careful! the ink's still wet!

I startled several people who know my Spike-alholism by not being wild about the epilogue of Showtime. How can a self-confessed Dark Spuffy fan (if that isn't a contradiction - I like the idea of them loving each other in a big non-soppy, non-happy-ever-after way) not be happy when Buffy walks over, cuts Spike down and they start into each others' eyes as the music swirls? Well, this one.

It's farily easy to spot, looking back over this blog, that I am not enamoured with the whole First Evil storyline and have felt ME are going down the lazy plotting route. Easy, routine, predictable. So after weeks of Spike being a little torture puppy who just hangs about getting hurt, and with the recent bad habit of characters standing about talking instead of the old-fashioned (in BtVS terms) use of monsters as metaphors, the whole rising-music, soulful eye contact stuff just made me shudder with horror at the thought of the inevitable hurt/comfort episode which was to follow.

So much so that I went and wrote a fanfic, trying to reconcile my desire for some B/S interaction with my dread of a run-of-the-mill hurt/comfort scene. Thankfully, Potentials skips the whole thing and instead has Spike bursting back into the narrative as an active participant instead of a passive victim. Yay! BtVS has confounded my expectations. In a good way. Of course, I do suspect some of my enjoyment of Potentials is due to the First Evil plot being in remission but this was the first episode for several weeks which I actually enjoyed. I also think a single shot of his belly was the most sexy thing we've seen this season. I was in such a good mood that I even almost forgave Molly her accent. Almost.

By George, I think she's got it!

No, really, she hasn't. Are there truly absolutely no English actresses for hire in Hollywood? Do we really have to have a bad Cockerney accented Slayer in Training, Mary Poppins?

Now you'd think, after watching Bring on the Night and Showtime, I'd have some complex point to make about the ongoing storyline. Maybe how the Hurt/Comfort thing with Spike is starting to get old and how I'm shocked that I've actually seen enough of Spike in chains? Or the whole Giles: FE fake or Benevolent Renevant? question. Or how come all the scoobies can skive off work/school so easily and why Andrew is still around. But no, I'm going to rage about the accents.

There is a reason for this.

If you're a fan of BtVS or Ats then the idea of Americans doing European accents badly is not new or totally unwelcome. Well, yes, I laughed at the early season 2 Spike 'English' accent but there's no doubt that James Marsters has really gone to town on his voice. Not only does Spike now have two accents - London and RP - but they are used to subtly indicate the mood swings of Unstable Spike. Not to mention the ret-con ( "when did you start speaking like that?" ). Even Boreanez's laughable Oirish accent has come to be an endearing facet of him (especially in Spin the Bottle). Though Kendra's accent is bewildering ( "I am Ken-dra, de vampire slay-er" ). And I'll leave Dru's insane babble about mines in London for another time.

Obviously, all English people with RP accents are evil, apart from Giles who is stuffy and wore tweed. Travers, Ethan, Gwendoline. Even Wes, until he grew up. We'll let that go though since most American tv and film is the same. So, given English fans are rather used to some dodgy accents and cultural stereotyping, why does Molly's accent bug me?

It drops me stone cold sober out of the narrative, that's why. As soon as her Dick van Dyke vowels come out I stop giving a toss about these SIT. I start noticing the flaws in the episode more (hmmmm, Molly the Cockerney and Annabelle the posh totty, huh? I've known one Molly in all my life - and that's my friend's kitten). I'm not seeing Buffy as a narrative drama with characters whose development is compelling but as a television programme which couldn't even find someone capable of doing a working class London accent.

I saw Bring on the Night in a room full of Londoners, in London, on New Year's Day. Have you ever seen an entire room of people wince in unison? Really, truly. If you want to save the show, ME, kill Molly.