#i LOVE that distinction of faith is buffy if she didn’t have the people/support/love that she had and kendra is buffy if slaying was All

[thechosenthree]

via @bericas

My probably unpopular opinion is I’d trade Faith if it meant we could keep Kendra

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 7x05 Selfless

aka be careful what you... you know the drill

We did it, guys! We made it to the last season! Also, hello if you’re new, and stumbled upon this without context. As usual, these impromptu text posts are the product of my fevered mind as I rant about the episode I just watched for an hour (okay, sometimes perhaps two). Anything goes!

And in today’s episode, it’s Anya time!

Selfless as a title is a word play on the two different Anya’s we meet at the beginning and the end of the episode. Anya or Aud in her old life was a bit of a misfit, but she was also selfless in her earnestness. And the Anya of today is struggling to find not just her place in the world but her entire identity. Her sense of self.

I know that some people dislike and find Anya’s background to be a bit of a retcon. Like how she apparently was always considered a weird person, and her behavior wasn’t just the product of her being a vengeance demon for a 1000 years. And I think those criticisms were in my head during the earlier flashbacks, and maybe that’s why I find those to be the weakest parts of an otherwise excellent episode.

But as the story went on, and we met Anya at different points in her life, I realized, that that won’t be my take here. No, I like that Aud was somewhat of a well-intentioned outcast. It explains why Anya didn’t bother to get familiar with human social norms – she never quite fit them in the first place, and she was even less interested once she became a vengeance demon.

Also, I’m putting this out there without much more elaboration because I don’t have the knowledge to expand upon it, but Anya may be on the autistic spectrum. So her character always having some of her socially non-conforming traits feels in line with that.

This backstory and Anya’s route to vengeance also fills in some interesting parts of her character. Anya was angry with Olaf, but it wasn’t some fiery rage that took her over. And it wasn’t just Olaf she was angry with. Anya felt slighted by the world, not just alone, but rejected by society. She didn’t have anyone or anything to turn to.

There’s also a pattern here of Anya hyperfocusing on something or someone in her life. First it was Olaf – it didn’t matter that the town didn’t accept her, because she had Olaf to build her life around. And when he betrayed her, she had vengeance. Halfrek even remarks upon how Anya wouldn’t enjoy life around her and was all work no play, but Anya didn’t even understand what she meant by that. She had vengeance. Vengeance was her life. And that was enough.

And then, when she didn’t have that, there was Xander. In season 4 especially you can see this singular focus Anya has for Xander. It’s only by season 5 that she even starts to integrate and connect with the rest of the Scoobies – which I think is part of why returning to vengeance proves such a difficult task for her.

Losing Xander made Anya want to return to her old patterns, but she was unable to put all her focus back into vengeance, because she didn’t lose her old connections. Not to the Scoobies, and not even Xander.

Anya’s stuck between worlds. And what’s even more painful, is the fact that she didn’t use to feel that way when she was a vengeance demon. While in the human world she was constantly looked down on and rejected, she fit right in with D’Hoffryn’s family. But now, she’s criticized for not committing to vengeance enough.

And make no mistake, she never felt quite accepted by the Scoobies either. Not all the way. But it was still more than she was used to, and it allowed her to make some real human connections. The first in millennia.

It was enough to keep her grounded to the world and humanity. Enough so that she could find no enjoyment in inflicting pain.

It actually hurt her.

But she felt trapped. If she couldn’t commit to vengeance she had no place with D’Hoffryn anymore, and she had nowhere else to go. So she tried, even if it made her feel horrible, maybe hoping that if she went too far, it’d numb her to the pain. Or that if she passed the point of no return, she could finally focus back on vengeance.

And there’s someone who definitely gets that. Willow.

So, following my big lightbulb moment about how Willow and Anya would actually work perfectly as a season 7 ship, Selfless just proved to be even more fodder to that idea. But you don’t even need to ship it to appreciate the dynamic of what’s happening here.

When Willow meets Anya on campus, and realizes that something’s off when she sees the blood on her hands, she doesn’t confront Anya about it. She knows better than that.

Instead she enters the frat house (it’s always a frat house, isn’t it), already expecting the outcome. She also has a weird moment of Dark Willow as she’s doing a protection spell against the spider monster, which… I wanna talk about that?

