Thoughts on what I would like to happen in Season Nine based on what I’ve read so far. 

I started Season Nine with the first one shot of Freefall. I really do need issues two, three and four like I need air because in Season Nine it looks like Joss is going back to his roots a little bit. It’s a much more serious storyline, especially considering how Season Eight ended.

The entire Buffyverse and every character arc, side story and spin-off that came from it is all based on magic. Buffy and Faith are Slayers. Willow was a witch. Tara was a witch. Anya was a demon. Spike is a vampire. Angel is a vampire (Angel is Twilight?). Giles was a warlock occasionally. Oz was a werewolf. Dawn was a mystical ball of energy that had the ability to destroy the world. With the exception of Xander, everyone had some magical, mystical or demonic ability at some point. Now the Buffyverse is a universe WITHOUT magic. The days of creepy crawlers, things that go bump in the night and the apocalypse(s) are over. So, what exactly does this mean for the Buffyverse and our beloved characters that live in it?

The first issue of Freefall is really just an introduction. It more or less gives you a brief overview of everyone’s normal day to day life while explaining how Buffy is coping with a world without magic through the form of a house warming party. Buffy is living in an apartment with two normal roommates, works at a coffee house, and moonlights as a Slayer continuing to widdle down what is left of the vampyric/demonic population. Dawn and Xander live together. Willow works with computers and has a new girlfriend named Aurora (who we think may be a former student of Sunnydale High). And Spike is… Well, he’s still Spike.

With the exception of normal slayage and occasional confrontation with other former Slayers, Buffy and the gang seem to be getting on just fine in their new magic-free world. But, is it really completely magic-free?

Sure, it seems like the magic is gone, but, as Buffy so eloquently puts it, “There’s still monsters! There’s still stuff!” Which is absolutely true. There are still sacrificial murders, demons and a giant glowing ball that is obviously of supernatural origin. How do I know? Well, look how shiny it is.

But, all of this leads to the question: How? If Twilight is destroyed and with it all of the world’s magic, what exactly is going on? Despite how interested I am to see all of the characters in their normal day-to-day, 9 to 5 lives… I know I’m going to want the magic back.

One of my biggest hopes for this season, of course, is for Joss to bring Tara back. Right now, without magic, that seems like an impossibility. I’m really pulling for him to use his original plan to bring her back the way he wanted to with Buffy’s reality altering wish, but, we’ll see. As of now, I really like where Season Nine is going. The series seems to have come back down to Earth from some of the more far-fetched (yes, far-fetched even for the Buffyverse) storylines in Season Eight and I’m sure Nine will be amazing.