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It took a while. Again.
I blame it on the stress I had with my son's broken leg, many, many hours at the hospital for re-casting, plural, making new x-ray photographs again, and again, and in the end having surgery after all. All I could focus on beside that and still caring for my other kids, and house keeping, and work at school, was making pretty pictures from pretty people.
But here it is, the next day of 55 days:
Day 11: Least favorite male character
Like every ‘least favorite’, this isn’t easy; there aren’t many things and characters that I don’t like, but that are still important to the show. Of course there’s Parker, and I could argue that he’s pretty important in what he and his behavior do to Buffy, but that still feels like kind of a cop out.
So I pick the one guy I truly don’t like at all – Warren.
When Warren first appeared, I still felt compassion for him. Yes, he built himself a creepy sex bot, but he did it because he felt lonely, and what he wanted from her was feeling loved, right? And at least he realized that she in no way could replace a real person.
But then he did this thing with just leaving her behind, not even giving it any thought that if he succeeded in making her so alive-like, she maybe was capable of feeling abandoned. Hid from her even when he saw how desperately she searched for him, instead of giving her some peace of mind, or, you know, switch her off, and even after getting it he still didn't show any remorse. My sympathy made a 180 and turned into disgust instantly (which happens rarely, I almost always still find something redeemable in people!), and I cheered Katrina on when she left him.
When he reappeared in season 6, it became clear pretty quickly that his behavior wasn’t just a slip, and here's why:
Over the course of the season he displays a lot of criminal energy to achieve his goals, and doesn’t shy away from capital offense either, the museum robbery being one of them, but culminating of course at first in the intension to rape and then the manslaughter of Katrina.
On the surface still the funny guy and certainly highly intelligent, admired for this and his strength by Andrew till the end, he soon shows that he’s at the core manipulative and deeply selfish, and goes all out to get what he wants, stopping at nothing, having no qualms about throwing his friends under the bus at the first opportunity. Basically he shows almost every trait typical for psychopaths, such as high self-confidence paired with lack of conscience and empathy, charming on the outside, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, defiance of authority; he’s eloquent as a speaker which he uses to manipulate people.
That's how he seduces both Andrew and Jonathan to do nasty and even illegal things, even though neither of them is stupid or in any way evil. But for a while they bath in his attention, not realizing what he really needs them for.
It's no coincidence that The First chooses Warren to further entice Andrew to do its bidding, going even so far to have him kill his only friend Jonathan. Besides Andrew being an easy target, it's still the huge influence Warren has on him and his capabilty of being convincing.
Even though watching Warren is kind of thrilling and therefore enjoyable, I really, really don't like him. I’m firmly against death penalty. But when Willow kills him I can’t help but cheer (well, the flaying wasn’t necessary, I guess…).
Actually ‘don’t like’ isn’t a strong enough expression for Warren. He scares me, much more than any monster could, because people like him exist in reality.
He’s a true monster.
I blame it on the stress I had with my son's broken leg, many, many hours at the hospital for re-casting, plural, making new x-ray photographs again, and again, and in the end having surgery after all. All I could focus on beside that and still caring for my other kids, and house keeping, and work at school, was making pretty pictures from pretty people.
But here it is, the next day of 55 days:
Day 11: Least favorite male character
Like every ‘least favorite’, this isn’t easy; there aren’t many things and characters that I don’t like, but that are still important to the show. Of course there’s Parker, and I could argue that he’s pretty important in what he and his behavior do to Buffy, but that still feels like kind of a cop out.
So I pick the one guy I truly don’t like at all – Warren.
When Warren first appeared, I still felt compassion for him. Yes, he built himself a creepy sex bot, but he did it because he felt lonely, and what he wanted from her was feeling loved, right? And at least he realized that she in no way could replace a real person.
But then he did this thing with just leaving her behind, not even giving it any thought that if he succeeded in making her so alive-like, she maybe was capable of feeling abandoned. Hid from her even when he saw how desperately she searched for him, instead of giving her some peace of mind, or, you know, switch her off, and even after getting it he still didn't show any remorse. My sympathy made a 180 and turned into disgust instantly (which happens rarely, I almost always still find something redeemable in people!), and I cheered Katrina on when she left him.