So, I distinctly remember interpreting Dark Willow as separate from regular Willow during my first time with the show, someone who emerges when Willow uses magic. Which is a dull take that I don’t really like these days, but I can also see teen-me coming to the conclusion from this scene, seeing the abrupt change in Willow’s personality.

But in reality, that outburst is Willow lashing out at the girl who made the wish that killed all those boys in the frat house. It’s not even just the trauma of seeing all those bodies; it’s the realization of what it means for Anya, and the inevitable confrontation with Buffy.

So instead Willow keeps those details to herself for the time being. She only tells Buffy that there’s a spider demon out for blood, while she goes to talk to Anya herself.

WILLOW:  “Anya, listen to me. You're in trouble. You know it. I'm here to help you.” ANYA:  “You're here to— Well, that's great, Willow. Flayed anybody lately, have you? How quickly they forget!” WILLOW:  “I haven't forgotten one second of it.” ANYA:  “What do you want?” WILLOW:  “I want to help you.”

Anya’s broken repetition of “they got what they deserved”? God. This scene is so good.

Still, when she doesn’t manage to convince Anya, Willow knows what she has to do. She tells Buffy.

Now, I’ll circle back to this scene, because we’ll also need to talk about Buffy, but for our purposes now, I want to highlight how the Scoobies see the situation. Buffy knows that as soon as Anya becomes a real threat, she has to deal with her accordingly. Xander meanwhile refuses to even engage with the idea that they might need to kill Anya to stop her.

And Willow? Willow’s right there in-between. She understands fully the threat Anya poses, but also the inner conflict present. She doesn’t argue or fight Buffy on killing Anya, but she also refuses to help. She doesn’t go with her to support or stop her. She can’t.

When Xander and Buffy argue, they bring up Willow’s case, but Buffy says that it was different, because Willow’s human. However, you get the sense that Willow herself isn’t making that distinction. She’d expect Buffy to try and stop her by all means necessary if it came down to it once again.

But when Buffy tells Xander to help her find another way, it ends up inspiring Willow. So she uses the amulet D’Hoffryn gave her back in season 4 to summon him, and to offer Anya something that nobody else bothered.

A choice.

So, essentially, Willow is the one that saved Anya in this episode. Not by any life-saving grand gesture, but by giving her a chance to decide for herself. Even if it meant for Anya to choose her own death over those she caused recently.

But D’Hoffryn of course had to go and twist that choice, where he instead killed Halfrek to make Anya suffer. This is the most overtly malicious and threatening D’Hoffryn ever gets, living up to his vengeance demon patriarch title. We’ve seen him prey upon these women in their moments of weakness, and here, he finally shows his real colors openly.

Anya’s devastated. This was her oldest, and for centuries, only friend. And she died in her stead. It’s cruel.

But Anya now Is also free. And not just from vengeance, but from her dependence from it. Or Xander. She’s free and she’s lost, but now she has the opportunity to find herself yet again.

And then there’s Buffy, who knows exactly who she is.

(On a sidenote, how delightful is it when Buffy just throws the axe up to the trees to catch the spider demon? I love her so much, you guys don’t even know.)

During the majority of the show, Buffy struggled with her identity, with who she is, what it means, what she’d have to do, what her purpose is… But by season 7, she’s mostly settled into her role, embracing all that came with it.

But that in itself will lead to her struggle this season. Buffy has the power to fight evil, and protect the rest of the world, so she feels responsible to do so. And she knows that she can’t expect someone else to make the hard choices, because there’s no one else. She can’t make someone else wear her burdens, and she can’t trust them to make her own choices for her. No one has the answers. In the end, we’re all just human.

Still, you may ask, isn’t Buffy human too? Doesn’t she make mistakes all the same? And the answer is yes. She can mess up, and if she does, it can affect the lives of everyone around her. That’s why it’s not the final end to Buffy’s arc.

When Faith told Buffy in season 3 that they were the law, she rejected it. But now, she echoes it. Of course, back then, Faith was trying to deflect responsibility, while Buffy emphasizes her own responsibility using the same words. Both roads lead to a sense of superiority nevertheless, it’s just one is an empty façade, masking an inner struggle, while the other is an acceptance of the power and responsibility that was already thrust upon it.

I don’t think Buffy’s approach of taking this all upon herself is the right answer ultimately, and neither does she by the end. But much like with Anya, she doesn’t see another way, and it’s an understandable response to how everyone’s been relying on her to make these decisions for many seasons now.

