"Buffy's Relationship With the Scoobies"

 

"BUFFY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SCOOBIES"

Recently, I did a re-watch of (3.07) "Revelations", a Season Three episode from the fantasy series, "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER". I found myself thinking about the scene in which the Scoobies reveal to adolescent vampire slayer Buffy Summers their knowledge that her former vampire boyfriend, Angel aka Angelus, is still alive.

Back in the late 19th century, Angel had angered a Romani clan when he had killed one of their people. To punish him, they cursed with his human soul, leading to great personal torment and the decision to resist the evil impulses that come with being a vampire. After a century, Angel lost his soul in mid-Season Two, thanks to a moment of happiness he had experienced during sex with Buffy. Following the loss of his soul, Angel resumed his old persona of the ruthless and sadistic Angelus.

In the Season Two finale, "Becoming (Part 2)", Angelus decided to destroy the world by summoning the demon Acaltha. Buffy's friend and neophyte witch Willow Rosenberg manages to restore Angel's cursed soul at the last moment. However, Buffy was forced to kill him to save the world from Acathla and Angel was sent to hell. In the Season Three episode, (3.03) "Faith, Hope and Trick", an unknown party returned Angel from hell. Buffy found him and decided to keep his presence a secret from her friends and her Watcher Rupert Giles. In "Revelations", Xander discovered Buffy kissing a resurrected Angel, during his search for a mystical glove. After he revealed Buffy's secret to Giles, Willow and Cordelia Chase; all hell broke loose, and the quartet staged an angry intervention for Buffy.

Now, I realize that they had a right to be angry at Buffy. She had failed to tell them about Angel's resurrection. But for some reason, this intervention scene pissed me off. If there is one thing about Buffy's relationship with Giles and the Scoobies that has burned me for years was their penchant of putting Buffy on a pedestal and dictating her behavior and moral compass. Worse, Buffy had always given their behavior a pass, due to her own fear of losing their friendship. Had Buffy ever put such pressure on Xander, Willow or Giles? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I have no idea. For years, they put her on this pedestal called "THE SLAYER" and rarely allow Buffy to be herself or have her own life.

Xander was the worst offender of them all. I still do not know how this character came to be so beloved by the series' fans. Granted, Xander could be entertaining. But of all the Scoobies, he was probably the most self-righteous of the bunch. And he had allowed his self-righteousness, along with his jealousy toward Buffy's relationships with both Angel and another vampire, Spike, to compromise his own morals without any remorse. Good examples were his lie to Willow about Buffy's wish to re-soul Angel in "Becoming (Part 2)"; and his attempt to murder a chipped Spike in the Season Six episode, (6.18) "Entropy" for having sex with Anya, the fiancée he had dumped at the altar. Even in "Revelations", he had behaved in the most self-righteous manner about Buffy's lie regarding Angel. Yet at the same time, he was cheating on his girlfriend Cordelia with a series of sexual encounters (namely kissing). This means, Willow was equally guilty of being a hypocrite. Some would say that Xander and Willow's infidelity was never a threat. But their actions ended up hurting Cordelia in more ways than one, after the latter discovered their minor affair.

I believe "Revelations" proved to be the first time the Scoobies tried to enforce their will upon Buffy's moral compass. However, the pinnacle of Buffy's relationship transformed in their attempt to enforce their will upon her existence in the Season Six premiere, (6.01) "Bargaining (Part 1)". Following Buffy's sacrificial death in the Season Five finale, (5.22) "The Gift"; Willow, along with Xander, his new girlfriend and ex-demon Anya, and Willow's girlfriend Tara Maclay's assistance; brought Buffy back from the dead. They made this decision to resurrect Buffy without her consent or without informing Buffy's younger sister Dawn, Spike or Giles. The Scobbies had done this, because they had felt they needed "THE SLAYER" to deal with vampire and other demonic elements in Sunnydale, California. They believed that Sunnydale needed a Slayer. Despite the fact that Sunnydale had managed to exist without a Slayer for nearly a century before Buffy's arrival. Did Buffy ever complain about the Scoobies' resurrection of her? Once . . . when she had been briefly possessed by a demon in (6.03) "After Life". Otherwise, no . . . I cannot recall Buffy calling out the Scoobies for the resurrection.

The Scoobies' penchant for throwing Buffy's flaws and mistakes into her face; while at the same time, ignoring or making excuses for their own has been problematic for me. Perhaps Whedon had intended for this scenario as an example of Buffy's own insecurities. After all, she had allowed her friends to get away with this behavior for years - even in Season Seven. During the series' last year, the Scoobies and the Potential Slayers had rejected Buffy's leadership following their failure to deal with Caleb, a defrocked priest who had become the right-hand man for the First Evil in (7.19) "Empty Places". They had accused her of becoming emotionally remote and a poor leader. I never had a problem with the Scoobies and the Potentials rejecting Buffy's leadership. They had every right to do so. But what I could not accept was that in doing so, they kicked her out of her own house. And she allowed them to do this. And yet . . . Buffy quickly forgave them when they had decided to follow her again.

