Musing on Buffy Season Eight. And it is not a poll
I've been musing on this all day, and now that I'm trying to get to sleep it will not let me, so I may as well share so I can get some shut eye.
Ok, up front I'm neither Spuffy or Bangel, and am not invested in either ship. I am Spangel, but that was less the writing in the show and more the chemistry between DB and JM on the screen. I always felt that Angel was a little threatened by Spike (not Angelus, but souled Angel), and that led to a great deal of antagonism between them, so more of the same in the comics I as expecting, and of course we do not have the actors there to give the depth that they did to the relationship.
So having said that up front, so a basic assumption.
1) Joss doesn't really want to ruin his fandom, BtVS is his money cow, and the reason there is so much interest in what he does. He doesn't want to shot it. (I could be wrong, and many times during the course of this arc have thought he did).
Therefore
A) There will be no long term resolution to the star-crossed lovers. The two main characters ending up together is the death keel to any show or fandom.
B) He will use the star-crossed lovers for a big emotional impact, and is therefore manipulating the situation to make the most impact. At least for those that care.
C) Joss and his mouth-piece Scott Allie are manipulating the situation to the highest, including behind the scenes as businessmen to bring AtS back to Dark Horse. I find it very underhand, and full of dirty tricks, but is seems they succeeded, which sucks seeds for me.
D) The ending will be unsatisfactory. This will not be the first time that Joss has had an unsatisfactory ending, personally I was very unhappy with 'Chosen', a few really good scenes, but overall too many plot holes and McGuffeys used, as well as pretty naff foes in the final battle after the build up for them.
Ok, this is just me thinking things over, and having a bit of a muse about the whole situation, and what a clever man like Joss might be thinking, so totally hypothetical.
For Joss, Buffy has never grown up. She is the little high school girl who left and got on with her life, but not to daddy Joss. Buffy was his girl who kicked the arses of all those stories of pathetic small, blond damsels in distress. She was the one who saved the day and didn't die in the first 5 minutes. The Hellmouth in the High School was the allegory of the fact that Joss thought of High School as Hell. That is what he initially set out to portray, and is still his baby. But Buffy grew up in the series, it continued on for another four seasons, Buffy was 21, not 17, but still the 17 year old is his girl, and who he thinks of when he writes her.
Ok, I'm sure you see that as my personal take, right? So where does that leave us for OOC comic Buffy, and Joss writing without the team he had during the run of the show, and also the gaps from the end of the show to the start of the comic?
Take 17 year old Buffy and body swap her (although with the artwork she could just be 17 year old Buffy transported into the future) and suddenly have her having to cope with everything that has happened. The activation of the slayers, being in charge of an army and having to feed, clothe and keep them safe. She is a little girl in Joss' mind suddently faced with all this responsibility but without either her mother Joyce or the father figure Giles to support her. So if we take Joss writing his little baby girl in grown-up situations, without her support network, and it seems, without the experiences she amassed during the seasons she really was growing up how would she cope. She has been stuck in a time bubble which has suddently broke. That is my take on it, that in Joss' head she was still that 17 year old schoolgirl, and he has had to put her into this situation. She simply cannot cope, and is therefore acting out of character, the character in his head hasn't grown up, but he has to write her in this extreme adult situation and in charge.
This Buffy simply cannot cope with the situation that 21 year old Buffy left.
Then where does that leave the total character assassination of Angel. I really don't think Joss much cares. I suspect to him Angel is little more than just the love interest for Buffy, and all his development in five seasons of AtS is discounted. He is also back to season three BtVS, and very much secondary to Buffy, and what Joss wants to do with her character. Sorry but in other words he is irrelevant on his own.
I suspect that at the end, despite overcoming The Curse, Buffy and Angel will still not be able to be together because if they did get together it would be the end of the world, death of humanity and apocalypse. Oh hear the wailing of the Bangel's now "They are so perfect together but must be apart to save the world. Despite their great love and being soul-mates they must sacrifice their own happiness for the greater good." As they cry self-righteously.
Oh and by the end I'm pretty sure some crumb will be given to Spuffy as well. Nothing like a bit of rivalry in love to keep a fandom alive.
All in all, to me, pretty naff and unsatisfactory, but I'm pretty sure we will be back to square one by the end with Buffy's love-life. The great love of Bangel (soul-mates), and the forbidden love of Spuffy, attracted despite the circumstances. And so it will go on.
I'm sure I don't need to add that this is just my musing, trying to make sense of what the season is all about. Total speculation on my part.
