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BtVS issue 13.

In Dracula's castle Xander and Dracula exchange compliments about their looks. In Buffy's castle Andrew, clad in George Hamilton's outfit from Love at First Bite tells other slayers the story of Xander and Dracula - the one Goddard wrote back in 2004 ("Antique"). Buffy gets news from a Japanese slayer, Aiko, that the leader of Japanese vampires, Toru, may be the one who has stolen the scythe. Buffy gives an order: they all go to Japan. Meanwhile Dracula recalls that his magic powers could have been stolen when he was gambling for a motorcycle "at a Tibetan speakeasy". "I risked my very soul to attain them," he laments and agrees to help. Meanwhile, in a military cargo plane Willow tries to make Satsu reveal the details of her and Buffy's love life. "What she's like in the sack? ... Did she make that high-pitched squeal? I call it her "shoe-sale noise". Meanwhile the writers decide to remind us (just in case) that Vampires Are Bad. In Tokyo vampires Toru and Kumiko kill Aiko: using the scythe, Kumiko makes slayer's force "get away" and Toru feeds on her. "I think it’s time we take this technology global," Kumiko exclaims.

I laughed. Loudly. Then I met with some former and current Buffy fans who watched the show but don't read comics. We sat in a small cellar restaurant, I was retelling them issue 13 and they all were laughing. Obviously, that was the whole point of the issue. Sure, Aiko's death is very gruesome, but she's a redshirt, so who cares. This arc is dumb, cheesy fun and, obviously, writers relish the opportunity to laugh at the mythology which, frankly, is pretty silly when you start to dissect it.

The soul thing. I am sure that back in season 2 when Joss has devised the whole Angel\Angelus dichotomy, he was sure that season 2 will be the last. The trick worked OK as a metaphor of a good-boyfriend-turned-bad-after-sex, but on a plot level it was pure crack - and, obviouly Joss understood that fact perfectly. He tried to keep consistency but in the end he gave up and let Goddard turn the soul issue into a joke in The Girl in Question. Now the subversion continues with the introduction of Dracula's soul.

I wonder Goddard means a demonic soul, like the ones that vampires used to have in season 1. [livejournal.com profile] stormwreath suggests that Goddard could just mention a soul as a figure of speech (I doubt it. The word "soul" is highlighted.) While [livejournal.com profile] mrs_underhill thinks that Dracula got his magic powers when he was still human (I provide the link to our discussions on Russian Diaries - just in case). But [livejournal.com profile] beer_good_foamy offers the best explanation - season 8 happens in Andrew's fanfiction.

I'm afraid that's all I can say about the issue. I tried hard to come up with something insightful or, at least, sensible. Something about parallels between Buffy and Dracula, who are both isolated in their respective castles. But I just can't analyse the arc seriously. I think the best approach is to relax and laugh together with the writers.

Angel: After the Fall, issue 6

In prologue and epilogue telepathic fish Betta George recalls its own tribulations. The main body consists of three isolated stories - of Spike, Connor and Lorne - during that fateful night in NFA. All the three of them are suddenly teleported in a different place in (seemingly) LA.

Spike, not unlike Angel, finds himself on the roof of a building. And, not unlike Angel, he also is "rebooted" for the lack of better word - his wounds are gone and even his duster is as good as new. First he thinks he got his reward - peaceful life to enjoy. Then he notices demons, fights them, sees unconscious Fred at the foot of the building. She wears the same clothes she had in AHITW. When she regains consciousness, she doesn't know what happened after her death. Several women pursued by demons ask Spike to protect them. When the fight starts, Fred turns into Illyria. Spike realises that he has to forget about his retirement plans.

Connor is also "rebooted" - he finds himself elsewhere in LA and he realises that he remembers everything from the moment of his birth. "I'm not only immaculate vampire baby, I'm also Oedipus." Не sees a horde of demons approaching and hides. But demons find him and decide to kill. To be continued.

Looks like Lorne is the only character who hasn't been teleported. At least there is no mention of teleportation. Lorne arrived to Silverlake in "a taxi with a face". He started singing and people got inspired by his songs and fought demons valiantly. Then a sorceress' spell has cleared Silverlake of demons and people has chosen Lorne as their leader. "Lorne got his groove back right after the fall".

In a way, issue 6 is a letdown. Any flashback right after a cliffhanger would be a letdown. We desperately want to know what happens next and it's inhuman to keep us waiting for several months. That said, issue 6 offers an intriguing glimpse into the events of that night. Obviously, Angel, Spike, Fredliria and Connor have been teleported, roughly at the same time. They all underwent serious changes in the process: Angel turned human, Spike got healed, Connor got all his memories back, Illyria got the ability to turn into Fred (not just shape-shift, but acquire different personality). I tried to figure out why Lorne hasn't underwent neither teleportation nor major changes. Here's what I came up with. 1. He's a creature from another dimension. 2. He's officially parted ways with Angel at the moment of the battle. 3. Lynch hasn't found rhymes to describe his teleportation. The third option looks the most probable.

I loved Spike's story, felt underwhelmed by Connor's story and was a bit baffled by Lorne's story.

Spike dreaming about retirement is funny, his discovery of Fred is incredibly poignant and his quick realisation that the fight goes on is the best bookend of his story. No matter how short it is, it's packed with important events, essential for understanding of the next installments. Also, it has a beginning, a culmination and the logical conclusion. Plus, Messina draws great Spike.

Connor's story ends with a cliffhanger so it's hard to judge its plot until we find out how he escaped from demons and became a leader of people in Santa Monica. It doesn't help that I'm not a fan of Mooney's style, to put it mildly. Thankfully he uses processed screencaps of Amy Acker and Charisma Carpenter for flashbacks - but his Connor looks plain ugly.

And, finally, Lorne. Love the idea to tell his story in rhymes, but, frankly, I'm amazed how easily Lynch got him off the hook. Peaceful Lorne has killed a man. And all the consequences get limited to one line about "much inner pain, sorrow and strife". That's it?

When we were speculating about possible developments of Lorne's story, I suggested that it could be murder that had promoted Lindley to the status of lord. And that such "honor" would be intolerable to Lorne. But it seems that writers don't see anything particularly horrible in his behavior. Maybe I'm overreacting. I adore Lindsey and his death was one of the biggest shocks to me, so maybe it's just me forgetting about suspension-of-disbelief attitude.

Random observations and questions.

The moment when Spike teleports, there is something sharp and deadly inches away from his throat. Looks like he got teleported as soon as he was on the verge of death. Or it was just a coincidence?

While other characters got teleported without visual effects, Fredliria arrives in a magic circle. A sign that PTB did something different in her case or a simple plot necessity (the flames of the magic circle as a way to bring Spike's attention to that singular unconscious woman in darkness)?

Lorne's interpretation of season 5 events is *very* metaphorical. Could it mean that the rest of his story is also told by the same unreliable narrator and should be regarded accordingly?

ETA. Just read [livejournal.com profile] flake_sake's pet theory that "all of them got something back that they lost in the deal with W&H. Angel's shanshu, Connor's full memory, Fred's soul and so on" and it occurred to me that they all got their former abilities in the enhanced mode.

Angel not only got back his humanity but also turned human. Connor got back not only the usual human memories, but he has got superhuman memories of everything that ever happened to him. Lorne got back so much groove that his singing now inspires regular people to slay demons. Fred returned enhanced by Illyria's power.

But as it happens in RL, their extra powers brought them a lot of trouble.
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