Caroline's Reviews > Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, Vol. 5: Predators and Prey

The first story is where humanity has caught on that vampires are real thanks to video footage and Harmony is now famous and the spokesperson for all vampires and slayers are hunted and feared to the Slayers Organizations' shock.

My question is: who came up with the villain's name in the first place I mean really? I'm sure there are more names that will scare the bejesus outta everyone than "Twilight" cuz every time admittedly I giggle and think of sparkly vampires lol ...

oh, the latest Twilight's latest flunkies were vampire cats crossed with body snatchers? okay lol

The only parts I thoroughly enjoyed were Predators and Prey and Safe respectively continued on with the previous story arcs about Simone and her army of rogue vampire slayers, where there is a cute Buffy/Andrew bonding moment over pop culture references, maybe it's cuz I'm not a huge Daniel Craig fan.

I loved the many other pop culture references ie: Jedi/Superman, Terminator Heath Ledger and of course my fave: stargate sg1 with quirky Buffy-style lingo that reminds me of the TV series.

But it's nice to see these two bond still with the bickering but you can see Andrew's growth as a character, he may be annoying (reminds me of Joxer from Xena in some ways) but he's got, a heart.

It was awesome seeing Faith and Giles continue to work together, she clearly respects and listens to his advice even though she's still battling with her inner demons as she tries to help a new slayer, Courtney, whom they've encountered and a mysterious Slayer Sanctuary that holds a deadly secret.

What was interesting to see play out was the aftermath of the surviving Watchers after The First's attack on the institute back in Btvs S7 and even before then when Buffy defected from the Council in S3 when they refused to help save Angel after Faith poisoned him.

Here it comes to a head with the surviving members as many members, including Duncan whose introduced here bear a grudge and resentment towards Buffy and Slayers in general due to past events since Buffy and Faith rejected the Watcher's Council.

Duncan even coldly recalls Jenny's death with no regard to Giles' feelings on painful memories but instead blames the fall of the Watcher's Council for the former defecting in the first place cuz Buffy fell in love with a vampire so he uses a demon to as a protection ward against the vampires who are milling outside the village's borders unable to enter as the price for the demon's protection is Slayers who unwittingly under false pretenses think they've found sanctuary, die.

That is until Faith, Giles, and Courtney rock up, and with the demon's and Duncan's death, Giles becomes the last member of the extinct Watchers Council other than the potential slayers from BtV S7 and the Scoobies have formed the new Slayers Organization with a more holistic approach when it comes to training Slayers, even welcoming witches and other species who are aligned with the forces of good.

The quote that stood out for me here really shows the continual personal growth of Faith's character, she's learned from her past mistakes and ideologies that have been very similar to Gigi and now Simone, but thankfully due to Angel's, Wesley's, and now Giles' influences, she's changing for the better.

Courtney: "That's not our problem. You're murderers! You deserve to die!"
Faith: "Probably. But we're Slayers, and we don't let people die. Not even the crappy ones. You, people, wanna live? Then you fight."

Oh, Dawn's not a centaur anymore, she got turned into a doll ... and now she's human again and made peace with Kenny, cool, glad that's over with.

I would've been happier if this volume completely 86 Harmony/Dawn from the story completely it didn't interest me (though the public finding out about the existence of vampires and slayers was good) I would've been happy if the entire volume focused on Simone and Faith/Giles' adventures but still a good read.