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

[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).