Okay, so here’s my overall prediction for the year’s arc. I do this every year, and I have yet to be right.
As I mentioned yesterday, I think Buffy is squaring off against the First. We would know for sure if those robed guys at the beginning had no eyes. It is my further belief that the First was responsible for the creation of the Hellmouth. What I think is that the First is going to be endeavor to open more Hellmouths throughout the world. And that in the final confrontation, Buffy will manage to not only seal the Hellmouth beneath Sunnydale, but get rid of it entirely so that Sunnydale will effectively be a normal town and Buffy and Dawn can lead a normal life.
That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.
PAD
• 
And that would be a beautiful way to wrap up the series. Here’s hoping that Joss and company let Buffy bow out gracefully.
Would your theory still leave the possibility of demons and the like for Angel and crew to battle over on the WB? Would the Slayer feel compelled to keep moving to places that are still demon-infested?
I’m also wondering if some of the Buffy gang might end up on “Angel” when Buffy comes to an end. Of course, that’s assuming “Angel” survives this season on the WB and UPN is willing to pick it up if WB does not renew its deal with Fox.
That sure sounds right to me.
One small addition: based on the Instanbul prologue, I wonder if the robed guys are eliminating all of the potential slayers, so that if (when?) Faith dies, there won’t be another.
I heard that Joss said they would keep going with the series even without SMG-P playing Buffy. Am I making this up? I really thought it was true…
A couple of things…
First off, I’ve read on aint-it-cool-news.com that Eliza Dishku (Faith) has been contracted for about six Buffy episodes this season (and possibly some episodes of Angel). Makes sense, if the robed guys are going on a Slay-The-Slayer fest. My guess is that this is Buffy’s last season and Faith will star in a spin-off.
Second, what’s with Spike’s Ricky Martin hairdo? I thought it was appalling.
My guess?
We’ve just been introduced to the “Scrappy Gang” of Dawn and her new school friends.
Buffy is training Dawn.
Faith is returning to the series.
I predict a dead Faith, followed by “Dawn of the Vampire Slayer”
OF course, I could be wrong.
Dale
Actually, PAD, your guess sounds pretty much dead-on. In FRAY we learn that Buffy at some point does close the Hellmouth after an immense battle. The details are sketchy, but this would seem to be the season for a major showdown (“So where are all my demon friends?” “Oh, they’re all here.”)
Talking a lot….
Read somewhere that some people thing that the First is more into the Angel series mythos, but who knows. But, why do I get the feelign that is something even bigger than the FIrst Evil that Buffy will be facing this year.
Yes Joss did mention some early 21st century slayer closing the hellmouth for good in Fray #2.
But he is very vague about this, even saying that the history is not quite clear.
He doesn’t even say it’s actually Buffy, but we can only suppose.
I don’t know, I really have my doubts.. the one who actually gets to close the Hellmouth could be Faith’s Successor or even Dawn, if they actually turn her into the next slayer.
Kit and Carlos? I know they’re recurring, but they doens’t sound too much like forming a Scrappy Gang material to me. I don’t know, could be Joss trying tease us again.
It really seems that we’re going to have a big slayer-fest this season (I even wonder if Bianca Lawson will get reapperances as Kendra). We’ve seen the first of the series of the supposedely SLayer in Training killed in the Teaser. Just read about a new casting call for Slayers. ANd there is the whole Master Speech about learning about ourswelves.
Personally, I think that the series is at a good point to end, on the top. SPecially because this whole Full Circle thing. Just wonder if FOX will actually allow Joss to close the Hellmouth for good, and not trying to exploit it in future francises or movies. At the end this money stuff count a lot of point… ANd they’re actually willing to keep the series running with or without SMG as Buffy. I think its kinda pointless to have a series called Buffy, The Vampire SLayer, without The Buffy the vampire slayer, but who knows, could actually work. But from the X-Files experience, the chances of failling are far bigger than of them succeding, but Joss is no Chris Carter….
Just read over in the AICN Moriaty review about a draft of SUperman movie Script from J. J. Abrams. I hated it, but if the people who give the orders, actually think that it will make money, maybe they’ll actually do it for our dismay.
Now let me shut up, cause I already said too much ( I think I gotta go to my comic shop and pick up something)
Possibly, but I get the feeling that whatever the Big Bad is this season, it hitched a ride on William’s soul.
Spike did try to rip through his flesh to remove something.
Too many unanswered questions. It’ll become clear shortly.
Now this is just pure speculation on my part…but did anyone else get the feeling that the new principal guy could be a new love interest for Buffy?
well having a buffy the vampire slayer without buffy would be odd there was anthor show called blakes 7’s that pulled it off. the show was on for 4 seasons and blake was lost/mia for the last 2. 🙂
Whatever the creature was with Spike at the end, remember after the Master it turned into Buffy. Now to me the obvious explanation is that the big bad for this series is Buffy, but that’s too obvious and is also going in the wrong direction timewise (although the Buffy movie was indeed, ‘big bad’ in a totally different way!).
We could take the appearence of Buffy at the end basically representing ‘The Slayer’ – suggesting that at some point in the past The Slayer was not always on the side of good – which ties in with the stuff in Restless and Buffy vs Dracula about her powers being rooted in darkness.