When he reappeared in season 6, it became clear pretty quickly that his behavior wasn’t just a slip, and here's why:
Over the course of the season he displays a lot of criminal energy to achieve his goals, and doesn’t shy away from capital offense either, the museum robbery being one of them, but culminating of course at first in the intension to rape and then the manslaughter of Katrina.
On the surface still the funny guy and certainly highly intelligent, admired for this and his strength by Andrew till the end, he soon shows that he’s at the core manipulative and deeply selfish, and goes all out to get what he wants, stopping at nothing, having no qualms about throwing his friends under the bus at the first opportunity. Basically he shows almost every trait typical for psychopaths, such as high self-confidence paired with lack of conscience and empathy, charming on the outside, use of cruelty to gain empowerment, defiance of authority; he’s eloquent as a speaker which he uses to manipulate people.
That's how he seduces both Andrew and Jonathan to do nasty and even illegal things, even though neither of them is stupid or in any way evil. But for a while they bath in his attention, not realizing what he really needs them for.
It's no coincidence that The First chooses Warren to further entice Andrew to do its bidding, going even so far to have him kill his only friend Jonathan. Besides Andrew being an easy target, it's still the huge influence Warren has on him and his capabilty of being convincing.
Even though watching Warren is kind of thrilling and therefore enjoyable, I really, really don't like him. I’m firmly against death penalty. But when Willow kills him I can’t help but cheer (well, the flaying wasn’t necessary, I guess…).
Actually ‘don’t like’ isn’t a strong enough expression for Warren. He scares me, much more than any monster could, because people like him exist in reality.
He’s a true monster.
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no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 07:17 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 08:00 pm (UTC)From:You're right. I think the Trio, meaning Warren, is scarier because he's being underestimated. That's exactly the reason why he's the only villain ever to kill a scooby (apart from Anya in the end). They never really realized how dangerous he is, even after Katrina's death.
I'm glad your weeks were more fun :)
no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 07:18 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 08:35 pm (UTC)From:We're eight weeks into a broken upper right arm caused by a bone tumor (non-malignant, probably, but still a problem), and no signs of healing. I've pulled away from fandom too (though I still check in and see what's up, and Seasonal Spuffy has re-engaged me for now), so I know how you feel. I thought my daughter was the most x-rayed child in the world - "No sign of healing, don't use your arm, come back and get another x-ray next week" - but maybe she can take the title for this country, and your son for yours. Poor kid, I hope he's recovering well.
no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 09:28 pm (UTC)From:A broken arm because of a tumor is so much worse. Even non-malignant, I can't even begin to imagine the fear and sorrow you must have felt and probably still do. I'm so, so sorry to hear that! And no sign of healing after eight weeks?? Is it because of the tumor? And can't they do anything? No surgery?
Sorry for all the questions. Don't worry if you're not up to answer them. Just know, if you want to talk about it, I'm here (even if I can't help. Though I could ask my brother in law, who is surgeon (mostly for accidents but still), if you want me to. He is senior physician and substitutes (?) the chief physician when he's not there, and I trust him blindly. They did the surgery on my son together.)
Feel hugged, you need it as much as she does!
Cat
no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 10:53 pm (UTC)From:It's probably a unicameral bone cyst, but since we're still waiting on that specialist, this is my guess from studying the xrays and the MRIs and going online and studying slide shows about bone problems. There are a lot of xrays online that look *exactly* like hers. If that's what it is, UBCs are not a problem, other than that they weaken the bone. Which is what happened. Basically the tumor/cyst developed in the marrow channel and then grew and grew and ate up the outside hard bone until it was so weak that it snapped. (Totally scientific explanation.) There are treatments, but... they don't seem to have very good success rates? I don't know. Mostly they just hope it'll resolve on its own, which it sometimes does, but this doesn't appear to be one of those sometimes. Here's hoping the specialist knows more than I do, if we ever get to see him. If your BIL has any advice, I'm all ears.
