Time of Your Life Part 2.
We start with flying cars! Fray and Buffy have allied and are on the way to find a nest of vamps. Except the nest is actually the van they're flying next to. Except oops, it's not Buffy but Fray's sister, Erin. Similar look to them. Damn comics. My eyes don't adjust to the difference well. Anyway, we're in the future but back in time from the future we were in at the end of the last episode. Yeah, that works.
Fray cuts open the van with her scythe and fights vamps in midair, asking one where Harth is. If you've never read Fray or, like me, read it long ago and have forgotten virtually everything about it, don't worry. We'll find out more about Harth later on. Erin blows up the vamp van as it flies by a really cool, Isengard-like statue of an old man holding a book with his other hand positioned with thumb and ring ringer together in a circle. Does it mean anything? Is it a visual reference to the Fray comic? Need to reread (NTRR). Who knows.
As she rides the vamp onto the roof of another car (dirty), he mentions a madwoman who was supposed to save them. The way he describes her, she sounds a lot like Drusilla. I was fooled for a while the first time through.
Fray and Erin are back at her home. Fray mentions that Harth got her slayer memories from her and all she's got left are the diaries, so I guess that happened. NTRR. They're joined by a four-armed monkey thing as Fray talks about "Gates," the last great watcher who sacrificed himself at the Battle of Starbucks. ?? So I guess he's the monkey-thing now. And I'm not sure. Is that referring to Sunnydale or the end of season 8 or something we haven't seen? The histories are awfully incomplete and flawed as we'll see later.
Fray's looking for the madwoman in the books.
Harth speaks with the madwoman, telling of a slayer dream he's had of her fighting Buffy, who he knows is coming to the future. We don't see her face, and she does dress and talk like Dru. She's not slithering around like her though. And as we turn the page, she sounds less and less like Drusilla. Harth asks her why she wants the two slayers to combine forces. She replies, "Vampires gain strength from each other. Slayers, ultimately, don't." Also saying what happens here will help bring about the time they're in because of ripples.
Okay, one, that's foreshadowing. Two, and sad. The lone hero is stronger? Lot of bitterness there, and given that we find out later that she's Willow, it makes some sense given Will's role in the slayer spell vis-a-vis the ending of the season. But three, is this deconstructing season 7 and saying everything seemingly good about the ending is ultimately bad? That seems to be what all of season 8 says, which is a little bleak for Joss. I remember season 6 of Angel was supposed to be: Okay, now you've destroyed the status quo, now what do you do? And this feels like that too, especially given what Buffy says at the very start, but I don't know what kind of answers we're given when the end not only resets to a lone slayer (or 2), but also removes all magic from the world. But we'll get there.
Back in present New York, Willow says this is all her fault. Kennedy was injured by the demon that took Buffy's place. Will is keeping it alive to figure things out. Kennedy says this whole deal was supposed to help them, WTF? And Willow says that's what she thought so it's her fault. Does she know at this point? Or suspect?
Scotland. Green fire and destruction in the command center. Oh right, Warren's missile hit them. At least 7 slayers are dead that they know about so far. Rowena is freaking. Xander pulls her together as sickly green demons coalesce out of the flames and start macing computer screens and shooting green arrows, one of which nails Xander's shoulder as they move for the escape tunnels. Rowena makes it out, but Xander is down. Centaurette to the rescue! There's some awkwardness about Xander having to ride Dawn out of there, but they make it.
Fray ends up at the rift building because the diaries apparently said, "The last girl came here and was transformed." So I would say Willow had to plant that passage because we just established that she knew right away that it wasn't a transformation that happened. She's just putting the pieces into play. But also, Buffy is the last girl? For reals? Will Faith's death no longer call forth a new slayer after all is said and done?
Present Willow has found out from the demon it was hired to take down the Slayer. It didn't know about time traveling to kill a past Slayer though. Whoever did it has a lot of power and went to a lot of trouble to make sure Willow would get the Slayer in the right place at the right time. Yup. Sorry. Once you get the reveal, it's harder to look back and appreciate all the pieces leading up to it.
And we're back to the end of the last episode, with Buffy and Fray fighting in traffic, as is the Fray way. Buffy figures out she's another slayer quickly, which makes sense. She's kind of used to there being more than one around. This calls back to her meeting both Faith, and especially, Kendra.
They finally start talking, and Fray believes she's the real Buffy. They try to understand each other's particular brand of language, which is fun. Buffy is babbling a bit, asking her about how to destroy Twilight and how many slayers there are and how they're organized and -- boom. She finds out there's only one Slayer again, who was the first called in a century. Fray calls herself half a Slayer because her twin brother, Harth, has the Slayer memories, while she has the skills.
Okay, so Harth didn't steal the memories from her, he was somehow born with them. How could I forget that? NTRR. That's interesting. Now's he's a vamp and is using the memories to kill potentials and wreak havoc, all that normal villain stuff.
Fray has taken Buffy to see Gunther, a fishy demon/mutant type who lives in a sea of water under a glass floor. Buffy is regretting her choice to wear a dress. Fray asks him what he knows of the madwoman. Just that she's been alive since ancient times. Well, that's helpful. Not. Buffy's finally realizing this is all really happening.
Harth is gearing up for a battle. Madwoman is saying that Buffy is starting to feel the weight of her failure. Yeah, seeing that her changing of the world didn't stick, that would kind of suck.
Harth wants to kill his sister because she's the last thing he ever loved. "And what in this world is stronger than love?"
And the reveal. It's Willow who replies, "Time. Only time."
So time is stronger than love, slayers are stronger alone -- why does Joss hate joy? Right now this season is feeling as unremittingly bleak as season 6 or 7. I'm interested to see how I feel about the ending this time through, since right now all I feel is sadness at knowing what's to come.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #16 SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
The Time of Your Life arc begins.
Part one. We open with Buffy holding her scythe, commenting on it being a bad day. "Started out bad, stayed that way." Been there. Next panel shows her fighting with Fray?!? over the streets of Fray's future New York. Of course, that there would be a crossover was leaked way ahead of time, but still awesome reveal.
I have to say I have read Fray and loved it, but I haven't done so recently, so I'm not fluent in the characters and backstory at the moment. I will soldier on though.
As they continue falling and fighting, which seems to be a staple of comic book BTVS, Buffy wonders where she is and what's up with Dawn, pretty much just as a funny non sequitur brain thing to lead to the next scene.
Cut to Dawnie acting like she's got major cramps, screaming and grabbing her midsection. Well, that's my ex--never mind. Then we move past that into the castle, where Buffy, Willow and Xander eat Scottish Chinese takeout and discuss an upcoming trip to New York. Willow insists that the message she got in the battle with Kumiko last issue, the one implanted by Saga Vasuki, the snake lady, means they have to go there. I guess it's to find out "what's to come" for Willow, but she says it's to find the scythe. Hunh? I guess it was a big part of her fiery vision. Buffy's as confused as I am because they just successfully recovered the scythe, so not so much needing to find it. Willow insists it's important and should be dealt with in the downtime between battles. And the scythe's importance as more than just a weapon or a symbol, as a physical part of the spell, being what it is, she's no doubt right to be concerned.
The last arc was all about vampires trying to undo the slayers by using the scythe that fulfilled their potential to regress them back, so we continue to see it as crucial to this world they've created. Having a vision of a future world with the scythe in it, a world that we know from Fray does not include a myriad of slayers, is probably a big foreshadowing hint to us that this situation will not last, but I didn't get that at the time. Fray is pretty far in the future, so we don't know when the line became defunct. Anyway, the scythe is hugely important, but I'm still not sure that's Willow's real motivation to head to New York.
Renee's death comes up with all the talk of the last battle, and Xander insists that he's fine, he's dealing. He's certainly had the practice. Leah, who I keep mixing up with Rowena (not really doing much better at keeping the slayers straight than I did the potentials the first time through) interrupts them with Dawn drama, and they rush to the rescue to find that she's no longer a giant. Yay! Now, she's a centaur. Yay! Though she claims neigh.
Twilight interlude to remind us he's out there. He's hanging with Warren and Amy, who have mad scienced something for him. I could believe he was playing them for time, just trying to focus their attention under his guidance instead of leaving them out there as random free agents, although it still doesn't seem like his style. We'll get there. Anyway, they've created a missile that's been magified. The worst parts of science and magic entwined, just like Warren and Amy. Ew, the visual.
