Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 7

Contains spoilers

After the doom and gloom of Buffy season 6, the beginning of season 7 comes as quite a relief. We go right back to the beginning with the opening of a brand-new Sunnydale High School building on the site of the old one, which was destroyed at the end of season 3. You'd think the powers that be would take the opportunity to find a new, safer site for their teenagers to attend school, but no, apparently not. Buffy takes a job as student counsellor, and Xander is on-site too, finishing off the building work. Only Willow is absent, staying in England with Giles attending some kind of Dark Magic Anonymous group.

The relief and nostalgia factor meant that for a while I overlooked some of the sloppiness of the storytelling. Most notably, we are told rather than shown that the apocalypse to end all apocalypses is on its way. An ominous voice tells everyone, "From beneath you, it devours," whatever that means. Sounds scary enough, but weird and terrifying occurrences are part of Sunnydale's local identity. We've established that. Yet Buffy and the Scoobies quickly conclude that this time the end really is near, and we know they're probably right for the sole reason that this is the final season and therefore deserves an epic finale.

Season 7's main villain is the ultimate in Big Bads, a being that calls itself "The First," and has no form of its own, but takes the shape of whichever dead person is most likely to freak out its audience the most, manipulating people with their individual weaknesses. Buffy is the First's favourite form - she may not be dead now, but she has been dead and therefore counts. It even implies at one point that it takes more than the appearance from those it imitates. Could Buffy herself be a part of the First?

This aspect of the First led to what I think was the season's biggest misstep. At the end of one episode, we see Giles swiftly attacked by one of the First's henchpeople, and the screen cuts to black. This incident is not mentioned again for about four or five episodes, and when Giles appeared afterwards, I spent most of my concentration trying to prove that he was dead, and that the First was taking his form. It turned out to be a red herring, and instead of feeling impressed that the writers had outsmarted me, I just felt cheated. They didn't outsmart me - they merely said, "Haha, no, tricked you," without any better explanation. This might have worked if it took place over a single episode, but over four or five, it merely distracted me from everything else that was going on. (Not that I wanted Giles to be dead, of course.)

Although season 7 had some great ideas, it didn't hook me as much as the rest of the series. I don't know if this was because I'd taken a couple of weeks' break from Buffy before starting the final season, or because the storytelling just didn't come together as well as it should. The central characters seemed to take a back seat, too. Willow, Xander, Anya and Dawn all had their moments in the spotlight, but I felt like the writers had grown tired of them, instead concentrating on Spike's search for redemption, the Potential Slayers (though as a plot device more than a new team of rounded characters) and Buffy as the lone general in the big war against the ultimate evil. It seems inevitable for every fantasy story to end in a big war to end all wars, notably Harry Potter, with which I drew many parallels throughout the run of Buffy. 

But how can one fight an incorporeal being? The answer is to bring in an army of "ubervamps" which reminded me so much of the orcs in Lord of the Rings, and a human villain called Caleb, played by Nathan Fillion from Firefly. Caleb really made my skin crawl with his smiling hate-speech (but I am so tired of the "sinister minister" trope. It's never the butler who dunnit, but if there is a priest or a vicar, nine times out of ten they are the bad guy.) Caleb establishes his role as a real threat by inflicting the most serious, lasting damage on one of our heroes -squishing Xander's eye, eurrrrgh! - and when this group includes someone who has died not once but twice, that's saying something.

I grumbled a lot about season 7, even up to the penultimate episode, but the finale is as epic as you could hope for. My chief problem when I started watching Buffy was "WHY is there only one slayer? One chosen one - chosen by whom? Why should one person have to take on all this responsibility alone?" Finally, after seven seasons, this question is addressed and challenged, and Buffy decides enough is enough. So a bunch of men decided there should be one slayer thousands of years ago. Today, the slayer makes her own decision: “From now on, every girl in the world who might be a slayer will be a slayer." And it is awesome.

This being Joss Whedon, two main characters die in the final showdown: One suddenly, in battle (Anya) and the other, Spike, is killed by a Necklace of Heroic Sacrifice, taking out not only all of the bad guys, but the entire town of Sunnydale! Wow. Thankfully the town had been evacuated earlier, as the years of weird activity finally got too much for the residents. Well, that's certainly not doing things by halves. Our battle-scarred and weary heroes look back at the smoking crater that had been their hometown, and realise that finally, it's over. The weight of the world is no longer on Buffy's shoulders alone (with a few friends to share the load.) She can do anything.

"What are we going to do now?"

Best Episodes:

3. Same Time, Same Place. Willow returns from England, but she and her friends seem to exist in parallel dimensions, not seeing each other despite being in the same place at the same time. However, this episode also features the most horrifying monster of the week ever, Gnarl.
7. Conversations with Dead People. A really terrifying episode. The First appears to the Scoobies in different forms, and messes with their minds.
16. Storyteller. Whatsisname, the other one from the Trio, now living among the Scoobies and the potential slayers, makes up his own version of everything that's happened. A mostly comic episode which takes an unexpected emotion turn when he is forced to face reality.
22. Chosen. Buffy's had its highs and lows, and ends on an epic finale that really does it justice.

From a Buick 8 - Stephen King

In the months after Curtis Wilcox's death, his son Ned spends more and more time around the police barracks among his dad's old colleagues. When he discovers the vintage Buick Roadmaster locked up in Shed B, naturally Ned is curious. But what is inside that shed is no mere car...

From A Buick 8 feels rather like a classic ghost story, the sort told around a campfire by torchlight. It is set out as a story within a story, with the narrator Sandy reporting to the reader the tale he had previously related to Ned. This framing device took me a while to get used to, working out which later of storytelling I was reading at any one time, but it means we get to take our cues from seeing Ned's reaction to the things he is told and shown - and from Sandy's thoughts about Ned's response. This also sets up the final act in the present day.