I am not saying that Buffy should not have forgiven the Scoobies for their hypocrisy and demands that she live up to their ideal of being the Slayer. I simply wish that she had not been so quick to do so. I wish she had not been so desperate to maintain their friendship, even when they failed to be a good friend of hers. I realize that a lot of the series' fans tend to regard Buffy's relationship with the Scoobies as among the greatest friendships depicted on television. Personally, I have always regarded her friendship with Willow and Xander rather questionable. And I wish that Joss Whedon had found the time to address it.

"BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" Retrospect: (4.08) "Pangs"

While watching my DVD set box for Season Four of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER", I came across this Thanksgiving episode called (4.08) "Pangs" and wrote the following article about it: 


"BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" RETROSPECT: (4.08) "Pangs"

Season Four has never been that popular with fans of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER". It was the first season that did not feature the vampire Angel as a regular character. And it marked the beginning of Buffy Summer's romance with university teaching assistant/Army demon hunter Riley Finn. And many fans were not that thrilled by the Initiative storyline. I have never had a problem with Season Four. Mind you, I would not count it as among my top four out of seven seasons. But it featured at least two of my favorite "BUFFY"episodes of all time. And one of them is the holiday-themed "Pangs".

While preparing a Thanksgiving feast for her close friends in the absence of her mother, University of California Sunnydale student and vampire slayer Buffy Summers encounters the restless and vengeful spirit of a Native American, called Hus, whose people - the Chumash tribe - were wiped out by Spanish and American settlers. Hus's spirit was released during a groundbreaking ceremony for U.C. Sunnydale's new Anthropology building. Hus managed to murder the Curator for the building's museum and a local priest who had attending the ceremony. During her frantic efforts to prepare Thanksgiving and deal with Hus, Buffy is unaware that former boyfriend Angel has returned to Sunnydale to keep an eye on her, after a friend of his (former regular character Cordelia Chase) has received a vision of her being in danger. She is also unaware that soon-to-be boyfriend Riley Finn is part of an U.S. Army program called the Initiative, which hunts down and experiments on demons. One of the Initiative's victims turned out to be Buffy's current nemesis, vampire Spike, who had managed to escape from his Initiative prison in the previous episode, (4.07) "The Initiative". Due to his inability to feed upon or commit violence against humans, Spike is slowly starving. He first seeks help and refuge from fellow vampire Harmony, who refuses to have anything to do with him. Desperate, he turns to Buffy and the other Scoobies for refuge in exchange for information about the Initiative.

"Pangs" did provide a few problems for me. One, the episode's writer, Jane Espenson, erroneously stated that the Chumash had been wiped out. Despite the Spanish, Mexican and American governments; the band still exists. Two, Buffy informed her friends that her mother Joyce left Sunnydale to spend Thanksgiving with an aunt. Why did Buffy, who was eighteen at the time, stay in Sunnydale? Why did she fail to accompany her mother for what was obviously a family gathering? Did Buffy have something against this particular "Aunt Pauline"? Three, during her last fight with Hus and the Chumash spirits he had summoned, Buffy unsuccessfully used her knife on Hus and claimed that he and his fellow spirits do not die. Yet, in a scene later, Angel managed to break the neck of one Chumash spirit and impale another with a knife. Hmmmm . . . I smell inconsistency in the air. And four, Angel's visit to Sunnydale led to the "ANGEL" Season One episode, (1.08) "I Will Remember You", which I loathe with every fiber of my being.

Aside from these narrative hiccups, "Pangs" remains a personal favorite of mine. At first glance, it seemed like a stand-alone episode that had nothing to do with the season and series' plot arc. As it turned out, it did."Pangs" marked the first time Spike would hang out with the Scoobies. It led to another setback in Buffy and Angel's relationship. It marked the first time that the Scoobies became aware of the Initiative, thanks to Spike. And it provided another chapter in Buffy's growing relationship with Riley Finn. This seems like an awful lot, considering that this episode mainly focused on Buffy dealing with a Thanksgiving feast and a vengeance spirit - two topics that were quickly resolved by the end. But Espenson and director Michael Lange. But the best things I can say about "Pangs" is that it featured superb performances and some incredibly funny dialogue and camera visuals. 

I tried to think of some of the best dialogue found in the episode and came across several lines. Among my favorites featured Buffy's ability to remain focused . . . or obssessed with her feast, while discussing their problems with Hus. However, one should not be surprised that Spike was responsible for the funniest moment in the episode in a scene that featured both Buffy and her friend Willow Rosenberg's reluctance to destroy Hus, due to their guilt over the country's past with Native Americans:

BUFFY: Will, you know how bad I feel. This is eating me up -- (to Anya, who holds up the bottle of brandy) -- a quarter cup, and let it simmer -- (to Willow, as Anya goes back) -- but even though it's hard, we
have to end this. Yes, he's been wronged, and I personally would be ready to apologize...

