Randy continues his look into Buffy in time for the new Season 10 comic by Dark Horse….
Season Five: The One About Sacrifice
There is a big shift this season with the introduction of Dawn(Michelle Trachtenberg), Buffy’s younger sister. But was she always there, or is she some evil that has implanted herself into the memories of everyone around Buffy?
The big bad of the season is a goddess by the name of Glorificus(Clare Kramer), Glory for short, and her search for a magical key that will let her accomplish her evil goals.
The season sees sacrifice as Riley must come to terms with the nature of his relationship with Buffy. Buffy has to make a choice about her education when her mother suddenly becomes ill. And because Buffy is the slayer extraordinaire, she must choose whether or not to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her sister and everyone she loves.
Season Five Highlight:
The episode “Listening to Fear” is a highlight of this season because of its focus and the nature of the bad guy of the week. Any episode that focuses on Joyce is a highlight straight away, but here a human thing afflicts her. She has a brain tumor and there is no magical cure or anything to stake. And when there is something to stake, it turns out to be an alien. That’s really unlike anything they’ll ever face.
But the real highlight of the season is the episode “The Body.” It is a very real and raw show of emotions and comes almost out of nowhere, but now quite. What really brings this home is its lack of music. Just like “Hush” relied on no dialogue, this episode relies solely on words without music to steer your emotions.
Season Six: The One About Consequences
After the sacrifice Buffy made at the end of the previous season she is back but like anything in her life there are consequences. Her friends are possessed by evil things and people from her past come back to get her.
The big bads of the season aren’t some big demon, or a vampire, or even a god, but a trio of nerds that appeared in previous seasons. Warren(Adam Busch), Andrew(Tom Lenk), and Jonathan(Danny Strong) use their smarts to conjure up demons, make ray guns, and concoct many ways to make Buffy’s life a living hell after she defeated all of their plans in the past.
One of the more comedic consequences of Buffy having left college to take care of stuff at home is having to work at a fast food chain to pay the bills. But the job is not without incident and she quickly encounters trouble.
This season sees the departure of both Tara and Giles. While Giles makes a conscious decision to move on when he realizes Buffy no longer needs him, Tara is not as lucky. Her proximity to the Scooby Gang finally gets to her and sets in motion the end of the big bad by the intervention of Willow, who finally feels the consequences of the dark magical path she’s been taking.
Season Six Highlight:
The single best episode of the season is “Once More, With Feeling.” It’s a musical that brings forth the inner most thoughts of all the characters. Anya’s song is the most hilarious with her thoughts on bunny rabbits. But the most surprising revelation is that the Gang pulled Buffy from Heaven instead of the Hell they thought she was in.
Season Seven: The One About Learning
After years of being a scorched pile of rubble, Sunnydale High had been rebuilt and Buffy is hired as a guidance counselor.
The biggest conflict of the season is the arrival of a mass of Potential Slayers, girls with the potential to be called to service with all the powers that come with the job. The First Evil, an enemy that tormented Angel all the way back in the third season, has risen to power and is killing Potential Slayers to achieve that end. Closely following them is Caleb(portrayed by Whedon alum Nathan Fillion), a priest agent of the First.
In the final battle, the city of Sunnydale sees its end and several characters make the sacrifice to save the world and Buffy shares a great gift with the world.
Season Seven Highlight:
The highlight of the season is the series finale of the television show. “Chosen” is possibly the best episode of the entire series. Without spoiling it, this episode really defines what it means to be a slayer and the redefines it less than a second later. Not only should it give you chills, it also give you a sense of hope for the future.
Season Eight: The One About Growth
This season starts the continuation of the series in comic book form. After the events of the seventh season, there are hundreds or even thousands of new slayers all around the world and they’re all being trained by the Scoobies. Xander is comfortable in his position of the Nick Fury of his world.
Growth also comes in the form of an expanded enemy in the U.S. Government. No longer just the Initiative, the government is working with a returning witch from Willow’s past, and an evil genius lacking skin, also from Willow’s dark past. The slayers are now seen as a terrorist organization and are hunted as so. It also doesn’t help that Harmony is a television sensation and helped in the outing of vampires. That in turn helped people see slayers as the enemy.
We get literal growth from Dawn as it’s revealed she has been turned into a several stories high person who then goes on to fight a robot version of herself in Japan.
But the big mystery, and the big bad, is the identity and appearance of the villain Twilight. The man in the wrestling mask is working all sides to push Buffy to her limit to a mountain shattering edge.
Season Eight Highlight:
The arc “Wolves at the Gate” wins my vote as highlight of the season because of the introduction of a very different side of Buffy as she explores a relationship with fellow slayer Satsu. It seems sudden, but really opens a lot of doors for stories told in the setting of a encampment of just women.
Season Nine: The One About Reality
After the explosive ending of the previous season, the world is lacking certain magic and it just isn’t the same. Demons have no mojo; witches can’t even lift a pencil; vampires are becoming feral; and Buffy is back to waitressing.
The world is plain and suddenly slayers are wandering aimlessly. Willow isn’t really a witch anymore and all the blame is on Buffy.
But this season sees a lot of change. Kennedy is now top slayer running a private security company and a new Scooby Gang takes form with the addition a non-slayer male slayer. It’s tough going through a magicless world now that Buffy also has the police watching her closely and a sister and friend that don’t really want to deal with her.
Through hardships of reality and the workings of a downed demonic realm, Bufy and company try to keep things in the world straight and maybe even see the return of magic to the world.
Season Nine Highlight:
The highlight arc of the season is “Billy the Vampire Slayer.” The reality of the world as it really is has set in and this arc shows how the real world is handling the threat of vampires and demons. While this arc shows the life of a regular teenage with a different perspective, it succeeds at showing the regular guy. You have a kid stepping up to help much like Buffy did. The difference is that this is a boy with a choice. He doesn’t have to, but chooses to help.
Angel & Faith Season Nine: The One About Atonement
Before I go into this particular spin off, I should warn that I was able to avoid spoilers for season eight in the regular Buffy section, but as they drive the narrative of this spin off, it’s hard to avoid. Reader beware.
After the revelation that Angel was the mysterious Twilight that aided Buffy in taking magic out of the world, Angel killed Giles. Now Angel is living with Faith and they are taking care of the loose ends left by Giles.
Also living in a magicless world, the duo also set off on a quest to resurrect Giles that leads them through alternate dimensions and across demons that can shoot lasers out of their eyes. Angel feels he can only atone for his mistake by accomplishing this task and through flashbacks Giles feels he has to atone for time as Ripper.
This all leads into yet another apocalyptic scenario that can only be avoided with help from a teenager that no one ever expected to be around yet be able to turn the tide.
Season Highlight:
The “Family Reunion” arc set off a continuation of a plot thread from the Angel tv series involving Connor going off on his own with implanted memories. With magic gone from the world, he remembers everything and takes Angel and company into the hell dimension he was raised in. There was a lot left unsaid between father and son so it’s nice to finally see them interacting in a non-stressful situation.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer continues to thrive in the minds of any fans of the show and those reading comics curious about the adventures of the slayer. Setting off onto its tenth season, this recap goes to show that you can’t keep a good slayer down.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Ten #1 and Angel & Faith: Season Ten #1 are available now.