When I started reading, although I enjoyed getting to know the police team of Troop D, I felt that it was taking a long time to really get started. 150 pages or so in, all the Buick had to show for itself was a perfectly shiny condition, mechanisms that couldn't possibly work, a couple of missing people and a localised lightning storm in the shed. Eventually it became apparent that the car was some sort of portal to another world or dimension, a two-way door. People would disappear in its vicinity, and then a few unearthly creatures or plants appeared after the lightning phenomena, and would promptly die. There is something Lovecraftian in the things that appeared from the Buick, horrifying in their strangeness but I didn't feel overly impressed with the novel as a supernatural tale of terror.

But partway through, I realised, this isn't what it's really about. I ought to know better by now. Although Stephen King is known for his horror stories, what makes him stand out above the rest is everything else, the humanity. From A Buick 8 isn't really about a creepy car, or creatures from another world. It's about family: the families we're born into and the family we make for ourselves. It's about grief, and curiosity, camaraderie and a shared history, about the life of a police troop over a lifetime, and about the connectedness of events. Nothing happens in a vacuum, but life is made up of "links in a chain." Conversely, King reminds us that even so, real life does not work out into a neat little narrative. The world doesn't always give you the answers, and given the cops' reaction to the Buick and its mysteries, I wonder if the message to take away is that we couldn't handle the answers if we were given them.

From A Buick 8 was not one of King's more famous books, and I came to it without any prior knowledge or preconceptions. Certainly it is no Carrie or The Shining - but neither, thankfully, is it a Dreamcatcher. If you come to it expecting a fast-paced, action-packed thriller, you may be disappointed, but if you accept it for what it is - a pensive, brooding examination of storytelling - it's well worth a read.

Bout of Books: Days 5-7

Friday 16th May

2.25PM

I didn't read any more after finishing Blood and Chocolate last night. It's my own fault. The problem with my laptop screen seems to have righted itself, at least for the moment, and I ended up spending the rest of Thursday internetting the night away.

I got my lie-in this morning, although I didn't sleep all that late, considering. I've been sleeping with the curtains open, and I woke up quite naturally - no alarm today, hurrah! I spent a little time over breakfast/brunch reading through other bloggers' posts, then headed out into the garden to spend some time on the lounger with From A Buick 8 by Stephen King. It's got a classic ghost story feel to it, narrated by Sandy an old cop, telling his story of what happened with this mysterious, impossible car that turned up at the filling station one day many years ago. Not only is it written as though spoken, but there is a story within a story, the framing device of Sandy telling us about telling another character, Ned, the car's weird history, and we take our cues from Ned's reactions. I'm not a quarter of the way in, and I'm not sure how a creepy car can fill up another 360 pages, but I'll read on and see.

Friday's stats

Number of books started: 3

Number of books finished: 2

Books read today: From a Buick 8

Number of pages read today:  170
Favourite book so far: The Charioteer

Quotes of the day: "It's earthquake country in there."

"They see it and don't see it at the same time," he said, "Young people are such wonderful idiots."

Update

I didn't get as much reading done on Friday as I'd hoped; I spent a lot of that day just pottering, and in the evening I finally finished watching Buffy which I began back in January. I'll post a season 7 review in the next few days, and perhaps a post recapping the highlights of the entire series. I'm not convinced that season 7 was as good as any of the previous seasons, but it ended on an epic finale.

Saturday I was back at work, which was far more tolerable than the previous few days, probably because I'd had a lie-in and a rest. I did, however, lose a battle with my inner snarker that I've been fighting for the six years I've been in this job:

Customer, approaching me while I'm shelving books: Are you on the till?
Me: Actually, I'm right here. I can go to the till if you like.

I fear I have inherited my father's pedantry.

Not much reading happened yesterday, as in the evening my friend and I went to see a local theatre production of Much Ado About Nothing. (That was the play I auditioned for back in January.) It was a cosy play, in a small venue, set in 1920s Paris, and partly staged at the tables where the audience were sitting. I think that Benedick had been at least partially influenced by David Tennant's portrayal; certainly he had a similar sort of charm and humour in the role. I could identify the Beatrice as soon as I saw her, just from her posture and attitude. And in this one, even the minor roles, the sidekicks of supporting characters who I barely noticed in other productions, were memorable and brilliant, particularly the drunken Borachio.

Friday's stats

Number of books started: 3

Number of books finished: 2

Books read today: From a Buick 8

Number of pages read today:  40
Favourite book so far: The Charioteer

Sunday was another day off, and a gorgeously sunny day, without a cloud in the sky. I sat in the garden before lunch, debating whether or not I could be bothered to take the bus to the beach. I felt too lazy, but the sea won. I joined Judith at Yaverland, read for a while and did not fall asleep (and yes, I wore sunscreen.) I even went for a swim in the sea. The verdict: not comfortable, but bearable, a little less cold than last time, but not recommended to those of sound mind. Then when I got back to the beach I realised I'd forgotten to bring a skirt, meaning I had to travel home in soggy shorts - a little embarrassing. I've almost finished From A Buick 8, which is not one of Stephen King's greatest novels, but it's quite readable - not really about an impossible car, so much as the lives affected by the creepy Buick over the years. I plan to review that fully this week as well. Dear bloggers, please nag me if I've posted no reviews this time next week. I've still got a Star Trek film review to write too, though I expect that's more for my own satisfaction than anyone else's.

Sunday stats

Number of books started: 3

Number of books finished: 2

Books read today: From a Buick 8

Number of pages read today:  232
Favourite book so far: The Charioteer
Quote of the day: "It's funny how close the past is, sometimes. Sometimes it seems as if you cold almost reach out and touch it. Only...
Only who really wants to?"

