Season Eight Reread! Every Wednesday!

[sosa lola]

I'm gonna post my S8 rereads here and everybody is welcome to reread the season and post their thoughts or comment on mine. I'm not really good at discussing plot and metaphor, so my reviews will focus mainly on the characters. 🙂

Issue 1:

Buffy: Buffy talked about becoming an army in S7, and that becomes reality in S8. The world has changed, and Buffy must change "“ herself and how she fights "“ to survive. The change started since the first three potentials knocked on her door. She's struggled to take care of one sister in S6 as well as dealing with being a slayer, the responsibility grew in S7 as she became the big sister to twenty or more sisters, and now it grew even bigger. She's got five hundred slayers to train and take care of.

Good thing Buffy decided to share her responsibility instead of shouldering it all on her own. The slayers were divided into ten squads; each squad has an experienced leader. Not to mention that Buffy's squad is Xander's squad too, so she's also sharing her own squad with someone she trusts. That should make things easier, if the slayers weren't the target of the government and every evil force out there.

"The guys," her friends, assumed she was a target, and set up two other slayers to be her. I'm not sure putting a couple of girls in danger to save Buffy's life would be acceptable by Buffy before and I don't think it is acceptable now. She's got Andrew's squad protecting the decoy in Italy and I'm assuming Rona's squad is the one protecting the decoy underground.

Now why is Buffy running a squad? She's not sure. She doesn't know what the hell she's doing. There are young, impressionable girls who are willing to risk their lives saving the world and they're five hundred, someone needs to be their mentor, to train them and teach them about the responsibility of being a slayer. Buffy's army has got to be, well, an army. They're fighting monsters on a global scale now, not just one small town, so all the technology is a necessity.

There's also another problem. With the Summers' home gone, where can she house this big number of slayers. Being slayers, they're all targets, so they need to be safe. The best place that fits them all and keeps them safe is an abandoned castle in Scotland.

Buffy wasn't kidding when she said, "The thing about changing the world"¦ once you do it the world is all different." Everything has changed. Completely changed. Buffy doesn't use medieval weapons anymore, the number of slayers she watches over is thrice more than her age, and has literally scarified her normal life. She's completely dedicated to the life of slaying, abandoning the human side of her. She's Buffy the Slayer, minus the girl. I can't help but quote Riley here, "I gotta have it all." Buffy Buffy is both the girl and the slayer. In the high school years, she was trying so hard to be the girl minus the slayer, and now in S8, she's doing the exact opposite.

With all these changes, though, some things remained the same: she still got her demons to slay and she still got her watcher to guide her. Her watcher now is Xander.




Xander: Just like Buffy, Xander gave up normal life all together. Right now he's a squad leader, living in a castle in the middle of nowhere, away from normal folks and surrounded by supernatural people. He's literally the only normal human in the castle, but oddly enough, he's far more useful now than he ever was. And he knows it and feels it, which gives him a confidence he never had about himself before. A confidence he only had when he was in the construction site surrounded by equals who depend on him and look up to him.

I personally love when characters borrow lines from each other, like Xander's "Five by five," which makes them real human beings. Didn't you ever find yourself saying a phrase your best friend uses all the time? I know I did.

Xander, like Buffy, hates the formality. He hates being called Mister just like Buffy hates being called Ma'am. He rejects the title "Mister" and prefers to be called by name or something cool like "Sergeant Fury."

One of the interesting developments is how Buffy and Xander are viewing Andrew now. They never seemed to accept him at all in S7, and now he's a trusted equal, even though he has his flaws, but they seemed to accept him with his flaws as well.

Xander is now Buffy's eyes that guide her through the dark. Kinda like Giles used to be. Which is why she calls him her watcher, even though he rejects the title, twice.

Xander is also Buffy's only friend in Scotland, a friend who's not under her charge. She looks comfortable around him and at ease, wearing her normal clothes and eating a sandwich as they discuss the new symbol.

Xander shows concern over Dawn and Buffy tries to ignore his voice of reason. She just came back from a mission, so tired, there was no time to rest, and Dawn won't make it easy with her not cooperating. In a nutshell, Buffy has no time to take care of another person. Until Xander gently reminds her that she's her "sister".