Back to Willow and Buffy taking leave of Xander, first in a helicopter, then a private jet. Willow alludes again to Buffy's Thomas Crown thing but they don't let it get heavy. Now Willow's talking about a mystical event that they're heading to. I guess she got more out of her dream vision than we were shown. Buffy, who had been on the phone with an unnamed someone just before they got in the chopper, says she's got a meeting to go to before the main event at midnight.
When they land in New York, they're met by Kennedy. She's coordinated with the Manhattan squad who will be handling security while Kennedy's people head the op. What op? Whatever that means. Buffy is acting all giddy to be in New York, and I don't know if it's for real and this seems like a nice vakay, or if she's overcompensating to avoid fallout from/dealing with the issues between herself and Willow. Kennedy comments that the local slayers are not unexcited about meeting "the great and terrible --" and I think we assume Buffy, the Slayer, is the end of that, but later it seems like Willow is the big draw, so IDK.
Violet is in charge of Manhattan. Is that Vi?? I do believe it is. Yay! Anyway, she gives a briefing on the local situation, and it seems that New York is seething with monsters. The more slayers, the more demons to fight? Part of the balancing?
We find out that Willow sent a mystical signature to the NY Wiccan group (could be a whole story on how the slayers managed to ally with so many Wiccans who are presumably less globally organized), and they've found a hot spot.
Willow gives a lecture on temporal anomalies. Okay, now it's a temporal anomaly I guess. I appreciate new ways of doing exposition, but don't know if this works for me. But at any rate, we're setting up Buffy's visit to Fray's time through a segue from Saga Vasuki sending Willow a message about the scythe/Willow's future through a goth witch allied with mystically talented vampires defeated by Dracula to where we're at now, and I suppose that's a tough path to draw.
So the time thing is temporary and fixed in space, and we get Willow being a teacher again, which is cool. It's here that the slayers are all excited to see a celebrity, and Buffy's just sitting in the back with Kennedy, so I think "great and terrible" refers to Willow rather than Buffy, especially since this will end up being her arc more than it is Buffy's.
Oh, and Kennedy tells Buffy to keep her experimental lesbo hands off of Willow.
(Slight side note. Sometimes I wonder if Willow still being with Kennedy and Dawn having an arc about boy troubles in the comics isn't Joss directly telling the vocal haters of both characters/story lines to suck it.)
And speaking of Dawn, she's hanging out with Xander. Their expectation now is that she will go through one more transformation before it's over. Xander tells her she looks awesome. And come on, who didn't want to be a centaur once? Only me then? Okay. But this is another Xander/Dawn moment leading to their eventual romance that's very natural. I liked their scenes together on TV and also like them in the comics.
Of course the moment is ruined when Xander tells her to enjoy this and not be whiny about it, and she storms off. The punniness of the closeness of whiny to whinny is left unstated but not unappreciated.
Xander heads back to the castle just in time to see the incoming missile wreathed with green witchfire. Boom!
Back in New York at the site where the temporal anomaly will be happening (hope they have some amber handy) we see that Kennedy doesn't know about Saga Vasuki, or at least about her being Willow's information source. Buffy shows up late in a hot dress (who was she meeting? do we find out? We must, but I don't remember right now.) And she pulls out the scythe and fmmit! A groky demon appears in her place; much like in Get it Done when she visits the shadow men, a tradeoff happens. And Buffy, after a fair bit of pain, pops out on a rooftop in future New York and is subjected to Frayspeak, which she doesn't understand.
Fray thinks she's just been tricked by the groky demon, it taking on the form of Buffy, who she knows from her history lessons that I barely remember from that comic. She's got her scythe, which is the same as the scythe Buffy has but from a later time, and now the Fringe parallel is even more apt because that's confusing. Anyway, the end.
Part one. We open with Buffy holding her scythe, commenting on it being a bad day. "Started out bad, stayed that way." Been there. Next panel shows her fighting with Fray?!? over the streets of Fray's future New York. Of course, that there would be a crossover was leaked way ahead of time, but still awesome reveal.
I have to say I have read Fray and loved it, but I haven't done so recently, so I'm not fluent in the characters and backstory at the moment. I will soldier on though.
As they continue falling and fighting, which seems to be a staple of comic book BTVS, Buffy wonders where she is and what's up with Dawn, pretty much just as a funny non sequitur brain thing to lead to the next scene.
Cut to Dawnie acting like she's got major cramps, screaming and grabbing her midsection. Well, that's my ex--never mind. Then we move past that into the castle, where Buffy, Willow and Xander eat Scottish Chinese takeout and discuss an upcoming trip to New York. Willow insists that the message she got in the battle with Kumiko last issue, the one implanted by Saga Vasuki, the snake lady, means they have to go there. I guess it's to find out "what's to come" for Willow, but she says it's to find the scythe. Hunh? I guess it was a big part of her fiery vision. Buffy's as confused as I am because they just successfully recovered the scythe, so not so much needing to find it. Willow insists it's important and should be dealt with in the downtime between battles. And the scythe's importance as more than just a weapon or a symbol, as a physical part of the spell, being what it is, she's no doubt right to be concerned.
The last arc was all about vampires trying to undo the slayers by using the scythe that fulfilled their potential to regress them back, so we continue to see it as crucial to this world they've created. Having a vision of a future world with the scythe in it, a world that we know from Fray does not include a myriad of slayers, is probably a big foreshadowing hint to us that this situation will not last, but I didn't get that at the time. Fray is pretty far in the future, so we don't know when the line became defunct. Anyway, the scythe is hugely important, but I'm still not sure that's Willow's real motivation to head to New York.
Renee's death comes up with all the talk of the last battle, and Xander insists that he's fine, he's dealing. He's certainly had the practice. Leah, who I keep mixing up with Rowena (not really doing much better at keeping the slayers straight than I did the potentials the first time through) interrupts them with Dawn drama, and they rush to the rescue to find that she's no longer a giant. Yay! Now, she's a centaur. Yay! Though she claims neigh.
Twilight interlude to remind us he's out there. He's hanging with Warren and Amy, who have mad scienced something for him. I could believe he was playing them for time, just trying to focus their attention under his guidance instead of leaving them out there as random free agents, although it still doesn't seem like his style. We'll get there. Anyway, they've created a missile that's been magified. The worst parts of science and magic entwined, just like Warren and Amy. Ew, the visual.
Back to Willow and Buffy taking leave of Xander, first in a helicopter, then a private jet. Willow alludes again to Buffy's Thomas Crown thing but they don't let it get heavy. Now Willow's talking about a mystical event that they're heading to. I guess she got more out of her dream vision than we were shown. Buffy, who had been on the phone with an unnamed someone just before they got in the chopper, says she's got a meeting to go to before the main event at midnight.
When they land in New York, they're met by Kennedy. She's coordinated with the Manhattan squad who will be handling security while Kennedy's people head the op. What op? Whatever that means. Buffy is acting all giddy to be in New York, and I don't know if it's for real and this seems like a nice vakay, or if she's overcompensating to avoid fallout from/dealing with the issues between herself and Willow. Kennedy comments that the local slayers are not unexcited about meeting "the great and terrible --" and I think we assume Buffy, the Slayer, is the end of that, but later it seems like Willow is the big draw, so IDK.
Violet is in charge of Manhattan. Is that Vi?? I do believe it is. Yay! Anyway, she gives a briefing on the local situation, and it seems that New York is seething with monsters. The more slayers, the more demons to fight? Part of the balancing?
We find out that Willow sent a mystical signature to the NY Wiccan group (could be a whole story on how the slayers managed to ally with so many Wiccans who are presumably less globally organized), and they've found a hot spot.
Willow gives a lecture on temporal anomalies. Okay, now it's a temporal anomaly I guess. I appreciate new ways of doing exposition, but don't know if this works for me. But at any rate, we're setting up Buffy's visit to Fray's time through a segue from Saga Vasuki sending Willow a message about the scythe/Willow's future through a goth witch allied with mystically talented vampires defeated by Dracula to where we're at now, and I suppose that's a tough path to draw.
