Buffy season 10 no 14
Apr. 22nd, 2015 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightSpoilers behind cut. And can I just say again I am now totally and completely thrown by these comics. Not because they're good, bad or indifferent (this issue definitely verges towards indifferent, or even bad - it could have been so much more interesting than it is), but because it looks like Spuffy is a real, genuine thing in them. I just never thought I'd see that in anything with Joss Whedon's name on it (even though he probably hasn't had time to think about the comics for months).
Spoilers behind cut.
Again, the issue is very talky. It's just Gage's style, I guess. I remember A&F season 9 being quite talky too (though I think it was less noticeable in that series because there weren't so many characters).
It starts with Willow and Giles saying that the only way to find out who is doing the killings (as seen in the last issue) is for someone to enter Spike's mind in astral form when he sleeps. Spike is about to ask Xander when Willow says that's no good. If the person's astral projection is detected and killed, they could die in real life. So it has to be someone strong, which is how it ends up being Buffy.
Spike's not happy about this, for reasons that you could guess - ie. that Buffy will see his horrible past and that seeing it is different to just knowing about it. He's also worried that she'll see what he's really like inside as a person and not like him. Buffy promises not to pry unduly.
She then gives him a kiss for luck, at which point Xander sticks his hand up and says "That's what Princess Leia said to Luke, and it turned out they were..." Dawn hits him.
This is about the only even remotely funny line.
Buffy and Spike go to sleep. The preview pages, during which Buffy learns that Spike loves her in a sort of messy, complicated, human way (at least, that's how I read it, not that she didn't believe he really loved her until then). She's not happy about him having had sex with Harmony, even though Willow points out they weren't together then. But Willow tells her to examine the way Spike sees Harmony (because she's sort of seeing through his eyes), and then the way he looks at Buffy.
According to Rebekah Isaacs Spike sees Buffy as a sort of glowy flower maiden. Hmm.
Anyway, Buffy then sees the murders and follows a trail of shadow that leads from them into Spike's past. Willow warns her to be careful. Buffy sees the moment Spike got his soul back. Buffy makes a big thing of saying that he chose it, for her (okay, as a Spuffy 'shipper, I'm actually getting a bit embarrassed at this point - and suspicious. Maybe we're being made fun of all along?)
Buffy goes back further, but we just get glimpses - a very badly drawn punk Spike killing Nikki, Spike with LMPTM hair etc. Buffy's upset that he's killing and enjoying it. Willow reminds her that's not who he is now. Buffy says she's focused on the target and will ignore everything else.
Buffy sees the moment Drusilla sired William, then finds herself dragged down through Drusilla. Now, all she can see is Drusilla's memories, but we don't get to linger over those. Instead, we see the moment Angelus killed Drusilla, then Angel being killed by Darla, then the Master, then Buffy appears to hit the ground. At the same time, she loses mental contact with Willow.
Suddenly, she finds herself confronted by a big, red nasty monster with lots of bony claws and spines (nothing like a vampire, not even an uber vamp). It welcomes her to hell and tells her its name is Archaeus. Then it tries to squash Buffy like a bug. Buffy yells to Willow for help.
The next thing we know, we're back outside Spike's mind and Buffy and Spike are waking up. Buffy escaped Archaeus by 'pushing the other way' and breaking through the illusion. While she was doing that, she learned where Archaeus is now.
Well, that was lame, IMO. A sort of 'with one leap Jack was free' sort of deal.
So anyway, it turns out that Mini!Giles knows who Archaeus is. He directly sired the Master, so he's Spike's great-great-grandsire. According to Mini!Giles, the leading theory among Watchers (which we're hearing for the first time ever) is that when a vampire sires someone part of the same demon as the sire enters the new vampire. So, the Master, Darla, Angel, Dru and Spike all have essence of the same demon in them, and it's Archaeus, which is why Spike saw himself killing the people in the previous issue.
Buffy's reaction is to say, "Angel-and Spike? I literally fell in love with the same guy twice."
Which is nice for the Spuffy 'shippers too. She finally said the 'L' word. I'm not quite sure what it does for the Spangel 'shippers. Does it mean that if Angel and Spike are in love with each other, it's just narcissism?
My head hurts.
Actually, Mini!Giles debunks that theory slightly (which is just as well because it doesn't make any sense) by saying that it's more complicated than that. A vampire is "a combination of the demon's essence, and the human host's persona...often its darkest aspects. But yes...it now appears that with very powerful demons like Archaeus, there is a common thread...and that, to a degree, they can exert influence on their 'descendants.'"
Back to not making any sense again. If Archaeus is a demon, how come his offspring are vampires?
And that's the least of it.
Okay, to finish in brief. They go to fight Archaeus, who is, for some reason, hanging around the port of San Francisco. Archaeus has minions, who appear to be New!Vamps because they look like bats. He can also cast spells, but he's not on Willow's level so he stabs her with one of his spiny things. Buffy slashes him with the scythe, and Archaeus orders Spike to kill her. Spike says that it's disgusting enough that Archaeus is part of him, but he has his soul, which trumps everything. But Archaeus slashes Buffy's arm, saying there's nothing quite like Slayer blood, is there? Spike hesitates. Buffy tells him he can fight it. Spike tries. Buffy tells him he's been through worse and Archaeus can't make him do something he doesn't want to do. The next moment, Spike's vamped out and grabbed Buffy.
I don't think this was a very good issue. The last three were much better. Disappointing. The journey through Spike's mind could have been so much more interesting and packed so much more punch. Also, Buffy's escape from Archaeus-in-Spike's-mind was lame. Also, also, I want to get back to Ghost!Anya, who is a hell of a lot more interesting than some lame demon who sired the Master.