That’s what stings about Xander’s attitude here. They’ve been all expecting Buffy to deal with things, whether it’s her own trauma or the apocalypse, to take responsibility and make the hard choices for them; and then turn around and judge her for it. It’s also what makes the scene so cathartic, as Buffy calls out Xander on his own hypocrisy.

XANDER:  “You think we haven't seen all this before? The part where you just cut us all out. Just step away from everything human and act like you're the law. If you knew what I felt—“ BUFFY:  “I killed Angel! Do you even remember that? I would have given up everything I had to be with— I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this life. And I put a sword through his heart because I had to.” […] XANDER:  “This is different.” BUFFY:  “It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line, and that is always going to be me. You get down on me for cutting myself off, but in the end the slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook. No all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law.”

Still, Xander has a point in arguing too of course. Someone has to argue for Anya’s humanity and challenge Buffy’s authority on life and death.

It’s also worth mentioning though that by the end, Buffy also closes with the aforementioned “then please find another way”.

Buffy isn’t necessarily shutting Willow and Xander out in the way she’d used to. She just assumed authority, made the call and asked for their help.

Oh yeah, and also, we finally get a resolution to Xander’s lie at the end of season 2. Kind of. It gets kind of brushed past, but it’s out in the open now. After 4 and a half seasons.

I just love this show and its stupid brilliant long character arcs.

[wazafam]

As allegations of abuse continue to mount against Joss Whedon, it has become increasingly difficult to keep track of which cast members of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel have made specific allegations of professional misconduct. It is important to make this distinction, as many have stepped forward to voice their emotional support for their co-stars without speaking specifically about any abuse they may have experienced personally.

Once a beloved nerd culture icon, Joss Whedon has fallen far and fallen fast in the past few years. In 2017, Whedon's writing began to face increased scrutiny following the leak of his script for a Wonder Woman movie, which many felt was overly focused on Steve Trevor's heroics and turned Diana Prince into a supporting character in her own movie, as well as descriptive passages that seemed to oversexualize Diana. Similar issues were raised by MCU fans over his script for Avengers: Age of Ultron and the revelation that Black Widow saw herself as a monster because she couldn't have children. Shortly after that, his ex-wife, Kai Cole, wrote a piece regarding his repeated infidelities and accused him of abusing his power on set, explaining that Whedon, who she divorced in 2016, had used their relationship "so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist." Since then, a few actors from his shows have corroborated Cole's accusations and hinted at others, but it's been nothing like the number of actors stepping forward now.

Related: Avengers: Age of Ultron Was Marvel's Biggest Creative Failure

These problematic events fueled the most recent wave of controversy, which came after actor Ray Fisher accused Whedon of unprofessional conduct on the set of Justice League. His accusations first broke in June 2020. Recently, Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase on both Buffy and Angel, affirmed her support of Fisher's claims on social media and went on to go into greater detail regarding her own bad experiences working with Joss Whedon. This led to a tsunami of support as other Buffy and Angel alumni surged forward to support Carpenter and offer their accountings.

While most of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel developed over time, few characters changed as drastically over the course of both series as Charisma Carpenter's character, Cordelia Chase, who appeared in both series. When Carpenter became pregnant during Angel Season 4, her pregnancy and absence were explained by Cordelia becoming possessed by a supernatural being who intended to use Cordelia as a means to bring about her own rebirth. Cordelia later lapsed into a coma and was killed off during Angel Season 5. While there were rumors that Whedon had written Carpenter out of the show because of her pregnancy, Carpenter never went into great detail about any discussions she might have had with Whedon. At a convention in 2009 (via Vanity Fair), she revealed that she had thought he was mad at her for getting pregnant but softened it by saying she could understand his frustration at how "sometimes living your life gets in the way of maybe the creator’s vision for the future."

Recently, however, Carpenter went into more detail on her Twitter account, confirming that she was questioned as part of the WarnerMedia investigation into Whedon's abusive history. Describing Whedon as "casually cruel," Carpenter recalled how he frequently threatened to fire her, called her fat in front of their co-workers when she was four months pregnant, played favorites, pitted people against one another to compete for his approval, and generally acted in a passive-aggressive manner. She specifically noted that Joss Whedon's on-set abuse also came in the form of him attacking her religious beliefs and berating her over a rosary tattoo she had gotten. Perhaps most shockingly, Whedon reportedly asked her in a closed-door meeting if she intended to keep the baby and, when she confirmed that she was, began scheduling her to shoot her scenes at 1 AM in the morning, despite her doctor's orders that she shorten her workdays and avoid late-night shoots.