So the time thing is temporary and fixed in space, and we get Willow being a teacher again, which is cool. It's here that the slayers are all excited to see a celebrity, and Buffy's just sitting in the back with Kennedy, so I think "great and terrible" refers to Willow rather than Buffy, especially since this will end up being her arc more than it is Buffy's.
Oh, and Kennedy tells Buffy to keep her experimental lesbo hands off of Willow.
(Slight side note. Sometimes I wonder if Willow still being with Kennedy and Dawn having an arc about boy troubles in the comics isn't Joss directly telling the vocal haters of both characters/story lines to suck it.)
And speaking of Dawn, she's hanging out with Xander. Their expectation now is that she will go through one more transformation before it's over. Xander tells her she looks awesome. And come on, who didn't want to be a centaur once? Only me then? Okay. But this is another Xander/Dawn moment leading to their eventual romance that's very natural. I liked their scenes together on TV and also like them in the comics.
Of course the moment is ruined when Xander tells her to enjoy this and not be whiny about it, and she storms off. The punniness of the closeness of whiny to whinny is left unstated but not unappreciated.
Xander heads back to the castle just in time to see the incoming missile wreathed with green witchfire. Boom!
Back in New York at the site where the temporal anomaly will be happening (hope they have some amber handy) we see that Kennedy doesn't know about Saga Vasuki, or at least about her being Willow's information source. Buffy shows up late in a hot dress (who was she meeting? do we find out? We must, but I don't remember right now.) And she pulls out the scythe and fmmit! A groky demon appears in her place; much like in Get it Done when she visits the shadow men, a tradeoff happens. And Buffy, after a fair bit of pain, pops out on a rooftop in future New York and is subjected to Frayspeak, which she doesn't understand.
Fray thinks she's just been tricked by the groky demon, it taking on the form of Buffy, who she knows from her history lessons that I barely remember from that comic. She's got her scythe, which is the same as the scythe Buffy has but from a later time, and now the Fringe parallel is even more apt because that's confusing. Anyway, the end.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Buffy needing darkness, a rambling (as usual) musing
Listening to yet another "was Riley good for Buffy" conversation, this time on Hellmouth Podcast for A New Man, I revisited an old pet peeve of mine. The following is just my rambling way of working through my thoughts on it.
I've always had a little trouble with the idea that Buffy rejected Riley because he was a good guy or boring or not dark enough. To me, the quality that Buffy needs from a partner isn't darkness, and I think it does the character a disservice to phrase it that way. It's not about darkness or evil. That's not what drew her to Angel. I mean sure, he was a mysterious force at the start, cryptic guy, but I never got the sense Buffy thought of him as dark. Just mysterious, which was a draw of course. But she fell in like with him before he was unveiled as a vampire, and then she loved him despite herself. But not because he was evil. If he were evil, she would have staked him, not offered up her neck. And she wasn't drawn to Angelus.
To me, what is similar about Buffy's more intensely passionate relationships isn't just that they were vampires, therefore somewhat evil, dark and dangerous. It's that they're from her world. They operate within it in a way closest to how Buffy operates, which is different from Riley or even Xander, and different from how the other vampires and demons deal with the world.
It's not about evil, it's not about the bad boy in any direct sense. Self-proclaimed nice guys need not feel threatened or depressed that Riley didn't get the girl, nor do they have to find ways to make it her fault that the relationship failed. Like many things in BTVS, it's a metaphor, much like the bad boy in cinema is a symbol more than a reality. So sometimes it is saying some women want the bad boy, the man who will treat them like shit, just as some men seem to want a cruel woman. But often the bad boy is symbolic of difference, of rebellion, or of the feminine. I'm thinking James Dean in Rebel. Bad on the surface, sensitive within. Women who go for that aren't looking to be treated badly or roughly, they're identifying with someone who isn't Captain America or Tim Allen, who isn't a soc or a jock, someone more in tune with traditional feminine qualities like empathy, intuition, sensitivity and openness to the world, not someone more traditionally male who seeks to dominate it through physical strength and force of will. These bad boys also usually have a more nuanced understanding of what the world is like, that it's not made for them, and an understanding of oppression. This is not the symbolic perfect white male ideal who's gone through life without realizing how many breaks he's had, how relatively easy it's been for him, who has never really had to come up against significant barriers so never had to question the world view he was taught. That perfect man works for some women, perhaps because they too have had the privilege not had to question what they've been taught about the world, perhaps because they seek the status that goes with it. But some of us are operating within a different paradigm.
I've gotten far afield from where I wanted to go (so new), but not too far, because now I'm going to talk about Riley. Riley was that guy, the one who continued to view the world pretty simply as a black and white, orderly place, a world where he could make a difference, could impose order when it went awry, a world where he had a pretty high status and was in control. He wasn't arrogant or cruel or particularly misogynistic or chauvinistic, he was a genuine nice guy, but simple. Buffy woke him up to some reality, opened his eyes to a grayer world, and he got pushed off his simple track and began questioning what he had been taught. He even went so far as to declare himself an anarchist, which he never was and never will be. But as much as he learned from Buffy and the Scoobies, he never really developed a more complex world view. The Initiative turned out to be evil, but their overall perspective and strategies were still the way to do things. He still saw the world simply. He lived a very goal-oriented life, planning out his desired future, acting to make his desires come true. Not a bad way to live, nothing wrong with it if it works for you. But that's not Buffy's world anymore, not since she became the Slayer. It can't be.
((Finding out you're the Slayer at puberty coincides with becoming a sexually mature woman for more reasons than one. Becoming the Slayer is a metaphor for becoming a woman, realizing that there's something different about you that makes you not completely human in the eyes of the patriarchal lenses that seem to abide. Having that realization is pretty intense, and definitely the end of childhood. ))
The world Buffy has to navigate is full of incredibly complex situations, not at all clear choices, and obstacles that appear without warning and have to be dealt with regardless. She's had to develop a very nuanced and complex case-by-case based strategy for dealing with her daily life that Riley never had to face. But Angel and Spike to some degree have. They live in the world of demons and myth as Buffy does. They too used to be fully human, living their own unexamined lives, when they were chosen to walk in a far larger, wilder realm. Since they managed to hold on to or reclaim their humanity in tandem with the beast within, they've had to negotiate ways of surviving in that more complicated world. I guess, simply put: They get it; Riley doesn't.
Of course, the wider world, the world full of danger and magic and very complex moral dilemmas doesn't have as much to do with order as it does with chaos and random uncertainty. And anyone who lives in that world develops very different coping mechanisms and strategies than someone living in (or thinking they live in) a world of order. When order is the norm, it's hard enough to deal with the occasional bits of chaos that creep in, but if you survive those, you can find a way to ignore them or to do as Riley did and pick your times to fight them and your times to pull back and regroup. Riley doesn't live in the chaos, he just visits there on occasion and works to keep that world away from his own. Buffy has to live in the chaos, where order is the unusual mode of being. She can't just drop in and out as needed because of who she is. Being the Slayer isn't part of her life she can turn off after 5:00, it affects every aspect of her existence, even when she tries to step away from it.
Buffy doesn't need darkness or evil, she doesn't normally want to be treated badly, even if she did go through a depression that led her to use Spike to punish herself for a while. She needs someone as a partner who acknowledges the same reality, lives in the same world and has developed similar strategies to deal with it.
Maybe that does manifest as darkness in the eye of the beholder, but darkness as a descriptor is too vague and misleading. It's about the feminine really. The long-standing dichotomy we use to discuss these things is male being intellect, power, order, control, light, science; female being emotion, compliance, chaos, the wild, dark, magic. Riley and Buffy were in a sense just as opposed and unlikely lovers as any of her beaus. He's the Initiative; she's the Slayer. They each learn from one another a great deal, and try walking in each other's worlds, but it ultimately doesn't make them more alike because they live in those separate worlds, Buffy out of necessity, Riley maybe out of choice or maybe because he just can't navigate the other and be happy. (The fun part is that I see Buffy as yang to Riley's yin in season 5 at least, which casts a really interesting dissonance on top of the more traditional male/female dichotomy they seem to symbolize. I <3 Joss Whedon.)