Bout of Books 10: Days 3 and 4

Wednesday was another long day at work, slow and quiet, with not a lot of jobs to keep me occupied. I came home tired and grumpy, to which my dad responded by handing me all sorts of cake and chocolate. I think he has the same way of comforting people that I do: someone's upset... give them cake! It certainly helped my mood, and I've felt that bit more able to cope with today, even though I woke in a panic at about 5AM convinced I'd slept through my alarm. (I really hadn't.) This happens on a regular basis when I'm stressed or working long hours. Thankfully I have tomorrow off, which I have booked for reading From a Buick 8 by Stephen King, and generally ignoring the world. (Also chores.)

What I've been reading

I finished The Charioteer last night. Have any of you read it? For the most part, I felt that it was a fairly positive read; Yes, Laurie had his inner battles with secrecy and identity and integrity, but I felt that he was a person who could fight these conflicts and win. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for all of his associates, and I'm not sure what to make of the ending. The last couple of chapters filled me with dread, and at one point I was actually shouting at the book. Thanks to Renault's poetic style that told the story through hints and insinuations, the ending seemed quite open, and I'm not sure whether catastrophe was averted or not. If you read it, what do you think?

I also reread Blood and Chocolate for the first time since I was in my teens. I'd almost entirely forgotten the story, except for one scene which had stuck vividly in my head and turned out to be a combination of two different incidents and significantly tamer than I'd remembered. It's a pre-Twilight paranormal romance, told from the point of view of Vivian, the werewolf, who falls in love with a human.  Vivian is a refreshingly bold and forward YA heroine, who knows what she wants and goes after it. As part of the werewolf pack, she doesn't see her kind as cursed; instead it is the humans who are freaks, incomplete people, stuck in one shape.

Wednesday's stats

Number of books started: 2

Number of books finished: 1

Books read today: The Charioteer, Blood and Chocolate

Number of pages read today:  205

Favourite book so far: The Charioteer

Quote of the day: "He was a human after all, a meat-boy, scantily furred, an incomplete creature who had only one form." - Blood and Chocolate

Thursday's stats

Number of books started: 2

Number of books finished: 2

Books read today: Blood and Chocolate

Number of pages read today:  109

Favourite book so far: The Charioteer

Next up: From a Buick 8 - Stephen King

Bout of Books 10: Days 1 and 2

Day 1: Monday 12th May

It's been a while since I've taken part in a readathon - in fact, it's been a while since I've blogged at all. I've been reading and watching plenty, but been in a bit of a reviewing slump and haven't been able to think about much to say about my books. Hopefully, writing a little bit about my reading each day for the readathon will help me get into that frame of mind again. But it will be only a little bit, for two reasons: firstly, I'm working full-time this week. (This is a good thing: I am only on a part-time contract, and overtime has been scarce in the past few months. But why did it have to be this week?) Secondly, Ruby, my faithful red laptop, has developed a screen condition and due to the aforementioned long week, I shan't be able to see my computer-doctor cousin Jeremy until Friday at the earliest, so will have to rely on borrowed computers for all blogging purposes. Still, this has its benefits in that most of my readathon time will be spent, well, reading, rather than internetting the day away.

My Books

I've selected a range of books to choose from this week and do not expect or intend to read all of them. My target is 3 or 4.

1. Blood and Chocolate - Annette Curtis Klause

This will be a reread. I first read Blood and Chocolate about ten years ago, when I developed a soft spot for werewolves (for which we can probably thank Remus Lupin.) This predates the current version of human/non-human romances, and the protagonist is the female werewolf who falls in love with a human boy. I don't remember a lot about this one. I bought this copy from Ellie's shop last year.

2. The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

This has been on my radar since its first publication, and last year a lot of my blogger friends started raving about it, pushing it right up my wish list. Around the same time, it turned up in The Works on a 3 for £5 offer. It was a no-brainer.

3. From A Buick 8 - Stephen King.

This is a King I have no foreknowledge or preconceptions about, except that presumably it involves a car. Another The Works find.

4. The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks.

I tried the first of Banks's "M" novels about the Culture during a Bout of Books last year, and to be honest I struggled somewhat with it. I've since found out that The Player of Games is generally considered a better introduction to the series, and so I'll give him a second chance. (I also have one of his "M-less" novels on my to-read pile, though that has not made the readathon shortlist.)

5. The Charioteer - Mary Renault

I'd never heard of this one before its striking cover caught my eye earlier this year. Apparently yellow covers are the way to go! The story of a gay soldier during World War 2, apparently this was quite a daring and groundbreaking novel when it was published in 1953. I'm really looking forward to this one.

6. Goodnight, Beautiful - Dorothy Koomson

I love Dorothy Koomson. Her books are marketed in edible-looking pastel covers, but they prove that feminine does not mean fluffy, and they can be hard-hitting and thought-provoking. The Rose Petal Beach was a thriller on a par with Gone Girl. Read Koomson, but don't expect a "light" read.

7. The Cuckoo's Calling - "Robert Galbraith."

Interesting how, when the first Cormoran Strike book was believed to be penned by an unknown, its RRP was £16.99, and now it is known to be written by J.K. Rowling, the publishers have put a price of £20 on the sequel. Huh. I bought this on special offer after "Mr Galbraith's" true identity was revealed (incidentally, on the same week as the paperback of her Casual Vacancy) but did not want to read it at the same time as my Harry Potter reread. It's been kind of forgotten since then. Maybe I'll correct that this week.

