28

[beer_good_foamy]

So I finally got a hold of #28. I was already spoiled on some stuff, and I'm sure most of the fine details have already been ironed out elsewhere, but here's a kind of review anyway.

"Have you tried not being a Slayer?" - Joyce Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2.22
"But what if I can't? I've seen too much. I know what goes bump in the night. Not being able to fight it... What if I just hide under my bed, all scared and helpless? Or what if I just become pathetic? Hanging out at the old Slayer's home, talking people's ears off about my glory days, showing them Mr. Pointy, the stake I had bronzed." - Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer 3.12
"I feel weak. I don't like it." - Satsu, Season 8 #28
"Cheap holiday in other people's misery." - Sex Pistols, "Holidays In The Sun"

So, the good news is that Dawn didn't continue her trend of falling for abusive assholes. The bad news is that as a love interest for Xander, I'd be very surprised – shocked, even - if she makes it past the preview of #29.

And just like the whole Buffy/Satsu brouhaha (which I'm still waiting for some sort of follow-up for, btw), the OMGSOMETHINGSHOCKINGWILLHAPPEN thing just distracts from what continues to be a decent story. Even if I feel the writers ought to focus more on piecing the still haphazard plot together rather than introducing brand-new ships, it helps develop the story – assuming the story is connected to how Buffy feels at the moment – and frankly, the shippiness angle is the least interesting thing here. As in the previous issue there is (finally) plenty of character interaction, and they're (finally) TALKING to each other. All of them. How fucking cool is that? Rather than just mope around behind each other's backs and digging holes to fall into, they're actually talking things out. Trusting each other to be able to take each others' bad sides. And digging holes. Well, you can't have everything.

We get a very nice conversation between Buffy and Faith (which seems to ignore their encounter in "No Future For You", but I guess since that that fallout was just a way to isolate Buffy further, it's served its purpose). Faith wanting to give up her power? Well, it's in keeping with her Season 8 story, I guess. Plus it explicitly contradicts #24, which I suppose makes it good by lack of association.

And then all the major discussions – Xander and Dawn, Buffy and Xander, Willow and Oz, Willow and Buffy – all focus on the issue that the TV series got at least a couple of seasons out of, but which it's been clear for some time that we're going to repeat: how do you reconcile fighting evil and trying to live your own life? But it's nicely done, and if there's any complaint here, it's that every conversation seems to be a little too self-consciously on-topic – everyone's talking about how good it would be to give up the fight and have a life, have something to be for rather than just fight against, to "point to the safe", love and babies and turnips and everything but the fact that they've got 7 billion people and an unknown number of demons trying to kill them. Surely at least some of them would be talking about yaks, which are a source of endless comedy? Then again, the whole thing is edited together by Andrew, so I can buy that. (Not sure they needed to repeat the exact same joke about him and Jonathan facing Dark Willow as in "Storyteller", though. It was funnier the first time.)

And all of it does something that's been sorely lacking for long stretches of the comic: show us how the characters feel, what they want, and then reflect it back on our main protagonist. The only one who remains a complete cipher by the end is Giles, who's starting to look mighty suspicious (note the Sex Pistols t-shirt... it's looking like an unlimited amount of problems, no feelings, no fun, and possibly bodies in Giles' future.)

One key scene is the discussion between Willow and Oz. Because as enviable as Oz' life may seem, Willow has a point: what Oz does is giving up, in a sense, at least to her. Here's the big problem/opportunity of the setup of the series, the clash between fighting your own metaphorical demons and fighting the real demons in the metaphorical story. Oz is happy (for now), he's at peace; he's beaten his own demons.

OZ: You can be done, Will. You can just be Willow Rosenberg. Just let the Earth take the magic and you'll feel it sliding away...

Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that Willow has actual real-life flesh and blood (and scale) demons to face, too. Or, if you prefer, that what brings peace to one person doesn't necessarily bring peace to another. Just like working in one more-or-less uniform Slayer organisation doesn't work for everyone, neither does farming turnips for the rest of one's life work for everyone. One person's retreat is another's flight. Which makes Willow's turnaround in the end rather sad; as nice as it is to see her start to find peace, we all know that it's not going to last. And the odds on Oz' trusting her with his son getting a much darker revisit within two issues are dropping the whole time.

