Buffy issue 8 - summary and analysis

[moscow_watcher]

Issue 6 review Issue 7 review

Summary:

Although Gigi and Faith have met less than 12 hours ago, Faith is already Gigi's best friend and she trusts her completely. Gigi tells Faith that she has bought surveillance tapes with Buffy, although they cost her a fortune/ and she's studying Buffy for months. She regards Buffy as a "misguided monarch" who has to be assasinated. After Buffy's death Gigi will lead "her brainwashed slayers out of the shadows of servitude and into the light of..." But, of course, Roden interrupts her so the puppetmaster stays undisclosed. Roden says Gigi has to prepare to the "evening battle". She counters that she's ready and she'll spend the day with "Hope" (Faith).

Meanwhile Giles who hired a freelancer gnome Trafalgar tries to break the invisible magical barrier around the estate and contact Faith. Gnome suggests that his secret agent could get corrupted by rich life.

And, as a confirmation of his words, the next panel shows Faith and Gigi having a bath, bonding and discovering they're kindred spirits. Gigi complains that she had never been allowed to commuticate with other children and endured "home schooling with increasingly pervy tutors". Turns out Gigi has nightmares and Roden assured her they'll stop as soon as Buffy will be assasinated.

Buffy and Willow are at Command Central. Willow reports that their radar system is online and running, and enquires about financing the whole slayer system. "We have friends with pockets deeper than the ones in Dawnie's giant pants, Will," Buffy replies. "But some donors like to stay anonimous, you know?" Willow asks about Twilight and Buffy replies that she's ready to fight them. "Not killing humans is that separates us from bad guys", Willow says. "No, not being bad is what separates us from the bad guys," Buffy replies. "You're really ready to go all slayer on human beings? For keeps?" Willow asks. "I honestly don't know. I guess we'll cross that bridge..." and Buffy disappears, teleported by Rodin...

... straight into the armoury in the Savidge estate. Gigi attacks Buffy with a sword, bragging that she killed another slayer. Buffy trips up Gigi, grabs her sword, but, before she can attack Gigi Faith leaps at her and together they fall out of the window down into the swimming pool. They fight in the water; Faith tries to explain that she's working undercover and was sent here by Giles, but Buffy doesn't believe her. Evil voices in Faith's head urge her to kill Buffy but she squashes them and asks Buffy to go away. And away Buffy goes, teleported back to the castle by Willow. "Get me Giles", she says. The expression of her face isn't Giles-friendly.

Speaking of Giles, the last panel with Faith and Gigi reenacts that famous last scene in Sleeper when Bringer raises an axe intent to decapitate Giles...



Analysis:

As a character arc, it's great storytelling. Faith's past comes back to haunt her; she always was used and exploited, and she tries to break down this vicious circle by helping another girl not to be used, exploited and killed. But, Faith's luck is... well... Faith's luck. No matter what she does she ends up guilty. It will stay forever unclear if she has saved Buffy's life when she killed Mayor's deputy in Bad Girls. I suppose it will stay forever unclear if she has saved Buffy again in this issue (because Roden was definitely conjuring some evil magic in the background when Faith pushed Buffy out of the window).

But no matter what happens Buffy is the winner and Faith is the loser. And, the more the writer tortures the character, the more we love him.

Interestingly, this issue's hidden storylines are at direct opposition to the open ones. On the surface we have Faith as the ultimate loner, who's cut off the other slayers and their sisterhood. She's losing herself, losing the battle, losing the meaning of life. But if we look at the situation more closely, it's Buffy who's losing it. Her organization is financed by anonimous sponsor. Giles is working behind her back. She's ready to kill humans.

I just can't figure out if it's a temporary plot necessity or a seasonal throughline. On the TV show Buffy killed humans, directly and indirectly, without consequences, when current story demanded it (The Pack, Revelations, Spiral). Then another story demanded "no killing humans" approach (Bad Girls, Dead Things) and Buffyverse moral twisted accordingly.

Anyway, today's partyline is obviously "no killing humans", so, in the end, Faith is right when she stops Buffy from killing Gigi. Vaughan did great job with Faith - her dialogues and thoughts sound very true to character. It's obvious with whom his sympathy lies. :)

But, as great as the personal character journey is, the universe characters live in becomes less and less coherent.

In the first seven seasons, human world and magic world existed in parallel without attempts to conquer each other. Incidentally, demons and sorcerers exploited human foibles but demons didn't want to rule human world. Either they were peaceful demons or we looked too unappealing to them.

Season 8 introduces Roden who is a powerful wizard, has global plans and wants to dominate humanity. So - the rules has changed. But the writers don't notice it. Or just don't care.

But - if Roden can teleport any person to any place, he rules the world by default. He can abduct world leaders. He can abduct wealthiest people in the world. Why on earth is he wasting his time on a bitchy slayer? Is he in love with her? Not likely. Is he using her to compromise the whole slayer movement? From a logical standpoint is seems to be the most likely option - but, again, what for? If Roden can teleport slayers anywhere he wants why not teleport Buffy (and other girls) into a blast-furnace?

One can argue that Rodin wanted to pander to Gigi and to give her the satisfaction of killing Buffy. But, again - why Roden needs Gigi at all? As a future head of his security service? Hardly: she's volatile and can't be controlled. And - does Roden need slayers to protect him? His magical barrier around the estate can be broken only by a very powerful magician, and slayers are powerless against magic.

Which brings another interesting point. In the first arc the axis of real power was between Willow and Amy. In this one the axis of real power is between Roden and Willow. It's magic that ultimately decides the outcome of this or that battle. It's magic that raises zomby army and neutralizes it. It's magic that abducts people and returns them. Buffy and other slayers are just puppets in the battle of wizards and witches.

