That Old Gang Of Mine

[white avenger]

Has anyone else noticed that the Scoobies as a team don't seem to exist in Season 8? Willow only seems to flit in when she's need or wants something, Xander is pretty much the stay at home guy who directs the action from the computer monitor room, and Giles, as we learned from the Faith arc, is no longer in the good graces of either Buffy or the new Council. Buffy's new crew seems to consist of Satsu and a couple of other new Slayers.

[Joyce Summers]

I have been thinking that myself. And it makes me nostalgic for the old days of seasons 1-3. When they really were a gang (you know, who just happened to save the world on a regular basis. Everyone has to have a hobby right?)
But yeah, everyone seems incredibly split up and it's a real shame. I mean the only person from the people of yesteryear that Buffy seems still in anyway close to is Xander. But I really miss the Giles and Buffy bond. We need some of that Father/Daughter love. His tough love or just plain softie love seemed to always calm Buffy, soften her up when she needed to stop being the strong one for a moment and I feel like this is missing. I hate that they ended up on the outs again after their reconcilliation in Chosen. :(
And Willow does seem to be Little Miss Out of the Loopy. She just randomly tunes in at times and it's all....iffy. I miss the closeness the gang had and how they worked together in a tight-knit fashion. It was one of the key features of the series and I want, nay I demand, it back. :D

[white avenger]

The issues between Buffy and Giles from Season 7 obviously never were settled, and I'm not so sure about the others, either. It makes the fact that she still seems to interact with Xander seem somehow inconsistent. Then again, maybe he used his "I love you, Dark Willow," charm to return to her good graces. Then again, maybe her only other choice for someone to help with the new Slayers was Andrew, in which case...

[RogueHunter]

Friends come and go, no matter how close you are, times change and there will always be a golden age you had but its fleeting and can never be truly recaptured.
But at least you had it once...

[Allycat]

Everyone goes through periods in which they form closer and less closely knit groups of friends. In the first few seasons it was Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cordy, Oz, Giles, and Angel. And later you had Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Anya, Tara, and Spike. Only three people remained... unless you count everyone's memories of Dawn, but even then she wasn't part of the "gang" in the fake memories really during the early years. Now you have just Buffy and Xander left, with weaker ties to Willow and Dawn, but with strong ties individually with Satsu and Renee respectively. Looking at the variant covers for WatG though, I think this might be the arc to reconnect them all.

[sosa lola]

The issues between Buffy and Giles from Season 7 obviously never were settled, and I'm not so sure about the others, either. It makes the fact that she still seems to interact with Xander seem somehow inconsistent. Then again, maybe he used his "I love you, Dark Willow," charm to return to her good graces. Then again, maybe her only other choice for someone to help with the new Slayers was Andrew, in which case...

Actually if you watch the last two episodes of S7, Buffy's friendship with Xander hadn't seemed to suffer at all. They had a nice talk in the kitchen, she trusted no one with Dawn but him, when they were walking to their positions in school she held Xander's hand and they stared at each other with trust before they parted.

I've always known that after Chosen Buffy would still be close with Xander, but not so much with Giles and Willow. S8 proves I was right about that. Yay! :coolman:

[NightBird]

I think that Willow is little miss out of the loop because she want's to protect Kennedy and not lose another lover to the dangers of being at slayer HQ.

I really hope that Giles and Buffy work things out, not that Giles and Faith being all pally is going to help things.

I think that Xander and Buffy are still close because Xander has always been honest with the gang (apart from the kick his ass lie) about his feelings towards things, Buffy has to respect that and as this is the way their relationship has always been the events of season 7 wouldn't have changed things, it was just business as usual.