Buffy: 2.19 ‘I Only Have Eyes for You.’

A video of the episode with a song by Evanescence

Writer: Marti Noxon
Director: James Whitmore Jr.

What's the sitch?

A school dance is imminent, but for understandable reasons Buffy isn't feeling the least bit romantic. Heading to the school library, she stops a student from killing his girlfriend with a gun. But neither the student nor his girlfriend have any memory of why they were fighting. And the gun has disappeared too. The next day, Xander is attacked by a disembodied arm coming out of his locker, while later in the evening Giles witnesses another couple fight in exactly the same way Buffy did. But this time the man shoots the woman and she falls over the balcony…only for the man to have no memory of what he did and for the gun to have yet again disappeared. Buffy and co. decide that a poltergeist is to blame, and they try to exorcise it. But it doesn’t work and the gang are subjected to individual scariness that sends them fleeing the school. It turns out that the ghost is that of a Sunnydale student called James from back in the 1950’s who killed his lover, Grace, a teacher in the school, and then killed himself out of guilt. Later, Ghost James lures Buffy back into the school…just as Angelus turns up to kill her; however, the evil vamp immediately becomes possessed by Grace’s spirit, while Buffy becomes possessed by James. They argue and she shoots Angelus. But being a vamp it doesn’t kill him and therefore gives the spirit of the murdered teacher the chance to forgive James/Buffy and to stop him/her from committing suicide. This act of forgiveness finally gives Ghost James the peace he’s needed and both spirits leave their hosts and ascend to who knows where leaving behind a highly confused Buffy and Angel, who rushes off overcome by disgust at having played such an intimate loving role with Buffy. Meanwhile, Spike has secretly recovered from his spinal injury.

What's the sitch beneath the sitch?

It’s all about guilt and forgiveness. And the sometimes dark and overwhelming passion that can drive people to do the things they do, a major theme of this season. But the episode tells us that no matter how terrible and burdensome guilt can be, it’s the simple act of forgiveness that carries far more power. Here we see that Buffy carries such terrible guilt over what happened to Angel, because she believes it was down to her why he lost his soul. And in this episode she rages at Ghost James for his selfishness and his destructive behaviour when it is really herself that she hates. The plot device of having Angel possessed by Grace works brilliantly. It is a distinctly weird thing to see Boreanaz playing the frightened fragile Grace and Gellar the furious, heart broken spurned lover James. But it works. They both act their socks off. And although it falls in to high melodrama, the simple, beautiful theme and the weight of the Buffy/Angel story behind it makes for genuinely touching stuff. This episode could easily have been a disaster, a silly, overwrought Kleenex-fest. It is still a blatant tearjerker but in writer Marti Noxon’s skilful hands the script holds more weight and meaning than it otherwise might and helps set up the grand season finale very well indeed.

Who's giving us the wiggins this week?

Ghost James and Angelus

Why it rocks

This isn’t just the run of the mill monster of the week show. It is about something intrinsic to the characters and where they find themselves approaching the end of the season. Ghost James is not evil. He made a tragic mistake (the gun went off accidentally it transpires) and he can’t rest because of what he did. His anguish infects others and manifests as scary things in the school. There is no beastie to be fought here, only the beasties within - the guilt and the self loathing, which can only be overcome by forgiveness.

Marti Noxon’s script is a beautifully crafted, densely plotted and thematically and emotionally weighty affair.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz. Together in their usual roles the chemistry always sizzles. Together in new and even more tragic roles playing the deeper meaning the chemistry boils over and the pain is palpable.

Nice spookiness. The ghost tries his hand at scaring the gang in individual ways with Cordy undergoing a Poltergeist-y mirror shock, Willow sinking through the floor and a zombie arm attacking Xander from his locker.

The lovely Meredith Salenger (Natty Gann herself) plays Grace.

Why it sucks

Contrary to Giles' explanation, poltergeists are supposedly entities that cause mischief merely for the chaotic fun of it and are not ghosts undertaking a haunting per se. This same mistake was made by the trio of Poltergeist films. Another mistake was making two rubbish Poltergeist sequels after the classic original.

It's Buftastic

Angel’s repulsed, horrified reaction when the spirit of Grace leaves him holding and kissing Buffy.

