This probably needs a longer reply than I've got time for now, but in brief, I think it's all about consequences. 'Chosen' ended with an apparent victory, an happy ending: it's about liberation and empowerment. But in the real world, Buffy's actions would have some far-reaching consequences, both good and bad, and Season 8 is about exploring these. (That's why I think it's better seen as a sequel rather than a continuation: 'Chosen' was an ending, and S8 is a new story about what would happen next.)
Anyway, I think that Buffy's motives are still good ones: she sees herself as protecting the world from evil. But necessity and perhaps naivety have tempted her into making dubious moral choices. She's trying to convince herself that the robbery was just a harmless caper done for good reasons, but she's feeling guilty about it, leading to over-sensitivity. Until we get more evidence I don't know if her estrangement from Giles is because of this, but it's a logical deduction. Nor do I know if they're still working together despite their personal difficulties, or if they've formally seperated and now merely enemies of the same enemy - I expect we'll find out eventually.
Meanwhile, General Voll's accusation that the Slayers were setting themselves up as an unaccountable organisation above the law is proving disturbingly accurate. I said back at the time that Twilight - the organisation not the entity - was an unusual Buffyverse villain in that on the face of things, their objective was a perfectly reasonable and defensible one. (Jasmine would be the other good example). Like Angel in Season 5, Buffy in season 8 may well find that her usual black-and-white moral distinctions no longer work in the new, more adult situation she finds herself in.
As for the rest of it: we now know Twilight's plan, barring future revelations: the ending magic bit. I'm suspecting that both Buffy and Willow will have to do some serious reflection on how they feel about that, and whether or not they'd be justified in opposing Twilight at all. (And whether they'll end up on the same side, or opposite sides, even.) Who Twilight is and why he's doing this are still unknown for the moment; I suspect we'll get some more clues but no definitive answer in 8.11.
The rebellion by Simone's team of Slayers - already foreshadowed in two different issues - looks like it might be a major side-plot. One stemming directly from Buffy's own actions, of course, and putting new emphasis on General Voll's words about the menace to humanity Slayers pose. I'm expecting to see Simone pop up several times again before she's finally dealt with.
The whole business of the mole within Buffy's forces, and who will betray her - who may or may not be the same person - are still mysterious for now. So is the Dawn storyline; from Joss's hints, I'm pretty sure it won't be a case of "oh, now we know the tale of her and Kenny she'll be back to normal size again soon." I'm pretty sure that there'll be a bigger payoff than that; and also that Giant Dawn will get to do a bit more stomping before she's debiggened.
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Anyway, I think that Buffy's motives are still good ones: she sees herself as protecting the world from evil. But necessity and perhaps naivety have tempted her into making dubious moral choices. She's trying to convince herself that the robbery was just a harmless caper done for good reasons, but she's feeling guilty about it, leading to over-sensitivity. Until we get more evidence I don't know if her estrangement from Giles is because of this, but it's a logical deduction. Nor do I know if they're still working together despite their personal difficulties, or if they've formally seperated and now merely enemies of the same enemy - I expect we'll find out eventually.
Meanwhile, General Voll's accusation that the Slayers were setting themselves up as an unaccountable organisation above the law is proving disturbingly accurate. I said back at the time that Twilight - the organisation not the entity - was an unusual Buffyverse villain in that on the face of things, their objective was a perfectly reasonable and defensible one. (Jasmine would be the other good example). Like Angel in Season 5, Buffy in season 8 may well find that her usual black-and-white moral distinctions no longer work in the new, more adult situation she finds herself in.
As for the rest of it: we now know Twilight's plan, barring future revelations: the ending magic bit. I'm suspecting that both Buffy and Willow will have to do some serious reflection on how they feel about that, and whether or not they'd be justified in opposing Twilight at all. (And whether they'll end up on the same side, or opposite sides, even.) Who Twilight is and why he's doing this are still unknown for the moment; I suspect we'll get some more clues but no definitive answer in 8.11.
The rebellion by Simone's team of Slayers - already foreshadowed in two different issues - looks like it might be a major side-plot. One stemming directly from Buffy's own actions, of course, and putting new emphasis on General Voll's words about the menace to humanity Slayers pose. I'm expecting to see Simone pop up several times again before she's finally dealt with.
The whole business of the mole within Buffy's forces, and who will betray her - who may or may not be the same person - are still mysterious for now. So is the Dawn storyline; from Joss's hints, I'm pretty sure it won't be a case of "oh, now we know the tale of her and Kenny she'll be back to normal size again soon." I'm pretty sure that there'll be a bigger payoff than that; and also that Giant Dawn will get to do a bit more stomping before she's debiggened.