(HUGE SEASON NINE SPOILERS BELOW)
Season Nine of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics saw an interesting change from the previous season. The writers had decided to pull everything back a bit after last season’s huge, explosive, universe-destroying storyline. They focused more on the character’s, their choices, and feelings. This was a good move, as the series had always been great at character development, and season eight had been sorely lacking in that area for most of it’s players.
The end of season eight, coupled with season nine’s opening, also saw the next Big Bad taking the stage; Simone Doffler, the Rogue Slayer. This was an exciting idea, as Simone had already been established in season eight as bad news for the gang. Not only that, but she (like so many things in season eight) had been Buffy’s responsibility. It had been Buffy’s plan to activate every potential Slayer at the end of season seven that gave Simone her power, as well as Buffy’s Slayer Army in season eight that gave her the training and the means to acquire weapons.
Simone was a young girl that had, essentially, been given the power to change the world by Buffy and Willow, and she intended to use that power to go against Buffy, Willow, and anyone else who stood in her way on the road to the subjugation of humanity. She believed that humanity deserved to be ruled by her and the other Slayers on her side. As she said to Buffy, “They wanted us to live under their rules, now we can make them live under ours. We can bring our oppressors to their knees. We can be the agents of change and fear we were meant to be. It’s who we are.”
This is pretty powerful stuff, or it would be, if we had any real substance behind it. This is the beginning of the problem with Simone as more than the one off character she was during season eight. She has no backstory. In season nine, which focused more heavily on character relationships and choices, it would have made sense to shed some light on Simone, and give some reason as to why she was the way that she was. But it doesn’t.
The second problem is one she has in common with a famously awful Big Bad in the series: Adam. Simone has no personal connection to any of the Scoobies. She has something of a connection to Buffy, but the two barely had any meaningful interactions before her appearance as a Big Bad in season nine. In the final issue of season nine, Simone becomes a vampire, which amplifies her Slayer powers as well as her viciousness. This should be a huge moment, but it’s not. Because, as an audience, we don’t care about Simone. The series never gives us a reason to. She’s just the villain because the series needed a villain.
All of this is a shame, really, because season nine was really enjoyable, and moved a lot of our favorite characters forward in pretty significant ways. If Simone had been given a backstory, a few lines of compelling motivation, any depth at all, she could have been a really strong Big Bad for a really strong season. I really wanted to like Simone as a character and a villain, I really wanted to be excited when she showed up in an issue, and I really wanted her death to be satisfying on some level. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
