#jane espenson scripts always hit

[transpidergwen]

Just realized that Adama consoling Tigh after Liam dies isn't just him comforting his best friend but also understanding what it's like to lose a child.

[impalementation]

was trying to find some sort of commentary for forever for that post on the constuming in it, and couldn’t, but that did lead me down the rabbithole of reading old interviews in general. found this one with noxon from (i think) late season five, and enjoyed it:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/noxonchat/index.shtml

among other things, i was surprised at this since i though the answer was across the board no. curious what was suggested.

Do any of the cast ever come up with storyline ideas?

Yes. For instance, yesterday, Sarah had an idea. There was something in the script she wanted to address, she had an alternate idea and we used it. So, yes.

As a general rule it doesn’t happen a lot because we are usually pretty far ahead in the process for writing and we usually have things pretty planned out. So, even if an actor comes up with a great idea, it may not fit with the season just because we’re already well ahead. Sometimes it does happen, because they’re all creative and come up with some good ideas.

which led me to look up other interviews, mostly on season 6 because i’m always curious about intent in that season. have put them all under a cut for length, but there’s interesting stuff there.

noxon on warren:

"He's an archetype because he was someone whom power corrupted and who was seeking power for the wrong reasons. Unlike Buffy or the heroes, he sought it out and then used it for evil [read: ee-vayl]." The nerds; last season's Jonathan, Warren and Andrew "were sort of the shadow side to the theme we were working with the other characters." While the show's heroes were growing up and taking responsibility, they were out there "doing crime."

from the same source, on spike:

“He sort of represents Buffy's other side. He's her id. He's hang dog because he loves Buffy, and he's not been getting his way. But in some ways I think he's the most powerful. And he's constantly struggling with his nature, which is also a part of Buffy's character arc. So, to me, he is heroic in the Buffy universe, because he's right there representing what the show's about, which is the struggle to be a hero and the other part of you that wants to drag ya on down into the abyss.”

i also looked up quotes on dead things specifically. this article has a good summary of what they were going for with spike/buffy at that point in the season. among other things, re: beating spike up she says:

I don't think anything about that is OK [...] I don't think that we were trying to say that's OK. That's definitely not offered as a conflict-resolution technique. It's part of the pathology of their relationship. [...] I've said to you and other people that the relationship is basically something we thought would reflect the kinds of relationships you choose when you're choosing the wrong person. People have been very upset about that. They're like, 'He's not the wrong person. He's all redeemed.' Part of what needs to happen at this point is to show that redemption is possible for Spike, but he's not redeemed now, and their relationship is really based on things that are not healthy. It doesn't mean that things won't get better for them, but what it's based on right now isn't healthy. It's not showing Buffy in the greatest light, but our intention was to show that they need to change what it's about, or it's never going to last. [...] This is bringing out a desperation in her, and she's going to have to deal with that.

stephen deknight also on season six spike/buffy:

I know a lot of fans have commented on the Buffy/Spike inconsistencies, but for me they really don't exist. Buffy's feelings for Spike have been plotted specifically to be all over the map. She's back from the dead, she's hurting, she's confused. Not just about Spike, but about everything.

and from another interview with him, on season six in general:

This season has been much much darker, sexual and violent. Which is the story we decided we wanted to tell. Buffy comes back to life our whole point was not to cheapen that. To make it really hard for her. That it wasn't gonna be your just standard tv, she's back, its ok, it's fine. And she feels like she can't talk to her friends. Because one, deep down, you know they don't want to hear it because they brought her back.

and on the dark willow arc, interesting how far in advance it was planned:

Yes this is, I mean this story has been building since the beginning of season five. I believe it was season five, when Willow is on the beach starting a fire and...[...] and blows up out of grill I mean...no specifically [...] That was before I was on the show. So I mean not specifically killing Tara but this whole Willow arc has been planned for like two and a half years.

also found some of jane espenson’s comments on the season.

re: flooded:

The events in Flooded imply that you and/or Doug have had problems with plumbers or bank managers. Is this the case?

[...] That really came much more from just a notion of what Buffy is going through this season. We wanted to take her out of heaven and put her in the most horrific and yet prosaic of situations, just the business of day-to-day life. 

i like that this was how she was writing anya:

Do you think Buffy should charge for slaying, or is that a bad idea?

Generally when Anya makes an argument, I try to make it absolutely as logical and plausible and reasonable as it can be, because I don't think she's crazy.

i like this on writing without giles being there, because the aimlessness definitely comes through and i also think it really works:

With less Giles this season, are you finding it hard to write for the group, now missing that father figure?

Giles left this year, and at first it was hard for all of us. When you get into a big scene, a big Magic Box scene of assigning who's going to investigate this thing, I kept hitting those lines where I'd go, "This would be the line where Giles would say, 'Everybody focus'", and he wasn't there.

For a couple of episodes I felt the absence really acutely. But then you just sort of go "Okay", you get used to the new dynamic, you get to him not being there and you stop thinking that way. It becomes easier and easier to write without him.

The interesting thing [is that] this exactly mirrors what our characters are going through. Our characters, for the first several episodes that he was gone, would actually comment, "Gosh, I missed Giles".

[It's] that feeling of, "Where's the grown up that's going to tell us to start working? Oh my god, we are the grown ups!" [It's] exactly what we wanted to capture. We wanted this to be the year where they sort of realise, "Oh, we're adults now", and all the adult problems that they're dealing with this year are part of that aspect of the show right now. So Giles leaving just worked perfectly.

that’s all i got for now!