[Review] BTVS 9x12, Guarded [Part. 2]
My thoughts on the issue.
~*~*~
I liked this issue. This is not as entertaining as I wish it was, but I liked it (loved the drawing featuring Joss, Allie and Jeanty, among other members of the DarkHorse staff, it was fun :P ).
A modest come-back of W&H to the Buffyverse (which is not a bad thing considering their importance in the BTVS/ATS universe), some Buffy/Kennedy scenes I liked a lot, and Buffy who is learning to follow orders instead of leading and taking responsabilities.
We often see her in 'second position' in this issue, she's not the main leader of the situation, which is a positive change, not only for her, but also for the readers. We never really saw her in that position, and I find that refreshing. We don't really know Buffy as a follower, and issues 11 & 12 reminded me Faith's line in Empty places (7x19) : "I don't know if I can lead. But the real question is... can you follow ?".
I think that, to some extend, it can only be good for her character's progression. She has the opportunity to learn more about herself, and what a normal job for a normal life is about (as normal a job & life can be in the Buffyverse).
On a personal plan, Buffy is still very isolated from people she loves (yet, the focus seems to be more on her job than on her private life). Seeing her spending some time with Spike, Dawn, Xander or Willow is something I really miss, as a reader. But from a storytelling POV, I think it makes sense in some ways. It seems they're not able to develop different stories at the same time, and the focus is very much on Buffy, but if it's necessary to her journey and to the consistency of the story they're trying to tell, why not. We can't judge as long as the season isn't over. The Scooby's scattering may not be enjoyable to read, but from my own experience, this is something that often happens at some point of your life, more notably when you're in a phase of your life in which you're trying to know who you are. As long as this separation serves the journey of each of our favorites characters, it may not end up being a bad thing. I try to keep an overall point of view, and I hope I'll like what the final result will be.
Back to the issue. Koh is becoming someone Buffy tends to 'rely on' for some kind of stuff. She knows all about Spike's "bromance" with him, the trust he apparently had in this demon ("For a minute, Spike thought you might be joining the Scoobies"), and I think it has some kind of influence on her judgment of him. I like how she tend to lean on the person who felt the most close to Spike.
Buffy may try to have a normal life, afar from demons, her natural instincts tend to lead her right back at 'home'. We saw this in issue 11, and we see again in this issue that avoiding supernatural stuff won't be as easy as she expected (and the reason she doesn't succeed is maybe because she -unconsciously or not- doesn't want it hard enough ; this is a part of who she is after all...). We regularly see her smiling at the mention of coming back in the fight with demons (more notably in this issue when she's thinking about having Koh at their side for the fight). This is something she clearly enjoys.
There is also this interesting spontaneous reaction from Buffy in her conversation with Kennedy : "He's kind of cute" should have lead her to think about the human guy, not the demon guy. It may appear as a detail, but it remains something very telling about Buffy's own idea of normalcy, which tends to differ from the most popular definition/idea of normalcy. It doesn't totally fit with her standards.
I liked a lot the moment Kennedy talked about Willow and how she still cared about her. It was nice to read that.
The parallel between Theo's situation concerning Tincan, and Buffy's situation with the Seed was a nice add, but the lack of subtility and lack of depth in the exploration was disappointing.
I also have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed by how much I feel disconnected from Buffy's point of view, which is very strange since she's the only focus of those last issues. But I feel like something is missing. Internal dialogs are one of the rare favors of the comics format, and I would really like to see it more often used, especially during those kind of arcs, in which the only focus is our Slayer and how she tries to find her way.
I feel close to her story/journey, but not to her character (emotionaly speaking), and I really miss that. Maybe the DarkHorse staff intentionally chose it for some reason, but for the moment, I miss it.
~*~*~
I liked this issue. This is not as entertaining as I wish it was, but I liked it (loved the drawing featuring Joss, Allie and Jeanty, among other members of the DarkHorse staff, it was fun :P ).
A modest come-back of W&H to the Buffyverse (which is not a bad thing considering their importance in the BTVS/ATS universe), some Buffy/Kennedy scenes I liked a lot, and Buffy who is learning to follow orders instead of leading and taking responsabilities.
We often see her in 'second position' in this issue, she's not the main leader of the situation, which is a positive change, not only for her, but also for the readers. We never really saw her in that position, and I find that refreshing. We don't really know Buffy as a follower, and issues 11 & 12 reminded me Faith's line in Empty places (7x19) : "I don't know if I can lead. But the real question is... can you follow ?".
I think that, to some extend, it can only be good for her character's progression. She has the opportunity to learn more about herself, and what a normal job for a normal life is about (as normal a job & life can be in the Buffyverse).
On a personal plan, Buffy is still very isolated from people she loves (yet, the focus seems to be more on her job than on her private life). Seeing her spending some time with Spike, Dawn, Xander or Willow is something I really miss, as a reader. But from a storytelling POV, I think it makes sense in some ways. It seems they're not able to develop different stories at the same time, and the focus is very much on Buffy, but if it's necessary to her journey and to the consistency of the story they're trying to tell, why not. We can't judge as long as the season isn't over. The Scooby's scattering may not be enjoyable to read, but from my own experience, this is something that often happens at some point of your life, more notably when you're in a phase of your life in which you're trying to know who you are. As long as this separation serves the journey of each of our favorites characters, it may not end up being a bad thing. I try to keep an overall point of view, and I hope I'll like what the final result will be.
Back to the issue. Koh is becoming someone Buffy tends to 'rely on' for some kind of stuff. She knows all about Spike's "bromance" with him, the trust he apparently had in this demon ("For a minute, Spike thought you might be joining the Scoobies"), and I think it has some kind of influence on her judgment of him. I like how she tend to lean on the person who felt the most close to Spike.
Buffy may try to have a normal life, afar from demons, her natural instincts tend to lead her right back at 'home'. We saw this in issue 11, and we see again in this issue that avoiding supernatural stuff won't be as easy as she expected (and the reason she doesn't succeed is maybe because she -unconsciously or not- doesn't want it hard enough ; this is a part of who she is after all...). We regularly see her smiling at the mention of coming back in the fight with demons (more notably in this issue when she's thinking about having Koh at their side for the fight). This is something she clearly enjoys.
There is also this interesting spontaneous reaction from Buffy in her conversation with Kennedy : "He's kind of cute" should have lead her to think about the human guy, not the demon guy. It may appear as a detail, but it remains something very telling about Buffy's own idea of normalcy, which tends to differ from the most popular definition/idea of normalcy. It doesn't totally fit with her standards.
I liked a lot the moment Kennedy talked about Willow and how she still cared about her. It was nice to read that.
The parallel between Theo's situation concerning Tincan, and Buffy's situation with the Seed was a nice add, but the lack of subtility and lack of depth in the exploration was disappointing.
I also have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed by how much I feel disconnected from Buffy's point of view, which is very strange since she's the only focus of those last issues. But I feel like something is missing. Internal dialogs are one of the rare favors of the comics format, and I would really like to see it more often used, especially during those kind of arcs, in which the only focus is our Slayer and how she tries to find her way.
I feel close to her story/journey, but not to her character (emotionaly speaking), and I really miss that. Maybe the DarkHorse staff intentionally chose it for some reason, but for the moment, I miss it.