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Entropy & The Single Girl
Buffy Episode 6.18 Entropy
Air Date: 30Apr02
Webster says:
Entropy.
Pronunciation: 'en-tr&-pE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -pies
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary 2en- + Greek tropE change, literally, turn, from trepein to turn
Date: 1875 |
| 1 : a measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system that is also usually considered to be a measure of the system's disorder and that is a property of the system's state and is related to it in such a manner that a reversible change in heat in the system produces a change in the measure which varies directly with the heat change and inversely with the absolute temperature at which the change takes place; broadly : the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system |
| 2 a: the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity b : a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder |
Good old Webster. That Emmanuel Lewis always did have a way with words.
I'm choo-choo-choosing to go with the second definition, although I read the first closely to see if the smarties at Mutant Enemy were connecting their title to the wordier first one, with all it's hoo-hah about a change in heat affecting the measure of unavailable energy in a closed thermo... but then I got dizzy and had to suck my thumb while I listened to side two of Dare To Be Stupid. So let's just say they were talking about things falling apart.
"Things fall apart", said Tara as she leaned against the doorframe of Willow's bedroom. Thanks, Tara. Has everyone noticed that Tara's main job this season has been to comment on the real meaning and themes of each episode she's been in? She's like a brain-damaged Greek chorus. Actually, I should lighten up on Miss Tara, as she's been the target of a lot of abuse. But hey - I hear she's FINALLY going to appear in the opening credits of next week's episode! A guest star no more! Between that and being reunited with her one true love, I'm glad things are finally looking up for her.
Mommy, what's foreshadowing?
When contemplating this episode, I can't even make a comparison to the last one, seeing as how it aired on the 12th of March and my memory isn't what it used to be (If only someone had warned me that the inhaling of household cleaning products in massive quantities could be damaging to the brain). But I will say that I sat transfixed by every little glance and nuance in what's become my favourite nighttime soap opera. It's the continuing stoooory of who's doing who on the Hellmouth.
This week's scorecard shows that Spike may not be doing Buffy anymore, but he makes up ten points for his JD-fuelled seduction of my favourite vengeance demon (sorry, Hallie, you came in 3rd after d'Hoffryn). As a representative of M.W.D.A (Men Who Desire Anya), let me just say this was a good one for us and it scored high on the Visible Undergarments scale (thanks Spike). Anya earns ten well-deserved consolation points because, EWWWW, that guy's DEAD! Xander (who seems to be shrinking back to his normal girth) gets five points for almost doing Spike with an axe. Tara gets ten points for a fantastic pick-up line ("Can you just be kissing me now?"), and Willow gets five for her warm reception.
Y'know, it's really too bad we can't have crossovers with Angel. Then Cordelia could find her way back to town and Spike The Undead Mack Daddy could make it a hat trick. "In yo' face, Harris!"
I'm joking about it, but there was definitely a heart-wrenching heaviness to the events of last night's episode. This season's been big on irony, and we have ourselves another example. Anya wanted so badly to curse Xander and crush his heart into little squirmy bits for leaving her at the altar, and after a day spent trying unsuccessfully to do it as a vengeance demon, she managed to forget herself and do the job in the stinky old way that we mortals have been doing it forever. If he wasn't feeling bad before, he's certainly cursed now. Everybody! “It's like ray-ee-ain, on your wedding day. It's a free ri-ee-ide, when you're already late...”
The nerds! The nerds! Things seem to be falling apart for them too, despite being one step closer to... something. Have I missed a crucial plot point, or is the thing they found on last night's map still a mystery to us? Were they on the trail of something valuable last time we saw them, or did this just appear out of nowhere? In any case, Jonathon now has a magic lollipop to go with his magic bone. With all that supernatural ordinance, no one will ever again mess with his Babylon 5 novels. He does, however, need to watch his back as Andrew seems to have found a new ear to whisper in. Trouble in the basement.
During the long hiatus, Dawnie must have accompanied Anya to the hair salon, where both of them mixed it up with a curling iron. I'd need to go back through reruns to confirm this, but it appears some sort of balance must be maintained on this show between good hair and bad hair. Buffy's looked particularly cute last night, just as Anya adapted the curly Hallfrek look and Dawn joined the Slightly Silly Party. Hopefully all the Scoobs will be okay with pets as birthday presents from Dawn, as it appears that the local menagerie was the only merchant not cleaned out in her epic crime wave.
Nick Brendon and Emma Caulfield again kicked my ass with the heartfelt way they're portraying lovers in ruin. I'm doing this all out of sequence, but when Xander confessed that he wakes up mornings wondering if this could really be his life, Anya's whispered "Me too" made my geranium wilt (and that's not a metaphor for anything, smartass). Big collective sigh...
Boy oh boy, between the make-ups and the break-ups and how everyone's hair looked, I should send this one to Teen People. Five more episodes left, and those of us who need the spoilers know that there are some big nasty events on the horizon. Ain't-It-Cool-News just linked to some photos from the finale, and while they're just different shots of the same person, they're pretty exciting.
No one's been iffier on this season than I have, but I'm now banging my fists with glee over the chaos that's brewing. I have a feeling that when I watch it all over again in nightly reruns inside of a single month, it'll all make sense.
Yours in antici............................pation,
Ron
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