Summaries
Summaries for each issue of the Season Eight series. Please realize that there will
be spoilers! Seriously, they're summaries - spoilers abound, totally unmarked.
Read at your own risk.The Long Way Home, Pt II
Somewhere in Europe, Giles, reflecting on how the balance of the Slayer-to-Watcher ratio
has changed a bit lately, speaks to his group of Slayers, whom he has fighting one
another in the street. He commends them on their fighting ability, then chastises them
for fighting individually, instead of together. Back in Scotland, Buffy does the same
with her group of Slayers, explaining that individually, they're strong, but together,
even more so. In Italy, Andrew is giving his Slayers a similar lecture, though a bit
sidetracked by mentions of Star Wars, on the importance of using medeival weaponry. And
headbutts.In Scotland (while she bathes in a pond), Xander and Dawn discuss her relationship with Buffy. Dawn alludes to feeling ignored by Buffy now that she has so many Slayers to work and be "sisterly" with, and Xander suggests that Dawn might have gotten involved with the Thrisewise to get Buffy's attention, which Dawn responds to by drenching him with pond water.
In the super-secret military headquarters, the General and another man discuss the wisdom of using Amy and her boyfiend to take on Buffy. The man believes it is their best course of action, and the General reluctantly agrees. They part ways, and, in his office, the General thinks that that man has no idea what's really at stake. He takes off his shirt to reveal a scar in the same shape as the symbol that Buffy found on her dead hostages in Issue 1.
Back at HQ, Buffy and Xander discuss Dawn, and Xander explains his theory on Dawn's abandonment issues. Buffy avoids the conversation, and asks Xander if he is "coming to bed" with her. She proceeds to kiss him so hard that his head falls off, though he still talks. Buffy is then sucked out her bedroom window, to the dark, even though she says she is afraid of the dark - herself - and into the claws of a giant monster, who roasts her with its fire-breath. In her bedroom, Amy is standing over the sleeping (and dreaming, obviously) Buffy with a knife, about to stab her, when a crossbow-wielding Xander and a group of Slayers break in and stop her. Amy stabs Buffy, but her dagger breaks when it impacts that magical barrier that protects Buffy while she sleeps. Though Buffy isn't dead, Amy tells them that she will continue to sleep and dream a horrible nightmare, until she is awakened by a "kiss of true love" by someone passionately devoted to her (friendly and sisterly love excluded).
In her dream, Buffy is curled up in pain, begging for it to stop, when a figure in a black duster and red shirt approaches her, calling her "my love" and saying that he has something to show her.
In the real world, while a Slayer named Renee argues with another Slayer about her feelings for Xander, the castle is attacked by zombie-like demons, apparently under the control of Amy. Amy looks out a castle window and muses that all her time underground did nothing but make her stronger, and that even with trained Slayers all around her, there's no one that can take her on. Then, right behind her, floating a bunch of feet about the ground, Willow appears and says "I'd like to test that theory."