Hey all.
Welcome back to our Q&A sessions with Scott for Buffy Season 9 #13. Everyone is free to submit ONE (1) question at a time.
As before, we're going to limit the Q&A to a total of 30 questions this time. I'm going to collect 15 questions, and then close the session until the answers come back. I'll then reopen the session for new questions, or follow-ups if deemed necessary.
As before, since we only have 30 slots to fill, I'd prefer that questions not be squandered on spoiler-baiting. While I understand that it's hard to resist, I reserve the right to not include those if spoiler-baiting seems to be the only function of the question. An example of a spoiler-baiting question would be "When will Connor show up in A&F and will he and Angel have a long and heavy talk about how Angel could be willing to leave him on a dying world while he and Buffy traipsed off into paradise?"
I'll also be selective about clarification questions. Too often, this has become a fan exercise in demanding answers for things that are meant to be interpreted, and the material is there for that. An example of a topic done to death would be "Does Angel remember ordering the execution of the "spike" guy in "Retreat"? Can he be held accountable for the massacre on the Tibetan mountainside, pitting depowered Slayers against soldiers?" Such questions are better asked in the relevant discussion threads, as they're provocative and discussion-worthy. These Q&As are not meant to be tools to help you prove a point.
As usual, rudeness will not be tolerated. Thank you for your interest, and I look forward to seeing your questions. I'm also accepting questions and questions about questions at wenxina[AT]slayalive.com.
**NOTE: All Buffyverse questions will be accepted, so if you have some ANGEL & FAITH ones, please submit them too.
** NOTE: We ask that when sharing our Q&As elsewhere that you link to us and not copy and paste our work.
1. Wenxina: Hi Scott. Good to continue our tradition with these Q&As. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Can you tell us what the title of the arc following "Billy the Vampire Slayer" will be?
Scott: "Welcome to the Team", in four parts.
2. Bunny Hearts: Hi, Mr. Allie, thanks for taking the time to answer questions. You guys decided to change the narrative format of the comics in Season 9 to more closely follow the TV show-- small story arcs designed to be taken as an "episode"-- and I was wondering how well it seems to be working compared to Season 8, and if you'd continue using it into Season 10?
Scott: Well, the decision to make a change wasn't about the length of the arcs so much as the scope of the stories, the more personal nature of the stories. And we'll continue with that. Season 8 was mostly arcs of four issues followed by single issues, and we've mixed that in with two- and three-issue arcs, which I've liked, and am going to continue in some of my other books. We're going to be doing that sort of thing more in the Mignola books, because of how much I've liked it in the Buffy books when we've done it. So we're happy with it, and I imagine we'll continue next season, although a lot of things might be different next season.
3. Sire: Hi Scott! Thankyou for answering our questions, your devotion to fandom is much appreciated! Just wondering if there's any foresight on Joss himself writing an issue or (fingers crossed) an arc for Season 9? Perhaps the finale?
Sire: No such plans. That poor guy gets busier and busier ...
4. Bamph: Hi Scott, what's the current status of the miniseries situation for Season 9? We have Spike and Willow. The Drusilla miniseries seems to be still up in the air although both Georges Jeanty and Juliet Landau indicated that it was still in the cards recently. But at Comic Con, Joss said that he dropped the news on you at the convention about another miniseries he wants to do. So I was curious if there are any other miniseries in the cards for Season 9 after Spike and Willow?
Scott: Nope, Willow and Spike are the only ones, unless Drusilla comes together. At this rate, I could imagine Drusilla coming together sometime after Season 9 is over, but it would still technically be part of Season 9 ...