Now maybe I can get some sleep that I got that out my system.
Ok, up front I'm neither Spuffy or Bangel, and am not invested in either ship. I am Spangel, but that was less the writing in the show and more the chemistry between DB and JM on the screen. I always felt that Angel was a little threatened by Spike (not Angelus, but souled Angel), and that led to a great deal of antagonism between them, so more of the same in the comics I as expecting, and of course we do not have the actors there to give the depth that they did to the relationship.
So having said that up front, so a basic assumption.
1) Joss doesn't really want to ruin his fandom, BtVS is his money cow, and the reason there is so much interest in what he does. He doesn't want to shot it. (I could be wrong, and many times during the course of this arc have thought he did).
Therefore
A) There will be no long term resolution to the star-crossed lovers. The two main characters ending up together is the death keel to any show or fandom.
B) He will use the star-crossed lovers for a big emotional impact, and is therefore manipulating the situation to make the most impact. At least for those that care.
C) Joss and his mouth-piece Scott Allie are manipulating the situation to the highest, including behind the scenes as businessmen to bring AtS back to Dark Horse. I find it very underhand, and full of dirty tricks, but is seems they succeeded, which sucks seeds for me.
D) The ending will be unsatisfactory. This will not be the first time that Joss has had an unsatisfactory ending, personally I was very unhappy with 'Chosen', a few really good scenes, but overall too many plot holes and McGuffeys used, as well as pretty naff foes in the final battle after the build up for them.
Ok, this is just me thinking things over, and having a bit of a muse about the whole situation, and what a clever man like Joss might be thinking, so totally hypothetical.
For Joss, Buffy has never grown up. She is the little high school girl who left and got on with her life, but not to daddy Joss. Buffy was his girl who kicked the arses of all those stories of pathetic small, blond damsels in distress. She was the one who saved the day and didn't die in the first 5 minutes. The Hellmouth in the High School was the allegory of the fact that Joss thought of High School as Hell. That is what he initially set out to portray, and is still his baby. But Buffy grew up in the series, it continued on for another four seasons, Buffy was 21, not 17, but still the 17 year old is his girl, and who he thinks of when he writes her.
Ok, I'm sure you see that as my personal take, right? So where does that leave us for OOC comic Buffy, and Joss writing without the team he had during the run of the show, and also the gaps from the end of the show to the start of the comic?
Take 17 year old Buffy and body swap her (although with the artwork she could just be 17 year old Buffy transported into the future) and suddenly have her having to cope with everything that has happened. The activation of the slayers, being in charge of an army and having to feed, clothe and keep them safe. She is a little girl in Joss' mind suddently faced with all this responsibility but without either her mother Joyce or the father figure Giles to support her. So if we take Joss writing his little baby girl in grown-up situations, without her support network, and it seems, without the experiences she amassed during the seasons she really was growing up how would she cope. She has been stuck in a time bubble which has suddently broke. That is my take on it, that in Joss' head she was still that 17 year old schoolgirl, and he has had to put her into this situation. She simply cannot cope, and is therefore acting out of character, the character in his head hasn't grown up, but he has to write her in this extreme adult situation and in charge.
This Buffy simply cannot cope with the situation that 21 year old Buffy left.
Then where does that leave the total character assassination of Angel. I really don't think Joss much cares. I suspect to him Angel is little more than just the love interest for Buffy, and all his development in five seasons of AtS is discounted. He is also back to season three BtVS, and very much secondary to Buffy, and what Joss wants to do with her character. Sorry but in other words he is irrelevant on his own.
I suspect that at the end, despite overcoming The Curse, Buffy and Angel will still not be able to be together because if they did get together it would be the end of the world, death of humanity and apocalypse. Oh hear the wailing of the Bangel's now "They are so perfect together but must be apart to save the world. Despite their great love and being soul-mates they must sacrifice their own happiness for the greater good." As they cry self-righteously.
Oh and by the end I'm pretty sure some crumb will be given to Spuffy as well. Nothing like a bit of rivalry in love to keep a fandom alive.
All in all, to me, pretty naff and unsatisfactory, but I'm pretty sure we will be back to square one by the end with Buffy's love-life. The great love of Bangel (soul-mates), and the forbidden love of Spuffy, attracted despite the circumstances. And so it will go on.
I'm sure I don't need to add that this is just my musing, trying to make sense of what the season is all about. Total speculation on my part.
Now maybe I can get some sleep that I got that out my system.