Buffy issue 9 summary, analysis and spoilery speculations

[moscow_watcher]

Summary:

Brian K Vaughan uses any opportunity to delve into Faith's past and into her head. This issue starts - again! - with a flashback, this time dedicated to Faith's relationship with Mayor. Obviously he wants to draw a parallel to Gigi's relationship with Roden who now orders her to kill Faith. But Gigi, who has already swung her axe, conveniently hits Faith with its helve. She is mad at Faith at lying to her about her name, her goals, but most of all, about her nationality: "You're not even English?"

Is it written as a joke? I'm at loss here.

Gigi's rage is so devastating that she conveniently plunges her axe into a stone statue. Um, mister Vaughan... have you ever had an axe in your hands? I'm a woman, but even I occasionally hack twigs and branches for campfires. And I know that a metallic blade can't go into a stone.

OK, I accept it as a "suspension of disbelief" moment. Statue looks prettier. And it beautifully constrasts with the dynamics of the fight.

Meanwhile, Willow, following Buffy's order, phones Giles who is still trying to penetrate the mystical barrier around Gigi's estate. Buffy, furious, tells Giles that Faith tried to kill her. Giles has no time to explain - he has to save Faith, so he cuts Buffy short and asks her to put Willow on the line. Buffy feels betrayed.

Meanwhile, Faith-Gigi fight goes on, Gigi conveniently flies through the air and runs herself on her own axe. And, before she dies, she conveniently absolves Faith when the latter says she never meant to kill her - "Yeah. But it's like the song goes..."

Roden immediately tries to recruit Faith to kill Buffy, but, naturally, she rejects his offer and hits him with a Twilight's guidebook he offers her. Furious, Roden tries to kill Faith with a stone fist he conjures up from the earth, but cavalry in the person of Giles arrives in time and saves her. The battle between Roden and Giles is short and ridiculous: while Roden is conveniently standing there and posturing, Faith throws Roden's Twilight's guidebook to Giles, he immediately finds the necessary spell, puts the "mystic field" inside his opponent and Roden's head bursts.

Cut to the next morning. Back in Giles' apartment, Faith declares that she has decided not to quit. She has got her Big Moral Lesson and she wants "to play social worker to the slayers. Maybe I could help walk a few bad girls back from the brink". They decide to work together.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the jungle, a military helicopter lands on a tiny stone plateau. A woman in a military uniform with a Twilight sign on her palm requests the audience. A creature whose boots we saw back in issue 1 descends from above.

According to the woman, whose name is Lt. Molter, "their man on the inside" has reported that Buffy Summers was still alive. Flying Boots, who looks like Terminator in an iron mask, tells her that actually, Gigi and Roden were his targets. He plans to manipulate his enemies "into waging this ugly war, a tactic crucial for bringing the age of magic to a close".

"Night falls soon enough", he promises.

Analysis:

The second arc, as well as the first one, works OK as long as the reader doesn't overthink and overanalyse it. Analysis is a tricky thing here: a reviewer may easily turn into a whiner who complains about the lack of Shakespearean depth in a Shreck movie.

Well...

Brian K Vaughan loves Faith and this story is clearly her show. She's the star and everything else exists to showcase her ability to fight, quip and demonstrate the generosity of her spirit. I read comments from people who disliked her on the show but started to like her after this comic, and it's understandable: Faith really shines here.

But, unfortunately, Faith's greatness comes at the expence of everything else. Other characters's dialogs are either bland or sound like badfic snippets, like "Buffy's narrow ass lives to fight another day".

Vaughan's attempts to spice up Buffy's dialogues end up in some weird choices - "Faith and her droogs", for example. Buffy doesn't strike me as a girl who reads Burgess or watches Kubrick. (Well, she could hear that word from Spike - after all, his chip was a Clockwork Orange rip-off) :)

OTOH, Faith's culturological references sound spot-on ("Conan the librarian" - hee!) while Giles' "maybe I could be the Steed to your Peel" works mainly as an opening to Faith's priceless reply "I hope it's not as gross as it sounds". Have I mentioned that Vaughan loves Faith? I hope Joss will give him the spinoff rights.