5. Stoney: Hi Scott, thanks as always for answering our questions. There has been surprise at how little Xander and Dawn have featured this season and disappointment that now both Willow and Spike are away too (Willow having been out of Buffy's title for a lot longer). Consequently the focus has fallen around new characters interacting with Buffy more (Dowling, Severin, Koh) and even more peripheral original characters (Andrew, Kennedy). There always seems to be general resistance by fans to accept new love interests that are new characters or to have panel time taken up with a story which is pretty focussed on a new character when well loved characters are left out. Is it difficult to balance expectations that the key TV show characters will be focussed on whilst still telling the story that is wanted for Buffy? How restricting is it to the story progression and does it create frustrations? Thank you.
Scott: It is difficult. As fans of the show ourselves, we want the show characters to be in there too, but all sorts of factors go into it. And we know that doing as little as we've done with Xander would get a certain reaction, but it was the right thing for the story—so we don't let the story be restricted by what we think the fans want. We aren't totally blind or uncaring to that, but we follow the story where we think it needs to go. When the season is over, Xander fans will be disappointed that he wasn't on more pages, but I think his story will have added up nicely.
6. SueB: Thanks Scott for chatting! I have a practical in-comic question. Where is Buffy living? She moved out of her apartment and onto the bug ship. She looked like she might be bunking at the security company complex but it's unclear (Issue #13 spoiler: and she apparently turned down the money! and quit the job anyway). Doesn't she have more stuff than a single travel bag? Much has changed but this is BUFFFY and I can't imagine her living out of one suitcase. So, again, where (specifically: the apartment, with Dawn & Xander, a new place, a motel, etc...) is Buffy living? Thank you.
Scott: When she left Spike, she moved back in with Anaheed and Tumble. They hadn't gotten a roommate. She kept that room when she was on base with Kennedy. When you see her again after #13, she's living with Anaheed and Tumble again. I think there's been a time or two when you saw her stuff in boxes. When she was living on the bugship she never fully unpacked, and was effectively living out of a couple boxes or a suitcase, but that was only a few days.
7. Sosa Lola: Hello, Scott! Any chance we'll see a Buffy/Xander/Willow scene in the home strectch?
Scott: Definitely.
8. AndrewCrossett: Are there any plans to get Anaheed and Tumble more involved in the story, or are they only intended as occasional walk-ons?
Scott: A little more, yes. One of them will get a slightly larger role before long.
9. Morphia: Hi Scott. I enjoyed this arc of the Buffy comic. It's my favourite of the three books by a long way at the moment. However, my question is about the Spike book. You've said the Spike book would be more an exploration of the character and less plot driven and that it wouldn't really be connected to the events of season 9. However, since then we've learned that Nash and Pearl are due to turn up in it and that when the mini is over, Spike is to appear in Angel & Faith. Has the story for the mini been changed since you did the Q&A for Buffy 10, or was this (ie. Nash and Pearl as guest characters and Spike going to A&F) part of the plan from the start? If it has been changed, why has that decision been made?
Scott: No, no change there. What happens in the Spike mini isn't that connected to the main events going on in other books, despite Pearl and Nash. You'll see. And where he goes after the mini, well, that's after the mini ... There is a good amount of action in the Spike series, but it really is an exploration of the character primarily. As it's turned out, the Willow series, which I previously said was sort of the opposite ... has become more of the same. That is, we had a very specific, and sort of elaborate genre plot that Willow had to engage in, and while we've managed to tell that, we realized that there was room, and reason, to dig into her a bit more. In a recent interview or Q&A or something, I was asked about the Buffy characters regressing. In many ways, Willow and Spike's minis are about breaking through their own regression.
10. SuzyLee123: Thanks so much for doing this Q&A It has been disscussed previously how Spike leaving has/is affecting his tragectery/the ultimate course of his and Buffy's relationship, however, and I could be wrong I'm not sure that much has been said about how his leaving is currently affecting Buffy, for instance if he hadn't left would the Guarded arc have still occured or was part of what sent her off in the direction of joining DeepScan his leaving since she has less to anchor her to where she was?
Scott: I think that sounds like a What If, and that that sort of thing's up to readers to ponder on their own. I can't give you a definitive answer about what would have happened if the story went in a totally different direction.
