Buffy Season Eight: Turbulence

Xander: "Cat's out, Dawnie."
Buffy: "And I approve. I'm Buffy, and I approve this kissage."

Synopsis:

On her way back to the temple, Buffy decides to keep her brand new superpowers a secret. The powers -- flying and super strength -- feel right to her, somehow.

Back at the temple, while apologizing to Oz for bringing war to his home, Willow asks him if he has any thoughts about how to get her magic back really fast -- and she gets her magic back really fast as she's slammed with some sort of green sparkly thing. (Green? Is that a hint that it's the snake-woman-thing?) Six of the Wiccans keel over and two of them barf. Willow says she thinks her power surge is fallout from some cataclysmic event that hasn't happened yet.

Willow flies off to see if she can re-bury the goddesses and get everyone's powers back. She doesn't have much success; they bat her around.

Brief check in with Twilight. He has managed to kidnap Giles, Faith and Andrew, who are all unconscious. Twilight knows how important Giles and Faith are to Buffy, but he can't quite remember who Andrew is.

Buffy talks with one of the injured enemy soldiers. He was told if he was captured, the magical enemy would do things to him. Buffy tells him that if they had powers, they would have healed him. She closes the soldier's dead eyes and goes outside with Xander.

Xander is still team Riley; he never wanted Buffy to be with a demon. Buffy tells Xander she's realized it's too late for a relationship with him and she knows he's with Dawn. Xander, in a surprising bout of maturity, makes Buffy acknowledge that she never went for him when he was available and that it wasn't a coincidence that she brought this up right after seeing him with Dawn. Buffy and Xander make up and decide to be cool about it, just as Dawn shows up, and Buffy gives the two of them her blessing.

Willow checks in (via astral smoky glowing face) to say she can't handle the goddesses, her magic bounces off them. Buffy tells her not to worry about it, to just go dig a great big hole. Xander, Dawn and Kennedy follow Buffy outside the temple, wondering out loud what Buffy can possibly do about the goddesses.

Buffy takes off up into the sky (hey, her powers weren't secret for long) and flies to where Willow has dug a huge hole, as instructed. Buffy grabs each giant goddess and whacks her down into the hole, and Willow uses her magic to bury them. The goddesses are now back where they came from.

The last few panels are Willow saying that she can feel Buffy's new powers didn't come from the same place that Willow's did. Buffy tells Willow about Xander and Dawn, and Willow says, "Gah. I thought they'd never figure that out."

Review:

Sad to say, this eensy standalone was much better than all four parts of "Retreat." And that was because the characters were all talking and acting like Buffy characters (yes, Joss Whedon wrote it). I sort of reconnected again, in spite of myself. It helps a bit that I just finished reviewing the last four issues; I didn't have time to completely forget everything between issues, which is what I usually do. Have I mentioned how much I'm sooo not into the comic book medium? I have? Several times? Ah, yes.

Buffy has superpowers now, and the other slayers have nothing. This is interesting. It's sort of a season one reset where there's only one powerful slayer in the world. And Willow got her powers back, too (sounds like they might have gotten sucked out of the other Wiccans), so she's still on the road to self-destruction. Interesting that Willow was unable to defeat the goddesses, but Buffy could. Is Buffy now more powerful than Willow?

Part of me is really bothered by the fact that Willow and Buffy can both fly now. It's taking the story even further away from the television series, where everyone was a lot more human and easier to relate to.

I sort of don't know what to say about Xander and Dawn as a couple that doesn't involve a lot of involuntary gagging. I did like that they addressed the many, many hints that Buffy was starting to see Xander as a love interest, though (and to be fair, that happened before she saw him with Dawn). I guess the only good part of this is that every woman Xander has fallen for has died horribly. There were hints that Buffy might go back to injured, faithful, gave-everything-for-the-cause Riley. And no. I'm still waiting for Spike, of course.

Twilight has Giles, Faith and Andrew, and Buffy hasn't even noticed. Sure, she's been busy leading a battle and burying giant goddesses and acquiring superpowers, but still.

Bits and pieces:

-- Bay will recover. That's nice for Oz. Now if only everyone would just get the hell out of Tibet and leave them alone, huh?

-- When Buffy gave Xander and Dawn her blessing, so to speak, Dawn said she didn't ask for it. Good for Dawn.

-- Dawn was wearing a shirt with the number 18 on it, reminding me of season six when we were all trying to figure out why people were wearing numbers on their outfits.

-- This issue's Most Obvious Symbolism was probably the fact that Buffy and Willow just buried goddesses.

Quotes:

Willow: "We brought war to a place of peace."
Oz: "It's Tibet, Will. You're not the first."

Buffy: "I'm like General Custer with long blond hair."
Riley: "General Custer *had* long blond hair."
Buffy: "So we *are* dumber."

Buffy: "That's what Riley said."
Xander: "Well, he's a brainy guy. Plus he's dangling steel working inside Twilight's camp."
Buffy: "Since when are you such a fanboy?"
Xander: "Your one boyfriend who wasn't a psychotic demon? I was always team Riley."

Buffy: "I'm too late again, aren't I?"
Xander: "For what?"
Buffy: "For you."
Xander: "Whotothe howtothe hammina?"
Buffy: "You and Dawn."
Xander: "Oh, is that a conversation that's happening?"
Buffy: "No, it's fine. Dawn's a grown woman, and you're a disgusting pedophile."
Xander: "Whoa!"
Buffy: "Cradle robber? Come on! I at least get cradle robber..."

Xander: "Hey, that's a big deal! I'm a potential romantic interest! I'm on the list -- right after being gay. I rate almost as good as trying to change your sexual orientation. You went -- through gay -- to me."
Buffy: "I was having a phase! I'm supposed to have that phase!"
So that must be Joss Whedon's answer to everyone wondering how come previously totally straight Buffy suddenly jumped in bed with a woman.

Dawn: "Uh, cough. Noise of cough."
Xander: "Hey Dawnie, we--"
Buffy: "Nothing! Friend hug! Because of sad. No subtle bosom-pressing in hug."
Dawn: "Buffy, I'm your sister. I know you could never do anything subtle."

Buffy: "Cool giant astral head."
Willow: "Are my nostrils, like, huge?"

Xander: "It's a nuke."
Kennedy: "You're a dyke."
Dawn: "You sacrifice a 'key'."

Three out of four flying slayers,

Billie
---
Billie Doux reviewed all of Buffy and Angel, so she knows the plural of apocalypse.

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