As for the not healing, I don't know if the bone is just too dissolved to heal, or if it's because she's always been a very slow healer when it comes to cuts, and this is just following the same pattern. No answers from the orthopedist... Her solution is to just cut the whole arm off, but hopefully we'll find a less drastic solution! :D
I'm so glad you have family members you trust to do the surgery. One less thing to worry about! Hugs back!
no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 11:21 pm (UTC)From:Herbs and homeopathy may help until you finally see a specialist.
And I totally understand that it feels like a chore. It's meant as an offer, nothing else. Soemtimes it helps a little just to vent or to be allowed to whine. Not always be strong, you know?
And one thing's for sure - I didn't read a word of cutting off limbs. So that is not an option. Surgery though sometimes is? I think? (Medical texts in an English-latin mixture - not my strength...)
no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 04:41 am (UTC)From:I'm not sure what UBC (unicameral bone cyst) would translate to in German either (Google suggested 'unicameral bone cysts in German shepherds', so not very helpful). Medical texts in English/Latin aren't easy to translate even if you do speak English.
Permission to whine is on occasion nice, thank you. :) Though it seems like the end of the world, we keep being reminded that it's a fairly minor problem. Daughter had to go to an activity for the weekend, and I told her to play it up and let everybody else help her so she wouldn't stress her arm too much. She came back and said, "I just couldn't try to get sympathy, because there was another girl there with scoliosis who had to wear a body brace. How could I make a fuss when she's dealing with that?"
no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 11:21 pm (UTC)From:So sorry to hear -- that sounds awful for parents and child.
You can access G Translate by hitting translate.google.com directly, which gave me the condition's name in German as "Einkammer Knochenzyste". BUT, medical terms are not piecemeal translatable sometimes, although I should think English to German should be pretty mappable...
Anyway, fingers crossed for your daughter! *Hugs*
no subject
Date: May. 24th, 2016 09:59 am (UTC)From:I did get that google translation, but had no idea if it meant anything that made sense. I can pull cyst out of zyste, but the rest of it...
As a parent of older kids to a parent of younger kids, I can give you this bit of hard-earned advice: pretty much nothing that you're worrying about for later will turn out to be a problem. Instead, your kids will find allllll kinds of unimaginable and exciting things to get you worked up about. :) Thank you for your crossed fingers (and for the help back when on daughter's other issue - at least that (seems to have) resolved, just in time for this).
no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 04:42 pm (UTC)From:Yay that the break is finally healing!
no subject
Date: May. 22nd, 2016 11:42 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 05:45 am (UTC)From:Total agreement on this one!
no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 09:27 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 11:39 pm (UTC)From:Anyone got a problem with that? Good, I thought not. *LOL*
no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 03:28 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 09:26 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 04:57 pm (UTC)From:I also think Warren was a very well written character, but not a likable one, and the fact that he's human and real is extremely scary.
no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 08:43 pm (UTC)From:I looked for your meme and only found the first 6 entries (and had no time to read yet, though I will). Didn't you tag them anymore? Hmm.
no subject
Date: May. 24th, 2016 06:20 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 03:49 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 07:05 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 23rd, 2016 11:26 pm (UTC)From:Warren really creeps me out. I can definitely see him as the worst person in BtVS.
*Hugs* for a stressed out fellow mommy! Hope the recuperation goes smoothly!
no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 03:33 pm (UTC)From:The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, May 24
Date: May. 24th, 2016 10:24 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 04:06 am (UTC)From:I'd say Andrew and Jonathan *can* be pretty stupid in their way. They're both smart, but also stupid? :D I'm mostly thinking about how out of touch with reality they get while seeing everything in terms of movie references (might have been mostly Andrew? I don't remember s6 Jonathan very well). But you're right that Warren's charisma/ability to convince is decisive.
no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 03:48 pm (UTC)From:Andrew is very naive. He doesn't want to think ill of his hero. Also - he's the kind of guy to bathe in the glory of others and do anything to keep this status. Actually I think this is the worst kind, because they are so easy to influence, and once steered in one direction it's hard to change their minds. Lots of those are reponsible for the atrocities Germany has done in WWII. Dangerous, cause they don't think, even if they could.
Luckily Andrew gets another chance to understand. Because Buffy is so wonderful!
no subject
Date: May. 25th, 2016 03:50 pm (UTC)From: