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This is me being serious with a review. This is in no means a meta for the entire run of Season Eight, but God knows it is probably coming, and my fingers are already sore thinking about it.
There are positive points to this review and negative ones as with all reviews.
My Review of Buffy #40
This review almost became a meta about how Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the exact same show as Power Rangers, but I'll save that for another time (by the way, BtVS and Power Rangers are seriously the same show).
Let's get one thing very clear from the very onset of this comic. Buffy has not changed. Not since S1. Buffy is a brat. She is selfish, and she puts on a mask of martyrdom that she thinks will shut people up. Remember in S7 when Spike frankly tells Buffy that she used him, implying that instead of feeling disgust and shame at their sexual activities that maybe she should feel a little guilt for using someone's sexual desires against them when she didn't reciprocate their feelings? What did Buffy do? She sucked in her cheeks, pouted, crossed her little arms, and rolled her eyes. She'll repeat the same behavior with Satsu, ignoring the wrongness of abusing her position of power to get a little comfort for herself and then expecting Satsu to just ignore her feelings and to accept "one night stand" as an excuse. In issue #40, we see Buffy doing the exact same behavior.
Kennedy: "You want the whole history lesson? The one where's that's your fault too? Where you super-literally fucked everything up?"
Buffy: "Okay, all my fault, let's just enjoy that reality."
Buffy accepts nothing. She does what Joss Whedon does- be self-depricating, say the words admitting guilt but with a snide, snarky sheen on top of everything so that they mean nothing. Buffy completely disregards the fact that Kennedy watched hundreds of other Slayers die in a crater of unimaginable hell. She watched young women and girls literally being melted, their flesh running off of their bones while they were still alive, not knowing when it would be her turn to die in some horrific fashion. And Buffy wants sympathy because she saw someone she loved die yet doesn't think Kennedy deserves any?
Buffy: You weren't there. You didn't see."
Yes, Buffy, Kennedy saw everything. Everything that you didn't, everything that you should have.
Buffy also tries to selfishly impose her will on Kennedy by trying to guilt her into staying with Willow, not realizing that Willow had been the dump-er not the dump-ee. Buffy then tries to talk to Willow about the preemptive breakup, but it's not about Willow and Kennedy. It's about Buffy misplacing the guilt that she feels in all the collateral damage her actions have caused. She doesn't want to talk about the consequences. She stops the talk before it ever gets going, and it's filled with self-pity. She's even afraid to utter the word "mistake." Our hero, ladies and gents, is pretty well pathetic. She can't even listen to what people are saying to her without jumping to some conclusion that it's about her.
People have the right to be angry with Buffy. Her reckless, thoughtless behavior has destroyed so much that people have worked hard for. If I was a practicing magical user who lost all the powers that I cultivated through hard work and dedication all because some little twit couldn't keep her pants on, I'd probably do more to her than try to trip her while she's serving drinks. She says that she's owning up to her mistakes, but she's not. The problems go so much deeper. She's not looking at the big picture of all the events that transpired, which would take some self-reflection and some time on her own. There needs to be a post-mordem, an account taking of what happened since people where spread apart. I don't mean a finger-pointing blame-game accounting, but everyone could sit down at their leisure and write up what happened after they discovered the first Twilight symbol. There's a lot of confusion, and different people are going to have different versions of what's going on. It might even help them come to terms with what Twilight was/is and what implications does it have for the future.
Of course, Buffy doesn't care about the future. She doesn't have one, so why bother? She's doesn't even have the decency to acknowledge that Xander and Dawn are doing their best to be as normal as possible for her behalf.
Dawn is very good in a supporting role, and it's not as though Buffy couldn't use support, but there's support and there's a crutch. Dawn's sort of a crutch. Buffy's a "born leader." Says who? She's the de-facto leader, doesn't mean it's in her DNA. She's been a pretty bad leader, actually, if you look at most of her individual decisions.
