#meanwhile i legit didn’t think she’d ever see that post and i didn’t wanna hurt her but i shoulda just been honest with her myself

[goldensunset]

literally every friend i’ve ever met whether irl or on here: you can always talk to me about anything! please let me know if you’re hurting!

me: thanks, i love you! *continues to silently die inside and hide mental breakdown of the week number 3*

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 6x14 Older and Far Away

aka and then they all snapped

Welcome to this dailyish (weekly? bi-weekly?) text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And while today’s episode is mostly Dawn-centric, there are two other characters in particular that I really wanna talk about: Tara and Anya.

Older and Far Away is almost infamous for its big Dawn outburst and her petty, bratty attitude. But to me, that’s ignoring the greater context of Dawn’s story, especially this season.

To be fair, I actually like how the episode resolves that, and emphasizes Dawn’s pain through Halfrek’s monologue, as well as let Buffy connect with her sister finally… But I can also see how someone else would have a harder time focusing on that, and not on Dawn yelling “GET OUT” as they’re questioning her.

It’s easy to look over how Dawn’s been ignored by her guardians this entire season in an episode, where everyone actually has some legit life reasons to not hang out with her in that moment. And Dawn’s been understanding of that as much as possible, but it also hurt her, and she’s been quietly acting out for a while. Without anyone even noticing.

The whole part of her stealing a leather jacket as Buffy’s birthday gift might as well be just her holding up a neon sign saying “PLEASE NOTICE THAT I NEED HELP”. I also loved the visual when she put on the jacket, almost as if she wanted to feel closer to her sister, wearing the types of clothes she’d have.

So yeah. I find it important to see Dawn’s attitude here as the product of a pattern, and a gradual process. Plus, it didn’t really help that everyone kept talking about how they all had “much better things to do” in front of her for a large chunk of the episode. I flinched with Dawn each time that happened, not even gonna lie.

It’s also not like Dawn was aware that she had anything to do with the whole thing. She just felt lonely and ignored. And before people realized that they couldn’t leave, she mostly had a good time too.

You know who else had a great time in the first half of this episode? Tara. Especially as she was annoying Spike.

Well, alright, maybe I’m also just projecting my own delight about those scenes, but can you blame me? First she made a comment while looking at Spike directly about how the guy Xander and Anya brought to set up with Buffy was cute (“I mean, I’m not a very good judge, but I think he seemed cute”), then when she caught him trying to make a move on Buffy, she called out his lame excuse (“A muscle cramp… in your pants?”), and later on when Spike was making innuendos at Buffy again, she shut him down by literally telling him to “put some ice on it”. Which… can I frame that moment and have it projected on my grave? It’s really quite possibly the most beautiful thing on the show ever.

Tara Maclay. Patron saint of girls in unhealthy relationships.

No wonder Buffy insisted on inviting Tara. Then again, she also bailed on Tara immediately when Willow showed up, letting Tara deal with her ex alone, like the traitor she is.

Of course, Tara’s other defining moment in the episode comes later, as she’s standing up to Anya, who’s trying to pressure Willow into doing magic.

And it’s not just Anya too. Xander joins in on the pressuring, even if he tries softening it by saying that they could help Willow recover afterwards, or whatever bullshit.

Tara stepping between Willow and Anya, and telling the latter to back off reminded me of Family a lot too. There, Tara was the one who was pressured by her family to go with them, and Willow was the one who asked her what she wanted. And then Buffy stepped between her and her family, and told them that they’d need to go through her if they wanted to take Tara – much like Tara here told Anya that she would need to go through her if she wanted to make Willow do something she didn’t want to do.

That’s a character arc coming full circle, and I love it so much.

Meanwhile, this is also just a great Anya episode. Throughout their entrapment in the house, you can see Anya’s panic growing. The scene of her and Xander outside of the room where Richard’s (Mr. ”He seems nice” Guy) bleeding to death is one of my favorites.

Xander is also pretty great here? Which might debunk my previous theory of how Xander in season 6 generally treats Anya worse than in season 5, and points more to inconsistent writing, when it comes to their relationship.

In any case, Xander is actually doing well comforting Anya, as she’s on the verge of a full-fledged panic attack, and is rambling about how they were all going to die. And then he gets immediately injured afterwards, which only adds onto Anya’s fears and anxiety.

So these are the kind of circumstances that lead us to the scene in the dining room, with Anya and Tara facing off. Two characters that usually get along well enough under normal circumstances.

And honestly? As much as that’s a great Tara moment, it’s also an amazing Anya moment.

You see, Anya’s usually brash and inconsiderate, but it’s framed in a comedic light. We rarely see this side of Anya, the one that’s brutal and cutthroat, and will fight tooth and nail when she’s cornered.

Like, the part that reminds you that she’s been a vengeance demon for 1000 years?

The Anya in this episode isn’t trying to play nice. Her words are real and blunt in a way they haven’t been allowed to be in a while. It even allows the next scene, where she’s going through Dawn’s stuff and finds the stolen items from the Magic Box, to be injected with that same kind of honesty.

She’s afraid, angry, confused and hurt throughout the episode, and for once it’s not portrayed as a comic relief.

I love that.

Oh, and her exhaustion with Hallie by the end is just the cherry on top.

I love this episode. A memorable, simple premise with great character moments. I’m sold.