Jeanty demonstrates some improvement - his Mayor looks great and Giles has several good panels. Faith is drawn better than in the previous issues, but Jeanty's alternate cover is incredibly ugly! Still there are some inspiring visual decisions in the issue, like Faith-Gigi fight taking place at sunset, with the blood-red sky as a backdrop.

About the story. *le sigh*

The story works great as long as you don't search something deep and significant in it. It's good entertainment, well-paced and provided with a requisite Valuable Moral Lesson. But it's a story of convenient situations, easy choices and artificial conflicts.

I already pointed out at multiple convenient situations in the summary. The ultimale convenience is Vaughan's decision to make Gigi's death accidental. He saves Faith from a hard choice - either kill Gigi or let her go knowing that she may strike again. Obviously, writer is too attached to the character to put her in a no-win situation.

Maybe my problem is measuring up comics by TV show standards. Onscreen Faith (as well as all the other characters) had been constantly put in no-win situations and had to make hard and unpleasant choices. Compared to them this watered down resolution is a shameful cop-out that highlights the very nature of comic-vs-TVshow dichotomy.

There are two types of conflicts between characters in fiction - real and artificial. Real ones are based on characters' different worldviews. Artificial ones are based on misunderstandings. This is the latter kind of conflict, when good guys are angry at each other because of unlucky circumstances. Giles doesn't want to cooperate with Buffy or anybody else in the castle either because he suspects there is a mole there or because he's overprotective. So he chooses Faith. Buffy finds out about his undercover operation in the worst possible situation and snaps at him, demanding the explanation. He can't waste time on explanations when Faith's life is in danger, so he snaps at Buffy, etc.

The problem with artificial conflicts is that they produce artificial resolutions. In the person of Gigi Faith killed her own metaphorical dark side and obsession with Buffy. What has changed? Instead of killing baby vampires she will be mentoring girls who kill baby vampires? I'd rather see her actively fighting.

Spoilery speculations.

1. So, there is a spy in Buffy's inner circle. If I were trying to figure him out using logic and common sense, my prime candidate would be Giles, because during his battle with Roden he acted as a person who knows the Twilight guidebook by heart. But logic and common sense are hardly applicable to BtVS (using logic and common sense I can easily prove that the real Doctor in As You Were is Riley). I'm pretty sure that Core Four are immune. Dear Xander fans, don't sweat and relax - this is a story of convenient situations, easy choices and artificial conflicts. The spy is either inadvertent (for example, New!Initiative managed to hide a bug in Xander's eyepatch) or an extra nobody cares about. Or he hasn't been introduced yet. (Just like the kiss of true love from a character who wasn't there in the room?) :)

2. Is Flying Boots the Big Bad of the season? Joss says he is. Anyway, by now the hierarchy of seasonal villains is already quite complicated to add another one. First we saw Amy and Warren; then we discovered New!Initiative; then we met Roden; now it looks like they are just pawns in Flying Boots's game. His official goal - to get rid of the magic - sounds as a trick to lull military's vigilance. After all, he's able to levitate! Could he be somebody we know? Easily. Military subplot and the promise of Riley return make Adam the best candidate.

3. Curiously, the detail that tortures me the most is the red demon on Faith's t-shirt on the last panels. It looks like the last-minute addition because it's obvious that it wasn't drawed but was copy-pasted from somewhere. The picture of demon doesn't follow the folds of the fabric of the t-shirt. I wonder if it was added to make the panels more vivid or the red demon is a foreshadowing of something sinister happening to Faith?

Bottom line: Interesting albeit not completely successful attempt to bring a bit of Avengers cool to Charlie's Angels universe.

Comments

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

"Jeanty demonstrates some improvement - his Mayor looks great and Giles has several good panels. Faith is drawn better than in the previous issues, but Jeanty's alternate cover is incredibly ugly! Still there are some inspiring visual decisions in the issue, like Faith-Gigi fight taking place at sunset, with the blood-red sky as a backdrop."