The scene with Faith and Buffy at the reading of Giles's will reminds me of the scene in Little Women in which Amy tells Jo that Aunt March is finally going to Europe, the trip that Jo always wanted to go on, but that Aunt March is taking Amy instead. We, as the audience, are supposed to feel sorry for Jo because she wanted it so much, but she's ignoring the fact that she hadn't acted as Aunt March's companion in years and that Amy had filled the role with a better compliment to the old woman's temperament. Buffy isn't so much upset at not getting material things from Giles, but she's interpreted it as him excluding his love from her. Of course, he was planning on killing her when he had the chance and actively sought a weapon to destroy her without telling her that he knew that the Slayer spell would fulfill a doom's day prophecy as well as all about the Twilight prophecy and never bothered to tell her about it, so I'm not quite sure why she's so concerned with his opinion of her, except for the fact that she has daddy issues and needs a therapist stat.
It's still a dick move to leave Buffy the Vampyr book, in my opinion. Come on, he had more than one property. He could have left Buffy the apartment and Faith the farm or vice-versa.
Faith is definitely the more mature of the pair at this juncture. She's ready to take care of herself as well as others, doesn't need people to act as her safety net and emotional support. In a way, I wonder if Giles left Faith multiple properties, money, and horses because she is more responsible or possibly to test her responsibility, to extend trust to her that she can act as a grown up with real world, grown up concerns. Something Buffy could never handle.
At first I thought Buffy didn't invite Spike into the apartment because it's Xander and Dawn's, but seriously, this isn't the first time he's come visiting. She could ask Xander or Dawn to invite him inside. Hell, he saved their damned lives with his steampunk ship. He deserves an invite... Wait a minute... If magic doesn't work anymore, then how come he can't just come inside? Well, I suppose he wouldn't want to be rude and just barge inside, but then my statement of Xander and Dawn inviting him inside out of politeness would stand. Also, in S5, Dawn invited Harmony into the Summers home, and Dawn didn't own the house, so if Buffy is using their apartment as a permanent residence for the time being (getting her mail there), then she could invite Spike in. She's being a jerk because she can. Also, seriously, the one person in the world who is still on the look out for evil that might be looking to do harm and Buffy's complete cheerleader, and she has the gall to be an asshole to him? Fuck her. Oh, wait, we'll have to wait for Angel to snap out of his coma for that to happen.
I stand by the fact that Spike saying that "You were faced with decisions no one has to make" smacks in the face of every Slayer that came before Buffy, and this is supposed to be the vamp that actually shows a modicum of respect to his most worthy of adversaries (especially Nikki). Spike thinks that no one could walk in Buffy's shoes, but they have. For over 2000 years. Before there were shoes. They have faced apocalypses and demons and social injustice without modern weaponry or friends or family. And what's more insulting is that we don't know if anyone could have done better, but if anyone had stepped forward to offer a better solution, they would have been beaten down by the "BUFFY IS THE LAW!" contingent. So Spike makes a speech, absolving her of all wrongdoing, and she cries and then runs away. Like a girl.
Seriously, am I supposed to feel sorry for Buffy that she's "alone. every night" when she doesn't have to be? This isn't about hope. This is about ridiculous self-pity. She took an easy road in Chosen, lessening her own responsibility for the fight by parceling it out to others against their will even though it really didn't help her in the end. It's about endless self-righteousness in which everyone else is not seeing "how hard it is for Buffy."
Buffy says she realizes her culpability, says that she understands what is her fault, but she doesn't. She doesn't even comprehend it. There is nothing left here, no character, no growth. She's stagnant. I'm glad Spike took off in his dirigible, and I hope he never returns. I hope Xander and Dawn have a good life together. I hope that Faith finds a way to reach Angel. I hope that Willow doesn't descend further into darkeness. And you know what? ALL of those stories are more interesting than Buffy's. We get a trite, tacked on ending, which is supposed to be endearing what with poor "peculiar" clumsy Buffy finding her reason to smile... I don't really get that. Why is she smiling? What has been fixed? Nothing.
