BtVS issue 11spoilery specs

[moscow_watcher]

I finally read issue 11. Don't have ideas for a review, but here are some spoilery speculations.

1. Twilight's identity.

He's somebody we know. Story-wise, there is no need to hide a face and to change a voice (I was told that "funny" font he uses means he distorts his voice) unless you're afraid to be recognized.

Who is he? So far the prime suspects are Caleb and Riley.

Arguments for Caleb:

-- he's been shown twice in the comics (in this issue and in Buffy's dreamspace in issue 3)
-- he knows "Buffy's move" when she tries to use the technique she used to kill Caleb
-- Caleb is a preacher and Buffy/Twilight fight is heavy with church props and there is even a direct reference (Buffy: "Church me")

Arguments against Caleb:

-- I find it hard to imagine him aknowledging that "one girl was OK"

-- Twilight's cool boots are his trademark feature and Caleb wore shoes in season 7



Arguments for Riley

-- Although he isn't mentioned by name, there is a lot of indirect Riley presence in this issue. Twilight's arrival is forestalled with Buffy recalling her dream in Restless (Buffy to Satsu: "You look like me in a dream I had one time")




RILEY: (offscreen) Thought you were looking for your friends. Okay, killer... if that's the way you want it. I guess you're on your own. (Walks off.)

-- later Buffy mentions Riley among "people who died" - - "they start letting vamps suck on 'em and they leave"

-- Joss has promised Riley's return

Arguments against Riley

-- character-wise, it doesn't make sense (then again does Buffy robbing banks make sense?)

2. Mole identity.

I can't see anybody but Renee as a mole.

Story-wise, it's very Jossian. Renee as a traitor will provide Xander with a heartbreak big enough to satisfy Joss.

Character-wise, it doesn't add up: she sounds very sweet and sincerely in love with Xander. But I can't help remembering Knox on Joss-penned AtS episode A Hole in the World. He also was sweet and sounded sincere in his love for Fred. Joss even included him in a powershot of the characters going with the mission of saving Fred. And several scenes later a slip of tongue betrayed him as a man who killed her. Typical Joss.

So - any ideas?

Comments

[elisi]

It's obvious they have no other mean for money.
It's not obvious to me, but then clearly that is just a difference of viewpoints or something. Angel f.ex. charged for his services, and I'm sure I could think of plenty of legal ways of making money if I had a whole bunch of superpowered girls handy. Like... construction! Xander could set up a firm (Since he knows the business), and they could make a small fortune building houses etc in record time. I just can't see bankrobbery being the only option. That's all.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

You're right. They had other options. I wasn't saying she was right, but this was the fastest way to get the most money now, when they need it.

Plus, setting up a firm is not gonna be as easy as it sounds. Angel didn't have 500 teenage slayers to support. And Xander is on board with the robbery thing, maybe he couldn't set up a construction firm. Besides, they have the government after them. There was no time to make a living. Again, Buffy was desperate, the fact she was upset about it in issue 11 shows how she hated that she had to do it, hated that she set a bad example to all her slayers.

[elisi]

Well I think she has the government after her *because* she's been robbing banks.

Twilight is of course after her anyway, but it gets help from the government because she poses a clear and proven threat.

See I don't have problems with heroes doing bankrobberies per se - f.ex. that's how Capt Mal makes his living. It's just Buffy that's OOC in that situation IMHO.

But it's not canon anyway, so really it doesn't matter! :)

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

Well I think she has the government after her *because* she's been robbing banks.

According to issue one, they're after Buffy because they think she's a terrorist. (Blowing up a whole town) and as you said because Buffy is acting above the law.

In S7, she mentioned that she's the law, human rules don't apply. It's a clear foreshadow to S8.

But it's not canon anyway, so really it doesn't matter! :)

That's subjective. :) Guess to me, if Joss said it's canon, I'll take it as canon, this is his verse in the end. His characters don't act as we wish them to, there were out-of-character moments during the show, at least to me, but I sucked it up in the end.

[elisi]

According to issue one, they're after Buffy because they think she's a terrorist. (Blowing up a whole town)
They'd never in a million years be able to prove that, and also I'm sure it was Twilight who told them that. Bankrobbery however they *can* prove.

In S7, she mentioned that she's the law, human rules don't apply. It's a clear foreshadow to S8.
Oh no, it's a callback to S3 and Faith - and also to the fact that she shoulders a responsibility *outside* the law. If Anya had been human still, Buffy would have let the police deal with her (like Warren in S6).

His characters don't act as we wish them to, there were out-of-character moments during the show, at least to me, but I sucked it up in the end.
See the problem for me is that I've stopped caring about them in s8. The *story* is neat - well told (by now), well plotted etc - and I want to know what happens next. But I never watched Buffy because of the story, I watched because of the characters and how they story affected them. Like... oh say the AR. Getting Spike to go off and get his soul back could probably have been done in lots of different ways, it was the outcome that mattered. But with s8 I am curious about the story, not about how it will affect the characters. Will Xander betray Buffy? Maybe, maybe not. The fact that this is one of her oldest and most trustworthy friends really doesn't move me at all - it's a puzzle, a riddle, not a heart wrenching dilemma.

[lusciousxander.livejournal.com]

With me it's the opposite. I'm enjoying S8 because of the characters, not the storyline. The storyline is neat, this big bad is actually interesting because he's not really evil (I was never a big fan of the show's big bads, only liked Angelus and Warren.)

However, plotline never interested me as much as characters. I'm enjoying Buffy here like I've never enjoyed her before, she's going through new challenges, bigger than the ones she faced in S7. I really wish SMG acted the scene with Giles on the phone, acted the scene with Faith in the pool, acted the scene with Satsu in the graveyard. Heck, all Buffy's scenes with Xander were awesome, and very Buffy-like.

I'm enjoying that they continued the friendship between Xander and Buffy, they were getting closer in S7, in ways they never had before (I think the scene in Seeing Red was the key) he was becoming as much of a family as Dawn, the hand squeeze in Chosen clearly shows that of all the Core Four, Xander was the only one she was really fine with.

I thought it was weird that Xander was in Africa when we had such a strong family vibe between Buffy, Xander and Dawn. This continuation makes more sense than Andrew's story in S5.

Buffy and Willow aren't as close as they used to, same goes with Buffy and Giles, as well as Buffy and Dawn, that's all interesting to me. Wish we get to see how that develops, and cross my fingers that this won't be another S7 where character relationships go to the background in favor of plot.

[elisi]

Odd, isn't it, how different we are. Guess one thing is that I was never a Scooby fan as such - don't get me wrong I am immensely fond of them, but I watched for Buffy's sake (and Spike, of course. Always Spike).