The artwork irritated me beyond belief I'm afraid. The way Faith was depicted as looking about 12 both with both the Mayor and Giles was frankly, well quite disturbing. And no, I don't think it's meant to represent how she say both these men as farther figures either. That argument may hold water if all the women in this damn comic series weren't also drawn like they're still at kindergarten.

It just looked 'wrong' on so many levels. How can this comic be about 'empowering women' when the artists appear to be too afraid to draw them as what they actually are. Grown up adults. *sigh*

Gigi was a hideous caraciture that I had no feeling for at all, and Giles gets barely anything to do except at the very end.

Compared to whats come before this last arc has been the strongest so far, But lord in my book thats not saying very much.

The only interest I still hold onto in all this is seeing where the whole 'Twilight' thing is heading.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

But, unfortunately, Faith's greatness comes at the expence of everything else.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with this. And this...

There are two types of conflicts between characters in fiction - real and artificial. Real ones are based on characters' different worldviews. Artificial ones are based on misunderstandings.

...is an excellent summary of why I do.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

But Gigi, who has already swung her axe, conveniently hits Faith with its helve. She is mad at Faith at lying to her about her name, her goals, but most of all, about her nationality: "You're not even English?"

Is it written as a joke? I'm at loss here.

Faith pretended to be English, don't you remember? I guess Gigi suspected that she wasn't but didn't want to believe it as she's desperate for a friend, when she discovered that Faith was lying to her about her name, she realized that everything about Faith was a lie. It reminds me of Revelation, when Faith desperately wanted to fit in, then she discovered that the gang had a meeting without her, not to mention Buffy hiding a killer like Angel, she got pissed and turned against Buffy.

[elisi]

I love your brain.

There are two types of conflicts between characters in fiction - real and artificial. Real ones are based on characters' different worldviews. Artificial ones are based on misunderstandings.
It strikes me that even General Voll's attitude stems from the latter - not Mr Twilight's himself though. I hope he'll prove an interesting villain, because the story desperately needs it.

ETA: Compared to them this watered down resolution is a shameful cop-out that highlights the very nature of comic-vs-TVshow dichotomy.
Well the tragedy is that it doesn't *have* to be that way. Comics can perfectly well carry a deep and dark story with impossible choices - just like fics and any other medium. (And I sincerely hope and pray that AtF won't shy away from difficult situations.)

[kathyh]

The problem with artificial conflicts is that they produce artificial resolutions.

Yes, that's it. I've quite enjoyed the Faith storyline (and I'm not a big Faith fan) but the conflicts between first Faith and Buffy and then Giles and Buffy leading to Faith and Giles riding off into the sunset together had me quite bemused. It seemed to spring from the needs of the plot rather than the needs of the characters and felt quite false.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

The only interest I still hold onto in all this is seeing where the whole 'Twilight' thing is heading.

That's what holds my interest too. Story interests me. Characters - not so much.

But, come to think of it, that's my attitude to the majority of TV shows. I watch Lost with interest but I don't care about characters. Obviously, it qualifies me as a casual fan and I'm OK with it. Sometimes I see heated debates about Lost and I steer clear of them.

Only in case of BtVS there is another world I care about - the world of fanfiction, fanart, meta - that keeps me connected with comics.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

I read theories about Giles' estranglement as a result of something that happened between him and Buffy during "missing months" but I doubt writers have a hidden Buffy-Giles backstory to reveal it 10 issues later. I think they just decided that Buffy's castle is already overcrowded so Giles has to move away.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Well, it's very tempting to blame a lot of the weirdness on stuff that happened in the 18 months. But the problem is that if we use that explanation, then the whole reason I got interested in BtVS in the first place - the fact that we actually get to see character development - goes missing.

Of course, watching characters change for no good reason at all isn't much better.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember, but it's still weird. Gigi thinks Faith is there to spy on her and possibly kill her, yet the ultimate accusation is Faith's "wrong" nationality. It reminds me Spike-Buffy snarkage in season 4, when Spike says something along the lines "and - and your hair is stupid!" as the last argument. But in the latter case it was obvious that writers meant it for laughs.