9PM: What I've been reading

It made sense for me to start the readathon with the book I was most excited to read, The Charioteer. The hero, Laurie Odell, is a decent, good-natured and slightly eccentric young man, who we meet first as a small child and then as a schoolboy, before launching into the main plot which commences after he has been wounded at Dunkirk. He befriends Andrew, a conscientious objector working at the hospital where Laurie is convalescing, and the narrative is brimming with tension as they grow closer, not daring to speak of or act upon their feelings for fear that they have misinterpreted the other's. The Charioteer is proving to be a thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate work of art that is way ahead of its time, and I'm enjoying spending this time with Laurie.

Monday's stats:

Number of books started: 1.

Number of books finished: 0.

Books read today: The Charioteer

Number of pages read today:  202

Favourite book so far: The Charioteer

Quote of the day: "When you feel less superior it seems you feel more lonely." - Laurie, page 85.

Day 2: Tuesday 13th May

Today has not been a good day. My very first customer at work was a woman who on her last visit made such a nuisance of herself that I ended up close to having a panic attack, and in a voice like poisoned honey, she referred back to that incident, not buying anything, apparently coming in for the express purpose of reminding my supervisor and myself of how unpleasant she was. My second customer wasn't much better...

I've only had one day off in the last week, and it's two more days until the next one. I am tired, and when I get tired, that's why I let my defences down and the negative, destructive thoughts creep in. Why can't they make way for something more positive; a silly crush or ridiculous daydreams, for a change? Why are positive emotions so much more hard work than the negative ones? It was my ex's birthday last week, and getting in touch with him again, even just to say "happy birthday" via Facebook reminded me of all the things that even five years on have power over me. Memories - good and bad - still pop up out to jab at my brain and hurt me as if they were brand-new. I should be long over it by now.

At least I have my book. I'm aiming to finish The Charioteer this evening, although it feels like a book I really ought to take my time over. Still, I've no doubt it's a keeper. Our hero Laurie is finding himself caught between two worlds; not a love triangle precisely, but he is divided between the close friendship with the innocent Andrew, who is still on the verge of figuring out the potential of their relationship, and the older, more worldly Ralph Lanyon, who had been a prefect at Laurie's public school, and a bit of a hero to him. I really hope this story has a happy ending.

Tuesday's stats

Number of books started: 1.

Number of books finished: 0

Books read today: The Charioteer

Number of pages read today:  180 

Favourite book so far: The Charioteer

Quote of the day: "I'm not prepared to accept a standard which puts the whole of my emotional life on the plane of immorality." - Alec

Coming soon: Bout of Books 10

Hi all. For one reason or another it's been a bit quiet around here lately, and I realise that although I've been reading a lot, I haven't had much to say about the books - or anything else, really. I also owe a review of the eight Star Trek film, First Contact, which was excellent, if a little spoilery, as its plot is strongly influenced by events I haven't reached in the series. That's what you get for being impatient and jumping ahead to the films, I guess.

I gave up buying books for Lent this year, as an attempt to get the to-read piles under control - although library visits were still allowed and indulged. But, for now, I have now got only one pile of books waiting to be read, if a rather wobbly, precarious pile.

The tenth Bout of Books readathon approaches, and I'm very much looking forward to having a week dedicated to reading and blogging about books (and I must make sure to stock up on snacks to keep me company.)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team 

If you can't wait to get stuck into a big pile of books, Dewey's 24-hour readathon takes place this weekend, starting at 1PM on Saturday if you're in the UK. Sadly, I'll be working both Saturday and Sunday this week and will be unable to take part, though I'm sure I'll be stalking visiting and cheering on participants in the evening.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 6

Contains Spoilers

After the emotional turmoil of season five, with the mystery of Dawn's existence, the illness and death of Joyce Summers, the unbeatable villain, and finally Buffy's own death, I thought that season six would be a relief. Buffy would come back, and yes, I had been spoiled on the fact that she "came back wrong," so maybe she'd be a little bit out of control, maybe a bit slay-happy like Faith. I WAS SO WRONG!

I've been observing for seasons that Willow has been getting in too deep with the magic pretty much since she started dabbling in it, and her desperation to bring back her friend gets her doing some very dark spells indeed. The ritual which brings Buffy back to life is horrifying, and is interrupted, leaving us wondering how far it's worked. (And they manage to bring her back to life but are chased away from her grave leaving her to dig herself out - UGH NO!)

No wonder Buffy is traumatised! Who wouldn't be, after her experiences? But as much as Willow wants her friend back, she wants reassurance that she's done the right thing, and Buffy does not give it, because little does Willow know that Buffy had been happy where she was. She had fought a hard battle in the last season, and had found peace, only to be dragged back to a difficult, violent world by those who loved her best. And she can't tell them why she's not okay with being alive again, because the truth would destroy them.

It's not only Buffy who is keeping secrets in season six, and here's where the famous musical episode "Once More With Feeling" comes in. Oh, I have been hearing about this episode ever since it first aired; the one that set the standard for every other series and sitcom. It was all everyone talked about at school the next day, and at Christmas I saw a couple of clips on one of those rubbishy "top ten musicals" countdown shows, which must have been made about ten years ago. The bits I remembered being shown did not do the episode justice AT ALL, bits of songs like "I've got a theory," (fun, but that's it) "What can't we face when we're together?" (which makes it sound all mushy and completely missells the tone of the episode) and "Where do we go from here?" (which is a lot less poignant without context.) There is an amazing mixture of musical styles, each suiting the characters. Buffy gets the big musical numbers, Tara sings a romantic ballad, Spike gets an angry rocky number and Giles performs a very Gilesish acoustic ballad, while Xander and his fiancee Anya have a comic duet with some troubling lyrics. I had expected a cheesy, fun, gimmicky episode, to lighten the mood and take a break from the main season's plotlines, but instead "Once More With Feeling" is the catalyst for all the cats to be let out of the bags. Tara discovers the extent of Willow's magic, Anya and Xander discover each other's reservations about their forthcoming marriage, and everyone learns what really happened to Buffy after she died. Giles decides that he's getting in the way of Buffy learning to stand on her feet again, and flies back to England. Also Spike and Buffy kiss for the first time.