Related: Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Actresses Who Almost Played Buffy Summers

The first members of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer production team to come out with detailed accounts of Joss Whedon's abuse were there from the very beginning. Jeff Pruitt served as the series' stunt coordinator for its first four seasons and Sophia Crawford worked as Sarah Michelle Gellar's stunt double during that same period. The two began dating while working on the show and eventually married, but Whedon's abuse and��egomania caused both to leave the stunt team after Season 4. Pruitt was the first to declare his departure and Whedon reportedly told Crawford she could stay on as Buffy's stunt double but only if she agreed to stop dating Pruitt. When she refused, Whedon reportedly threatened both Pruitt and Crawford, warning them that "no one will ever hire you again after this." and that he'd ruin their careers. Pruitt also alleged that keyloggers had been placed on his computer and those of a few other employees to track every single email they received (via Metro UK).

Originally introduced as minor villain in Buffy Season 2, Spike went on to become a full member of the ensemble and one of Buffy's love interests thanks to James Masters' charming performance and popularity with the fanbase. This reportedly did not please Whedon, who originally had drastically different plans for the snarky punk vampire. This displeasure manifested in a behind the scenes encounter between Joss Whedon and James Marsters, where, according to Marsters, Whedon "backed me up against a wall one day and he was just like, ‘I don’t care how popular you are, kid, you’re dead. You hear me? Dead. Dead!'" While originally writing this statement off as Whedon being "angry at the situation" rather than at him personally, the actor came to reconsider after learning of the allegations against Whedon.

More recently, Marsters made a statement of support for Whedon's accusers, regarding the accounts of his female co-stars while acknowledging his own ignorance of the abuse they suffered at Whedon's hands. Describing his own time as Spike as "not without challenges," Marsters expressed his dismay over "the experiences of some of the cast." This would seem to confirm reports that Whedon was careful about keeping his harassment of the actresses he directed behind closed doors.

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the lead role of Buffy Summers, has yet to comment specifically on any of the allegations made by her co-stars. However, Gellar did post a statement of support for "all survivors of abuse" on her personal Instagram account, saying that she would not be making any further statements at this time as she was "more focused on raising my family and surviving a pandemic currently." Gellar also said that while she was proud to have her name associated with Buffy Summers, "I don't want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon."

Related: Age of Ultron Is Everything Wrong With Joss Whedon Storytelling

Michelle Trachtenberg played Dawn Summers, Buffy's younger sister, who was introduced into the series in the Buffy Season 5 premiere when Trachtenberg was 14 years old. Trachtenberg shared Sarah Michelle Gellar's comments on her Instagram, but made an additional statement hinting at her own traumatic experiences with Joss Whedon. Without going into detail, Trachtenberg said that a rule arose on the Buffy set that Whedon was "not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again," describing his behavior in the incident that led to the creation of this rule as "not appropriate behavior.... very. Not. Appropriate" while reminding people she was only a teenager during her time on Buffy.

While the rest of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel cast have yet to come forward with their own allegations of mistreatment, many of them have confirmed the accounts of their co-stars or offered their emotional support. Amber Benson, who played Tara on Buffy, confirmed Carpenter's claims on her personal Twitter account, saying that "Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top." Eliza Dushku, who played the slayer Faith before starring in Whedon's series Dollhouse, praised Charisma Carpenter's post, saying it was "powerful, painful and painted a picture we’ll collectively never un-see or un-know." Emma Caulfield, who played the ex-demon Anya on Buffy, and J. August Richards (who played Charles Gunn on Angel) made similar statements of support on their social media. Finally, Anthony Stewart Head, who played the Scoobies' mentor Rupert Giles, expressed his support for his co-stars in an interview with This Morning, while discussing how he was "running through my memories, thinking, ‘What did I miss?’ Because this is not a man saying, ‘I didn’t see it, so it didn’t happen.’ I can’t—I am gutted, I’m seriously gutted."