[goodbyebird]

Personally, my favorite out of this arch was #3, where we had actual conflicts and what seemed to me, very real emotions. The highlight of course being Buffy and Faith's confrontation. How they left off was excellent, but then in this issue when Buffy poofs back into the castle and gets Giles on the line, she's all 'Faith and her gang tried to drown me' or whatever. It just backed over the previous issue's ending completely imo. That was the first jarring thing.

The second being the happy sappy ending where Faith learns maybe she should try and help other troubled girls like herself *rolls eyes* I'd think we would have seen this sooner, no? Not to mention it's such a common idea in fics and such... We've still not been treated to anything that explains why Faith was completely on her own again, and if Giles could help her with her legal problems, why hasn't he allready?? I'm sure with all the resources they have at their disposal now they could work something out, not to mention Willow.

Unlike you, I didn't mind Buffy and Giles' snappy tone over the phone. They have been incommunicado so far in season 8, and Buffy even has to borrow Willow's phone to get in touch with him. There's clearly some backstory here. Hopefully, Joss will decide to let us in on it sooner or later.


Compared to them this watered down resolution is a shameful cop-out that highlights the very nature of comic-vs-TVshow dichotomy.
I still think the comics will have more depth to them as we go along. I hope so in any case. Buffy's convorsation with Willow in the previous issue(another highlight) f.exa. had her talking about waging war with humans. This situation reminds me of Marvel's Civil War series, where it's demanded that all superheroes register themselves. Understandably, the gouvernment doesn't want rogue, suped up people rampaging around unchecked. This, to me, seems like the best source for what's to come. Yes, I do love my gray areas ;)

Plus, with all the girls turned into Slayers without any warning or knowledge of what happened either, there's bound to be a lot worse out there than Faith or Gigi. So far I'm not too impressed with the Twilight Dude. Give him some good lines or something, for God's sake!

And on that note, I'll just toss a sharp object at Jeanty's crappy alternate cover, and a prayer that he'll be replaced by the new guy when Jo Chen get's back to her regular gig as cover artist. Amen!

...and now you've set me off! I was swearing I wasn't going to start writing reviewish stuff. *shakes fist*

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

I love your brain.

*blushes*

It strikes me that even General Voll's attitude stems from the latter

Oh, don't make me start on general Voll, who a) could be sent to prison because he killed a human before Buffy's very eyes b) could be easily used as a source of information by mind-reading Willow c) could be invited at a bargaining table...

not Mr Twilight's himself though. I hope he'll prove an interesting villain, because the story desperately needs it.

You know, I may be gloating a bit over Twilight, because I can't imagine how Joss could find anything fresh for him. After all, his previous Big Bads were God (season 5), Real Life (season 6) and Subconscious Darkness (season 7). Where do you go from here?

And I sincerely hope and pray that AtF won't shy away from difficult situations.

I join your prayers.

[elisi]

I've been pondering all this - and the comic defenders' usual answer of 'it's easily explained' - and I think that there are two sorts of types. (please bear with my not-very-functioning-brain. I've had to deal will ill children for 3 days now, and I'm surprised I can even string a sentence together)

There is the stuff we keep getting in s8 - where the reader has to assume that 'something' has happened for the characters to be where they are/behave in the way they do, and maybe we'll be given an explanation sometime. Maybe not. It turns fanwanking into a necessity. (Of course in a lot of stories you get mysteries that you have to watch unfold. That's not what I mean.)

Then there are stories where you get little hints of something that might have happened - the 'I ate a decorater once' type - where the reader can have lots of fun conjuring up possibilities, but no final answer is necessary.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Not to mention that you have the bits where you can easily guess what's happened - the three years Faith spent in jail, for instance, where we can assume a more or less linear development from her cameo in "Judgement" to her friendliness with the guards in "Salvage". If we watch a character go from A to D, leave them in E and then rejoin them a few years later and find them at H, explanations are nice but not absolutely necessary. If, however, the character is suddenly back at B for no stated reason...

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Yes - the situation with Buffy and Giles reminds me of the misunderstandings in The Yoko Factor. But that misunderstandings had been resolved in the very next week episode, and in comics we'll have to wait... and wait... and wait.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind Buffy and Giles' snappy tone over the phone.

