Wow - your metas are always so dense and full of intriguing thoughts, it usually takes me a while to respond. I think I like your idea that season 8 is exploring Buffy's headspace - it's a very psychological reading of the text, and does make me want to think about it more rather than cringe away in disgust.

One thought that came to me as I read this - one that pleases me as a Spuffy shipper to no end - is that the confusion about Spike/Angel in "Always Darkest" could be used to read the "yin to her yang" line as applying to both; Buffy loves both vampires differently but equally - which, if that reading was correct and would be given some evidence in later issues, could make the entire run of the series palatable to me. I don't need space f^$%ing to be a happy shipper. And the space f*%$&ing? Just a set up for a big fall.

I did enjoy your thoughts on Alan Moore, and may need to check out Lost Girls. I'll be reading Watchmen again in a literature class, and I think the point I want to make in the class is that Moore cannot be relied upon to know women's minds and women's sexuality - Silk Spectre is the least fleshed-out character in the novel, after all.

Thanks for this! (And it was probably a good idea to choose Glee to watch - this was dense stuff, and you needed something frothy and fun after this!)