Dialogue to die for

Xander: Something weird is going on. Isn't that our school motto?

Xander: I defined something? Accurately? Guess I'm done with the book learning.

Giles: To forgive is an act of compassion, Buffy. It's not done because people deserve it; it's done because they need it.
Buffy: No. James destroyed the one person he loved the most in a moment of blind passion. And that's not something you forgive. No matter why he did. And no matter if he knows now that it was wrong and selfish and stupid, it’s just something he's gonna have to live with.
Xander: He can't live with it, Buff. He's dead.

Angelus: What do you know about it? I'm the one who was friggin' violated. You didn't have this thing in you.
Drusilla: What was it? A demon?
Angelus: Love!

And another thing

James listens to the song "I Only Have Eyes For You" as he prepares to kill himself in 1955. But the recording he's listening to is the Flamingos' version, which wasn't released until 1959.

The lovely Meredith Salenger, who played doomed teacher Grace Newman, had her name misspelled in the credits as "Meredith Salinger."

Meredith Salenger starred in the Disney film The Journey of Natty Gann opposite John Cusack back in the early eighties.

This episode originally aired with a public service announcement at the end regarding teen suicide. Co-sponsored by Cedars Sinai Medical Center's TeenLine and the American Association of Suicidology, the PSA was voiced over by Sarah Michelle Gellar.

John Hawkes who plays George the janitor has been Oscar nominated this year (2011) for his role in the film Winter’s Bone.

How many stakes?

I’m an old softy. 4 (out of 5)

Never upset a Swedish hacker

Based on the first book in Swedish writer Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is, for the most part, a fairly straightforward crime mystery/thriller.

The story goes like this. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), a middle-aged, falsely disgraced journalist, gets a job working for Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), the elderly head of a rich and powerful family run business cartel. Henrik wants Mikael to try and solve the forty-year-old disappearance and presumed murder of his grand niece, Harriet, who he doted on. A large part of this investigation takes place in a remote snowbound village located on an island just off the coast, linked to the mainland by a single bridge. The village is mostly made up of members of the cartel’s ageing Vanger family, all of whom are potential suspects in the forty-year-old mystery of Harriet’s disappearance. But the case is old and cold with the police having long given up on it. There seems not much hope of any new clues. And at first, just like everyone else, Blomkvist makes no headway. But then he gets some unexpected help from an unlikely source – an antisocial, deeply troubled, though incredibly smart young woman called Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace). Lisbeth is a gifted hacker working for a security firm where she’s been charged with keeping electronic tabs on Mikael. But the more she watches him, the more she becomes fascinated with his investigation in to the Vangers. And she begins to see things in the investigation that he is missing. Unable to resist, Lisbeth emails Mikael, giving him some of the answers he's missed. Pretty soon the mismatched pair join forces for real and together try to solve the mystery of Harriet's disappearance.

So far so more or less textbook whodunit mystery thriller. However where THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO scores points above and beyond other similar genre fare is in its themes and the distinctly dark, brutal and disturbing undercurrent always lurking beneath the surface.

