The Scooby Gang in Season 8
- Thread starter Joshua
- Start date
I think they were closer friends, so yes, they were. Buffy and Xander especially were so close, they supported each other and were there for each other more than they ever were on the show. Willow and Buffy had issues, but at least they were talking about them and trying to solve them, unlike in S6 and S7.
Sadly, Xander and Willow didn't have a single scene together. 🙁
Sadly, Xander and Willow didn't have a single scene together. 🙁
AndrewCrossett
Satsu Otaku
Buffy, Xander and Willow were probably the least dysfunctional they'd been since season 5. Giles was absent for most of the season, though. Unfortunately, I think the latter part of season 8 was where the "Scooby" dynamic started to break down. Going forward into season 9, I'm not sure you can say the Gang really exists anymore.
jellybean13
Potential
brinkster130
Riley's BFF
Buffy and Xander were closer than they had been, but Willow seemed a bit detached and Giles was completely gone so I don't know that I'd say they were better than in season 7.
white avenger
white avenger
Well, Buffy and Xander were closer in Season 8, granted, and they were on friendly terms with Willow, who was, or has been, living with Kennedy in Rio De Janeiro. For some reason, Buffy and Giles had had some sort of falling out between seasons, and he was living in England. That sounds more to me like the Scooby Gang is gone as a group, quite likely forever. That's nothing terrible, in fact it's quite natural. The younger members are now adults and have made lives for themselves, lives that don't revolve around the team anymore. It happens all the time. Literally thousands of "Three Musketeers," "Four Horsemen," "Knights of Perdition," "Kings of the Road," and just about any other name for high school, college, and military buddy groups, eventually reach a point when the bond that joined them either is no longer there, or simply can't be maintained in face of new careers, families, and other responsibilities.
Buffy was playing General and Mama Slayer to a bunch of girls in a Scotland. Willow was, we assume, either studying advanced witchcraft or playing General and Mama Witch to a bunch of young novices, while possibly helping Kennedy lead a Slayer team.
Dawn and Xander were in Scotland with Buffy, but Dawn was there mainly because she had become the Amazing Colossal Key. If it hadn't been for that, she would probably still be away in college.
Xander was most likely onlt in Scotland recuperating from his year of being Dracula's butt monkey, plus trying to develop a relationship with one of the new Slayers. Sure, he was helping out, probably just to earn his keep, but I seriously doubt that he had any real plans of staying in the demon fighting business once he got back on his feet again.
The gang came back together to fight Twilight, but they weren't the same team that they had been back in Sunnydale. That was most likely the last hoorah of the Scooby Gang on any sort of definite basis. Oh, they will almost certainly band together again in a big climactic battle against the next Big Bad, but, as a permanent group, the Scooby Gang is a thing of the past.
And from what we've seen so far, the Fang Gang is in just about the same state.
Buffy was playing General and Mama Slayer to a bunch of girls in a Scotland. Willow was, we assume, either studying advanced witchcraft or playing General and Mama Witch to a bunch of young novices, while possibly helping Kennedy lead a Slayer team.
Dawn and Xander were in Scotland with Buffy, but Dawn was there mainly because she had become the Amazing Colossal Key. If it hadn't been for that, she would probably still be away in college.
Xander was most likely onlt in Scotland recuperating from his year of being Dracula's butt monkey, plus trying to develop a relationship with one of the new Slayers. Sure, he was helping out, probably just to earn his keep, but I seriously doubt that he had any real plans of staying in the demon fighting business once he got back on his feet again.
The gang came back together to fight Twilight, but they weren't the same team that they had been back in Sunnydale. That was most likely the last hoorah of the Scooby Gang on any sort of definite basis. Oh, they will almost certainly band together again in a big climactic battle against the next Big Bad, but, as a permanent group, the Scooby Gang is a thing of the past.
And from what we've seen so far, the Fang Gang is in just about the same state.
AndrewCrossett
Satsu Otaku
I don't think there was any specific falling-out between Buffy and Giles between seasons 7 and 8. I think the distance between them was probably just a result of lingering resentment caused by the stresses of seasons 6 and 7: Giles leaving, then his twin betrayals of conspiring with Wood to kill Spike, and siding with the others when they turned her leadership position over to Faith.
When Buffy shut the door on Giles at the end of LMPTM, it marked a permanent change in their relationship, and a rift that never did completely heal.
When Buffy shut the door on Giles at the end of LMPTM, it marked a permanent change in their relationship, and a rift that never did completely heal.
I disagree. Xander seemed to be enjoying his job as Buffy's second in command, until things started getting complicated: another girlfriend dies, the castle explosion, and then dating Dawn. He needed to make sure Dawn got back to college and that she stays safe and away from danger - there's also something between him and Buffy that caused him to resent her, which will be revealed in future S9 issues.