SPIKE: Oh, someone put a stake in me!

XANDER: You got a lot of volunteers in here...

SPIKE: I just can't take this mamby-pamby boo-hooing over the bloody Indians!

WILLOW: The preferred term is --

SPIKE: You won! All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do! That's what Caesar did, he's not going around saying "I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it!" The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, you massacred them, end of story!

BUFFY: Well, I think the Spaniards actually did a lot of... not that I don't like Spaniards...

SPIKE: Listen to you! How are you gonna fight anybody with that attitude?

WILLOW: We don't want to fight anybody.

BUFFY: I just want to have Thanksgiving.

SPIKE: Yeah, good luck.

WILLOW: If we could talk to him --

SPIKE: You exterminated his race. What could you possibly say that would make him feel better? It's kill or be killed here. Take your bloody pick.

James Marsters really acted the hell out of that scene. And I am not surprised. To this day, I believe that his portrayal of Spike was one of the best television performances I have ever seen . . . period. And he was really marvelous in this episode. So were Anthony Stewart Head, who did a top-notch job in giving a comic twist to a Rupert Giles who found himself manipulated by Buffy into holding the Scoobies' Thanksgiving feast at his apartment; Alyson Hannigan, who was also superb as best friend/witch Willow Rosenberg, who did not hesitate to express her conflict between dealing with Hus and her guilt over the region's ugly past in dealing with the Chumash people. Nicholas Brandon and Emma Caufield gave fine support as Buffy's two other friends, Xander Harris and former vengeance demon Anya Jenkins. Marc Blucas was charming as Buffy's soon-to-be boyfriend, Riley Finn. And he was ably supported by an exuberant Leonard Roberts. Mercedes McNab displayed excellent comic timing in scenes that featured recently sired vampire Harmony Kendall's encounters with Spike and Xander. David Boreanaz took a break from his new series at the time, "ANGEL" to give an intense, yet at times funny performance as Buffy's ex-vampire squeeze, Angel. But the real star of this episode was Sarah Michelle Gellar. She gave both a hilarious, yet poignant performance, revealing Buffy's somewhat obssessive determination to make her Thanksgiving a success. In fact, I believe I enjoyed her performance even more than Marsters. And that is quite an accomplishment, considering that Marsters is a natural-born scene stealer.

Yes, "Pangs" had a few problems. And its main narrative surrounding the dangers of a Native American vengeance spirit did not exactly strike me as memorable. However, I do believe that the narrative made an interesting comment on how conflicted Americans have become in viewing our county's history. More importantly, Spike's comments on the cirumstances that led to Hus' path of vengeance is a brutal reminder of how monstrous human beings can be - a foreshadow of the Scoobies' future behavior later in the series. Thanks to Jane Espenson's hilarious script, Michael Lange's direction and a superb cast led by Sarah Michelle Geller, "Pangs" remains one of my favorite "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" episodes to this day.

"Guidance and Estrangement"

"GUIDANCE AND ESTRANGEMENT"

During its seven seasons run, the television series, "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" has generated a good number of controversy amongst its fans, other viewers and the media in its approach to several subjects regarding its main character, Buffy Summers, and its supporting characters. Many of those subjects have included sex, violence, addiction, and discrimination – both gender and racial. But there seemed to be one topic that fans of the series seemed to be in conflict over – namely authority figures and how it pertained to Buffy’s relationship with her Watcher, Rupert Giles.

When the series first began in January 1997, Buffy and her mother, Joyce Summers, had recently moved from Los Angeles to Sunnydale; following the latter’s divorce from Buffy’s father, Hank. The Summers’ marriage had buckled under the strain of his infidelity and Buffy’s early activities as a Slayer in Los Angeles. The move to Sunnydale also meant the eventual erosion of daughter and father’s relationship. Since Buffy’s first Watcher, Merrick, had killed by a vampire named Lothos; the young Slayer found herself with a new Watcher – the English-born Rupert Giles.