More: All The Joss Whedon Abuse & Misconduct Allegations Explained

Buffy Controversy Explained: All The Allegations Against Joss Whedon from https://ift.tt/2LUdW0E

[marigoldbaker]

imperfections (40/?)

ao3

y’all this update came about because i reread most of the braveryverse over the weekend and remembered why i loved it so!!!!! enjoy!!!! i’m going to throw myself into this. and the soulmate fic. and the office au. and the 50,000 other projects i’ve started. yikes

Xander woke up early and felt a moment of confusion before remembering the fight he’d had with his dad last night. It wasn’t the worst that had ever happened, just loud and drunken accusations from his dad while his mom stood tight-lipped and washed dishes, but for some reason Xander had completely lost his temper and ran. He’d pushed past his dad and ran down to the basement and grabbed the emergency bag Willow had made for him when they were in freshman year and ran the fifteen blocks to Giles and Ms. Calendar’s.

Giles stepped into the room and sat down in the easy chair, looking supremely uncomfortable.

“Uh, hey,” said Xander awkwardly, not sure how to deal with Giles this early in the morning. “I can, I can leave,” he fumbled, all of his determined conviction dissipating at the concept of being unwelcome.

“No, it’s fine.” Giles took off his glasses, polishing them furiously. “Jenny’s under the impression that—well, that your home life isn’t exactly ideal, and she wanted me to extend an invitation for you to spend some time here. A-at least until you’ve figured out a more permanent living situation.”

This was when Xander caught sight of Faith, leaning against a wall and watching him from behind a history textbook in the kitchen. “You sure you guys have enough space for me?” he said awkwardly, trying not to let on that he’d seen Faith listening in.

“Not for anything permanent,” Ms. Calendar answered shortly, entering the room and sitting down on the arm of Giles’s chair, “but you can crash on our couch for the rest of the school year if that’s the way things are looking with your parents.”

Xander breathed out. Ms. Calendar looked unusually angry, but he got the sense that it wasn’t directed at him. “I don’t—I don’t know,” he said finally. “I—ran away, once, a few years back, but I ended up going back."

Ms. Calendar and Giles exchanged a look that Xander didn’t quite get. Then Ms. Calendar said in a strained tone of voice, “You should have told us things with your parents were bad enough for you to want to run away, Xander.”

“Right, when you’d just been tortured by a crazy vampire and Giles had skipped town because he couldn’t deal?” Xander was being awful, he knew that, but if they focused in on how awful he was being then maybe they wouldn’t get as upset about the other thing he’d just said. He didn’t want their pity. “You had a lot on your plate last summer. No way I was adding to it.”

Giles looked down and didn’t say anything.

Ms. Calendar nodded to herself. “Okay,” she said quietly. Then, louder, “Okay. Xander, you are staying here. Rupert, Faith, we’re not going in to school today, I’ll call us all in sick. This is—” She drew in a sharp, pained breath. “You should have told us,” she said, and exited the room, hurrying down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Giles’s expression was unreadable, his eyes downcast.

“That was a low blow on my part,” said Xander awkwardly. “About you not being able to deal. Sorry about that.”

“The worst accusations are the ones with truth to them,” said Giles quietly, and looked up. “If the people around me are getting hurt and I am so willing to overlook it on so many different occasions, it’s safe to say that I, as you so aptly put it, can’t deal.”

“Yeah, well,” Xander shrugged, feeling suddenly awful, “it’s not your job to take care of me. It’s your job to train Buffy.”

Giles looked over his shoulder and down the hallway. In the kitchen, Ms. Calendar was leaning down to place her hand on Faith’s shoulder and saying something that Xander couldn’t hear. “I think I need to re-evaluate my job options,” said Giles.

Giles drove everyone down to a diner in the same part of town as the Bronze. While Xander and Faith were having a stilted conversation about school and putting overly gratuitous amounts of syrup on their waffles, Giles and Jenny went out under the guise of getting money from an ATM and had the first genuine alone time they’d managed in weeks.

“I feel awful,” said Jenny miserably. “I mean, he made allusions, but I never thought—god, and Willow’s parents are never around either, and I just ignored her in favor of Faith, Rupert why are there so many kids in my life that I’m doing such a shitty job of taking care of—”

“It truly isn’t as simple as that,” Giles managed. He felt even worse than Jenny. “You—you’ve been trying to mentor and support three children at the same time, completely on your own. I’ve been single-mindedly focused on you and Buffy, and I haven’t once considered that the rest of the children could use my presence as well.” He took off his glasses, polishing them even though he knew they were clean. He didn’t want to look at Jenny. “This is more my fault than it is yours.”

