author : Jeph Loeb

Buffy season 8 continues, with episodes #16-#20. In the usual way, we have a four-parter followed by a stand alone episode. The four-parter is a "crossover" tale, as Buffy finds herself 200 years in the future, with Slayer Fray (apparently Fray's story is told in another comics series, but I had never come across her before). Buffy is dismayed to learn that Fray is once again a lone Slayer, and that the bad guys are running rampant. But that's nothing compared to when she meets an old friend. Meanwhile, back in the present, Dawn has transformed into something less gigantic but much weirder, and the Slayer HQ has to fight off a devastating magical attack. The stand-alone episode, by contrast, has Buffy going back in time, if only in a dream, to when things weren't as much simpler as she remembers.

A good addition to the season, with its smart-mouthed dialogue and complex plotting, although I suspect some of the Fray elements were lost on me.