BtVS season 8 issue 3 - summary and analysis

[moscow_watcher]

Summary:

Issue 3 starts with issue 2 most discussed plot point: who's the man in Buffy's dream. Spike? Angel? Giles? Oops!! It's... Ethan Rayne! He calls her "love", "pet" and explains that they're in her subconsciousness. Or, as he puts it, "we're not in your dream, we're in your dreamspace". They go on a tour and the first thing they discover is the image that "will burn into our heads" as we've been promised. I won't even try to describe it: a picture's worth a thousand words.



In real life Willow and Amy continue their fight (these are panels used in the promo. Amy uses some mojo, mocks Willow ("you can't even put up a fight"). Willow explains that she's just absorbing Amy's magic to decode it - which she does and, miraculously, all zombies turn into gentlemen and invite slayers to dance.

Meanwhile Buffy's still trapped in a labyrinth of her subconsciousness represented by rows of cubes. Each side of each cube represents a pic of her past. (BAers may start to celebrate: there is no a single Spike image but there is one Angel pic and one "BuffyAngel4ever" inscription.) All "cube pics" focus on early years and feature Scoobies with the only exception of dead Joyce in The Body. And, curiously, pic of Joss.

...Willow\Amy standoff continues. "Say it with me now", Xander says, " Fe fi fo..."
"F5$#ing fum" finishes on the next panel Giant!Dawn, putting her foot on Amy. But instead of bloody mess we get Amy lying in a white coffin (obviously Dawn has a magic foot. Or a magic shoe. Whatever.)

Back to Buffy's dream - she and Ethan find Amy's rat cage and Ethan hints that it's Amy who trapped Buffy. Once there, Ethan finds himself inside weird cube-like contraption - three "pseudo-walls", made of criss-crosed bars looking like letter "X", but the fourth "pseudo-wall" isn't there. (Maybe "fourth wall" is an escape for Ethan who is a priest of Janus Gos of doors and gates.) "I'm more an antique Roman than a Dane", Ethan says. "Just remember what you see here. Twilight is coming. You're going to need all the help you can get. Pet."

Back to reality, Buffy's still asleep. Willow, Xander and a bunch of slayerettes stand around her bed. Long story short, Willow says "Buffy needs to be kissed by someone who's in love with her. And someone in this room is. They might not even have realised it and they probably don't want anyone to know about it. So everybody's gonna shut their eyes and keep 'em shut - if they want to keep 'em - and that person will step forward and give Buffy a kiss."

Next pic shows Xander saying "Okay?"

Next pic - Buffy's awake and she says she feels cinnamon buns on her lips.

Next panel features Giles having a conversation with a demon. Their meeting takes place in some kind of armoury with sculls and torches. Again, long story short, they agree that somebody frames up both demons and humans. "Three of our brood slain!" - exclaims demon, obviously talking about Buffy's attack in the lab in the first issue. Giles shows him the symbol of The New Initiative. Demon doesn't recognise it. They agree to keep each other informed.

Two small interludes: Andrew playing strip pocker with a bunch of slayerettes in Italy and Xander pep-talking Renee in the hospital - and we move to the basement where Willow prepares to interrogate Amy with Buffy watching her preparations. Amy appears to be unconscious, she floats in the green mist. Willow says she'll try to trace where Amy came from. Buffy asks Willow about Kennedy. "She died" Willow replies, and seeing Buffy's horrified face, explains "She's fine. Mystical thing, only lasted a month". But, obviously, they're not together anymore. "She's sort of in her own space, but it's cool".

Xander joins them and sees Buffy and Willow hugging. He "wants in". "Slow year, Xan?" teases Willow, echoing Buffy's words from "that" panel. Buffy realises that she said "slow year" in her dream and asks "Hey! who kissed me?" Willow changes the topic - "Hold up guys, I'm getting a reaction".

Willow starts to "read" Amy's sponsors ("A military installation? Oh, if the Initiative is back...") while Amy opens a portal that sucks in both Amy and Willow. Willow finds herself tied to a table in a lab. Amy's boyfriend approaches. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for this," he says. "Well, I can. To the hour. Killing Buffy Summers is gonna be a party. She pissed me off more than a little. But you, Rosenberg..."

And - the last panel:

"You really got under my skin". It's Warren. Skin-less. With a saw in his hand.

(To be concluded)

Analysis:

"Back to school years" mood becomes more and more clear. Joss revisits his season 1 triangle - Buffy-Xander-Willow. Buffy's subconsciousness is focusing on school years. But, at the same time comics tries to be "very adult" with f-word and a panel with threesome sex. Why not? It's fun. Fun because for the first time in many years I'm interested in the story, not the characters. I'm equally happy with any ship Joss will throw into the mix. I don't worry for these drawed people. I know they'll be fine.

So...

In a newly_legion poll re "kiss of true love" I voted for Willow and here I'll try to explain why. First, I remember many fics that mention that Willow smells cinnamon. Second, after "that" image Joss needs something really sensational to one-up himself. Third factor is Willow's behavior. She's very fierce when she tells people to shut their eyes. She tells Buffy she isn't with Kennedy. She changes the topic of the conversation when Buffy asks who kissed her.

I may be wrong, though: Xander also is a very strong candidate. I'm still looking forward for Bander.

I think my dear chani and other Githan shippers are ecstatic and I congratulate them! It would be great to see Ethan Rayne's redemptive arc. I suspect that Joss had it in mind for a long time and planned his story for TV show Ripper in 2001. I hope Ethan repeating many Spikisms in Buffy's dream isn't a coincidence but is an indication that he'll follow Spike's route and first will become Scoobies reluctant ally and then will get full redemption.

