Characters Seen:
Amy
Andrew
Buffy
Dawn
Faith
Giles
Oz
Riley
Warren
Willow
Xander

This issue picks up with the Slayer/Wiccan team advancing on the soldiers as the Goddesses they summoned in the last issue lay waste to the battlefield.

Xander is calling for the Slayers to advance into the cleared areas and hold the territory.  In the meanwhile Slayers turn to one another asking if they have their powers back yet, but thus far they are all still powerless.

As the Goddesses continue destroying the soldiers, Warren is complaining to Amy and Twilight (there he is!  I knew he had to be somewhere around the fight!) that all of this was unnecessary, and that he was making progress with Andrew in tempting him to their side.

The General working with Twilight wants to pull his troops out, but Twilight says he wants the battle to continue so he can observe it.  The General says the Goddesses won’t stop until the troops are gone, but Twilight poses the thought that even that won’t stop them.

Xander & Dawn are giving the Slayers a talk on how to hold the ground they gain as the Goddesses push the troops back, and how they need to not just occupy it, but really make it theirs.  Dawn warns the Slayers that giants have a hard time knowing where they are stepping, so be careful.  Dawn asks Xander if her pores were that big when she was a giant, but Xander gives her a nervous & stuttering “no”.

Buffy and a few other Slayers are trying to turn a jeep upright and finally calls over Xander and Dawn to help them because they are still so weak.  Once it’s turned over, Buffy says she needs to get to something she saw in the middle of the battlefield, and Willow and Satsu (I think … I really hate Georges Jeantry’s art, it is impossible to tell who half the characters are as he lacks so many details) jumps in with her to head out.

Andrew and Giles are handing out more guns to the Slayers (er … shouldn’t that have been done ages ago?  Like, in issue #29?), and Andrew comments how he thought the Goddesses were supposed to make this be over quickly, but Giles say apparently they were wrong on that matter.

Inside the temple, Oz sits beside the ailing Bay who wants to know if the Goddess had come.  Oz tells her they did, and Bay says that they shouldn’t have come, which Oz isn’t sure if she means the Slayers or the Goddesses.  Bay simply replies with “We gave them everything.”

The jeep drives across the battlefield and Buffy keeps Willow from falling out as they get rocked by the footstep of one of the Goddesses.  Amy and Twilight watch through binoculars (which Warren wants to know why he doesn’t have a pair) and note that the Goddesses almost killed them.  As the jeep races across the battlefield, Buffy scrams at the Goddesses that they are the good guys, but then she notices that one of them is grabbing Slayers as well as the soldiers …

Buffy: The Goddesses, they’re not on our side.
Willow: What? We — They –
Buffy: They’re not on anyone’s side. They’re killers and we’re not getting our powers back.
Willow: We didn’t bring help. We brought death.

Dawn figures this out about the same time and calls for the Slayers to fall back to the temple.  As they enter, Oz asks Andrew why everyone is coming in and he says the Goddesses are killing indiscriminately.  Oz is confused since they called them, but Bay says it has been too long since they shared the surface with humans, they don’t recognize them.  A Slayer asks Faith if they are going to get their powers back, but she simply replies with, “No.”

Buffy finds Riley in the middle of the battlefield (HEY!  There he is!  We haven’t seen him since like issue #19!), he’s badly injured and she grabs him up into the jeep and tells Satsu (I’m still not sure …) to get him back to the temple for help.

As they drive back, they yell for the Slayers to take shelter where they can, and once back at the temple, Buffy gets Riley inside.  She calls for Xander who walks in and she runs over and hugs him with a smile, telling him she was worried about him (uh oh … after 8 seasons, we’re going THERE?!?).  A Slayer walks up and asks if Riley is a prisoner, Buffy says he isn’t and that he’s been working with them all along and he will tell them what Twilight has planned … which Andrew says he needs to wake up first.

Amy wonders why Buffy took Riley, which Twilight says he knows Riley was working with her all along.  Warren is confused as if Twilight knew this all along or is just figuring it out.  Amy tells him to shut up and they start arguing as Twilight starts to tell them they can’t trust anyone, anymore, and … he gives up as Amy and Warren continue arguing and walks away.

Buffy sits next to Riley and goes on about how he needs to wake up and help them figure out how to take out Twilight and the Goddesses at the same time, and how they need their powers back, and … Riley wakes up and says she needs a miracle, and he’s out.  He doesn’t know how she can win this.  Buffy wipes away tears and says, “No miracles.  No magicks.  So I guess what we have is …”

“… A losing battle.  Sometimes we fight them.  It’s unavoidable,” says Twilight.  The General says that they are just letting his men die, but Twilight says they were mortal and had to die sometime.  He says the Goddesses (who have now dug up the submarine and tossed it) will cleanse this valley and then move on to the next.

Buffy rallies the Slayers and Wiccans and tells them they aren’t getting their Magicks back, and they can’t run due to the Goddesses would move faster than they can.  So Buffy says they will stay at the temple, but do nothing to attract attention to themselves.  She says they need to collect their wounded, but then corrects herself to say also collect the wounded soldiers.  That they need to protect anything that bleeds.

As they march out, a soldier takes aim at Buffy, a Slayer shoves her out of the way, shooting the soldier, but in the meantime she shoves Buffy right into the hand of one of the Goddesses.  The Goddess lifts her up, looks at her, and drops her.

Five hours later Buffy wakes up, covered in snow and the Slayers and Wiccans are being marched off by the soldiers.  Buffy looks on from the distance, horrified.  She tries to center herself, she closes her eyes, meditates while standing up, opens her eyes and … screams “WHAT THE HELL?!” as she finds herself floating in the air high above the temple.

Decent issue, but the Riley thing would have had a lot more impact if we had seen him more than just the once so far this season.  It really lacked any emotional impact.  And, seriously, someone please replace Georges Jeanty as artist!  I am not one normally for knocking art, but when I have to figure out who is talking by knowing who is talking to them, your art sucks.  I know it isn’t always easy to capture a real person’s likeness, but this guy misses the mark so often it is actually distracting.

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Post from: SeanPAune.com

Buffy Season 8, Issue 30

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Following up on my overviews of Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond comes the early 21st century animated version of Batman, a series simply entitled The Batman.

Running from September 11, 2004 to March 8, 2008 on the Kids WB animation block for five seasons, The Batman was faithful to the source material while also finding a way to do a  re-imagninaing of the character all at the same time.

Confused?  Don’t worry, so was I.

While the series kept the basics of Bruce Wayne being Batman and Alfred as his butler, pretty much everything else was turned topsy-turvey by this series: The Joker was a barefooted wild man, the Riddler had numerous henchmen and a different origin, Clayface was a police detective that was a childhood friend of Bruce and so on.  There were also changes such as Batgirl appearing on the scene before Robin which threw me for a total loop as that is so outside of the normal timeline.

The animation style took some getting used to (example to the right), since I had come to love the slickness and stylized versions in Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond, this was by fat the most “cartoony” looking.  Does it mean it was bad?  Of course not, just had more of a “kid friendly” vibe to it, which is why I think a lot of people skipped it.

Of all the animated Batman series of the past two decades (not counting Brave & The Bold since I have seen a whopping one episode), this was my least favorite, but that isn’t to say it was bad, it was just the most inconsistent.  Characters came and went with no real rhyme or reason (Det. Yin had a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of season 2, and then we never saw her again, although she was mentioned in a “future” episode as being the new police commissioner), continuity seemed secondary and in general the writing was very uneven.  It was still watchable despite these nitpicks, but if you have to pick just one series to watch, I think it will always be Batman: The Animated Series coming out on top.