“You know,” said Jenny, “I kinda wish it was still last year. My biggest problems then were relationship drama and a homicidal vampire targeting me.”

Giles tried to laugh. It didn’t really work.

“You think he’ll be okay on our couch for now?” Jenny asked, still sounding thoroughly wrung out. “The house isn’t really big enough for you, me, him, Faith, and a bunch of your books.”

“We’ll work out something more permanent eventually,” Giles answered. “Right now, I think it’s most important that we’re there for him.”

Jenny snorted. “You realize the irony in saying that when we’re walking down the street away from him, right?”

“You make a good point.” Giles took Jenny’s hand, turning them back around toward the diner.

Faith had finished her waffles and had ordered herself and Xander two milkshakes by the time Giles and Jenny got back. “It’s a celebration breakfast,” she was explaining with determined cheer. “This is how you celebrate getting away from shitty parents. Day after I left my mom, I—” She stopped talking when she saw them both, taking a long sip of her milkshake to cover it up.

Jenny sat down next to Faith and hugged her, hard. Giles, after a moment of frightened hesitation, sat down next to Xander and began a panicked mental debate with himself about whether or not Xander now expected a hug.

“I’m fine,” Faith was saying to Jenny, but her voice caught a little and she hugged Jenny back. “Sheesh. Just—trying to be helpful.”

“I’m very proud of you,” Jenny whispered, and let go of Faith, turning to Giles and Xander. “Rupert, calm down, I don’t think Xander needs a hug. Xander, you want any more food?”

Xander shrugged distantly. “I’m good,” he said. “I’m full, I think.”

“Cool.” Jenny took a sip of her half-finished coffee. “We should get going, then.”

“Jenny, you can’t just have coffee and count that as breakfast,” Giles objected.

Jenny waved a hand dismissively. “Xander, Faith, we’re going to drop you off at the house so that Rupert and I can run a few errands,” she said.

“Errands?” Faith echoed, frowning. “What kind of errands?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” said Jenny in a suspiciously breezy tone of voice.

Giles had the distinct sense that whatever they were doing would probably upset one or both of the children. Honestly, the fact that this woman had hidden her secret motives from him for months last year was something he would never be able to understand; she was absolutely horrible at hiding her motives right now. Gracefully, he covered for her. “Groceries,” he said helpfully.

“And we can’t come why?” Faith inquired.

Xander smiled a little, looking up. “Yeah, last I remember it was you guys getting into a fight at the grocery store,” he quipped, which made Giles feel a bit better.

“Because we want to maintain our dignity and pretend that that was an isolated incident,” said Jenny with relief, shooting Giles a thank-you look. “So we’re going to drive you two home and you’re going to watch cartoons while Rupert and I buy groceries.”

They didn’t buy groceries.

Tony Harris had left for work, Jessica Harris was out actually buying groceries, and Jenny (being the impulsive and furious woman that she was) was now attempting to break into his house with a bobby pin. “That son of a bitch, scaring his kid enough to run him out of the house,” she was muttering ominously. “I’m going to take Xander’s stuff and I’m going to take a few other things too just so that asshole can—”

Placing a calming hand on the small of Jenny’s back, Giles reminded her, “First of all, dear, I’m fairly certain that the maneuver you’re attempting only works with practice. Also, you’ve overlooked the fact that his key is under the welcome mat.”

Jenny looked up. “What? Oh. Oh, god, Rupert, why did I not think of that—”

Giles turned Jenny away from the door and into his arms, reaching around her to unlock the door. She turned her face into his jacket, resting her cheek on his shoulder very briefly before they broke apart. “Do you know what we need?” he inquired.

“I don’t know,” said Jenny. “Everything. I don’t know.” She opened the door, hurrying into the house. “Find a bag somewhere, just, just take everything out to the car.”

Giles leaned against the doorframe, suddenly exhausted. There were too many moving pieces in his life, all of a sudden, too many things he’d invested himself in. Part of himself wanted to re-enter that mentality of the Council being the most important part of his life, but the Council wouldn’t condone what he was doing right now, and something about that made Giles more than a little certain that he wasn’t the type of Watcher they’d want.

