(no subject)

[moscow_watcher]

The issue starts with Wesley and Fred in their own brand oh heaven. We already saw a glimpse of this heaven in the beginning of AHITW: they are happy together, they fight evil and relax in between fights. But here Wesley quickly realises it's an illusion created by W&H. As soon as he gets it "Fred" transforms into a Random W&H Employee (according to Lynch, "Wolfram & Hart were tempting Wesley with the promise of his lady, so they were just going for some symbolic imagery") and recruits Wesley by promising him to get Fred back. Ghost!Wesley steps from a gilded cage/pocket dimension/whatever place they are into the ruined LA. Random W&H Employee speaks with Invisible Voice who reveals that "Wesley is the reason we'll win".

Meanwhile, Connor gets saved by vigilante Kate Lockley who brings him to her flat stacked with weapons. She repeats to him famous Angel's words: "If nothing we do matters then all that matters is what we do" and leaves. Connor, upon pondering on her words, decides to act.

Meanwhile, Betta George reads the mind of his guards and pictures three identically clad girls fighting beasties in a basement. Looks like it's a training session and the girls are slayers...

TBC...

The more I reread Wesley's story the more cryptic it looks. I only can speculate that, somehow, his journey is connected to that of Illyria who may have some hidden powers even she doesn't know about. Or it is all about Fred now. It started with a girl, remember?

My theory is that W&H knows something about Fred\Illyria and wants to control Illyria's transformations into Fred by using Wesley. Because it was Wesley who invoked Fred in Illyria for the first time (in NFA) and it was his appearance that triggered her transformation in issue 5.

I understands that it's a tricky moment. Here I had a very interesting discussion with beer_good_foamy who thinks that it wasn't Fred who talked to dying Wesley in NFA. Although her phrase "Do you want me to lie to you now?" suggests it was still Illyria, I can't shake off the impression that a moment later something happens - something she can't control - and Fred awakens in her. Maybe I have this impression because we see Fred's hand first and her face later. Hands imagery has always been the sign of supreme truth in Jossverse. Maybe it's because she cries, and tears are sacred in Jossverse (Andrew's tears closed the seal of Danzaltar.) Maybe because Fred existing in Illyria was planned from the very beginning. Fred's last words in AHITW - "why can't I stay?" are a very obvious set-up. Anyway, the scene in NFA is ambivalent per ce, and with comics confirming that there is Fred in Illyria's body it becomes even more ironic (sometimes white lies become the ultimate truth).

So, maybe by keeping ghost!Wesley around Senior Partners hope to use him as a trigger to invoke Fred and suppress Illyria in the right place and time. But it's just a guess.

It was nice to have Kate back. She's an underdeveloped character with great potential. I suspect Joss had more plans for her, but changed them after Sense and Sensibility. He always makes kind of exams for his new actors to test their abilities before he decides to proceed or not to proceed with their characters. Elisabeth Rohm's exam was Kate's big emotional scene in S&S where she was... well... meriocre. Not particularly bad - but imagine what could Sarah or Alyson do in that scene. Or Eliza. Or Amy. Anyway, after this episode Kate got relegated to background and then left. But, obviously, Joss had interesting ideas about her and looks like Connor's story here is servicing Kate's big entrance. I can't believe that a man who grew up in Quor'toth got paralysed by fear when hell broke loose in LA.

But the scene where Kate quotes Angel without naming him fully makes up for this inconsistensy. It's the ultimate emotional punch, simple, efficient and heart-wrenching, passing the baton, continuing the fight. It's the moment that made me cry. Very Jossian.

And the idea of the slayers who are training in Gunn's basement is brilliantly unsettling. I immediately recalled the scene in the slayer school in issue 5 of BtVS where girls are "studying" a chained vampire. I may be wrong, but - are these slayers members of Gunn's team? They all have the same outfits - functional combat outfits. And they have stakes. There are three slayers on the panel. If there are 1800 slayers in 6,600 mln of Earth population, then at least 4 (or even 5) of them should live in LA with its 18 mln. population. I wonder if they're Gunn's allies, his "secret weapon".

So far, Lynch gave us more questions than answers. And each issue ups the ante. The final revelation was truly surprising. Can't wait for the next issue!