How could I have been so dense.
I bet Buffy’s dealing with the First. The primary evil that lurked around below Sunnydale, had an assortment of eyeless priests working for it, and drove Angel nuts back in “Amends” by shifting into the forms of various people he’d killed, including Jenny Calendar. After introducing the concept of the First back in season #3, we haven’t heard boo about it since then.
So either Whedon is repeating himself by having a Big Bad with the exact same MO…or it’s the same evil entity that’s been laying low since shortly before the destruction of the school.
We’ll see.
PAD
• 
Duh, how could I have been so dumb to have missed that. It always kind of annoyed me that they never picked up on that plot thread from way back when, it would be nice if they actually went back to it.
That show was never interesting to me… oh well…
side note : a Farscape animated show is being produced.
I had guessed that it was a personification of the Hellmouth, what with the hints being dropped by Willow and Anya’s demon friend, but I think you’ve nailed it.
And it ties in nicely to the (eyeless?) priests we saw running around in the opening credits.
This is what I get for coming to the series late. This First is a mystery to me.
I pegged it as the demon/vampire thing that restored Spike’s soul. Unless they are one in the same.
The First was my first guess, given the hints in the episode…and realizing that all Joss & Co.’s comments about “getting back to the beginning” could be taken two ways.
On the other hand, it occured to me that the final morph to Buffy might mean this is a tie-in to the First Slayer and the primal power that we’ve gotten hints might not be all that nice. And that might tie in with a rumor I’ve heard about what was up in that Istanbul sequence (side note: Anyone else think when “Istanbul” showed up on the screen that there’d be at least one riff from Istanbul, Not Constantinople played, preferably the TMBG version?)
>>(side note: Anyone else think when “Istanbul” showed up on the screen that there’d be at least one riff from Istanbul, Not Constantinople played, preferably the TMBG version?)<<
The second it showed up I said, “What, not Constantinople?”
PAD
Hey, I realize this isn’t a Buffy message board, but what was up with that Istanbul sequence? Who was the chickie? She kinda came off like a Slayer to me. That raised this question in my mind: did they deal with Buffy’s death and the activation of another Slayer last season? I don’t recall but I could have missed it.
Maybe one death’s the limit per slayer and you have to wait for Faith.
Great. Now I’ve got that song running through my head.
…even old New York was once New Amsterdam…
And my wife also made that comment. Perhaps there was a secret deal between Joss and TMBG to get all those Buffy fans, once in the record store to buy the musical soundtrack, to also go and buy “Flood,” the album that song is on? 🙂
That’s exactly right. Buffy’s brief death at the end of the first season activated Kendra. Kendra’s death activated Faith. All Buffy’s death will activate from here on in is a sense of deja vu, but nothing else. The Slayer line now runs through Faith.
You’re not the only one to think the Istanbul girl was Slayer material. Even my 11 year old said, “Is that a Slayer?” The thing is, we do know that Slayers are anticipated and trained before being “called.” Kendra’s parents, for instance, knew their daughter would one day become a Slayer long before it actually occurred. So it’s possible the girl from Istanbul was a Slayer-in-Training.
The specific procedures have always been somewhat fuzzy. Maybe this is the season they’re more sharply brought into focus.
PAD
The thing I always wondered about is how long will it take the Watchers’ Council to realize that all they need to do to activate a new Slayer is temporarily stop the current Slayer’s heart (which can be done with certain drugs; it’s dangerous of course, but the Council doesn’t have that much regard for a slayer’s well-being) and so proceed to create a slayer army. What I would call the Grand Army of the Watchers. Maybe even with some magical clones thrown in the mix (no…then it’s just silly). 😉
Raphy
That “Istanbul girl” possibly being a potential Slayer also crossed my mind. And it also jibes with the announcement that Eliza Dushku will be reprising the role of Faith this season.
Perhaps The First (or whoever this Biggest of Bads turns out to be) is eliminating the competition before it can be activated. Which also makes one wonder if that persistent rumor that Dawn may be a potential Slayer will turn out to be true. Though they zombie-ghosts had plenty of opportunity to kill Dawn in last night’s episode and failed to do so.
(Then again, this all may be nobody’s business but the Turks.)
They Might Be Giants have a new two-disc “Best Of” out on Rhino this week. Coincidence?
I instantly thought of “Not Constantinople,” too.
TMBG are relentless self-promoters, so if there’s any real connection, they’ll make it known.
And the more I think about it, the eyeless monks attempting to kill Slayers and potential Slayers would be a good plot reason to explain Faith getting sprung from prison. The First could easily take the form of a guard, warden, inmate, etc. in an attempt on Faith’s life. She would have to escape to save her own life.
She is still in lock-up, isn’t she?
As far as we know Faith is still in lock-up. We know she’ll be around at the end of the season. Everything looks quite interesting. It looks like it will be a fun ride.
Neil
Joss was asked at San Diego a few years ago about whether there were now always two Slayers. He said something like “No, the Slayer line now goes through Faith only, so if Buffy died it wouldn’t cause a new Slayer…unless we come up with a really good story”.
Or, to quote Laura Anne Gilman, “Trust Joss, Joss lies”.
As for the army of Slayers, there was a live role-playing game at MIT a few years ago that had the premise that the Watchers had done just that, in an attempt to wipe out vamps and company once and for all. Problem was, they didn’t quite manage it…and now there weren’t any more potential Slayers as the well had gone dry. Hilarity ensues.
Who said that Faith had to die in order to activate Dawn as a Slayer?
Last I saw, Dawn was made out of Buffy – heck most of her shots in this new episode attempt to make her LOOK like Buffy – therefore wouldn’t she have her own slayer power anyway?
Anyone else see Joss Whedon’s origin of the Slayer (and end of the hellmouth) story in Fray #3?
Maybe the girl running in Istanbul is evil, and the hooded characters are the good guys.
Although she kinda looked like Dark Angel to me.
I meant to add that if it is the First –I’ll take Peter’s word for it that that’s what they were called, the characters living under the Christmas trees in “Amends,” I barely remember them — who are responsible, that that would tie in with Willow’s comment about the Earth being “rooty.” I picture lots of roots underground when I try to remember “Amends.”
RE: Multiple Slayers
Just picked up the Tales of the Slayers Trade Paperback last week. The first story is one about the first slayer by Joss. In it the villagers ask the first slayer to leave, because they believe she was born with demon inside. And that they were afraid of her, and that is why they made only one.
And since Joss has referred to this as Buffy Year One…we could be dealing with a season steeped in the origin of the slayers?
I’m surprised the Watcher’s Council hasn’t sent their agents to kill off Faith so they can have a Slayer in their control again.
I even pitched that as a story to Pocket Books, but they didn’t go for it. Not long after, they woke her up on the show and they handled it much better than I would have.
It’s nice to be this excited about the show again. Last year was okay, with some memorable moments. This years looking to be the best yet. I’m seeing the First (if that’s who this is) will take Tara’s form for awhile. That would certainly push Willow right over the edge.
Bobby