Buffy Season 8 Recap - No Future For You - Part 1 + 2

We begin with Faith reminiscing on her childhood, her mother used to read her Dr Seuss on the nights she was sober. "Oh the places you’ll go" she laughs, never did she think she’d end up in Cleveland, well he was correct about “being alone” she considers. Faith is revealed to be sat on a tall statue alone smoking when she gets a phone call, she looks at it and it is Robin, the Principal from Season Seven. It is made clear that they dated after Season Seven but have since broken up, he asks if she can do a job, she jokes that the “noob” slayers cant deal with it. Robin reveals that they have the vampires under control but some of the vampires are children and the Slayers cant kill them. Faith has been called in to face a darkness that others Slayers can’t. We see Faith take out the children vampires then return home alone.






She sits alone in her apartment clearly shaken by her experience earlier, she hits the wall and smashes a hole into it where we see many other holes where she has released her anger before. “Bad day?” a voice asks her, she looks up and we see that Giles is there. Faith tells him to skip the “Friendly Uncle routine”, they both know that she is the girl they come to when there is a dirty deed to be done. Giles tells her that he knows she has been trying to leave the country and he promises that once this mission is over she will be given a fake passport to take her to wherever she would like to go where she can retire from the Slayer job. “What do you need me to kill?”. He explains that this is not an ordinary mission, she laughs and points out that it never is, she asks what the demon is, “It’s a Slayer” he tells her. With nearly Two Thousand Slayers there was bound to be one who used her new powers for evil, Giles point out that usually he would opt for rehabilitation but sources tell him that if she isn’t stopped she will bring about “The end of the world?” Faith asks. Giles tell her that this is no joke, he is asking her to take the life of another human, she acts as if that isn’t a problem “who is she?” Faith asks. We then move from Faith’s bleak apartment at night to a well dressed woman riding a horse in England during a sunny day.

Her tutor who is also on a horse tells her that this foxhunt is a part of her studies and important training. Her tutor is named Roden, and she is called Lady Genevieve.
Suddenly she stops, she can sense the fox is nearby, she jumps from the horse and Roden tells her to be quick. Genevieve looks at the prey in front of her “not very foxy”. There cowers a girl, she calls the two chasing her crazy and stupid because this time they have picked the wrong girl and she kicks Genevieve leaving a muddy footprint. “Filthy commoner!” Genevieve then backhands her across the face breaking her neck instantly, she seems shocked at her power, “you told me she would be as strong as me!” Genevieve shouts at her tutor who we see is holding a book with the Twilight symbol on, he tells her that the 'fox' was also a Slayer, which makes it even more impressive.

Faith asks why they have not gone to England yet and Giles explains that this Slayer is one of the most protected Heiresses in England, to get close enough to kill her Faith will have some training to do including etiquette and diction, she will have to blend with the wealthy crowd . Giles leans in to touch her on the arm and she has a flashback to killing one of the vampire children who also managed to grab her on the arm before she killed it, and she snaps “Don’t touch me!” she picks up one of the forks in front of her and plunges it into Giles’ arm. Giles explains that he is fine and they have a discussion about rebellion and the similarity between Giles’ young adulthood and Faith’s. “You and I aren’t so unalike”. Faith looks ashamed at her outburst and the fact that she hurt Giles and attempts to get back into the training. Giles gives her reassurance that he is fine and that she is improving in this unique training.






Buffy interrupts Xander training late at night. She asks why he is training so late and he tells her that he will be training with Renee the next day and he wants to make sure he can impress her with his skills. Buffy raises her eyebrow, questioning his actions and relationship between Xander and Renee. As he begins explaining himself to her he realises that she is distracted, she is sat looking out the window. He asks if she is okay and she explains her worries about The General and this concept of Twilight, she ponders if and how they are connected. Xander tells her that Giles hasn’t replied yet and he has been out of communication for months. Buffy then tells Xander about a recurring nightmare, this “thing” chases her and she can never outrun it, before it swallows her whole it tells her “the queen is dead, long live the queen”.