WILLOW: We can all have futures, Buffy. Even you.

Even if they didn't have Twilight breathing down their necks, this would still feel all wrong. Buffy's words in "Restless" weren't "Some day I'll settle down and have babies." Nor was it "I'll be a soldier till it kills me." It was "I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back" – which obviously can't be taken literally (though I'm sure there's been fic of that), but still: the idea is to get the girl keep fighting. That's what Buffy was built for, that's what she's always returned to in some sense. There's more than one fight to fight, more than one arena to fight it in, more than one way to skin a bat. Having a future that's your own involves not simply buying someone else's package deal. (Not to mention that the idea of Slayers getting rid of their power in order to do housework is... iffy, to say the least.)

But for the most part it's a very welcome and seductive wake-up to the need for having a long-term goal of living rather than just slaying (which would work even better if it hadn't been painfully obvious since #1, but hey.) Don't get me wrong, there's still some very odd moments, like Willow's wild mood swings in her conversation with Oz and her later complete lack thereof upon finding out that her best friend expects to kill her... I mean, has killed her... no wait, will have has killing-ed... whatever, but that's obviously a plot point showing us that Willow is going to – no? OK, my bad. I guess the scoobies see nothing out of the ordinary in killing each other at this point. But at least it's out there, which is a huge improvement, as is Buffy starting to listen to others. We've had the thesis, we've had the antithesis, and they both look like (metaphorical or even actual) suicide; now let's have something else, let's have a plan that doesn't involve remote mountains.

But so far everyone continues to stick to Operation Sitting Duck, one or three dissenting voices notwithstanding. OK, given how many readers still seem to assume that the message of Season 8 will be "power is bad" and end with everyone getting de-slayerified, I suppose Joss had to adress why that would be a bad idea, and it certainly does that. And also, sure, this issue goes a long way towards establishing the theme of reconnecting to their "human" side (since they've bought into the dichotomy) after spending an unknown number of years hiding in Scottish castles. Maybe this is an inherent flaw of the format; I'm sure that when Joss pitched this story in 10 minutes it sounded a lot better than when we actually have to wait 6 months (or 4 years) to see how this collective brain-freeze inevitably turns to disaster. People are debating what's going to happen to get to the surrender scene depicted on the TPB cover; I'm pretty sure we've already seen it. The plan to get out of this by essentially doing to themselves what their enemies were trying to do – or what the vamps did in "Wolves at the Gate" – and doing it in this manner is still... DUMB. And it's not even simply dumb, it's needlessly complexly dumb since they know several easier ways to do it. It's Jonathan committing suicide by assault rifle dumb. BSG finale dumb.

Which I guess will be obvious now that Twilight has found them. So evidently, the "man on the inside" wasn't so much a man as a cat. Named Amy. I have no idea how that's supposed to work with the fact that they already had a "man on the inside" in #9, but whatever. Now that the cat's out of the monastery, I guess they'll simply have to drop this experiment, get back their powers and finally do something constructive... right?

(Aside: I'm reading Left Behind for laughs at the moment, and in comparison to that shit Season 8 is looking damn good... though in both cases, we have a world-wide event that we're just being told happened without actually ever seeing it except when it mildly inconveniences our heroes... um...

The authors sought to provide an illustration that would persuade readers of the truth of the coming events supposedly prophesied in their premillennial dispensationalist interpretation of the Bible. But their best efforts to portray such events occurring in a "real world" fictional setting have instead served only to illustrate the implausibility and impossibility of those events actually happening in a world that is anything like the one we live in. The only way they are able to conceive of and present a scenario in which such events might occur is to have everyone in their story behave irrationally, inhumanly and inexplicably.

...nevermind.)

And so I end on a rant anyway, which is unfair to this issue. Whatever the problems of the season arc, well done, Jane. What's the quote again?

DOMINIC: You played a good hand, ma'am.
DEWITT: I played a very bad hand very well. There is a distinction.