The relationship between Buffy and Giles went through many stages and emotional upheavals. Due to her father’s declining presence in her life, the Slayer began to regard her Watcher as a new father figure. Yet, at the same time, she struggled to maintain a private life of her own – one that involved school and a social life – despite Giles’ insistence upon her focusing upon her training and duties as a Slayer. One such incident occurred when Buffy wanted to forego another training session to attend a fraternity party at Sunnydale’s University of California campus in (2.05) “Reptile Boy”. Despite their occasional bouts of conflict and the crisis surrounding the re-emergence of Angelus in late Season Two, Buffy’s view of Giles as a replacement for her father had grown stronger by mid-Season Three. Then came the Cruciamentum in the episode, (3.12) “Helpless”

The Cruciamentum was a test that senior members of the Watchers Council put each Slayer through on her eighteenth birthday. She must be weakened (namely stripped of her Slayer abilities) and left alone with a vampire to test her skills and resourcefulness. The weakened Slayer rarely survives such a test. As I had stated earlier, Buffy had truly began to regard Giles as a second father, especially since her own father failed to appear and take her to an ice show for her 18th birthday. Unfortunately for Buffy, the Cruciamentum test proved to be the first time that Giles would betray her. Showing more loyalty to the Council than the Slayer, he placed Buffy under hypnosis before stripping away her Slayer abilities with a drug. However, guilt over his betrayal and the danger of a psychotic vampire loose upon Sunnydale led Giles to confess his actions and help her deal with the vampire. Because of his actions, the leader of the Watchers Council – Quintin Travers – accused Giles of being too emotionally close to Buffy and fired him. However, Buffy severed her ties with the Watchers Council and continued to regard Giles as her Watcher. However, the Cruciamentum did not prove to be the last time that Buffy and Giles would clash.

Season Five provided more heartaches and crisis for Buffy than any previous season. Buffy’s relationship with her college boyfriend, Riley Finn, crashed and burned. She discovered that her old nemesis, the vampire Spike, had fallen in love with her. Joyce became seriously ill. And a new member joined the Summers household – a younger sister named Dawn. However, Buffy and the Scoobies eventually learned in (5.05) “No Place Like Home” that Dawn was originally a mystical object known as the Key, which can be used to open portals to alternate dimensions; a group of monks transformed the Key into human form and sent it to the Slayer for protection from the villainous hellgod, Glory. The hellgod wanted to use the Key (Dawn) to return to her home dimension. The memories of Buffy and her associates were altered, along with relevant records, so that they believed Dawn had always existed as Buffy’s sister. Once Glory discovered that Dawn was the Key, her presence became a threat to human existence. Giles certainly believed so and insisted that Buffy kill Dawn before Glory can use her blood in (5.22) “The Gift”. Fearful for Dawn’s life, Buffy asked Spike to protect the teenager from any threat. I can only wonder if she had viewed Giles as a possible threat.

Eventually, Buffy sacrificed her life to stop the threat of Glory and to close the portal that the hellgod had used Dawn’s blood to open. Several months following Buffy’s death, Giles decided to return home to England in (6.01) “Bargaining”. Following her resurrection, he returned to Sunnydale. However, he noticed that Buffy had begun a disturbing trend of depending upon him for everything – including matters in her non-Slayer life. In the episode, (6.07) “Tabula Rasa”, Giles decided to return to England in order for Buffy to gain independence. He did not return, until the crisis over Willow’s turn to evil evolved, following the death of her lover, Tara Maclay.

Giles’ return to England during Season Six proved to have a major impact upon his relationship with Buffy during the show’s seventh and final season. The impact of his disappearance would not be realized, until the two clashed over the status of a chip-free Spike in the episode, (7.17) "Lies My Parents Told Me". After acquiring his soul in Africa, during the Season Six finale, (6.22) “Grave”, Spike returned to Sunnydale, racked with guilt over his past as a vampire and his attempted rape of Buffy in (6.19) “Seeing Red”. And unbeknownst to himself and others, he was being mentally tormented and controlled by the season’s Big Bad – the non-corporeal being known as the First Evil. Spike’s troubles did not end there. By (7.13) “The Killer in Me”, the chip was slowly killing Spike and Buffy had to request help from her old flame, Army officer, Riley Finn, to remove the chip for good. Spike was finally free from the dangers of the chip, but not from the First Evil.

Buffy and Giles’ clash over Spike first spilled over in an amusing exchange featured in the beginning of the following episode, (7.14) “First Date”. However, Giles’ anxieties over Spike’s chip-free and First Evil-influenced state continued unabated. He continued to insist that Spike be contained or slayed, for the safety of the Potentials and the Scoobies, now residing inside the Summers house. Giles disappeared for two episodes and returned at the beginning of ”Lies My Parents Told Me” with a magical artifact called a Prokaryote stone. Willow used the stone and a spell to penetrate Spike's mind and make him more conscious of how the First Evil’s trigger worked. Needless to say, the session ended in disaster, with Spike unintentionally hurting Dawn (why Buffy allowed her to hang around, I do not know). Following the failure to break the First Evil’s hold on Spike, Giles conspired with Robin Wood – the son of a Slayer that Spike had killed back in 1977 – to kill the blond vampire behind Buffy’s back. Buffy eventually realized what Giles and Wood had conspired and coldly ended their Watcher-Slayer relationship . . . and friendship.