I don't mind it either. But, with writers interviews revealing that we won't see Giles soon, it looks like they stopped talking for a long time because of a silly misunderstanding.

I suppose it's a plot necessity, a set-up for a future arc, but - could Vaughan handle it more subtly? Could he cut one Faith's flashbacks in favor of Buffy-Giles scenes?

Buffy even has to borrow Willow's phone to get in touch with him

I think she asked Willow because her own phone has been drowned in Gigi's pool.

This situation reminds me of Marvel's Civil War series, where it's demanded that all superheroes register themselves. Understandably, the gouvernment doesn't want rogue, suped up people rampaging around unchecked. This, to me, seems like the best source for what's to come. Yes, I do love my gray areas ;)

I think it's one of the trickiest aspects of the season 8. It's the most magic-fuelled season of the show. If we look at the situation from a RL viewpoint, the most dangerous superbeings are witches and sorcerers, not the slayers.

Anyway, we'll see where Joss will lead us. :)

...and now you've set me off! I was swearing I wasn't going to start writing reviewish stuff

I loved reading your comment. It made me rethink some of my ideas about season 8.

*shakes fist*

*hides under the table* :)

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

I'm still more hopeful than you that Joss hasn't gone to all the bother of resurrecting the Buffyverse in order to give us a two-dimensional version of it that essentially erases everything that was interesting about the show in the first place. And if the medium requires such a dumbing-down, it makes it hard to understand why Joss has gone out of his way to say that the comics are *canon*. So here are some replies from a more hopeful perspective!

1. The accidental killing of Gigi saves Faith from hard choices. True. But as someone else has observed (Stormwreath?), it also calls back the accidental killing of the deputy mayor that set Faith down her path in the first place. The dynamic in season 3 was really interesting because everyone blurred the line between an accidental death and murderous tendencies in the fateful two episodes culminating in Faith's trip to the mayor. Here Faith understands herself well enough to know that her accidental killing of Gigi does not mean that she herself is a ruthless killer. That means she has more faith in her own judgments than she did in season 3, and I think more trust in others that they won't jump to falsely harsh conclusions about her.

2. The conflict between Buffy and Giles is fueled by misunderstandings. If we get no more story on what's going on, you're right. But I'm really expecting more story. If there is a standing breach between them which is character-driven, that would set the stage for the 'accidental' misunderstandings here. Also, as far as the misunderstandings on Buffy's part -- she always misunderstands in an almost wilful way when it comes to actions she perceives as 'betrayals'. So, again, that would be a character-driven misunderstanding. And I think we are given some clues about the source of the breach: Giles has some idea that Buffy is above things, but that leads him to treat her in ways that isolate her. In season 7 he tries to cut her off from Spike because he wants 'more' for her. Here we see continuations of the thought that heroes like Buffy don't do things like kill Ben. So Giles would place himself on the side of people who aren't good enough for her. If things develop along this way we can see Buffy getting stuck in a pincer-movement. Voll says slayers are too demonic to be trusted by humans. Giles has slayers as too heroic to sully themselves with demons or tainted humans. That would leave the slayers standing alone.

3. But I'm not going to try to defend the easy happy ending for Faith. Too bad -- they set up such a brilliantly angsty spot for her -- but she learns all her lesssons about as quickly as she mastered a convincing British accent, and about as plausibly. Actually, though, I'd use this point to invert your main conclusion. The easy solution for Faith tells us that this really wasn't Faith's story after all. It's Buffy's. Faith is shown as having learned and grown. Faith made the wise decisions. Faith's instincts were spot on. Buffy hasn't grown much. Her instincts are way off. Buffy is the one with more story. Faith has been used for compare and contrast, wtih Buffy looking worse in comparison on every point. Now that she's served that purpose she's moved off-screen until such time as the plot needs Buffy to confront the fact that Faith is now the model slayer capable of making good instinctive judgments on the fly rather than being driven by her own insecurities and fears.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

Gigi thinks Faith is there to spy on her and possibly kill her, yet the ultimate accusation is Faith's "wrong" nationality.

I didn't read it as an ultimate accusation, it was just Gigi stating facts. Nothing more and nothing less. That's how I read it *checking again* yeah, even Jeanity did a good job capturing the matter of fact/bitter look on Gigi's face.

