Buffy Season 8 Recap - The Long Way Home - Part 3

Questions answered in this Issue:
Who or what is Amy's boyfriend?











We return to Buffy’s dream rather than the action between Willow and Amy, we see the red shirt, the black coat and the hand extended once again. Buffy’s inner monologue shows that she is surprised he called her “my love” and we turn the page and it is revealed that she is disgusted as much as surprised that he called her “my love” because the man standing before her is Ethan Rayne, Giles’ friend from his Ripper days, the man who worships “chaos” and has caused Buffy inconvenience in the past with magic. He explains that this is not a dream but her ‘dreamspace’, every dream and prophecy she can ever have is here always in her subconscious, he explains that everywhere you look in here contains a part of Buffy. He then rips open a curtain in the darkness and asks if she would like to see one, there stands Buffy in a nurses outfit chained together with a naked Angel and a naked Spike, she quickly closes the curtain. Ethan explains that while he has forced himself into her dreamspace he is here to help her, because he did not cause the spell and people outside need her help.




Willow and Amy are shown battling in the sky high above the castle while down below the Slayers are still trying to kill the zombies. Amy taunts Willow, reminding her that she almost destroyed the world once but now she seems so weak. Willow suddenly stops fighting and explains that Amy wasn’t seeing the big picture, Willow wasn’t fighting Amy she was absorbing her magic so she could reverse her effects and then sends a blast of magic over the battle below turning the zombies into well mannered gentlemen who simply want to dance with the Slayers. Willow states that the zombie army was the priority, Amy’s fight was clearly just to distract Willow from solving the zombie problem, Amy laughs and tells her that the zombies were actually the distraction and sends a blast at Willow who is clearly hit hard by it.


Ethan leads Buffy through her dreamspace, showing multiple images behind her. There we see Angel, Cordelia, Buffy’s graduation day, Dawn, Faith, The Master and even a little image of Joss Whedon. Ethan explains that Amy’s spell has created a connection between Buffy’s dreamspace and Amy’s, they are on their way to Amy’s dreamspace. Ethan lands gracefully onto solid ground and we see Buffy crash into the floor behind him “There is a memory here that we need…”









Willow is falling from the sky when suddenly her eyes turn black and she returns a blast towards Amy. Amy is glad that Willow is finally fighting back properly, when we see Xander talking to someone on a headset “say it with me ‘Fee Fi Fo…”
Dawn then stamps on Amy “F%$#ing Fum!” Dawn finishes. Willow still with black hair and eyes tells Dawn off for swearing then casually asks Dawn why she is a giant as she traps Amy in a mystical cell. Dawn looks sad as she tells her that they need to talk, then she asks if Willow is evil again referring the to dark features, Willow explains that it will fade showing the reader that Willow even seems to have her dark side under control.

Buffy and Ethan are now in Amy’s dreamspace where Buffy observes a rat wheel and realises that it is Amy who has put her under this spell. Ethan tells her to walk around and to see what she can find, they find three large X’s and Buffy wonders if this has something to with porn or perhaps Vin Diesel. Ethan explains that it is more likely to represent roman numerals, he tells her to remember what she saw in Amy’s dreamspace and that “Twilight is falling”. He looks at Buffy and tells her that she is going to need all the help she can get.

Willow, Xander and a group of Slayers overlook Buffy sleeping. Willow holds a sad expression and comments that Buffy looks tired, Xander tells her that it’s been a long year and then asks Willow where she has been. She tells him that they’ll talk later but for now they need to concentrate on this true love spell. Willow turns to the room and tells them all that someone in this room, they may not realise it yet, they may not want other people to know but someone in this room wants to kiss Buffy passionately. She threatens everyone to keep their eyes closed so that the person can do what they need to, the final shot is of Xander before they close their eyes then Buffy awakens having received a kiss from someone who truly loves her. She holds her hands to her lips commenting that she can taste cinnamon then realises Willow is back and gets excited.

Giles meanwhile is at a meeting with a Demon, the same type of Demon Buffy killed in the first issue. It is angry at the death of its kind, Giles point out that they broke protocol which we can only assume means that this demon has a deal in which it stays in hiding. The Demon states that they must have been lured out there, and Giles agrees, Giles thinks that someone engineered the conflict and that person is connected to the symbol. The Demon does not recognise the symbol but points out that it could be a trick by the Slayer, Giles reassures it that while they are enemies and that one day they will have to battle they will choose that day and will not be tricked by a third party. Giles asks if it ever comes by any information on the symbol to contact him, whatever it is connected to is an enemy for both Slayer and the Demon.

Xander visits Renee who is in bed with injuries, she feels guilty for not doing enough knowing that Slayers died in the battle. Xander tells her that when she screws up Buffy will kick her ass, and if Buffy is in a mystical coma like earlier that night Xander has the responsibility to kick her ass, but she did not screw up tonight she did do everything she could and she should heal and return to duty. Xander laughs and asks if he actually sounded quite masculine, she smiles and says that it was kind of butch.

Buffy and Willow stand in front of a mystically caged Amy, Willow says that she is going to run a trace on Amy’s transportation spell and find out where she came from. The conversation quickly loses track and Buffy asks where Willow has been, she says that they’ll talk about it later, Buffy asks if she is still with Kennedy. “She died” Willow tells her, Buffy gasps and holds her hands up to her face in shock. Willow quickly realises how it sounded, she tells Buffy that Kennedy is fine now, it was a temporary death, only lasted a month. “I always tell that wrong” Willow says. Xander enters to see Buffy and Willow hugging and laughing, he wants to know what is so funny when they tell him ‘girl stuff’ he still wants to know, Willow asks him if he has had a slow year. Xander explains that according to his parents the action he is getting right now would make him remaining eye go blind while in the background Buffy remembers something from her dream. “Wait, who kissed me?” she asks realising she doesn’t know, but Willow is distracted as she is about to find out where Amy came from. They see military personnel and Amy’s eyes turn black, Willow realises a second too late that it is a trap and Amy and Willow get pulled through the portal. Leaving Buffy and Xander scrambling to get people who can help them re-open the portal.

Willow is now tied down in an operating room. Amy gloats once more that Willow fell for her trap, and explains that while they are contracted to bring in Buffy she is sure that by kidnapping Willow, Buffy will eventually show up. Willow asks what Amy meant by ‘we’ as it seems like Amy is the only one here, a silhouette walks towards Willow and tells her that while killing Buffy is going to be fun, he is looking forward to his time with Willow and a still skinless Warren walks forward with a saw.

















Questions left open by this issue:
Who kissed Buffy?
What is "Twilight"?

Past Recaps:
Buffy Season 8 Recap - The long way home - Part 1
Buffy Season 8 Recap - The long way home - Part 2