11. Paul: Does Billy the Vampire Slayer have a surname? There's already quite a few other Billy's in the Buffyverse plus I'm kind of anal about knowing a character's whole name (I'd also LOVE to know Kennedy's full name if you know it!)
Scott: Lane, although I don't think it comes up in the dialogue.
12. KingofCretins: I'm having a little trouble parsing Buffy's line of thinking at the end of Issue #13, so I wonder if you might just sort of give the DVD commentary version of the scene. One problem I'm confused by is where she's shifting between what she thinks now vs. what she used to think, and whether she's going with doing the Slayer thing one person at a time or saving the whole world at once (I hope for the first) as being the "right way", but also that she seems to think it's wrong to do it for herself (I object on behalf of the of the Power of Self-Respect Sword!). But moreover, I have to wonder and have seen others wonder, too -- why would she have felt wrong at all taking the money she already earned on the job at Deepscan? She still eats, right?
Scott: She hesitates, but she takes the check—she just doesn't take the job.If that's unclear we'll adjust it in the trade. I don't think self-respect is the issue, but she doesn't want to turn the full effort of her Slaying abilities toward profit, toward whoever can afford it. That would be selfish, that's not who she is. Dunno if that fully answers the question.
13. tigerfan: Thanks once again for another Q&A! Always enjoy reading them! I've notice that many are anticipating Xander's storyline, some even saying its one of their most anticipated story going into the end of the season (some even expecting it to be the biggest story of the season), this coming from non-afilliated Xander fans, btw. Were you guys anticipating Xander's story to be so highly regarded and expected to be such a powerful story?
Scott: Sounds like I've successfully oversold the Xander events to come. In answer to the question ... I don't know that that's accurate, that it is the things you say it is. We were expecting people to be frustrated that he was not more front and center, and there's definitely been some of that. I don't know about what you're saying. That was not our expectation, and if it's true, that is great.
14. Maggie: Hi Scott. "Guarded" was an unusual "episode" for BtVS. Usually in an BtVS episode there are multiple threads, but in Guarded the only story that is told is Buffy's adventure working for Deepscan. Was that a deliberate choice? If so, can you say something about why it was made? Thanks!
Scott: Just needed the space—it's part of why Spike got his own miniseries. At one point there would have been a thread of Spike off running around doing something, potentially with Dowling, potentially in another country—potentially much like what's happening in the Spike mini. But it wasn't the right way to do this arc; it was better to give him his own space. So the two reasons why Guarded is as focused as it is is that some other key characters are off doing their own things in miniseries, and that there wasn't room for them here. It's one of the things we're wrestling with in terms of the length of the season. We think it's right to keep it down to two years, so it doesn't roll on for so long like Season 8; but twenty-five 22-page comics are not the same as twenty-two 45-minute episodes. (I'm sure someone is irate right now that I don't know exactly how long an episode of Buffy is.) You can't do as much. So you make choices that affect the presence of the cast. We solved the problem one way this season, by being more focused on Buffy than in other seasons; we might go a different way next season, depending on where the story takes us.
15. Bunny Hearts: It's always seemed odd that Anya's death didn't resonate more with any of the characters, especially Xander. She was a major character for four seasons and her death was so abrupt and meaningless, it feels like it just got glossed over and forgotten by everyone. Is there any chance her presence might be felt a little more in any upcoming stories or is it water under the bridge now?
Scott: Xander still feels it, he's just not talking about it. I hear you. But there are a lot of tragedies these characters could be sitting around grieving over, but I think when it stacks up like that, people deal with it in different ways. I don't think her death was meaningless, although it wasn't treated like a hero moment the way Spike's was.
16. AndrewCrossett: Kennedy and her Slayers work for a company called "Deepscan." That seems like an odd and vaguely sinister name for a private security company. Of course, we all know to be very wary of shady corporations whenever they appear in the Jossverse. Can you tell us any more about Deepscan, or will we find out more later in the season?
