Re: Would Buffy quit?

["ebailey140" <ebailey140@xxxxxxx>]

--- In buffywantswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "ivygort" <ivygort@v...> 
wrote:
> > As much as Faith was supposed to be her dark mirror she really 
didn't
> start the hunting aspect of her personality until after the 
spell.  I felt
> Faith/Mayor were the mirror to Buffy/Giles.  That it was about 
what happens
> when you didn't have the love and the support of family and 
friends.  There
> was only one scene in the entire season where Buffy acted without
> forethought and that was at the docks when she confronted Faith.  
In the
> season five opener it is pointed out that since the spell she's 
gone out
> hunting.  That's why I use it as the demarcation point for the 
change in
> her.

It was always there, it just got to a point where she couldn't 
ignore or try to deny it, any more.  There's a reason Faith got 
under her skin so much, why she kept sympathising and 
overidentifying with the dark Slayer, even in This Year's Girl 
(besides the sex thing).

> >She started wondering that after the death of her mother in 
season five.
> The entire vision quest to the First Slayer and the words, (I've 
forgotten
> them exactly) Give, forgive, love, you are full love.  And she did 
wonder at
> that time if she was girlfriend material until "I Was Made To Love 
You" when
> she finally accepted that it wasn't her fault all her boyfriends 
left, it
> was theirs.  The entire scene with Xander and then her call to Ben 
proved
> that in my eyes.  Though, that was easily over looked considering 
the next
> episode was the body.

But then we got to S6, and Spike.  And, in S7, Conversations With 
Dead People.    
> >Never once in Season Six did she act like the hunter or predator, 
she acted
> like the victim. 

Spike could argue that.

> Her depression, her self-centeredness, while she had a
> great a reason for it all, she wasn't a Slayer.  At no time in 
season six
> did I feel like she was accepting of her responsibility as a 
Slayer.  It
> just seemed like one more burden.

She was going heavily on instinct, that year, just letting her 
senses and instincts and passions make the decisions.  It got to a 
point where the idea that she'd come back "wrong" was comforting, to 
her.  Like with Faith, earlier, there's a reason Spike was able to 
get to her like that.  What ended up being shattering was learning 
that she didn't come back wrong, after all, this was just her.  And, 
since she learned it from the always loving, completely empathic and 
understanding Tara, who wouldn't judge her, she couldn't have her 
self-loathing reinforced, like she would have with a certain couple 
of other people...

TARA: I-I've double checked everything. (smiling) There's nothing 
wrong with you.
BUFFY: Then why can Spike hurt me?
TARA: Well, I said that there was nothing wrong with you, but ... 
you are different. Shifting you out of ... f-f-from where you 
were ... funneling your essence back into your body ... i-it, it 
altered you on a basic molecular level. Probably just enough to 
confuse the sensors or whatever in Spike's chip. But it's all just 
surfacey physical stuff. It wouldn't have any more effect than ... a 
bad sunburn. 

Buffy looks close to tears as she contemplates this. 

BUFFY: I didn't come back wrong?
TARA: No, you're the same Buffy. (lightly) With a deep tropical 
cellular tan.
BUFFY: You must have missed something. Will you check again?
TARA: (concerned) Buffy, I-I promise, there's nothing wrong with you.
BUFFY: There has to be! This just can't be me, it isn't me. 
(starting to cry) Why do I feel like this? Why do I let Spike do 
those things to me?
TARA: You mean hit you. 

Buffy meets Tara's eyes, but only for a moment, then looks away. 
Tara frowns as she begins to get it. 

TARA: Oh. 

Longer shot of the two of them. Tara rubs her knees nervously. 

TARA: Oh, huh. Really.
BUFFY: He's everything I hate. He's everything that ... I'm supposed 
to be against. But the only time that I ever feel anything is 
when ... Don't tell anyone, please.
TARA: I won't.
BUFFY: (crying) The way they would look at me ... I just couldn't...
TARA: I won't tell anyone. I wouldn't do that.
BUFFY: (whispers) Why can't I stop? Why do I keep letting him in?
TARA: (concerned) Do you love him? 

Buffy just stares at her tearfully. 

