BtVS S8.16 Time of Your Life (part I)

[hazelk]

First let’s get the pony jokes out of the way by pointing out that with this seventh title in the series the seasonal arc looks like it’s finally come under starter’s orders. Twilight is back and with Warren’s assistance makes Voll’s fantasy of nuking the bitch, or at least her co-ordinates, a reality. Dawn’s second ass-embiggening transformation may be random but did have the side effect of keeping her and Xander out of range. Meanwhile Buffy falls into the future while taking Manhattan on a mystery date.

I remember really liking the art in Fray but Moline felt a little off here. Unlike the other two guest artists on the book he’s having to follow Jeanty on his own territory – I suspect things will improve when the action moves to Hadyn. Also looking back at Fray it was a very action/drama driven story – there wasn’t a great deal of people sitting around chewing the fat (literally in the case of the carryout cuisine) so the nuance and humour that this story requires were never really needed. He draws Xander and Dawn well, Willow sometimes but Buffy too often resembles an overexcitable wide mouthed frog.

It’s a set up episode so the main interest is in the questions it raises. Who was Buffy all dressed up to meet? Why is Willow so secretive about her snake woman? What will Dawn turn into next? What will they do about Twilight and who is that masked man anyway?

Previously I’ve not been much interested in speculation about Twilight’s identity but am more than a little intrigued by one of the Whedoesquer’s suggestion that it might be Harth (Fray’s vampire messiah brother). In Fray the twist is that Melaka inherited the Slayer strength while her twin got the dreams and the connection to the line. I have been hoping that the whole dreamspace idea might crop up again so bringing in Harth as a time traveled Twilight would make that very possible and also explain Twilight’s knowledge of Buffy’s moves and moods. He’d also have a very direct motivation for wanting to end magic in Buffy’s time – that happening is part of his timeline if it doesn’t he won’t. Plus technology – if they can make a car fly in the future why not a man(pire). On a meta level Twilight is nothing if not a classic comic book villain, he has a globally insane ambition that I just can’t see any of the TV series candidates aspiring to. Warren called himself a supervillain but his big plan never amounted to much more than robbing a few banks. Riley might not like magic but I can’t see him thinking the best way to put a stop to it would involve flying around in a cape and tights. It’s like Spike said, many talk the tough guy talk but actually wanting to end the world takes a whole different kind of vision. Harth is already a comic book villain and vision guy by definition. The main (meta) reason for it not being him is lack of audience recognition but if, as seems likely, he turns up in the next few issues of this arc that would all change.

Comments

[elisi]

but am more than a little intrigued by one of the Whedoesquer’s suggestion that it might be Harth (Fray’s vampire messiah brother)
That'd be very neat indeed! I'll subscribe to this theory. :)

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Twilight or not I hope we do get to see more of Harth. I have a weakness for twin stories for obvious reasons and he was a great villain we saw all too little of.