Anyway, Buffy lives in the wild places, yes, in the dark. When Riley tries to join her there, he picks that almost perfectly wrong way to do it, focusing on the exterior details of her vampire bites versus the more profound interior differences between the two of them in the ways they live in the world. He didn't get it, it didn't work for him, so he set a new goal, took off, and found something that did work for him, that kept him in his world, doing the work he was fulfilled doing. Buffy didn't try to cross into Riley's world in season 5. She toyed with it in season 4, found it wasn't right for her, and tried to bring Riley back home with her instead. So she didn't meet him halfway, and she owns that. But I think she blames herself too much for not giving him what he needed when to do so would have gotten her killed or changed her into a different person. As a slayer, she can't escape the chaos.
Buffy and Angel almost worked not because he was dark and could be evil. First, they had the Romeo and Juliet first love, star-crossed thing, which was passionate and intense, but their relationship survived the Angelus resurgence because of the maturity they both gained dealing with the adult ramifications of that turn and the choices they both had to make to come out of that alive and whole. The childish first love became Buffy's first adult relationship. It was a dive into the wild, the chaos, that they survived, first separately and then together. They share a history and understanding gained on that journey that can't be replicated. Angel gets it.
Buffy and Spike almost worked not just because he was evil, although that played a part in the beginning of their physical relationship. Spike thrived in the wild, and he had insights into what it was to be the Slayer and what it was to walk in the dark. He knew what it was to die and come back. And Buffy was in a place where she couldn't connect with anyone else. She was self-destructive and Spike stayed by her side through it. But season 6 Spike didn't fully get it either. He was on the opposite end of Riley then, trying to take Buffy to a place of pure chaos, away from even the bits of order the Slayer attempts to coax out of the wild. But season 7 Spike with his full humanity restored finally got it, and eventually understood that Buffy had grown past her own self-hatred, and they got past the crazy to a place where they could fully connect. They too traveled a journey together that no one else fully shared or understood. Spike gets it.
And maybe it's as simple as the fact that Riley and Buffy were together at a less tumultuous emotional time. The history he shares with Buffy doesn't hold as much weight, isn't singular enough to bind them together in a shared understanding. Riley never navigated the wild with Buffy in any meaningful and long-lasting way. Maybe there is some truth to the idea that those romantic dramas will ultimately result in a more intense bond. Most people don't need that, but most people don't live in the wild. That doesn't make Buffy a drama queen, just someone living her perforce intense, brutal existence.
Back to the metaphor, not that we left it. Joss created what I would argue is the greatest female hero ever for that time (or now in my mind). In defining her world, her philosophy, her relations to that world, he managed to combine the chaos of the wild feminine with a hero who takes action. Who gradually finds ways to traverse the chaos and mingle in some order without trying to bend the world to a masculine will or blow it up if it won't comply. She has the most intense connections to the lovers in her life that can do the same, and who can treat her as an equal partner in the endeavor. Buffy's so-called need for darkness is actually her need for a partner who can see the complexity of her circumstances, will attempt to navigate her world with her, and will accept her as an equal. Riley thought he saw the first, but didn't. He attempted the second, but not in any way that showed he understood it, and therefore failed. And he never fully succeeded at the third either. He wasn't a hidebound sexist, but he never gave equal credit to the intuitional, emotional feminine ways of dealing with chaos, never saw those strategies to be equally effective as his attempts at control, and couldn't fully accept that Buffy could be his protector just as he could be hers, in true egalitarian partnership. Open your eyes to the dark, Riley Finn, and then we'll talk.
--------
I could ramble on forever without streamlining my point, I think. Maybe in future I can come back and try to make this coherent and separate out the different strands of argument. It could happen.
I've always had a little trouble with the idea that Buffy rejected Riley because he was a good guy or boring or not dark enough. To me, the quality that Buffy needs from a partner isn't darkness, and I think it does the character a disservice to phrase it that way. It's not about darkness or evil. That's not what drew her to Angel. I mean sure, he was a mysterious force at the start, cryptic guy, but I never got the sense Buffy thought of him as dark. Just mysterious, which was a draw of course. But she fell in like with him before he was unveiled as a vampire, and then she loved him despite herself. But not because he was evil. If he were evil, she would have staked him, not offered up her neck. And she wasn't drawn to Angelus.
To me, what is similar about Buffy's more intensely passionate relationships isn't just that they were vampires, therefore somewhat evil, dark and dangerous. It's that they're from her world. They operate within it in a way closest to how Buffy operates, which is different from Riley or even Xander, and different from how the other vampires and demons deal with the world.
It's not about evil, it's not about the bad boy in any direct sense. Self-proclaimed nice guys need not feel threatened or depressed that Riley didn't get the girl, nor do they have to find ways to make it her fault that the relationship failed. Like many things in BTVS, it's a metaphor, much like the bad boy in cinema is a symbol more than a reality. So sometimes it is saying some women want the bad boy, the man who will treat them like shit, just as some men seem to want a cruel woman. But often the bad boy is symbolic of difference, of rebellion, or of the feminine. I'm thinking James Dean in Rebel. Bad on the surface, sensitive within. Women who go for that aren't looking to be treated badly or roughly, they're identifying with someone who isn't Captain America or Tim Allen, who isn't a soc or a jock, someone more in tune with traditional feminine qualities like empathy, intuition, sensitivity and openness to the world, not someone more traditionally male who seeks to dominate it through physical strength and force of will. These bad boys also usually have a more nuanced understanding of what the world is like, that it's not made for them, and an understanding of oppression. This is not the symbolic perfect white male ideal who's gone through life without realizing how many breaks he's had, how relatively easy it's been for him, who has never really had to come up against significant barriers so never had to question the world view he was taught. That perfect man works for some women, perhaps because they too have had the privilege not had to question what they've been taught about the world, perhaps because they seek the status that goes with it. But some of us are operating within a different paradigm.
I've gotten far afield from where I wanted to go (so new), but not too far, because now I'm going to talk about Riley. Riley was that guy, the one who continued to view the world pretty simply as a black and white, orderly place, a world where he could make a difference, could impose order when it went awry, a world where he had a pretty high status and was in control. He wasn't arrogant or cruel or particularly misogynistic or chauvinistic, he was a genuine nice guy, but simple. Buffy woke him up to some reality, opened his eyes to a grayer world, and he got pushed off his simple track and began questioning what he had been taught. He even went so far as to declare himself an anarchist, which he never was and never will be. But as much as he learned from Buffy and the Scoobies, he never really developed a more complex world view. The Initiative turned out to be evil, but their overall perspective and strategies were still the way to do things. He still saw the world simply. He lived a very goal-oriented life, planning out his desired future, acting to make his desires come true. Not a bad way to live, nothing wrong with it if it works for you. But that's not Buffy's world anymore, not since she became the Slayer. It can't be.
((Finding out you're the Slayer at puberty coincides with becoming a sexually mature woman for more reasons than one. Becoming the Slayer is a metaphor for becoming a woman, realizing that there's something different about you that makes you not completely human in the eyes of the patriarchal lenses that seem to abide. Having that realization is pretty intense, and definitely the end of childhood. ))
The world Buffy has to navigate is full of incredibly complex situations, not at all clear choices, and obstacles that appear without warning and have to be dealt with regardless. She's had to develop a very nuanced and complex case-by-case based strategy for dealing with her daily life that Riley never had to face. But Angel and Spike to some degree have. They live in the world of demons and myth as Buffy does. They too used to be fully human, living their own unexamined lives, when they were chosen to walk in a far larger, wilder realm. Since they managed to hold on to or reclaim their humanity in tandem with the beast within, they've had to negotiate ways of surviving in that more complicated world. I guess, simply put: They get it; Riley doesn't.
Of course, the wider world, the world full of danger and magic and very complex moral dilemmas doesn't have as much to do with order as it does with chaos and random uncertainty. And anyone who lives in that world develops very different coping mechanisms and strategies than someone living in (or thinking they live in) a world of order. When order is the norm, it's hard enough to deal with the occasional bits of chaos that creep in, but if you survive those, you can find a way to ignore them or to do as Riley did and pick your times to fight them and your times to pull back and regroup. Riley doesn't live in the chaos, he just visits there on occasion and works to keep that world away from his own. Buffy has to live in the chaos, where order is the unusual mode of being. She can't just drop in and out as needed because of who she is. Being the Slayer isn't part of her life she can turn off after 5:00, it affects every aspect of her existence, even when she tries to step away from it.
