DeepBlueJoy
Lion Faced Kitteh
well, I don't think his take was 'we all hated each other' or 'we all hated Sarah'. I do think it's clear he has a resentment (at minimum, with Sarah) that he didn't get to carry on into a season 8 of BtVS on TV so he could continue in the only role he knew he could play... I got the impression back at the end of season 5 that Sarah wanted to leave but could not b/c she was contracted for 7 years, so if I knew this (and I am pretty sure it was common knowledge b/c i'm not a big follower of entertainment news) he must have known. Maybe he was in denial b/c she didn't break her contract and run off after season 5, but that is not a Sarah approach to things.
The series changed radically when it changed from WB to UPN. From the nature of the (lightweight, brainless) shows she's always chosen for herself (not impressed -- i find most of it kind of juvenile) but, regardless, if she liked what she chose for herself, she would not like season 6 (the content was ugly, but for acting, it was some of the best work she ever did ESPECIALLY if she hated it as much as it appears she did)
I don't think anyone was happy with season 7. Maybe some people were in denial that 7 was going to be the end, and that's why the writing in season 7 was so out of character for everyone b/c somehow they were convinced the person who wanted to be done after season 5 would really want to stay past her contract's end? Maybe Joss believed he could keep her?
Maybe that's why so much new was thrown in at the end? Throwing a ton of new characters and new directions into an established series (and formula) could not have been fun for those who were already there. I don't think it did much for those who were thrown either!! No idea what they thought was going to happen after 'Chosen'.
Maybe Joss thought someone (or several someones) would stand out and the 'next generation/school for slayers' idea would take off. (It certainly seemed to be a very popular idea in all the fanfic i found soon after the show - when i was in withdrawal like so many others) Sadly, the atmosphere of the season made it hard to see how those people would all band together to come up with something new that people would want to watch and actors would want to be involved with.
As for Nick... semi-glad he had a mentorship with Joss. There seems to be a lot of toxic enmeshment there... Most of the rest of the cast have issues with Joss. It seems that to the end Nick still did not see Joss as having wronged others... probably why he kept behaving as he did as well... because he did not (could not?) look in the mirror and see the behaviour that was making him unemployable. I once knew someone like that. Lots of great qualities, but zero self awareness. I ended up walking away from our friendship because people who cannot see they're carrying emotional weapons hurt others.
I loved Xander. I have to say that over time, I really came to have little respect for Nick. I'm sorry that he is dead and never got a chance to put himself together. I have my own theories that his staying under the arm of Joss was NOT good for him as a human. Not all things abusers do are perceived by the people on the receiving end as toxic. I listen to Nick, and I hear Stockholm Syndrome. Someone who needed to belong. Someone who needed to keep believing, even in light of the behaviour that seems to have hurt most everyone else... behaviour that went across years and eventually across franchises to different shows and movies. I think that, unlike Sarah, ASH, Michelle, James and David, he had a small amount of talent, and Joss was the one who gave him the chance to shine. I think he knew his best chance lay in recreating that role. I don't think he could let go of Joss b/c in a lot of ways Nick WAS Xander... (and sometimes I think Joss exploited that with some of the directions he took the character - directions that I think may well have hurt Nick, but that's my opinion, based only on looking in from the outside)
In this interview, sadly, I also heard someone who was dying. I listened to his interview when Michelle died, and my reaction then was that he was right, I'm surprised that he didn't die before she did. If I'd seen this before he died, I would have thought 'he's not gonna be here long'. His breathing, how he moved and even his mental function... he seemed to be falling apart.
Briefly (for a few years) he was able to find another Xander to play when he was Kevin on Criminal Minds. he might well have continued to play that character if he had kept his personal life off the front pages of tabloids and himself out of jail. While he played a more accomplished person on CM, he had the same personality and the same goofiness as Xander. I don't think he had great confidence in himself as an actor. Sadly, I'm not sure that he was right in that belief. I once saw him play a villain in 'Without a Trace'. He was seriously sinister... and in my opinion quite good. I wish he'd taken on more diverse character roles and stretched himself Unfortunately, he (admittedly) had low self esteem from childhood and not a huge amount of confidence in himself and fear and anger led him in the wrong directions in life and that definitely made him unemployable. Maybe that's why he couldn't let Joss go after Buffy (lack of confidence). Like a child from an abusive family, it may not be healthy, but it is all that child knows and leaving means stepping out into the unknown. Sadly, those who can't leave, are doomed to live miserable half lives.
The idea of the injured watcher is actually not a terrible one. Honestly, i wish ASH could be around to play such a role. Had Nick been healthier (and honestly I don't just mean physically) maybe there could have been a place for him in a new series, if not the injured watcher, maybe the injured friend. All of the scoobies had a lot of rebuilding to do after Sunnydale. Wish we had gotten to see that. There's a lot we will never get to see now that Nick, ASH and Michelle are all gone.
Sadly, Nick never seemed to have much in the way of self awareness, or clarity. He would have needed to have accountability for his choices, but that requires one actually do a lot of work on oneself. I don't get the idea he ever found any real 'recovery' even if he wasn't using/drinking (not clear, though he doesn't seem particularly toasted, just profoundly broken). By recovery, I mean, the kind of self assessment and rebuilding that people who want to put themselves back together usually recognize they need to do. If one doesn't do that, one doesn't end up having the life of a Jamie Lee Curtis or Anthony Hopkins... (both recovering alcoholics) or any number of creative people who realized they were destroying their lives AND the instrument by which they created (body, mind, soul, spirit) and decided to stop AND rebuild.
