Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 8: Last Gleaming

Buffy: "Wow, this guy is really challenged by the major plot points.
Dawn: "He's not the only one."

Right with you, Dawnie. This volume gets as high as two stars, because I have to put some distance between it and the trainwreck that was Volume 7: Twilight. This volume was, at best, "Okay" in a Season in which, if I ranked it against the seasons of the television series, I'd put dead last. And I'm a huge Buffy fan that considers it one of the best television series that ever aired. There wasn't one season of the televised Buffy where I didn't have favorite episodes, where I didn't get a bit choked up (or sobbed through an episode) where I didn't have laugh-out-loud moments so intense my stomach cramped up and where I didn't gasp at show more certain developments. That didn't happen here.

And in this particular volume there was a moment that should have ripped my heart out yet I passed it dry-eyed. I'm not sure I can forgive Joss Whedon for that. show less

First of all, let me be clear - I love Willow, Angel, Xander, Buffy, Giles, Spike, and Faith . . . generally, depending upon my mood, in that order. I was a huge fan of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel when they were on TV, passing up dates, missing appointments, and blowing off family gatherings to catch each new episode. I was a bit too old to have grown up on the Whedonverse, but it definitely shaped much of my teenage years.

I cried like a baby when both shows ended. Buffy, I thought, ended very well, wrapping up 7 years of television with an ending that was every bit as empowering as the show itself. Angel, I thought, ended even better (even if it was sadly before it's time), with a final few moments that still take my breath show more away.

So, you can imagine my insane delight when I first heard that not only would each show be getting another "official" season, but that Joss himself would be at the helm. It wasn't a new season of televised glory, and it wasn't the movie we all wanted, but it was something - and it was to be "canon" (rather than just somebody else playing in then Whedonverse).

Season 8 definitely had its moments but, sadly, they were in the first 3 volumes (Long Way Home, No Future For You, and Wolves at the Gate). From there, it's been an uneven ride that began going downhill with Twilight (Volume 7) and has mercifully ended with Last Gleaming (Volume 8).

Okay, if you haven't read Last Gleaming, then stop reading now because SPOILERS ABOUND!

Still here? You've been warned . . .

Let me sum up what was wrong with this final chapter:

1. Superhero powers, for both Buffy and Angel. Nope, sorry, just too much.
2. The failure to correct the mistake of revealing Angel as the Big Bad. Come on, really? It was an absolute cheat to have Twilight turn out to be Angel . . . with a twist that ridiculous, I'm sure another could have been manufactured to counter it.
3. Faith being wasted. This girl has potential! If you're not going to exploit it, then at least give her a great exit . . . don't just leave her on the sidelines.
4. The senseless death of Giles. Yeah, Xander and I both saw it coming, but it was still an unnecessary bit of drama. Giles is . . . well, Giles! If he had to die, then it should have meant something.
5. On that note, Xander being wasted. He had his shot at being a hero. He could have stopped Giles, taken his place, and turned a senseless death into a noble sacrifice. Instead, he stands by and watches.
6. Resurrecting The Master, only to neuter him by making him a pawn of some other force, and then giving him a quick death that accomplishes nothing.
7. Buffy saving the world by destroying the magic in it. This was huge. This was the classic no-win situation she faced so many times on TV . . . except she always found a way to create a third choice, one that usually involved her own sacrifice. Here, she picks the easy out, betraying Willow in the process, and does it without a moment of thought. Where's the angst? Where's the internal debate? Where's sense of sorrow and helplessness that have always accompanied those choices? This was lazy and it was wrong (even if it does erase a lot of mistakes and set us up for a return to normalcy in season 9).
8. Giles rewriting his will, leaving everything to Faith. Excuse me? WTF? Yeah, we know he's kind of taken Faith under his wing, but this reeks of just another betrayal. This whole season seemed to be about dividing him from his Slayer, and I don't like the implication that he's lost faith in Buffy.

As for what was right about it:

1. Spike was awesome. He looked like Spike, he talked like Spike, and he acted like Spike. He played a significant role and, despite all the hints, never did betray Buffy.
2. Um . . . really, that's about it.

At this point, I'm not really interested in a Season 9, but I suspect I'll give it a shot - if only because Joss himself owned up to some of the failings in Season 8, and admitted he has already changed his direction for Season 9 because of what we, the fans, have said.

All I can say is it better be good . . . at least Angel good, if not better. show less

Joss Whedon, I love you. I hate you. I love you, again. No, wait, maybe I don't. Yeah, that's how my reading of this final installment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 went. With higher highs and lower lows that ever seen on the show itself, Last Gleaming will charm you, shock you, completely break your heart and leave you completely desperate for more Buffy and friends.

Now, I didn't love the last couple of episodes in the Twilight storyline, but I think Last Gleaming salvaged the season in spectacular fashion. Utterly, utterly shocking. Just mind blowing. And devastating. I cried. For a while. And then again when telling my non-reader husband how Joss hurt me. You are a bad, bad man. Never have I been as thoroughly effected by a show more fictional happening as I was with the monumental occurrence in Last Gleaming.