Disclosure: Hey, FTC, no one gave me a flippin’ thing to write this up, and I paid for the DVDs out of my own pocket.  To my readers, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can read about it here.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

The Batman

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Characters Seen:
Andrew
Buffy
Dawn
Faith
Giles
Oz
Willow
Xander

The Slayers are preparing for traditional warfare as they know Twilight is coming.  Since they have been at Oz’s temple, they have surrendered their magicks up to the Earth to hide themselves, and now they are learning you can’t just flip a switch to bring them back.

The original Scoobies have split off to talk to various groups of Slayers about the coming attack, and the fact that without magicks they will have no force fields, no rapid healing and people will die.  Willow seems the most distraught by this and has an outburst during Buffy’s talk with a group of Slayers, Buffy tells her they need to have a sidebar.

They go off to speak with Oz and Bay (his Tibetan girlfriend in case you forgot), who is holding their baby.  Willow is screaming about how they said it would take months for the magicks to go away, but Bay explains that once you commit to it, you can’t just get it back on a whim.  Willow explains that this isn’t a “whim”, it’s a “need.”

Oz tries to comfort her, but Willow is still going on about how they agreed to be made weak.  Bay interrupts saying that they brought an army to her peaceful home, so who really has the right to be angry.  Oz asks Bay to hand him the baby, but Willow says there is no need to protect the baby, she isn’t mad at them, but instead is mad at herself.  She points to her eyes and says, “I’m so angry at me, I can’t believe these aren’t black.”

Willow goes on about this being the wrong decision, how she knows now she can’t have a family, that she must die in the future, which Buffy half-heartedly confirms.  The two old friends hug as Willow says that she could have all of this, but now she has lost everything.

Xander and Dawn are in the Slayer’s armory demonstrating a wide assortment of weapons to the now powerless girls.  Machine guns, mortars, various types of grenades, self-loading auto cannons and tons more.  Andrew asks Xander about “the big thing”, but he tells him not to worry about that.

Giles and Buffy are looking at two Chinese assault rifles on a bed when Buffy asks why he needs two.  He says one is for her, but she replies that Slayers don’t need guns.  He reminds her she is no longer a Slayer.  He asks what’s bothering her, but she brushes it off and says they need to find Andrew to discuss an idea she has.

We cut back to Xander and Dawn now training some Slayers on how to monitor the radar station, and trying to teach them the difference between “noise” and actual aircraft.  The Slayers feel out of place, like they won’t get it, but Xander and Dawn explain that they never had powers, and they could do this stuff, so surely the girls can.  One of them refers to the Scoobies as “Mama and Papa” which Dawn and Xander just smile about.

Buffy is talking with Andrew, she wants him to create illusions that they still have magicks.  While they talk, Andrew asks how she’s doing considering what she saw (we see a flashback to Xander and Dawn kissing), but she brushes it off.  An hour later Andrew has all sorts of smokes and potions cooking to make it appear that they still have their magicks

The temple is now surrounded by weapons, Dawn comments on how Buffy is strong even when she is weak, and she is worried about how they had to retreat even when they were strong.  Xander tries to comfort Dawn, and gives her a kiss, Buffy looks on with a pained look in her eye.

A Slayer spots a plane on the radar, three Slayers pop out with surface-to-air shoulder missiles and take it out, but it doesn’t matter as tanks are now rolling in across a small creek.  As the Slayers prepare, a werewolf appears and transforms into Monroe, the man that Oz mentioned left the temple.  He says his wolves have come to help as Twilight’s group wants to destroy all magicks, so this puts them on the same side.

The fight is joined and both sides are hitting each other hard.  The werewolves attack as they can, but …

Willow: Buffy, look.  We’re not even slowing them down.
Buffy: Yeah, I’m starting to think there’s a reason no one’s written a suspense novel where the conflict is wolves vs. tanks.

Xander shows up at Buffy’s request, she tells him she needs his big secret weapon … Xander says that sounds like a come-on if he’s ever heard one.  She says she has no time for jokes, but he says it used to amuse her.  She just tells him, “Get it.  Use it.  Now.”

The tank commanders are surprised to see a torpedo sliding down the hill towards them.  A Slayer asks is torpedoes even work on land … a tank explodes … someone shouts “TORPEDOES WORK ON LAND!”

The Slayers regroup in the radar room, but they are concerned they are losing, and they need the magicks.  It suddenly dawns on Willow that Bay has kept saying they “redirected” them, Buffy goes to find Bay and finds Oz is carrying a wounded Bay through the battlefield.  Oz asks for help to take care of Bay, but Buffy has to ask her where the magicks go.  Bay says they go into the Earth, but Buffy doesn’t believe her.  They get Bay inside and lay her down, and Buffy continues questioning her and says one of the words in the chant they have been doing is “invocation” and she knows they have been begging for something to help them, Bay says it is “wrathful goddesses.”

Bay says that is just ancient names for the Earth, but Buffy thinks “Earth” is just the modern word for these goddesses, and she thinks the magicks have been sucked out of them by the goddesses, and the more they got, the faster they took the magicks.  Bay says they have conducted a trade, and by giving them their powers, the goddesses protect them.  Buffy says she wants to cash in their trade.  Willow tells Buffy Bay has passed out from her wounds.

Willow runs off to get the scrolls, and Giles asks if this will work, going from pulling back to full-throttle forward.  Buffy says it does when she punches someone, and Giles says she has a good point.  Willow returns with the scrolls as the temple is rocked by an explosion, Buffy tells Xander and Dawn to buy them 10 minutes while they work on the scrolls.  Willow says it would be easier if they could read them, and Buffy says Bay can.  Buffy tries to wake up Bay, but Oz stops her.  Buffy says they need her help to keep everyone alive, and Bay wakes up long enough to say that if they have anger in them, they can call them … Buffy says she has some anger.

Outside the war rages on … the Earth cracks open … colored mist shoots out of it, and three ancient looking goddesses appear in giant size as the issue draws to a close.

Nice to see a lot of action in this issue, although the cover misleads you and you never see Twilight in this issue.  You aren’t sure if Buffy is jealous of Dawn kissing Xander instead of her, or is she’s just disturbed by the whole situation.  For the first time in quite a

If you enjoy these recaps, please consider purchasing your Buffy, the Vampire Slayer trade paperbacks through the links below to help support this site.

Buffy Season 8, Vol. 1	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 2	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 3
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Post from: SeanPAune.com

Buffy Season 8, Issue 29

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District 9 is the story of an alien ship that arrived over Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982, and then went on to just hover over the city for three months with no indication of life on board.  Humans, being a curious lot, decided to finally fly up to the ship and cut their way in.  What they found was over 1 million aliens living in squalor, rife with malnutrition and slowly dying.  In short, they found a ship full of refugees.

The humans, so well known for being a caring group of souls, set up a camp for them named “District 9″.  As time progressed, and people grew more fearful of these visitors and their powerful weapons, the camp turned more into a prison with a shanty town interior.  Nigerian gangsters also moved in, taking advantage of the aliens by selling them over-priced cat food, their favorite snack, and setting up inter-species prostitution.

Now some 20 years have passed, and the MNU (Multinational United), a private military contractor, which has overseen District 9 from the start, has been told to relocate the aliens to an encampment some 240 kms outside of Johannesburg.  The citizens of the city are thrilled, but the aliens don’t seem to even understand what is being said to them.

Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an obviously not-so-intelligent worker for MNU, is put in charge of the operation due to his being married to the bosses daughter (daddy denies this, but it’s fairly clear), and on his first day he gets infected by an alien virus.

Beyond that story point you’ll have to watch the movie, but don’t be fooled, this movie isn’t about the science fiction as much as it is about themes: themes of segregation, xenophobia, the good will of humanity, treating those different than yourself as equals and so on.

This move is overflowing with themes, and it actually handles them all rather deftly, but then you get to the third act of the film, and it seems like the decision was made, “Okay, everyone learned their lessons about humanity, start blowing stuff up!”  While it was still enjoyable, the third act of the film is so different from the previous two that it is almost jarring.  There is still a little bit of closure to the story arc of van de Merwe, but it really is all about blowing stuff up and setting up a potential sequel.

Let me say there were two stand out things about this film beyond the story, and that was Sharlto Copley and the special effects.  Mr. Copley has been involved in the South African film industry for some time, but this is the first time he has ever gotten attention on a world wide scale.  His performance as the initially unlikable Wikus van de Merwe really carries you through this film.  There is one scene I don’t want to give to say too much about it and ruin it for you (it’s the scene with the “eggs”), that his performance is so believable, so filled with glee at what he is doing, that you feel like you are actually watching a documentary and you detest this man.

The second thing, the special effects, were phenomenal.  For a film with a $30 million budget, it looked as good as anything coming out of Hollywood in the $175 million budget range nowadays.  A lot of studios could take a lesson from this film and how to scale back on their budgets and still look utterly fantastic.

Lastly, director Neill Blomkamp is going to have a very long career in front of him judging by this project.  He has a fresh, gritty style that is engrossing and quickly transports you into the story.

Overall an entertaining film, even with the run-of-the-mill third act, that I will gladly watch again many times over the coming years.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

District 9

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Characters Seen:
Amy
Andrew
Buffy
Dawn
Faith
Giles
Oz
Willow
Xander

We open up this issue with Andrew going to see Giles in the middle of the night.  Giles informs him there had better be a demon attack, and Andrew replies there is … or could be.  Giles goes to close the door, but Andrew puts his hand up and tells Giles that there is a spy in their midst.

Andrew tells him that he feels Warren finding him in the catacombs of Rome confirms it.  Giles says he doesn’t see the connection, but Andrew says that Twilight is good at being evil and at turning people, even making them kill.  Giles tells Andrew that is he starts spreading this theory that it will just result in finger pointing in other badness and tells him to drop it.  Andrew keeps on point, but Giles tells him to go to bed.

Not yet discouraged, Andrew heads back to his room and retrieves a video camera he had Xander pick up for him on his last trip in to town (remember they are still at Oz’s temple in the Himalyas – Sean).  He says he will start observing everyone, including Oz’s puppy as he struck Andrew as being “a bit dodgy”.

Andrew decides to start by speaking with Bay, Oz’s new girlfriend, about the process of getting magicks out of your life.  She tells him it is all about redirecting them into the Earth.  She tells him that it is also a mixture of meditation and hard work that will let you disconnect from the magicks, so Slayers are doing things like weaving, farming, churning butter, taking apart the submarine to trade its parts for high tech defenses and more.  They are also training the Slayers in traditional forms of fighting as they realize the girls will still face dangers.

With that interview complete, Andrew opts to start talking with the more disgruntled Slayers that are unhappy with how things are going.  This includes a brief interview with Satsu who’s only real comment is that she feels weak, and she doesn’t like it.  A few other Slayers complain, but they don’t linger on it for long.

Andrew decides to hide in a tree and observe Faith as she has always stood apart from the others.  He finds her and Buffy attempting to move a large boulder out of a field while a cat plays around on the boulder.  The conversation he captures isn’t one he expected:

Buffy: Man, this sucks.
Faith: Oooof
Buffy: Maybe we could just plant the garden around the boulder and call it a feature?
Faith: You miss what we’re giving up, don’t you?
Buffy: You don’t?
Faith: (she and Buffy are now using part of a tree to leverage the boulder out) It got to me. What we had to do. What I had to do. I’m not strong enough to have to be that strong. Good riddance.
Buffy: Every life meant something to you. Every one.
Faith: They did to you, too.
Buffy: Did they? I don’t know. I guess that’s why I need this. I need to feel that connected. I don’t want to stand … to stand over people any more.
Faith places a comforting hand on Buffy’s shoulder.

Andrew finds the bonding nice and moves on to observing Xander and Dawn as every one is a suspect.

Dawn: What do you suppose this says?
Xander: On the Chinese land mine? That says, ‘This side towards enemy.’
Dawn: How do you know? That’s what is says on claymores, but maybe the Chinese label the other side?
Xander: Humans point to the danger, not the sage. It’s a thing about humans.
Dawn: Maybe we should point to the safe sometime.
Xander: Maybe that’s what we’re doing here?
Dawn: Right. A chance. To have a life. For you to go for what you want, Xander.

Andrew wonders about Dawn’s cryptic reference, and is the thing Xander wants something that Twilight can give to him?

When he next catches up to Xander, he is sitting on a hill top with Buffy … and a yak.  Xander wants to know if Buffy has told Willow the big secret yet.  Buffy asks which one, and Xander reminds her of killing Willow in the future.  She says she worries about telling her because it might be what turns her evil.  While they talk, Buffy is sucking her thumb, and Xander asks if that is because of the secret, but Buffy informs him she has a splinter and it hurts like heck.  Apparently her powers are indeed leaving her if a splinter can hurt her now, and Buffy speculates she can feel more now.  Xander takes her hand in both of his and asks her to tell him.

They lay on the hilltop, and you get the distinct feeling of a potential kiss between the two as Buffy says there are very few people she loves … she resolves to talk to Willow.  Xander says she should come find him as soon as the two of them have talked, and she promises she will.

Andrew goes to interrogate Giles about knowing that Willow is going to go Dark Willow again.  Andrew confronts Giles about Will going Dark again, and Giles attempts to avoid it, but Andrew finally screams at him to answer the question, and he does … Willow will go Dark again.  Andrew says he wants to follow her for the safety of everyone, and if he finds anything they can deal with her.  Giles agrees with him, much to Andrew’s surprise.

The video switches to Andrew filming himself drawing a picture of Dark Willow coming after him and Jonathan.  It’s child-like in nature, but you get the idea, and he says they have a past, but he loves “real Willow”, and so he finds this all –he flips the page he’s drawing on to a snapped apart heart — heartbreaking.

Oz is sitting on Willow’s bed, holding his baby, as Willow is talking angrily about how she can’t seem to get a handle on dumping the magicks.  In the background the cat and the “dodgy” puppy are playing.  Oz is telling her it’s easy, she just has to work at it, instead of pulling the energy from around her, she needs to dump it in to the Earth instead of bottling all of the “poison” inside herself.  She asks, “But without the poison, what am I?”  Oz says that was a telling statement.

Willow continues being pissed off, and Oz wants to know why.  She says she’s angry with him because he got out of the game, he went out and had a real life, but now she feels like he is being fake and his true self.  He says this is real, and Willow can have a child too if she wants, she says he can’t.  Oz says there’s adoption and donors … Willow says it’s more about what she is and what she has to do.  Oz hugs her and tells her again she can just let it go, but she says she can’t.  Oz asks if she wants to watch the baby for a while, Willow seems shocked Oz would trust her, and asks him such.

