Season 8 #12 review
Mar. 6th, 2008 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamySo... "Season 8" #12. I’m torn. It’s an issue with fun, snappy dialogue, one huge ”Oh my god” moment (and for once, it actually is a pretty big one) that could very well set up some important future storylines, and a – so far – pretty boring A-plot with holes big enough for a bat to fly through. A really large bat. I’m guessing most of the debate around it – certainly most of what’s come so far – will surround THAT scene, so we’ll start there...
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elisi remarked that season 8 seems to be turning into Torchwood - and while that’s not exactly a compliment in my book, I suppose we’ll know for sure when we find out exactly what Dracula’s plans for Xander are. :-) Let’s face it, with the current cast it’s either Andrew or Dracula for Xander.
So, Buffy goes to bed with Satsu. Now, given my thoughts on Buffy/Faith, I obviously can’t decry this with "but Buffy's straight!" (BTW, Joss, thanks for trying to shoot down past suggestions of Buffy/Faith by having Buffy act like she’s never done this before; you’re cute when you try to retcon. ;-) ) Buffy’s lonely and desperate to connect with someone, Buffy’s flattered by Satsu’s feelings, Buffy’s apparently mildly bi-curious, there ya go. Yes, Buffy has spent a substantial portion of s8 fantasizing about men, and while it's been pretty well established that Satsu is in love with Buffy I haven't seen her return it - personally I thought the bedside scene in #11 had all the eyeball-blistering sexual tension of... let’s say the scene between Giles and Buffy at the end of “Helpless”*. But what the heck, like I’ve said in other posts, it certainly doesn’t make any less sense than Buffy being a professional jewel thief or Warren not dying, and at least it's more fun (especially given the slightly batshit importance placed on shipping in this fandom). :-) Instormwreath’s big Buffyverse sexuality poll my vote on TV!Buffy was that she was “straight – with one exception”; apparently comic!Buffy has two.. or we're simply to assume that this is women in prison syndrome, which works too. (But as moscow_watcher points out, it does put Buffy's declaration that she "likes Kennedy" in a whole new light, along with Willow’s decision to keep Kennedy far, far away from Buffy... :-) )
* No comparison quality-wise, though.
I do, however, see two potential problems with the way it's presented. First of all, as with most of the, um, “twists” of “season 8” so far, we don’t actually get to see what leads up to it, just the fait accompli, and the fallout will have to wait until next issue. Or possibly next year. The scene itself is very nicely done, I think; a conversation that’s both in character, funny and, at times, ouchy – it’s clear that Satsu is still (almost pathetically) hoping for something that both Buffy and Joss tell us won’t happen, and Buffy's too much of a nice/genuinely caring/needy person to simply shoot her down and have it done with. (You wonder if she remembers what she told Willow in a similar situation back in s4.) But still, it feels like a leap to go from Buffy comforting a wounded Satsu in #11 to Buffy naked in Satsu's arms with NOTHING in between... um, storywise, I mean. The subtext had barely had time to unsub, damnit!
The second... OK, hear me out, because I can't not think this, though it's not by any means ALL I think about it: with the suddenness of it, plus the whole advance hype and the news that Dark Horse have printed a lot more copies of this issue, plus Joss' promise that this isn't supposed to be a permanent gayification of Buffy, the whole setup does have a tiny dank whiff of Lesbian Kiss Episode. You know the type, as popularized by Ally McBeal; network advertises that the next episode will have hot lesbian action -> female lead makes out with other woman -> female lead quickly heads back to boys' town -> male viewers rejoice in getting both hot lesbian action and confirmation that The Cock reigns supreme -> network rejoices in high ratings. In other words, exactly what Joss deliberately avoided back in s4/5 of TV canon. Sadly, same-sex relationships in fiction are still controversial, and therefore will always be seen as more sensational even if they're not intended that way. "Pish tish," I hear you say, "this is a Joss Whedon comic, he wouldn't do that!" Yeah, well so is "After the Fall" – where every woman (except possibly Illyria) seems to be comprised of a pair of tits, a revealing outfit and a wish to have a man save her. I'm not saying it is a ratings ploy, just that it looks remarkably like one.