These suggestions about The First could easily tie in with that, and that the original slayer and the First were somehow linked. They could also flirt with the idea of making Buffy evil for a few episodes, opening the door for the return of Faith to fight her (but this is retreading existing ground so…)
Regarding continuing the series after this year, apparently they’re considering various options – Sarah hasn’t said no for definate, but at the moment they are looking at Sarah-free or Sarah-lite ideas. And they’d love to have Faith as a replacement but that depends alot on Eliza.
Actually, my thought on the Buffy transformation is this: the evil whatever-it-is should the clearly unstable Spike a series of creatures Spike knows to be evil, leading up to Buffy in order to make a connection between Buffy and evil in Spike’s mind. Whatever the Big Bad is, it is trying to convince Spike that Buffy is either evil or even the root of evil in Sunnydale and get him to take her out.
>>Now this is just pure speculation on my part…but did anyone else get the feeling that the new principal guy could be a new love interest for Buffy?<<
Actually, Supergirl, I kind’a got that feeling, too!!
Richard, I assumed Halfrek’s comment “they’re all here” just meant that Halfrek was Anya’s only demon friend.
I also wondered about Principal Wood: I said to my wife after his first appearance, “Little Bad or new love interest?” She said, “Knowing Joss & Marti, probably both.”
(remove the NOSPAMPLEASE to send email)
I won’t comment on the episode because I haven’t been able to watch it yet (I too am currently living in Brazil, and Kazaa can take a while sometimes).
But as far as continuing the series sans SMG goes I was thinking that they could always pull a Doctor Who here. If Eliza agrees to star next season, they could always do another bodyswap between Buffy and Faith (like in the season 4 episode “Who are you?”) and then kill the SMG Faith.
Also, if you go with the theory that the Slayer line is tied to the soul rather than the body (which I think makes sense), this would make it possible for them to activate Dawn as a new Slayer, which would then go off onto her own spin-off(I remember reading an interview with Michelle Trachtenberg last year where she mentioned that Joss had asked her if she’d be willing to star in her own series at some point).
Speculatively yours,
Raphy
So with all this talk about Buffy, any chance PAD will be doing a BTVS novel anytime soon (he asks, pretty well guessing at the answer)?
And do any of you know of a good Buffy discussion board out there on the Net? If you do, please e-mail it to me…
A Peter David Buffy novel?
Has a nice ring to it.
PAD?
>>>”Spike did try to rip through his flesh to remove something.”
What I got from from that was that Spike, having had his soul restored, found it driving him insane somehow–and that it was his soul that he was literally trying to cut out of his body. Naturally, since Buffy doesn’t know that he has a soul again, she wouldn’t have understood his comment.
And I hope they don’t do the show without Sarah Michelle Gellar…I think Joss Whedon could pull it off if anyone could, but I just don’t want to see it.
I assumed Spike was trying to remove his heart since the wounds were in the general area, although that’d kill him, and logically we’d ask why doesn’t he just stake himself and get it over with. Then again, we know how well he does at suicide attempts.
I was expecting Spike’s insanity since I recall Angel said he was severely depressed after recovering his soul and realizing his evilness of the past. Still- the idea that it was Spike’s soul makes more sense.
All this talk of the First (which I don’t even recall from way back when) made me think about the “First Slayer.” That and Dracula never really paid off.
In the end we’re only talking about the iceberg after seeing the tip.
Oh incidentally- when did Xander become a supervisor, complete with suit and tie meetings? As far as I know, he’s only got a year’s experience (or two?) with the construction company and just a high-school degree.
Maybe the company has a lot of turnaround- attrition from OSHA violations and demonic incursions?
I know — in the previous six years Xander has NEVER worn a suit. He’s worn a tux (on four occasions), but never a suit.
Now he does have three years’ experience in construction (we first saw him working in “Pangs” when he caught the funny Syphilis). But for him to be doing the job he seems to be doing (blueprints, client meetings, multiple work crews) would (I think) require him to earn his general contractor’s license, which is not an easy task.
I think the suit thing might be important and referred to by one of Joss’ cryptic prop clues (much like last year’s sports jerseys telling the date of the musical, or the “55” shirt predicting the return of Faith). Xander’s license plate is 3PCE187. 3PCE a reference to the 3-piece suit he was wearing, 187 is the California police code for homicide. A clue? Or is Joss messing with us? Or am I a total nutjob? Your call.
Actually, wasn’t it years that Angel was pretty much out of commission after having his soul restored? I think it was 1996 or 1997 that Whistler found him living like a bum on the streets of New York and offered to help him become a hero. Angel had a hard time getting over the evil things he did without his soul – he was supposedly one of the most vicious vamps ever – so I imagine Spike will have a hard time as well, considering he was a pretty bad guy himself, and it was such a huge contrast to who he was before he turned. Wasn’t Angel pretty much a young drunk when he was human? Spike was (or at least, he believed himself to be) an artist, a really sensitive, caring being. So now that he’s got a capacity for remorse, he has to deal with all the suffering he’s caused, including killing two slayers.
About Xander, you know, I have worked in construction myself and in my experience, you usually have to attend college to get the position that Xander seems to be in. Of course, it may be somewhat easier to advance in Sunnydale, with the demon activity and all. Still, it was strange to see him in a suit, and in another scene, wearing slacks on the jobsite.
To be honest i don
Naw, Cynthia Bergstrom said that she had a thing with numbers on clothes last year, and they didn’t actually have any hidden meanings whatsoever, the numbers were completely random. She’s now working on something else (CSI Miami?) and her replacement has no idea how women dress in Britain…