Andrew cuts the video to himself again and says that was intense and he should follow Willow, but he can’t find her at first.  When he does finally catch up with her, Buffy has found her, and Willow seems to be enjoying her time with the baby.  As Willow begins talking about how she is finally believing she could have a life, that for so long she had thought she was just a force, and that meant no babies, but now she’s thinking different, and … “I killed you in the future,” Buffy interjects.

Buffy continues her apology:

Buffy: I went to the future and you there and very dark and I killed you and and I’m so sorry I didn’t tell –
Willow: It wasn’t me.
Buffy: What?
Willow: Sorry, because I know you meant this to be all dramatic and cleansy, and I know it must’ve been terrible for you, but that … if that was a possible me, I don’t think it still is.

And if it still is, well … I’ll work harder at this no-magic thing. So that it won’t be possible.
Buffy: It’s really — we’re really okay?
Willow: We’re great.

They hug, and Buffy says she is going to find Xander as she promised to find him after they talked.  Willow says Xander is a good guy, and Buffy agrees.  Willow adds after her, “We can all have futures, Buffy.  Even you.”

As she walks the halls, she tells Andrew to leave her alone with the camera, and as she gets to a door, Andrew dramatically narrates the scene of something stopping Buffy in her tracks … Andrew peaks in the room to see Xander and Dawn kissing.  He pans back to Buffy who looks stunned and finally says, “Go away, Andrew.”

At last Andrew gathers the Slayers to tell of his suspicions, and he apologizes to Willow dor suspecting her, and … as he talks, the cat that has been in the background all issue disappears in a light … Xander announces it must have been Amy.  Buffy calls for the Slayers to get ready … Twilight is coming for them.

You know, when this Buffy series started, I thought it would be nice to do these posts for the world, but 28 issues later, these things are taking me a minimum of 3 hours to write up as I have to decide how to describe each scene, what to quote, etc.  Please, for the love of all things Buffy, let us get to the end of this season!

That being said … interesting issue.  It felt like more stuff got advanced than it has in a long time.  The Xander/Dawn kiss is … well … it’s kinda icky.  The tension has always been there, but it just feels weird to “see” it happen finally.  Especially with Buffy apparently finally getting feelings for him.

Willow just saying, “Oh, I won’t go Dark, la la la” … um, yeah, this is Joss Whedon we’re talking about here, she just doomed herself to going full-on Dark again.

See ya in a month.

If you enjoy these recaps, please consider purchasing your Buffy, the Vampire Slayer trade paperbacks through the links below to help support this site.

Buffy Season 8, Vol. 1	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 2	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 3
Includes Issues #1 – #5	Includes Issues #6 – #10	Includes Issues #11 – #15
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Buffy Season 8, Vol. 4	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 5	Fray Mini-Series
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Post from: SeanPAune.com

Buffy Season 8, Issue 28

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Characters Seen:
Amy
Buffy
Dawn
Giles
Oz
Warren
Willow
Xander

We open on Amy peering into a bowl and telling Twilight (HEY!  Remember him?  The big bad of this “season”?  Yeah, nice to see him again!) that all of the Slayers drowned.  He screams that the bowl lies and smacks it from Amy’s hands.  He also informs her that he “knows Buffy too well” to believe she would die silently.  Warren picks up on the reference, but nothing is said about it as they continue to search for all the missing Slayers.  Someone else in the room says they think they know where all of them went, and…

We cut to the submarine still sitting in the mountains in Tibet next to a temple.  Willow, Buffy, Giles, Dawn and Xander sit on the porch drinking tea with Oz.  A woman named Bay is serving the tea, and Oz explains “She’s the rest of me.”  He also says they should all meet the baby… a puppy barks and everyone jumps and stares at it.

Oz: Yeah. No.  See that’s the dog.

Another woman appears carrying a baby, and Oz introduces them all to him, but Giles and Buffy press Oz with the subject that they need to know if he can help them suppress the magical footprint they leave everywhere they go.

Oz flashes back to arriving at the temple, and the monks greeting him silently.  He tells them that a warlock in Romania sent him and he would appreciate it if they could do something soonish as the full moon is rising in the sky.  He changes and crushes the tea cup in his hand.

Next time we see him he is in a cage and Bay is offering him butter tea.  She sits outside the cage and they stare at one another.

Oz says they gave him herbs, charms and chants to help push the wolf down, and although he slipped a few times, he felt he was getting better.  he decided he could try to go back to America and we see a one panel reference to the episode where he changed and attacked Tara.  After that he went back to the temple and tried again, though he admits he sometimes has to fight the urge to just give in to it.

We cut back to Twilight talking with the guy who said they may have figured out where to locate the Slayers due to a spike in magic readings.  Another person says it’s an artifact, but Twilight wants to go to the location and check it out.

Oz continues his tale of learning to control his wolf side.  Bay says it was she that stopped Oz from giving into the wolf, and she taught him about the original religion of Tibet, Bon.  She taught him about the spirtual being in all things around them, and that if they just sat there and watched it, they would know they were a part of it.

He learned that containing the wolf wasn’t the way to do things, but you have to let the energy pass through you, back into the Earth.  From the art, this is when Oz fell for Bay, but he doesn’t discuss it.  We learn that more people started coming to the temple to learn how to control their werewolves (this isn’t made clear until later, but I’m spoiling you now to save myself trouble later on)  Specifically Oz tells them about an Englishman named Monroe he suffered terribly, but at the temple he find almost immediate relief.  He goes on about how you have to let the wolf pass through during the full moon and pass back in to the Earth.  (Yes, it jumped randomly in the book, I didn’t skip ahead)

Bay offers everyone more butter tea, they all pass saying they aren’t used to butter in their tea, but Bay says it isn’t really butter, just milk directly from Yaks.  (Everyone yaks)  Bay offers them a tour, and as they go to leave, Oz asks Willow if they’re okay.  She says something is bothering her, but not what he thinks and she’ll tell him later.

Oz tells them it takes about a year of full moons to get it right.  When Monroe felt he was ready, he went back in to the world and brought back dozens of new followers.  Then they discovered they had a rival to deal with.

Buffy: The Buddihists?
Oz: yeah, those safron-robed jerks were kicking our ass.
Giles: Really?
Oz: No, not really.  They don’t do that.

It seems that  Monroe decided to set up his own school of training that thinks like, Willow says “Like Veruca”, and Oz confirms it.  The group of werewolves that Monroe leads embraces their wolf sides.  Darn says Slayers are similar, but everyone shoots her a dirty look.

Monroe’s werewolves attacked Oz’s temple during a full moon while the bad wolves were at their strongest, and Oz’s were at their weakest.  The monks were killed, and just as Monroe is coming at Oz, Oz stops the story and Dawn cries out “Suspenseful!”

Amy is casting a spell for Twilight, and she believes she has pinpointed the source of the magical spike.  Someone else in the group comments on how wrong it is for them to be using magic when they are against it, but it goes unheard.

Back to Oz, Bay transformed and attacked the werewolf facing down Oz, killing it.  The others ran off, and Oz says from then on they carried knives.  Bay regrets what she did as she fears she made him in to a martyr.  Oz apologizes to Willow for not telling her about Bay and the baby, but Willow says that isn’t her problem.  She says she is jealous of his life and future, and she apologizes to him for being like that.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Bay talk:

Buffy: Twilight is tracking us, we need to learn to not be magical.
Bay: Really?  Because not teleporting submarines is a good first step.

