Buffy season 11 no 3
Jan. 25th, 2017 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightWell, I enjoyed it again.
Spoilers behind cut
Which is probably not going to be the reaction in some places, but I'm resigned to that now and I really can't be bothered to argue.
So, anyway. The issue starts with a young couple being jumped in a dark alley, but all is not what it seems. The young man is actually a demon, and the jumpers are the officially sanctioned Slayers we met in the previous issue. They bundle the young man off to the 'safe zone' and when the girl protests how is this different to arresting people for interracial marriages, or sending Japanese-Americans to internment camps, the Slayers reply (with some truth) that those were human beings and they hadn't wiped out half of San Francisco. Not that the young demon guy had done that either, but still...
Dawn and Xander happen to be passing when all this happens and they are aghast, but they can't interfere. Elsewhere a dodgy looking type gives Mini!Giles forged papers to say that he's fully human (which he surely is anyway, isn't he?). Back at the apartment, Xander and Dawn reveal that they, too, have been certified as 'normal human,' though Xander was worried about Dawn passing the test. Dawn says the monks who made her copied a human girl exactly and surely Willow could use the same spell to pass the test. Willow says the military already know she's a witch. Besides, she wants to go to the safe zone. "Wiccans are being rounded up by the dozen, 'even ones who can barely conjure." This includes her friends, her students, people she brought into Wicca in the first place. Now, they're surrounded by demons and monsters. 'It's like putting sheep in a lion's den.' She needs to protect them.
Mini!Giles if convinced he'll fit in fine at an American school. After all, he used to work in one. Everyone looks dubious and he gets the jitters. Thinks maybe he should go to the safe zone after all. Buffy says no. "You'll be a small fish in a big pond full of demon piranhas."
Spike comes in. He tells them his SFPD credentials have been revoked and he's received a letter ordering him to go to the safe zone. Giles says he should leave the country the way Harmony did. Spike says that she went on tour before things got bad and has just decided to stay away. It's much harder to get out now, especially since he can't travel during the day.
There's a knock (a very loud knock) on the door. The Slayers have come for Willow and Spike. They've evaluated them as flight risks and come for them early. They have fifteen minutes to pack. Buffy is furious. Demands to know how they can possibly be ready in fifteen minutes. The Slayer (I forget her name - ETA: it's Jordan) tells Buffy Slayers are exempt. "You can go back to waitressing. Seems to be the only career that sticks for you."
Buffy, needless to say, is furious. Jordan won't back down. Reminds her the Slayers were created to fight evil. "You used to be the best of us. What happened to you?" Buffy says she's lived longer than Slayers are meant to. She's learned that the world isn't black and white. "You can't paint everyone with the same brush. Human or otherwise." Jordan sneers, "Let me translate. You got weak. Developed a vampire fetish. 'Once you go Drac, you never go back', am I right?"
Big fight ensues. Jordan doesn't have it all her own way by any means, but clearly she has a plan, because when they end up at the bottom of the stairs (which Buffy has thrown her down), turns out she has reinforcements, including another magic user.
The preview pages, which end with Spike telling them to stop fighting. He's ready to go. Willow agrees with him. "Now's as good a time as any." Buffy says fine. She'll stand down too, but she won't take the Slayer exemption. She's going with them.
Back in the apartment, Spike says this is daft. She shouldn't do it for him. Buffy says he's only part of it. What's happening is wrong. "I'm going to stand up and fight it and protect those who can't. Which, no matter what little Miss Stormtrooper out there thinks is what being a Slayer is all about."
They say their goodbyes. Spike asks Xander to feed the cats. Xander says he already does that.
Outside, they're not the only ones saying goodbye to loved ones. There's a Wiccan girl saying goodbye to her girlfriend. She tells her not to be afraid. Willow will protect her. Willow looks worried. Off they go to the safe zone in a convoy of old school buses. When they get there, it looks pretty much like Guantanamo Bay.
I can already guess the reactions of various posters elsewhere to this issue. Again, I think it's more nuanced than probably most of them are going to give it credit for being (and no more 'shit' than season 8 was). Yes, the Slayers come across as pretty mean, but their viewpoint is understandable. Then again Buffy and Willow also have a point. Yes, many of the denizens of the so-called 'safe zone' are highly dangerous, but many - especially the Wiccans Willow talks about - are not, and lumping them all together is wrong.
The real world parallels are pretty obvious, so I won't even bother to draw them. I will say, though, when a story explores issues like these, anyone expecting it to take a different line has clearly (after all these years) failed to grasp the fact that Joss is a liberal with a capital 'L', and that POV is going to be where the story will come from (though as I say, I think it's more nuanced that people are giving it credit for, and I'm also very sceptical that the same level of nuance would be found in a story about the same subject written by someone of the opposite political standpoint. YMMV.
ETA: Seems I was wrong about this issue provoking the same amount of fury as the previous one. However, since I thought the previous one was nuanced too, I don't really see why this one has been let off the hook, as it were. Jordan, for instance, though I see where her POV is coming from, I think Buffy's description of her as 'little Miss Stormtrooper' is pretty apt. She's enjoying what she's doing way too much.
