I've read several chapters of Clocks of the Long Now but admit I didn't finish it. It's great storytelling but complicated and dense, and I probably needed to be in the right mood for it; I keep meaning to go back. (I keep wishing I could read some of these long fanfics in book form because i find it harder to read long fics on the computer, whereas I can sit for hours with a book in my hand. I don't know if it's my eyes, or something about the computer itself and my ADD-ish distractability that's the issue. )
For some reason that time-travel fic sounds familiar, I don't think I read it but I may have bookmarked it for later?
*Giles* would leave the Hellmouth unprotected and Dawn without financial security? Uh... NO.
Have you read Molly May's meta on Giles, and her explanation why Giles is not acting OOC in later seasons (specifically S7) http://molly-may.livejournal.com/151594.html It's my favorite Giles meta, because I noticed when I rewatched the first ep of S4 that Giles was already turning Buffy away and saying "I'm not your watcher anymore" - which he tries to do again in S5. He keeps trying to pull away, then keeps coming back.
So it's a double-edged sword for me, in that I absolutely agree with Molly intellectually, and with you emotionally if that makes sense? It probably comes back to the Doylist vs Watsonian perspectives zanthinegirl mentions. (I first encountered the terms on gabrielleabelle's LJ.) In that, I can make sense of what Giles does in-story because it's been hinted at since S4, but I'm still pissed at him for doing so AND I absolutely agree that the writers really dropped the ball in how they handled it.
And in terms of Buffy's economic dilemma - yeah, big-time screw up there. Wasn't Hank paying child support for Dawn? Come to think of it, how were Willow and Tara making any money at that point? (I've read the fanwank that Tara receives money from her family but the episode "Family" contradicts that, IMO. Perhaps she did at one point but the break from her family is pretty definite in that episode.) Did any of the writers come from working class or poor backgrounds? I wouldn't be surprised if they all came from comfortable middle-class backgrounds. (American tv series tend to deal with these issues rather poorly anyway, unless it's explicitly a major theme of the show.) Again, I could go on an extended rant here, being working-class poor and raised by a single mom so - yeah, I love S6 but that stuff just irks me. But then they never bother dealing with these issues in the earlier seasons either - Joyce is a single mom but we have no idea how she makes a living (generous divorce settlement?), or Giles during S4 for that matter.
Rahirah's Barbverse does a much better job of touching on those issues - Hank comes back to try to take custody of Dawn, Buffy and Spike work for a living and juggle jobs during their marriage, etc.
I can't hate the Scoobies for their giant, writer-caused, OOC behaviour
*nods* That's the great thing about a fictional story vs RL - when I'm pissed at what's going on or what someone is doing, there's always an "out" and I can blame the writers. :)
the financial stuff that is, for some strange reason, all Buffy's responsibility.
Hmm, maybe I should have seen the outcome of S8 (it's all Buffy's fault!) coming? (Not that I consider it canon, no ma'am, not at all. But the theme is depressing, isn't it? Buffy takes responsibility for Angel losing his soul, for Riley leaving, for the end of magic in the world, etc etc. Because taking responsibility for multiple world save-age isn't enough? hey, Joss, can we cut Our Girl some slack already?)
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For some reason that time-travel fic sounds familiar, I don't think I read it but I may have bookmarked it for later?
*Giles* would leave the Hellmouth unprotected and Dawn without financial security? Uh... NO.
Have you read Molly May's meta on Giles, and her explanation why Giles is not acting OOC in later seasons (specifically S7) http://molly-may.livejournal.com/151594.html
It's my favorite Giles meta, because I noticed when I rewatched the first ep of S4 that Giles was already turning Buffy away and saying "I'm not your watcher anymore" - which he tries to do again in S5. He keeps trying to pull away, then keeps coming back.
So it's a double-edged sword for me, in that I absolutely agree with Molly intellectually, and with you emotionally if that makes sense? It probably comes back to the Doylist vs Watsonian perspectives zanthinegirl mentions. (I first encountered the terms on gabrielleabelle's LJ.) In that, I can make sense of what Giles does in-story because it's been hinted at since S4, but I'm still pissed at him for doing so AND I absolutely agree that the writers really dropped the ball in how they handled it.
And in terms of Buffy's economic dilemma - yeah, big-time screw up there. Wasn't Hank paying child support for Dawn? Come to think of it, how were Willow and Tara making any money at that point? (I've read the fanwank that Tara receives money from her family but the episode "Family" contradicts that, IMO. Perhaps she did at one point but the break from her family is pretty definite in that episode.) Did any of the writers come from working class or poor backgrounds? I wouldn't be surprised if they all came from comfortable middle-class backgrounds. (American tv series tend to deal with these issues rather poorly anyway, unless it's explicitly a major theme of the show.) Again, I could go on an extended rant here, being working-class poor and raised by a single mom so - yeah, I love S6 but that stuff just irks me. But then they never bother dealing with these issues in the earlier seasons either - Joyce is a single mom but we have no idea how she makes a living (generous divorce settlement?), or Giles during S4 for that matter.
Rahirah's Barbverse does a much better job of touching on those issues - Hank comes back to try to take custody of Dawn, Buffy and Spike work for a living and juggle jobs during their marriage, etc.
I can't hate the Scoobies for their giant, writer-caused, OOC behaviour
*nods* That's the great thing about a fictional story vs RL - when I'm pissed at what's going on or what someone is doing, there's always an "out" and I can blame the writers. :)
the financial stuff that is, for some strange reason, all Buffy's responsibility.
Hmm, maybe I should have seen the outcome of S8 (it's all Buffy's fault!) coming? (Not that I consider it canon, no ma'am, not at all. But the theme is depressing, isn't it? Buffy takes responsibility for Angel losing his soul, for Riley leaving, for the end of magic in the world, etc etc. Because taking responsibility for multiple world save-age isn't enough? hey, Joss, can we cut Our Girl some slack already?)