Ethan's cube with three X is an intriguing charade. Criss-crossed bars looking like letter "X", may be virtual walls that confine him within the cube. The fourth virtual wall isn't there. The fourth wall is a theatrical term : it's the imaginary invisible wall at the front of the stage in a proscenium theater, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play.
Interestingly, Ethan worships Janus the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings.
Maybe "fourth wall" is a promise of an escape for Ethan?

"I'm more an antique Roman than a Dane"

Hmmm... I'm as clueless as Buffy here.

Edited:
mrs_underhill identified a quote from Hamlet. Horatio says it to Hamlet while trying to drink poison in the end, but Hamlet wants him to live and tell the tale.
I couldn't recognize the quote because I read Hamlet in Russian translation, where this phrase sounds differently: "I am a Roman but my soul is Dane". I should have made the connection, though...


The most interesting aspect of the comics is the groundword for human\demon cooperation against the new Initiative. So far, all the bad guys are\were humans who have been playing both demons and slayers and them fight each other.

I wonder if we'll find out who kissed Buffy at the end of issue 4 or we'll have to wait till the issue 50.
...

Comments

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Not at all. It merely confirms what some of us have suspected all along. :)



:)

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Wow! Terrific icons! "Experimenting" is particularly hilarious - Willow's face is priceless! :)

[aheartfulofyou.livejournal.com]

Hi, you're a Willow/Buffy shipper. Convince me. Please. :D In case this whole kiss thing is Willow, I want to be ready for it. I've always seen Willow/Buffy as completely non-sexual love, but... convince me? :D

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Seriousdly, all the scenes in the beginning of season 3 when Buffy starts hanging with Faith and Willow feels neglected...

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Where to start... :)

My icons show what I think are the most obvious shipper material from the shows... for a more in-depth psychological look at it, though, try this:

Teenage Willow presumably thought of herself as straight - or if she had doubts, kept them firmly to herself. But given that she totally identifies as a lesbian later on, it seems pretty likely that she had crushes on other girls/women growing up, even if she didn't admit them to herself. I think Jenny Calendar is a good candidate for one.

As for another, well... as soon as she met Buffy she was totally taking her as her role-model... going off with that [vampire]boy in the Bronze just because Buffy told her to 'seize the day'. By season 3, she was sacrificing an academic career at Harvard, Yale or Oxford just to be with Buffy. Moscow watcher mentions her jealousy of Faith, too. Most importantly, Willow was utterly fascinated by encouraging and hearing all about Buffy's sex life - "vicarious smoochies", as she describes it in 'Hush'.

So as of seasons 1 -3 and the first half of 4, I think Willow shows every sign of a major crush on Buffy but - thanks to her basic insecurity and lack of self-worth, not to mention her heterosexual self-image - she doesn't dare imagine putting herself 'into the picture', but keeps it one step removed by fantasising about Buffy with other people, not herself.

After season 4, she's both openly gay and much more self-confident... but also in a relationship. I think from then on, her feelings for Buffy would have been more on the back-burner, ready to be rekindled if Fate took a hand. :)

As for Buffy, to be honest I've always seen her as pretty much completely straight. Even in season 3, I interpret that more as Faith being attracted to Buffy and Buffy responding to the interest without realising quite why. But perhaps there was more to it than that...

Also, given the intimate nature of Buffy and Willow's friendship even if it were completely platonic (they shared a bedroom for a year, after all), I find it hard to believe that the subject of experimentation never once came up. After all, when Robin Wood makes that comment in 'Get It Done', both of them look at each other as if to say "what the hell have you been telling him?" rather than "what a horrible idea!". :)

So in summary: two very close, apparently platonic friends, one of whom has been harbouring a huge secret crush for the other for the last seven years, while the other is usually too wrapped up in her own emotional problems to realise what's been right in front of her all this time...

[aheartfulofyou.livejournal.com]

Yes... but. But. As a lesbian myself, I love my best friend to death and have probably been through all of what you mentioned (without the vampires, of course!) with my best friend, including friendship!jealousy, sex life talks, and living together for a while, and honestly, I've never had anything but platonic feelings for her. It's a best friend thing. Now, my other friend who's not exactly considered my "best" is a different story.

BUT. Not everyone's like me. And since this isn't me, maybe I should stop taking it so personally, and just go with the flow. Because honestly Willow/Buffy love would be more interesting than Xander/Buffy, you're right. I suppose. (Even though I'm still holding out for Willow/Tara-ness. Still. Even after The Death.) Okay. Fine. Nice convincing. :D

And, re: Faith. Ah, yes. I ship them, and I think Buffy's mostly oblivious to Faith's angsty feelings, and when she's aware, it's too late to do anything with it, and Faith's on her downward spiral. Oh, the sadness.

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not saying that Buffy/Willow is True - I don't really go in for that sort of 'shipping - just that it's plausible. And part of me wants it to be true, because it makes it much easier to reconcile seasons 4-7 Willow with seasons 1-3 Willow.

Besides, if it was Willow who kissed Buffy, she clearly hasn't told her she did yet - so the comics are treating it as, at most, a potential relationship, not something that's been going on forever. Like I said, a secret crush.

I think Buffy's mostly oblivious to Faith's angsty feelings, and when she's aware, it's too late to do anything with it, and Faith's on her downward spiral. Oh, the sadness.
Or even that when she becomes aware, she doesn't like the idea and pulls away... meaning that Faith feels hurt, betrayed and rejected. And starts on her downward spiral. It was all Buffy's fault! ;)