I think it was inevitable that Spike and Buffy would get together at some point, but I didn't want to see it. I loved the chemistry he had with Buffy, and enjoyed their scenes together, but a relationship, if you can call what happens between them that, was never going to work out. This season shows a very damaged dynamic between the characters, and one I found very difficult to watch. This is a relationship of desperation, one that is unbalanced, violent and loveless. I think what Spike calls "love" is more like obsession. I've liked Spike as a villain, a frustrated would-be monster, and then as a lovesick puppy. I love a morally ambiguous character, a villain with a soft side or an anti-hero, but the ambiguity is dashed away after he assaults Buffy in her bathroom. It was a horrible conclusion to a nasty relationship, and I couldn't care about Spike's story after that. He crossed the line and I can't see how there is any coming back from that. I didn't think the story was handled very well: the writers dwelled more on how the attack affected the perpetrator than the victim, and Buffy's story galloped away from the incident without a backward glance. In a world of vampires, robot girlfriends, invisibility rays and beer that turns its drinkers into cavepeople, the only time I've really said "nope, this would never ever happen" was when Buffy decided to entrust her little sister to the care of her would-be rapist. A serious misstep there, I felt.

In season six, Willow really does get in too deep with her magic. It's been hinted at for seasons, and I guessed that sooner or later she would turn to the dark side. I anticipated Evil Willow, but what I got instead was Mean Willow, whose magic became an addiction, and she turned on everyone who tried to help her to see she was in trouble. Willow is my favourite character, but for about half a season I started to dislike her immensely: she kept making the same mistakes over and over, not learning from them, and crying when she had to deal with the consequences of getting caught. It took endangering Dawn's life to get her to realise the error of her ways, and even when she turned her back on witchcraft, I suspected it was only suppressed, not gone for good.

The Scooby gang have come up against all sorts of Big Bads in the past five seasons: vampires, of course, a Frankenstein's Monster, and in the last season even a god, but in season six their "archnemesis...es" are a trio of nerdy students: Warren (creator of the Buffybot) Jonathan (he of "Superstar" fame) and... some other guy. They fancy themselves as comic-book supervillains, the Sunnydale branch of the Evil League of Evil, but basically they are just clueless jerks, stereotypes of geeks. I viewed them with contempt, and they grew more repulsive with each episode - especially Warren, who represented a purely human form of evil. Still I did not expect him to be a serious threat... until the words "he won't be much good without his friends," were spoken, after Jonathan and The Other Guy were carted off to jail. Oh dear. You mustn't say things like that. A couple of minutes before the end of an episode, that line had a ring of Famous Last Words to it, but I didn't realise quite how "last" those words were, before Warren shows up with a gun...

I have been grumbling for a couple of seasons that Willow's girlfriend Tara never showed up in the opening credits montage, but was always relegated to "guest star," the only member of the Scooby gang to fill that role. Finally, after making up with Willow, she is welcomed back into the fold, with an appearance of her own in the credits, and I celebrated. For forty minutes. 

BEFORE SHE DIED!

It came from nowhere. Warren appeared, fired a gun in the direction of Xander and Buffy who ducked out of the way. I thought for a moment that Xander would be hurt, or killed. Buffy was wounded. Then cut to Willow, upstairs, with a spray of blood splattered across her clean white shirt... and Tara falls down, dead. I stared at the screen in horror and made several incoherent wounded animal noises. I should have been prepared for this. It is Joss Whedon, after all. How does he manage to get me every time?

Oh Tara! You were not a forceful character, but you were so lovely and sweet and rounded and human, and gradually weasled your way into my affections until without my realising it, you became my favourite character. What will Buffy be without you?

Well, the last three episodes give a pretty dark indication of that, and in the aftermath of her girlfriend's death, we get to see the real Big Bad of season six: Evil Willow. THIS was kind of where I expected her magic storyline to go, though I never dreamed it would be triggered by such an awful, senseless, tragedy. Welcome, Evil Willow, an awesome villain, in a very disturbing way. Willow is ordinarily so sweet, but we've seen glimpses of her inner darkness, and now it takes over as she goes on a rampage of revenge after Warren. Awesome fades to horrifying, after she reprises the line of her vampire doppelganger of many seasons ago: "Bored now," and dispatches Warren in the most gruesome way imaginable.

It seems that no one can stop Willow now.

Hurrah, Giles is back! The first bit of light in several episodes, and it made me very happy. We get to see another side to Giles, the side that can take on Evil Willow, although it seems to be at great cost. I feared for his life at one point, and after Tara, I didn't trust anything - though I thought it was traditionally the series finale in which Joss Whedon kills off his beloved supporting characters. But for Giles to be killed as a direct result of Willow's actions would be taking Buffy into darker territory than any we've seen so far in a series filled with anguish and despair. It'll be hard enough for the character and show to come back from her (well-deserved) murder of Warren. If she killed a good friend, I think there could be no return. It was predicted that no supernatural power could rescue Willow from her magical self. Good thing there is still some good old-fashioned humanity left, then, and she is saved by Xander. Xander has never been my favourite character. I grew out of disliking him after a couple of seasons, but he's not been at his best in season six. But his friendship for Willow is pure, and it is his love and forgiveness that brings her back to her old self, as he declares, even if she destroys the world, he still loves her, and would rather die by her side than anywhere else. Yes, it was corny, but it was what was needed after this remarkably bleak season.

Episodes with the most impact: (This section is getting more and more difficult to describe accurately.)

