Buffy season 10 no 4
Jun. 18th, 2014 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightRead this. Quite enjoyed it. Precis of the chief plot points and brief review behind cut.
Spoilers
In brief, Dracula and Xander are holed up in a luxury hotel, trying to find the right wording to make everyone accept that Dracula is the lord of all vampires. This turns out not to be as easy as they thought and ends with Xander's short and to the point wording (Dracula is the most powerful vampire of all) turning Dracula into Maloker, the Old One who created all vampires, and who Buffy destroyed in the Deeper Well in season 9.
The other important thing in the book is Dawn's revelation that Xander was right when he said she didn't love him, but it has nothing to do with what he did in season 9 (betraying Buffy to Simone the evil slayer). It's because when Dawn almost disappeared and came back, her feelings for everyone were sort of reset back to how she felt when she was first created. So she's back to having a teenage crush on Xander and can't deal with the intensity of his feelings for her, and she's been hit by the fact of Joyce's death as if it had only just happened.
The conversation between Dawn and Buffy is very nice actually, and the Xander/Dracula stuff is back to being hilarious.
In fact, there are some good funny moments, including Andrew trying to un-write what Xander has written, only to have the Vampyr books spit ink at him when he firstly tries to undo Dracula's transformation (Xander tells him the book doesn't like retcons) and secondly tries writing that Dracula woke up and it was all a dream (Xander tells him the book really doesn't like cliches). There's also a good running gag of Andrew referring to Willow as Dark Willow, her protesting is she a trope now, and Andrew telling her to embrace it. He'd kill to be a trope.
Spike does his part. Also, the first panel has Buffy all concerned about him having been run through with a sword, and Spike making very light of it. Apart from that, he's basically muscle, and also how they find Dracula, as - much to his disgust - he's been partially affected by Dracula's interference in the book and keeps referring to him as his lord and master and then getting very cross at having done so.
So yet again another solid ensemble issue, which I'm back to quite enjoying, even though it is of course very silly. Still, at least there's slightly more to the idea of being able to write whatever you want in the Vampyr book and have it come true. Seems you have to be really careful what you wish for.
Spoilers
In brief, Dracula and Xander are holed up in a luxury hotel, trying to find the right wording to make everyone accept that Dracula is the lord of all vampires. This turns out not to be as easy as they thought and ends with Xander's short and to the point wording (Dracula is the most powerful vampire of all) turning Dracula into Maloker, the Old One who created all vampires, and who Buffy destroyed in the Deeper Well in season 9.
The other important thing in the book is Dawn's revelation that Xander was right when he said she didn't love him, but it has nothing to do with what he did in season 9 (betraying Buffy to Simone the evil slayer). It's because when Dawn almost disappeared and came back, her feelings for everyone were sort of reset back to how she felt when she was first created. So she's back to having a teenage crush on Xander and can't deal with the intensity of his feelings for her, and she's been hit by the fact of Joyce's death as if it had only just happened.
The conversation between Dawn and Buffy is very nice actually, and the Xander/Dracula stuff is back to being hilarious.
In fact, there are some good funny moments, including Andrew trying to un-write what Xander has written, only to have the Vampyr books spit ink at him when he firstly tries to undo Dracula's transformation (Xander tells him the book doesn't like retcons) and secondly tries writing that Dracula woke up and it was all a dream (Xander tells him the book really doesn't like cliches). There's also a good running gag of Andrew referring to Willow as Dark Willow, her protesting is she a trope now, and Andrew telling her to embrace it. He'd kill to be a trope.
Spike does his part. Also, the first panel has Buffy all concerned about him having been run through with a sword, and Spike making very light of it. Apart from that, he's basically muscle, and also how they find Dracula, as - much to his disgust - he's been partially affected by Dracula's interference in the book and keeps referring to him as his lord and master and then getting very cross at having done so.
So yet again another solid ensemble issue, which I'm back to quite enjoying, even though it is of course very silly. Still, at least there's slightly more to the idea of being able to write whatever you want in the Vampyr book and have it come true. Seems you have to be really careful what you wish for.
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no subject
Date: 2014-06-18 01:47 pm (UTC)Not very much to add about Buffy and the others. So far nothing interesting for them.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-18 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-18 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-19 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-18 03:04 pm (UTC)Otherwise, sounds like fluffy amusement.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-18 04:54 pm (UTC)No clue how that works. We're probably not meant to think about it too hard.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-18 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-19 06:35 pm (UTC)Me too! I find their utterly ridiculous relationship not only hilarious, but rather touching. I hope Dracula isn't dead.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-20 08:04 am (UTC)Willow, Spike, Andrew, and Giles all got to have their funny bits, while Buffy and Dawn got the heartfelt moments. Everybody is recognizable both in terms of the artwork and the characterizations. I'm also okay with the plot, so far. The cover was gorgeous, wasn't it? Steve Morris does a great job. I'm wondering why they felt they couldn't use a real San Francisco old-school luxury hotel, though. It's not like there aren't gobs of them. Huff.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-20 08:15 am (UTC)I agree. It was one of the few things I enjoyed in season 8. Also, ridiculous though it is, I find their odd couple relationship quite touching. Both Drew Goddard, who wrote it in season 8, and Gage have managed to inject some real emotion into it on one level.
I hope Dracula isn't just dead now.
To me it makes sense, and all I really ask of these stories is that they make emotional sense, and they so seldom do.
Yeah, usually you're left feeling you've been whacked over the head with a blunt instrument, thinking, the what, the where, the which?
Mind you, that is also true of Xander/Dracula. Difference is, though, it's funny.
I'm wondering why they felt they couldn't use a real San Francisco old-school luxury hotel, though. It's not like there aren't gobs of them. Huff.
Maybe they were afraid of being sued?
Seriously, though, the comic hasn't made very good use of the SF location, IMO. Jeanty managed to make the Coit Tower area look quite ugly in season 9. On the other hand, his use of the location led to some unintentional hilarity for me on one of the fan forums when other posters thought the statue of Christopher Columbus (which, why is it there again?) was a reference to Angel as Twilight.