BUFFY #5 - spoilery specs

[moscow_watcher]

"I imagine this issue of Buffy will leave fans talking, and some of it is gonna be unhappy..." (Scott Allie in the lettercol). Boy, was he right. "Some of it" was so unhappy that Whedonesque issued a new rule: people who don't like comics are not allowed to post in comics threads. "Post again and you're banned from this site forever. All this at

Comments

[stormwreath]

Issue 9.05 takes place over the course of four days, because we see Buffy asleep and dreaming on three consecutive nights. Since Anaheed and Tumble therefore waited at least four days before getting up the courage to approach Buffy about their fears, I don't think there's any problem in assuming even longer went by between 9.04 and 9.05. Plus, if this is the very next night after the event of 9.04 you'd expect Buffy to be thinking more about Severin, but he never even crosses her mind.

So here's the timetable in full:

The first arc takes place over four days:

Day 0: the evening of the party.
Day 1: Buffy is nursing her hangover. That night she meets the debt collector demon and is arrested.
Day 2: Buffy escapes police custody. She appears on the news as a wanted fugitive. That night she visits Xander and Dawn then meets Severin.
Day 3: Scooby meeting with Xander, Dawn and Severin. That night Buffy goes to the docks and fights Severin.

An unknown length of time x goes by between 9.04 and 9.05.

Day 4+x: That night, Buffy dreams about Xander and Dawn being vampires.
Day 5+x: Buffy talks to Willow in the street. That night she sees the Scythe in her dream.
Day 6+x: Buffy goes to Willow's workplace. That night Willow spends the night in her room.
Day 7+x: Willow goes. Anaheed and Tumble confront Buffy. Buffy discovers she's pregnant.

Seven days after conception is apparently the absolute earliest a pregnancy test can be used. 14 days after would typically be when Buffy's period should be due, and she'd have had another clue something was wrong. So 'x', the time between 9.04 and 9.05, would logically be anything from nothing to seven days. Story logic say's it's probably at least 3 or 4 days.

[moscow_watcher]

You're right. I didn't take into consideration that the events of #5 take place over the course of several days.

I wonder if the writers realise how thouroughly we dissect every aspect of the story. Most likely, they didn't give much thought to the timeline of Buffy's pregnancy.