But even if there is an element of that, that's not by any means ALL it is; there's plenty of opportunity to make it an important plot point. Joss quickly spins it into a joke, with everyone walking in on them (and it IS a very funny scene – probably the best piece of comedy yet in "season 8", and my, I’ve missed the screwball comedy aspect of the show in the comics) but then again they always used to put comedy spins on tragedy and the other way around back in the TV show so that’s by no means a guarantee that it will remain a funny subject. (Even if the comics so far have been so-so about following up on their own setups, let alone those that still remain to be addressed from the TV series.) Let’s put the same-sex thing aside and look at the situation.stormwreath wrote:
Some of the best drama is when nobody is actually in the wrong, but someone is still going to end up getting hurt.
With which I agree, though the thing is, I'm not sure Buffy can be said to not be in the wrong, at least a little bit. Thanks to that spell, we don't have to speculate about Satsu's motivations; we (and Buffy) know for a fact** that her feelings for Buffy are the real deal, but we can also be pretty sure that Buffy doesn’t and never will return them. This is not completely dissimilar to her treatment of both Riley and Spike even if there are a lot of differences. Satsu is not only part of Buffy’s crew and subordinate to her – a big no-no in any organisation - she’s been consistently shown to be fairly submissive (or "loyal" if you prefer), she's afraid Buffy might kick her out, she’s half a world from home and, thanks to Buffy, possibly a wanted criminal/terrorist... and she's in love with her idol. It’s not exactly a relationship of equals. This is one of the reasons I think it's a pity we don't get to see who initiated this; if it's Satsu, then she's made her bed and sooner or later she'll have to lie in it (her own as opposed to Buffy's); she's (probably) an adult and capable of making her own decisions. But if it was Buffy's idea, then it becomes slightly more problematic even if it doesn't immediately rob Satsu of all responsibility; Buffy's experimenting (Joss' phrase) at the cost of someone else's heartbreak, and even if there's nothing malicious to it, and even if she seems to be aware of it, it is still reckless.powerofthebook's The After does a great job of describing how this might turn out. On a whole, though, while it does have an element of fanboy crack about it and I don't see a league of Butsu shippers springing up over night, I think it's the most interesting storyline Buffy's been given yet in the comics. (Not that there have been that many to compete with.)
** Unless Satsu is the traitor and secretly in league with Amy and the whole spell was just a sham, but...
Oh, so there was more than that one scene? The rest of the issue, then. At least “the most powerful Wicca in the Western hemisphere” (damn, I miss Anya) didn’t get kidnapped again as the preview hinted, just thrown through a roof or two by a gang of Japanese Bauhaus fans who act and look just like... Dracula? We knew he’d turn up, but... Now, I really like “Buffy vs Dracula.” It’s not a fantastic episode, but it works perfectly as an opener to season 5, setting up the themes of the season by introducing Buffy to the most famous vampire of all, raising the whole issue of the dark source of the Slayer – and then having her easily kick his ass once he’s done his job, which is to be more of a guide than a villain. And the reason he works in that capacity is exactly because he doesn't fit into the Buffyverse. He refuses to follow the fixed rules of what Buffyverse vampires can and can't do – Buffy ends up doing the same to the Slayer rules. But as a character he’s pretty silly, and how he’s going to work out here, along with a bunch of other vampires who can do the same tricks he can (I thought the point was that Dracula and ONLY Dracula could do that, not because he has some secret power but simply because duh, he’s Count Friggin’ Dracula?)... still waiting for how they’re going to sell that one. Given his interest in Buffy I can sort of see why he and the Scythe fit into the story, especially since Dracula seems to have shared his power with a bunch of other vampires – you wanna bet this will turn out to be a metaphor for how Buffy has shared her power with a bunch of potentials? - but with Xander the Buttmonkey on top of that, it’s looking an awful lot like we've been in this movie before.
