Wow, great issue, again lots of stuff happening!
Xander and Dawn refuse Lilah's deal (allow the evil law firm write in the book in exchange of helping them) and leave Anharra (escorted by two demons). As I said before, it seems the Senior Partners do need The Key to come back to Earth, after they left because of the arising of Twilight (
Spike: The Complete Series); Lilah puts a track device on Dawn, and the group enters an even worse dimension.
Neat!
Meanwhile, Buffy is getting madder and madder; she blames Willow and Giles (the magic experts) for what has just happened with D'Hoffryn and both say that they have done it because Buffy was always afraid of taking charge of the book, of being
an adult, always wanting someone else to tell her what to do (later, Sundrop says to Giles that he likes to stay in her fairy dimension to avoid the many problems on his own life!). Spike is the voice of reason, tries to stop the fighting between them, and says they should call Andrew for help, which Buffy thinks it's useless.
Willow goes to talk with Lake and the Army, and they do not like that she has given D'Hoffryn powers (I think Will will be in
big trouble, I doubt the Army will now let her go easily). D'Hoffryn raised an island, they try to destroy it with a missile, but instead it is destroyed upon launching; and he makes a very terrifying appearance on their monitors.
Very cool!
Willow figures out that D'Hoffryn wouldn't be capable of doing what he has just done unless he had bent reality: a Vengeance Demon fulfilling a vengeance wish for someone, and she is right: it's Jonathan who is working with D'Hoffryn, and has wished vengeance against the Scoobies, and the world (and will be made the first male VD); so much anger - I tink that's because the new Jonathan doesn't have a soul. And he starts his vengeance gig with Andrew, showing him some things said by the Scoobies - out of context:
Willow:
Andrew means well, but I don't really trust him.
Buffy:
We're past banana talkies and miner helmets. I don't see what use Andrew's going to be.
Well, when Willow said that (earlier in the season), she had her reasons, sure; and an angry Buffy added to her commentary “It
all looks pretty useless right now”, not just Andrew. What Spike and Xander said (issue #8) were really more about themselves...
Jonathan shows Andrew some other images of Clive (the bald guy Andrew kissed) saying nasty things about him to a guy - which
can be just lies, but make Andrew miserable anyway. D'Hoffryn says “never goes for the kill when you can go for the pain”, and that killing one of the Scoobies – the right one – will be more devastating than kill them all.
While Giles learns that the fairies will not join the fight, Buffy and Spike are beating their way for information
(very cool fight with a very cool female demon - member of the Circle of the Black Thorn! - and her minions); they don't succeed, and they fight, and Buffy says that they should call
Angel again because “he is the type who doesn't give up when things get tough”, making Spike leave. She immediately regreted saying that, later at home she apologizes, Spike hints that Buffy is like a child wanting to kill the monster and be done with it, the end, and that's not how real life works, Buffy gets mad again, lashes out at him again, tries to apologize again... but Spike says it's time for them to take a break from each other...
***
Spike is using a punk padlock chain necklace (he is a fan of The Clash and Ramones).
***
In the letter section, answering a fan who said that, if Spike died Buffy wouldn't be sad but proud, and maybe would look for Angel, the editor Freddye Miller wrote:
I think Buffy would be immensely sad if Spike were to die – she'd be devastated! Don't think for a minute that she wouldn't be. As for where she'd go after this imagined death of Spike, she certainly wouldn't be looking to jump into a new relationship, with anyone, for a good long while...
Buffy and Spike
Buffy is under a lot of stress, and has being lashing out at everyone, damaging her relationship with her boyfriend even. So, Spike decides they should take a break.
(that is, more or less, what Vicky said to Buffy, that she would get bored and “kick him to the curb in your own sweet time”).
At first, it looks like he's being a jerk: so many years wanting to be with her, and then, when things get rough, he wants out.
(that is, more or less, what Harmony said to him, that he couldn't “handle a woman like Buffy”, and soon reality would “crashing down on him” and he would “understand how much of what he loved was a fantasy...”)
But then, maybe that's related to what Buffy herself said to him earlier in the season: that sometimes
he should give her space, just go away without making a fuss about it - and that's what he's decided to do now, before things get ugly(er): Spike says he wants to help, but all he seems to be doing is making her angrier.
But the thing is that both Giles and Spike have accused Buffy, direct or indirectly, of not wanting to grow up
(also Harmony said she was too old for the bad boy thing); so it's about time she does grow up when even an immortal vampire - one that isn't suppose to change but did - is saying that Buffy needs to stop seeing life like it were a fantasy book: kill the monster, fulfill the prophecy, the end. “Children like those sort of stories”, Spike says to her...
After the mind walking, Buffy was totally honest: “it's a lot to process, and it'll take time before I really know how I feel about it all. When I do, I'll tell you”, followed by her awkward way to say
she is in love with Spike.
Well, Buffy hasn't said anything to Spike yet; meanwhile, their relationship is going through a lot of issues and challenges, including Buffy thinking far ahead, and of fat grandchildren (the pros and cons to be with a vampire), and how they deal with the AR - without it being an issue to break them up.
So, it's time for Buffy to decide what she wants from life,
what she wants from Spike, and maybe... someday she'll tell him.
