Sunday, February 3, 2013

Week Twenty

Lundy Watches...
The theme of the week is finding one's role and either living up to it or shunning it entirely in order to follow one's own desires. For some this is a practice in finding themselves, while others devote themselves entirely to pleasing those who would push their expectations onto them.


Secret Diary of a Call GirlTaking Chances [4]

Hannah/Belle (Billie Piper) would like nothing more than to realize a romance with Duncan (James D'Arcy), but just as the two of them make strides toward something tangible, Hannah comes to the unfortunate conclusion that Duncan sees her not as Hannah, but instead as Belle. Though he tells her that her status as a call girl doesn't bother him, she notes that it should, and wonders if a romance is even what he wants with her or if instead he'd just like to casually have sex with a professional.

Belle resigns herself to the fact that a call girl can't have anything real with a normal man, and tries to convince Bambi (Ashley Madekwe) that her engagement with Byron (David Dawson) is also doomed to failure. Instead, as she observes the couple, she sees that they make things work despite her status, and she's made to reconsider her position on things.

Duncan returns to Hannah/Belle and asks for another chance at things, determined to make things work with her even if she thinks that it's a bad idea, and while he's not insanely happy with the thought that his girlfriend will be seeing other men professionally on the side, he would like to try anyway. Hannah finally reveals to him her real name, asking that he treat her not as a call girl but as he would any other woman he's dated, and their romance officially winds up.


DariaGifted [4]

Given the chance to explore the possibilities of a private school education, Daria (Tracy Grandstaff) and Jodie (Jessica Cydnee Jackson) consider their goals in life and weigh them against the kind of people that they want to be. While Daria is wary to explore the world of higher learning based on her assumptions of how the students will act, Jodie is invested only because so much is expected of her, though both have moments where they reconsider their positions.

Daria's heel-turn moment comes when she finds out that the students of Grove Hills are as cynical as she is about the world around them, making her feel, at once, as though she fits in. The truth of the matter is, though, that she doesn't want to fit in among people that act as cold as she, at least not when they're so vicious without cause, and she uses her own cynicism to put them in their place.

Jodie's issue is that she's viewed constantly as the underdog, being treated differently because she's one of the few African-American students at Lawndale High, and it's because of this that she feels the need to work harder, assuming that more is expected of her because she is to be the example of diversity among the largely white students. Jodie does everything that she can in order to get in the good books of the students of Grove Hills, believing that getting her foot in the door here will allow her the chance to make connections later, but their attitudes are so poor that she lashes out at them, destroying whatever opportunities she had with these people. While Jodie stands by what she says to them, she feels guilt over the fact that so much was riding on her ability to walk among them, and it's a guilt that's fueled not by her own desires, but those of the people around her.

Quinn (Wendy Hoopes) spends the episode bouncing from house to house, testing the waters of her friendships as she tries to find somewhere to fit in. She spends so much of her time trying to be the perfect person, trying to maintain a facade of popularity, that she never really takes the time to be herself, and that's never more evident than it is here. Her relationship with Sandi (Janie Mertz) is one purely of convenience, as they both need one another to fuel their own popularity, despite the fact that they don't necessarily like each other, while her friendships with Tiffany (Ashley Albert) and Stacy (Sarah Drew) are complicated by their insecurities and need to be liked. In the end Quinn seeks solace with Jane (Hoopes), despite their antagonism towards one another, because she's tired of having to pretend to be something she's not and just wants to spend a night not having to worry about what other people think of her.


Buffy the Vampire SlayerWhat's My Line (Part 1) [3.5] • What's My Line (Part 2) [3]

There are two things that have been clear to Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) for some time now: she will die young, and she has no future, which means that the very idea of a career fair, and deciding a future that she's likely never to have, is simply a practice in dreams that will never be. The only thing that Buffy really wants is to be a normal girl, and even as she seeks a quiet moment with Angel (David Boreanaz) she's made to remember that she can't have that.

Angel sets up a skating date for the two of them, an opportunity for Buffy to forget about what it is to be the Slayer and just be a real girl for a moment or two; though they share a connection here, they still are interrupted by the reality of their station as Vampire and Vampire Slayer, respectively.

The arrival of Kendra (Bianca Lawson), another Slayer, complicates matters further, as it takes away the one thing that belonged solely to Buffy, leaving her questioning her very destiny. Though the two of them argue, at first, about which of them is entitled to the power of the Slayer, to the charge of saving the world, they come together in the end, and Buffy comes to realize that the appearance of another Slayer could very well mean her chance at a normal life. Should the role of the Slayer be divided, no longer simply on Buffy's shoulders, she may have the opportunity to find a way out, to have a family and be her own person, and for the first time in a long time Buffy knows what it is to look forward to tomorrow.


Better Off TedThe Impertence of Communicationizing [4.5]

Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett) are taken aback when a new memo informs them that they must start using offensive language in the workplace, and while Lem is well-versed in insulting people, Phil has grown so used to reeling himself in that he can't bring himself to speak out. After vigorous coaching, the two of them end up taking things too far, unable to stop insulting people and eventually getting themselves into trouble because of it. It's only when they cross the path of someone that doesn't work for the company that they learn the error of their ways and inspire the movement to change the company's policy on insults.

Veronica (Portia de Rossi), on the other hand, feels guilt over the fact that her promotion could potentially have belonged to someone else, and she seeks out a way to make things right without actually giving up her position. In trying to apologize to Walter (Chris Parnell) Veronica ends up feeling more and more guilty about having been responsible for so much of the failure in his life, culminating in an eventual pity-fueled relationship with him. It's only when Veronica learns that she had earned her job on her own merits that she snaps back to reality and sets things right, and though she breaks Walter's heart in the process, she assures him that he would be much happier without her in his life.


FireflyThe R.Tam Sessions [4.5]

In arriving at the Academy River (Summer Glau) assumes that she was being chosen for something great, that she was going to live up to whatever potential they saw in her and bring much pride to her family; instead, through severe experimentation, River is made into something much different.

No longer the sweet girl she was once, River is slowly molded into an agent of destruction, being ingrained with skills and abilities that not even she's aware of, and she becomes a tool of hate. While her younger self would never be able to live with what she's made to do, the older River, the River driven mad by the Academy, doesn't hesitate to end the life of her Counselor (Joss Whedon) in order to fulfill a role that not even she fully understands.


Winner of the Week • Firefly

Despite the fact that Firefly's effort this week is effectively little more than a promotional tool for the upcoming film, it really speaks to the core of who River is as a character, highlighting the causes of her behavior in a way that makes absolute sense in regards to the series proper. Though the R.Tam Sessions could stand to be extended, they speak perfectly to their purpose through the running time they're given.

River remained one of the least-developed characters in the series due to the necessity of building her story slowly, and though she was robbed of the chance to progress fully during the original run, Whedon proves here that there's always time to flesh out the people in his universe. River is a strong character, and these short segments prove that Glau is more than capable of carrying a story.

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