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8.36: The Preview Pages
So with four days left to go before #36 finally comes out, I figure I'd waste some time pondering the preview pages. They came out on a pretty crummy day, so I was grumpy when I first read them. Random thoughts below the cut.
1. So this is Angel from the future, or at least from 'a' future -- one where 'we' lost the war. The war in question was in LA, but that may or may not be a purely local deal. At the end of the preview we find out that future!Angel has some issues with the cheerleader.
The time travel angle has been in play all season long -- at least since #10 when Buffy talked about changing things if she was in a time loop. Time travel gives me a headache, and I can only hope this is written in a way that doesn't boil down to some "the characters get an infinite number of chances to make things right so nothing really matters" sort of a deal. The drama of life is that we only get one shot at it (says the woman who wishes she could have a do-over on a daily basis).
2. I love that Angel gets smashed by the O. More call backs to season 2.
3. DOG shows up. His first line is "I know I'm a dog. What a world, right?". Reminds me of Spike in School Hard talking to Angel about what a world it is where people buy all that Anne Rice stuff. There are a few other places where DOG sounds Spike-ish. Fortunately there are places where DOG sounds not at all like Spike.
4. So the world's back the way it was supposed to be. Fortunatley this is DOG speaking which means we don't necessarily have to assume that we really are playing the "reset and redo as many times as it takes to get it right" game. The whole idea reminds me of fanfic, much of which is about resetting the game and getting it right. Which is a perfectly fine and enjoyable game to play -- in fanfic.
5. Angel pushes the O back into place. Superpowers already in place then.
6. Another joke about balls! Probably just the usual joke about why dogs lick themselves. But it'd be cool if DOG turns out to be channeling Saga Vasuki -- a female type would probably be very entertained by the situation.
7. Mention of Wesley. Along with Angel's reaction to mention of Buffy makes me think that future!Angel isn't from so very far in (his) future. The loss of the war rankles, and doesn't seem to be a dim memory.
8. Angel is twitchy about "chosen". Immediate reference is that he's twitchy about Buffy, which raises the possiblity that she had something to do with the war that was lost. DOG asks what they're going to do about that, which Angel takes to be a threatening remark about Buffy. I'd love it if the subtext here is that Angel is twitchy about who Buffy chose in Chosen, and that's what he ought to do something about. Probably wishful thinking, since honestly having the first pages be about Angel was disappointing to my Spike-centric self.
9. DOG is waiting for Angel to feel it. Could mean Angel's superpowers -- maybe Angel didn't notice he had them when he pushed the O back up. But this line resonates with FDW waiting for Buffy to feel it -- the weight of her failure. In this case, Angel could be asked to feel something of how this world has changed. Dunno. It's pretty open ended.
There are two possible shoutouts to LOST: DOG looks like Vicent; there's an airplane about to crash. Certainly the preview reminded me of the un-joy of watching LOST where questions piled up faster than answers were granted. It's the last arc! But we knew there had to be some big back story on Angel. A war weary Angel who has lost everything makes some of Twangel easier to understand. The cynicism about the inevitable deaths of mortals. The lack of concern about seeing a world lost (since he's in a world that just got reconstituted after having already been lost).
My big wish is that DOG be related to Saga Vasuki and/or Willow. That's a plot line that needs to be joined. Angel listening to chaos means that the story isn't necessarily selling Angel as the poor hero who just had to become Twilgiht to save the world. And who knows, maybe they plucked the version of Angel who'd been through the crushing defeat because they knew that was the version that would most easily be their patsy? Could work. But time travel and alternative universes need to be employed with care. Makes me nervous, in a grumpy sort of a way.
no subject
As for Chosen, I think you're getting your wires crossed. People say Angel was OOC, not Buffy.
Again, the difference between how Buffy acts in Forever and how Buffy acts in Twilight continue to reinforce the point. Buffy's emotional state does not immediately jump to spacefrakking, not even when she's feeling the most intense grief and burden of responsibility.
Buffy is perfectly in character in Chosen. Angel punches Caleb, shows up to help her and she says hello with a kiss. Now instead imagine that Caleb pulls off his fleshmask to reveal Angel underneath--then cue Buffy kissing him with the swooning and the basking. Still in character? I sure hope you don't think that's still the same.