Dawn: Dawn was college girl for a while, living on her own, working on her future, until she screwed it all up and went back to Buffy. She can't let go of Buffy, she's not convinced she could be on her own, and the fact that Buffy is too busy with her new little sisters that she needs to be forced to talk to Dawn by Xander is hurting and frustrating Dawn even more. She's trying to hurt Buffy by insisting that she can only talk to Willow, by hinting that Willow taught her more than Buffy ever did, that Willow used to pay more attention to her "“which shows in S7 as Willow used to be the person to take care of Dawn's injuries and be there when Dawn is scared. Buffy in S7 used to be busy with Spike and the potentials, completely and understandably neglecting Dawn, and she usually found the time to be there for Dawn when she's asleep.

Dawn attempting to guilt Buffy into working harder to notice her and be there for her backfires, as her attitude only drives Buffy away.

Apparently, everybody met Kenny except Giles who met him on the phone. So, Dawn and Kenny were serious and in a committed relationship for months. As Dawn would reveal to Xander later, she wasn't ready to have sex and Kenny was patient. Dawn rewarded Kenny's patience and understanding with cheating on him with his roommate. She did that on purpose to make him snap and put her in danger. Because she wanted Buffy to save her.

I'm guessing that Buffy rarely contacted Dawn when she was in Berkeley, too busy to do so, and Buffy being Dawn's only blood family makes Dawn scared to lose her. She's not ready to step out of Buffy's shadow and be an adult. She still needed "mommy" to protect her.



Final Thoughts on Buffy: Things aren't the same since Buffy changed the world. She and Dawn aren't getting along, no more Sunnydale, no more Scoobies, and she hasn't had sex in a long time. Her only sister had sex and she won't talk to her about it, she wants to talk to WILLOW!!! That makes Buffy a little jealous and resentful, and she stops herself immediately. Sucking it up. Reminding herself that she's a big girl. And that what Buffy does all the time. Suck it up. Be a big girl. Suck it up. Be a big girl. Until it's too much and she finds herself in Angel's arms.

 

[Taake]

Very nice read! I like your analysis on all characters but I have to confess I feel conflicted about Dawn. I'm not sure whether to be annoyed with her or just to feel sad for her...

I'm feeling awfully fond of 'Sergeant Fury' though, big man now all grown up, ain't he? 🙂

 

[sosa lola]

Xander is just too awesome for words! *loves him*

About Dawn, I don't think one can discuss her unless reading all the issues. She makes big mistakes because she's not used to being on her own. She's always been looked after by Buffy, Buffy never really gave her a choice to grow and be confident. It backfired in S8 when Dawn must be on her own. She's not used to that.

 

[VisionGirl]

Ooh, this is a good idea, I'll re-read and join in on the observations tonight. I just wonder if we should warn that there are spoilers, so that people don't think we're doing a first-time reading here. I mean, most everybody on this board has read s8 already, but maybe some haven't. I don't mean that we have to hide or avoid all spoilers, just to say it in advance: if you want spoiler-free, this is not the place to be. 🙂

 

[sosa lola]

I don't think spoilers is needed since I wrote "reread" in the title which means that anyone who's gonna join has already read the comics. I'll wait for your review. That should be fun. I hope more members join.

 

[sosa lola]

My Issue 2 Review:

Giles: He's got his own organization in Russia, watching his slayers fight each other as he drinks tea. Giles seems aware of the unbalance the empowerment spell created, noting that there used to be hundreds of watchers and one slayer. "Scales have tipped of late."

He's not satisfied with the way his slayers are fighting each other. He wants them to be a team and help each other defeating whatever threat they're up against. This reminds me of what Future Dark Willow says, "Vampires gain strength from each other. Slayers, ultimately, don’t."

Andrew: He doesn't seem to have changed much from the boy he was in S7. He loses himself in geek-talk and forgets the question his slayers asked. But he manages to be firm when needed to be, like the gun issue.

Apparently, only Buffy's squad has helicopters and lasers, while the other squads are still maintaining the medieval way of fighting. Obviously because other squads didn't go around robbing banks.

