Oh, yep. She's definitely feeling guilty even prior to doing the deed. It's not a worthwhile trade-off. It's what she viewed as a necessary evil. Here's something I just wrote over at Newly Legion.
Joss is telling us the story through Buffy's experience. He starts the first issue by showing us that Buffy is confused about her identity and goes on to show that the only thing she is certain of is her duty to the Slayers she's 'chosen'. All other relationships are called into question in this first issue: Xander denies being Buffy's watcher as she calls him, Buffy cannot connect with Dawn, Giles is absent and Buffy can't find Willow. The only certain relationship Buffy has is the connection to her proteges. And then we see how lonely she is because of this situation she's pulled herself into.
Joss is slamming the entire ground of Season 8 with thematic cues to identity every which way. "Who are you?" (this one is said multiple times) "Her name is Amy." "You don't even know my name." He couldn't be more aware that he's telling a tale of Buffy being in a confused state. The story in Predators and Prey (the Chen TPB in particular) is showing us that Buffy's doubts about her actions ("What the hell am I doing?") are finally coming home to roost. Can we be surprised that the issue following this arc is called Retreat?
Season 8 is a tale of a morally questionable Buffy and she's become this way because she understood her greatest duty was a self-proclaimed burden - she chose these 1800 girls to be slayers. She better than anyone knows how heavy this burden is and she would never condemn them to fight alone. So she leads them at all costs. She is their desperate mother who steals a crust of bread to feed her child. Except her child is a warrior and needs warriors' weapons in order to survive in battle. So she steals millions and tells herself it's a "victimless crime" - she resides in the comfort of her greatest coping mechanism, denial. But Twilight refuses to let her deny the truth and he's attacking her at her weakest front - her morality.
Season 8 is about morality. It doesn't get more textually central. So yes, we are meant to understand how Buffy came to this point. Will this flashback take center stage? No. But will it be made clear? I believe so.
As for Allie, I keep saying this again and again. Don't count on him specifically for details or thematic interpretations. I run these Q&A's (for what it's worth) and I've noticed over time the best areas of his expertise rely on solid facts of issues already in print and vague descriptions of future events. To quote his latest answer, "You're right, I forgot." So don't jump ship because you read his response as the end-all, be-all of what's going to happen in this comic.
It's all coming clearer to me now that we "aren't just imagining things." The Jeanty variant of Buffy's face in pieces resonates both for that issue but also in showing that Buffy is fractured. And the villain himself, Twilight, tells us that the "trick to defeating her is to strip her of her greatest armor - her moral certainty." This battle will be fought on the field of morality. Not only is Twilight trying to convince Buffy that what she did was wrong, but he's convincing the world she's the enemy so that he has a Greek Chorus to echo his chant.
And Buffy's played right into his hands by robbing banks and breaking rules. His criticisms strike her because she's already judging herself for that. It's why she refuses to respond to Willow's criticism during #16 imo. She already knows it was wrong, but she felt it was a necessary evil in order to provide for the slayers she 'chose' and feels she must help them with their burden. If she makes it better for them, then they won't have such a tough time the way she did. Just as she saved Dawn and her own innocence in Season 5, here she saves herself once again by helping all these newly Chosen slayers. She sacrifices herself (again) and her morality to help them. But Twilight makes her wonder was her sacrifice in vain?
no subject
Joss is telling us the story through Buffy's experience. He starts the first issue by showing us that Buffy is confused about her identity and goes on to show that the only thing she is certain of is her duty to the Slayers she's 'chosen'. All other relationships are called into question in this first issue: Xander denies being Buffy's watcher as she calls him, Buffy cannot connect with Dawn, Giles is absent and Buffy can't find Willow. The only certain relationship Buffy has is the connection to her proteges. And then we see how lonely she is because of this situation she's pulled herself into.
Joss is slamming the entire ground of Season 8 with thematic cues to identity every which way. "Who are you?" (this one is said multiple times) "Her name is Amy." "You don't even know my name." He couldn't be more aware that he's telling a tale of Buffy being in a confused state. The story in Predators and Prey (the Chen TPB in particular) is showing us that Buffy's doubts about her actions ("What the hell am I doing?") are finally coming home to roost. Can we be surprised that the issue following this arc is called Retreat?
Season 8 is a tale of a morally questionable Buffy and she's become this way because she understood her greatest duty was a self-proclaimed burden - she chose these 1800 girls to be slayers. She better than anyone knows how heavy this burden is and she would never condemn them to fight alone. So she leads them at all costs. She is their desperate mother who steals a crust of bread to feed her child. Except her child is a warrior and needs warriors' weapons in order to survive in battle. So she steals millions and tells herself it's a "victimless crime" - she resides in the comfort of her greatest coping mechanism, denial. But Twilight refuses to let her deny the truth and he's attacking her at her weakest front - her morality.
Season 8 is about morality. It doesn't get more textually central. So yes, we are meant to understand how Buffy came to this point. Will this flashback take center stage? No. But will it be made clear? I believe so.
As for Allie, I keep saying this again and again. Don't count on him specifically for details or thematic interpretations. I run these Q&A's (for what it's worth) and I've noticed over time the best areas of his expertise rely on solid facts of issues already in print and vague descriptions of future events. To quote his latest answer, "You're right, I forgot." So don't jump ship because you read his response as the end-all, be-all of what's going to happen in this comic.
It's all coming clearer to me now that we "aren't just imagining things." The Jeanty variant of Buffy's face in pieces resonates both for that issue but also in showing that Buffy is fractured. And the villain himself, Twilight, tells us that the "trick to defeating her is to strip her of her greatest armor - her moral certainty." This battle will be fought on the field of morality. Not only is Twilight trying to convince Buffy that what she did was wrong, but he's convincing the world she's the enemy so that he has a Greek Chorus to echo his chant.
And Buffy's played right into his hands by robbing banks and breaking rules. His criticisms strike her because she's already judging herself for that. It's why she refuses to respond to Willow's criticism during #16 imo. She already knows it was wrong, but she felt it was a necessary evil in order to provide for the slayers she 'chose' and feels she must help them with their burden. If she makes it better for them, then they won't have such a tough time the way she did. Just as she saved Dawn and her own innocence in Season 5, here she saves herself once again by helping all these newly Chosen slayers. She sacrifices herself (again) and her morality to help them. But Twilight makes her wonder was her sacrifice in vain?