I am not really surprised that Buffy turned his back on him, following the incidents of ”Lies My Parents Told Me”. As I had earlier pointed out, it was not the first time he had betrayed her. He betrayed her in Season 3's "Helpless". But he realized his error and made amends in the end. In late Season 5's "The Gift", he continuously pressured Buffy to kill Dawn in order to save the world. Not only did she refuse, but she asked Spike to kill him or anyone else who made a move toward Dawn. Even if Dawn's death would have saved the world, I do not think that Buffy could have lived with herself if she had killed her younger sister. Her slide into catatonia in (5.21) “The Weight of the World”, following Glory’s abduction of Dawn, struck me as proof that Buffy would have serious problems with anything happening to her younger sister.

But Giles’ betrayal in "Lies My Parents Told Me" proved to be the last straw. Not only did Giles plotted behind her back, he never expressed any remorse for his actions. Worse, he only gave Spike once chance to deal with the First Evil’s trigger before he began plotting with Robin Wood behind Buffy's back. Giles never took into account that triggered or not, Spike was not the only dangerous person in that house. There was Willow, who was not only a very powerful witch, but still emotionally unsure about herself. And I suspect that if the First Evil had triggered Spike, he would have to deal with Willow, a powerful and experienced Slayer in the form Buffy, and a house full of potential Slayers. Giles never considered all of this or that Wood’s plotting centered on an emotional desire for revenge against Spike. Instead, he allowed his fears and his dislike of the vampire to rule his emotions. And he never expressed any remorse for his actions.

Buffy had been slowly maturing as a person throughout the series' run. By late Season Seven, it was time for her to realize that Giles did not always have the answers or that he was not always right. It was also time for her to realize that sometimes, every individual has to question authority figures . . . or rely upon him or herself and not a parent or a surrogate parent. Back in early Season Six, Giles realized that Buffy could not always depend upon him and that sooner or later, she would have to learn to stand on her own. Unfortunately, the destruction of the Watchers Council triggered a great deal of fear within Giles. He forgot about his resolve about Buffy becoming an adult, and tried to overcome this fear by resurrecting his old relationship with Buffy. By ”Lies My Parents Told Me” he failed to realize that she had matured too much for him to recapture it.

Buffy and Giles had failed to resolve their conflict over his final betrayal by the end of the series . . . despite their willingness to fight together in the final battle against the First Evil’s plans in (7.22) “Chosen”. Their relationship grew worse over Giles’ failure to inform Buffy about his and Faith Lehune’s dealings with a rogue Slayer named in one of the Season Eight stories featured in a series of comic books based upon the series. It was not until their dealings with the being known as Twilight (aka Angel) that Buffy and Giles finally reconciled. Unfortunately, their reconciliation did not last very long. While still under the guise of Twilight, Angel murdered Giles. Pity. It would have been nice to see Buffy and Giles develop an equal relationship between two friends and colleagues.

Top Ten (10) Favorite Episodes of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER"

Below is a list of my ten favorite episodes of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" (1997-2003), which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar:


TOP TEN (10) FAVORITE EPISODES OF “BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER”



1. (5.07) "Fool For Love" - After a common vampire nearly kills her with her own stake, Buffy turns to Spike to learn how other Slayers met their end so as not to make further mistakes and in turn, discovers a lot about his past history as one of the undead.





2. (6.03) "After Life" - While Buffy deals with being alive again, the Scooby Gang fights a demon that appeared as a consequence of resurrecting her in this haunting episode.





3. (7.17) "Lies My Parents Told Me" - While the gang investigates Spike's trigger; Principal Wood and Giles team up to get rid of the vampire without Buffy's knowledge.





4. (4.08) "Pangs" - Angel secretly arrives in Sunnydale to protect Buffy; who is attempting to prepare a perfect Thanksgiving, while dealing with the hostile spirit of a Chumash warrior. A very funny episode.





5. (7.08) "Sleeper" - After a newly risen and slain vampire named Holden has told Buffy that Spike is his sire, she investigates the possibility that the vampire might be killing again.





6. (3.07) "Revelations" - Gwendolyn Post shows up as Faith's new Watcher and warns the Scoobies that a demon is looking for the Glove of Myneghon, a powerful gauntlet.





7. (3.08) "Lovers Walk" - A lovelorn Spike returns to Sunnydale and kidnaps Willow and Xander. Oz and Cordelia discover them kissing, while attempting a rescue.





8. (6.18) "Entropy" - In a pivotal episode, Anya seeks vengeance on Xander after he had abandoned her at the wedding altar, and finds comfort with Spike; Willow and Tara decide to reconcile by arranging a date.





9. (4.09) "Something Blue" - A spell by a lovelorn Willow goes awry; blinding Giles, making Xander a literal demon magnet, and causing Buffy and Spike to fall in love and get engaged in this very funny episode.





10. (2.19) "I Only Have Eyes For You" - In this emotionally charged episode, a ghost possesses high school boys and Buffy; while his school teacher-lover possesses high school girls and Angelus.

“BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER” – Who Is To Blame in (7.19) “Empty Places”?

"BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" RETROSPECT: WHO IS TO BLAME IN (7.19) "Empty Places"?

Seven ago, an episode viewed by many "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" fans as controversial, aired during the show’s final season. The name of that episode was (7.19) "Empty Places".

In this episode, the citizens of Sunnydale, California had finally desert the town in masse after realizing that their chances of surviving the upcoming apocalypse might be non-existent. Even demons like Clem had deserted. Vampire slayer Buffy Summers, the Scoobies, the souled vampire Spike, and fellow vampire slayer Faith Lehane and the Potential vampire slayers were still smarting from their defeat at the hands of a priest named Caleb and the demonic Bringers who followed him in the previous episode, (7.18) "Dirty Girls". To relieve the Potentials of their gloomy moods, Faith took them for one last night of fun at the Bronze, a local nightclub. The fun ended in near disaster, after an encounter with police. But when Buffy suggested that Caleb may be hiding something of great value in the vineyard – the scene of their last defeat – the Scoobies, the Potentials, Giles, Wood and Dawn finally turned their backs on her . . . and kicked her out of her own home.

I had found the general reaction to the characters’ actions in "Empty Places" back in 2003 rather interesting. I realize that I should not have been amazed, considering human nature. Yet, I was. Some fans came to the conclusion that all of the characters had reacted badly to the situation. These fans even managed to pinpoint the characters’ fears and flaws that led to their individual decisions. But the majority of fans seem determined to place the blame of what happened on either Buffy or on those who had rejected her. In regard to the latter, many fans had vented their ire on a handful of characters.

Personally, I believe they were all at fault. To be honest, Buffy had not a good leader throughout Season Seven. This became painfully clear after she had assumed leadership over the Potentials. Instead of resorting to the usual methods she had utilized when leading the Scoobies against the Big Bads at the end of the previous seasons – listening to her friends and considering their suggestions – Buffy resorted to behaving like General von Summers by insisting that should accept her views as correct, ignoring any advice given by others and viewing herself as the law whose word should not be questioned. She painfully reminded me of the Watchers’ Council at their worst. Which should not have surprise me, considering her only guide on how to be a leader came from a Watcher. Namely, her Watcher . . . one Rupert Giles.

Giles’ own actions before this episode had contributed a great deal to the schism between himself and Buffy. He had been the one who had insisted that Buffy lead the Potentials. Also, he had taught her to be a killer, instead of a leader. And when she failed to become an effective leader - no surprise there - Giles had constantly complained about her ineffectiveness. To make matters worse, he had betrayed her by trying to arrange Spike's death behind her back . . . and never expressed any remorse for his actions. Naturally this had pissed off Buffy. But when she finally rejected his role as her authority figure, he became resentful and even more critical . . . and stabbed her in the back, again. Yet, the fans had ended up expressing more hostility toward characters like the Potentials (especially Kennedy and Rona), Robin Wood, Dawn and the Scoobies than toward Giles. I guess as a long established authority figure, they had considered Giles as an exempt from their hostility. Well, from the hostility of most fans. There had been those who kept claiming that Giles had changed during Season Seven. And there had been those who condemned him as much as they condemned the others. By the way, I never thought think Giles had changed. Well . . . not much. I believe that for once, his fear had threatened to overwhelm him. And I believe Buffy's view of him had changed.

The other characters' actions did not serve them very well. Fellow Scoobies Willow Rosenberg and Xander Berkeley seemed resentful of Buffy’s growing distance from them. Despite enjoying their friendship with her, both had occasionally demanded that she live up to her role as "the Slayer" for several years. Willow and Xander had constantly put Buffy on a pedestal. Yet at the same time, they had demanded that she remain as a close friend as long as possible. Buffy's younger sister, Dawn Summers, had harbored insecurities that had originally spawned from her own encounter with the First Evil in (7.07) "Conversations With Dead". Dawn's main fear had led her to wonder if Buffy cared more about being a Slayer than being her sister. This fear eventually led Dawn to finally reject Buffy’s role as authority figure in this episode. I am not saying that Dawn was wrong. She had every right to reject Buffy’s authority. Only, she did it by insisting that Buffy move out of the house . . . her sister’s house. I would not be surprised that Robin Wood still maintained a resentment against Buffy for choosing Spike – the vampire who had killed his mother in 1977 – over him in (7.17) "Lies My Mother Told Me", forgetting that he tried to get revenge against an individual who had changed from the vampire who had killed Nikki Wood. As for Faith . . . well, she had never really rejected Buffy’s authority. She only questioned it.