Also, I'm still fingering the vice president as the ultimate villain of the piece.
Spoilers behind cut
Which is probably not going to be the reaction in some places, but I'm resigned to that now and I really can't be bothered to argue.
So, anyway. The issue starts with a young couple being jumped in a dark alley, but all is not what it seems. The young man is actually a demon, and the jumpers are the officially sanctioned Slayers we met in the previous issue. They bundle the young man off to the 'safe zone' and when the girl protests how is this different to arresting people for interracial marriages, or sending Japanese-Americans to internment camps, the Slayers reply (with some truth) that those were human beings and they hadn't wiped out half of San Francisco. Not that the young demon guy had done that either, but still...
Dawn and Xander happen to be passing when all this happens and they are aghast, but they can't interfere. Elsewhere a dodgy looking type gives Mini!Giles forged papers to say that he's fully human (which he surely is anyway, isn't he?). Back at the apartment, Xander and Dawn reveal that they, too, have been certified as 'normal human,' though Xander was worried about Dawn passing the test. Dawn says the monks who made her copied a human girl exactly and surely Willow could use the same spell to pass the test. Willow says the military already know she's a witch. Besides, she wants to go to the safe zone. "Wiccans are being rounded up by the dozen, 'even ones who can barely conjure." This includes her friends, her students, people she brought into Wicca in the first place. Now, they're surrounded by demons and monsters. 'It's like putting sheep in a lion's den.' She needs to protect them.
Mini!Giles if convinced he'll fit in fine at an American school. After all, he used to work in one. Everyone looks dubious and he gets the jitters. Thinks maybe he should go to the safe zone after all. Buffy says no. "You'll be a small fish in a big pond full of demon piranhas."
Spike comes in. He tells them his SFPD credentials have been revoked and he's received a letter ordering him to go to the safe zone. Giles says he should leave the country the way Harmony did. Spike says that she went on tour before things got bad and has just decided to stay away. It's much harder to get out now, especially since he can't travel during the day.
There's a knock (a very loud knock) on the door. The Slayers have come for Willow and Spike. They've evaluated them as flight risks and come for them early. They have fifteen minutes to pack. Buffy is furious. Demands to know how they can possibly be ready in fifteen minutes. The Slayer (I forget her name - ETA: it's Jordan) tells Buffy Slayers are exempt. "You can go back to waitressing. Seems to be the only career that sticks for you."
Buffy, needless to say, is furious. Jordan won't back down. Reminds her the Slayers were created to fight evil. "You used to be the best of us. What happened to you?" Buffy says she's lived longer than Slayers are meant to. She's learned that the world isn't black and white. "You can't paint everyone with the same brush. Human or otherwise." Jordan sneers, "Let me translate. You got weak. Developed a vampire fetish. 'Once you go Drac, you never go back', am I right?"
Big fight ensues. Jordan doesn't have it all her own way by any means, but clearly she has a plan, because when they end up at the bottom of the stairs (which Buffy has thrown her down), turns out she has reinforcements, including another magic user.
The preview pages, which end with Spike telling them to stop fighting. He's ready to go. Willow agrees with him. "Now's as good a time as any." Buffy says fine. She'll stand down too, but she won't take the Slayer exemption. She's going with them.
Back in the apartment, Spike says this is daft. She shouldn't do it for him. Buffy says he's only part of it. What's happening is wrong. "I'm going to stand up and fight it and protect those who can't. Which, no matter what little Miss Stormtrooper out there thinks is what being a Slayer is all about."
They say their goodbyes. Spike asks Xander to feed the cats. Xander says he already does that.
Outside, they're not the only ones saying goodbye to loved ones. There's a Wiccan girl saying goodbye to her girlfriend. She tells her not to be afraid. Willow will protect her. Willow looks worried. Off they go to the safe zone in a convoy of old school buses. When they get there, it looks pretty much like Guantanamo Bay.
I can already guess the reactions of various posters elsewhere to this issue. Again, I think it's more nuanced than probably most of them are going to give it credit for being (and no more 'shit' than season 8 was). Yes, the Slayers come across as pretty mean, but their viewpoint is understandable. Then again Buffy and Willow also have a point. Yes, many of the denizens of the so-called 'safe zone' are highly dangerous, but many - especially the Wiccans Willow talks about - are not, and lumping them all together is wrong.
The real world parallels are pretty obvious, so I won't even bother to draw them. I will say, though, when a story explores issues like these, anyone expecting it to take a different line has clearly (after all these years) failed to grasp the fact that Joss is a liberal with a capital 'L', and that POV is going to be where the story will come from (though as I say, I think it's more nuanced that people are giving it credit for, and I'm also very sceptical that the same level of nuance would be found in a story about the same subject written by someone of the opposite political standpoint. YMMV.
ETA: Seems I was wrong about this issue provoking the same amount of fury as the previous one. However, since I thought the previous one was nuanced too, I don't really see why this one has been let off the hook, as it were. Jordan, for instance, though I see where her POV is coming from, I think Buffy's description of her as 'little Miss Stormtrooper' is pretty apt. She's enjoying what she's doing way too much.
Also, I'm still fingering the vice president as the ultimate villain of the piece.