Viva Las Buffy (Part 2 of 4), Act 2: Full
House
Plot: Scott Lobdell
Script: Fabian Nicieza
Pencills: Cliff Richards
Inks: Will Conrad
Colors: Dave McCaig
Letters: Clem Robins
Cover: Brian Horton & Paul Lee
The story takes place before Buffy the Vampire
Slayer's first season
Jeremy's Brief Synopsis:
Applying
for a job at the Golden Touch Casino, Buffy the
Coatcheck Slayer and her faithful sidekick, Pike
the Valet boy get to the bottom of the mystery of
the vampire factory believed to be located at the
casino. Meanwhile, Angelus, posing as a bodyguard
also tries to solve the mystery but ends up getting
caught and thrown into a time vortex, landing him
in the 1920's. Buffy finally finds some more vamps
in the casino, but finds she bought more than she
bargained for when all the attendees and workers at
the casino reveal themselves to be vamps and Buffy
and Pike are next on their menus.
Zinna's Review:
Of the many jobs Buffy has held
over the seasons - waitress, construction worker,
retail sales clerk, Doublemeat Palace employee - I
bet you never knew her very first job was being a
coat-check girl for a casino and scantily clad
coat-check girl at that! Unlike Buffy's other jobs,
this one is not for the money-Buffy and Pike are
undercover (Pike is a valet) at a Vampire Casino
Royale! But Pike and Buffy are not the only ones
undercover-Angel is posing as a bodyguard to one of
the casino's higher-ups. Even though they are all
working the same angle their paths miraculously do
not cross, but just barely.
Before I go into the
significance of Angel's role in this issue, I must
first talk about Pike. Again, Pike is the narrator
and fortunately he has moved pass obsessing on his
Buffy-crush to obsessing about on the danger they
are sure to meet, tracking vampires in Las Vegas.
Apparently, it has finally dawned on Pike that
there's more slaying than just starring longingly
at the slayer's perky (and shiny) ponytail bounce
as she quips and stabs, kicks and jabs. Suddenly,
he sees the overwhelming reality of all (Who'd
thought such self-actualization was possible in the
tackiness that is Vegas-hey don't get mad at me. I
know what Vegas is like. My mom lives there. No,
really. She does.) The reality being vampires are
real. There are a lot of them and they have no
qualms about being involved in organized murder and
mayhem. For the ca-trillion blood-sucking evil
fiends out there (and large percentage seems to be
hold up in this casino's hotel) there's only one
girl (not yet a woman) with the strength,
resiliency, and agility to overcome them. This one
girl just happens to be the only girl for who
Pike's heart yearns. What's worse, this girl
appears to be all alone (no watcher, no parents-she
ran away, and no Dawn to ask annoying questions and
point out the obvious for those who can't keep up)
save for Pike. So, you can understand how Pike
would come to feel responsible for Buffy,
regardless of how much sense it does not make (she
being the emotionally and physically stronger of
the two).
You ask now feeling responsible
is not obsessing over a crush? Well, there's only
so much hysterical blindness a crush can cause
before Pike sees that by loving a slayer he's
signing on for what will ultimately come to death,
possibly his own or even worse…hers. For Pike,
a life where he has to watch Buffy die is not one
he's sure he's ready to live. And the casino
swarming with vampires picking off people right and
left and Buffy having no plan for taking these
fools down other than her usual stake-as-you-go
philosophy it's no wonder Pike's filled with fear.
Guess who can't afford to be a coward right about
now. You got it! The Slayer. Letting her fear take
over is luxury that will get Buffy killed. So, then
Pike's question is can Buffy afford for Pike to be
afraid? If she can't, then that means Pike will be
the reason that she dies. And for Pike there's one
certainty in this scenario: sooner or later Buffy
is going to die (and while we'd all like to believe
that Buffy's going to die at the ripe old 80, we
know the average slayer barely makes to 25). Even
more daunting then knowledge of his love's
inevitable demise, Pike also has to content with
being the cause, and worse, having Buffy know that
he may be the cause of her death, hence, the
obsessing.
Pike's internal struggle brings
to light something we take for granted about the
Scoobies' (an affectionate nickname for Buffy's
friends in Sunnydale)…endless dedication to
fight along side their slayer. Since Willow and
Xander found out that vampires were real and
fatally dangerous, they have yet to question the
harrowing responsibility that comes along with
caring about a slayer; like Buffy, they deal, which
explains the Scoobies success rate for stopping
apocalypse after apocalypse. If Xander sat around
thinking about how he almost got killed this time
or how he almost got Buffy killed that time, Buffy
would have died (or rather stayed dead) in the
first season. Yes, it's true. If you were lucky
enough to see the first season's finale, you'll
remember that Buffy drowned. And if Xander had
stopped to think about the dangers of going to help
Buffy face the Master, he probably would have
realized that it wasn't his most sound decision. I
mean, what are the odds that Xander could succeed
where the slayer is prophesized to fail? A million
to one? For Xander it didn't matter. For Xander all
that mattered was that he be there for his friend.
Maybe someone ought to tell Pike this is a better
approach. Of course then that same someone would be
forced to tell Pike that Xander's crush remained
unrequited for the duration of his relationship
with Buffy to date.
Seems to me like Angel would be
the perfect one to enlighten Pike, but he's busy
with his own problems. What problems? Let's just
put this way: In a casino that let's vampire
overrun its clientele with neck attacks, what are
the chances a higher-up of said casino isn't going
be able to tell the difference between human and
vampire (Angel)? Well Einstein, you can pretty much
bet that Angel's cover is blown. What does that
mean for Angel…All I can say is Issue#53 will
be out later in the month.
Let us not forget Giles in
England vying for a most coveted position of being
Buffy's new watcher. I'd like to say there's
something insightful about this whole side plot,
but I can't because Giles' plot is just warming up
(Again, Issue#53 will be out later in the
month).
All in all, I'd say this issue
isn't as enjoyable as the first, but well worth the
read, especially if you want to understand what's
going on in part 3 of 4. Something tells me part 4
of 4 will definitely be worth this lovely
"setting-up" issue. Besides, this issue is worth it
solely for the picture of Buffy in her barely-there
coat-check uniform. Also, I have to commend the
artist for his success with capturing the essence
of Buffy's emotion-purveying facial expressions
that we've all come to rely on when trying to
figure out what's going on inside the slayer's
head. Because if you want to know what Buffy thinks
or feels about something, you can't be sure that
she'll just tell you. She's not exactly an open
book when it comes to spilling her emotions, but
for the most part, her face tells it all.
