Comments | rahirah: Another Random Buffy Thought

rahirah

Another Random Buffy Thought

Mar 13, 2016 10:23

This is something that's come up in discussions with Shapinglight a number of times in the past: in regards to her relationship with Spike, I can see the Buffy of S7 developing into the Buffy of S8/9. And I can see the Buffy of S7 developing into the Buffy of S10. But it's really, really, REALLY hard to see how the Buffy of S8/9 develops into ( Read more... )

comics, btvs/ats, meta

Comments 17

slaymesoftly March 13 2016, 18:02:36 UTC

Interesting... I'll have to reread the last few issues of season 8. I'd thought it was Twangel that threw Spike out into space. I have no recollection of it being Buffy. And I definitely took her reactions to Spike on the fire escape and the expression on her face when he took off as indicating she had a good bit of feeling left for him. But maybe I was just seeing what I wanted to see ( ... )

rahirah March 13 2016, 22:13:20 UTC

I don't remember if Spike and Twangel fought any before Buffy got there, but it was definitely Buffy who punched Spike into next week so she could fight Twangel herself.

slaymesoftly March 13 2016, 22:19:32 UTC

Hmmmm. I'll take your word for it. As long as she was just brushing him aside so she could get to Angel... ;)

sueworld2003 March 13 2016, 18:23:35 UTC

See this is why I hate the bloody comics. They're all over the place when it comes to character motivation and like you season 8 and 9 you felt she just didn't give a toss about him. But then we did have bloody awful artwork to muddy things up as well as Scott Allie's own bias on things.

rahirah March 13 2016, 22:13:40 UTC

The art certainly didn't help much...

(The comment has been removed)

rahirah March 13 2016, 22:14:46 UTC

In S10 the two of them have actually had a really good relationship, much more what I would have expected after S7. It's just a very weird disconnect with her behavior in S8/9.

infinitewhale March 13 2016, 19:03:13 UTC

I kinda agree in principle. I can't really see her turning into either, each for different reasons.

Without getting into the romantic aspects of their relationship in S7--it's kind of a separate issue to me--I think there was a bond strong enough between them that there's no way she wouldn't go looking for him after LA. I know some people fanwank that she's just being defensive at the end of S8, but given the rest of it I don't see how and we're never told otherwise. God knows retconning is not against the grain for DH so that can't be the reason.

S9 at least follows the mood of S8, where she doesn't give a damn aside from preferring him not dead.

S10 however just comes out of nowhere if it's supposed to follow those two, I agree.

or what kind of person you want her to be.And she's a pretty horrible person in the comics, I'm sorry to say. You have to go at it pretty hard to rationalize her behavior and 'betraying yourself' is not an explanation ( ... )

rahirah March 13 2016, 22:17:43 UTC

Wasn't that what Willow said in the miniseries, though? That Buffy had gone looking for Spike after L.A., but at that point, he'd left town (and eventually the planet?) It's incredibly difficult to figure out the timeline for some of these things.

infinitewhale March 14 2016, 01:13:37 UTC

I don't think. I don't remember Spike being mentioned at all in the Willow mini. Unless you mean the IDW one.

rahirah March 14 2016, 04:03:45 UTC

Yes, the IDW one. Though admittedly it's hard to tell how much of that one we're supposed to see as having 'really happened.'

Thread 5

kseenaa March 13 2016, 22:41:34 UTC

Ugh. :-/ Doesn't sound like the Buffy I know from the series, to be quite honest. I haven't read the comics, so I can't say for sure, of course.

rahirah March 14 2016, 04:06:38 UTC

I honestly have no idea what the writers were smoking in S8/9. S10 isn't great literature, but at least the characters aren't acting completely bizarrely. (And it wasn't just Buffy in S8/9 -- Angel and Giles both acted like pod people, too.)

rebcake March 14 2016, 08:45:47 UTC

This. I am so much happier with S10, and I don't think it's entirely for the Spuffy. I told Sierra some time ago that the emotions were key and had to make sense, which you'd think they'd know, fer crissakes. S10 is better about showing that through-line for Dawn, Xander, Andrew, a bit for Willow, and much better than previously for Buffy. In S8 especially, nobody's emotional motivations were very clear, with the exception of Faith. I mean, I still don't know if Oz' wife survived the battle(s). That kind of thing really needs to be clear. S8: we will speak of it no more.