TARA: I-It's okay if you do. He's done a lot of good, and, and he 
does love you. A-and Buffy, it's okay if you don't. You're going 
through a really hard time, and you're...
BUFFY: (still tearful) What? Using him? What's okay about that?
TARA: It's not that simple.
BUFFY: It is! It's wrong. I'm wrong. Tell me that I'm wrong, 
please... 

Buffy starts to cry for real now. 

BUFFY: Please don't forgive me, please... (sobbing) Please don't... 

She slides off the table onto the floor, kneeling, putting her head 
in Tara's lap. Tara looks uncertain, puts her hands comfortingly on 
Buffy's head. 

BUFFY: (sobbing, muffled) Please don't forgive me... 

Tara strokes her hair gently as she continues crying.
 
> >I didn't see her growing at all in the final season.  I saw her 
falling
> back into old bad habits.  Keeping her thoughts to herself, 
shutting her
> friends out of the choices, being single minded ... but then again 
the last
> two year had the writers feuding on which way the story should go 
so the
> story was very inconsistent.  As I said earlier I truely believe 
that there
> is no "right" answer to this question.

It was always Joss writing the big episodes, though, and guiding the 
rest.  Buffy's S7 journey was Joss's, based on the things HE had to 
learn to be able to run the company.  The main conflict within the 
group was that Buffy had grown into THE leader, and the rest of the 
group (except for Spike, though Tara would have backed her all the 
way if she'd been around) had issues with that, and there was the 
added problem of Kennedy constantly egging any tension anyone had 
with Buffy on.  But then, Kennedy had her own agenda, didn't she?  
At least, with Season 6 Spike, he didn't have a soul.  What was 
Kennedy's excuse?

So, sure, Buffy wanted to do more for Dawn, show her the world.  
That didn't mean she was abandoning her responsibilities.  She just 
planned to do both.  Now, she can.  
> (>On a side note.  I couldn't answer your other post because of 
the mention
> of Angel. I don't watch Angel.)

Ah...  Well, in Damage, we learned what the old gang was up to, and 
that Angel never told Wes about all the Potentials being activated 
(though HE clearly knew).  The secret was blown due to finding a 
former Potential, now Slayer, who escaped from a psych ward.  This 
led to Andrew's arrival...

ANGEL 
Could we save memory lane till after we contain this psychotic 
superpowered 
killing machine?
(walks around the table, takes a seat beside Wesley)
WESLEY 
(standing) 
We were just about to bring everyone up to speed on slayer 
mythology. 

ANDREW 
I'll take it from here, Pryce. Best they hear it from an expert. 
SPIKE 
Oh, right. Let the top man have a go. 
WESLEY 
(stifling a scoff, pauses, then sits) 
Please... enlighten us. 
ANDREW 
Gather around and attend to a most unusual tale... a tale I like to 
call... The Slayer of the Vampyrs.
(rests his chin on his hands, pauses for thought, then clears 
throat) 
(walking around the table)
Eons ago,
(looks at Gunn) 
on the dark continent, 3 wise elders decided to fight evil with a 
taste of its own sinistro.
(touches Fred's shoulders) 
They took a young girl, and they imbued her with the power of a 
demon. 
(crooks his forefingers above Fred's head, forming makeshift horns) 
Thusly, the first Slayer of the Vampyrs was born. But alas, the 
existence 
of a slayer is often brutal and short-lived. And the "primitive," 
as she was called, boasted no exception. But... the elders had 
foreseen 
this inevitability and...and devised a way for her power to live on. 

FRED 
In every generation, one is chosen. 
ANDREW 
Yes, attractive, slender woman.
(Fred rolls her eyes) 
There are many potentials, as we experts call them. 
WESLEY 
Hundreds...maybe thousands per generation. 
ANDREW 
Each of them experiencing vivid dreams... some say nightmares... of 
the heroics of past slayers. But only one can be chosen. 
ANGEL 
That's, um...really great, but we...actually know all that. 
ANDREW 
You think you know, my good man. You think you know.
(lights his pipe, smokes it, coughs) 
LORNE 
Uh, wait. So if there's only one slayer, what is little miss whack-
your-head-off 
doing scampering around? 
SPIKE 
Little Sunnydale surprise. 
ANDREW 
(sits) 
6 months ago, Buffy, Vampyr Slayer extraordinaire, had her lesbian 
witch make with the beaucoup de magie. One light show later... 
ANGEL 
All the potentials become slayers. 
WESLEY 
An army of slayers. Brilliant stratagem. But with the watchers 
council 
destroyed, how will these new slayers receive their necessary 

