Well, I'm halfway through revisiting season 8, but it's taken a damned long time. The point of this was to practice writing while taking a close look at Buffy season 8 to try to figure out what happened and why, since by the end I mostly felt confused and a little depressed. I'm still going for it, but since it's taking me so long to complete, I'll probably have to take time to reread what I've written to have it fresh in my mind when I get to the end. Read my own writing? Ugh. But that's for later I think.
I'm going to try to do this more often and actually get through the next 4 trades/arcs more quickly now, but we'll see how it goes. How's that for goal setting?
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #20 POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Time of Your Life Part 5.
We begin with a montage of Buffy battling various crechy faces, saying over and over, "Can't say I didn't warn you." She's musing on how hard it is to have to save the world over and over, and it's a bit of a thematic callback to "Going Through the Motions" I think. Even the patter is rote at this point, even if getting a good night's sleep is not. "Why is it always this hard?" I hear you, sister.
Headquarters. Don't think it's the castle anymore but not sure. Buffy's come in and collapsed on a bed to get some sleep, but it's Xander's bed and he doesn't want demon goo all over it. As he complains, Buffy falls asleep.
And she visits Buffy the Animated Series, the show that never was, but was planned for years to happen. (I believe; I'm not going to research it. No one's reading this anyway and whatever.)
Buffy's dream is herself in the old days of Sunnydale High. We get enough clues throughout to determine it's probably end of season 1, after Puppet Show but before Prophecy Girl. Joyce and a young Dawn are there. It's always fun to see Dawn in the flashbacks when she wasn't there in the original time line. Buffy quickly learns that Joyce doesn't know she's the Slayer and that there's a party tonight. Buffy's wearing a tee that says Relax. Subconscious much?
Buffy is herself and knows she's in a dream; she hasn't forgotten all that's happened. She gets to school and sees Willow and is happy, being still a bit traumatized at having to kill her future self. Thanks a lot, Future Willow.
Cordy! is there and being a bitch to Willow. Buffy says someday she'll be dead and Willow will be a sorceress supreme. Harsh, B. RIP Cordelia.
Xander's on the skateboard he never got to ride in the show. Principal Snyder confiscates it in his typical nasty fashion. Buffy tells Xander that maybe someday he'll get eaten by a giant snake and you'll be in charge of a bunch of women, only to be reminded that Willow is not yet gay (I know, terminology, just going with how Willow herself tends to put it) and has the hots for Xander. Yeah, this is when you definitely get the time period.
Buffy's starting to enjoy the dream, happy to be part of the little Scooby gang again. It's after school, and they meet up with Giles in a graveyard, talking obsessively about the party that night. Giles is looking particularly dire through this whole sequence, like he's taking the blame for ruining the fun. He kind of served that function before but this seems extra layer-y. Buffy's still not too happy with him I think.
Anyway, the fate of the world is up for grabs tonight. Again. This could "shift the balance of good and evil beyond all hope and reckoning." This is one part that makes me think some Slayer prophecy/Spidey sense stuff is leaking into this fairly fluffy dream. That's too relevant to what's going on in the now.
As her young, fit, unbeaten down, high school self, but still having all her memories of so many battles to draw on, Buffy's confident she can deal with whatever is happening here. She wipes out the three vampires in the nest Giles is worried about, the worshippers of Morgala, but he's still worried because he notices Morgala's image seems to be a dragon. Chekov's dragon.
But Buffy goes off about wanting to have fun. I think she appreciates now that she did get a chance to have some fun and normalcy in high school, even though at the time slaying always seemed to get in the way, and now she wants to enjoy this simpler time that's so irrevocably gone for good. OOH, Sunnydale High reunion! needs to be a story someday.
They split up to get ready for the party (well, Giles is probably going back to the batlibrary to mutter over his books and worry). Buffy looks at her cross and thinks of Angel of this time. She and Joyce have a season 1 style conversation, and Joyce says even with Buffy's whole life ahead of her, she can always come home again. Bittersweet, knowing Buffy can't return either to Sunnydale the town or Joyce's home. But also again, some Slayer instinct at work re returning to Sunnydale in the present?