One truth from watching that interview? Life is hard. Being famous is not a protection from life being hard. In fact, I think in some ways it makes life harder.
The series changed radically when it changed from WB to UPN. From the nature of the (lightweight, brainless) shows she's always chosen for herself (not impressed -- i find most of it kind of juvenile) but, regardless, if she liked what she chose for herself, she would not like season 6 (the content was ugly, but for acting, it was some of the best work she ever did ESPECIALLY if she hated it as much as it appears she did)
I don't think anyone was happy with season 7. Maybe some people were in denial that 7 was going to be the end, and that's why the writing in season 7 was so out of character for everyone b/c somehow they were convinced the person who wanted to be done after season 5 would really want to stay past her contract's end? Maybe Joss believed he could keep her?
Maybe that's why so much new was thrown in at the end? Throwing a ton of new characters and new directions into an established series (and formula) could not have been fun for those who were already there. I don't think it did much for those who were thrown either!! No idea what they thought was going to happen after 'Chosen'.
Maybe Joss thought someone (or several someones) would stand out and the 'next generation/school for slayers' idea would take off. (It certainly seemed to be a very popular idea in all the fanfic i found soon after the show - when i was in withdrawal like so many others) Sadly, the atmosphere of the season made it hard to see how those people would all band together to come up with something new that people would want to watch and actors would want to be involved with.
As for Nick... semi-glad he had a mentorship with Joss. There seems to be a lot of toxic enmeshment there... Most of the rest of the cast have issues with Joss. It seems that to the end Nick still did not see Joss as having wronged others... probably why he kept behaving as he did as well... because he did not (could not?) look in the mirror and see the behaviour that was making him unemployable. I once knew someone like that. Lots of great qualities, but zero self awareness. I ended up walking away from our friendship because people who cannot see they're carrying emotional weapons hurt others.
I loved Xander. I have to say that over time, I really came to have little respect for Nick. I'm sorry that he is dead and never got a chance to put himself together. I have my own theories that his staying under the arm of Joss was NOT good for him as a human. Not all things abusers do are perceived by the people on the receiving end as toxic. I listen to Nick, and I hear Stockholm Syndrome. Someone who needed to belong. Someone who needed to keep believing, even in light of the behaviour that seems to have hurt most everyone else... behaviour that went across years and eventually across franchises to different shows and movies. I think that, unlike Sarah, ASH, Michelle, James and David, he had a small amount of talent, and Joss was the one who gave him the chance to shine. I think he knew his best chance lay in recreating that role. I don't think he could let go of Joss b/c in a lot of ways Nick WAS Xander... (and sometimes I think Joss exploited that with some of the directions he took the character - directions that I think may well have hurt Nick, but that's my opinion, based only on looking in from the outside)
In this interview, sadly, I also heard someone who was dying. I listened to his interview when Michelle died, and my reaction then was that he was right, I'm surprised that he didn't die before she did. If I'd seen this before he died, I would have thought 'he's not gonna be here long'. His breathing, how he moved and even his mental function... he seemed to be falling apart.
Briefly (for a few years) he was able to find another Xander to play when he was Kevin on Criminal Minds. he might well have continued to play that character if he had kept his personal life off the front pages of tabloids and himself out of jail. While he played a more accomplished person on CM, he had the same personality and the same goofiness as Xander. I don't think he had great confidence in himself as an actor. Sadly, I'm not sure that he was right in that belief. I once saw him play a villain in 'Without a Trace'. He was seriously sinister... and in my opinion quite good. I wish he'd taken on more diverse character roles and stretched himself Unfortunately, he (admittedly) had low self esteem from childhood and not a huge amount of confidence in himself and fear and anger led him in the wrong directions in life and that definitely made him unemployable. Maybe that's why he couldn't let Joss go after Buffy (lack of confidence). Like a child from an abusive family, it may not be healthy, but it is all that child knows and leaving means stepping out into the unknown. Sadly, those who can't leave, are doomed to live miserable half lives.
The idea of the injured watcher is actually not a terrible one. Honestly, i wish ASH could be around to play such a role. Had Nick been healthier (and honestly I don't just mean physically) maybe there could have been a place for him in a new series, if not the injured watcher, maybe the injured friend. All of the scoobies had a lot of rebuilding to do after Sunnydale. Wish we had gotten to see that. There's a lot we will never get to see now that Nick, ASH and Michelle are all gone.
Sadly, Nick never seemed to have much in the way of self awareness, or clarity. He would have needed to have accountability for his choices, but that requires one actually do a lot of work on oneself. I don't get the idea he ever found any real 'recovery' even if he wasn't using/drinking (not clear, though he doesn't seem particularly toasted, just profoundly broken). By recovery, I mean, the kind of self assessment and rebuilding that people who want to put themselves back together usually recognize they need to do. If one doesn't do that, one doesn't end up having the life of a Jamie Lee Curtis or Anthony Hopkins... (both recovering alcoholics) or any number of creative people who realized they were destroying their lives AND the instrument by which they created (body, mind, soul, spirit) and decided to stop AND rebuild.
One truth from watching that interview? Life is hard. Being famous is not a protection from life being hard. In fact, I think in some ways it makes life harder.