I actually enjoyed the Buffy/Giles conflict, loved that they kept that from S7, some believe Buffy patched things up with Giles, but was clear even in S7 that she put differences aside for the war.

I thought the last scene with Giles and Faith was a bit cheesy, but not worse than Buffy's "A whole new world" to Dawn in Grave. It doesn't bother me that much. I also disliked that Giles was able to kill the redheaded guy (forgot his name) by one flip through the book and a few sentences, but the show is already known for convenience exits, I guess Roden (I'm guessing that's the name) isn't the most important villain, just someone out there having something valuable (the book) that will get the gang one step forward, which again is a technique used on the show.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

The story works great as long as you don't search something deep and significant in it.
I think you can find as much as you look for. If I remember your review of the first issue correctly you’d already determined to see the comics as a S1 style romp so kudos for consistency. However you’ve commented on posts (by myself and stormwreath) which do see greater depths to the series without contesting those points.

He saves Faith from a hard choice - either kill Gigi or let her go knowing that she may strike again.
Or play social worker to her:-)

Not all stories about the same stylized moral dilemmas, which are arguable better addressed by philosophers than creative artists. Is The Gift a bad story because Buffy escapes the ‘hard‘ choice she made in Becoming? Is Chosen a cop out because she doesn’t have to kill Spike? Or more to the point is Selfless being too easy on Anya by letting her live? The hard choice she has to make between her life and those of the frat boys’ supplies an all too predictable moral lesson, what makes it a great story rather than a simply competent one comes in the coda and it’s not about any ethical dilemma but about a moment of self-understanding that leads to her rejecting Xander’s completely sincere offer.

I think this is another story more about psychology and character than abstract philosophical notions. I don’t read Faith as killing her metaphorical dark side in Gigi, but as being being shown a funhouse mirror of the girl she used to be and the temptations she succumbed to from father figure to existential pride. Gigi’s death isn’t cathartic so much as a second chance, a chance for Faith to make different choices and find that she has changed. It’s less of a metaphorical shorthand but it recalls Spike’s being finally able to feel his soul.


Real ones are based on characters' different worldviews.

Buffy and Giles do have long established different views on whether the means justify the end. When Giles tells Buffy he doesn’t want her to be any part of what he and Faith are doing why do you think she lets the issue go telling Willow to help him? Since she clearly believes that Faith was working undercover with him and also knew Gigi’s intentions it seems most likely that she stops asking what’s going on because she’s figured it out. What Giles didn’t want her to have any part of was stopping Gigi, becoming the killer of another Slayer. It’s also more complicated than their argument about Spike because even if Buffy were to accept the necessity of lethal force against Gigi her current position as the heroic figurehead to 500 girls (the key link in The Chain) means that she can’t be seen to be involved. So I don’t think it’s a misunderstanding keeping them apart but an all too clear understanding.

[elisi]

Here Faith understands herself well enough to know that her accidental killing of Gigi does not mean that she herself is a ruthless killer. That means she has more faith in her own judgments than she did in season 3, and I think more trust in others that they won't jump to falsely harsh conclusions about her.
Ah, but this brings up all the problems a lot of people had with the story from the start - Faith's willingness to be a ruthless killer (again). Yes, the eventual death was accidental, but that does not change the fact that she fully intended to kill Gigi when she first arrived, and probably would have if it wasn't for the gargoyle. All the ending does is stop her from dealing with the problem (even though, yes, I can see the coming-full-circle thing, and it's very nice. But it more parallels her fight with Buffy, than her killing of the deputy mayor).

The conflict between Buffy and Giles is fueled by misunderstandings.
Yes... but. He went behind her back once, to kill someone, and we saw how she hated that. And how she was ready to let Spike kill Robin. Buffy has every right to be pissed off - it's the sudden moping *I* can't make fit with anything. If she'd angrily said 'Fine! But we're not done!' and handed him back to Willow, that I could have understood.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Ah, but this brings up all the problems a lot of people had with the story from the start - Faith's willingness to be a ruthless killer (again). Yes, the eventual death was accidental, but that does not change the fact that she fully intended to kill Gigi when she first arrived, and probably would have if it wasn't for the gargoyle. All the ending does is stop her from dealing with the problem (even though, yes, I can see the coming-full-circle thing, and it's very nice. But it more parallels her fight with Buffy, than her killing of the deputy mayor).

