as a first time lolilo watcher, long-time buffy fan the line “If that’s the case then I’m Xander and you’re Willow” from the mouth of balthazar jones will haunt me forever. what. what was the reason.
theres like so many things one can read into this, both in terms of saying they’re xander/willow but also in terms of saying they’re xander and willow independently (tho i think since they go on to talk about shipping the first one is probably more apt,, lol)
(spoilers for buffy s3 and s6 follow)
if I was to think about it as the two of them individually then I rly have to remind myself that chronologically these biab happen before aftermath, because the only reason I can fathom someone identifying with xander willingly (especially someone like balth) is as some form of self-loathing. like xanders classic wah wah im so bad I’ve ruined relationships, im not good to people. whatever. which balth maybe could claim after feeling like he didn’t treat peter right at the whole party night and aftermath. what i cannot see is balthazar identifying with xanders “im the useless one, i have no talent, the rest of my friends are so strong and im nothing” (tho again, new to lolilo, dont have that deep of an understanding to balth as a character)
when it comes to balth seeing peter as a willow then there’s lesss to grasp there, unless he wants to reference that willow had a one-sided crush on xander forever, but I’ll get to that later. he could just be referencing willow being super strong (which is what he should be referencing, love you willow), but other than that don’t know. they’re both gay and emotional or smthn
buttt, it’s obv way more likely that he’s referencing xander/willow and that whole season3 subplot. in which case. jfc. I don’t hate friends doing romance chicken or we (as some of you will know very well) but I hate xander and willow becoming romantically and intimately involved cuz first of all they are doing this as actively cheating on their partners who are both lovely to them and they are very established with andddd then xander and willow don’t even seem to like each other that much during all of this!!! risking their relationships to partners and for what?? anyways yes sorry lolilo. as a first time watcher who does not know where balth and peter end up, it really makes me think that balth maybe wants to be kissing peter or what should we say, but knows deep down that it will not end well/end up hurting one of them or someone around them. tho what I suppose is rly funny is referencing two characters that someone like peter (who has not seen btvs) might be like “oh yeah they are the Good Friends” while knowing, if you’ve seen the show, that they do at some point have a romance.
he could obv just be thinking about the first buffy friends-to-lovers ship that comes to mind, but then again willow/tara is righttt there and sure it might be more obv that they actually are meant to be more than friends but hello! balth you are such a tara I see it so clearly in my minds eye!!
I think the funniest thing is thinking about it as a willow&xander thing ala s6, but I sure hope peter doesn’t get to the point of destroying the entire world and balthazar being the only one who can stop him cuz they’re such good friends :) tho who am I to say, I have yet so much lolilo to watch
tangentwithtanner
kianamaiart
