Buffy season 11 no 5
Mar. 22nd, 2017 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightEnjoyed this again.
Spoilers behind cut
I think if you've enjoyed this series so far (I have) then you're going to carry on enjoying it, and if you don't (some people in other places conspicuous by their absence)you won't.
This issue is set entirely in the so-called 'safe zone.' No sign of Xander or Dawn, and no Mini!Giles. Joss was supposed to be writing a mini series for Dark Horse featuring Mini!Giles but no sign of that either. Can't say this surprises me really.
Buffy is now a 'custodian' - an inmate of the internment camp who has taken on security duties inside the 'no magic can get out' forcefield in return for extra privileges - in Buffy's case because she wants extra blood for Spike.
In this issue, she breaks up a pile-on by the Ogre (a literal ogre) and his gang on another inmate and gets called a traitor, then, with Willow, discovers that the Ogre has organised a mass rush on the forcefield when it opens to admit the water trucks, to try and escape. Buffy puts a stop to that. She thinks they're all going to get themselves killed. This happens in view of Jordan and the other Slayer guards who tell her she'd better work outside the forcefield for a few days until everyone gets over it, so she's guarding a work detail instead. This was actually Buffy's plan - to see the lie of the land outside the forcefield and work out a better escape plan.
On the outside, she watches what the supernatural beings on the work details are doing - making machine parts, assembling stuff, coding. No one knows what any of what they're doing is for, but by the end of the day Buffy has learned a lot - not least when watching TV at lunch, when the newsreader says that the supreme court is still hearing arguments about the safe zone and it could be a very long time before the zone is closed down. She also discovers that there are restricted areas guarded by soldiers with guns who don't allow even Jordans's Slayers anywhere near. When Buffy mentions this to Jordan, Jordan is pretty :shrug: about it. She thinks the soldiers are just scared of the Slayers and that the Slayers could take their guns away any time they chose.
Hmm, I suspect Jordan will see the error of her ways and join with Buffy before this story is over.
Buffy also witnesses the fatal shooting of a demon, who steals a jeep and tries to escape. Not nice.
Back inside the forcefield, Buffy, Willow and Spike pore over what Buffy has learnt. The 'machine parts' look like magical symbols (Buffy has drawings, which I assume she has made from memory as we don't see her scribbling in a notepad any time). Some of the symbols fit together.
Buffy thinks the work crews are working on the same project, and it's big. Willow thinks it's weird that the government that's cracking down on magic users is building something that uses magic. Buffy says they need to get into the restricted area.
Meanwhile, the Ogre is plotting to kill her.
Other stuff of note?
Well, Willow has persuaded Lake that a couple of Wiccans don't belong in the safe zone because they've never practised magic. She meets Lake at the gate and hands the two girls over. They're allowed to go free as long as they sign a legally binding agreement that they will never engage in magical activity. Lake says she knows it's hard, because it's part of their religion, but the two girls don't belong in the safe zone. Willow says there are others who don't too because they can only conjure a few sparks. Lake says she can't help. "If they've demonstrated spell casting ability, they're classified as a threat." Willow asks what if she drained them of their magic so they couldn't cast spells any more. Lake looks intrigued by this idea. She leaves soon after, telling Willow to take care of herself, but obviously not much bothered to see her former girlfriend in such a bad situation.
So I guess that's how Willow will get herself and Buffy out of the safe zone - by draining their magical abilities somehow. Don't know if this means they never get them back, or what. We'll see, I guess.
Anyway, the plot is advancing, so that's something.
I still think the vice president will turn out to be the villain. Vice-presidents in fiction are nearly always evil.
Art is still by Jeanty. Not awful awful, but I'll be glad when Rebekah Isaacs comes back.
Spoilers behind cut
I think if you've enjoyed this series so far (I have) then you're going to carry on enjoying it, and if you don't (some people in other places conspicuous by their absence)you won't.
This issue is set entirely in the so-called 'safe zone.' No sign of Xander or Dawn, and no Mini!Giles. Joss was supposed to be writing a mini series for Dark Horse featuring Mini!Giles but no sign of that either. Can't say this surprises me really.
Buffy is now a 'custodian' - an inmate of the internment camp who has taken on security duties inside the 'no magic can get out' forcefield in return for extra privileges - in Buffy's case because she wants extra blood for Spike.
In this issue, she breaks up a pile-on by the Ogre (a literal ogre) and his gang on another inmate and gets called a traitor, then, with Willow, discovers that the Ogre has organised a mass rush on the forcefield when it opens to admit the water trucks, to try and escape. Buffy puts a stop to that. She thinks they're all going to get themselves killed. This happens in view of Jordan and the other Slayer guards who tell her she'd better work outside the forcefield for a few days until everyone gets over it, so she's guarding a work detail instead. This was actually Buffy's plan - to see the lie of the land outside the forcefield and work out a better escape plan.
On the outside, she watches what the supernatural beings on the work details are doing - making machine parts, assembling stuff, coding. No one knows what any of what they're doing is for, but by the end of the day Buffy has learned a lot - not least when watching TV at lunch, when the newsreader says that the supreme court is still hearing arguments about the safe zone and it could be a very long time before the zone is closed down. She also discovers that there are restricted areas guarded by soldiers with guns who don't allow even Jordans's Slayers anywhere near. When Buffy mentions this to Jordan, Jordan is pretty :shrug: about it. She thinks the soldiers are just scared of the Slayers and that the Slayers could take their guns away any time they chose.
Hmm, I suspect Jordan will see the error of her ways and join with Buffy before this story is over.
Buffy also witnesses the fatal shooting of a demon, who steals a jeep and tries to escape. Not nice.
Back inside the forcefield, Buffy, Willow and Spike pore over what Buffy has learnt. The 'machine parts' look like magical symbols (Buffy has drawings, which I assume she has made from memory as we don't see her scribbling in a notepad any time). Some of the symbols fit together.
Buffy thinks the work crews are working on the same project, and it's big. Willow thinks it's weird that the government that's cracking down on magic users is building something that uses magic. Buffy says they need to get into the restricted area.
Meanwhile, the Ogre is plotting to kill her.
Other stuff of note?
Well, Willow has persuaded Lake that a couple of Wiccans don't belong in the safe zone because they've never practised magic. She meets Lake at the gate and hands the two girls over. They're allowed to go free as long as they sign a legally binding agreement that they will never engage in magical activity. Lake says she knows it's hard, because it's part of their religion, but the two girls don't belong in the safe zone. Willow says there are others who don't too because they can only conjure a few sparks. Lake says she can't help. "If they've demonstrated spell casting ability, they're classified as a threat." Willow asks what if she drained them of their magic so they couldn't cast spells any more. Lake looks intrigued by this idea. She leaves soon after, telling Willow to take care of herself, but obviously not much bothered to see her former girlfriend in such a bad situation.
So I guess that's how Willow will get herself and Buffy out of the safe zone - by draining their magical abilities somehow. Don't know if this means they never get them back, or what. We'll see, I guess.
Anyway, the plot is advancing, so that's something.
I still think the vice president will turn out to be the villain. Vice-presidents in fiction are nearly always evil.
Art is still by Jeanty. Not awful awful, but I'll be glad when Rebekah Isaacs comes back.