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A review by dr_matthew_lloyd
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Predators and Prey by Doug Petrie, Steven S. DeKnight, Drew Z. Greenberg, Jane Espenson, Joss Whedon, Jim Krueger
3.0
I read Predators and Prey as part of my post-Buffy rewatch re-read of Season 8, which will probably turn into a pre-Season 9 re-read too. Reviews of previous Season 8 volumes:
The Long Way Home
No Future for You
Wolves at the Gate
Time of Your Life
We're just post-mid-season in Season 8 of Buffy and that means a series of monster-of-the-week episodes to do some character development and only slightly move on the main plot of the show. Predators and Prey collects a series of one-shot stories, which introduce a few new themes, tie up some others, and hint at the changes taking place in the wider world. I recalled it being pretty poor, but it's not that bad - the biggest problem is that most of these storylines could have done with more time, breathing and developing space. "Harmonic Divergence" perhaps needed just a little more background, as it should be the effect rather than the cause of the pro-vampire anti-slayer mentality proposed by Season 8 - admittedly, bringing it into the mainstream. "Safe" is probably the best of the stories, introduced perfectly well by "No Future for You" and self-contained in answering the question "so what have Faith and Giles been up to?"
"Swell" has a number of problems for me. Like "Wolves at the Gate" it plays on Japanese stereotypes in a way with which I'm not entirely comfortable. Satsu and Kennedy (both of whom are very good and get a bit more development than they've previously been allowed) refer to one another as "the other gay slayer", as if out of 18,000 women only two of them are gay. This prompts further difficulties when we look at the massed slayer armies: how many of them are people of colour? not American? You could perhaps get away with "don't speak English" because we're based with an English sect, but Faith and Giles are in Europe (Germany, perhaps? But really the generic "Europe" which exists in the minds of people who haven't been there) and seem to come across another Californian slayer - every major slayer (Buffy, Faith, Kennedy) and quite a few of the minor ones are American. Which bothers me. Where's the diversity?
The title story certainly could have used more breathing space to develop Simone as an antagonist beyond the limited background references which we've had throughout the season so far. It's clear that here, once again, we have the vicious circle of public oppinion turning and Simone's group - who would be doing this anyway - taking advantage of the fact that people hate slayers now to turn this into a slayers-verses-others conflict. But perhaps a little more background on her time with Andrew? Perhaps a little more time to show how hard Andrew was trying to do good and how far Buffy and co. had come to accept him? And a few less pages of just him talking and talking while he a Buffy travelled, a joke pretty much covered by his roadtrip with Spike in "Empty Places"?
"Living Doll", the conclusion to the Dawn storyline which has trundled along throughout the series, is either the sweetest or the most disappointing. I haven't decided yet. On the one hand, I like all the elements: finally meeting Kenny; the dollmaker and his creepy (but loveable) puppets (and while we're on the topic, blimey a lot of people get turned into puppets in this world); the resolution and reconcilliation. But much of the emotional impact feels a little stunted: we've been waiting since "Anywhere But Here" for the big reveal to Buffy and apology about what Dawn did, and she's been mostly sidelined since then. She didn't get to do much cool stuff as a centaur. And did this punishment really fit the crime? Kenny seems quite nice in the end and I'm sure we can understand what Dawn saw in him, but if this is one of very few presentations of decent demon folks we get it's not much. Dawn's reconcilliations with Kenny and Buffy get barely two pages each. It feels like Dawn is just getting shunted aside, again, so that we can move into the big finale. But this could have been an interesting development for the character and its a shame she doesn't get much of that.
Reviews of subsequent volumes:
Retreat
Twilight
Last Gleaming
The Long Way Home
No Future for You
Wolves at the Gate
Time of Your Life
We're just post-mid-season in Season 8 of Buffy and that means a series of monster-of-the-week episodes to do some character development and only slightly move on the main plot of the show. Predators and Prey collects a series of one-shot stories, which introduce a few new themes, tie up some others, and hint at the changes taking place in the wider world. I recalled it being pretty poor, but it's not that bad - the biggest problem is that most of these storylines could have done with more time, breathing and developing space. "Harmonic Divergence" perhaps needed just a little more background, as it should be the effect rather than the cause of the pro-vampire anti-slayer mentality proposed by Season 8 - admittedly, bringing it into the mainstream. "Safe" is probably the best of the stories, introduced perfectly well by "No Future for You" and self-contained in answering the question "so what have Faith and Giles been up to?"
"Swell" has a number of problems for me. Like "Wolves at the Gate" it plays on Japanese stereotypes in a way with which I'm not entirely comfortable. Satsu and Kennedy (both of whom are very good and get a bit more development than they've previously been allowed) refer to one another as "the other gay slayer", as if out of 18,000 women only two of them are gay. This prompts further difficulties when we look at the massed slayer armies: how many of them are people of colour? not American? You could perhaps get away with "don't speak English" because we're based with an English sect, but Faith and Giles are in Europe (Germany, perhaps? But really the generic "Europe" which exists in the minds of people who haven't been there) and seem to come across another Californian slayer - every major slayer (Buffy, Faith, Kennedy) and quite a few of the minor ones are American. Which bothers me. Where's the diversity?
The title story certainly could have used more breathing space to develop Simone as an antagonist beyond the limited background references which we've had throughout the season so far. It's clear that here, once again, we have the vicious circle of public oppinion turning and Simone's group - who would be doing this anyway - taking advantage of the fact that people hate slayers now to turn this into a slayers-verses-others conflict. But perhaps a little more background on her time with Andrew? Perhaps a little more time to show how hard Andrew was trying to do good and how far Buffy and co. had come to accept him? And a few less pages of just him talking and talking while he a Buffy travelled, a joke pretty much covered by his roadtrip with Spike in "Empty Places"?
"Living Doll", the conclusion to the Dawn storyline which has trundled along throughout the series, is either the sweetest or the most disappointing. I haven't decided yet. On the one hand, I like all the elements: finally meeting Kenny; the dollmaker and his creepy (but loveable) puppets (and while we're on the topic, blimey a lot of people get turned into puppets in this world); the resolution and reconcilliation. But much of the emotional impact feels a little stunted: we've been waiting since "Anywhere But Here" for the big reveal to Buffy and apology about what Dawn did, and she's been mostly sidelined since then. She didn't get to do much cool stuff as a centaur. And did this punishment really fit the crime? Kenny seems quite nice in the end and I'm sure we can understand what Dawn saw in him, but if this is one of very few presentations of decent demon folks we get it's not much. Dawn's reconcilliations with Kenny and Buffy get barely two pages each. It feels like Dawn is just getting shunted aside, again, so that we can move into the big finale. But this could have been an interesting development for the character and its a shame she doesn't get much of that.
Reviews of subsequent volumes:
Retreat
Twilight
Last Gleaming