The fact that the phrase "Let's go to work" gets used is completely and utterly heartbreaking, but not for the faux-empowerment Buffy-got-her-groove-back message. It's heartbreaking to see Angel with blood on his face and hands literally as it was in "Not Fade Away," the hero trying to do what was right even though it could never right the balance but he was going to push on, reduced to a staring at the wall catatonically, like in Cordelia's alternate reality in "Birthday."
My heart is broken, and my love for my once favourite show has been so diminished by this disgusting comic that I don't know if it can ever be recovered. I can't even watch the show anymore. I tried watching "Something Blue" which is my favourite episode because it was the first episode I ever saw and it always used to cheer me up, but then... I found myself getting angry. I was angry at where these characters end up, angry that they could not attack their problems head-on or do anything positive, that they hurt one another and hurt themselves purposefully. Every bit of enjoyment I could have gleaned from anything that transpired in the past forty issues was stomped out, beaten, and spat upon. We were systematically told what was important and what wasn't, and it became abundantly clear that was was important wasn't anyone's life or desires outside of Buffy's. We shouldn't care about the new Slayers. We shouldn't care about their welfare. We shouldn't care about the people Buffy stole from. We shouldn't care about the lives she's ruined, the jobs she's cost, or the very hope and promise that she has destroyed. That's "boring." No, Whedon/Allie, jokes about Dancing with the fucking Stars are boring.
What happened to Oz and his family? Are they dead? I hope to God they aren't dead.
Is Twilight just sealed up inside the Twilight dimension now?
Also, Jeanty has defiled Hoopy the Bear, the Thing, Cookie Monster, and Eeyore by including them in this text-mess.
In the end, I think that the following is the best attitude to have about the comics, for my own sanity and hopefully yours too:
So, come on, everybody. Let's ignore S8 and S9, and go fly a kite. :D
There are positive points to this review and negative ones as with all reviews.
My Review of Buffy #40
This review almost became a meta about how Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the exact same show as Power Rangers, but I'll save that for another time (by the way, BtVS and Power Rangers are seriously the same show).
Let's get one thing very clear from the very onset of this comic. Buffy has not changed. Not since S1. Buffy is a brat. She is selfish, and she puts on a mask of martyrdom that she thinks will shut people up. Remember in S7 when Spike frankly tells Buffy that she used him, implying that instead of feeling disgust and shame at their sexual activities that maybe she should feel a little guilt for using someone's sexual desires against them when she didn't reciprocate their feelings? What did Buffy do? She sucked in her cheeks, pouted, crossed her little arms, and rolled her eyes. She'll repeat the same behavior with Satsu, ignoring the wrongness of abusing her position of power to get a little comfort for herself and then expecting Satsu to just ignore her feelings and to accept "one night stand" as an excuse. In issue #40, we see Buffy doing the exact same behavior.
Kennedy: "You want the whole history lesson? The one where's that's your fault too? Where you super-literally fucked everything up?"
Buffy: "Okay, all my fault, let's just enjoy that reality."
Buffy accepts nothing. She does what Joss Whedon does- be self-depricating, say the words admitting guilt but with a snide, snarky sheen on top of everything so that they mean nothing. Buffy completely disregards the fact that Kennedy watched hundreds of other Slayers die in a crater of unimaginable hell. She watched young women and girls literally being melted, their flesh running off of their bones while they were still alive, not knowing when it would be her turn to die in some horrific fashion. And Buffy wants sympathy because she saw someone she loved die yet doesn't think Kennedy deserves any?
Buffy: You weren't there. You didn't see."
Yes, Buffy, Kennedy saw everything. Everything that you didn't, everything that you should have.
