elisi | Damn.

So, yesterday I linked to the cover for issue 7 of S8, because it featured a very handsome Giles. I was however v. tired and didn't actually read the summary. (Didn't realise that it was supposed to be Faith next to him either...)

As you probably know, I've been clinging to the Faith-arc, because there was no way Joss could mess *her* up, right?

Faith’s out to kill a Slayer.

Lady Genevieve Savidge is one of the most dangerous women on the planet. If she’s left unstopped, the British heiress will usher in the apocalypse. Faith has accepted Giles’s offer of an early retirement package for this gig — but the wetworks will have to wait till she’s infiltrated Savidge’s mystically protected estate.

THE HELL?? Unless that is some very clever misdirection (which is possible of course and is the one straw I'm clinging to), then I honestly don't know what happened to the character I love. Faith has a PROBLEM with killing people - there was this whole 'going evil and then seeking redemption' thing, right? But I could cope with that - just - if she was doing it 'for the common good'... rogue Slayers are dangerous, Faith knows that better than anyone. There could be interesting things done with that. But doing it 'for early retirement'???? What Faith would that be? The one who loved knitting and dreamt of having a house full of rug rats?

I am so baffled that... well I don't have the words. Maybe it's my cue to just walk away althogether. Sorry S8 lovers, but there's only so much I can put up with.

Maybe Joss got brainsucked by Glory?

*deep sigh*

At least Doctor Who has suddenly become awesome and brilliant and full of layers and themes and stuff, exploring all sorts of fascinating issues. *goes back to SHINY show and CANON Buffy*

ETA: Ok, so maybe it will be more like follows:

Giles: I need a Slayer dead. Faith, I trust you can do it, you have killed before. Also you already have a criminal record.
Faith: 'Scuse me?
Giles: I have prepared a generous retirement package for you, as a thank you for services rendered. If however you decide to decline, the police might just discover where you've been hiding out...

Or, you know, something along those lines. Stupid comics.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Didn't realise that it was supposed to be Faith next to him either...

Really? I recognised her straight away, despite the fact that she's obviously meant to be "in disguise" in that picture. As for the blurb - well, it's a blurb. It's a long-established tradition that they only bear a passing resemblance to the actual content of the story.

I mean, the blurb for 'Asylum' made it sound as if Spike genuinely wants to be healed of his aggressive tendencies and so checks into a legitimate rehab centre, but the other patients there want to be the one to kill him, and so - we assume - the story will consist of him begrudgingly having to return to his violent former ways in order to defeat the other patients...

As for what's going to happen in the Faith arc, I'm not going to speculate on a story that we won't actually be able to read for several months yet. I'll just say that the Faith who was discovering what it's like to take on responsibility and have a community behind her in season 7, and who was warily interested in Wood's offer to show her a different side to life than the one she'd always known, might well have developed, matured and grown just a little in the 18 months since we saw her last...

Really? I recognised her straight away, despite the fact that she's obviously meant to be "in disguise" in that picture.
Mostly I thought that Giles was obviously a very lucky man...

As for the blurb - well, it's a blurb.
I know, I know. Red herrings and all that. I just didn't think it was *possible* to make me not interested in Faith, but they did it. *sigh* I think what I'll do is wait for the whole arc to be finished before I read it.

might well have developed, matured and grown just a little in the 18 months since we saw her last...
I have read various fics where Faith retired - including a rather clever AU one where she got Spike to kill (and revive) her, so another Slayer would be called and she would be free. The idea never rang 100% true though... I think she'd be bored out of her mind living a 'normal life', and - unlike Buffy, who is very capable of deceiving herself - she'd know it and thus not try.

Mostly I thought that Giles was obviously a very lucky man...

It actually took me a few moments to notice that Giles was in the picture as well. :-)

I think she'd be bored out of her mind living a 'normal life'

Maybe. I think she's a fairly complex character, though. Most people associate Faith with wild partying on the dancefloor - partly, I think, because that's how Buffy, Xander and Willow thought of her. But if you think about it, there are also plenty of scenes of Faith sitting alone in her room reading comic books or watching TV, exercising by herself in a corner of the prison yard or out in Buffy's garden, going down to the basement to avoid the crowd of Potentials, and generally being self-sufficient. I think a lot of her wild girl attitude was an act - fooling herself as much as anyone else that she was tough and she Didn't Care; and after a lifetime of (presumed) misery and powerlessness she was revelling in her new Slayer strength and the apparent freedom from any consequences that it brought her.

And of course, she had a poisonous envy of exactly the kind of normal life she thought Buffy had and she didn't - and alternated between jealousy of Buffy and self-hatred for 'not being worthy' of such a lifestyle herself. Redeemed Faith might well be ready to accept that she does deserve a normal life, after all.

So I can imagine a scenario where she's now fed up with the killing and danger, but Giles offers her a devil's bargain of One Last Job. It's one of the classic stories, after all. But I said I wouldn't speculate, so I'll stop there...

It actually took me a few moments to notice that Giles was in the picture as well. :-)
Different priorities and all that...

I think a lot of her wild girl attitude was an act - fooling herself as much as anyone else that she was tough and she Didn't Care
Oh that is very true. But still she always (or until she became consumed with anger and self-hatred) loved to fight. Much like Spike and for pretty much the same reasons...

It's one of the classic stories, after all.
Isn't it just? And I don't like it. Not the way it is presented anyway - I hope Faith's going to try to redeem her.

>>Mostly I thought that Giles was obviously a very lucky man...

Exactly my thoughts too.

I can't imagine Faith in that get up at all, no wonder we never recognised her.

Really? I recognised her straight away, despite the fact that she's obviously meant to be "in disguise" in that picture.

Well, if there was any lingering doubt in anyone's mind regarding just how "comically challenged" I am, it's now put to rest. I assumed it was Lady Genevieve Savidge in the picture and never eve thought of Faith.

To be fair, if you'd shown me the picture completely out of context I might not have recognised her - but given that I knew this was "the cover of the issue that Faith appears in" it took me, maybe a fraction of a second to process her appearance and think "It's Faith, with her hair up and wearing a fancy gown".

I have spent a little time today searching for pictures of Eliza with her hair up to compare - surprisingly hard to find.

I only guessed it was Faith because of the dimple!

(But the "alternative cover" was WAY WORSE. Oh my.)

Is the "alternative cover" the one with Buffy and the other two slayers? At least, I think that's who they're supposed to be. The one looks like Buffy anyway, but maybe the other one is Faith?

I *meant* to say "one of the other ones" is Faith - probably the one with brown hair?

Yes, I think the alternative was by Jeanty and has 3 unrecognizable (IMO) girls in bodice-ripper dresses.

I *really* don't think the blonde looks like Buffy (though I'm sure it's supposed to be her) and the style of the drawing just hurts me to look at. (Those shoulders?!!)

I assume the girl on the right is Faith. Who can tell ...

Damn.

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