Random notes:
- Apparently, Scott Allie has said that Willow in Season 8 is a different character from the one in the TV series. Nice to see that we agree on something. Now, about Buffy...
- Willow and Xander both look bizarrely happy on the last page when they realise Twilight is about to kill them all.
- Now even Andrew is explicitly talking about Dark Willow, and a repeat of her season 6 storyline is (thankfully) looking less and less likely.
- Buffy suddenly decides to make a move on Xander after 12 years, underlining the need to get out into the world and meet other people. Well, you snooze, you lose.
- In #27, Oz recommends being a river. In #28, Willow is afraid of being just a force. Fittingly enough, they're synonyms.
- OK, the "sit with his friend Buffy and yak" joke was funny.
- ETA: BAY: It's not about "giving up" the magic. (...) We've found that it's easier to give up the magic if you connect with the land. So is it not about what it's about, or is it about what it's not about?

Comments

[deird1]

So evidently, the "man on the inside" wasn't so much a man as a cat. Named Amy.

Wait, what?

This is what I get from relying on other people's summaries rather than reading them myself...
What happened?

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Well, starting in this issue, there's a cat running around everywhere. In the last scene, just as they're discussing who the traitor might be, it teleports away and Xander deduces that it must have been Amy in disguise.

Because Amy likes turning herself into animals, I guess. It's worked well for in the past.

[frogfarm]

BSG finale dumb.

THANK YOU.

Also, I don't buy Faith or Willow in this issue at all. But you probably already knew that.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :-)

I thought you might not, haha. I was pretty sure we were supposed to think there was something very weird going on with Willow, but since we've been told that she's supposed to seem perfectly normal, I guess it's just... um... like the computer people say: if you can charge money for a bug, you call it a feature.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

frankly, the shippiness angle is the least interesting thing here.

Word. I agree with this completely. Dawn/Xander is so not the point.

Plus it explicitly contradicts #24, which I suppose makes it good by lack of association.

Hee! Digs at #24 are like my drug.

- Buffy suddenly decides to make a move on Xander after 12 years, underlining the need to get out into the world and meet other people. Well, you snooze, you lose.

Bwahahaha! Yes! ZING!

I haven't read "Left Behind", so I sadly missed the reference. But otherwise I'm roughly on the same page as you. Though I'm probably a bit happier than you. But I'm a happy drunk, so...

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Digs at #24 are like my drug.

Just call me the pusherman. *does funky blaxploitation dance*

I haven't read "Left Behind", so I sadly missed the reference.

Basically, the story is that all the True Christians get raptured and then the Antichrist becomes Secretary General of the UN and thereby world dictator (which is what that post is, since the UN is evil and all-powerful - the book is so reactionary, misogynist and xenophobic I'd be sure it was a parody if I didn't know better). The point is that everyone in the entire world loves him for it and in like 72 hours he's made everyone agree to one world government, one world religion, one world language, and all he's actually had to do is make one (yes, one) ridiculously boring speech. And the authors seem to think it makes perfect sense. (And that's just one of the book's many, many problems.) I was reading it and thought "...Hang on. He doesn't have a blonde vampire with a unicorn collection for a press agent, does he?" Hence the quote above. :-)

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Great review, as always. I think you're ETA pretty much sums up where I'm at with the season at the moment... just scratching my head going, huh?

Random late night thoughts:

* Joss talks about his kids a lot. But it all looks so retro here. Are we building to the astonishing revelation that women should insist on having it all?

* Dawn's a goner. She has been since Living Doll and D/X just doubles down on it. I'd like to say it's so obvious that the twist is that she's not. But Dawn/Xander was supposed to be a shock too. The only mystery is if it'll be in #29 or #30. I'm thinking either end of #29 or #30.

* Allie's remarks seem to have given me license to feel grumphy about things I haven't grumped about until now. So forgive me for being late to the party -- but just why are we supposed to be gripped by the drama of Buffy trying to reconcile the slayer and human sides of her, when the writers can't be bothered to tell us how the balance got so out of whack in the first place?

That's it. I'm generally confused.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Are we building to the astonishing revelation that women should insist on having it all?

Looks like. Except for the ones who are going to die for not wanting to have it all, perhaps. Right now my money is on Dawn and the Osbournes (god, that sounds wrong); not only would that be a huge emotional thing for those who are as invested in the comic characters as they were in the TV ones, but it would also underline that idea - Dawn, who apparently only wants to be with Xander rather than fight, and the Osbournes, who break up Black Sabbath again just want to live a quiet life. Isn't Dawn on the cover for #30, though?