Buffy also tries to selfishly impose her will on Kennedy by trying to guilt her into staying with Willow, not realizing that Willow had been the dump-er not the dump-ee. Buffy then tries to talk to Willow about the preemptive breakup, but it's not about Willow and Kennedy. It's about Buffy misplacing the guilt that she feels in all the collateral damage her actions have caused. She doesn't want to talk about the consequences. She stops the talk before it ever gets going, and it's filled with self-pity. She's even afraid to utter the word "mistake." Our hero, ladies and gents, is pretty well pathetic. She can't even listen to what people are saying to her without jumping to some conclusion that it's about her.
People have the right to be angry with Buffy. Her reckless, thoughtless behavior has destroyed so much that people have worked hard for. If I was a practicing magical user who lost all the powers that I cultivated through hard work and dedication all because some little twit couldn't keep her pants on, I'd probably do more to her than try to trip her while she's serving drinks. She says that she's owning up to her mistakes, but she's not. The problems go so much deeper. She's not looking at the big picture of all the events that transpired, which would take some self-reflection and some time on her own. There needs to be a post-mordem, an account taking of what happened since people where spread apart. I don't mean a finger-pointing blame-game accounting, but everyone could sit down at their leisure and write up what happened after they discovered the first Twilight symbol. There's a lot of confusion, and different people are going to have different versions of what's going on. It might even help them come to terms with what Twilight was/is and what implications does it have for the future.
Of course, Buffy doesn't care about the future. She doesn't have one, so why bother? She's doesn't even have the decency to acknowledge that Xander and Dawn are doing their best to be as normal as possible for her behalf.
Dawn is very good in a supporting role, and it's not as though Buffy couldn't use support, but there's support and there's a crutch. Dawn's sort of a crutch. Buffy's a "born leader." Says who? She's the de-facto leader, doesn't mean it's in her DNA. She's been a pretty bad leader, actually, if you look at most of her individual decisions.
The scene with Faith and Buffy at the reading of Giles's will reminds me of the scene in Little Women in which Amy tells Jo that Aunt March is finally going to Europe, the trip that Jo always wanted to go on, but that Aunt March is taking Amy instead. We, as the audience, are supposed to feel sorry for Jo because she wanted it so much, but she's ignoring the fact that she hadn't acted as Aunt March's companion in years and that Amy had filled the role with a better compliment to the old woman's temperament. Buffy isn't so much upset at not getting material things from Giles, but she's interpreted it as him excluding his love from her. Of course, he was planning on killing her when he had the chance and actively sought a weapon to destroy her without telling her that he knew that the Slayer spell would fulfill a doom's day prophecy as well as all about the Twilight prophecy and never bothered to tell her about it, so I'm not quite sure why she's so concerned with his opinion of her, except for the fact that she has daddy issues and needs a therapist stat.
It's still a dick move to leave Buffy the Vampyr book, in my opinion. Come on, he had more than one property. He could have left Buffy the apartment and Faith the farm or vice-versa.
Faith is definitely the more mature of the pair at this juncture. She's ready to take care of herself as well as others, doesn't need people to act as her safety net and emotional support. In a way, I wonder if Giles left Faith multiple properties, money, and horses because she is more responsible or possibly to test her responsibility, to extend trust to her that she can act as a grown up with real world, grown up concerns. Something Buffy could never handle.
At first I thought Buffy didn't invite Spike into the apartment because it's Xander and Dawn's, but seriously, this isn't the first time he's come visiting. She could ask Xander or Dawn to invite him inside. Hell, he saved their damned lives with his steampunk ship. He deserves an invite... Wait a minute... If magic doesn't work anymore, then how come he can't just come inside? Well, I suppose he wouldn't want to be rude and just barge inside, but then my statement of Xander and Dawn inviting him inside out of politeness would stand. Also, in S5, Dawn invited Harmony into the Summers home, and Dawn didn't own the house, so if Buffy is using their apartment as a permanent residence for the time being (getting her mail there), then she could invite Spike in. She's being a jerk because she can. Also, seriously, the one person in the world who is still on the look out for evil that might be looking to do harm and Buffy's complete cheerleader, and she has the gall to be an asshole to him? Fuck her. Oh, wait, we'll have to wait for Angel to snap out of his coma for that to happen.