Apart from the final episodes of Season 8, Last Gleaming includes a one shot explaining how Riley became involved in fight as well as a letter from Joss to the fans. The letter explains some of the directions Season 8 chose to go as well as promising a Season 9 to come. Joss is awesome. He brings the pain, but makes it hurt so good. He managed to take this much yearned for season and make it something truly epic. The ending certainly isn't happily ever after, but it'll get longtime fans right at their cores. An absolutely perfect ending to the season that instills a great need to continue on to the next. show less

The last two volumes of Season Eight, concluding here with book eight, unfortunately became increasingly convoluted, and, it must be said, silly. The problem: Whedon and company were trying to reconcile the radical, world-changing end to the last television season (seven) with the far-flung future version of the Slayer universe portrayed in the excellent Fray comics. The result is...muddled at best. Buffy and Angel become superheroes, have sex for an entire issue that results in the birth of a new world, and then draw down the forces of...evil? chaos? alternate planes?...when they abandon that new world for this mortal sphere, and then have to fight a big, massive battle to save the world (natch). Along the way, characters fall in love, show more lovers break up, a core character dies (a tiresome Whedon trademark by now), batches of Slayerettes have their faces melted off, and the world gets retconned/reset to Buffy circa season three. As if to acknowledge all this was a hot mess, the one-page afterward by Whedon even reads like an apology: "Hey, sorry this was so messed up. We were trying to do too much here, and it kind of got crazy. But don't worry, we've rebooted everything now, and we're getting back to basics." Hmm. We'll see. This series was SO GOOD through the first four books, then got mediocre for two books, then downright preposterous for the last two. The dialogue is still good, the characters are all still great, and every now and then the writers really pull off a great scene, but the overall impression I'm left with after the last two books in this run is disappointment. Here's hoping the promised return to the good old days materializes for the upcoming Season Nine... show less

While I wouldn’t have personally written the second half of Season 8 the way it was, I think given that it took these turns that this was a solid wrap up to everything that has happened! There was plenty of action, maybe a little too much exposition, some REAL sadness, and a broadening of the Buffyverse that could potentially be a lot of fun to see explored in the future (coughBugSpaceshipcough).

The plot had grown a little too big and out of control, so the writers had quite a bit to reign in, and it was a good effort! I feel satisfied with this ending. I don’t ~adore~ it, mainly because several choices and action seem vaguely out of character, and because the universe got WAY bigger without a lot of buildup, but it was a good time show more and I’m glad I read it nevertheless! show less

Summary: The creation of a new universe at the end of Vol. 7 opened up the floodgates of demons pouring into the old universe. It turns out that all of the demons are primarily after one thing (apart from killing, mauling, and eating as many humans as they can): the Seed, which is responsible for the separation of the universes and is also the source of magic in the world. So Buffy & Co. have to get to the Seed first... but once they find it, what exactly are they going to do with it?

Review: Whoo boy. In my review of the utterly insane and mostly nonsensical Vol. 7, I said "I would really appreciate it if Joss (or someone else) would take the reins and keep the whole thing from plummeting straight over the crazy cliff." And, show more surprisingly enough, he did! Well, mostly. The direction that the plot took at the end of Vol. 7 isn't something that even the most skilled writer could turn around in the space of one more volume, but given what there was to work with, I think Whedon took it in the best direction he could. He did cover a LOT of plot points very, very quickly, however, to the point that I was spending a lot of mental energy trying to make it all fit together in a logical fashion. I never quite got there, even after a few read-throughs, but at least the remaining plot holes are Sunnydale-crater-sized rather than entire-universe-sized. I also think I missed a lot by not reading the Spike or the more recent Angel comics, too; the fact that Spike shows up on a giant gold zeppelin piloted by huge cockroaches is just laid out there in this volume without any kind of explanation.

But, despite the "Whaaaaaa??!? Ooookay." nature of the plot, there were a number of parts of this book that I liked. There are some simply wonderful character moments, with Buffy & Spike's reunion (complete with the entire unresolved weight of what went down at the end of S7) at the top of the list. Everybody sounded like themselves, and a lot of the dialogue is just as sharp and witty as it ever was on the show. And, of course, Whedon can't end a season without some major game-changing twists, and season 8's finale's got a few doozies. Unfortunately, I was too wrapped up in trying to understand the plot, so I think some of them didn't have quite the emotional impact they should have, but they (for sure) left me eager to see where things are going to go from here. 3.5 out of 5 stars. show less

yep, vintage Joss. culmination of a big, big season, remelding of the two series (yay!), some hints of where season 9 might be heading (think smaller, but wider), vintage jossian dialogue, some huge surprises, tragedy, comedy, big concepts cut to size, small concepts under the microscope, not so much neat and orderly linear progressions, more like a big ball of wax-museum storyline wrapups interleaving a host of character and relationship reveals (some done in single panel), and overall a big sense of hugging the verse(s) from the ships' captain. dragons! bugs! steampunk! cast of thousands, writ large! let the wild rumpus end, then restart as season 9 casts its first volley across the deck. and you know, let there be stuff and long may show more he reign (rein). show less