Buffy doesn't need darkness or evil, she doesn't normally want to be treated badly, even if she did go through a depression that led her to use Spike to punish herself for a while. She needs someone as a partner who acknowledges the same reality, lives in the same world and has developed similar strategies to deal with it.
Maybe that does manifest as darkness in the eye of the beholder, but darkness as a descriptor is too vague and misleading. It's about the feminine really. The long-standing dichotomy we use to discuss these things is male being intellect, power, order, control, light, science; female being emotion, compliance, chaos, the wild, dark, magic. Riley and Buffy were in a sense just as opposed and unlikely lovers as any of her beaus. He's the Initiative; she's the Slayer. They each learn from one another a great deal, and try walking in each other's worlds, but it ultimately doesn't make them more alike because they live in those separate worlds, Buffy out of necessity, Riley maybe out of choice or maybe because he just can't navigate the other and be happy. (The fun part is that I see Buffy as yang to Riley's yin in season 5 at least, which casts a really interesting dissonance on top of the more traditional male/female dichotomy they seem to symbolize. I <3 Joss Whedon.)
Anyway, Buffy lives in the wild places, yes, in the dark. When Riley tries to join her there, he picks that almost perfectly wrong way to do it, focusing on the exterior details of her vampire bites versus the more profound interior differences between the two of them in the ways they live in the world. He didn't get it, it didn't work for him, so he set a new goal, took off, and found something that did work for him, that kept him in his world, doing the work he was fulfilled doing. Buffy didn't try to cross into Riley's world in season 5. She toyed with it in season 4, found it wasn't right for her, and tried to bring Riley back home with her instead. So she didn't meet him halfway, and she owns that. But I think she blames herself too much for not giving him what he needed when to do so would have gotten her killed or changed her into a different person. As a slayer, she can't escape the chaos.
Buffy and Angel almost worked not because he was dark and could be evil. First, they had the Romeo and Juliet first love, star-crossed thing, which was passionate and intense, but their relationship survived the Angelus resurgence because of the maturity they both gained dealing with the adult ramifications of that turn and the choices they both had to make to come out of that alive and whole. The childish first love became Buffy's first adult relationship. It was a dive into the wild, the chaos, that they survived, first separately and then together. They share a history and understanding gained on that journey that can't be replicated. Angel gets it.
Buffy and Spike almost worked not just because he was evil, although that played a part in the beginning of their physical relationship. Spike thrived in the wild, and he had insights into what it was to be the Slayer and what it was to walk in the dark. He knew what it was to die and come back. And Buffy was in a place where she couldn't connect with anyone else. She was self-destructive and Spike stayed by her side through it. But season 6 Spike didn't fully get it either. He was on the opposite end of Riley then, trying to take Buffy to a place of pure chaos, away from even the bits of order the Slayer attempts to coax out of the wild. But season 7 Spike with his full humanity restored finally got it, and eventually understood that Buffy had grown past her own self-hatred, and they got past the crazy to a place where they could fully connect. They too traveled a journey together that no one else fully shared or understood. Spike gets it.
And maybe it's as simple as the fact that Riley and Buffy were together at a less tumultuous emotional time. The history he shares with Buffy doesn't hold as much weight, isn't singular enough to bind them together in a shared understanding. Riley never navigated the wild with Buffy in any meaningful and long-lasting way. Maybe there is some truth to the idea that those romantic dramas will ultimately result in a more intense bond. Most people don't need that, but most people don't live in the wild. That doesn't make Buffy a drama queen, just someone living her perforce intense, brutal existence.
Back to the metaphor, not that we left it. Joss created what I would argue is the greatest female hero ever for that time (or now in my mind). In defining her world, her philosophy, her relations to that world, he managed to combine the chaos of the wild feminine with a hero who takes action. Who gradually finds ways to traverse the chaos and mingle in some order without trying to bend the world to a masculine will or blow it up if it won't comply. She has the most intense connections to the lovers in her life that can do the same, and who can treat her as an equal partner in the endeavor. Buffy's so-called need for darkness is actually her need for a partner who can see the complexity of her circumstances, will attempt to navigate her world with her, and will accept her as an equal. Riley thought he saw the first, but didn't. He attempted the second, but not in any way that showed he understood it, and therefore failed. And he never fully succeeded at the third either. He wasn't a hidebound sexist, but he never gave equal credit to the intuitional, emotional feminine ways of dealing with chaos, never saw those strategies to be equally effective as his attempts at control, and couldn't fully accept that Buffy could be his protector just as he could be hers, in true egalitarian partnership. Open your eyes to the dark, Riley Finn, and then we'll talk.
--------
I could ramble on forever without streamlining my point, I think. Maybe in future I can come back and try to make this coherent and separate out the different strands of argument. It could happen.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #15 SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Wolves at the Gate conclusion
We open with Renee's thoughts as she dies, impaled on the stake end of the scythe. Fog is curling up around the team, Kumiko tackles Willow out the building window, and Xander is coming towards her as the fighting starts. "Xander, I'm not ready." Six Feet Under style whiteout as she dies.
Xander cradles her body and Buffy rallies the others around them to keeps the vamps from Xander. Dracula tells Buffy he can stop the spell, but he needs Willow, so would she please go get her. She doesn't want to leave Xander vulnerable, but Dracula has his back. What did happen with those two? Buffy transfers command to Satsu and dives out after the witches.
Willow and Kumiko are flying and falling, Will's green magic against Kumiko's red. Kumiko tells her they were both students of Saga Vasuki, aka the green snake lady. Did we know her name yet? I can't remember. Anyway, Will reads Kumiko's mind and finds Vasuki there. "Did you think I could not find you? Did you think you could hide from what you are? Or what's to come?" Those words echo from Restless and Buffy vs. Dracula, only then there were for Buffy. Now Willow gets a dose of it, along with a fiery vision of a city in flames, the scythe, and the snake lady curled around it. I think all this is foreshadowing the Fray future arc to come.
Kumiko is on top and Will is stunned from her vision when Buffy lands on Kumiko and sticks a knife into her heart. Hopefully she's dead, but who knows. Buffy and Willow continue to fall towards the battle below.
The slayers aren't having much luck, and Rowena calls for them to fall back, but Dawn is not having it. She stomps on a few more vamps and leads the charge toward the building. But the vampires were prepared for this. Come one, Tokyo, robotics division, you knew it was coming. Mecha Dawn! Toru: "Well, there's something you don't see everyday." Echoing Andrew's words last issue. Dawnzilla vs. Mecha Dawn commences.
Raidon says the slayers are within the radius -- so does that mean the spell is still limited to the city/country and not global? -- but no word from Kumiko. Turo's up for doing the incantation himself, and he starts that now that the lens is powered up. Then Dracula leads the infiltration team onto the roof. He tackles Turo, freeing the scythe. Satsu jumps for it and gets it and continues her arc over the edge of the building. Oops.
On the street, Willow woke up just in time to turn the sidewalk to water for them to land in. They crawl out dripping wet and see Satsu falling through the air. We focus on the two of them talking as they watch Satsu's descent. They discuss whether Satsu is Buffy's girlfriend now, and Willow tells Buffy to be careful with her Sappho sister's heart. And BTW, Willow never wanted Buffy that way, she's not even on the list. So there. Then they decide to catch Satsu.
From the roof, Raidon has the chance to be there when Willow appears with Buffy, Satsu and the scythe. Lucky him. But the vampires are still all full of gypsy tricks and can't be killed. Dracula calls to Willow, gives her his sword. He says -- this is interesting -- it's an ancient relic and bound with demon spirit, like the scythe. (Was there stuff about this in Fray at all? I can't remember.) Dracula tells Willow to do some sort of reversal spell that uses his sword and the lens to take the power from the vampires pretty much the same way they were going to take the power from the slayers using the scythe. Interesting. I guess Dracula's weird magic powers come from the sword somehow. Anyway, Willow casts the spell and the vampires are killable again. The slayers go to work.