Meh(ish)!
On the other hand, I just read this month's Angel and Faith and was so bored by it I have nothing whatsoever to say.
So there's that.
ETA: And I've now read the Buffy comic again, and it doesn't seem so bad this time around. Hmm.
Spoilers behind cut.
Again, the issue is very talky. It's just Gage's style, I guess. I remember A&F season 9 being quite talky too (though I think it was less noticeable in that series because there weren't so many characters).
It starts with Willow and Giles saying that the only way to find out who is doing the killings (as seen in the last issue) is for someone to enter Spike's mind in astral form when he sleeps. Spike is about to ask Xander when Willow says that's no good. If the person's astral projection is detected and killed, they could die in real life. So it has to be someone strong, which is how it ends up being Buffy.
Spike's not happy about this, for reasons that you could guess - ie. that Buffy will see his horrible past and that seeing it is different to just knowing about it. He's also worried that she'll see what he's really like inside as a person and not like him. Buffy promises not to pry unduly.
She then gives him a kiss for luck, at which point Xander sticks his hand up and says "That's what Princess Leia said to Luke, and it turned out they were..." Dawn hits him.
This is about the only even remotely funny line.
Buffy and Spike go to sleep. The preview pages, during which Buffy learns that Spike loves her in a sort of messy, complicated, human way (at least, that's how I read it, not that she didn't believe he really loved her until then). She's not happy about him having had sex with Harmony, even though Willow points out they weren't together then. But Willow tells her to examine the way Spike sees Harmony (because she's sort of seeing through his eyes), and then the way he looks at Buffy.
According to Rebekah Isaacs Spike sees Buffy as a sort of glowy flower maiden. Hmm.
Anyway, Buffy then sees the murders and follows a trail of shadow that leads from them into Spike's past. Willow warns her to be careful. Buffy sees the moment Spike got his soul back. Buffy makes a big thing of saying that he chose it, for her (okay, as a Spuffy 'shipper, I'm actually getting a bit embarrassed at this point - and suspicious. Maybe we're being made fun of all along?)
Buffy goes back further, but we just get glimpses - a very badly drawn punk Spike killing Nikki, Spike with LMPTM hair etc. Buffy's upset that he's killing and enjoying it. Willow reminds her that's not who he is now. Buffy says she's focused on the target and will ignore everything else.
Buffy sees the moment Drusilla sired William, then finds herself dragged down through Drusilla. Now, all she can see is Drusilla's memories, but we don't get to linger over those. Instead, we see the moment Angelus killed Drusilla, then Angel being killed by Darla, then the Master, then Buffy appears to hit the ground. At the same time, she loses mental contact with Willow.
Suddenly, she finds herself confronted by a big, red nasty monster with lots of bony claws and spines (nothing like a vampire, not even an uber vamp). It welcomes her to hell and tells her its name is Archaeus. Then it tries to squash Buffy like a bug. Buffy yells to Willow for help.
The next thing we know, we're back outside Spike's mind and Buffy and Spike are waking up. Buffy escaped Archaeus by 'pushing the other way' and breaking through the illusion. While she was doing that, she learned where Archaeus is now.
Well, that was lame, IMO. A sort of 'with one leap Jack was free' sort of deal.
So anyway, it turns out that Mini!Giles knows who Archaeus is. He directly sired the Master, so he's Spike's great-great-grandsire. According to Mini!Giles, the leading theory among Watchers (which we're hearing for the first time ever) is that when a vampire sires someone part of the same demon as the sire enters the new vampire. So, the Master, Darla, Angel, Dru and Spike all have essence of the same demon in them, and it's Archaeus, which is why Spike saw himself killing the people in the previous issue.
Buffy's reaction is to say, "Angel-and Spike? I literally fell in love with the same guy twice."
Which is nice for the Spuffy 'shippers too. She finally said the 'L' word. I'm not quite sure what it does for the Spangel 'shippers. Does it mean that if Angel and Spike are in love with each other, it's just narcissism?
My head hurts.
Actually, Mini!Giles debunks that theory slightly (which is just as well because it doesn't make any sense) by saying that it's more complicated than that. A vampire is "a combination of the demon's essence, and the human host's persona...often its darkest aspects. But yes...it now appears that with very powerful demons like Archaeus, there is a common thread...and that, to a degree, they can exert influence on their 'descendants.'"
Back to not making any sense again. If Archaeus is a demon, how come his offspring are vampires?
And that's the least of it.
Okay, to finish in brief. They go to fight Archaeus, who is, for some reason, hanging around the port of San Francisco. Archaeus has minions, who appear to be New!Vamps because they look like bats. He can also cast spells, but he's not on Willow's level so he stabs her with one of his spiny things. Buffy slashes him with the scythe, and Archaeus orders Spike to kill her. Spike says that it's disgusting enough that Archaeus is part of him, but he has his soul, which trumps everything. But Archaeus slashes Buffy's arm, saying there's nothing quite like Slayer blood, is there? Spike hesitates. Buffy tells him he can fight it. Spike tries. Buffy tells him he's been through worse and Archaeus can't make him do something he doesn't want to do. The next moment, Spike's vamped out and grabbed Buffy.
I don't think this was a very good issue. The last three were much better. Disappointing. The journey through Spike's mind could have been so much more interesting and packed so much more punch. Also, Buffy's escape from Archaeus-in-Spike's-mind was lame. Also, also, I want to get back to Ghost!Anya, who is a hell of a lot more interesting than some lame demon who sired the Master.
Meh(ish)!
On the other hand, I just read this month's Angel and Faith and was so bored by it I have nothing whatsoever to say.
So there's that.
ETA: And I've now read the Buffy comic again, and it doesn't seem so bad this time around. Hmm.