The group conversation continues and Giles asks if Oz thinks his ways can help, to which Buffy adds that he must remember that Slayers are all magic all the time.  Oz thinks that his methods will help tone things down.  Bay says they most be devoted, if they don’t let it take complete hold that it could be more dangerous than not trying at all… Bay is interrupted as a werewolf attacks, she cuts it in the side with a knife and it runs off.  Oz continues and says that if this doesn’t work, Buffy has just made his home into a very big target.

Twilight and his people arrive where they think the spike happened to discover no one is there.  One of the random Twilight soldiers explains that the echo probably bounced due to the mountains, but Twilight says that this will not stand.

Oz says the Slayers need to exert themselves physically to wear themselves down to the mental aspect… so they go to bury the submarine.

Twilight says the man who found the spike is to be killed, and no one is to worry, Buffy and the Slayers can’t help what they are, and they will find them eventually.

If you enjoy these recaps, please consider purchasing your Buffy, the Vampire Slayer trade paperbacks through the links below to help support this site.

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Post from: SeanPAune.com

Buffy Season 8, Issue 27

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Characters Seen:
Amy (mentioned/off screen)
Andrew
Buffy
Dawn
Faith
Giles
Kennedy
Oz
Warren
Willow
Xander

We open on a sea gull carrying a fish, and the fish is complaining about how it liked the other way they did, but the seagull says they are all about sneaky now.

(No… I did not imagine all of that… stop looking at me funny! – Sean)

The seagull (who is obviously Willow) says to the fish (Buffy), that people now report when they see a witch and a Slayer flying, leading Buffy to concede it’s for the best.  Buffy asks Willow to turn her so she can look down and they discuss how their new base if fully concealed on an island, and it appears to be totally uninhabited.

After landing on the ground, and turning back to their normal forms, the pair walk in to a new castle discussing how they just need to keep from being found, and that Willow has an army of witches going day & night to keep the magicks powered.  They are using so much power now that Willow says they are beginning to warp the grid.  Buffy immediately turns to ask her if she’s alright or if she’s being pushed too far, to which Willow says she is fine, but is confused why Buffy is so concerned all of a sudden.  (Remember, Buffy encountered Dark Willow in the future a few issues back – Sean)

Buffy says she’s just being vigilant and that the best thing for them to do right now is to disappear, to which Satsu (huh?  When did she show back up? – Sean, yet again) questions what they are waiting for, “The judgment of history?”

We cut to Berlin where we find Faith and Giles living/hiding in a Nazi bunker from World War II.  Faith isn’t thrilled with where they are, but Giles assures her it is for the best.  Faith leaps up at the sound of pounding, and Giles says not to worry as the door is ten-inch thick steal.

… the door blows inwards, and demons pour into the bunker.

Faith says being underground was a bad idea since that is where demons live, but Giles reminds her that above ground humans fear them.  They fight their way to another room and lock themselves in.

In Rome, Andrew leads a group of Slayers through the catacombs under the city.  As they wander through a room filled with human bones in a decorative pattern, they hear a noise in another section that Andrew decides to go check out on his own.  As Andrew shines a light in the room, he sees a bloody foot with no skin on it moving… it’s Warren.  While Andrew screams and tries to run, Warren begs him to stay.  He says that Amy is done with him and is removing the spell that replaces his skin a ittle at a time so he is in horrible pain.

Warren says that he wanted to see Andrew one last time before he dies, and that he was misled and wrong.  He really felt that if Andrew killed Jonathan that they could live as gods.  He says he feels like a fool and is ashamed, but he figures Andrew knows how that feel living with the Slayer fascists.

Andrew says it’s nothing like that, but Warren informs him that Keith Olbermann referred to them as modern day “black shirts”.  Andrew is aghast “Keith” said that.  Just as Warren says he has a proposal for Andrew, a Slayer screams “GOATMEN!  GOATMEN!” and a young Slayer falls dead near Andrew.  He turns to see a large goat creature, and Warren shouts about Amy not giving him enough time to trick Andrew.  A massive fight breaks out with Andrew shouting at the Slayers to use the decorative bones in the room as weapons.  One Slayer finally shouts there is a way out.

Next we see Buffy and Faith riding in a box car across Germany, and that they need to get to Buffy… Andrew mumbles “Buffy” as he rides in the bed of a truck with his remaining Slayers… Willow and Kennedy are asleep in bed when Willow sits upright and yells out she needs to find Buffy.

Kennedy, Willow, Xander and Dawn stand outside Buffy’s bedroom door while Willow knocks and asks if she’s alone and can they come in.  They all agree it’s a good idea to check… (remember, they all walked in on Buffy in bed with Satsu – Sean)  Once they get in, Willow deals out the bad news:

Willow: I just got an alert.  They found us.
Buffy: Who found us?
Willow: Everyone.
Buffy pauses
Buffy: Which everyone?
Willow: Giles Faith, Andrew, five Slayers from the Italian group and every demon in Scotland.
Willow: … They’re not together.
Buffy: Use your magic! Get them inside!
Dawn: Not the demons.
Buffy: Not the demons.
Dawn: Good call.

The command center of the Slayer HQ is filled with hugging reunions as Willow hugs Giles and Andrew hugs Faith.  Satsu tells Buffy they snuck them in under the barricade and that’s it for people in or out unless they get breached.

Buffy hugs Giles and tells him she’s glad he’s back and he agrees.  (Okay, another interjection here… all “season” we’ve been told they had a falling out and it was ugly, and now they just hug and that’s it? – Sean)  After Buffy wipes her tears away she wants a run down of the defenses.  Xander says he has cameras and after that it is all Willow’s magicks team, and she rattles off a long list of defenses until Satsu calls out that the demons have arrived and another Slayer says the shields are already heating up.

Xander’s camera are quickly taken out so everyone heads to the roof as Willow has Wicca-Slayers up there alreadyw ith three layers of shielding.  Once they get up there we see just how many demons there are, and there is a bunch.  Xander spots they’ve brought siege engines with them to take the castle, and as Buffy makes a comment about midevial tech, a tank begins to roll across the bridge to the castle. Willow calls out for the birdge spell to go down and suddenly the land bridge disappears, dropping the tank and numerous demons into the water.

They think they have this won since this only leaves them with catapults, and then they see they are loading those with napalm, impact bombs and more.  A Wiccan-Slayer calls out that another shield has fallen just as napalm comes at them and you see numerous Slayers on the ground fly away from the explosion.  A Wiccan-Slayer falls over in a look of shock, Willow says she’s got brain-fry and is dead.

Satsu bring up a demon prisoner and Willow leaps at him saying she’s take him and both of them disappear in a crackle of pink energy.  Giles wonders where they went while Faith is ready to jump into the fray and Buffy says something has to be done as girls are dying.  Willow returns and says that a certain skinless demon just told her that they are all using the magicks as a beacon.  Just then the Wiccan-Slayers call out that the final shield is down and Buffy calls for everyone to head to the submarine.

We cut to Buffy and Giles talking on the sub where Buffy is defending Willow’s methods of getting the information, but Giles interjects that Buffy is going to lose Willow again, to which Buffy replies that he doesn’t know the half of it.  Buffy fills him on her trip to the future and how she had to kill Future Dark Willow.  Giles says normally he would be asked to be convinced, but he figured they don’t have the time to discuss it.  They move on to how the magicks are acting like a beacon to Twilight, and Buffy begins to wonder if maybe people are right about them being evil, and as she ponders it, Faith walks in asking if they know where they’re heading.  Giles says “no”, but Buffy says “yes” and says they need Willow to cast one last big spell, but they are going somewhere to be with a person who is about the most non-magic person around.