Faith didn't sign on to be a ruthless killer. She signed on to stop an apocalypse. There's a lot going on here: trust in Giles, perhaps an acceptance of his judgment about Gigi as reflecting on her own judgments of herself, etc. etc. So, not a simple break with character at all. Rather a rich stew that builds on everything that goes into making Faith Faith. And as the arc develops we see that she's not so OK with the gray aspect of having to kill another human being in order to save the world. She hesitated in line. And yes, she might have gone through with it before the gargoyles came, but we really don't know. The fact that she gets to revisit both big events from season 3: her accidental killing of the mayor, Buffy's entirely non-accidental attempt on her life adds layers to what's going on -- basically pointing out that the original construction of Faith as the 'bad' slayer was more complicated than everyone took it to be in season 3, an ambiguity which has now remarkably given way to an unambiguous contrast between Faith and Buffy where Buffy looks much darker. How ironic that it is Buffy who comes closest to deliberately killing Gigi? I'd have to ponder to sort out all the meta -- but this was all very rich, IMO. Though too neatly wrapped up in the end.

Yes... but. He went behind her back once, to kill someone, and we saw how she hated that. And how she was ready to let Spike kill Robin. Buffy has every right to be pissed off - it's the sudden moping *I* can't make fit with anything. If she'd angrily said 'Fine! But we're not done!' and handed him back to Willow, that I could have understood.

Agree that what we saw makes little sense without more backstory. There is some emotional sore spot that triggers Buffy's sudden mope. I'm just expecting that we ARE going to get that backstory. Aycheb's remarks below give us a sense of how that story might flesh out. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were other things in the mix as well, including Giles' handling of the LA branch of the 'team'. Lots of people are assuming that what we see is all we are going to get. And if that's right, the comics really are monumentally disappointing. But I can't wrap my brain around the idea that Joss would be bothering with the comics at all in order to present a story that is entirely lacking in everything that made the series great in the first place. So right now I'm holding out for Stormwreath's optimistic take which is that Joss really does have a very big picture in mind, and that everything that doesn't make sense now will make sense further down the road. We'll see!!

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

The accidental killing of Gigi saves Faith from hard choices. True. But as someone else has observed (Stormwreath?), it also calls back the accidental killing of the deputy mayor that set Faith down her path in the first place.

Agree. But that's what makes me uneasy with Vaughan's Faith. She is basically season 3 Faith. Everything goes back to season 3. All her actions are defined by her Buffy issues in season 3 and her relationship with Mayor. Either the writer hasn't watched Faith on AtS and BtVS season 7 ot he deliberately ignores her development because it contradicts his own take on Faith.

Voll says slayers are too demonic to be trusted by humans. Giles has slayers as too heroic to sully themselves with demons or tainted humans. That would leave the slayers standing alone.

That's an interesting idea! I have to think about it.

But I'm not going to try to defend the easy happy ending for Faith. Too bad -- they set up such a brilliantly angsty spot for her -- but she learns all her lesssons about as quickly as she mastered a convincing British accent, and about as plausibly. Actually, though, I'd use this point to invert your main conclusion. The easy solution for Faith tells us that this really wasn't Faith's story after all. It's Buffy's. Faith is shown as having learned and grown. Faith made the wise decisions. Faith's instincts were spot on. Buffy hasn't grown much. Her instincts are way off. Buffy is the one with more story. Faith has been used for compare and contrast, wtih Buffy looking worse in comparison on every point. Now that she's served that purpose she's moved off-screen until such time as the plot needs Buffy to confront the fact that Faith is now the model slayer capable of making good instinctive judgments on the fly rather than being driven by her own insecurities and fears.

Agree - but I suppose it wasn't Vaughan's intention. He's just a big fan of Faith. So big that he balanced dangerously on the brink of turning her into a Mary-Sue. Thankfully, he doesn't overstep, but comes very close, IMHO.