Allie's remarks seem to have given me license to feel grumphy about things I haven't grumped about until now. So forgive me for being late to the party

Gabba gabba, we accept you, one of us, one of us! :-D

just why are we supposed to be gripped by the drama of Buffy trying to reconcile the slayer and human sides of her, when the writers can't be bothered to tell us how the balance got so out of whack in the first place?

Good question. I think the key here is to - oh look, yaks! Yaks funny.

...Seriously, I agree. But I guess you knew that. :-)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

* Joss talks about his kids a lot. But it all looks so retro here. Are we building to the astonishing revelation that women should insist on having it all?

I was wondering about that too. Oz's speech had a bit of a happy hausfrau talks to frustrated businesswoman feeling to it.

Also how does it fit into the slayerpower metaphore that you can voluntarily disempower yourself with housework?

[elisi]

I tried to read this, and I think I got the gist. Maybe. It's possible I nodded off.

Sadly, the comics make dislike the whole *concept* of Slayers. They're just being so stupid that I want Twilight to get rid of magic 4eva, because if their powers are the only thing that's making them special, then what's the point?

(Does that make sense?)

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

They're just being so stupid that I want Twilight to get rid of magic 4eva, because if their powers are the only thing that's making them special, then what's the point?

I have a feeling the end result here is going to be that it's not just their powers that make them special. You know, the same thing "Helpless" covered in 42 minutes. :-)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Great review :)

I agree on Faith being very off. Her text fits somewhat with her appearences on the show, but not really with the comics about her. But then, who can fault Jane for disregarding them as canon?

BSG finale plan dumb is the perfect expression for the sitting duck plan, but at least I get the vibe that this is the conclusion the arc is going to come to too, but like you said that would be cooler if we would not have this "how dumb is that?" feeling since the plan came up first.

The whole Amy cat thing confuses me. First becaus it's guesswork on a character's side and second because if Amy found them, she found them because of an agent inside and if there's a spy inside already who needs Amy?

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I agree on Faith being very off.

To me she seems (OK, in the very few lines she gets) to be some sort of neither/nor; I have trouble seeing TV!Faith, with the whole redemption gig, deciding that she'd be better off without powers now... on the other hand, so much of it seems to either ignore or contradict her earlier arc in the comics. But hey, that moment between them at the end of their scene is easily as much setup as Buffy/Satsu had, so I'm hopeful... ;-)

The whole Amy cat thing confuses me.

It's hard to see how it would work, yeah. I have to guess she found them on their own, and then for some reason transformed into a cat rather than watch them from afar (as she supposedly did when she supposedly saved Warren, for instance), but... was it really such a good idea to teleport away in front of everyone? Wouldn't it have made more sense to have them continue to think they're doing well (however the hell they could possibly think that)?

[shapinglight]

Great review. I need to write my own, which is a lot less forgiving than yours - that is, if I ever get a 'net connection at home again. :(

Agree with you that Giles is looking mighty suspicious at the moment. Am pretty grouchy about that, in fact.

And this: - Buffy suddenly decides to make a move on Xander after 12 years, underlining the need to get out into the world and meet other people. Well, you snooze, you lose.

God, yes! In fact, the essential dullness of B/X is pretty much at the core of my review. When I get around to writing it.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hope you get a chance to write yours, I'd love to see what you make of it.

Agree with you that Giles is looking mighty suspicious at the moment.

Right now he's pretty much the only one who is. On the other hand, it seems so obvious that it might just be a mislead... plus he's the only one who looks even vaguely concerned in the panel where they realise that Pussy!Amy was spying on them. Willow, on the other hand, looks positively giddy. Jeanty rides again.

[jgracio.livejournal.com]

At least now if someone says "Buffy wouldn't be with Xander if he was the last guy on earth." someone of the BX persuasion can answer with "Nuh huh, if Xander's the only available male in her life Buffy will totes go for it. After giving lesbianism a chance." :D

Don't really feel like all that much is happening. Buffy's plan just feels like it's dumb, and something we've already seen before, not exactly like we're seeing it now, but similar in the trying not to be the Slayer aspect. We know how it ends.

Shippyness... lol. It's Whedon. Do people still take any romantic development on his stories seriously? Does anyone still wonder, "Gee, I hope it ends well?" Personally, I think this time it's Xander that's gonna get it, the whole "Death of a Scoobie" shock, and getting it's use off a character that's been pretty much done for some time now...