A shrine in the mountains, calm, peaceful, a man sits on the porch meditating until a wind chime tings, and his eye pops open.  In front of the shrine, on dry land, sits a submarine.

Oz says “huh”.

Okay… you know, I’ve complained about the stand-alone issues, but this issue is the first of a new story arc and I feel like I have been raced through a ton of events here.  What is the story behind Giles and Buffy now?  When did Twilight discover their hiding spot?  After two years of this series, it’s nice to see us finally getting back to the original story.

On a side note… I despise Georges Jeanty’s artwork.  Half the time I have to piece together who’s talking, or judge it strictly on hair color.  He is not a good artist, sorry, but it’s true.

See you back here for issue #27.

If you enjoy these recaps, please consider purchasing your Buffy, the Vampire Slayer trade paperbacks through the links below to help support this site.

Buffy Season 8, Vol. 1	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 2	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 3
Includes Issues #1 – #5	Includes Issues #6 – #10	Includes Issues #11 – #15
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Buffy Season 8, Vol. 4	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 5	Fray Mini-Series
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Post from: SeanPAune.com

Buffy Season 8, Issue 26

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Characters Seen:
Andrew
Buffy
Dawn
Willow
Xander

A man with aged hands reaches for a tray of tools while we hear an “off screen” voice saying, “Not the knife.”  He replies “Yes” and after another brief exchange, you see an xacto knife being held to the face of a porcelain doll that looks surprisingly like Dawn Summers.

The doll asks the man how long he plans to do this to her, and he says he told her, “Until you’re safe.”

Back at the Slayers HQ, it looks like they’ve found a new castle to take over, and they are prepping for battle.  Buffy is walking down the hall while putting on a gauntlet with two spikes on it.  She is followed by Xander and two unknown Slayers.  Buffy is commenting on how she is generally okay with the things “Dawn’s not”, such as punctual, not returning Buffy’s Veronica Mars DVDs, not tidy and so on.  What she isn’t okay with is Dawn not being there.

Xander says she shouldn’t be worried, and to remember Dawn is a teenager and is probably off running around with her forest pals (remember, she’s a centaur now).  Buffy wants to go looking for her, but a vamp named Judas Cradle has assembled a vampire army that is sweeping the countryside and is headed to Slayer HQ.

As the Slayer’s put on armor, Buffy holds up her gauntlet with the spikes.

Buffy: I want to get my sister to safety too.  Can’t.  Not now.  The threat outside’s too bi to every Slayer I’ve got here.  I mean, look at me.  Who dresses like Wolverine for fun?

Xander: Certainly not me.  Any proof you’ve seen to the contrary could have been photoshopped, and besides, I was drunk.

Buffy laments that she hasn’t been a good sister to Dawn, and too much Slayer.  Xander tries to remind her she is THE Slayer, and she has to fight the battles.  He also informs Buffy he has someone looking into the spell on Dawn, a man on the inside.

After a change of scenery, we hear a doorbell ring, and a groggy college student answering a door.

Andrew: Hello.  I’m a college student attending college… who coincidentally also needs a roommate, completely by coincidence,and then I saw your ad.  I’m in.  So, you, what’s the rent bro?

The doll version of Dawn has snuck off her stand and is walking pass the other dolls in the old mans workshop when her foot makes a noise on a loose floor board.  One of the dolls asks her where she thinks she’s going.  She says they should all try to escape, but as the other dolls approach, they tell her the man made them, and they are home.  She says she had a spell put on her, and the dolls tell her that makes her different and that she can never leave as they tackle her to the ground.

Xander is monitoring the vampire army approaching and tells Buffy it turns out the “army” is really Judas Cradle’s family and some pub buddies.  As the handful of vamps crawl over the wall they are greeted by a full contingent of Slayers… who dispatch them in seconds.  Buffy now wants to find Dawn, so she and Xander set off into the woods to search for clues as to where she might be.  They find hoof prints that suddenly turn to little doll footprints which makes them think she has changed forms again.

Buffy: This spell took work.  How dangerous is this Kenny?

Xander: Hard to say.  You don’t usually get this strong a spell from the Thricewise community.  Apparently, he’s a nice guy who just snapped after Dawn boinked his roommate.

Buffy: How can I not know this?

Xander: (smacking his forehead) It cannot be because I just told you because I would never do that.  Bugger.  Hey, check me out, now I can hate myself in British.

The old man comes in to the work room and tells Dawn not to be mad at the other dolls, that they aren’t like her and don’t have souls.  He says he has to keep her safe because if she was to break her porcelain face her sould would pour out and be blasted apart into atoms.  She has to stay there and be safe.

Back with Andrew, he is asking Kenny if he knows of anyone into “magicks with a ‘k’”, and that’s why he got expelled from Wesleyan when his feminist studies professor accused him of witchcraft.  As he has this conversation he is setting down a statue of Yoda, and when Kenny responds, he says he knows enough about magicks to know Andrew is placing totems around the room.  As he asks Andrew is up to, the Slayers know they’ve been made and Willow immediately transports a large chunk of the apartment to Scotland, including Kenny and Andrew.  As soon as they get there, Kenny transforms to his Thricewise form and attempts to escape the HQ.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Xander continue to explore the forest when Buffy pulls a little tree creature off a branch, and she wants to know why he’s been following them since they entered the forest.  Buffy says they haven’t violated the truce with the forest creatures, so she wants to know why he’s following.  He tells her he won’t tell them anything, so she throws him… and breaks a window.  Buffy and Xander find a cottage in a clearing, but Xander is more curious why he has a bunch of tiny arrows sticking of his neck.  We see the trees are full of archer dolls, and then we see Xander collapsing due to the poison on the arrow.

Dawn takes the confusion as a chance to try to escape, but she gets caught by the doll maker, so shreams for Buffy.  As the Slayer runs towards the house, the Thricewise shows up and says he wants to help and that it was never supposed to go this far.  They break into the house, and as the dollmaker holds Dawn, she recognizes the Thricewise and says “Ken?” followed up by “I’m sorry.”

There is a burst of light and Dawn is returned to normal size and shape, albeit naked.

Buffy threatens the dollmaker, but as it looks like Buffy is going to put a hurt on him, the dolls beg her to spare him as he keeps them safe.  Buffy relents and just tells all of her people they need to go.

We next see Dawn walking across a field, hand-in-tentacle, with Kenny as she apologizes again and asks how far he wouldhave let it go.  He said he planned to stop at the fire slugs.  Kenny eventually apologizes also, and he and Dawn go their seperate ways.

As Dawn returns to the castle, she runs into Buffy and they have a talk about how they still need each othr, but they need to be more responsible for themselves.  As they walk off Dawn informs Buffy she scratched one her Veronic Mars DVDs… she informs Dawn she will die.

Glad to see the Dawn story wrapped up finally, but this really felt like it should have been two episodes.  How did the doll maker find Dawn?  What are his powers?  Just lots of little details felt like they were left out for no good reason.

If you enjoy these recaps, please consider purchasing your Buffy, the Vampire Slayer trade paperbacks through the links below to help support this site.