Dawnzilla and Mecha Dawn fight while Andrew offers his finally useful expertise. Mecha Dawn says things like, "I like blue jeans and irony," "I cry a lot," and "I often let boys take advantage of my weak emotional states." Dawnzilla has had enough. She rips Mecha Dawn's head off.
In the battle on the roof, Satsu kills Raidon, saving Buffy. Dracula takes on Toru, calling for his sword back. Will tosses it his way and Toru intercepts. But Vlad Dracule is no slouch at combat. He takes back the sword, cuts Toru's hands and feet off, claiming that he has always been unique among vampires and Toru shouldn't be so cocky. Then he hands the sword to Xander. Xander cuts off Toru's head with determination but no joy.
The vampires run for it. Buffy orders her slayers to seal off the streets and let none escape as she walks to Xander to hold him as he collapses and cries.
Aftermath. At the Japanese fort, Dracula takes his leave of Xander. And I guess the manservant label is going the way of the dodo.
Buffy and Satsu talk once more. Satsu can't handle it. "I'm in love with you. And I need not to be." She wants to stay in Japan in Aiko's place, leading this squad. Buffy agrees. They say nice things and make love one last time.
The last page mingles Dracula's words to the captain of the ship carrying him away to quick shots of our Scooby gang:
"We have a cold journey ahead of us." Willow, meditating or communing with her snake lady.
"Find what warmth you can for now." Buffy and Satsu entangled in bed.
"And I'll stand watch alone." Xander scattering Renee's ashes and saying goodbye.
Now that was a particularly fine story arc.
We open with Renee's thoughts as she dies, impaled on the stake end of the scythe. Fog is curling up around the team, Kumiko tackles Willow out the building window, and Xander is coming towards her as the fighting starts. "Xander, I'm not ready." Six Feet Under style whiteout as she dies.
Xander cradles her body and Buffy rallies the others around them to keeps the vamps from Xander. Dracula tells Buffy he can stop the spell, but he needs Willow, so would she please go get her. She doesn't want to leave Xander vulnerable, but Dracula has his back. What did happen with those two? Buffy transfers command to Satsu and dives out after the witches.
Willow and Kumiko are flying and falling, Will's green magic against Kumiko's red. Kumiko tells her they were both students of Saga Vasuki, aka the green snake lady. Did we know her name yet? I can't remember. Anyway, Will reads Kumiko's mind and finds Vasuki there. "Did you think I could not find you? Did you think you could hide from what you are? Or what's to come?" Those words echo from Restless and Buffy vs. Dracula, only then there were for Buffy. Now Willow gets a dose of it, along with a fiery vision of a city in flames, the scythe, and the snake lady curled around it. I think all this is foreshadowing the Fray future arc to come.
Kumiko is on top and Will is stunned from her vision when Buffy lands on Kumiko and sticks a knife into her heart. Hopefully she's dead, but who knows. Buffy and Willow continue to fall towards the battle below.
The slayers aren't having much luck, and Rowena calls for them to fall back, but Dawn is not having it. She stomps on a few more vamps and leads the charge toward the building. But the vampires were prepared for this. Come one, Tokyo, robotics division, you knew it was coming. Mecha Dawn! Toru: "Well, there's something you don't see everyday." Echoing Andrew's words last issue. Dawnzilla vs. Mecha Dawn commences.
Raidon says the slayers are within the radius -- so does that mean the spell is still limited to the city/country and not global? -- but no word from Kumiko. Turo's up for doing the incantation himself, and he starts that now that the lens is powered up. Then Dracula leads the infiltration team onto the roof. He tackles Turo, freeing the scythe. Satsu jumps for it and gets it and continues her arc over the edge of the building. Oops.
On the street, Willow woke up just in time to turn the sidewalk to water for them to land in. They crawl out dripping wet and see Satsu falling through the air. We focus on the two of them talking as they watch Satsu's descent. They discuss whether Satsu is Buffy's girlfriend now, and Willow tells Buffy to be careful with her Sappho sister's heart. And BTW, Willow never wanted Buffy that way, she's not even on the list. So there. Then they decide to catch Satsu.
From the roof, Raidon has the chance to be there when Willow appears with Buffy, Satsu and the scythe. Lucky him. But the vampires are still all full of gypsy tricks and can't be killed. Dracula calls to Willow, gives her his sword. He says -- this is interesting -- it's an ancient relic and bound with demon spirit, like the scythe. (Was there stuff about this in Fray at all? I can't remember.) Dracula tells Willow to do some sort of reversal spell that uses his sword and the lens to take the power from the vampires pretty much the same way they were going to take the power from the slayers using the scythe. Interesting. I guess Dracula's weird magic powers come from the sword somehow. Anyway, Willow casts the spell and the vampires are killable again. The slayers go to work.
Dawnzilla and Mecha Dawn fight while Andrew offers his finally useful expertise. Mecha Dawn says things like, "I like blue jeans and irony," "I cry a lot," and "I often let boys take advantage of my weak emotional states." Dawnzilla has had enough. She rips Mecha Dawn's head off.
In the battle on the roof, Satsu kills Raidon, saving Buffy. Dracula takes on Toru, calling for his sword back. Will tosses it his way and Toru intercepts. But Vlad Dracule is no slouch at combat. He takes back the sword, cuts Toru's hands and feet off, claiming that he has always been unique among vampires and Toru shouldn't be so cocky. Then he hands the sword to Xander. Xander cuts off Toru's head with determination but no joy.
The vampires run for it. Buffy orders her slayers to seal off the streets and let none escape as she walks to Xander to hold him as he collapses and cries.
Aftermath. At the Japanese fort, Dracula takes his leave of Xander. And I guess the manservant label is going the way of the dodo.
Buffy and Satsu talk once more. Satsu can't handle it. "I'm in love with you. And I need not to be." She wants to stay in Japan in Aiko's place, leading this squad. Buffy agrees. They say nice things and make love one last time.
The last page mingles Dracula's words to the captain of the ship carrying him away to quick shots of our Scooby gang:
"We have a cold journey ahead of us." Willow, meditating or communing with her snake lady.
"Find what warmth you can for now." Buffy and Satsu entangled in bed.
"And I'll stand watch alone." Xander scattering Renee's ashes and saying goodbye.
Now that was a particularly fine story arc.
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #14 SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Wolves at the Gate part 3
Aiko is strung up downtown, her blood spelling out "Welcome to Tokyo." Buffy and her crew cut her down and take her body to the local headquarters, a building that looks kind of like a Shinto shrine out in the country, heavily fortified. Buffy lays Aiko's wrapped body at the feet of Buddha as the girls watch. Then she sits vigil.
Night falls, and Willow comes to see if she's gone catatonic again. They discuss options, not really clear on how to attack these vamps when they can't physically touch them. Enter Dracula with information on a containment spell, being snotty and condescending and laying claim to the master suite, poor Xander running along behind him.
At the top of a Tokyo building, which we later hear is called Ashikaga (which is the name of a city, a clan, and a shogunate), the huge red-tinted circle o' doom is buzzing away. Raidon is talking to a new woman about their plans, mentioning tech support (for the lens mechanism) and robotics division (just wait). They also have an army of vamps to guard them from the slayers while they're getting the lens up to speed. Kumiko hangs around sleeping or meditating like a bat. (Not that bats meditate, although they may, what do I know, I just mean hanging upside down, basically).
Renee is playing schoolgirl damsel in distress, luring a vampire into a Scooby ambush. Will uses the containment spell Dracula taught her, putting up a force-field box around the vamp. They pour gas on him and Buffy questions him about Toru. They find out what we already know, that Kumiko is going to use the scythe to reverse the spell, making all the slayers human again using the super lens on the Ashikaga building. They're just finishing getting the lens ready, which should happen before dawn -- be back before Dawn. (It's also going to happen before, as in in front of, Dawn, so punny foreshadowing).
After he spills, Buffy sets him on fire, and the four of them walk off through the night, a box of fiery light behind them. Cool if dark power shot.
Buffy and Satsu are arguing. Buffy doesn't want to take the local slayers, still reeling from Aiko's death, into battle with her. She wants Satsu to stay behind and watch over them, bury Aiko, stay out of it. Satsu is pissed about being put out of harm's way or out of sight, either one. She refuses to obey the order and storms off. Buffy: "I can't believe I find it sexy when she calls me ma'am." Heh.
Xander and Renee talk while gearing up, an unwilling? Dracula overhearing it off to the side. Xander makes a case for calling today their first date, avoiding all the normal first date awkwardness. Like getting tied up and sacrificed to open the Hellmouth you mean, Xander? Except that is like this. Anyway, Renee is not down with her first date with Xander being all schoolgirl vampbait, roasting vampsmores, and the company of the freaking dark prince...bator. She agrees to bypass the awkward waiting to see if a kiss is in order phase though, by planting one on Xander. They make out for a bit. Tick tock.
There's an army of a thousand vampires around the base of the building. They have plenty of slayers, but still no way to engage the enemy. We get a nice shot of Xander, Renee, Buffy, Dracula, Satsu, Andrew, and Leah ready to infiltrate the building. Buffy's only concern is to get in and get that scythe. To that end, Willow is creating a distraction. Come on, they already have a giant, are in Tokyo, you knew it was coming. Dawnzilla! Andrew: "Well, there's something you don't see everyday."
Dawn starts stomping havoc on the vamps as they run in terror. Buffy's team heads in and up, finding Toru and the scythe. But it's not him, it's a projection of him. Yes, it's a trap. Bye bye Renee. That may be the shortest love affair destroyed in its glory yet. Bong. Poor Xander.
Aiko is strung up downtown, her blood spelling out "Welcome to Tokyo." Buffy and her crew cut her down and take her body to the local headquarters, a building that looks kind of like a Shinto shrine out in the country, heavily fortified. Buffy lays Aiko's wrapped body at the feet of Buddha as the girls watch. Then she sits vigil.
Night falls, and Willow comes to see if she's gone catatonic again. They discuss options, not really clear on how to attack these vamps when they can't physically touch them. Enter Dracula with information on a containment spell, being snotty and condescending and laying claim to the master suite, poor Xander running along behind him.
At the top of a Tokyo building, which we later hear is called Ashikaga (which is the name of a city, a clan, and a shogunate), the huge red-tinted circle o' doom is buzzing away. Raidon is talking to a new woman about their plans, mentioning tech support (for the lens mechanism) and robotics division (just wait). They also have an army of vamps to guard them from the slayers while they're getting the lens up to speed. Kumiko hangs around sleeping or meditating like a bat. (Not that bats meditate, although they may, what do I know, I just mean hanging upside down, basically).
Renee is playing schoolgirl damsel in distress, luring a vampire into a Scooby ambush. Will uses the containment spell Dracula taught her, putting up a force-field box around the vamp. They pour gas on him and Buffy questions him about Toru. They find out what we already know, that Kumiko is going to use the scythe to reverse the spell, making all the slayers human again using the super lens on the Ashikaga building. They're just finishing getting the lens ready, which should happen before dawn -- be back before Dawn. (It's also going to happen before, as in in front of, Dawn, so punny foreshadowing).
After he spills, Buffy sets him on fire, and the four of them walk off through the night, a box of fiery light behind them. Cool if dark power shot.
Buffy and Satsu are arguing. Buffy doesn't want to take the local slayers, still reeling from Aiko's death, into battle with her. She wants Satsu to stay behind and watch over them, bury Aiko, stay out of it. Satsu is pissed about being put out of harm's way or out of sight, either one. She refuses to obey the order and storms off. Buffy: "I can't believe I find it sexy when she calls me ma'am." Heh.
Xander and Renee talk while gearing up, an unwilling? Dracula overhearing it off to the side. Xander makes a case for calling today their first date, avoiding all the normal first date awkwardness. Like getting tied up and sacrificed to open the Hellmouth you mean, Xander? Except that is like this. Anyway, Renee is not down with her first date with Xander being all schoolgirl vampbait, roasting vampsmores, and the company of the freaking dark prince...bator. She agrees to bypass the awkward waiting to see if a kiss is in order phase though, by planting one on Xander. They make out for a bit. Tick tock.
There's an army of a thousand vampires around the base of the building. They have plenty of slayers, but still no way to engage the enemy. We get a nice shot of Xander, Renee, Buffy, Dracula, Satsu, Andrew, and Leah ready to infiltrate the building. Buffy's only concern is to get in and get that scythe. To that end, Willow is creating a distraction. Come on, they already have a giant, are in Tokyo, you knew it was coming. Dawnzilla! Andrew: "Well, there's something you don't see everyday."
Dawn starts stomping havoc on the vamps as they run in terror. Buffy's team heads in and up, finding Toru and the scythe. But it's not him, it's a projection of him. Yes, it's a trap. Bye bye Renee. That may be the shortest love affair destroyed in its glory yet. Bong. Poor Xander.
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #13 SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Wolves at the Gate part 2
15 minutes before the end of the last issue, Dracula was an old and depressed dude. His servant, Butterfield, tries to entice him into a hunt for an Albanian boy at loose in the hedge maze, but it's no go. Apparently Dracula's been sitting in his own stink for months. But he sees the helicopter approaching and snaps out of it.
Xander says they need his help, while Dracula plays it coy. He insults Renee, calling her a Moor, insinuating she's a slave -- why do they need this douche's help again? Dracula relents and lets them in, saying Xander will want a nice snack of mealworms before he dons his manservant bloomers. Obviously some history there we haven't seen. I'm not sure if I ever want to or not.
Cut to Andrew, dressed as the count, giving a class to the slayers about the dark master...bator. On the chalkboard, Dracula's known powers include: Romantic Undertones (technically not a power). Very reminiscent of season 7.
The girls know about Dracula, they want to know what's up with him and Xandman. Andrew says they stayed in touch after Dracula visited Sunnydale. Whether that's true or not is unclear. After all, this is the man who taught that Faith fought a Vulcan once upon a time. But can't you just see Xander's face when he opens up that letter? Anyway, apparently, for whatever reason, Xander spent time with Dracula after Anya's death. There's a whole story about their weird buddy movie hijinks still to be written I guess. It includes a motorbike, which Andrew adds to the chalkboard as another power.
Meanwhile, real work is being done. The slayers have found out that the vampires are from Tokyo, the leader is Toru. Slayer local field op Aiko found them. She confabs with Buffy from a scene of carnage, having just taken out at least five ugly Kabuki demons. Buffy is impressed, but tells Aiko to surveil, not approach until reinforcements arrive.
We get some awkward drama as Satsu questions Buffy's plan to take every last one of them with her to Japan, and Buffy snaps at her all general-style. I guess the honeymoon is over.
Xander and Renee take tea with Dracula. Renee watches as they make polite talk in an ersatz homosexual marriage kind of way, wondering why she came no doubt. They finally get down to business, explaining the sitch, and Renee gets up in his face about him selling his powers to the highest bidder. Dracula is offended, saying he's the worldly guardian of these ancient magics. Hmmm. Wonder if that's significant at all. Ancient magics. Highlight that. Then Dracula seems to remember something painful. "Oh, balls."
Tokyo. Toru and Raidon discuss how Kumiko wants the kill (of Buffy I thought at first, but now I assume Willow). Toru wants her to concentrate on the spell. Aiko follows them. They notice and know why, decide to give Buffy something to see. Toru pulls out a red-tinted lens and twirls his nonexistent mustache as we...
...cut back to Dracula freaking out and being all racist against East Asians. He apparently got wasted at a Tibetan speakeasy and gambled some knowledge of his powers away in a game of pai gow poker, trying for a Kawasaki Z1000. Andrew knows all. Dracula says he was cheated and mentions a witch with them (Kumiko). He's so pissed off he agrees to join their battle even though he loathes Buffy and her crew and wants to see them all destroyed. Great ally.
While flying the troops in a big transport plane to Japan, Willow talks with Satsu. She gives her the deal on Buffy, how she's the general, has to be separate, that won't change. Oh and BTW, not gay, so don't get your hopes up. Then she wants to dish on Buffy's prowess in bed, but Satsu stays mum, a true gentlelady.
Aiko checks in with Buffy, then finds Toru's lens on the ground and picks it up. She's hit through the lens with a blast of light from the scythe in Kumiko's hand, and her powers are gone. !! Toru taunts her and then eats her. Another one down. And they're planning to do this spell on a larger scale with a big old lens to reverse the spell on all the slayers. Crap.