Buffy meets Angel on the way to the party. He tells her he heard about the vampire thing and it's good she took out Morgala's five followers so they couldn't raise Morgala. Pretty much highlights that he just wants to see her because why does she need to here about what could have been? Classic early Angel.
She snipes at him a bit, then gets close and asks if he knew of the future of someone, would he tell that person what he knew. Thinking of Angelus and, well, all of Angel's unfun future stuff no doubt. And maybe of Willow too, come to think of it. That makes more sense really. That must be wearing on her mind, whether to tell Will what happened in the future. He actually answers that weird ass question, saying no, because if they know, it could change their future into something unpredictable.
Buffy leaves, then realizes that three and five are different, there's still two Morgala vamps out there. So instead of letting the party music pull her in that direction, she heads back to the vamp nest and finds the other two acolytes finishing their ritual. She dusts them, but they've brought forth the Dragon!
She grabs it as it flies up into the air and fights with it as they soar over the party and Buffy bitches at the dragon for ruining her fun dream. She really is getting a lot of air time in the comic books. (Crack myself up.) She gets rid of it easily, but then falls to the ground and...
...wakes up, just where we left of with Xander. She's been asleep all of four seconds. They're joined by Dawntaur and Willow, who has word from Andrew of trouble in Madrid. Buffy is excited to babble to them about her high school dream.
She says she kept thinking how nice it was when it wasn't so complicated. But it really wasn't that different. And it doesn't matter. Dream over. By the end of that chain of thought, she all depressed about life again. I can't even tell you how many times I've had that same segue happen, and it's always in that order of emotions too.
"We've got a world to save," says BuffyAtlas. And her last thoughts are on Angel's words. "You can't change a person's past. And just by telling them, you'll change their future into who knows what." I think that means she's decided not to tell Willow what she becomes. But I can't help but think it might be important in a more general way to the season's themes, since it was repeated twice, but I can't figure out how it applies quite yet.
But this volume of stories began with a trip to Will's far future and ended with a visit to Buffy's past, so that's something to ponder as we go forward.
We begin with a montage of Buffy battling various crechy faces, saying over and over, "Can't say I didn't warn you." She's musing on how hard it is to have to save the world over and over, and it's a bit of a thematic callback to "Going Through the Motions" I think. Even the patter is rote at this point, even if getting a good night's sleep is not. "Why is it always this hard?" I hear you, sister.
Headquarters. Don't think it's the castle anymore but not sure. Buffy's come in and collapsed on a bed to get some sleep, but it's Xander's bed and he doesn't want demon goo all over it. As he complains, Buffy falls asleep.
And she visits Buffy the Animated Series, the show that never was, but was planned for years to happen. (I believe; I'm not going to research it. No one's reading this anyway and whatever.)
Buffy's dream is herself in the old days of Sunnydale High. We get enough clues throughout to determine it's probably end of season 1, after Puppet Show but before Prophecy Girl. Joyce and a young Dawn are there. It's always fun to see Dawn in the flashbacks when she wasn't there in the original time line. Buffy quickly learns that Joyce doesn't know she's the Slayer and that there's a party tonight. Buffy's wearing a tee that says Relax. Subconscious much?
Buffy is herself and knows she's in a dream; she hasn't forgotten all that's happened. She gets to school and sees Willow and is happy, being still a bit traumatized at having to kill her future self. Thanks a lot, Future Willow.
Cordy! is there and being a bitch to Willow. Buffy says someday she'll be dead and Willow will be a sorceress supreme. Harsh, B. RIP Cordelia.
Xander's on the skateboard he never got to ride in the show. Principal Snyder confiscates it in his typical nasty fashion. Buffy tells Xander that maybe someday he'll get eaten by a giant snake and you'll be in charge of a bunch of women, only to be reminded that Willow is not yet gay (I know, terminology, just going with how Willow herself tends to put it) and has the hots for Xander. Yeah, this is when you definitely get the time period.