Wonder when we'll get to know who Twilight is? I know it's going to be a disappointment, but it's probably the thing I'm looking forward the most.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Well, she still picked him over Andrew and Giles... :-)

Wonder when we'll get to know who Twilight is?

They've all but said it'll happen in #30. Then again, they previously said #25, so make of that what you will.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Although I've never been able to face actually reading Left Behind I've been reading Slacktivist's reviews for the past year. Wonderful stuff.

I even, at one time, felt inspired to join in the Right Behind project and I worked out a draft for a post-Rapture story to be called 'Daughter of Man'; the Anti-Christ in my story was a woman (logical, I feel).

The central character's 2-year-old daughter was Raptured (or, in her eyes, certainly snatched away from her and possibly disintegrated) and she (inevitably) wants revenge. She starts a movement dedicated to finding whatever alien or 'supernatural' being killed all the world's children (plus a few million nutty Right-Wing Americans, who nobody misses, and virtually no adults anywhere else in the world) and destroying that (self-evidently evil) entity. With four billion other bereaved parents/grandparents sharing her feelings it isn't hard to find willing recruits - even if it is for a war against God...

I decided not to go through with the idea, however, as I simply don't have the time to give it the attention it deserves. Of course if I had the talent and drive of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins I'd have rattled off a hastily-typed and badly-researched pile of crap anyway.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Reading Left Behind is like reading really really really bad fanfic. Come to think of it, since it's all based on (their interpretation of) the Bible, it IS reading really really really bad fanfic. I'm cracking up at least once per chapter... at least when the blatant misogyny and anti-semitism doesn't make me choke.

the Anti-Christ in my story was a woman (logical, I feel).

That's an interesting angle (and given certain Alaska politicians, not quite as far-fetched as the president of Romania...) Of course, it would never have occurred to Messrs. LaHaye and Jenkins, since women in their world have neither the brains nor the guts required for the job. Not that the men do either, the authors just think they do. And obviously, the plot would be "war with God" - that's one of the funny things about Left Behind: that the authors don't realise that they've written a book in which God is unashamedly the villain.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

There is one way in which they could reveal Twilight's identity, have him turn out to be a character not previously encountered in the TV show, and yet not have the readers feel cheated.

When Twilight is unmasked there turns out to be no-one behind the mask; it's a human body-suit operated by three sentient evil rabbits (possibly led by the Hare of Isildur?). Anya would be proved right after all. It could be bunnies...

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Sort of like this?

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

Just read the issue. I wanna say it's my favorite so far. S8 always focused on the big picture/plot/action, and character stuff was always pushed aside. It's nice to have an issue about the characters. Apparently, it's Jeanty's favorite too for the same reason. Also, #32 will focus on characters as well.

and frankly, the shippiness angle is the least interesting thing here.

I agree. Even though the shippiness angle involves my favorite character -twice. But this is BtVS fandom, where ships are the reason it's so popular, and ships will always be the primary focus to most of the fans. I was blown away by the great number of talk and reaction this issue received, all because of Buffy/Xander and Dawn/Xander. I felt embarrassed reading some of the fan reaction which was filled with anger and hate and dissing other fans –all for fictional characters. For some reason it makes me laugh more than the happy reactions. Personally, I think exploring Buffy/Xander at this point will be interesting. Even though I find them more special as best friends, same goes with Xander/Dawn, I liked the big brother/little sister relationship more.

So evidently, the "man on the inside" wasn't so much a man as a cat. Named Amy.

It doesn't make sense. But I'm sacred it'll be Joss' new genius idea. I think the panels with Giles show that the mole is still not discovered, they're making us suspect Giles, which might be a mislead, or another Xander/Dawn revelation. Is this why Giles has distant himself from Buffy? Was he just using Faith to build more walls between him and Buffy? Doesn't make sense as well, since the "inside man" has to be inside. S8 makes my head spin. It had been much better when I stopped thinking and relied on reading and waiting to see what's gonna happen.

And the odds on Oz' trusting her with his son getting a much darker revisit within two issues are dropping the whole time.

The second he gave Willow his son, I know that kid will be killed, which I really don't want to happen because Oz trusted Willow, and it's just gonna be too sad for me to handle.