Buffy Season 8, Vol. 1	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 2	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 3
Includes Issues #1 – #5	Includes Issues #6 – #10	Includes Issues #11 – #15
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Buffy Season 8, Vol. 4	Buffy Season 8, Vol. 5	Fray Mini-Series
Includes Issues #16 – #20	Includes Issues #21 – #25	Includes all 8 issues of the series
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Post from: SeanPAune.com

Buffy Season 8, Issue 25

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Characters Seen:
Faith
Giles

We open up with a vampire saying “ow” as he has a stake in his back.  He turns to face an unknown Slayer who apologizes, and then runs off saying that she quits, she never wanted to be chosen.  The vampire pursues her saying that he doesn’t want to hurt her, he just wants to suck on her for a while.  As he runs around a corner, he asks if she’s heard that everyone wants to be a vampire n… ow.

A stake goes in his heart and he dusts.

Faith wants to know why they’re always so chatty.  The unknown Slayer stands being held by Giles and says “”Oh, my god!  You’re her!  You’re Buffy!”  Faith asks Giles why the girl is calling her names.

The new girls asks if Faith and Giles are there to train her, but Faith says they are there to find out why she left her squad.  She says she was tired of them sitting around doing nothing, so she decided to go out into the field on her own.  She wonders why Faith and Giles suddenly look scared of her, and she spins to look behind her, she accidentally stakes a vamp that had shown up behind her.  She inhales the dust while saying “Gross…”.  Faith says they need to teach her to keep her mouth shut while she slays.

She says she’ll remember that, and that it looks like she isn’t ready for “Slayer Sanctuary” yet.  Giles doesn’t recognize the term, and the girl informs him it is a safe place for Slayers who don’t want to fight to go and hide out.  Courtney finally introduces herself, and Giles asks for more information about the Sanctuary.  As she tells them more, Giles says they need to go there, and Faith informs Courtney she is now their guide dog.

We next see the trio boarding a train for a town named “Hanselstadt” (we never learn what country this is all happening in, but it is obviously somewhere around Germany/Austria from the architecture and mountains).  Faith wonders why Slayers are hiding in some place that looks like it’s out of a Dracula flick.  Giles thinks seeing Faith may inspire the hidden Slayers to get back in the fight, but Faith informs him they aren’t there to recruit, and if these girls want to sit out, they can.

Giles tells Faith to look out the window and we see the countryside outside of this town is covered in vampires.  He doesn’t understand why they would do that, and Courtney tells him they aren’t allowed in the town.

They pull into town and Courtney is telling Faith she may inspire them, but Faith doesn’t think the story of her first time will inspire “the Baby Slayers”.  Before she can go any further, Giles tells her that’s enough, and Courtney says they sound like her parents.

They are met at the train by an older man who knows Giles, a Duncan Fillworthe.  Giles seems surprised he is there, and wonders if he was expecting them.  He says that he tries to meet every train that comes into town, and that it isn’t a pleasant time for Watcher or Slayer.  He leads them to a building and they are soon sitting down to a meal.

Duncan tells Giles that the vampires know if they come into town there is an army of Slayers there, but they will leave them alone if the stay out.  Giles says a stalemate is not a lasting solution.

Faith wants to know where the girls are and Duncan says he wanted to make sure of their intent before he revealed that.  He says she can join them when they finish eating, and Giles wants to know what will happen if any of them decide to leave to join the coming battle.  Duncan wonders why they should protect a humanity that now hates, fears and resents them.  Faith says he sounds like she used to, and she almost feels like she’s home… which she left the first chance she got.

An older woman stands and says she’ll take Faith to the town library where the girls are.  Giles says to take Courtney with her.  As they walk through the town, Faith notices there are no kids in the town, and the old woman says that is why they are grateful for the Slayers being there.  Faith says that this really obvious trap feels like a trap.  Courtney asks what they should do, and Faith tells her she’s tired of beating around the bush, and it isn’t like they can come up with something she hasn’t seen.

When Faith opens the door to the library, an obvious expression of shock crosses her face.  A greenish, frog-like vampire says “No… something you have.”  Faith recognizes him and says “The third…”.  The vamp torments her by asking her if she knows how many he has sired since her first steps as a Slayer, and how many those have gone on to sire.

We flashback to an obviously younger Faith in an alley, cornered by three vamps.  They know she is the new Slayer, they can smell it, and they want to see how she tastes.  She quickly dusts two of them, and she hurls her stake at the third, hitting him in the stomach.  He taunts her that no matter what people say, that isn’t the way to his stomach.  He runs off and Faith just says two out of three ain’t bad.

Back to present day, and the Third is telling her she could have followed, but now she reeks of failure and laziness, and it’s delicious, just like all her friends were.  Faith screams “shut up” and attacks him.

Courtney is confused, she wants to know what is going on and who she is screaming at, and we see from Courtney’s viewpoint that Faith is fighting empty air.  Faith says she’ll answer her “Slayer-in-training questions” later, she has a vamp to snuff.

The vamp tells Faith he is going to sire her, and then let Courtney kill her because she will be a better Slayer than Faith ever was.

Courtney screams for Faith to stop and that there are no vampires here.  As she watches Faith fight thin air, we see numerous green tentacles creeping up behind Courtney.

We cut back to Giles and Duncan still sitting at the table.  Giles is saying that teaching Slayers to hide, as well as hiding himself, only makes the vampires stronger.  Duncan says as long as this town is a sanctuary, the vampire won’t come in, and the Slayers and the last two members of the Watcher’s Council will be safe.  Giles asks if they are the last two for sure, but the question goes unanswered.  (What happened to Wesley? Wouldn’t he still qualify, disgraced or not?- Sean)  Giles says he doesn’t share the belief the vamps will stay out as they are just outside of the town waiting.

Duncan informs him a demon lived there.  Giles wants to know if that is what they are afraid of.  Duncan says:

Before I came to Hanselstadt, it was feeding on the children–upon the expression of their fears and regrets.

You see, children do not have the coping mechanisms of internalizing their problems and smiling through pain.  Children are pure need… not unlike vampires.

The vamp sinks its teeth into Faith’s neck.  Courtney watches Faith fall from the invisible attack, and she screams out “Talk to me!  What’s going on?!”, but there is no reply.  She finally asks who is there, and as she stands and spins, she just says “Oh my god…” to what appears to be an empty library.

Now tentacles are racing towards her, she calls out to Faith, but as the tentacles get to her, they turn to hands and it’s Courtney’s mom and dad, and they are hugging her.  She is confused since they hate each other, but her dad says they love her.  Courtney is so happy because she thought the family split was her fault, and it feels so good to have their arms around her again… we then see she is being hoisted up in the air by the tentacles of the demon.

Duncan and Giles are talking again, and Duncan asks Giles if he’s ever thought what it must be like to be a vampire.  He says that the vampire is regret personified; a hunger for life that has been been damned to never be satisfied.  He says this is why the vampires will never come there as the demon feeds on primal needs and fears, and… wel, the townspeople ran out of children.

Giles is shocked when he figures out the Slayers were lured there to feed the demon and keep the vampires away.  Duncan’s rationale is that Watchers have always sent Slayers to their deaths, and his actions have saved everyone in the town, and Giles is welcome to stay in the town.  Giles storms off to help Faith, but Duncan is yelling how the vamps slaughtered the Watchers for helping the girls that rejected them.  He yells about Giles should think about what Buffy has done tim him, and how he should remember that Buffy ignoring him cost him the woman he loved, Jenny Calendar.

Duncan tells the other people at the table that Giles may die of regret over those thoughts before he even gets to the demon, but someone should still bring him his crossbow.

