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kittykult's review
4.0
I know I'm 3 years late to the party, but I wanted to wait to read this in the Library Edition. It was finally released earlier this year, but COVID kind of ran plans to read it into the ground until about now-ish (I often wonder how the Scooby Gang would have handled COVID - can we get a one-shot, somebody? Anybody?)
Season 11 starts off with a tsunami caused by a dragon. This leads the people of America to become frightened and angered by all magical beings. Hate crimes against Wiccans and demons surge. Some beings, like Giles and Dawn, are forced to get fake IDs that label them as not being magical so they can "pass" in society. The American Government, empowered by an army of corrupt Slayers they have employed, send the rest of the magical beings to concentration camps for "their own safety." Buffy refuses to watch this unfold without acting on it, and when Spike and Willow are detained, she decides to go with them in order to try to fix things.
The storyline draws not-so-subtle parallels between the current state of America - migrant detention camps that violate human rights and basic decency, identity politics, institutional racism and state-sanctioned violence justified by the media, people who betray and exploit their own people for power, government corruption that calls us back to the Era of Adam and also two weeks ago in real-life time. Joss really said "hold up, I'm done making implicit political statements - we getting explicit in this bitch (in multiple ways)." The only thing that I felt was really missing was waves of protests from allies - I feel like even in this fictional world of magical being-racism, there would still be people who stood up for the right thing. It would have been nice to have seen that throughout the plot and to see Slayers who were doing the right thing. It didn't make much sense to have everything go back to the way it was at the end with magical beings going into hiding again. Hopefully Season 12 will wrap this up and tie up some loose ends.
At first it felt a little too in-your-face, but I liked it more and more as time went on and the Xander-Trump bit is really what pulled it all together and would not have been possible without the blatant references. Also, when you have two degrees in social work and your favorite series is addressing topics like this head-on: YOU LOVE TO SEE IT. That Xander-Trump bit was EXCELLENT and had me wheezing. Xander's superior comic relief always deserves to be pointed out in reviews, but I felt it was especially timely with all that's currently going on. It was also likely timely at the...time it was actually written, which was right after Trump was elected in 2016, but reading it right now after the election kind of sweetened the deal. I did feel the whole "government is the Big Bad" routine is getting a bit repetitive, with it being an on-going theme throughout the comic series in addition to Season 4 of the show. But, I can never complain when I get more Buffy. Whedon could hand me a drawing of Buffy on a used tissue and I would clutch it to my chest and say "I love it forever and will cherish it as my most prized possession."
Now, unfortunately, this Library Edition has no special features. It's just the story. No cover gallery at the end, no art process pieces, nothing. That did feel super weird to me, usually buying the limited edition hardcover will get you some limited edition material, but I guess not.
Overall, Season 10 was a hard one to top, as it was my favorite season in a long time (other than the gross Xander/Dawn stuff that I guess I just have to live with now), but I feel like Season 11 did a pretty good job measuring up.
Season 11 starts off with a tsunami caused by a dragon. This leads the people of America to become frightened and angered by all magical beings. Hate crimes against Wiccans and demons surge. Some beings, like Giles and Dawn, are forced to get fake IDs that label them as not being magical so they can "pass" in society. The American Government, empowered by an army of corrupt Slayers they have employed, send the rest of the magical beings to concentration camps for "their own safety." Buffy refuses to watch this unfold without acting on it, and when Spike and Willow are detained, she decides to go with them in order to try to fix things.
The storyline draws not-so-subtle parallels between the current state of America - migrant detention camps that violate human rights and basic decency, identity politics, institutional racism and state-sanctioned violence justified by the media, people who betray and exploit their own people for power, government corruption that calls us back to the Era of Adam and also two weeks ago in real-life time. Joss really said "hold up, I'm done making implicit political statements - we getting explicit in this bitch (in multiple ways)." The only thing that I felt was really missing was waves of protests from allies - I feel like even in this fictional world of magical being-racism, there would still be people who stood up for the right thing. It would have been nice to have seen that throughout the plot and to see Slayers who were doing the right thing. It didn't make much sense to have everything go back to the way it was at the end with magical beings going into hiding again. Hopefully Season 12 will wrap this up and tie up some loose ends.
At first it felt a little too in-your-face, but I liked it more and more as time went on and the Xander-Trump bit is really what pulled it all together and would not have been possible without the blatant references. Also, when you have two degrees in social work and your favorite series is addressing topics like this head-on: YOU LOVE TO SEE IT. That Xander-Trump bit was EXCELLENT and had me wheezing. Xander's superior comic relief always deserves to be pointed out in reviews, but I felt it was especially timely with all that's currently going on. It was also likely timely at the...time it was actually written, which was right after Trump was elected in 2016, but reading it right now after the election kind of sweetened the deal. I did feel the whole "government is the Big Bad" routine is getting a bit repetitive, with it being an on-going theme throughout the comic series in addition to Season 4 of the show. But, I can never complain when I get more Buffy. Whedon could hand me a drawing of Buffy on a used tissue and I would clutch it to my chest and say "I love it forever and will cherish it as my most prized possession."
Now, unfortunately, this Library Edition has no special features. It's just the story. No cover gallery at the end, no art process pieces, nothing. That did feel super weird to me, usually buying the limited edition hardcover will get you some limited edition material, but I guess not.
Overall, Season 10 was a hard one to top, as it was my favorite season in a long time (other than the gross Xander/Dawn stuff that I guess I just have to live with now), but I feel like Season 11 did a pretty good job measuring up.
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