And on the Dracula front, how slow are the Scoobies, who seem to take quite a long time to remember that they’ve fought something exactly like this before? And how utterly moronic are they to send Xander the Buttmonkey in alone (OK, with his apparently completely uninformed maybe-girlfriend – Anya would have used much-needed sarcasm and pointed out to them how ridiculous this idea is) to face him? Isn’t Xander, given his history with Dracula, um... how do I put this... the last person on the face of the Earth they should give that job to? And where exactly is Dracula’s castle – helicopters aren’t exactly made for long-distance travel? And since when does Xander know how to fly a helicopter anyway? And...
Leaving the plot holes behind and moving along, as we already knew from the previews –
(BTW, that “master” thing was also funny once.)
- shut up. As we already knew from the previews, Xander and Renee are making with the cuteness. Renee’s being low-self-esteem girl and Xander gets to comfort her much like he did Buffy in the last issue, and she retaliates by asking him to ask her out (my, quite the little suffragette you are, Renee)... Awwww. Which probably means one of them is evil. Damn, I miss Anya... sorry. Andrew and Willow re-enacting the Superman scene is funny, though I still don’t see why Willow has to fly people everywhere. Did the “Chosen” spell transfer Buffy’s driving skills to everyone along with Willow’s sexual preferences? Speaking of Willow, she seems to be right back in the gang again in spite of the slight fallout she and Buffy seemed to have in #10 and #11... not that I’m complaining, but as good as #10 was, a lot of it seems to be brushed aside pretty quickly. And we get absolutely no follow-up on Buffy’s big fight with the season’s Big Bad, either – but OK, TV canon was often so-so on that point, too.
Random observations:
The People Interested in a Gayer Slayer (PIGS) now include Mr Gordo, who saw EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. Someone ought to fic this. (Nice to see that he made it out of Sunnydale, though. Unless this is his replacement, Mr McGordo, to go with all the other characters who have been replaced without anyone mentioning the originals... ooops, there I go again.)
Dawn sleeps in a barn. An open barn. In Scotland. In autumn. (Yup, I can see why she’s in no hurry to be de-gigantofied.) Can you imagine the horror if she should get a cold? One sneeze and she’ll take down the whole castle. And then there’s the phlegm issue. Hopefully not “issue” as in “entire one-shot about Giant!Dawn battling a flu that's threatening to turn the highlands into a slimy bog,” but you never know.
Buffy’s bedroom, on the other hand, seems to have gotten a lot comfier and, well, 21st century-ish since #2. For one thing, she’s taken down that big-ass portrait of the queen. She should really get a lock on that door, though. And curtains.
Buffy wears Eeyore jammies. Awww. Sort of fits her “life sucks” mentality right now.
Rowena’s accent has gotten a lot better, despite hanging out with Leah.
What’s that one huge ear-ring Renee’s wearing, and is it a clue to where she’s from? A map of Africa or a Native American-style feather?
Oh, and Xander... Zeus? Not famed for his mercy. Once was fine; turning it into a catchphrase is what bad!fic writers do, ‘kay?
Nobody commented on the fact that wolves are about as common a sight on the moors as three-headed giraffes yodeling “God Save The Queen” in B flat, having been extinct since 1680 or so. Again, I’m really grateful that we never got to see Xander in Africa...
Some nice lines – gotta appreciate that Drew acknowledges the fanboy wet-dream angle:
XANDER: Oh, thank God. This is a dream.
RENEE: I don’t think it’s a dream.
XANDER: No, I’ve had this one before. You’re here. They’re here. I’m just gonna go sit in the corner and wait for Willow to arrive.
