Spoilery Review of Buffy, Season 8, Time of Your Life - Beware of the Ex-Boyfriend

[shadowkat]

A better subject heading would be "No, Riley is not Evil, he's just drawn that way." But that would be spoilery. Also, not sure it's entirely accurate.

Feeling sort of vindicated regarding Riley, who, while not revealed as Twilight, was revealed as being in coo-hoots or as a partner of Twilight's - which I suspected they'd probably do. Not at all surprised by this development. I knew Riley was involved with Twilight - because the military is involved with/following Twilight and Riley is, after all, a solider first and foremost -so, it tracked logically. It's also in keeping with Whedon's general anti-establishment/military theme.

And, no, I don't hate Riley. I actually was rooting for Riley/Buffy in S4 and part of S5. Also, I don't think this proves that he is a sexist, chauvnistic, prick. Nor do I think it is against character. Although I can see how others may interpret it that way, and I do think Whedon has well issues regarding gender politics to the extent that he deliberately inserts those issues into his stories. Heck he admitted as much in an interview - stating Season 8 Buffy was going to be an exploration of how some people, specifically men, can't handle powerful women. In some respects Whedon's take on the topic reminds me of Xander and Andrew, which, isn't exactly as feminist as one may think.

Riley, from the very beginning, was written as having a bit of a sick mother complex. Riley and Spike are in some ways reverse images of one another. Spike started out killing the demon mother or the slayer. He sought to kill the mother who emasculated him, and sought to protect the mother who demonized him. When he meets Buffy - that flips, or rather Buffy does a number on him. And he tries to kill Dru, to protect Buffy. Riley is the opposite, Riley like Spike = had a sick mother who turned him or attempted to turn him into a demonic warrior. Buffy saved him from that fate and emasculated him by removing his super-powers. Riley rails against Buffy. He leaves her. And when he returns in As you Were, he's married, tough, and has a tough wife who is his equal, as far as we know, who he saved and took under his wing - not the other way around.

Because of Professor Walsh, who not only played Dr. Frankenstein with his body but also fiddled with his head, Riley is a bit screwed up. Walsh had to a degree ingrained in Riley that demons and magic were bad - they could be used to strengthen the army, but they were the enemy. He sought to go against that doctrine to be with Buffy, but it bugged him. And I seriously doubt he took Buffy's relationship with Spike, and Angel before him as well as we think.

It's not that Riley is evil or bad, he's not. Just complex. He probably thinks that Twilight is right. Magic has gotten out of hand. The world would be better off without it. Remember - when we saw him last he was a bit battle-scarred. He'd saved his wife from a horrendous monster - whom he was tracking. A Monster - whose eggs, he discovered in Spike's lair, after discovering Buffy sleeping with Spike. From Riley's perspective - he's the hero and Buffy is a deluded outlaw. A terrorist. Riley hasn't seen her save the world from Glory or the First Evil. He didn't grieve for her and he didn't watch her die.

From Riley's perspective, working with Twilight and against Buffy is a necessary evil for the greater good. Remember Riley is a solider, first and last. He's a patriot. And he believes in the military. This is his mission. To Riley - what Buffy and her friends are doing is wrong. The fact that Ethan warned Buffy about Twilight and died - is an echo of Ethan's warning about the Initiative to Giles way back in S4. In some ways - this arc is repeat of that storyline - the military finding a means to eradicate the world of the demonic and magical plague that it believes is destroying the world. Unfortunately if you destroy magic - you destroy the good as well as the bad.

Buffy frightens the military and Riley, because she is operating outside the lines, and has a lot of power.

Time of Your Life - revealed that Buffy met Riley in NYC under the impression that he was her inside man, working with her. This happened off the page and Buffy told no one. Which was a mistake. And probably what both Riley and Twilight counted on. She even dressed up for the part - something that inconvienced her greatly in the future during her fight with Fray. Riley states that she doesn't know what he is doing. That it worked.