Maybe he wasn’t the Watcher type at all. Most other Watchers didn’t have a past that involved joining a rebellious demon-raising cult and having a clearly unstable romantic relationship with a clearly unstable chaos mage. Most other Watchers had already accepted a solitary life as fact—

Jenny threw a bag of clothing down the stairs. “Honey,” she called, sounding stretched thin, “I get that you’re feeling awful, because I do too, but we really need to speed things up here if we’re going to get out of this house without getting caught.”

This’ll make truly excellent material for my Watcher diaries, Giles thought as he picked up the bag of clothing and exited towards Jenny’s car. Breaking into a civilian home. He picked up the bag, taking it out to the car.

Jenny came down to the car with two more bags, both significantly full. “There wasn’t actually a lot of stuff,” she said, shoving the bags violently into the backseat of her car. “Just a lot of clutter. I’m gonna have to apologize to Xander; this isn’t exactly the neatest packing job.”

Giles placed the bag of clothing down and pulled Jenny into his arms. She made a choked noise and buried her face in his shoulder, and some part of him felt comforted by the certainty of her. He felt like he was on the verge of figuring out something important, but he couldn’t quite discern what just yet.

[itsclydebitches]

Buffy 3.07: “Revelations,” Morality, and a Healthy Dose of Hypocrisy

I’m massively late to this party (is twenty years fashionable??) but I’m watching Buffy for the first time and have feelings~ about “Revelations.”

For those who don’t recall or who haven’t seen the show, this is the episode where Xander ‘catches’ (aka spies) on Buffy and Angel together, and rather than confronting her about it and making even the slightest attempt to understand why she’d keep this secret (not that any of them did that regarding why Buffy ran away…), he immediately went to tell the whole Scoobie gang so they could stage an “intervention.” As you can imagine, it doesn’t go too well.

And as I’m sure you can tell, I’m not the biggest fan of Xander, or the gang’s characterization this season. I could write whole essays—and frankly I just might—on how they consistently treat Buffy like absolute shit. But that’s not this post. Right now I want to deconstruct the utter hypocrisy at work in this episode.

Seriously. WTF.

Ultimately the decision the gang comes to is that Buffy is blinded by her love of Angel, which is true, but the problem I have with this is that at no point do they or the narrative acknowledge that they’re all blinded by love, particularly when it comes to romance and supernatural situations. To name just a few: 

Xander has consistently been blinded by lust (cough*objectifying women*cough) and it has put him into circumstances where he’s nearly been eaten and/or killed, requiring that the others save him. It’s enough of an issue that they’ve made it into a running gag rather than acknowledging the problems inherent in Xander’s Nice Guy-ness. 

Giles can think of nothing but saving Jenny when she’s possessed by the demon that he created and later puts himself and the others in danger when he tries to avenger her death. 

Cordelia has a small moment (again played for laughs) where she thinks Xander has been turned into a deadly sea monster and promises to still love and take care of him, going so far as to buy him bath toys to play with. 

And then there’s Willow.

The above examples are just a small sample of moments where the gang is willing to put aside ‘the greater good’ for their own love interests—without extending that courtesy to Buffy—but for me the Willow/Oz pairing is easily the most overt comparison. Both Oz and Angel:

Were bitten by supernatural creatures and then turned into that creature. 

Are victims who in no way welcomed this change. 

Pose a threat to society because of their change. 

Have two distinct sides: Oz is not the wolf and Angel is not the demon.

The issue it that the characters continually muddle Angel’s personalities while keeping Oz’s distinct. (They want to make Angel into a metaphor for an abusive boyfriend SO BADLY and it doesn’t work). In “Beauty and the Beasts,” just two episodes before “Revelations,” for a while there’s some pretty damning evidence that Oz escaped his cage and killed someone, but at no point is he blamed for this. Everyone is unfailingly supportive, reminding him that he’s not the wolf and that they’ll do everything in their power to keep him safe. But why? Xander and the others made it very clear last season and in “Revelations” that they think Buffy should kill Angel (which, reminder, she did) because he’s a threat. The fact that he might sleep with Buffy and might find happiness and that might remove his soul again is enough to warrant his execution. But then there’s Oz who for three nights a month becomes a literal, not a hypothetical danger. Oz who could easily escape that cage (because if Hyde!Pete can rip it off why not a werewolf?). 