Scott:At the risk of minor spoiling, you probably won't see more of them this season. Maybe next, as Kennedy does stay with them, but Buffy has moved on.
17. Vampire in Rug: Hi Scott. Geeky mythology question(s) regarding werewolves. In the Buffy season two episode "Phases", we first learn that Oz is a werewolf. He is being hunted by Cain who wants to skin him for his pelt. Cain uses silver bullets. In the Angel season five episode "Unleashed", we meet Nina. There's a group of rich people who want to eat her. Angel kills Nina's wolf-sire-guy with a silver pen. We learn that the group who wants to eat Nina must keep her alive throughout their feast otherwise she will revert back to human form upon death. This appears to be a contradiction/retcon from earlier when Cain wanted to kill Oz with silver bullets and then take his werewolf pelt. I was rereading the Season 8 "Retreat" arc and we meet Monroe who is helping the Slayers fight against the Twilight forces with his werewolf pack. At one point we see several werewolves dead and naked in human form, apparently riddled with bullets. Can normal bullets be used to kill a werewolf? If so, why would anyone bother with silver if lead will do the trick? Could we assume or fanwank that the Twilight group knew about the local werewolf population and therefore decided to pack silver? How is the werewolf population affected by the breaking of the Seed? I assume that they still transform under a full moon, but now are unable to do rituals to control/repress the wolf?
Scott: First part last—how they're affected by the end of the Seed is to be determined. I know this frustrates some fans, but those sort of questions are answered when we get there. It's the best way to do it. We know the essential logic to the Seed—magic that is drawn upon from other realms, like in a spell or invocation, is cut off; magic that is essential and interior to a person or item still works. So is a werewolf essentially a werewolf, or is it coming from elsewhere? We'd explore that the first time we were dealing with a werewolf post Season 8. In effect, if it serves the current story for Oz to no longer be a werewolf, and we think that's plausible given what we know and what's been said about werewolf mythology, then so it is defined. It was important, when breaking the Seed and setting up Season 9, that there still be vampires, so we worked backwards. We said, How would there still be vampires, and then determined that that's what the breaking of the Seed meant. All this magic stuff is made up, which is why it's important to not spell things out before it's germane to the story; if you do that, then you're stuck, you can't tell the story you want, and you did it for what? The other part of your question: If I recall, we talked about that at the time, and figured that yeah, those guys were pretty in the know metaphysically and they could come prepared and we didn't have to shoehorn some explaino text in there.
18. SueB: Thanks again for answering our questions (even if your Xander answers are giving me the wiggins). Here's my next question: The words “hell dimension” get thrown around a lot, like this new Saarinen. Channeling my inner Fred, do ya'll have a chart or guide as to what makes it a “hell” dimension versus different dimension (like world without shrimp) and is there a scale of “badness” (e.g. Is Quor’toth at the bottom or was Angel someplace worse in S3).
Scott: You know, I think the term "hell dimension" does get thrown around a little freely. It's a term that lived on the show a lot, so we stick with it, but when we talk about the other dimensions, it's all a bit slippery. The thing is, we're cut off from ALL other dimensions. Magical realms, hell dimensions, what have you. And we are always a bit perplexed about the best way to refer to HERE. Earth? I don't feel like differentiating those other places from here by calling here Earth is accurate. So anyway, the answer to your question is ... no chart, no scale, lot of semantics. What I do know is that where we are is cut off from everywhere else, and everywhere else is a complicated and diverse place.
Some of you are rolling your eyes and saying, "That Dark Horse asshole don't know shit." Well, that is my take on metaphysics—even the mystics don't really have all the answers, there is mystery and wonder in all of it, and no chart or scale can ever provide the final answers. It works best, in a genre, the way it works in real life—because I do believe in a lot of wacky shit. It works best when the answers are mysteries, it works best when we learn about existence by pondering it, by exploring it, not by treating it like a math problem. So frustrating though it may be to some who think about it differently, I think it's more engaging and ultimately satisfying for this stuff to have a lot of grey areas.
