and the hurt at being abandoned by her friends was coming through loud and clear though.

Which is what the ep was basically about, after all.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

LIVINGIMPAIRED

Thursday, October 10, 2002 12:29 AM (P)

Yeah, OK, she couldn't use magic on the Demon. Were the rocks blocking the cave enchanted too? Will's supposed to be telekinetic. She could have moved the rocks. Hell, while she was moving the rocks out of the way, she could have thrown them at the demon. Or, another possibility, she knows the spell to temporarily give herself Slayer-like strength. Why didn't she cast that on herself?

Edited to add:
In rereading this post, I come off as if I dont' like the episode. Which isn't true. Apart from the unnecessary gore, it was really good.

________________

"I'm insane. What's his excuse?" —Spike, "Same Time, Same Place"

THEGN

Thursday, October 10, 2002 1:37 AM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
Well, yeah actually. I don't recall Dark Willow so much as raising her voice in any of those three episodes. That's what made that performance so chilling.

And I think there's still a lot of Dark Willow in the current version of Willow. Not just the magical skills. The sense of detachment. The sometimes scary calmness. I think we've seen the last of the nervous self-effacing geek who was afraid of frogs.

Perhaps.

I still think it should have been more intense. The point was to see her suffer for her past deeds. Being eaten alive right before your eyes is certainly sufficient suffering to cleanse anyone of their bad mojo, but I didn't feel sorry for Willow, because it didn't look like it was all that uncomfortable all things being considered. There should have been a wincing with each chunk of skin peeled off. A little tear of pain rolling down her temple. Something to mark the moment. I just didn't feel it.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

MATT1

Thursday, October 10, 2002 2:20 AM (P)

Speaking from personal experience, whenever I experience tremendous amounts of pain, I do my best to supress it. When I broke my arm in 3 places the most I did was curse really loud and ride my bike home. No use screaming over something unless you can do something about it.
Plus, I'm pretty sure she was kind of numb, considering she started yelping once the paralysis wore off.

"I ate what?"- Socrates

THEGN

Thursday, October 10, 2002 2:29 AM (P)

Maybe.

But when you broke your arm, your body released huge amounts of endorphins into your blood to numb the pain. That's why many people sometimes don't even know they've broken a bone, until later on, when the endorphins wear off. You're resistance to pain was probably more chemical then mental.

And anyway, I see this as being different. It's one thing to break a bone and rush home to mom whom you know will make everything better. It's another to be all alone, with no knowledge of help, unable to move with a huge scally skin-eating people-eater looming over you, devouring you right before you eyes. I'm not sure it compares.

Not to make light of your situation, but I just don't think it compares.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

THEGN

Thursday, October 10, 2002 2:42 AM (P)

That's one way of explaining it, but then it kind of cheats the system, doesn't it? The point was for her to suffer for her past evil deeds. If she used magic to suppress that suffering then I have a new grip with the writers.

And just to reiterate, I don't think she did a poor job with the acting. As always, she managed an enormous amount of feeling, but I think it could have been more.

Quote:
Originally posted by JaynesGirlfriend:
Well, we don't know all that much about her new witchy powers yet, but there is the possibility that she was able to dampen the pain by using her abilities. They didn't work against Gnarl, but that wouldn't stop her from using them on herself. I really didn't even see the pain in her eyes or the limited facial expressions. The fear at being helpless and the hurt at being abandoned by her friends was coming through loud and clear though. To me anyway.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

TINYTIMM

Thursday, October 10, 2002 10:19 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Thegn:
No. She could scream. Dawn was screaming, and no one was eating her skin. Willow should have been screaming too. It just didn't mesh.

But the monster used much more poison on Willow, and more was deposited each time he sliced her tender flesh.

Jeff
Who is nasueous enough for one night before dinner when he hasn't eaten since Breakfast at 0515, and it's 1820 local!

THEGN

Thursday, October 10, 2002 10:45 PM (P)

Good point.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

ZICSOFT

Friday, October 11, 2002 7:46 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Thegn:

I still think it should have been more intense. The point was to see her suffer for her past deeds. Being eaten alive right before your eyes is certainly sufficient suffering to cleanse anyone of their bad mojo, but I didn't feel sorry for Willow, because it didn't look like it was all that uncomfortable all things being considered.

I don't think the skin monster was there to punish Willow for her sins. In the Buffyverse, monsters aren't agents of punishment -- they inflict the guilty and innocent alike. Willow's being punished, all right, but by her own conscience.

JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

THEGN

Friday, October 11, 2002 9:06 PM (P)

Dramatic irony is lost on you, isn't it?

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.