But the characters who has received the greatest ire from many fans over what happened in this episode were the Potentials – especially Kennedy and Rona. A good number of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" seemed to resent Rona for openly expressing doubt toward Buffy’s skills as a leader. Then again, many of the fans had been expressing hostility toward Rona since her first appearance. Why? She was sarcastic, always questioning Buffy's decision and was portrayed by African-American actress, Indigo. Apparently, a black Potential had even less right to question Buffy's authority than a white Potential. Yet, even more fans had resented Kennedy for not being Willow's new lover, following Tara Maclay's death in Season Six.
Unlike Willow, Tara and Willow's previous love interest - Daniel "Oz" Osbourne – Kennedy was an extrovert. Worse, she had an aggressive personality that many found offensive. Which I found a bit hypocritical, considering Willow's tendency to be the dominate partner in her previous romances. But the single biggest criticism that many fans had laid at the Potentials’ feet was their decision to reject Buffy as their leader. For some reason, many seemed to harbor the view that they had no right to reject Buffy, let alone question her decisions. They seemed to believe that the Potentials should have blindly followed Buffy, regardless of how they felt about her.

You know, I never fail to be amazed at how hypocritical people can be. Honestly. Take the relationship between Buffy and the Potentials in Season Seven for example. In the past seasons, Buffy's continuous attempts to maintain a personal life and resist Giles' attempts to turn her into a single-minded Slayer had drawn cheers from the viewers. When she had resisted and finally rejected the Watchers Council’s authority over her in Season Three’s (3.12) "Helpless", the fans cheered. When she had continuously questioned Professor Maggie Walsh and the Initiative’s demon hunting actions and encouraged boyfriend Riley Finn to do the same in Season Four, the fans cheered. And when Buffy had made it clear to the visiting members of the Watchers Council in Season Five’s (5.12) "Checkpoint" that they no longer had any power over her, the fans had erupted into rapture.

Then in Season Seven, Buffy became an authority figure. Actually, she became one following her mother’s death in late Season Five, when she became Dawn’s only guardian. But her interactions with the Potentials led her to become an authority figure on the same scale as Giles, Maggie Walsh, and the Watchers Council. And like those before her, Buffy made some very questionable judgment calls – including her decision to attack Caleb at the local vineyard without any real reconnaissance in "Dirty Girls". As Buffy had done so in the past, the Potentials rejected her as their authority figure. But since their authority figure happened to be Buffy . . . many fans had condemned them for not blindly following her.

Apparently, it was okay for Buffy to resist or reject the authority figures she had faced. But when she became an authority figure herself - and not a very good one at that, many fans decided that "no one" - especially the hated Potentials - had the right to resist or reject her. I hate to say this, but this could easily be construed as a bad case of double standards by those fans. They had no problems with Buffy rejecting authority figures. But they had refused to accept the Scoobies and especially the Potentials' rejection of Buffy as a leader. The fandom's waffling reeked of hypocrisy to me. What I found even more offensive is that after twenty years or so, many willing to condemn those who would do the same to Buffy after she became an authority figure reeked of hypocrisy to me. Although there are many fans who are beginning to understand that the Potentials and the Scoobies had every right to reject Buffy as their leader, there are still a good number of fans who believe otherwise. From their view, the main protagonist is always right.

"BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" (4.22) "Restless" 10th Anniversary Photo Gallery

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the landmark "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" episode called (4.22) "Restless". Written and directed by Josh Whedon, Nick Marck and written by Tracey Forbes, the episode is about a series of bizarre dreams that illustrated the four main characters' overall themes as well as provided extensive hints about future developments. Below is a photo gallery marking the anniversary of "Restless":


"BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" (4.22) "Restless" 10th Anniversary Photo Gallery

"The Essence of the First Slayer's Power"

”THE ESSENCE OF THE FIRST SLAYER’S POWER”

One of the more controversial characters that has appeared on ”BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER” happened to be the character known as the First Slayer. First introduced in the Season Four finale, (4.22) ”Restless”, the First Slayer’s presence stirred a great deal of controversy amongst the series’ fans and critics. However, I am not really interested in the controversies that have surrounded the character. I am more interested with her role as a demon slayer and how this role related to Buffy and other Slayers throughout history.

To clarify myself, I would have to start with the origins of the First Slayer. Thousands of years ago, three East African shamans became wary of the increasing demonic activity plaguing their community. To deal with the matter, the trio came up with the idea to create a supernaturally enhanced demon slayer. They kidnapped an adolescent girl named Sineya, staked her to one spot and implanted her with the essence of a demon. The possession entailed supernatural strength, stamina, a predatorial instinct, fast reflexes, rapid healing, intuition and prophetic dreams . . . enough abilities for a Slayer to face vampires and other supernatural bad guys. In other words, the three shamans committed supernatural rape upon an innocent girl in order to create a weapon they could utilize and control. But this article is not about the moral ramifications of the shamans’ act. It is about how the essence of the First Slayer related to the series’ leading character, Buffy Anne Summers.