No clue who Twilight is. I don't believe he's Harth - too big and too tall, he's taller than Riley. Or at least he appears taller than Riley. My guess is Twilight is someone we don't know. A brand new character.

While all that is going on - Buffy is busy fighting Fray to get back to her own timeline. Fray refuses to kill Buffy. But she does try to prevent her return - fearful that Buffy's return will cancel out her future. If Fray thought about it logically - she'd remember that Buffy's the one who removes the magic from the world or has a hand in it. If Buffy is prevented from returning - then that won't happen and Fray's world will cease to exist.

But Fray clearly, isn't very analytical or educated, so DarkWillow is able to effectively fool her. DarkWillow doesn't want Fray's future to come to pass - she's trying to stop it. It's in her best interest to stop it. But she knows that Buffy will kill her. Either way, she figures she wins. Because she's lived too long and doesn't wish to live much longer. She manipulates the events to either lead to Buffy staking her through the heart or her ability to prevent Buffy from returning to her time-line - a return that ironically she creates and manages. So, she must know what does happen. As she tells Buffy, I saw it.

Willow, past Willow, blindfolds herself to rescue Buffy and manages it with little problem. Following her snakegoddesses dictates and not looking at the future. Makes me wonder about the snakegoddess.

Outside of that - very little happens in the Fray time line that is of much interest. A lot of fighting and banter, but that's about it. Also a nice scene of sisterly bonding, past and present.

We also get a nice subplot with banter between Xander and Dawn as they fight off Amy's weird minions. Amy's spell makes me wonder if she's also talking to the weird snake goddess. No evidence to back that up, but those creatures look a bit too much like the snakegoddess to be mere coincidence.

Overall an enjoyable story. Banter. Bonding. Fight scenes. And actual plot and character evolution.

Somewhere in the letters page, Scott Allie states that Whedon is the master of the slow-build. He says he once pointed out a Charmed episode to Whedon, where they did a Buffy/Angel storyline. Whedon stated they did in one episode what it took him two seasons to pull off.

Yet, those two seasons packed a bigger walloop. It pays off. I have to admit, I agree with the editor, Scott Allie on this bit. I prefer the slow build - it's why I love serial dramas - they build up to the moment, so when it happens it packs more punch. When you get things too fast, they aren't as memorable, they don't mean as much - you have to earn them, work up to them...it's the difference between say a full course Turkey dinner and picking up a pizza.

Anywho - I liked this issue and look forward to what comes next. Warning - appears that I was right, Jeff Loeb (the Heroes writer) is indeed writing an issue, but it's a one shot and it actually looks sort of cool. It refers to the cartoon they tried to produce. So maybe no warning is necessary afterall.

Comments

Re: Agree

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I'm loving the Angel series, but I don't pretend to understand it all... the phasing through time thing is interesting: it means that Illyria really feels the pain as Fred, and isn't just remembering what pain and loss is like...(which is what I had been thinking before).
I'm very fond of the fish, Betta George, so I'll be interested to see what insights he can bring to the chaos:
Every character has so many internal conflicts that the series still seems more intense than BtVS S8, but of course BtVS is getting there slowly but surely!

Did you write a review of the last Angel?

Re: Agree

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Nice icon.

Nah, haven't really written a review of it as of yet. No time.

I read on Brian Lynch's blog/discussion board that Spike is of the opinion that Fred is really Illyria.
That she's not just a mask Illyria occassionally wears.
Interesting theory. The one who came up with it - asked Lynch: If Spike thinks Illyria really is Fred is something that is going to be addressed directly or is just something that you are supposed to infer from the text? Lynch responded that he had to relook at his issue 15 pdfs, okay, back now, yes it will be addressed.

Hadn't thought about it. But that would explain Spike's attitude towards Illyria and also builds upon the whole monster/human duality going on in that series. Angel/Angelus, Spike/William, Illyria/Fred,
Gunn/VampGunn...

BettaGeorge has got to be the best new character in either comic.