Musings poll

[icemink]

So I was reading through the suggestions for meta topics at buffyversemeta and my brain started spinning as it is wont to do. So I started thinking about Jasmine, and whether she really was one of the PTBs and if she was, what does that say about Darla's appearance in "Inside Out"? I couldn't really think of a way to turn it into a good meta jumping off point, because all you can really do is speculate about it, but I wanted to know what other people thought was a likely explanation of Darla's ghost.

[Poll #1003846]

Comments

[icemink.livejournal.com]

Hmm, interesting. I've certainly wondered if she was mostly "in his head" but I think she must have been at least somewhat separate than him, because Cordelia becomes aware of her. Of course she could have not been Darla at all, just someone trying to stop Connor mystically.

[xanphibian.livejournal.com]

I think that if someone was trying to stop Connor with the best incarnation it knew of, Holtz would have been the better candidate. I think Connor would have been more likely to listen to the man he grew up with rather than a woman he'd never seen before. (But that wouldn't have set up the same kind of mom vs. mom thing that was going on with Cordy and Darla)

[icemink.livejournal.com]

Good point. Although the fact that it was his mother was one of the things that drew me to The First. The First loves mothers, and also seems to prefer to appear as women. Out of all the incarnations, I can only think of three times The First appears as a man. She does it with one of Angelus' victims in Amends. She also appears to Andrew as Warren, but there is no female that would work in Andrew's case. Similarly, the First appears as the Mayor because Faith doesn't have any woman she identifies with (except I think maybe her first Watcher was a woman, but since we've never seen her, it wouldn't have meant as much to the viewers).

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

There are quite a few manifestations as a male:
Daniel and some modern businessman to Angel
Warren and Jonathan to Andrew
The Mayor to Faith and Spike
The Master and Adam to Spike
Spike to Spike

Against which we have:
The maid and Jenny to Angel
Glory and Drusilla to Spike
Niki to Robin Wood
Choir girl to Caleb
Cassie to Willow
Eve and Chloe to the potentials
Buffy to Caleb, Buffy and Spike

[icemink.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I'd completely forgotten about the First's parade of villians at the very beginning of s7. Somehow I'd forgotten about Jonathan too. So you're right, The First does seem pretty equal opportunity.

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

I think you are right that in terms of time on screen the First spent far more time as women than men, but it is obviously perfectly happy to appear as men if it wants too.

Oh, I've just remembered Caleb as another man it appeared as!


As regards Darla appearing, I had a thought - a 'ghost' that can touch does have a precedent on the show in Lessons: manifest spirits, raised by a talisman to seek vengeance. Not quite sure how that might apply, but it shows that ghosts that can touch are not entirely outside other canon experience.