Giles races to the library, knocking the doors out the way as he busts in.  He yells for Faith, but sees Courtney still in the embrace of the demon, apologizing to her mother.  He runs over to pull her free, but Duncan shows up, and keeping Giles at crossbow point, tells him to let the demon have her.  He says the vampires have been waiting for a Slayer to kill the demon, and he shouldn’t help them, and it is worth the cost of some disillusioned Slayers to save a town full of people.  Giles says Duncan will regret this, but he says he regrets nothing, and that is why he is still alive.

Faith tackles him, knocking him into the demon.  Duncan screams for help and fires his crossbow into the demon’s mouth.  He screams that Giles is a Watcher and should help him, and that he’s sorry… he immediately tries to take the “sorry” back, but that is enough to make the demon want to eat him.

Faith gets the crossbow and starts hitting at the demon with it, saying that was its last meal.  The demon bursts into flames, finally exploding.

As Faith, Giles and Courtney walk out of the smoldering library, the townspeople are staring at them.  They want to know what they can do now that the vampires won’t be afraid to come.  Courtney says they deserve it for being murderers, but Faith says Slayers don’t let people just die, and that if they want to live, they need to fight.  Courtney says she hasn’t trained, but Faith says there’s only one lesson… aim for the heart.

That was it for this issue, and boy did it feel like it should have been two issues instead of yet another stand-alone. Not saying I wanted this story at all, but it felt very, very rushed, and I think it showed.

Come on folks, we’re two years in to this “season” now, can we please get back to the whole Big Bad storyline at some point?  I am getting really, really bored with these stories, which, in turn, is making writing these synopsis that much more difficult.  Seeing as each one takes me well over two hours to do.  So, please, for my sanity, get back to the main story!

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Post from: SeanPAune.com

Buffy Season 8, Issue 24

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Back in August of 2007, I wrote a post singing the praises of DreamHost, and how for the first time I ever I had actually stayed with a web host through an entire contract.  I was really happy with them, and I was acutally renewing my contract for another two years of service.

Well, that ended up being one of the most frustrating decisions of my life.

The Bandwagon Debacle

Previous to that post, I had written about DreamHost partnering up with Bandwagon to allow you to backup your iTunes libraries to their servers.  It seemed like a fantastic idea, and I for one couldn’t wait to give it a try once there was a version of the software for PCs.  They were even giving a free year of hosting away if you signed up for the service, that’s how into this idea DreamHost was.

Well, at some point shortly after that (I can’t find the exact date), DreamHost said this was a violation of their Terms of Service, and you would not be allowed to store your files there.    Never mind they had promoted this idea, and told all users it was okay, but they were suddenly reversing their decision, and any and all files on their servers had to be served to the web or it would be considered a violation of their ToS.

Fine, I hadn’t done the uploading yet, but I did think it was a rather poor decision on their part seeing as they had promoted it.  I had saved other files there over my time with them, always with the understanding it was allowed, but now, suddenly, it was no longer that way.  They have every right to enforce their TOS, but to get people to sign up for one thing, and then strip it away with no grandfathering of those new accounts just seemed sleazy to me.

Strike 1

The Billing Debacle

In January of 2008, DreamHost was upgrading their billing system, and somehow messed up the date, telling the system that it was in fact December of 2008.  The system kicked in automatically, and all customers were billed for 12 months of hosting in one shot.  Those who had credit and debit cards on file were automatically charged for one year of hosting.  Seeing as I had a business account with them that was nearly $100 a month, I woke up to $1200 missing from my debit account I used just for paying bills.  This completely drained my account and made several charges not go through, causing me to be overdue on some bills.

How did they handle the situation?  By writing multiple snarky blog posts about it that laughed it off in a “Oh, our bad” tone.

True, DreamHost had always had a joking tone to their blog posts, but when you’ve completely drained people’s checking accounts, caused them to miss other bills and made us jump through hoops to make sure we got our money back, now was not the time to be making jokes.  I did eventually get my money back, but not before numerous headaches and troubles.

Strike 2

The DMCA Debacle

On April 18, 2008, I posted G.I. Joe Cast Pictures from the upcoming movie.  As these had appeared on several websites, I believed them to be okay.  On April 21, 2008, I received a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) from Paramount Pictures informing me they were in violation of their copyright, and to remove the images.  Within 45 minutes of my receiving that email, I had the pictures removed from the site and server as they requested.

Feeling I had satisfied the request, I was shocked to find my site closed down by DreamHost shortly after that, and it remained closed until the next morning.  I made multiple attempts at contacting DreamHost to discover what was going on, but I had to submit them via their support desk as DreamHost refuses to supply a phone number where you can actually call them.  Yes, I could request “call backs”, which I did multiple times through out the night, but I received no calls or replies.  Never mind the fact I actually had two accounts with them, and was paying them well over $100 a month for hosting, I couldn’t get them to say so much as the word “boo” to me.

By the next morning, I still had not heard from them, and I went so far as to call the lawyer from Paramount who had sent me the DMCA.  He was very understanding of the situation, and he felt DreamHost had over reacted to their letter.  He sent them an email, which he copied me on, telling them that Paramount was satisfied with my compliance and they saw no reason for my site to be down.  Dreamhost still would not reply.

I finally got a terse email from a man in customer service telling me I could reinstate my site and they hoped I had learned my lesson.

I fired back with an admittedly angry email which resulted in me being lectured by the same DreamHost employee, and essentially telling me how I should consider myself lucky they didn’t do worse to me.  He also informed me that my “righteous indignation” was misplaced, and he hoped I had learned my lesson about respecting copyrights.

Don’t get me wrong, yes, I violated a copyright, albeit unknowingly.  That, however, does not give you the right to speak to me like a child and scold me.

Strike 3… you’re out.

A Total Lack Of Communication

I already mentioned that a DreamHost phone number is non-existent, which is bad enough, but when they won’t even reply to support requests for a simple answer as to what happened, that’s too much.  I am writing this post nearly a year after the mess because I still had data on their servers, but that is now all gone.  As I parted, I wrote them a lengthy email about why I was leaving… and not one word of response.

While my anger had cooled over the past year, and I had not planned on saying anything about them publicly, their lack of even acknowledging my complaints just fueled me up again.  If you’re looking for a host, I would recommend that you look at options other than DreamHost because, from my experience, they apparently couldn’t care less about their customers.  I pulled two hosting accounts and dozens of domain name registrations I had through them, and still not so much as a word from them.  And if they make a billing mistake, that ends up costing you money and troubles, they think it’s okay to make snarky jokes about it.  Changing TOS in mid-stream of a promotion?  No problem!  DreamHost phone number?  Oh… er… well… small problem.

I ended up moving to BlueHost, whom I have been very happy with thus far… course, complimenting hosts seems to lead to problems, so maybe I shouldn’t say I’m happy with them… -knocks on wood-

Oh, and by the way, when you leave DreamHost, they prorate what you’ve paid them and keep the unusued portion “on credit” with them should you ever choose to come back.  HA!  Oh well, there’s some money I’m not sure I would ever even want to see.

I think they may have been victims of their own success.  I think they always had some problems, but as they grew more and more, the problems with their customer service were just that more exasperated. I have no clue if they have fixed any of these problems, or their horrendous attitude, but seeing as there is still no customer service phone number, unlike pretty much every other web host in existence, I somehow doubt it.

Of course these are all just my personal experiences with them, and I am sure some people have had flawless runs with them, I just wasn’t one of them.  Based on my time with them, and how it so quickly degenerated, I wish I had thought twice before signing up with them.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Why I Left DreamHost

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