19. Morphia: Hi again, Scott. In your answer to my previous question about the Spike mini series, you said that it (and the Willow one) will be dealing with the character's regression.
Could you explain further what you mean by that? In Spike's case, I assume you're talking about him still being in love with Buffy, but since I always thought of his ability to love as one of his good qualities (certainly one of the main reasons why the character is so loved by the fans), I'm not sure why him still feeling the same about her is a 'regression'. In fact, it seems to me, that after what happened at the end of Season 8 with Angel, and with the way Buffy's treated Spike so far in Season 9, which harks back to the way she treated him when he didn't have a soul, that it's more her who has regressed.
What is your view on that?
Also, with Spike turning up so late in the day in Season 8, he could have been written as already moved on, yet the decision was made not to do that. What was the reason for that decision? Thank you.
Scott: Sometimes when these "questions" get a bit longer, I read them, then I go back through and look for question marks to make sure I'm answering the parts that really were questions. So: I can only explain it further by saying, It's not about his further regression, but about him dealing in some way with certain behaviors and tendencies that some people has described as a regression in the character. If Spike has regressed, it's not in the fact that he loves Buffy, but how he's dealing with it, although I felt that the scene at the end of #10 when he was saying goodbye, he said somethings that were progress from where he's been in the past. I think he said some new, slightly more confident things about where he was at. But he still has a way to go to really be in a good place about it all. Opinions will vary. I do feel Buffy is dealing with her feelings and her experience less well than some other characters are. I want to see her get to a better place. The last part of your question, not having Spike already have moved on from Buffy ... I can only speak for me and Joss by saying that we don't think that's what's needed.
20. Stoney: Hi Scott, thanks again for taking the time for our questions. How much direction do the artists get for the covers and how do you decide what is going to appear on the two alternatives and how literal, representative or downright cryptic you are going to make them?
Cheers.
Scott: This varies from artist to artist, cover to cover. Sometimes we give Phil, or Steve, or Georges, or anyone, a really tight idea which they stick closely to. Sometimes, tight idea which they go far away from, and sometimes we provide very little guidance and see what they come up with. For Buffy #20, we gave Phil the outline, and said go for it, and we're waiting to see what we get for a sketch. It's really all over the place.
21. Bamph: Thanks for the miniseries answer.
How much of a coincidence is that both Faith and Buffy come up with basically the same lines in the two current arcs of Buffy and Angel & Faith about 'not forgetting about saving a single person over just focusing on trying to save the world'? Actually in these two most recent issues.
A&F # 13
Faith to Angel: And you've gone months without trying to save the world. You're just trying to save one guy. I mean,sure,He's dead but... that's kinda progress, right?
Buffy # 13
Buffy to Kennedy: But you were right. I keep trying to save the world when sometimes I should just save a single person.
Does this have anything to do with the theme of the season?
Scott: It wasn't planned, so kind of a coincidence—nothing the writers specifically talked about. It kind of means different things for Angel than it does Buffy. It's not the theme of the season, but in the wake of Twilight, it's certainly a theme of the season.
22. TimeTravellingBunny: Hi, Scott. My question is about the reasons we have been given so far to justify the idea that the world is in such a bad shape since the breaking of the Seed that magic needs to be restored. Do you think that those reasons that season 9 has given so far are sufficient? IMO, zompires don't seem such a big threat compared to Twilight, hell gods, the Senior Partners and other apocalyptic dangers. Willow and Connor recently listed a few new reasons - a larger number of suicides and "no good books, songs, movies". But if there is such a statistical increase in suicides, why haven't any of the characters mentioned it before, even Willow when she was arguing to Buffy that the world has lost something? When it comes to the books, movies, etc., artistic quality is very subjective, and I don't see what makes Willow qualified to judge (or anyone, really). Besides, it's been less than a year since the Seed was broken, not long enough to draw conclusions about the general artistic decline. If we are to take Willow's and Connor's views as the voice of the author, aren't you undermining the humanism of BtVS? If humans can't be creative or hopeful without some supernatural influence, this makes the human race look deficient, and comes close to the ideas that people desperately need some sort of "divine" inspiration or "divine" influence.