We meet bad slayer Simone who complains about the weapon choice, suggesting using guns. Andrew isn't insightful enough to see that Simone is gonna be a problem.

Dawn: Like I said in the last review, Dawn isn't ready to be on her own. She thinks she still needs to be looked after by Buffy. Her insecurity grows bigger because her sister, the one Dawn screwed up her life so she could be with, doesn't spend time with her and wishes she was away in college. Dawn feels hurt thinking that Buffy can't stand the sight of her and considers her a burden. Buffy prefers hanging out with the other slayers over her sister.

The fact that Dawn's life turned upside down with her turning into a giant doesn't hurt her as much as the thought of Buffy avoiding her and being sick of her. She did all of this because she needed Buffy, but apparently Buffy doesn't have time for her.

Buffy: Because Buffy is busy training her slayers. She can't see how much Dawn needs her when she's surrounded by thirty or more slayers who need her more. Just like Giles, Buffy orders her slayers to fight together. She kicks her three best slayers' asses easily, "So. Three perfectly valid avenues of attack, good form – on three seasoned, well-trained corpses."

Buffy complimenting Satsu's hair style can either be read as attraction or just girls talk. Satsu is Buffy's favorite slayer, she's the teacher's pet, she gets compliments most of the time. I remember a hint of jealousy in Leah's tone in #4, I wish they showed more of that. It would have been interesting to see the slayers accusing Buffy of playing favorites when she picks Satsu to tag along and save Willow.

Back to Dawn, Xander tells Buffy about his theory, that Dawn, not on purpose, turned herself into a giant to gain Buffy's attention. Buffy, being Buffy, blames herself to the point of dreaming about her conversation with Xander. She's ridden with guilt but she's so tired. She's got a lot of responsibilities and no time for herself. It's been a long time since she did something she wanted.

And right now she wants Xander.

I'm assuming this is not Buffy's first dream about Xander judging from "I'll be gentle this time." She wants him but she's so afraid of breaking him. They're not equals. She can't bring down a house with him and guarantee that he'll still be alive. She kisses him so hard his head pops out of his body.

Buffy is pulled out of the window and starts falling down, she wishes she doesn't, and how can that happen? If she can fly. If she can fly, she won't fall down.

Xander: Buffy can't find the time to be there for her sister, but Xander can. He listens to Dawn and defends Buffy, he's not taking sides and he's sympathetic to both girls. His scene with Dawn and Buffy show how much of a good listener he's becoming, not to mention how much he can read them both. Xander comes to the conclusion that Dawn wished to be a giant to gain Buffy's attention. And he's right. He doesn't have all the details, but from the way Dawn talks about Buffy, he realizes that Dawn seeks Buffy's attention and protection. When Buffy starts blaming herself, he stops her right away, noting that she does this all the time when it's not her fault.

Xander's ability to see is stronger because of the lack of conflict in his life. Things are going well for him, no problems at home, no girlfriend quarrels, no unrequited love, no confidence issues, nothing. He's so secured and content with his life that he can clearly see what's going on with Buffy and Dawn.

There's no question that Xander is far more confident now. And that he's a Tweety fan. Years ago, Xander thought a Tweety wristwatch was so unmanly compared to Owen's gold pocket watch and chain. Now he's marching into Buffy's room followed by slayers while wearing Tweety PJs. Old insecure Xander would have preferred being naked over being caught wearing that.

There are two ways to read Xander's hesitance to kiss Buffy:

1) He's so sure he doesn't have any romantic feelings for Buffy, which is why he asks if a friend kiss can work. He knows that kissing Buffy would be a moot point because he's completely moved on.

2) Or he's unsure about his feelings and is afraid that Buffy waking up due to his kiss would complicate things between them. Especially with a bunch of teenage girls around who would make a big fuzz about the unrequited love Mr. Harris has for Miss Summers. Xander tries to find ways around the kiss to avoid the heartache it'll bring if he still has feelings for Buffy. He was burned once, he can't go through that again.

Either way, I think Xander should have kissed her, just to save her, regardless of the consequences. I'm leaning toward the first reason because nothing Xander does all season shows that he's into Buffy and his conversation with Buffy later in #31 shows clearly that he's over her.