I stand by the fact that Spike saying that "You were faced with decisions no one has to make" smacks in the face of every Slayer that came before Buffy, and this is supposed to be the vamp that actually shows a modicum of respect to his most worthy of adversaries (especially Nikki). Spike thinks that no one could walk in Buffy's shoes, but they have. For over 2000 years. Before there were shoes. They have faced apocalypses and demons and social injustice without modern weaponry or friends or family. And what's more insulting is that we don't know if anyone could have done better, but if anyone had stepped forward to offer a better solution, they would have been beaten down by the "BUFFY IS THE LAW!" contingent. So Spike makes a speech, absolving her of all wrongdoing, and she cries and then runs away. Like a girl.
Seriously, am I supposed to feel sorry for Buffy that she's "alone. every night" when she doesn't have to be? This isn't about hope. This is about ridiculous self-pity. She took an easy road in Chosen, lessening her own responsibility for the fight by parceling it out to others against their will even though it really didn't help her in the end. It's about endless self-righteousness in which everyone else is not seeing "how hard it is for Buffy."
Buffy says she realizes her culpability, says that she understands what is her fault, but she doesn't. She doesn't even comprehend it. There is nothing left here, no character, no growth. She's stagnant. I'm glad Spike took off in his dirigible, and I hope he never returns. I hope Xander and Dawn have a good life together. I hope that Faith finds a way to reach Angel. I hope that Willow doesn't descend further into darkeness. And you know what? ALL of those stories are more interesting than Buffy's. We get a trite, tacked on ending, which is supposed to be endearing what with poor "peculiar" clumsy Buffy finding her reason to smile... I don't really get that. Why is she smiling? What has been fixed? Nothing.
The fact that the phrase "Let's go to work" gets used is completely and utterly heartbreaking, but not for the faux-empowerment Buffy-got-her-groove-back message. It's heartbreaking to see Angel with blood on his face and hands literally as it was in "Not Fade Away," the hero trying to do what was right even though it could never right the balance but he was going to push on, reduced to a staring at the wall catatonically, like in Cordelia's alternate reality in "Birthday."
My heart is broken, and my love for my once favourite show has been so diminished by this disgusting comic that I don't know if it can ever be recovered. I can't even watch the show anymore. I tried watching "Something Blue" which is my favourite episode because it was the first episode I ever saw and it always used to cheer me up, but then... I found myself getting angry. I was angry at where these characters end up, angry that they could not attack their problems head-on or do anything positive, that they hurt one another and hurt themselves purposefully. Every bit of enjoyment I could have gleaned from anything that transpired in the past forty issues was stomped out, beaten, and spat upon. We were systematically told what was important and what wasn't, and it became abundantly clear that was was important wasn't anyone's life or desires outside of Buffy's. We shouldn't care about the new Slayers. We shouldn't care about their welfare. We shouldn't care about the people Buffy stole from. We shouldn't care about the lives she's ruined, the jobs she's cost, or the very hope and promise that she has destroyed. That's "boring." No, Whedon/Allie, jokes about Dancing with the fucking Stars are boring.
What happened to Oz and his family? Are they dead? I hope to God they aren't dead.
Is Twilight just sealed up inside the Twilight dimension now?
Also, Jeanty has defiled Hoopy the Bear, the Thing, Cookie Monster, and Eeyore by including them in this text-mess.
In the end, I think that the following is the best attitude to have about the comics, for my own sanity and hopefully yours too:
So, come on, everybody. Let's ignore S8 and S9, and go fly a kite. :D
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LOL! I can't wait till you post it.
Faith is definitely the more mature of the pair at this juncture. She's ready to take care of herself as well as others, doesn't need people to act as her safety net and emotional support. In a way, I wonder if Giles left Faith multiple properties, money, and horses because she is more responsible or possibly to test her responsibility, to extend trust to her that she can act as a grown up with real world, grown up concerns. Something Buffy could never handle.