The actual Swedish title of the film and its source book is MEN WHO HATE WOMEN. A very apt title. Brutal misogyny is at the heart of this film. Primarily it is about men who abuse and mistreat women for various fucked up reasons. It also mixes in other forms of hatred and bigotry including Swedish Nazism complete with all its ghastly anti-Semitic poison. Nurture vs. nature is another major theme of the story. Just how responsible is a criminal for his or her crimes and how much is blamed on upbringing or society? And then their is the corruption and the greed of big business and giant corporations, the moral black hole that seems to exist beneath our so-called western liberal democracies. To me this story seems as much a dark indictment on Swedish society as it is an intriguing mystery thriller. Now, I know next to nothing about Swedish society, so I have no idea how true any of this is of Sweden. But from what we see on the news and read in the papers, such ghastly things do go on almost everywhere. And we are being financially, socially and morally bankrupted by greedy power seeking institutions. Yes, city bankers, I’m looking at you.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO also scores highly with its characters – chiefly the fascinating Lisbeth, a messed up, abused and deeply troubled young woman with a razor sharp mind and a vicious ruthlessness that would mean you’d never, ever wanna mess with her. Lisbeth is a great character - sullen yet sexy, violent yet fragile, tragic yet determined. She is always utterly compelling in how she deals with all the bad shit life throws at her. Playing Lisbeth, actress Noomi Rapace is outstanding. She dominates the screen whenever she is on it, carrying with her so much introverted, barely restrained pain and anger. The scene where she gets her own back on a vile, abusive official is gross but also punch the air great. Go girl! Rumour has it that the obligatory Hollywood remake (albeit a David Fincher one…whew!) might have the UK's very own Carey Mulligan playing Lisbeth. Personally I’d like to see Noomi reprise the role. But I could easily see Carey doing a darn fine job too. As journalist Mikael Blomkvist, Michael Nyqvist is also very good. He is pretty much the heart of the film. He's a decent, hardworking, honourable guy who’s been dishonoured by powerful forces and is looking for some kind of a way back, a way to prove to the world who he really is. Nyqvist gives his character a tired, worn down look and feel as well as a gentle, caring and perceptive nature. He is a rumpled everyman who just wants to do the right thing and make sure those who do wrong get punished appropriately.

The direction by Niels Arden Oplev is solid and effective without ever threatening to become particularly dynamic or stylish. But it does the job and tells the story while relying mostly on the characters and the plot to keep the audience interested. Elsewhere the cinematography is suitably crisp and stark and helps sell those icy cold Swedish locales. All the other tech credits are perfectly fine.

Although not as amazing as the hype suggests, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is certainly a good film. It's a nicely compelling mystery/thriller that's raised up a few notches by some decidedly dark and challenging themes and by a wonderful central performance from Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, the new, cool, messed up, badass girl on the block. 4/5

Trailer

The Lovely Bones (book)

I’d been meaning to read The Lovely Bones for a long time now – even before the Peter Jackson film was announced. And with the film adaptation's release imminent, I finally got around to it.

For those who don’t know, The Lovely Bones is a novel by Alice Sebold published in 2002 that tells the story of a girl called “Salmon. Like the fish. First name Susie.” On 6 December 1973 fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbour. Susie tells us her story in first person narration while watching over her family and friends from her own personalised heaven, ‘the in-between’, watching as they struggle to come to terms with her most awful of deaths. While watching her family in pain, Susie is struggling to let go of her mortal bonds and the terrible sense of loss she feels for the life she will never now have – especially the budding first love with a boy at school that started and ended with just one fleeting kiss.

I liked The Lovely Bones a great deal but it sure was hard going. It’s one of the most emotionally affecting things I've ever read. There were several places in Alice Sebold’s text where I was unable to keep the old eyes from leaking. Several places where I just had to stop and say to myself ‘Okay. That’s enough for now.’ Why? I guess the subject matter and the original way in which it's presented. The way the book presents the characters and how they relate to each other in the wake of tragedy. I’d defy the hardest of hearts not to be moved by young Susie Salmon, and then for that heart not to break as her tale goes on, before becoming healed at story’s end. For a parent reading this book I’d imagine it would be a gruelling experience. I’m not a parent and it was pretty tough for me at times. But despite the horror of Susie’s murder there is also an inherent warmth and hopefulness around the whole tale. It is sad and tragic, yes, but also rather life affirming in a strange way.

The Lovely Bones does a great job showing the different dynamics of a family shattered by the worst possible tragedy, of showing how that family tries and fails and tries again to put itself back together. As a novel it didn’t quite go where I thought it would. It’s not a murder mystery or solve the crime and catch the killer type of story. There are elements of that in there but that’s not what the story is about. This is primarily a story about discovery, of growing up and of moving on. It’s a unique coming of age tale about someone who will never come of age - at least not as she should. It’s a love story about life and family told from the perspective of someone who can now see every tiny aspect of life and family but cannot participate in it anymore.

The Lovely Bones is not the best written book ever. The prose can be a little dry at times. However it is always intriguing and tells a sad but also hopeful tale in a tough and often emotionally challenging way.

I hope that Peter Jackson’s movie captures the spirit and feel of the book, the horrific tragedy that can move you to tears but also the warmth and humanity that can make you smile.