1-2: Bargaining. Setting up the tone for the entire season, Willow and the Scoobies resurrect Buffy from the dead. But it is not pretty.
7. Once More With Feeling. The Musical Episode! But if, like me, you expect a nice, lighthearted break from the main plot, then you are very mistaken. The musical format advances the plot in powerful ways.
8. Tabula Rasa. Because I was already familiar with this title, I expected it to be emotionally devastating, but it is quite fun. Thanks to Willow's magical meddling, the group lose their memories and have to come to their own conclusions about who they are and how they relate to each other. Introducing Joan the Vampire Slayer and Giles' new family: son Randy (who you know as Spike) and fiancee Anya. THIS is the light-hearted break from the main plot... until the last five minutes which will require tissues.
9-10. Smashed/Wrecked. Willow's magic gets out of control. Buffy and Spike start fighting and end up... not fighting.
11. Gone. A relatively lighthearted episode, involving an invisibility ray.
15. As You Were. Riley returns, with a wife. The last scene between him and Buffy made me cry for personal reasons - I want to get back in touch with my ex before he moves abroad, but can't bear him knowing that my life hasn't changed in the slightest in the years since we've been apart. And yes, I do want reassurance that just because my life can be disappointing, I'm not a complete failure.
16. Hell's Bells. Xander and Anya's wedding day. Xander, afraid of becoming like his awful father, chickens out and jilts Anya at the altar. JOSS WHEDON IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.
17. Normal Again: Is all of Buffy just a delusion of a very sick girl in a mental hospital?
19. Seeing Red: I don't know what to make of this episode, in which Spike assaults Buffy; it is very difficult to watch, and I'm not sure if that necessarily means it's good. And this is the episode that ends with Tara's death. Again: it is powerful and shocking but...
20. Villains: Willow goes over to the Dark Side and becomes very scary indeed.

Star Trek: Generations (VII)

Contains spoilers

After finishing off the Star Trek films with the original cast at the end of last year, I have slowly been working my way through the Next Generation series, when I haven't been watching Buffy. I've only watched the first two seasons (of seven!) so far, but am growing to know and like the new crew of the Enterprise-D: the stern but kindly Captain Picard, his first officer William Riker, and crew including the Klingon Worf, android Data, and Data's good friend Geordi LaForge. I've also come to roll my eyes in exasperation every time Counsellor Troi senses that someone is feeling an emotion, and shout "SHUT UP WESLEY" at each appearance of the precocious teenager Wesley Crusher.

The Next Generation takes place a good century after the original Star Trek, and much has changed in Starfleet. Perhaps the biggest invention is the holodeck, which simulates any setting or environment for training exercises or leisure, and is a useful tool for sending the crew to a historical setting without the contrivance of "Oh look, here is a planet whose society is exactly like the Old West," that you might find in the original series. I'm not a huge fan of the holodeck stories; I think there is something missing in a story when the conflict and drama has been created by the characters and ship's computer out of nothing. But it adds variety. Also, in the 24th century, the crew's families live aboard the Enterprise with them - a bit risky considering how much danger the show puts the ship into every week, and most unprofessional to have the kids running up and down the corridors and getting under the captain's feet. Also, see the aforementioned Wesley: a teenager who has earned himself an honorary position on the bridge because he's just that special. (I bet the lower-ranked Enterprise crew love him!) No doubt Wesley was a character put in to the series for the benefit of child trekkies, a character they could identify with, who was constantly overlooked because he was a child, but would save the day; who could ask personal questions and get away with it because of his big serious eyes... it's not cheek, it's just Wesley Crusher!

I had long been looking forward to watching Star Trek: Generations which brought together the casts of both Star Trek series so far. Or so I had been led to believe. After spending most of my Star Trek time in recent months aboard Captain Picard's Enterprise, it gave me a lovely warm feeling to see the old-style Starfleet uniforms - the red uniforms of the movies from Khan onwards, not the really old uniforms. But here there is no Spock, no McCoy, and only cameo roles from Scotty and Chekov. Captain Kirk was his old self, and I found myself chuckling during a very tense scene thanks to William Shatner's classic face-acting. But it's my opinion that Captain Kirk's strongest characteristics are those shown in relation to Spock and McCoy.

After the glorious send-off in The Undiscovered Country, it is quite awful to realise that as far as his old friends are concerned, Captain Kirk's final fate is the most depressing "missing, presumed killed" on the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-B. Of course, this is not the end for James T. Kirk, but no one knows this for nearly eighty years. Poor Spock!

As the seventh movie in the franchise, I'm sorry to say that Generations lives up to the reputation of the odd-numbered films being less than wonderful. It's not as cringe-inducing as The Final Frontier, but Data gives "row, row, row your boat" a run for its money in the "You think this is funny but it's really rather sad" category, when he has an emotion-chip implanted as an attempt to become more human. It is unnerving, when not just embarrassing, to watch him discover laughter, fear and remorse, but, rather like the Vulcan Spock, I find Data evokes far more emotion when he's not expressing any. (His episode "The Measure of a Man," in which he is at the centre of a tribunal to determine his status as property or person, is one of the greatest episodes of the franchise so far.) I love Data - along with Worf, he is my favourite Next Generation character - but I spent most of his screen time in Generations just begging him to stop.

Generations' main plot is pretty thin, revolving around a timey-wimey phenomenon called the Nexus, which seems to double as a natural holodeck and a time-portal, and here Captain Picard comes face-to-face with his pedecessor. Captain Kirk is living in a simulation of his retirement home, a nice country lodge, where he chops wood and goes horseback riding, and lives with the latest love of his life, Antonia (who we have never heard of before, nor see except as a distant figure on the horizon.) As Kirk potters around his kitchen, barely responding to Captain Picard, I found myself thinking this was all wrong. What's happened to Captain Kirk, to make him so reluctant to face adventure. Retirement doesn't suit Kirk; he's lost without his Enterprise. To be fair, he must be in his late sixties, and he's earned his happy-ever-after, but it's kind of sad to watch. I'd rather have finished watching him about to retire, than see him living a nice, normal life. Of course he joins forces with Picard eventually, and in a race against time, Kirk saves a solar system at the cost of his own life, on (and under) a rickety old bridge. Yes, they literally dropped a bridge on him! Kirk's death scene was moving and well-acted, a heroic sacrifice helping out a fellow-captain of the USS Enterprise, but I still found it a rather disappointing end for such a long-running and well-beloved character. There is no grand funeral, no ceremony, (no bagpipes!) just a lonely grave on an abandoned planet.