Buffy's starting to enjoy the dream, happy to be part of the little Scooby gang again. It's after school, and they meet up with Giles in a graveyard, talking obsessively about the party that night. Giles is looking particularly dire through this whole sequence, like he's taking the blame for ruining the fun. He kind of served that function before but this seems extra layer-y. Buffy's still not too happy with him I think.
Anyway, the fate of the world is up for grabs tonight. Again. This could "shift the balance of good and evil beyond all hope and reckoning." This is one part that makes me think some Slayer prophecy/Spidey sense stuff is leaking into this fairly fluffy dream. That's too relevant to what's going on in the now.
As her young, fit, unbeaten down, high school self, but still having all her memories of so many battles to draw on, Buffy's confident she can deal with whatever is happening here. She wipes out the three vampires in the nest Giles is worried about, the worshippers of Morgala, but he's still worried because he notices Morgala's image seems to be a dragon. Chekov's dragon.
But Buffy goes off about wanting to have fun. I think she appreciates now that she did get a chance to have some fun and normalcy in high school, even though at the time slaying always seemed to get in the way, and now she wants to enjoy this simpler time that's so irrevocably gone for good. OOH, Sunnydale High reunion! needs to be a story someday.
They split up to get ready for the party (well, Giles is probably going back to the batlibrary to mutter over his books and worry). Buffy looks at her cross and thinks of Angel of this time. She and Joyce have a season 1 style conversation, and Joyce says even with Buffy's whole life ahead of her, she can always come home again. Bittersweet, knowing Buffy can't return either to Sunnydale the town or Joyce's home. But also again, some Slayer instinct at work re returning to Sunnydale in the present?
Buffy meets Angel on the way to the party. He tells her he heard about the vampire thing and it's good she took out Morgala's five followers so they couldn't raise Morgala. Pretty much highlights that he just wants to see her because why does she need to here about what could have been? Classic early Angel.
She snipes at him a bit, then gets close and asks if he knew of the future of someone, would he tell that person what he knew. Thinking of Angelus and, well, all of Angel's unfun future stuff no doubt. And maybe of Willow too, come to think of it. That makes more sense really. That must be wearing on her mind, whether to tell Will what happened in the future. He actually answers that weird ass question, saying no, because if they know, it could change their future into something unpredictable.
Buffy leaves, then realizes that three and five are different, there's still two Morgala vamps out there. So instead of letting the party music pull her in that direction, she heads back to the vamp nest and finds the other two acolytes finishing their ritual. She dusts them, but they've brought forth the Dragon!
She grabs it as it flies up into the air and fights with it as they soar over the party and Buffy bitches at the dragon for ruining her fun dream. She really is getting a lot of air time in the comic books. (Crack myself up.) She gets rid of it easily, but then falls to the ground and...
...wakes up, just where we left of with Xander. She's been asleep all of four seconds. They're joined by Dawntaur and Willow, who has word from Andrew of trouble in Madrid. Buffy is excited to babble to them about her high school dream.
She says she kept thinking how nice it was when it wasn't so complicated. But it really wasn't that different. And it doesn't matter. Dream over. By the end of that chain of thought, she all depressed about life again. I can't even tell you how many times I've had that same segue happen, and it's always in that order of emotions too.
"We've got a world to save," says BuffyAtlas. And her last thoughts are on Angel's words. "You can't change a person's past. And just by telling them, you'll change their future into who knows what." I think that means she's decided not to tell Willow what she becomes. But I can't help but think it might be important in a more general way to the season's themes, since it was repeated twice, but I can't figure out how it applies quite yet.
But this volume of stories began with a trip to Will's far future and ended with a visit to Buffy's past, so that's something to ponder as we go forward.
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #19 POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Time of Your Life Part 4.