Oz who could not only kill people but turn them too (a lot like a vampire). Oz who has no cure for his affliction—the gang knows now that they can restore Angel’s soul should it be lost again. They can’t do anything for Oz except hope to keep him contained. All it would take it one mistake for him to do just as much damage as Angelus.

Or rather, all it takes is one idiot, selfish boy.

 Xander stands proud in “Revelations,” supposedly on the moral high ground, yelling at Buffy for putting them all in danger by keeping Angel a secret, and no one reminds him that he fell asleep while watching Oz. That he knew Oz was a danger, promised Willow he’d stay up all night, happily played the good friend/hero… and then immediately stretched out and deliberately went to sleep. That’s not an excusable ‘well he’s a teenager’ mistake. That’s Xander revealing that he doesn’t think Oz is a true threat… but Angel is.

So what’s the difference between them?

Oz’s violence is mindless, yes, while Angelus’ is calculated. And Angelus killed Jenny, which goes a long way towards explaining the gang’s hatred. It’s hard to look at the same face and acknowledge that it was a different person who committed the deed—Oz has it ‘easier’ in that his transformation is overt. His other side is a literal animal while Angelus wears Angel’s own face. But I think the hypocrisy goes deeper than this. At this point I’m convinced that Xander is still ‘in love’ with Buffy. Or, to put it more honestly, he wants what he can’t have. He and Cordelia never got along, but he wanted her because she was the hottest girl in school. He now has the hottest girl in school and wants Willow instead—but only now that she’s with Oz and unavailable. Oz isn’t a threat to Xander though because Willow wants Xander back. He’s not fighting Oz for Willow… like he’s been fighting Angel for Buffy. Since day one Xander has been beyond blunt about not liking Angel because Buffy actually likes him back and he’s wanted him out of her life since day one too. The fact that they now have legitimate reasons to be wary of Angel doesn’t change the fact that Xander wants him dead purely because he ‘won’ Buffy. He can claim it’s because of Jenny’s death, but I honestly don’t buy that for a second.

Xander wants Angel dead because he’s competition. Cordelia wants him dead because she cares more about her own safety than any moral nuance. Oz is indifferent to a lot of this, but if ANYONE should be sticking up for a guy dealing with supernatural shit outside of his control, it’s him (though of course he doesn’t). Willow only mildly sticks up for Buffy’s secret keeping to alleviate her own guilt over seeing Xander. And Giles…

Well, we come right back to this issue of blindness. At this point in the show Buffy is beginning to acknowledge nuance in her job: vampires are not inherently evil (Angel), sometimes they can do good things even if it’s for selfish reasons (Spike), sometimes it’s worth letting them go if they’re not a major threat (those Southern brothers), etc. Buffy is beginning to see gray in a job that was previously straight forward. Giles, meanwhile, still sees in black and white. He and the rest of the gang only view a vampire as ‘good’ when it serves their interests (Angel saving Willow, providing them with information, etc.) but once they’re no longer useful they should be put down. They shouldn’t be fought for like they would a real friend. Meanwhile someone like Oz is always good and should be protected regardless of the danger they pose (like leaving a window open…). Giles proves that he, like the rest of them, is unable to distinguish between Angel and Angelus like he does Oz and the Wolf when he says, “I must remind you that Angel tortured me. For hours. For pleasure.” No. Angel didn’t. Angelus did. But more importantly he follows that with,

“You have no respect for me, or the job I perform.”

That right there is the problem. The job Giles performs is to help Buffy kill supernatural creatures and beyond their love of Oz, Buffy is the only one acknowledging that not all supernatural creatures should be killed, indiscriminately. I believe that Buffy has a HUGE amount of respect for Giles himself (I adore these two honestly lol), but Giles is very traditional and blindly accepts that ‘how it’s always been done’ is the way things should be done. Buffy, meanwhile, has always questioned that. It used to be just in a ‘why can’t Slayers have a life outside of slaying?’ way. Now she’s positioned in direct contrast to Faith who kills not only without a thought, but also with great pleasure.

The rest of the gang needs to start acknowledging that both the job and their morals might need some tweaking. Buffy is no saint herself, but they need to help her work through all this, not yell at her for reveling in the exact same behavior they are all engaging in.

Hypocrisy at its finest.

And don’t even get me started on “Dead Man’s Party” <3