Then again, remember The Final Frontier? Kirk always knew he'd die alone.

And again: Poor Spock.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 5

After the weirdness that was the season 4 finale set entirely in the characters' dreams, season five opens with a pretty fun and relatively fluffy episode, in which Buffy comes face to face with Dracula himself. And boy, does he look out of place in the Buffyverse! This Dracula looks like he's wandered off the set of Interview with the Vampire, maybe even from the Volturi of Twilight, and it just felt wrong. I enjoyed seeing the allusions to the original novel, especially poor Xander filling the Renfield role, but overall it was a pretty average episode - right until the end, when we meet Buffy's younger sister, Dawn.

But Buffy doesn't have a sister.

It's not just that we've never seen her or heard her name mentioned. This isn't just a bad-soap retcon; things Buffy says in the next few episodes contradict what we have seen on screen. "It's not like she hasn't grown up in this house!" Buffy grumbled in episode two; but she hasn't. Buffy herself was surprised to see her, for a moment, when she first appeared. I wondered if the Jonathan-centred episode of season 4, "Superstar" was a practice run for season 5's storyline, in which we, with Buffy and her friends, are plunged into an alternative universe without being told, and left to figure it out for ourselves.

Actually, though the Dawn storyline runs through the entire season, we get answers a lot earlier than I had expected; once more Joss Whedon and his team of writers defy the rules of storytelling to bring us something exciting and new. We learn quite early on why Dawn has always been there... but wasn't always there last week. She is a "key" made of "energy" into the form of a human who will be protected by the strongest woman in the world: Buffy Summers, to prevent the season's Big Bad, Glory, from opening up all doors between parallel dimensions and causing another apocalypse. It kind of makes sense in context. Kind of.

I wasn't thrilled to see that Buffy's boyfriend Riley is still around, and still in the title credits. How come he's in the title credits but Tara is still only listed as a guest star? He was okay, but dull, for season four, but now he's outstayed his welcome. After my last review, Laura queried my assessment of him as "nice." Even in the last season he had some unfortunate character traits that reared their heads occasionally: he could be too persistant, a bit needy, and whatever he might say, he didn't really like that Buffy could take care of herself instead of letting him be the big strong protector. In season five, we see these insecurities grow until they overshadow everything likable about Riley, to the point where I was shouting "JUST GO!" every time I saw him. It took him too long, but I have never been so pleased to see such an indifferent character leave. My friend arrived at my house one day to find me shrieking "YES YES HE'S REALLY GONE!" Good riddance, and please don't come back.

And then there's Spike! I liked Spike from the moment he screeched his car into Sunnydale back in season two, and now we get to see another side to his character. In season five, he comes to realise that he has a crush on Buffy.

What?! 


We've seen Spike as a formidable, quick-witted foe, and we've seen him as a whiny, powerless villain who
no one takes seriously. Now we get to see Spike in love. It is a strange, unsettling story to follow. Certainly Buffy and Spike have chemistry, and are very entertaining to watch together as they fight (and do they ever meet without fighting?) Spike's infatuation made me think of the Phantom of the Opera: simultaneously pitiful and creepy. Sometimes his obsession brings out his better side (even if he is usually only trying to impress Buffy) and sometimes it drives him to disturbing extremes - Buffybot anyone? The two sides of his character do not sit comfortably together; I think we like to be sure whether we feel sorry for a character or are repulsed by them, and Spike evokes both reactions.

We also get to see some of Spike's backstory: as an angsty would-be poet in Victorian England. At first, I thought he could not be more unlike the Spike we've come to know, but as the series progressed and as I thought about it some more, I came to realise that the change was not as great as I'd first thought - and not as great as it should be. This is the change of someone who has lived for over a hundred years, not the change of someone who has had his entire being replaced with that of a monster. Spike seems to be very human, and becoming more so.

For the first time, another character expresses the same reservations I've been having about Willow's use of magic. Her girlfriend, Tara, is a more experienced witch, and as such, has a better understanding of what the limits are. Willow gives Dawn a bit of help in her attempt to do a very dubious spell, and later faces Glory with some terrifying magic. I think it's safe to say that any magic that turns your eyes black is best left alone. But I predict Willow has only just begun and this story will get worse before it gets better.

This season has been all about family: Dawn being inserted into the Summers family and being accepted as one of their own, and the Scooby gang as a family. In the middle of the season is a story revolving more around the Summers women than anything supernatural, when Buffy's mother, Joyce, discovers she has a brain tumour, has surgery, recovers, and then dies from an aneurysm. I'll be honest: I was expecting this since Buffy quipped in season four that she hoped her mother would have a "funny aneurysm" when she saw the cost of her college textbooks. I've lost many hours of my life to the website TvTropes, and I was familiar with the "Funny Aneurysm Moment" trope in which a joke or light-hearted comment is echoed by a far more serious turn of events later on. I didn't know at the time that the page namer came from Buffy, but as soon as she spoke the line, I knew Joyce was doomed. I had not expected the story to be so drawn-out, however, covering several, very well-done episodes, and culminating in "The Body." "The Body" is an extraordinary episode which portrays the shock of grief like nothing else I've ever seen. I realised while watching it that the reason everything seemed so still and silent was that there was no music, no soundtrack, nothing to ease the tension. A very powerful episode indeed, probably the best yet.