Future Willow, Madwoman, is melancholy about living for so long. Which won't be a problem much longer. She's talking with Melaka and Erin Fray as Buffy, chained to a chair, starts to come around. Fray is still not willing to kill another slayer, despite whatever horrible thing Willow showed her. Erin's for just sending her home, but Fray says if they do that, she'll try and change the future and end their world.
Buffy wakes up and is a bit upset that Willow went dark again. But before they can get into it, Harth and co. show up. He brings up the fact that Willow told him the opposite of what she told Melaka, that Buffy would cause this world to be after all this. Willow admits to the deception, saying she's all evil and stuff. Then she says it's not important who dies, just who kills them. Hunh? Oh, I get it. Sort of. Future Willow is just all kinds of messed up. So sad.
Gates(?) is helping Buffy with her chains while Melaka faces off with Will. Which was the lie? Harth doesn't care; he just wants to kill them all. And then Gunther! arrives with reinforcements and cool submarine-looking cars, scoffing that Harth though three vamps could take him out.
In the melee, Buffy gets free and disables Erin and Melaka. She says she doesn't care about their world, she just has to save hers. For reals, I mean, how many worlds can she have on her shoulders? Will says she's not done yet as she races off.
And we're in Scotland. The various wood spirits and fairy creatures of the area have been recruited to take out Amy's demons. Xander and Dawn also got a hold of some swords. Then suddenly the demons go from sickly green and invincible to normal looking lizardy types who get wounded. Hurray, Wiccan Squad! Rowena has led them and the slayers back to the fight. Those guys are toast.
Buffy runs away, headed for the rift building. Fray beat her there. They fight and argue, as slayers are wont to do. Instead of the "big picture," Buffy calls her attitude the "fate of the world, short view." The difference between those two things is probably important, but I'm not sure how. Maybe just that Buffy can see both, but knows when to choose between them? Is this her getting something back she's lost or more of the same? And mistake or rationality? Melaka says that the fate of the world view made sense to her when there was only one world. Fringe-world problems.
So they fight more. Fray's on her own turf, so stronger that way, but Buffy has the memories of all the slayers to guide her. It's a good fight.
Warren, Amy and Twilight are watching their army get decimated. Warren blames Amy for the failure. As the two snipe at each other (they're the worst), Twilight turns to another man in the shadows. He stands all soldiery and has the Twilight scar on his chest. We find out he's who Buffy met in New York. And it's Riley. (I think. The reveals don't work as well in the comics because the representations of the actors are different enough that it's hard to immediately place them and go AHA! By the time you work it out, it's more oh. For me anyway.)
So Riley is pretending to be Buffy's pal while reporting to Twilight? I had forgotten this. I believe he's a double agent though. But I'm still trying to figure out the logic of Twilight in general, so I honestly don't remember how this plays out.
Anyway, Willow of the present blindfolds herself to keep her promise. The rift opens. On the other side, Buffy totally demolishes Fray's scythe. WTF? Is that a sign that she will destroy Fray's world if she goes home? Probably just Slayer strength thing.
Future Willow steps in front of the rift, in Buffy's way. Buffy has it figured out that Willow wanted all of this to happen and wants to know why. I think she probably already knows at this point. It's a long story, Willow begins, and -- THUNK! scythe through the chest. Future Will falls down dead as present Will reaches through the rift and grabs Buffy. Fray lunges for her but is too late.
Buffy is through and crying and hugging Willow, telling her she loves her. Brutal.
Future Willow is dead, just as she wanted. And what was important to her was who killed her. It had to be Buffy, even if it meant messing up the time lines and all. And I can't figure out if that's about love or hate, or if Willow even knew. It feels hateful, like revenge, which is just so unfair. But maybe it's just because they went through so much together, and she knew Buffy would do it if she had to. Or maybe it's a last warning to Buffy about what's to come, the absence of effect of her plans to change the world.
Melaka and Erin stare at Willow's body, Melaka feeling defeated, until they realize that they're still here. The end.