It's kinda of funny not to mention ironic that Faith has matured while Buffy is still self-absorbed and spoiled rotten. And her friends and family aren't doing her any favors either by making excuses for her actions.
You know the way you feel about BTVS is the same way I feel about Supernatural. At one point, I used to love it and now I am just so over it.
Oh well! We'll always have fanfiction.
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I am totally going to post my meta. Tommy the Green/White Ranger is a total analogue for Angel.
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Buffy: "Okay, all my fault, let's just enjoy that reality."
Good GOD I love Kennedy. Also, re. Buffy, then this sprang into my mind...
Cordelia: People who think their problems are so huge craze me. Like this time I sort of ran over this girl on her bike. It was the most traumatizing event of *my* life, and she's trying to make it about *her* leg! Like *my* pain meant nothing.
Congratulations Joss - you've managed to turn Buffy into S1 Cordy!
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Oh, God, it burns. *hides* At least Cordelia grew past that... and then look at how Joss punished her for that growth. *sigh* Buffy's never going to win.
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Yep. Faith points out the mistakes, and says she doesn't have time or care to see Buffy's blubbering, cause there are a lot of folks *not Buffy* who are in pain right now.
Faith is my fave slayer in the series, and certainly here.
Word to this post.
Although, I still separate the show from the comics. It's just better that way.
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Well, you've certainly summed up my perception of Joss Whedon in one concise sentence.
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Right now with the Buffy is Buffy's World - the forced never-ending Buffy-Angel Forever became a total bore and now Buffy has become the same. Why Won't Joss Whedon let Buffy Grow the fuck up. The "all alone" is right back where we started almost 4 years ago.
Spike is right that she was placed in an untenable position post Cosmic Space Frak - But she brought that all on herself by giving up to her "whoa is me, I am all alone and I can escape into Angel." With the text given to Spike - I am sure that Season 9 will bring out justification for the character by giving us more story development with the forces that were actually orchestrating the events of Season 8. But this character will join Angel/Angelus as the "Clean Up and Continue King" if she is not held to a high degree of responsibility for her actions and choices in S8.
I have been watching Season 4 again, started out watching "Something Blue" while I had a great dessert for Buffy's Birthday - then of course I went on to "Pangs." I watched almost the entire season again and more than ever, I see just how emotionally and psychologically traumatized Buffy the woman is. Watching again the Buffy-Riley relationship, for me, really gives emphasis to how messed up a young woman Buffy became after her Love Affair with Angel. What the heck does Buffy mean in Season 8 saying she failed when Faith returns the mantle of "The Chosen One Slayer" to her? She will never heal or grow up until she accepts that being The Slayer is her life - deal with it or give it up entirely - but whatever, stop carrying on with the I hate this life and I hate being a Slayer.
It will be interesting to see just why so much was made about Spike not being allowed entrance to the place she lives -
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I doubt it will brought up again, but that's par for the course with these comics.
After all the hurt, anguish, and horror that the Slayer Spell in Chosen caused, Buffy has the audacity to be angry at the new Slayers for feeling pushed around, disenfranchised, and generally not having the best time. Of course, in the final issue she makes a big show about how she won't fight them, blah blah blah, but it's her own fault as a leader, the role she so desperately wanted that has caused the girls to not understand how things work in the supernatural world. And that will be the ultimate tragedy of Season Eight- Instead of helping others and helping herself, Buffy created a whole new generation of disaffected youth, more messed up than she is.
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Almost a meta about how Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the exact same show as Power Rangers
I can certainly believe that!
"Joss-Whedon-Buffy" was never allowed to grow up. *sigh* It's no wonder I like fanfiction-Buffy a lot more.
LOL Actually, season 8 reminded me a lot of the Jasmine arc. (Among other things.)
I'm just happy my brain doesn't have a blue screen of death, because it was continuously going: Does. Not. Compute.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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Re: Almost a meta about how Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the exact same show as Power Rangers
Thanks for reading!