Scott: The thing about art is subjective, yeah, and Willow is expressing a subjective opinion. Different people have different attitudes about the end of magic, and Willow is uniquely unhappy about it. Willow and Connor's views are the views of the characters, more than the authors. Willow's views specifically are meant to shed light on her motivation, although it's not clear if she's being entirely objective about her own motivation. Know what I mean? Someone who worships magic is probably going to think that the world is worse off without magic. Rainbows really are only two colored now, so there's that for more objective evidence to support her opinion ...
23. Bamph: Both seasons in the comics have dealt with subject matters that can be considered tough or controversal. In Season 8 we had the Buffy/Satsu fling. This season we had the pregnancy/abortion topic and coming up we have the introduction of Billy. When one of these sort of topics are introduced into the story, what goes into the planning of the promotion of it? What I mean is how do you approach them in the planning stage when deciding on the promotion? Does it involve a more delicate planning approach internally? Finally as you're now in the middle of promoting the introduction of Billy in the next arc, overall what has your experience been when dealing with what can be considered more controversial real world subject matters in the Buffyverse?
Scott: Promotion comes way later than the planning stage of the story. When we get around to thinking about promotion, we look at timing, the involvement of the creators, and being prepared to respond to the reaction. We want to do this stuff because we feel strongly about it, we think it's appropriate subject matter for the books. With the Satsu thing, we didn't want to spoil it at all, didn't want it to look like we were trying to use it to sell comics, but we believed that having it out there, there would be a reaction, and that it was appropriate to respond to that, so we were prepared, and frontloaded that response. If I recall, we had some interviews and stuff that went out the day after the issue went on sale. I think that's how it went down. Marketing wanted us to do something ahead of time. Some retailers were mad we didn't warn them about it, either because they didn't want gay stuff on their shelves, or because they would have ordered more copies. I think Billy is the first time that we decided to hype it ahead of time, and there were a bunch of reasons for that—partly because Jane and Drew were eager to talk about it, and partly because there was sort of no way not to talk about it ahead of time. The thing with Satsu, the abortion, those things were details of the story, and we could focus the advance promo on other aspects; with Billy, there was sort of no other way to talk about #14 without talking about Billy. We want our writers and artist promoting the book, we knew people would be excited to have Jane and Drew back, and there was no way for them to talk about the book without talking about Billy. Billy himself wasn't the surprise; it's the story that he's in that hopefully has some surprises. So generally the planning for promotion is done right before we're going to solicit the books, a long time after the stories have been written.
24. Morphia: Saarinen is quite a common surname in Finland. How did Andrew Chambliss come up with that as the name of a hell dimension? Did he perhaps have a bad experience in Finland once?
Scott: Crap, I don't know. Why does Andrew Chambliss keep flinging me into these international incidents!?
25. Sky: Hi Scott! When you discussed about what consequences will there be due to the seed breaking. Why have you chose to go with bad movies/music, zompires, two colors in rainbows, suicides, less creative/hopeful people? Bad movies and music is strange since everybody has different taste in what they like. Zompires hardly look more dangerous then usual Buffy villains (hell gods etc). Two colors in rainbow while weird it also doesn't seams to be dangerous. While suicides are really terrible, we haven't actually seen that on screen. We were only told about it. The same with people having less hope and not being creative. Basically what I want to know is. If you wanted readers to understand that breaking the Seed had great consequences and that maybe the return of magic may be necessary to fix this things, why didn't you guys go with more serious consequences. These consequences (while some are terrible), are less dangerous then having major apocalypses every year.