In the season five finale, Buffy becomes much darker than ever before, when the Scoobies realise that there is no way they can defeat Glory, and try to make a run for it. Glory has tormented Tara, who is lost and confused within her own mind, and Giles is wounded by a spear through the windscreen of Spike's camper-van (causing Serenity flashbacks: WHY WHEDON, WHY?) Buffy calls Ben, the handsome medical intern she befriended in the hospital when her mother was ill, little knowing that he shares his body with Glory herself. Instead of a glorious (sorry) climactic battle between Buffy and Glory, the villain meets her end at the hands of Giles, while in the form of "Ben." It is chilling to watch as the nice, polite, English librarian kills Ben in cold blood with his bare hands. We've heard before that Giles has a dark past, but this is the first time we really see what that means.

Ben: She could have killed me. Giles: No, she couldn't. Never. And sooner or later Glory will re-emerge, and make Buffy pay for that mercy. And the world with her. Buffy even knows that...and still she couldn't take a human life. She's a hero, you see. She's not like us.Ben: Us?

But even destroying Glory via Ben is not enough to save the world. Only Buffy can do that, by making the greatest sacrifice: her own life. Compare her calm decision with that of the sixteen-year-old at the end of season one, desperate not to die. She's changed a lot: become more serious and grown up, but losing her witty humour. The Slayer's life has not been an easy one, and here it is, cut short. Apparently season five was written to be a potential series finale, and it certainly feels like one. The "previouslies" at the beginning go right back to the very first episode, showing everything that has led up to this point. This finale is darker and more epic than before. All the same, I'm glad that there are still to seasons to come. What a note to end it on!

Best episodes: (It would be misleading to use the word "favourite.)

6. Family: In which we find out a lot more about Tara. The episode end with Spike punching her in the face - which is not usually a thing that one would find heartwarming, but in context is rather lovely.
7. Fool for Love: Showing Spike's backstory. Introducing: William the Bloody (terrible).
10. Into the Woods: I'm only including this because we see the back of Riley. The episode itself is infuriating.
12. Checkpoint: Buffy vs. the Watchers' Council.
13. Blood Ties: In which Dawn discovers her life has been a lie.
15. I Was Made To Love You: A remarkably average robot-girlfriend-of-the-week episode, with a shocking ending. "Mom... Mom?... Mommy?"
16. The Body: "But I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I mean, I knew her, and then she's, there's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead anymore! It's stupid! It's mortal and stupid! And, and Xander's crying and not talking, and, and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why."
17. Forever: Dawn tries to bring her mom back from the dead. Thank goodness we don't get to see the results.
18. Intervention: Spike creates a Buffy-bot. Time to get off the ship. This is not boyfriend material.
19. Tough Love: Willow and Tara have their first quarrel, with tragic results.
22. The Gift: The darkest and most epic finale yet.

The Martian - Andy Weir

It was a ridiculous sequence of events that led to me almost dying, and an even more ridiculous sequence that led to me surviving.

 If an astronaut was accidentally left behind on Mars, could he possibly survive long enough to be rescued? In The Martian, Andy Weir sets out to answer that question in an intelligent, brilliantly-researched and believable way.

This is my food supply. All natural, organic, Martian-grown potatoes. Don't hear that every day, do you?

It took me quite a while to get into The Martian at first. Most of the story is told in astronaut Mark Watney's log, with step-by-step details of: "Here's what I'm going and this is how it works." I'm not very scientifically-minded, so I had to read some passages through a couple of times to understand at least the gist of them, and Weir doesn't spell out the definition of every unfamiliar word: either we know what "Hab," "sol" and "EVA" mean, or we figure it out from context. In the first log entries, I found the mixture of scientific detail and silly humour jarring. But then, of course the humour would feel forced. The man's just been left for dead on Mars, and he's trying to make the best of things. Joking is perhaps not the natural response to this unique situation, but it's a survival mechanism.

But just because this was a slow read, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Spending more time with a book and putting more effort into reading it can be rewarding, and ultimately I think The Martian is the best book I've read this year so far.

It didn't take me very long to appreciate Watney's character: a likable, unflappable and determined guy with a goofy sense of humour. He had to be. Personality is a crucial part of space travel, because if you're stuck in a tin can with just a few people for months on end, you have to not want to kill each other. Also, Watney's resourceful and logical nature in the face of almost certain death makes him a very realistic astronaut. Yes, if surviving alone on Mars for over a year is possible, this man could do it.

"I wonder what he's thinking now."

Log Entry: Sol 61. How come Aquaman can control whales? They're mammals! Makes no sense.

The pace of the story picked up when the narrative switched between Watney's log and NASA discovering his survival and attempting to bring him home. From Earth, we get a broader perspective of what Watney has to deal with, and the efforts put into bringing him home, but there is also an added tension when satellite images reveal obstacles that Watney is unaware of. I grew to dread the switch from first person to third, especially on Mars, because the omniscient narrator was about to tell the reader something that Watney did not know - usually disaster.

Phobos is the god of fear, and I'm letting it be my guide. Not a good sign.

The Martian is a rollercoaster ride (or rover ride, perhaps) of victorious success and catastrophic setbacks, and each obstacle asks the same question anew: how can Watney possibly survive this? I found myself sitting bolt upright, glued to the page and shouting at the book. Watney's survival is never assured, even in the final few pages. The Martian gave me a real adrenaline rush, if a non-traditional one. It is also utterly heartwarming the huge efforts and expense put in to save one man's life, how the entire world comes together to attempt to bring Watney home, refusing to give up while the tiniest bit of hope remains.