Future Willow, Madwoman, is melancholy about living for so long. Which won't be a problem much longer. She's talking with Melaka and Erin Fray as Buffy, chained to a chair, starts to come around. Fray is still not willing to kill another slayer, despite whatever horrible thing Willow showed her. Erin's for just sending her home, but Fray says if they do that, she'll try and change the future and end their world.
Buffy wakes up and is a bit upset that Willow went dark again. But before they can get into it, Harth and co. show up. He brings up the fact that Willow told him the opposite of what she told Melaka, that Buffy would cause this world to be after all this. Willow admits to the deception, saying she's all evil and stuff. Then she says it's not important who dies, just who kills them. Hunh? Oh, I get it. Sort of. Future Willow is just all kinds of messed up. So sad.
Gates(?) is helping Buffy with her chains while Melaka faces off with Will. Which was the lie? Harth doesn't care; he just wants to kill them all. And then Gunther! arrives with reinforcements and cool submarine-looking cars, scoffing that Harth though three vamps could take him out.
In the melee, Buffy gets free and disables Erin and Melaka. She says she doesn't care about their world, she just has to save hers. For reals, I mean, how many worlds can she have on her shoulders? Will says she's not done yet as she races off.
And we're in Scotland. The various wood spirits and fairy creatures of the area have been recruited to take out Amy's demons. Xander and Dawn also got a hold of some swords. Then suddenly the demons go from sickly green and invincible to normal looking lizardy types who get wounded. Hurray, Wiccan Squad! Rowena has led them and the slayers back to the fight. Those guys are toast.
Buffy runs away, headed for the rift building. Fray beat her there. They fight and argue, as slayers are wont to do. Instead of the "big picture," Buffy calls her attitude the "fate of the world, short view." The difference between those two things is probably important, but I'm not sure how. Maybe just that Buffy can see both, but knows when to choose between them? Is this her getting something back she's lost or more of the same? And mistake or rationality? Melaka says that the fate of the world view made sense to her when there was only one world. Fringe-world problems.
So they fight more. Fray's on her own turf, so stronger that way, but Buffy has the memories of all the slayers to guide her. It's a good fight.
Warren, Amy and Twilight are watching their army get decimated. Warren blames Amy for the failure. As the two snipe at each other (they're the worst), Twilight turns to another man in the shadows. He stands all soldiery and has the Twilight scar on his chest. We find out he's who Buffy met in New York. And it's Riley. (I think. The reveals don't work as well in the comics because the representations of the actors are different enough that it's hard to immediately place them and go AHA! By the time you work it out, it's more oh. For me anyway.)
So Riley is pretending to be Buffy's pal while reporting to Twilight? I had forgotten this. I believe he's a double agent though. But I'm still trying to figure out the logic of Twilight in general, so I honestly don't remember how this plays out.
Anyway, Willow of the present blindfolds herself to keep her promise. The rift opens. On the other side, Buffy totally demolishes Fray's scythe. WTF? Is that a sign that she will destroy Fray's world if she goes home? Probably just Slayer strength thing.
Future Willow steps in front of the rift, in Buffy's way. Buffy has it figured out that Willow wanted all of this to happen and wants to know why. I think she probably already knows at this point. It's a long story, Willow begins, and -- THUNK! scythe through the chest. Future Will falls down dead as present Will reaches through the rift and grabs Buffy. Fray lunges for her but is too late.
Buffy is through and crying and hugging Willow, telling her she loves her. Brutal.
Future Willow is dead, just as she wanted. And what was important to her was who killed her. It had to be Buffy, even if it meant messing up the time lines and all. And I can't figure out if that's about love or hate, or if Willow even knew. It feels hateful, like revenge, which is just so unfair. But maybe it's just because they went through so much together, and she knew Buffy would do it if she had to. Or maybe it's a last warning to Buffy about what's to come, the absence of effect of her plans to change the world.