WILLOW: *plummets through roof*
And then there’s Xander’s “This counts as bad” = “This count’s as bad.” Though as bad as what exactly? Buffy’s killed him twice already. No, until Dracula and the Draculettes actually prove themselves remotely interesting, I’m guessing this issue will go down in comic history for that one bedroom scene. Which in itself is faintly ridiculous; come on, it's just a comic book... but hey, we're fandom, drama is what we do, and after all the hubbub about Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike never getting resolved, Joss just drew a line in the sand. I gotta admire the man's balls (that's about as close to male slash as we're likely to get) and as someone who's already decided several issues ago that I'm not likely to ever cross that line, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this. Where's my popcorn?
elisi remarked that season 8 seems to be turning into Torchwood - and while that’s not exactly a compliment in my book, I suppose we’ll know for sure when we find out exactly what Dracula’s plans for Xander are. :-) Let’s face it, with the current cast it’s either Andrew or Dracula for Xander.So, Buffy goes to bed with Satsu. Now, given my thoughts on Buffy/Faith, I obviously can’t decry this with "but Buffy's straight!" (BTW, Joss, thanks for trying to shoot down past suggestions of Buffy/Faith by having Buffy act like she’s never done this before; you’re cute when you try to retcon. ;-) ) Buffy’s lonely and desperate to connect with someone, Buffy’s flattered by Satsu’s feelings, Buffy’s apparently mildly bi-curious, there ya go. Yes, Buffy has spent a substantial portion of s8 fantasizing about men, and while it's been pretty well established that Satsu is in love with Buffy I haven't seen her return it - personally I thought the bedside scene in #11 had all the eyeball-blistering sexual tension of... let’s say the scene between Giles and Buffy at the end of “Helpless”*. But what the heck, like I’ve said in other posts, it certainly doesn’t make any less sense than Buffy being a professional jewel thief or Warren not dying, and at least it's more fun (especially given the slightly batshit importance placed on shipping in this fandom). :-) In
stormwreath’s big Buffyverse sexuality poll my vote on TV!Buffy was that she was “straight – with one exception”; apparently comic!Buffy has two.. or we're simply to assume that this is women in prison syndrome, which works too. (But as moscow_watcher points out, it does put Buffy's declaration that she "likes Kennedy" in a whole new light, along with Willow’s decision to keep Kennedy far, far away from Buffy... :-) )* No comparison quality-wise, though.
I do, however, see two potential problems with the way it's presented. First of all, as with most of the, um, “twists” of “season 8” so far, we don’t actually get to see what leads up to it, just the fait accompli, and the fallout will have to wait until next issue. Or possibly next year. The scene itself is very nicely done, I think; a conversation that’s both in character, funny and, at times, ouchy – it’s clear that Satsu is still (almost pathetically) hoping for something that both Buffy and Joss tell us won’t happen, and Buffy's too much of a nice/genuinely caring/needy person to simply shoot her down and have it done with. (You wonder if she remembers what she told Willow in a similar situation back in s4.) But still, it feels like a leap to go from Buffy comforting a wounded Satsu in #11 to Buffy naked in Satsu's arms with NOTHING in between... um, storywise, I mean. The subtext had barely had time to unsub, damnit!
The second... OK, hear me out, because I can't not think this, though it's not by any means ALL I think about it: with the suddenness of it, plus the whole advance hype and the news that Dark Horse have printed a lot more copies of this issue, plus Joss' promise that this isn't supposed to be a permanent gayification of Buffy, the whole setup does have a tiny dank whiff of Lesbian Kiss Episode. You know the type, as popularized by Ally McBeal; network advertises that the next episode will have hot lesbian action -> female lead makes out with other woman -> female lead quickly heads back to boys' town -> male viewers rejoice in getting both hot lesbian action and confirmation that The Cock reigns supreme -> network rejoices in high ratings. In other words, exactly what Joss deliberately avoided back in s4/5 of TV canon. Sadly, same-sex relationships in fiction are still controversial, and therefore will always be seen as more sensational even if they're not intended that way. "Pish tish," I hear you say, "this is a Joss Whedon comic, he wouldn't do that!" Yeah, well so is "After the Fall" – where every woman (except possibly Illyria) seems to be comprised of a pair of tits, a revealing outfit and a wish to have a man save her. I'm not saying it is a ratings ploy, just that it looks remarkably like one.