Buffy and the other Scoobies – Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris and Watcher Rupert Giles – had spent most of Season Four dealing with the U.S. Army sponsored task force called the Initiative and the mess the latter had created in capturing and experimenting on demons. The organization’s biggest mistake turned out to be a human/demon Frankenstein-style hybrid created by the Initiative’s leading scientist, Dr. Maggie Walsh. After killing Dr. Walsh, this monster – named Adam – created more havoc throughout Sunnydale by killing innocents and recruiting other human/demon hybrids (read: vampires) to his cause for a new order. In the second-to-last episode, (4.21) “Primeval”, Buffy and the Scoobies finally managed to defeat the near invincible Adam. They did so by using a spell to invoke the powers of the First Slayer to be put into Buffy’s body. Each Scooby represented the main attributes of the First Slayer’s powers – the Spirit, the Heart, the Mind and the Hands – in the spell. Willow acted as symbol of the First Slayer’s Spirit, Xander as the Heart, Giles as the Mind and Buffy as the Hands. By invoking the First Slayer’s power through Buffy, the Scoobies created a formidable foe that led to Adam’s defeat and death.

Many Buffyverse fans saw the spell invoked in ”Primeval” as an argument why Buffy should never separate from her friends and Watcher. They saw the spell as an argument for the old saying - ”no man is an island”. But the spell led me to wonder about Buffy’s role as a Slayer and her connection to the other Scoobies. If those African shamans had created a Slayer that possessed enough strength to defeat someone like Adam, did that same strength ever get passed on to the Slayers that followed her? Slayers that included Faith . . . or Buffy? Or did Buffy and the other Slayers that followed only inherited one particular attribute of the First Slayer – namely the Hands, which all Slayers use to kill their prey?

If the First Slayer did pass on all of the abilities of her power to her successors, why did Buffy need the Scoobies to represent the Heart, the Spirit and the Mind of Sineya? Surely, she could have summoned all of those attributes within her to defeat Adam. Or perhaps Buffy’s problems in dealing with Adam had originated with her two Watchers – Rupert Giles and Merrick.

One of the aspects from Season Seven that I found interesting was Buffy’s transformation into a leader of adolescent girls with the ’the Potential’ to become the Slayer. Unfortunately, Buffy’s introduction as a leader nearly ended in disaster, when the Potentials, the Scoobies, Dawn and everyone else rejected her leadership and tossed her out of the Summers house in (7.19) “Empty Places”. Spike and Andrew were in Gilroy on a mission for Giles and missed the big event. Their rejection seemed understandable, considering that Buffy was on the road to becoming an ineffectual leader. And who is to blame? Buffy’s Watchers – Merrick and Giles. I found it ironic that Giles literally dumped the Potentials onto Buffy’s lap and told her that she needed to become a general. The problem was that neither Giles or Merrick ever taught Buffy how to lead. Instead, they taught her how to stalk and kill demons. They taught her how to utilize ’the Hands’ of the First Slayer . . . and nothing more. To Giles, Merrick and the other Watchers, being a Slayer only meant being a killer of demons. I can only wonder if other Slayers between Sineya and Buffy were given the same limited lessons.

But what does this say about the other Scoobies’ roles in the battle against Adam? More specifically, what does this say about their roles in Buffy’s life? I am not advocating the idea that Buffy should have ended her friendship with the other three. But was it really necessary to invoke the First Slayer’s other three traits – the Spirit, the Heart, and the Mind – through the Scoobies? Personally, I believe that Buffy could have found a way to use all four traits on her own . . . if she had bothered to try. If she had inherited the power of Sineya like all of the other Slayers before her, I see no reason why she or any other Slayer throughout history could not learn to embrace all four of the First Slayer’s attributes as their own.

Or perhaps Buffy had already began to embrace the full power of the First Slayer by late Season Seven. She managed to prove that the old saying - ’no man is an island’ - is not always true. After being booted by the others in ”Empty Places” and comforted by a returning Spike in (7.20) “Touched”, Buffy set out on her own to retrieve a magical scythe from another formidable foe, namely a misogynist priest named Caleb, endowed with the strength of the First Evil. And she succeeded. On her own. After retrieving the scythe, Buffy went on to rescue a wounded Faith and a group of Potentials who had wandered into a trap set by Caleb and the First Evil. Again, she achieved this on her own, using her Spirit, Heart, Mind and Hands.

Does this mean that Buffy should seriously consider that she might not always need the Scoobies by her side? Frankly . . . yes. Perhaps no one man or woman is an island, but each and every one of us is always alone, no matter how many people we surround ourselves with. With the Buffy saga continuing in comic books, perhaps Joss Whedon considered a new lesson for his main character and the fans – there are times when we need our friends, family or some kind of help with us; and there are times when we have to face the fact that each of us is alone. And sometimes, we have to set about on a task . . . by ourselves. If Buffy ever truly learn that lesson, she will truly learn to utilize the full power of the First Slayer’s essence on a regular basis.