What I love about S8:
The mysteries. I love that it's a whole big mystery with so many clues that do not tell you exactly what the hell is happening, why the hell Willow is doing this, why the hell Buffy turned out like this, is there more to Dawn's story with Kenny? And so on. Some fans can't be patient enough, I don't blame them, the slow pace in the comic medium is killing me as well, especially that we'll get the answers to all our questions in 2010. I think I'm more patient than most.
I love the main storyline. That Buffy's decision to make all potentials slayers had changed the world beyond repair. That Buffy must face the consequences of her decision, the big pressure of taking care of way more girls than the ones she had in S7, the pressure of having the government after her accusing her of being a terrorist who blew up a whole town, the pressure of hiding from society and real life, the pressure of not having a warm embrace to cuddle to at night, all that had driven the poor girl to become the woman you see in S8.
I love that they continued and blossomed some things we saw in S7: Buffy's "I'm the law" attitude, Buffy and Xander's friendship, Buffy and Giles' detachment, whatever some say, I can see continuity very clearly.
I love that S8 made me love Faith. I never cared about her character, but S8 made me more interested in her. If there was no S8, I'd never have appreciated the character Faith.
I love that Buffy and Giles have issues with each other, because I HATED the so-called patching things up in Chosen. "What do you think?" "Do you wanna hear my opinion?" "I wanna hear all your opinions." THAT'S the patching up a great relationship Buffy/Giles deserves? Meh. Hopefully S8 will do a much better job.
While it's not everybody's favorite, Wolves at the Gate was mine. It was a typical TV Buffy comedy. I really enjoyed the Dracula/Xander story, and I know many who think it's farce and don't believe it'll ever happen. But I think it can be believable, just don't take Andrew's explanation to heart. It's up to us how Dracula became obsessed with Xander. Xander, on the other hand, doesn't seem to like Dracula much, which is a given, he wasn't really Xander in those months he stayed with Dracula, now was he?
While I had my objections with Buffy/Satsu, I can see now that's also not a big deal. I believe it's something Buffy will do. Like I said, the girl wants a warm embrace to cuddle to at night, and she's been moaning about not having sex from #1. She's been having sex dreams about Xander, for God's sake. Well, he's the only man in the castle. And she can't ask him to have a one night stand, because he's her best friend and she doesn't wanna wreck that by making it complicated, plus she knows about his feelings for Renee. Knowing that Satsu loves her and admires her made Buffy feel loved, she rejected Satsu at the beginning, then she was reluctant. She wanted the warm embrace. She explained to Satsu that she's not gay, she's not looking for a relationship, and Satsu still accepted to sleep with her.
I love that Buffy's healthiest sexual expreience/relationship was with another slayer. It started with understanding and support from both girls and it ended with understanding and support from both girls. It was the first time Buffy actually ends a sexual experience with a smile, not just from her, also from Satsu. Both girls knew what it was about, knew it could never lead to anything serious, but they still enjoyed their time. I don't think Satsu hated Buffy or regretted what happened. She knew what she was getting herself into and she was okay with it.
I love that S8 makes me think: For example you have Xander/Dracula, fans have been pondering about how it works. I found a believable version that I'll share: Dracula had kidnapped Xander and put him under his thrall (Like Buffy vs. Dracula) Xander stayed with Dracula for months (because he was under Dracula's thrall), in which Dracula grew attached to him, until Buffy saved Xander. When Dracula was needed, notice how Xander looked annoyed and upset, he didn't want to interact with Dracula again. He brought Renee with him to keep him on his feet, sadly he slips one time after another at the presence of Dracula until Renee snaps him out of it. From the looks of it, Xander doesn't seem to care much about Dracula while Dracula is obviously very attached to Xander. Even the last scene between them shows how much Xander resents Dracula's way of treating him, like a slave/manservant. In fact, the last scene is the best resolution to Xander's speech in Buffy vs Dracula where Xander got to stand up to Dracula, a great ending to his Butt-Monkey arc with Dracula.
The "gay love" here is obviously one sided: from Dracula's side. Xander, as it shown in Wolves at the Gate, isn't that interested in Dracula at all. Only went to him when the mission needed him. That's how I've been seeing this arc. And it sounds pretty much so canon to me and not that hard to picture. But I can see why fans are having a hard time with it: they actually believed Andrew's tale while there's so much evidence that Andrew doesn't know jack about the real story.
I love that S8 inspired me to write my first ever Spuffy fic. I also love that it brought new ideas and as well as new fics to read. Even the Crack fics. *winks*
So, yeah, I love S8 with all its mysteries and character-development and character-detachment. And I'm waiting for Buffy's fall, patiently.
-The events of Empty Places doesn't seem to have been addressed. There is huge fallout for this and we need to see it. Maybe it happened in the interim between Chosen and Issue 1 but we still need to know what happened because it completely changed the whole dynamic of the Scoobies.
On this front, I think you'll be disappointed. The writers seem to think that what happened at Empty Places wasn't a big deal, and was dealt with in S7 -where? I have no idea.
S8 opens up with Buffy and Xander being so close -something we've seen in S7. So, I guess Empty Places didn't really affect their relationship. Buffy understands why they'd "fired" her, and they understand that what they did was over the top.