But even if there is an element of that, that's not by any means ALL it is; there's plenty of opportunity to make it an important plot point. Joss quickly spins it into a joke, with everyone walking in on them (and it IS a very funny scene – probably the best piece of comedy yet in "season 8", and my, I’ve missed the screwball comedy aspect of the show in the comics) but then again they always used to put comedy spins on tragedy and the other way around back in the TV show so that’s by no means a guarantee that it will remain a funny subject. (Even if the comics so far have been so-so about following up on their own setups, let alone those that still remain to be addressed from the TV series.) Let’s put the same-sex thing aside and look at the situation.
stormwreath wrote:Some of the best drama is when nobody is actually in the wrong, but someone is still going to end up getting hurt.
With which I agree, though the thing is, I'm not sure Buffy can be said to not be in the wrong, at least a little bit. Thanks to that spell, we don't have to speculate about Satsu's motivations; we (and Buffy) know for a fact** that her feelings for Buffy are the real deal, but we can also be pretty sure that Buffy doesn’t and never will return them. This is not completely dissimilar to her treatment of both Riley and Spike even if there are a lot of differences. Satsu is not only part of Buffy’s crew and subordinate to her – a big no-no in any organisation - she’s been consistently shown to be fairly submissive (or "loyal" if you prefer), she's afraid Buffy might kick her out, she’s half a world from home and, thanks to Buffy, possibly a wanted criminal/terrorist... and she's in love with her idol. It’s not exactly a relationship of equals. This is one of the reasons I think it's a pity we don't get to see who initiated this; if it's Satsu, then she's made her bed and sooner or later she'll have to lie in it (her own as opposed to Buffy's); she's (probably) an adult and capable of making her own decisions. But if it was Buffy's idea, then it becomes slightly more problematic even if it doesn't immediately rob Satsu of all responsibility; Buffy's experimenting (Joss' phrase) at the cost of someone else's heartbreak, and even if there's nothing malicious to it, and even if she seems to be aware of it, it is still reckless.
powerofthebook's The After does a great job of describing how this might turn out. On a whole, though, while it does have an element of fanboy crack about it and I don't see a league of Butsu shippers springing up over night, I think it's the most interesting storyline Buffy's been given yet in the comics. (Not that there have been that many to compete with.) ** Unless Satsu is the traitor and secretly in league with Amy and the whole spell was just a sham, but...
Oh, so there was more than that one scene? The rest of the issue, then. At least “the most powerful Wicca in the Western hemisphere” (damn, I miss Anya) didn’t get kidnapped again as the preview hinted, just thrown through a roof or two by a gang of Japanese Bauhaus fans who act and look just like... Dracula? We knew he’d turn up, but... Now, I really like “Buffy vs Dracula.” It’s not a fantastic episode, but it works perfectly as an opener to season 5, setting up the themes of the season by introducing Buffy to the most famous vampire of all, raising the whole issue of the dark source of the Slayer – and then having her easily kick his ass once he’s done his job, which is to be more of a guide than a villain. And the reason he works in that capacity is exactly because he doesn't fit into the Buffyverse. He refuses to follow the fixed rules of what Buffyverse vampires can and can't do – Buffy ends up doing the same to the Slayer rules. But as a character he’s pretty silly, and how he’s going to work out here, along with a bunch of other vampires who can do the same tricks he can (I thought the point was that Dracula and ONLY Dracula could do that, not because he has some secret power but simply because duh, he’s Count Friggin’ Dracula?)... still waiting for how they’re going to sell that one. Given his interest in Buffy I can sort of see why he and the Scythe fit into the story, especially since Dracula seems to have shared his power with a bunch of other vampires – you wanna bet this will turn out to be a metaphor for how Buffy has shared her power with a bunch of potentials? - but with Xander the Buttmonkey on top of that, it’s looking an awful lot like we've been in this movie before.