Scott: We talked about a lot of different options, this is what we wound up with. We wanted big and little ones, sinister and mundane. We talked about planes no longer being able to fly, but decided we'd probably need planes at some point. We talked about egg yolks all being black. We talked about far darker things. You're right—Zompires are ultimately no more dangerous than other monsters—more savage than vampires, but not as smart or resourceful.
Anyway, you're right, and that is part of the point—breaking the Seed wasn't an absolutely and simply bad choice on Buffy's part. It's not totally clear cut, but different people have different perspectives. It might be better than still having the Seed; and it's certainly better than it would have been to let all those demons through. True dat.
26. Moscow Watcher: Hi, Mr. Allie. Do you already know the date of the next writers' summit? If yes, could you tell us when do you plan to hold it?
Scott: Ahhhh ... no.
27. SueB: In the last A&F (which was a season high point for me for both series), Connor said "I love you Dad" and Angel was surprised that he called him Dad. If "After the Fall" has any canonicity to it, then Connor has already had some tender "I love you Dad" moments with Angel. So I'm confused. I know you want to keep things fuzzy on how much of the "After the Fall" story is canon but the Angel/Connor theme was pretty germane to how the story ended. So, are we wrong in assuming "After the Fall" is at least somewhat canon, and if not, why have Angel be surprised when Connor said "I love you Dad"?
Scott: I don't have a good answer for this one either, sorry.
28. stormwreath: Hi Scott. I'm having trouble parsing Buffy's speech on the last page of this issue, and judging by some of the other questions people are asking, I'm not alone. Which is unfortunate, if this is meant to be a big emotional epiphany!
"You were right. I keep trying to save the world when sometimes I should just save a single person."
- something Kennedy (in this issue), Faith and Meleka Fray (last season) have all criticised Buffy for.
"It was different when I was younger. Something changed."
- So what she's saying is, younger Buffy valued individuals more than "saving the world", but at some point she started believing that victory has a price and so you have to accept sacrifices.
"But I don't think that's a bad thing."
- This is the controversial part.
Is she saying that her change of heart is not a bad thing? In other words, is Buffy accepting that as the Slayer, sometimes she has to make the tough decisions that end up with people dying, because saving the world is more important? (option #1)
Or is she admitting to Kennedy that her recent focus on the big picture is wrong, and she ought to concentrate on saving individual people one by one instead? (option #2)
Personally, the first interpretation makes more sense to me, but I know a lot of people think the second is what is meant here.
Apologies if this comes too close to a "please interpret this scene for us" question, but I do think it's a matter of the text being kind of confusing rather than the ideas behind the scene having more than one interpretation.
Scott: Yeah, option one. Sorry that's not clear. We thought it was—Kennedy's criticized Buffy's decision making, Buffy acknowledges what Kennedy says about her, and that she used to be more the way Kennedy wants her to be, but she doesn't think the change in herself is a bad thing.
29. wenxina: Brian Ching's work for the Willow mini looks remarkably similar to Karl Moline's work in the Buffyverse so far, as far as I can tell from the one released preview page. Was that a factor in consideration? What about his work made him right for the Willow book?
Scott: No, I didn't think he was that much like Karl, but I love Karl, so I'm happy if this stuff looks similar. When you see pages the similarities might seem fewer. Willow's story is going to be heavy on fantastic worlds, fantastic creatures, and Brian is great with that stuff, as we know from his Star Wars work. He'd worked with Freddye Lins previously, she spoke highly of him, and Sierra and I listen when Freddye speaks.
~FIN~
It has been disscussed previously how Spike leaving has/is affecting his tragectery/the ultimate course of his and Buffy's relationship, however, and I could be wrong I'm not sure that much has been said about how his leaving is currently affecting Buffy, for instance if he hadn't left would the Guarded arc have still occured or was part of what sent her off in the direction of joining DeepScan his leaving since she has less to anchor her to where she was?
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