[elisi]

You make an awful lot of good points, but I'm with moscow - it ties too heavily into her S3 arc, and not enough into anything afterwards. Giles could have sprung her straight from prison and nothing would have been different. *ponders* Actually that might have worked better.

Faith in S4 of ATS was to the point, and took charge easily. Faith in S7 of BtVS was quieter, but focussed on the mission and willing to reach out and open up to those around her - including Buffy. I don't see that reflected in the comics.

There is some emotional sore spot that triggers Buffy's sudden mope. I'm just expecting that we ARE going to get that backstory.
Dear lord I hope so, because I've totally lost interest in her now. She's so un-Buffy-esque, that I'm sure she's just a decoy, and the one in Rome is the real one.

Oh and I meant to comment on this also:

The easy solution for Faith tells us that this really wasn't Faith's story after all. It's Buffy's. Faith is shown as having learned and grown. Faith made the wise decisions. Faith's instincts were spot on. Buffy hasn't grown much. Her instincts are way off. Buffy is the one with more story.
This is what I have a problem with. This Buffy is not one I recognise - Buffy on the show had moved past all that. It feels like we're re-treading the same ground we've already covered, just more simplistically.

(Sorry about the rantiness. I hope issue 10 will clear up a lot of this. But I'm not really expecting it to. [/it's been a long weekend w. poorly children, so I'm kinda down])

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Agree. But that's what makes me uneasy with Vaughan's Faith. She is basically season 3 Faith. Everything goes back to season 3. All her actions are defined by her Buffy issues in season 3 and her relationship with Mayor. Either the writer hasn't watched Faith on AtS and BtVS season 7 ot he deliberately ignores her development because it contradicts his own take on Faith.

I don't think he's skipped her developments. I think he's doing the exploration of the question of how the new Faith will respond to a presentation of old issues. And based on her reactions, we see that she's changed a great deal.

But that leads us to our agreement: which is that the changes are, in some sense, TOO easy. The deep currents that led to Faith in season 3 aren't going to be TOTALLY fixed by what has happened since -- all that we can do is deal with them better, not just leave them behind. But here we get the neat wrap-up where she seems to be leaving them behind. Not classic Joss story-telling at all...and since he's still 'executive producer' I'd be surprised if he let Vaughn take things off-track that way. So that's why I'm thinking that the Mary-Sueish aspects of Faith's story are in service of Buffy's story.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Faith in S4 of ATS was to the point, and took charge easily. Faith in S7 of BtVS was quieter, but focussed on the mission and willing to reach out and open up to those around her - including Buffy. I don't see that reflected in the comics.

But this Faith did reach out to Gigi, all the way through to the bitter end. So I'm not quite sure what you're referring to here.

I've had my share of rantiness about the comics! And at the end of LWH I really was unimpressed. And the fact that the positive reactions were mostly coming from the crowd that just wants to go back to the beginning didn't improve my mood at all. But as we move on, things start opening up and connecting in intriguing ways -- and that's restoring my hope that Joss really does know what he's doing. All of a sudden we are getting the mirroring and echoing of themes that made BtVS so rich. (Roden/Giles/Willow) (Gigi/Buffy/Faith). Earlier lines take on new resonance ("I still have my watcher" -- which we now understand is entirely bitter; and makes us wonder what tone underlies "I still have my demons"). That's the kind of stuff that made me love the 'verse. So I'm more hopeful than I was four months ago.

Something is up with Buffy. No doubt at all about that. My hopeful self says we'll definitely get a much clearer picture of this as we go along... that she will turn out to be organically connected to the Buffy we saw 18 months ago. But as the girl said, the funny thing about changing the world is that when you do everything is different. I'm pretty sure that's exactly the story we are going to get... a BSG-style reveal on exactly what has gone on to make the world so different.

Sorry about the poorly children. Hope all is better soon.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a comics defender I think the difference is in how we interpret where the characters had got to in the series and where they're being presented as being at in S8. As far as I'm concerned Faith had only got from A to C on the show and comics Faith was at an obvious F.