And on the Dracula front, how slow are the Scoobies, who seem to take quite a long time to remember that they’ve fought something exactly like this before? And how utterly moronic are they to send Xander the Buttmonkey in alone (OK, with his apparently completely uninformed maybe-girlfriend – Anya would have used much-needed sarcasm and pointed out to them how ridiculous this idea is) to face him? Isn’t Xander, given his history with Dracula, um... how do I put this... the last person on the face of the Earth they should give that job to? And where exactly is Dracula’s castle – helicopters aren’t exactly made for long-distance travel? And since when does Xander know how to fly a helicopter anyway? And...
Leaving the plot holes behind and moving along, as we already knew from the previews –
(BTW, that “master” thing was also funny once.)
- shut up. As we already knew from the previews, Xander and Renee are making with the cuteness. Renee’s being low-self-esteem girl and Xander gets to comfort her much like he did Buffy in the last issue, and she retaliates by asking him to ask her out (my, quite the little suffragette you are, Renee)... Awwww. Which probably means one of them is evil. Damn, I miss Anya... sorry. Andrew and Willow re-enacting the Superman scene is funny, though I still don’t see why Willow has to fly people everywhere. Did the “Chosen” spell transfer Buffy’s driving skills to everyone along with Willow’s sexual preferences? Speaking of Willow, she seems to be right back in the gang again in spite of the slight fallout she and Buffy seemed to have in #10 and #11... not that I’m complaining, but as good as #10 was, a lot of it seems to be brushed aside pretty quickly. And we get absolutely no follow-up on Buffy’s big fight with the season’s Big Bad, either – but OK, TV canon was often so-so on that point, too.
Random observations:
The People Interested in a Gayer Slayer (PIGS) now include Mr Gordo, who saw EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. Someone ought to fic this. (Nice to see that he made it out of Sunnydale, though. Unless this is his replacement, Mr McGordo, to go with all the other characters who have been replaced without anyone mentioning the originals... ooops, there I go again.)
Dawn sleeps in a barn. An open barn. In Scotland. In autumn. (Yup, I can see why she’s in no hurry to be de-gigantofied.) Can you imagine the horror if she should get a cold? One sneeze and she’ll take down the whole castle. And then there’s the phlegm issue. Hopefully not “issue” as in “entire one-shot about Giant!Dawn battling a flu that's threatening to turn the highlands into a slimy bog,” but you never know.
Buffy’s bedroom, on the other hand, seems to have gotten a lot comfier and, well, 21st century-ish since #2. For one thing, she’s taken down that big-ass portrait of the queen. She should really get a lock on that door, though. And curtains.
Buffy wears Eeyore jammies. Awww. Sort of fits her “life sucks” mentality right now.
Rowena’s accent has gotten a lot better, despite hanging out with Leah.
What’s that one huge ear-ring Renee’s wearing, and is it a clue to where she’s from? A map of Africa or a Native American-style feather?
Oh, and Xander... Zeus? Not famed for his mercy. Once was fine; turning it into a catchphrase is what bad!fic writers do, ‘kay?
Nobody commented on the fact that wolves are about as common a sight on the moors as three-headed giraffes yodeling “God Save The Queen” in B flat, having been extinct since 1680 or so. Again, I’m really grateful that we never got to see Xander in Africa...
Some nice lines – gotta appreciate that Drew acknowledges the fanboy wet-dream angle:
XANDER: Oh, thank God. This is a dream.
RENEE: I don’t think it’s a dream.
XANDER: No, I’ve had this one before. You’re here. They’re here. I’m just gonna go sit in the corner and wait for Willow to arrive.
WILLOW: *plummets through roof*
And then there’s Xander’s “This counts as bad” = “This count’s as bad.” Though as bad as what exactly? Buffy’s killed him twice already. No, until Dracula and the Draculettes actually prove themselves remotely interesting, I’m guessing this issue will go down in comic history for that one bedroom scene. Which in itself is faintly ridiculous; come on, it's just a comic book... but hey, we're fandom, drama is what we do, and after all the hubbub about Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike never getting resolved, Joss just drew a line in the sand. I gotta admire the man's balls (that's about as close to male slash as we're likely to get) and as someone who's already decided several issues ago that I'm not likely to ever cross that line, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this. Where's my popcorn?