15 minutes before the end of the last issue, Dracula was an old and depressed dude. His servant, Butterfield, tries to entice him into a hunt for an Albanian boy at loose in the hedge maze, but it's no go. Apparently Dracula's been sitting in his own stink for months. But he sees the helicopter approaching and snaps out of it.
Xander says they need his help, while Dracula plays it coy. He insults Renee, calling her a Moor, insinuating she's a slave -- why do they need this douche's help again? Dracula relents and lets them in, saying Xander will want a nice snack of mealworms before he dons his manservant bloomers. Obviously some history there we haven't seen. I'm not sure if I ever want to or not.
Cut to Andrew, dressed as the count, giving a class to the slayers about the dark master...bator. On the chalkboard, Dracula's known powers include: Romantic Undertones (technically not a power). Very reminiscent of season 7.
The girls know about Dracula, they want to know what's up with him and Xandman. Andrew says they stayed in touch after Dracula visited Sunnydale. Whether that's true or not is unclear. After all, this is the man who taught that Faith fought a Vulcan once upon a time. But can't you just see Xander's face when he opens up that letter? Anyway, apparently, for whatever reason, Xander spent time with Dracula after Anya's death. There's a whole story about their weird buddy movie hijinks still to be written I guess. It includes a motorbike, which Andrew adds to the chalkboard as another power.
Meanwhile, real work is being done. The slayers have found out that the vampires are from Tokyo, the leader is Toru. Slayer local field op Aiko found them. She confabs with Buffy from a scene of carnage, having just taken out at least five ugly Kabuki demons. Buffy is impressed, but tells Aiko to surveil, not approach until reinforcements arrive.
We get some awkward drama as Satsu questions Buffy's plan to take every last one of them with her to Japan, and Buffy snaps at her all general-style. I guess the honeymoon is over.
Xander and Renee take tea with Dracula. Renee watches as they make polite talk in an ersatz homosexual marriage kind of way, wondering why she came no doubt. They finally get down to business, explaining the sitch, and Renee gets up in his face about him selling his powers to the highest bidder. Dracula is offended, saying he's the worldly guardian of these ancient magics. Hmmm. Wonder if that's significant at all. Ancient magics. Highlight that. Then Dracula seems to remember something painful. "Oh, balls."
Tokyo. Toru and Raidon discuss how Kumiko wants the kill (of Buffy I thought at first, but now I assume Willow). Toru wants her to concentrate on the spell. Aiko follows them. They notice and know why, decide to give Buffy something to see. Toru pulls out a red-tinted lens and twirls his nonexistent mustache as we...
...cut back to Dracula freaking out and being all racist against East Asians. He apparently got wasted at a Tibetan speakeasy and gambled some knowledge of his powers away in a game of pai gow poker, trying for a Kawasaki Z1000. Andrew knows all. Dracula says he was cheated and mentions a witch with them (Kumiko). He's so pissed off he agrees to join their battle even though he loathes Buffy and her crew and wants to see them all destroyed. Great ally.
While flying the troops in a big transport plane to Japan, Willow talks with Satsu. She gives her the deal on Buffy, how she's the general, has to be separate, that won't change. Oh and BTW, not gay, so don't get your hopes up. Then she wants to dish on Buffy's prowess in bed, but Satsu stays mum, a true gentlelady.
Aiko checks in with Buffy, then finds Toru's lens on the ground and picks it up. She's hit through the lens with a blast of light from the scythe in Kumiko's hand, and her powers are gone. !! Toru taunts her and then eats her. Another one down. And they're planning to do this spell on a larger scale with a big old lens to reverse the spell on all the slayers. Crap.
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #12 SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Wolves at the Gate part 1.
Xander and Renee are on guard, seeing a pack of creepy, red-eyed animals coming towards the castle, arguing over whether they're wolves or panthers. Renee thinks Xander is checking up on her since the zombies attacked last time on her watch. He assures her he's there to hang out with her.
Cut to THE panel, the first really controversial shot of season 8, Buffy and Satsu in bed together! I guess loneliness and knowing someone wanted her kind of naturally led Buffy to this action, but hello power imbalance!
Willow is flying Andrew up from Italy, and he's trying to be Lois to her Superman. He enters the castle to sleep off the Dramamine and Will gets grabbed by a Japanese girl who materializes out of a fog. We'll soon learn she's a witch named Kumiko.
Xander finally asks Renee out. Start the death clock. They don't seem overly concerned about the creepy wolves, but that's flirting for you.
Buffy and Satsu talk over la passion. Buffy is happy but not sure it goes further, and suggests they keep it between them. I think she's trying to honestly process where her head is at and be thoughtful towards Satsu and not creepy. Oh, and start the death clock.
Then we get a farcical scene that doesn't work that well for me, not sure why. Basically everyone and their wolf ends up coming into the room and catching them together naked. Ha ha, let's keep it a secret, oops, Xander knows, oops, and Renee. And here comes Andrew with news of wolves in the castle, and Dawn with talk of bees in the barn. Then Will crashes through the roof and the party is complete. Well, at least we don't have to have the dramatic irony secret drag on.
Wolves find the armory and turn into vampires. They go straight for the scythe. Uh-oh. One is named Raidon. We'll find out soon enough the other is Turo. Buffy interrupts them, but Raidon turns into a panther, takes the scythe and runs while Buffy tries to fight Turo, who turns to fog and disappears. No fair! Raidon passes the scythe to Kumiko, and the vamps retreat.
Castle meeting. The slayers say that all the vampires were changing into fog and bees and wolves and panthers, oh my. Xander calls them Japanese vampire goths. Buffy is concerned they got the scythe. It finally occurs to them that they know a vamp who can pull off those tricks. All eyes turn to Xanfield.
Cut to Xander and Renee in a helicopter, headed to Dracula's castle. Yeesh, lot of medieval settings this season. Dracula opens his door. "Hello, manservant." "How's it going, Master?" The end.
Xander and Renee are on guard, seeing a pack of creepy, red-eyed animals coming towards the castle, arguing over whether they're wolves or panthers. Renee thinks Xander is checking up on her since the zombies attacked last time on her watch. He assures her he's there to hang out with her.
Cut to THE panel, the first really controversial shot of season 8, Buffy and Satsu in bed together! I guess loneliness and knowing someone wanted her kind of naturally led Buffy to this action, but hello power imbalance!
Willow is flying Andrew up from Italy, and he's trying to be Lois to her Superman. He enters the castle to sleep off the Dramamine and Will gets grabbed by a Japanese girl who materializes out of a fog. We'll soon learn she's a witch named Kumiko.
Xander finally asks Renee out. Start the death clock. They don't seem overly concerned about the creepy wolves, but that's flirting for you.
Buffy and Satsu talk over la passion. Buffy is happy but not sure it goes further, and suggests they keep it between them. I think she's trying to honestly process where her head is at and be thoughtful towards Satsu and not creepy. Oh, and start the death clock.
Then we get a farcical scene that doesn't work that well for me, not sure why. Basically everyone and their wolf ends up coming into the room and catching them together naked. Ha ha, let's keep it a secret, oops, Xander knows, oops, and Renee. And here comes Andrew with news of wolves in the castle, and Dawn with talk of bees in the barn. Then Will crashes through the roof and the party is complete. Well, at least we don't have to have the dramatic irony secret drag on.
Wolves find the armory and turn into vampires. They go straight for the scythe. Uh-oh. One is named Raidon. We'll find out soon enough the other is Turo. Buffy interrupts them, but Raidon turns into a panther, takes the scythe and runs while Buffy tries to fight Turo, who turns to fog and disappears. No fair! Raidon passes the scythe to Kumiko, and the vamps retreat.
Castle meeting. The slayers say that all the vampires were changing into fog and bees and wolves and panthers, oh my. Xander calls them Japanese vampire goths. Buffy is concerned they got the scythe. It finally occurs to them that they know a vamp who can pull off those tricks. All eyes turn to Xanfield.
Cut to Xander and Renee in a helicopter, headed to Dracula's castle. Yeesh, lot of medieval settings this season. Dracula opens his door. "Hello, manservant." "How's it going, Master?" The end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)