My Thoughts: **this is full of spoilers this issue is out so I'm not going to mark them**
I really liked this issue. I suppose its no surprise, Angel got alot of great stuff here and it was a good issue for him so it should come as no surprise that I would enjoy seeing that play out. I'd say that this is some of the best Angel writing we've had for the character since A&F s9 and it reminds me about how good a job Christos did with him in that run. I think we got a small snippet of that here. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I thought the fight dialogue with Fray and Buffy was kinda funny. I'm also not a big fan of the "future talk." I was annoyed with it in Fray and in ToYL and it always throws me off but it's a thing I get it and fine. My favorite line is Buffy's: "Listen 5th Element Barbie, I don't want to be in your dystopian Y.A. novel of a world!" That rings true to me in terms of Buffy-esque dialogue and it made me giggle. I also enjoyed the hard cut from "you don't wanna know what nastiness my friends could do to her (Erin) to Erin making eyes at Spike and Angel. Anyway it looks like Erin's trying to talk Spike up here:
I really liked the reveal of Harmony still being around in Fray's future. And the reactions from the gang are funny. Spike's "Ocean's rise. Empires fall. But narcissists are eternal." I feel like Joss scribbled that down somewhere. It was funny. Do I wish someone else was giving us the full story of what happened to anyone and everyone we care about in the future? Probably but I think it's kinda comic appropriate that Harmony of all people is the one telling the story. It has a very Andrew / Storyteller vibe to it. Added points because she has a GIANT NAKED MURAL OF HERSELF and it's just too funny.
I find the prospect of Buffy going off to a hell dimension in the end of this story incredibly depressing. I know they have to subvert this. Something will change or so I hope but Buffy living out her final days in hell fighting demons feels incredibly cruel and unfair. Even if Angel and Spike do join her to the end. I'm incredibly intrigued about the Slayers losing their memories and powers bit. I really don't like this concept that Faith is among those slayers that lost powers while Buffy kept hers. It makes no sense given that Faith should be the primary slayer. But then again in s11 when Buffy took away all slayer powers Faith was affected (when once again that doesn't make sense). Maybe I just feel like Faith shouldn't be cast aside like this. I hope that Harmony is just an unreliable narrator and Faith plays a bigger role than just fading away with no memories of being a slayer.
I think the socio-political theme of the season is laid out where Harmony tells Buffy and Willow that their empowering of the group of woman and making them think they were special was what allowed the opposing faction to coalesce behind evil people (Demons/Vampires). This all smells very much like the trump movement. I'm interested to see where they go with this. What type of social commentary they will make on this entire ordeal. I'm glad that this commentary seems like it's slightly more embedded into the story rather than taking front and center on the final season of Buffy.
I liked Willow's story. That was heart breaking. I had assumed that Willow would have come up with the plan to save the world on her own, which would have added to the guilt. Still, this is good.
I like Willow's story here as well. It is incredibly sad that this burden of sending Buffy to hell and seeing all of her loved one's died has driven her to this state of despair. But I think it's a noble cause of Willow to be what amounts to the guardian of this world for such a long time. I wonder how you feel
@WillowFromBuffy about this idea that Willow doesn't really get a HEA? Of course, the future may change but if it holds true what do you think about that?
In any case, after Harmony tells her tale, Buffy basically relents and says well if she has to go to hell so be it. That's the only way to save the world etc. And Angel says you know what - NO. Not Today Satan!
And OK I love this. And yes OK he has not spent 200 years chasing prophesies maybe more like 15 years (plus hell time?) but the sentiment is there. And this is what I've been wanting to see from Angel since freaking A&F s9. I finally recognize this guy. He is done being a puppet to The Powers, Shanshu prophesies, Wolfram and Hart visions, and now this inevitable future. And it's about damn time he came around full circle like this. I don't see this as being inconsistent with the "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do." Because what Angel is saying is that even if there is something that is presented as inevitable we can either sit idly by and do nothing and wait for it to come to pass as people say it will or we can pick up our sword, fight it out and maybe we make a small difference or maybe we don't. But he has to do so something. He has to do something to save the people he loves.
That's right -
people. As in -
Buffy. Really did you have any doubts? I know I didn't.
🙂 What was a wonderful surprise to me is Buffy being moved by Angel's speech:
It's a heartfelt reaction. It's not like she is going to run to him like some trashy romance novel and they are going to run off together and live happily ever after forever. But this is a nice tender moment between them. It felt genuine and I really enjoyed it.
Speaking of trashy romance novels Illyria (who is basically Anya now...) running up to Angel and calling him my warrior. Dear God what has happened to this God King badass. Like
@Carrie Hopewell said if Wesley could see her now... heck if AtS s5 Illyria could see her now I feel like she'd be like:
I want to say something else here and in doing so I'm going to brake a cardinal sin and reference Twilight. (Yes I know as an Angel fan how could I do this?) But Twilight is comic canon (whatever comic canon might be... to me it's murky at best). Despite the fact that the Twilight arc is total crap and entirely inconsistent with Angel's character, I think one message it sends which I tend to agree with is that Angel, in BtVS and early AtS, had a tendency to believe prophesies and destiny and The Powers' plans (I would argue that some of that was resolved in Epiphany and in AtF but anyway...) Angel had good reason to trust the Powers and calls to destiny at first, because they brought him to Buffy and Buffy gave him a purpose and a mission and a reason to exist. But Buffy offers an alternative solution, and that is - that she makes her own way, and her own destiny. Her story is that of defying prophecy and destiny and the inevitable. And Buffy kinda gives Angel this speech in Amends, this - so what? Some great evil took credit for you and you just fold? No. You have the power to do good. So,
to the extent that comics is a retelling of this lesson, I'm OK with that concept. And the reason it makes me think of the Twilight arc is because Angel (and Whistler and Twilight) are saying that this is Buffy and Angel's destiny. Buffy says - nope. We stay and we fight. Angel agrees and they leave the new world to fight for the old one together. And here again, in the Reckoning, we have a story about something that is inevitable and Angel has basically learned from Buffy that the are going to find a way out of the inevitable. They are going to find another way. I just feel like Angel really has learned from Buffy and that's how he got here so I appreciate that.
I actually liked some of the art actually. I thought Harmony looked great. I thought for the most part Angel looked very handsome. Buffy was a bit inconsistently drawn but at times she looked pretty good. I like the fighting, I think Jeanty does well with those. Other gripes I have are why is Fred not here yet? I wasn't sure how I felt about the Fray and Gunther goodbye. He was kinda gross in her comic and so I'm just a little confused about why I'm supposed to think they had a bond? He was looking up her dress so I hope they aren't going for the father bond thing right? Anyway it wasn't necessary. I wish Faith and Mel had interacted more. And I wanted to see Mel react to this idea of Vampires working for the side of good and having souls. But I guess we just don't really have time.
