Discussion of 8.18 "Time of Your Life Part 3" - Released 03/09/08 (Dark Horse)

It's the one with the eye-popping, Dawn as Centaur, cover.

A powerful enemy from Buffy's past confronts the Slayer and Fray in the future, having allied with Fray's greatest foe. Meanwhile, Dawn's gone through another bizarre change.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #18: Time of Your Life :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics

I just finished reading the Buffy one, it was really interesting. Buffy had really changed since Sunnydale, she became more like Giles, seeing the big picture. Fray is more like Sunnydale!Buffy. I really loved the Buffy-Fray stuff, they'd make interesting meta.

The Willow stuff are also interesting. Right now I feel so bad for poor Kennedy.

More mysteries, eh?

This is starting to remind me of Lost. You're ready for some resolutions, and all you get are more mysteries. I'll call this one my least favorite issue, of my favorite (so far) arc. It's still all about the setup. Oh well, next issue's the finale. We'll hopefully discover some stuff then.

Some good quips though.

I agree with you N4H, that this arc is really mystery-upon-mystery. It's interesting, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to resolve it to satisfactory.

nerd4hire said:

Then again, no offense, but you're not Joss Whedon. I have faith.

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Lol, obviously not, that's probably why I can't see the solution yet 😉

Still, I do have faith, just not 100%, more like 99.5%. Which is more than I have with most other writers, but this is Joss Whedon, you expect it to be in the 99.8-100% range 😉 Anyway, I have the tiniest bit more faith about Brian doing the finale of After the Fall well.

Back to the topic of this issue:

Michelle Trachtenberg: not unatractive. Centaurs: don't have any particular feelings about them. Combined: zOMG!!!!1!11!!1!one!

I liked the issue, but I agree, there are too many questions floating about.

I liked the interaction between Fray and Buffy. The spoiler alert joke made me laugh, lol.

But overall, I'm just confused. Why is Willow there? Where's her magic? she mentions to Fray that the little spell she did was about all she can muster. Was she lying to keep Fray from attacking her? nd what exactly she she show/tell Fray that made Fray shoot Buffy?

*headache*

Me too Lyri, I came up with a theory, that she blames Buffy and indecates her spell was what caused the current events they are trying to solve, as it was Buffy's idea, she must somehow hold her responsible for what happend, and Willow must of been corrupted by this new "regime" Buffy set up,(in Willow's mind) so she is thinking that she paid the price, and is trying to stop it, by altering the past.

This comic was all lead up, which I find a little dissapointing consider I have to wait a month for the next installment...

but just a weird observation I have, I was watching Selfless from season seven, and Willow is in the frat house and all of the sudden she is attacked by the heart eating spider, and she instantly shields herself and her eyes go black, and she acts mean and all "evil" like to the girl she is with. So I thought Willow must really have this instinctual element to survive, almost like a back up for if she is ever in danger. So in the comics Willow really gets into her magics, and it becomes a huge part of her identity, especially since she's tangled up with her master, or her magic advisor, and maybe Willow just becomes evil because she cannot survive without magic, so yea instinctually she has a force that is keeping her alive and maybe this instinct just goes beyond friends, love and family. I know there's no real point to this other than I think I'm just rationalizing that this Evil Willow is not the willow we know and love, and I just don't think that Willow would knowingly allow herself to betray her friends, and I think something more complicated has to be occuring.

Pulse said:

maybe Willow just becomes evil because she cannot survive without magic, so yea instinctually she has a force that is keeping her alive and maybe this instinct just goes beyond friends, love and family. I know there's no real point to this other than I think I'm just rationalizing that this Evil Willow is not the willow we know and love, and I just don't think that Willow would knowingly allow herself to betray her friends, and I think something more complicated has to be occuring.

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I think you might really have something there, Pulse. I haven't read Fray, so I don't know how far in the future it is, but I think I gleaned that it's at least a couple hundred years, according to this crossover. What if Willow's sense of self-preservation never let her die? What if all her magics are now spent keeping her body alive? Willow is also not adverse to sacrificing important things for the big picture - she and Buffy have this in common. If the big picture were to demand that the Slayer line come back to a single Slayer, would Willow hesitate to engineer the destruction of all but one? I just don't know. But we do know that she's the only person in Fray's world with all the answers - she's lived through it all. And at the least, it looks like Buffy's headed for a confrontation with her so maybe we get to find out, too.

I finally received my copy today, and it seems to me that there's gonna be a lot of stuff to try and settle in the concluding issue, unless the writers decide to just leave some questions unanswered.

Am I the only one who's starting to believe that Urkon was really lying about the final battle, and thet the so conveniently introduced Watchers' library is a fake? That 6 limbed monkey certainly could be a demon of some kind.

white avenger said:

I finally received my copy today, and it seems to me that there's gonna be a lot of stuff to try and settle in the concluding issue, unless the writers decide to just leave some questions unanswered.