What's baffling to me about your argument is you think that Buffy and Angel merely being in the same room together must lead to Buffy wanting to kiss or have sex with Angel. Huh? Not even want it, but that it's inevitable. In all appearances post-Season 3, whenever Buffy and Angel have reunited it's only immediately (note the emphasis on time) gone to kissing when Buffy has no reason to be angry with Angel and that only happened in Chosen. Forever took a long time to get to the point where Buffy was kissing Angel desperately (how long did they stand silently at the grave just holding hands? How long before Buffy could even work up the will to speak?). IWRY began with Buffy so angry with Angel that they didn't kiss till midway through the episode when he appears miraculously in the sunlight. Sanctuary was fighting. The Yoko Factor was about making peace and not romance. I imagine in the S6/S3 offscreen reunion they kissed, but again it's a miraculous reunion that has no reason for them to be angry with each other.
On the occasions that Buffy is angry with Angel, it doesn't immediately result in kissing (much less balls-to-the-wall spacefrakking). The immediate kissing only happens when they meet in harmony and Angel is there to help her. Buffy was shocked when Angel hit her in the face in Sanctuary. So shocked that she doubted how much he still cared for her. But now Angel can spend months on end hurting her and pushing an agenda that requires Slayers die and she's just okay and wants to make kissey faces?
I really don't understand the Buffy you're talking about. Buffy doesn't immediately dive into kissing Angel no matter what and to say one should read #33/34 and find it all perfectly in order runs counter to what was shown in the show. When Buffy encounters Angel's darkness, she freaks out (see Lie To Me, see Enemies) and runs away from him. She just got hit with a mack truck of Angel darkness in #33/34--behavioral patterns show she should've shut down, felt hurt and betrayed by him and questioned if he still loved her or still had his soul.
She doesn't do the above--all are perfectly natural and expected reactions for her based on how she deals emotionally. This is why people are saying she's not acting in character; and since she's not in character, people are wondering if it's bad writing (Meltzer's execution of Joss' idea) or if there's a textual reason for why she's acting abnormally (glow and the influence of the Universe).
no subject
1) She very nearly did, according to Marti's shooting script.
2) I've heard both.
3) It didn't in 'Twilight' either. She spent half the issue trying to kill Angel, remember? It was the way her body was glowing plus her instincts ("But as he says the words -- I know he's right") that convinced her he was telling the truth after all.
4) No, it's not the same. Buffy had personally seen Caleb blind Xander, kill several Potentials and make misogynistic comments. She hasn't seen Twilight|Angel kill anyone, and he tells her he hasn't. She hated Caleb personally; she hated Twilight for what he represented and the deeds done in his name, not for anything he himself had done.
Remember the really moving speech in 'The Chain' about how there's always a name, even though in reality it's the actions of millions of people behind those names that actually matter? S8 all ties together in a really clever way. :-)
5) No, of course I don't think it's inevitable that they'll end up having sex or otherwise getting physical. It does, however, seem to happen often enough that I can't say it's out of character if it happens again, as here.
6) See 3., re: she spent half the issue trying to kill Angel before she realised he was telling the truth (-as-he-saw-it). There was some definite catharsis going on there. And notice that Angel just lets her swing punches at him? Reminiscent of Spike in the alley in 'Dead Things', that was.
7) You're seeing Angel's darkness: I'm seeing Buffy clinging to hope that somehow this will all turn out for the best after all.
8) To me, Buffy acting impulsively and putting her trust in her friend even when that friend has done something, let's say questionable - is the very essence of Buffy.
no subject
4. No she'd only personally seen Twilight put Satsu in the hospital, batter her badly enough to require extensive bandaging, and taunt her in a misogynistic fashion. How different is that, really from what she saw Caleb do? Throw in that she'd spent a YEAR thinking Twilight was responsible for everything. Buffy's steam of anger at Angel didn't slow down in Sanctuary, even though Angel was right. Why does it slow down here? I think you underestimate just how apt the Caleb analogy is.
5. The fact that it doesn't ALWAYS happen means you have to explain why it happens here, and not (remotely) in Sanctuary. The burden of proof is on you to explain why this time, of all times, Buffy can't resist Angel when we've seen her resist him on many other occasions. She didn't boink him in Chosen. Why not? In the middle of a war. Well -- she's in the middle of a losing war right now with massive casualties. No boinking then. Why inevitable boinking now?
7. Since when has Buffy led with trust with Angel? Again, see Sanctuary.
no subject
Giving into smoochies is what often happens with Buffy and Angel, not boinking, and certainly not immediately after Buffy's feeling angry and betrayed. On top of that, she never mentions or worries about the curse, something that's scarred her badly and was a sword of Damocles for all of Season 3. Buffy didn't up and forget about the curse--so why is she acting like it's a non-issue unless she can no longer think coherently enough to worry about the curse or question if it's safe?