Yet the show is still called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (although we only meet vampires in Buffy's erotic dream), not Willow the Good Witch. And this discrepancy slowly becomes more and more obvious. So far Willow-ex-machina is handled deftly enough, and if the reader doesn't dig too deep, it works. Just don't try to think about it too much.

Bits and pieces:

-- Gigi says she has paid a fortune for the surveillance tapes. Are these tapes from the castle of from the stores Buffy visits? Why would store surveillance tapes cost a fortune? Is there a traitor in the castle?

-- Before Roden interrupts her, Gigi says: "We can lead her brainwashed slayers... into the light of--" Of what? "Into the light of the Twilight?" Sounds so very wrong. Obviously Gigi was planning to say something else. Yet Roden was using the "guidebook" with Twilight symbols when he was teleporting Buffy.

-- Gigi talking about "just another filthy pedo" was quite disturbing. Was she raped?

-- Willow installs radar system in the castle. Then she talks about "non-inexpensive defences". But radar itself isn't "defences". I'm technically ignorant but I've got the impression that radar only warns about approaching dangerous objects. And, since Willow talks about "defences" does it mean they have missiles and other stuff?

-- Roden calls Buffy "the first of the last", when he reads his "guidebook". Interesting.

Comments

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

In the first seven seasons, human world and magic world existed in parallel without attempts to conquer each other. Incidentally, demons and sorcerers exploited human foibles but demons didn't want to rule human world.

Um... isn't ruling the human world exactly what the Master wanted to do? With 'The Wish' there to show us what things would look like if he won? And Mayor Wilkins was a human sorceror who wanted to become the demonic ruler of humanity - much like Roden.


if Roden can teleport any person to any place, he rules the world by default.

I think that's a big assumption. So far, all we've seen him do is teleport one specific person to his own location. The wording of his spell - "Bring the first of the last to me" - implies that that's all he can do. In fact, since he's casting the spell at twilight and invoking the power of "the magic hour", it looks like he can only cast the spell at one precise moment, too...

I'm guessing that whatever evil magic ritual Roden is planning requires that Buffy (the source of the Slayer power, the first of the last) is killed by another Slayer. That's why he needs Gigi. (Or maybe the ritual will also work if you substitute Faith for Buffy?).


Buffy and other slayers are just puppets in the battle of wizards and witches.

It's a fine line; but I think both Buffy and Willow herself would reject that idea. Willow might have the raw power, but as a rule (Season 6 being the exception, of course) she respects Buffy's leadership and decision-making ability. It's the difference between a soldier carrying a big, powerful weapon, and his commanding officer armed with nothing but a map and a radio. Who's the most powerful?


Gigi talking about "just another filthy pedo" was quite disturbing. Was she raped?

She sounds a bit too blasé about it for it to be anything so extreme, but maybe a previous tutor did get a bit over-familiar. For that matter, I think Gigi's the sort of person to make up stories about a tutor she disliked making sexual advances to her, just to get him fired.


since Willow talks about "defences" does it mean they have missiles and other stuff?

In the previous issue she's discussing that very question with Dawn and Renee - she says that the radar can only warn them if there are bad guys approaching, and asks what they do to them once they arrive. Dawn, you'll notice, is casually ruthless; it's interesting that her sister gets asked the same question by Willow this issue, and is rather more ambivalent. It's obviously something that's bothering Willow a lot...

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

isn't ruling the human world exactly what the Master wanted to do? With 'The Wish' there to show us what things would look like if he won? And Mayor Wilkins was a human sorceror who wanted to become the demonic ruler of humanity - much like Roden.

Master was a vampire, not a sorcerer. Vampires don't teleport, don't read minds, don't raise zombie armies, don't have the ability to end the world by the sheer force of will. Occasionally they use clumsy mojos (Judge, Acathla) but humans also use clumsy mojos (The Glove of Myhnegon, Trio's stuff) so vampires and humans are more or less even here.

I was talking about real wizards - D'Hoffrin, Lloyd, people at Coven. They never toyed with the idea of conquering humanity. So far BtVS resembled Harry Potter where human and magic world existed separately in the same space.

As to Mayor - good point, but I think he was an exception that only confirms the rule. Besides, he has never been depicted as a "true" wizard. He had no particular magic paraphernalia, he had never regarded himself as a sorcerer.

So far, all we've seen him do is teleport one specific person to his own location. The wording of his spell - "Bring the first of the last to me" - implies that that's all he can do.

You may be right. I suspect we'll never find out the exact scale of Roden's power and writers will intentionally keep it unclear to have some wiggling room when dealing with him. But, so far, Willow was the only person who could break through his barrier - and we know that Giles can be a very strong magician in an extreme situation.

It's the difference between a soldier carrying a big, powerful weapon, and his commanding officer armed with nothing but a map and a radio. Who's the most powerful?

You can take away a powerful weapon from a soldier but you can't take away magic abilities from a sorcerer.

For that matter, I think Gigi's the sort of person to make up stories about a tutor she disliked making sexual advances to her, just to get him fired.

Agree, there is a bit of manipulator in her.

In the previous issue she's discussing that very question with Dawn and Renee - she says that the radar can only warn them if there are bad guys approaching, and asks what they do to them once they arrive. Dawn, you'll notice, is casually ruthless; it's interesting that her sister gets asked the same question by Willow this issue, and is rather more ambivalent. It's obviously something that's bothering Willow a lot...

The question is if it's something writers consider important and these scattered lines about fighting against humans are a build-up for something serious; or we're supposed to suspend our disbelief and don't think much about it.