Apparently, Scott Allie has said that Willow in Season 8 is a different character from the one in the TV series. Nice to see that we agree on something. Now, about Buffy...

I think Buffy being different is really obvious, and the focus in S8. I'd argue that Willow has always been a tad different in the new season, for example there's a huge leap between S4 Willow and S3 Willow, same can be said about S5 Willow "don't kill the horsies!" and S6 fawn-killer Willow. So, her changing some more in S8 isn't strange IMO.

Willow and Xander both look bizarrely happy on the last page when they realise Twilight is about to kill them all.

Yeah, I noticed that right away. I'm disappointed no one commented on it to Jeanty in his Q/A, I was going to, but sadly the session is closed.

Buffy suddenly decides to make a move on Xander after 12 years, underlining the need to get out into the world and meet other people.

I thought it was 9 years. With S8 being a year and a half after S7.

I don't know, I think it makes sense that she's gonna notice Xander now. There are no good men at sight, she tried connecting with Satsu, but Buffy isn't sexually attracted to women. Giles is very distant from her at this point, and Andrew is, well, a geekier version of high school Xander who didn't interest Buffy. Xander now is a different guy, all mature and confident and her closest friend at this point. With her powers waning and her becoming more and more like the normal girl she always wanted to be –feeling and connecting to humanity-, I don't see what makes considering Xander as a boyfriend not making sense. Other than it not being a certain fan's cup of tea. 

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

Other than it not being a certain fan's cup of tea.

Oops. I meant this sentence as a general statement. It's not directed at anyone in particular.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

Faith wanting to give up her power? Well, it's in keeping with her Season 8 story, I guess. Plus it explicitly contradicts #24, which I suppose makes it good by lack of association.

How does it contradicts with #24? Mind you I don't remember much of that issue, but it seems that Faith is getting more weary with slayerdom, she seems like she wants to quit by the end of #9. Her line in #26 "No, I'm done with this." can be taken as a foreshadow.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of her big rah-rah "aim for the heart, kiddo" scene at the end. From there to "I don't want to be a Slayer at all anymore" is a pretty big step to take with no in-between story. But then, #24 was utter crap so it's not like anybody's going to miss it.

[sam-arkand.livejournal.com]

I continue to read your reviews of the S8 comics for the insight.

Even when the series makes me want to claw my eyeballs out.

*ahem*

Sorry. I feel that S8 is some kind of insane middle-finger Joss has decided to flip on all the character and thematic development that lead up to "The Smile" in "Chosen".

[ursus-of-unrv.livejournal.com]

I'm collecting the trade paperbacks and so I am about 5 months behind everyone else, aside from the spoilers I read here and there.

Honestly, in your opinion, is it worth going on with this season 8? It sounds like many people are out of character, the plot is an incoherent mess, and the art doesn't improve very much.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... good question. In my opinion: yes, there's been some jarring OOC-ness. Yes, the plot is incoherent and full of holes. Yes, the art ranges from passable to dreadful. But barring any developments that make the previous wtfery pale by comparison, I'm probably going to continue to the end. Why? Well, for one thing, I think it does explore a lot of interesting ideas. It's one of the more ambitious takes on post-series Buffy I've read - both plot- and idea-wise - and even if it fails spectacularly at times, at least it fails spectacularly. That is to say that it's both entertaining for the sheer crack value, and that Joss is honestly trying to tackle some pretty hefty ideas and take the characters to some really interesting places, even if he has to bend the characters out of shape and go "OK, I know this plot doesn't make any sense, but let's just pretend that it does" at times. Like I've said before, I'll take an ambitious failure over a moderate success that plays it safe anyday. Also, of course, the dialogue is often excellent and there's the occasional flash of whedonesque genius - not nearly enough, but enough of it to remind you of what the TV series used to be (and the comics are sadly falling short of, even if they have been improving).

That said, by now I'm more invested in it from a purely "Hmmm, that's interesting" perspective. The characters have been so far removed from what they used to be, and the format is so badly used, that the idea that this is the "real" Buffy the Vampire Slayer seems ludicrous. But as fanfic goes, I've seen better and I've seen worse, but I've rarely seen fanfic that's this much better AND this much worse at the same time.