Melaka and Erin stare at Willow's body, Melaka feeling defeated, until they realize that they're still here. The end.
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #18 POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
Time of Your Life Part 3.
We start with books. Buffy's reading the histories and trying to figure out what happened. She refers to one entry as being too ridiculous to comprehend. Wonder what that refers to.
What's not mentioned at all is Buffy's creation of the slayer army, and what's not present in the future is the better world she hoped to create with it. So is it a hubris thing? Did she aim too high with the spell? You know, it's not like she had many choices at the time. And the reason things went off the rails in the first place was Willow and the gang bringing her back from the dead. Not her fault, any of it. Feel so bad for her.
Anyhow, Fray and Gates(?) come in with news from Gunther about some vamp action. Buffy's in the mood for some carnage about now.
Xander and Dawn make it to the forest, but are in the opposite direction of the fleeing slayers. They figure out it's a Warren and Amy thing, but aren't sure what to do next. That's when some tree spirit calling himself Lorelahn makes an angry appearance. Xander and Dawn are not impressed with his rhetoric given what they just ran away from, and after insults are exchanged, they settle in to talk.
Gunther is being visited by Harth and some minions. Harth isn't happy about Gunther giving Fray info. Gunther is as unimpressed by Harth and his threats as Xander and Dawn are of the wood fairies. Gunther should be a little more concerned though, since there's three vamps in his water sneaking up behind him as Harth leaves.
Oh, no, Buffy's trying to drive. Why did she think a flying car! would be a good idea? Remember B, unmixy things? There's also a Bandy Candy callback that just sounds weird in this context.
They find some vamps -- in mummy gear to hide from the smog-infested sunlight -- attacking some complex. Fray wants to stop them. Buffy wants to hang back and follow them home after. Looking at the big picture as she's learned to do over and over in the last few years. Fray's not for that though. So is it a critique of General Buffy becoming upper echelon in her thinking and not remembering what it is to be a foot soldier who exists in the field of battle? I mean, she goes in the field all the time, but she has become more end justifies means, organized soldier instead of hero. Is she the new Watcher's Council? The new Initiative? And is it inevitable that that happens when she tries to establish her own status quo? Again, as Buffy is an adult now, the concerns seem very in tune with Angel themes.
Fray attacks, the vamps flee, and Buffy follows them, giving future Willow time to talk to Fray. Yeah, that'll end well.
Back to the present Willow getting mystically sexy with Saga Vasuki. She says someone she trusted told her what to say to Willow. Willow is polite but firm, she wants Buffy back. Willow is always going after Buffy. Future Willow even goes after Buffy for her own reasons while knowing that her past self will come after Buffy too and planning for it. Anyway, Saga Vasuki says the rift will reopen, but she insists that Willow promise her not to look at the future when she reaches for Buffy. And then Willow's back with Kennedy, orgasm--I mean, vision over.
Future Willow talks with Fray, saying she should kill Buffy because they want different things. When Fray mentions they both want vampires to be gone, Willow says, "The most important men in both your lives are 'lurks.' You think it's really that simple?"
But what I don't get, if it's about balance and not the eradication or the victory of one side over the other in good vs. evil terms, how does deleting all magic do the job? Isn't that just another extreme winning out?
Willow suggests to Fray that she can't access much magic. Is she wiped out with all the temporal rifts and such? But she wants to show Fray some kind of vision. No doubt calling on the things she learned from Saga Vasuki that she had put to use setting this thing in motion with past Will, so nice.
Buffy managed to crash her car close to where the vamps went, but then suddenly she's back at Fray's place being accosted by Erin. I guess she came back for reinforcements. They bond over troublesome younger sisters, but then bam! Buffy is shocked unconscious by Fray. It was a trap. Part of Fray's plan to save her world.
Back to the present Willow getting mystically sexy wit
Buffy Season 8 - Issue #17 SPOILERS FOR BUFFY 1-8 ENTIRE, S9 #1, & ANGEL THRU AFTER THE FALL
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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