The Back-Half of S8

[The Ferg]

So I was recently posting (my first post here in a good long while) about the canonicity (sp?) of S8, and it got me thinking...

WTF happened to Season 8?

The "season" started out extremely strong, and kept up the pace all the way to Wolves at the Gate. Those first three TPB's definitely rank up on my top Buffy episodes list. Then, Time of Your Life began. I liked it a lot. It just felt... different. Almost as if Buffy stopped trying to be a comic, and started trying to be a TV show.
After that the season just seemed to slip away from it's once grandiose beginnings. Predators and Prey and Retreat were (and let's be honest guys) pretty bad.
The season finally started to rebound with Turbulence, but (to me at least) it could never catch the spirit of the first half of the season.

So my question is this: Do you feel the same way I do? Why or why not?

I'll be rereading the series once the Last Gleaming TPB is released, and who knows, maybe I'll completely change my opinion. 🙂

 

[sosa lola]

I personally love Retreat. I love that it's filled with character moments. #28 is perfect. I agree that the first half was better but there are a lot of good moments in the second part.

 

[Blondie Bear]

I un-broke up with Buffy S8 again yesterday and read the "Twilight" TPB, and I have no idea what's going on. 😛

 

[VisionGirl]

I un-broke up with Buffy S8 again yesterday and read the "Twilight" TPB, and I have no idea what's going on. 😛

Un-broke up, LOL!

I actually agree, I liked the arcs before Retreat better than the 2nd half (although I agree with sosa, there are some great character moments later on as well). For me, the reveal of Angel as Twilight was the big downer. Everything after that was so centered on that whole issue. The stuff before was really diverse & very interesting.

 

[LyteHouse]

Predators and Prey and Retreat were (and let's be honest guys) pretty bad.

That sums things up for me.

By far one of the worst things about Season 8 was how long it took.

4 Goddamn YEARS.

And both of these story arcs were a complete waste of a year.

Predators and Prey was meandering, pointless filler. And Retreat should be renamed Retarded.

Even now I still laugh my ass off at those 3 Goddesses. But then I feel sad.

 

[Lyri]

By far one of the worst things about Season 8 was how long it took.

4 Goddamn YEARS.

That actually makes me really depressed.

I'm probably one of the few who liked S8 all the way through. Sure it had it's bad moments, like Retreat, but then again, so did the show. We got eps like 'Bad Eggs' and...that other one whose name escapes me right now.

My biggest problem with S8, though, was the revelation that Angel was Twilight, because I actually saw it coming since Twilight was first introduced. I'm not saying I thought I was right way back then, but it was sort of like 'Hmm, how lame would it be if Angel, or Angelus, turned out to be the bad guy?' And then, as the season went on, and Twilight became more and more prominent, my original thought about it being Angel just wasn't going away.

So, yeah, I was completely not surprised that it was Angel, but I was still REALLY surprised, if that makes sense, because I didn't think they would do something like that!

 

[Kean]

On one hand I absolutely adore S8 and on the other I loathe it. In a lot of ways it didn't work and I suppose my main argument is that you really need to want S8 to work to actually make it work. What I mean by that is that so much of the mythology that we got this season just struggles to make any real sense and the reader really has to work to make it all fit. Twilight, on pretty much every level does not make sense. Not the plan, the not the person, not the shitty-dimension-needing-a-soul plot device. None of it really holds up.

I just don't think we should have to go to such lengths to even be comfortable with this season, much less like it.

 

[Daniel Osbourne]

On one hand I absolutely adore S8 and on the other I loathe it. In a lot of ways it didn't work and I suppose my main argument is that you really need to want S8 to work to actually make it work. What I mean by that is that so much of the mythology that we got this season just struggles to make any real sense and the reader really has to work to make it all fit. Twilight, on pretty much every level does not make sense. Not the plan, the not the person, not the shitty-dimension-needing-a-soul plot device. None of it really holds up.

I just don't think we should have to go to such lengths to even be comfortable with this season, much less like it.

In what way does Twilight not make sense?

 

[Hale Caesar]

I really don't like season 8 (although I am looking forward to season 9), for one reason. Angel and this whole Twilight shit. It made me sick to my stomach to see what they did to Angel, for 5 seasons in his spin-off they gave the character weight and established him as his own hero, and they completely abused him...just talking about it makes me mad

I'm going to go read "After the Fall" which is a hell of a lot better than Season 8...