Am I the only one who's starting to believe that Urkon was really lying about the final battle, and thet the so conveniently introduced Watchers' library is a fake? That 6 limbed monkey certainly could be a demon of some kind.

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I think Urkonn may have embellished the story a bit, but I'm pretty sure the library is real. I'm thinking maybe Buffy even set it up for Mel.

Not much to discuss with this one, not that it wasn't good, just that its all a bit confusing. I was kind of Intrigued by what might be the thing that is "too ridiculous to contemplate" and began to think that if this has something to do with the betrayal then maybe because she now knows, that she'll be able to prevent it or prepare for it because fore warned is fore armed - right? (i'm not sure that really made sense...)

La Luna Unita said:

But we do know that she's the only person in Fray's world with all the answers - she's lived through it all. And at the least, it looks like Buffy's headed for a confrontation with her so maybe we get to find out, too.

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I wonder if Willow's survival has anything to do with the fact that Buffy, the Scoobies, and the Slayers are not mentioned anywhere by name in the watcher journals Buffy's been scouring. At first I thought, well, it's odd but okay. But now? Knowing the kind of magic Willow has - and that Willow is surviving on magic - I wonder if the books might've been changed by Willow.

The only thing that's clear right now is that she's got almost no magic left, and that she has now talked to Fray, and Fray shot Buffy to 'save the world' (and her big sister the cop is in on the plan, whatever it is).

Man... I'm going to have to read this one a couple more times so I can try and understand everything else.

One thing I don't like is trying to follow the English language of Fray's time, its a little confusing. Also was Willow lying when she said she couldn't muster anymore magick then what she did or was she telling the truth, and if she was where did all her power go and how could she survive so long if she didn't have any power, and why did Harth refer to her as someone more powerful than him. Just so many questions and I'm sure the final story that comes out next month won't even truly answer all of them.

I finally got my issue today! Yay! Well this issue doesn't really answer any question, nor moves the story further much either. I can't wait until the big confrontation between Willow and Buffy. If things are meant to change, I wonder how everything is going to be resolved. What if Willow looks into the future when she is trying to bring Buffy back? How will that change things?

Too many questions.

Many have mentioned that they believe Buffy is the big bad, I just feel everyone has a motive. Everyone from Giles, Willow and Buffy and I strongly believe that everyone feels they are doing the right thing but the end results aren't the best thing for the world. What if the scoobies are the big bads and unintentionally create the future that is shown in Fray.

Can't wait until the next issue!

Did anyone ever read the Onslaught x-over from Marvel a few years ago? Turns out Magneto and Professer X's mind merge and form a new villian. I wonder if that is what Twilight will be. Some hodgepodge from what happened at the end of season 4

I got this issue a few days ago. It turns out I pre-ordered it twice so I got both the original and the variant. LOL

Anyway, I thought it was a good issue but certainly not the best in the arc. I wish it would have had more stuff going on. The Buffy/Willow confrontation would have been good if it was two issue long.

I got it a few days ago. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either. It seems like this arc had so much potential, but it's just kinda . . . boring. 🙁

I wonder also if future Willow is gearing up for a confrontation with herself? That seems like a fairly obvious direction for a two hundred year old witch with knowledge of a time ripple to go in. Maybe she's not evil; maybe she's been holding on all this time waiting to share something with our present Slayer and Scoobies?

La Luna Unita said:

I wonder also if future Willow is gearing up for a confrontation with herself? That seems like a fairly obvious direction for a two hundred year old witch with knowledge of a time ripple to go in. Maybe she's not evil; maybe she's been holding on all this time waiting to share something with our present Slayer and Scoobies?

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Really interesting! Hadn't thought of that angle. And yes, who better to know Willow's weaknesses than Willow?

Obviously, after being around a couple of hundred years, Willow is the only surviving Scooby. And so she's gonna know everything about what happened from Buffy's present to her now. So, she's going to know how to stop whatever's going to happen. But is she doing it to save Buffy, or to preserve the "balance" of things? Being a witch, she's very connected to the Earth and she can feel the connections and the balances between everything on the planet. She might have cause to be a natural enforcer of that balance.

So, yes, I can see how future Willow could be waiting for the first Slayer to be called again - that being Fray - so she could use her to go through Buffy and stop her past self from doing something wrong.

Interesting thought. Thanks for bringing that up. And I haven't completely written future Willow off as evil - I'll admit I worried for a sec, at the end of the issue before last - but it's just hard to know. I almost want to think she's just so evil looking as a result of all the magicks she's used to keep herself alive all these years. Hmm. But then she must've known all those years ago that she needed to keep herself alive so she could meet past Buffy... hmmm...