Giles is talking to Faith who is out of the panel, he keeps asking questions to her that she doesn’t know the answer to “I have no sodding idea!” Giles smiles, at least the accent is more accurate. She walks down the stairs in a green ball gown, her hair tied up and she asks Giles how she looks. He takes off his glasses in amazement “Five by Five”.















Part 2:

"This is friendship" Faith tells us, we see her reflection in the dagger that Buffy stabbed her with years earlier. We then see the fight between Buffy and Faith in Season 3 finale. As we see them strike each other Faith explains every friendship she has ever had in her inner monologue, you meet, you connect, then it all goes to crap. They hurt you, you hurt them, you forgive each other. Even though you forgive each other, it will never be the same though she thinks, “you woulda been better off flying solo” her inner monologue tells us in the same panel as we see the flashback to when Buffy plunged the knife into Faith’s gut before falling from the rooftop.





We see that Faith is now ready to enter the party, she is still in her green dress with her hair tied up nicely. Giles is communicating with her via an earpiece, sorry she says “too many voices in my head as it is” and she takes the earpiece out and crushes it. When she is asked for her invitation Faith acts like a spoilt wealthy young woman and the bouncer says that she must be one of them and lets her in. We see that she is concealing a dagger in her hair disguised as an item that is holding her hair up. Faith gets in line to give Lady Genevieve her gift, her inner monologue showing that she is trying to talk herself into this, trying to give herself comfort that even though she is human she needs to die. Roden is seen watching from a dark corner, he doesn’t trust Faith and tells his gargoyle minions that if she gives them any reason to distrust her they should kill her.

Dawn is finally getting her chance to talk to Willow, Willow tells her that Dawn needs to her what happened or she can’t turn her back to normal size. She needs to know how it came about or she cant reverse the magic used. Willow asks if it was because she had sex with “Kenny the thricewise”, Dawn asks why everyone thinks its that, Kenny was the only guy on campus who treated her with kindness and didn’t want to just have sex with her. “The truth is..” Dawn starts, but they are interrupted by Renee who tells Willow that Buffy needs help with the new security systems. Willow wonders aloud what will happen when or if The General and his soldiers attack, "all's fair in love and war" Dawn tells her.

We see that Faith didn’t go through with the attack just yet, she is standing alone on a balcony smoking. Her inner monologue reveals that Faith is trying to put off her mission for as long as possible as she contemplates smoking the whole pack to steady her nerves before she kills Genevieve. A voice asks if she can borrow a cigarette, she turns and there stands Genevieve. She explains that she had to leave the party for a bit, and they bond over their cigarettes as they realise they have the same taste in music and have similar parents (an invisible dad and a drunk mother). “Are we sisters?” Genevieve suggests jokingly. “Maybe in another life” Faith says as she takes out one of the daggers before being grabbed by one of Roden’s gargoyles. Faith is taken into the sky, she thrusts her head back into the Gargoyle's face and the dagger in her hair hits it in the eye, it drops her but she is caught by the other gargoyle who she quickly climbs onto the back of and blinds it using her hands, they both hurtle towards earth and Faith is seen surrounded by dust and rubble. The other gargoyle flies towards her and she avoids it leaving the other gargoyle a pile of rock and dust too but then collapses.








Faith awakens to hear Roden urging Genevieve to kill her. Genevieve comes to support Faith, she is unlike anyone she has ever met and she could use Faith on her side. They notice that Faith is now awake and Genevieve seems excited, she begins to tell Faith that she comes from a long line of very important, powerful people. Faith laughs thinking she is referring to their wealthy backgrounds, but Genevieve tells her that she is a “Slayer” and there is a society of them. All they have to do is take down the Queen and they can become the leaders, “Elizabeth?” Faith asks, thinking she means the Queen of England. “No, not Elizabeth” and Genevieve steps back to reveal a wall of pictures of Buffy with knives inserted into them and Twilight symbols drawn on them.



Questions left open by this issue:
What does Lady Genevieve and Roden have to do with 'Twilight'?