ANDREW 
Mr. Giles and a few key Sunnydale alum have been tracking down the 
recently chosen...
(reaches down to grab his brow-bag lunch; it's labeled with the 
British 
"Union Jack" flag and written under it is "ANDREW WC") 
uh, guiding them, training them...
(takes a Zip-Loc baggie of goldfish crackers out of the bag and 
starts 
to eat them) 
giving them the full X-Men, minus the crappy third act. But this 
Dana 
girlshe's an anomaly that no one could have foreseentortured, 
traumatized... driven insane by Yoda knows who. 
ANGEL 
And then the dreams of demons and superpowers she's always had 
suddenly 
become real. 
WESLEY 
The dreams of slayers are usually just thatdreams. But Dana's 
mental instability may be making them seem more real. 
ANDREW 
My hypothesis exactly, Pryce.
(takes a small red notebook out of his breast pocket) 
I see Mr. Giles may have been wrong about you.
(nods, writes in his notebook)


We go on to learn where Buffy is...

Spike sniffs the air.
ANDREW 
(inhales deeply, exhales quickly)
What's it smell like? Blood, I mean? 
SPIKE 
Oh...metallic, sorta. You ever taste a penny? 
ANDREW 
No. Wait... no. 
SPIKE 
Smells like that.
(Andrew spots a penny on the ground and picks it up; they continue 
walking) 
So, uh...you heard from Buffy lately? 
ANDREW 
Yeah. Of course, uh...she's in Rome. Dawn's in school there. Italian 
school. 
SPIKE 
Well. Rome, eh? Never pegged her for the expatriate show. 
ANDREW 
Yeah. She was rounding slayers up in Europe, decided she liked it 
there, I guess. You think that, um...
(puts the penny in his mouth) 
uhh. Uhh. Uhh.
(disgusted, he spits the penny out; it falls to the ground) 
Think she needed a break from California. Wait a minute. She doesn't 
know you're alive, does she? 
SPIKE 
I don't think so. I mean... I don't know. Does she? 
ANDREW 
No. N-no. She can't. I mean... II would've heard about it. We 
would've had a conference call.
(Spike sighs)
Why haven't you told her? 
SPIKE 
"Hello, Buffy. It's Spike. I didn't burn up like you thought. 
How are things?" 
ANDREW 
Uh...do you want me to tell her? 'Cause II'm really good with 
those...uh, delicate personal 
SPIKE 
No. Don't tell her. I'll take care of it. 
ANDREW 
Got it. You're a loner... playin' it cucumber, as in "cool as 
a..." 
SPIKE 
Just keep your mouth shut.
Pan up to show that Dana is watching them walk by from a nearby 
rooftop.
ANDREW 
No problem, brother. You're a troubled hero. Creature of the night. 
El creatro del noche. 
SPIKE 
Please stop. 
ANDREW 
Living by his own rules. Unafraid of anything or anyone...

Eventually, after torturing Spike, a tranq gun subdues Dana.  Angel 
figured he'd take charge of her, but, it seems, the Council isn't 
about to leave any Slayer with Wolfram & Hart, and the person in 
charge of things there planned accordingly...

Angel and Wesley escort Dana's gurney out of the basement along with 
a group of armed guards. 
ANGEL 
Chain her into the van. I want armed guards ridin' with her in the 
back. 
ANDREW 
That's all right, boys. I'll take it from here. 
ANGEL 
What? 
ANDREW 
Totally 'preciate your help on this one, big guy. Never could've 
found 
her without you, but you got enough problems of your own to worry 
about. 
ANGEL 
Get outta the way, Andrew. 
ANDREW 
(steps in Angel's path) 
She's a slayer. That means she's ours. 
ANGEL 
Yeah. Sorry. Not how it works.
(to the guards) Load her up. Don't hesitate to tranq her if she so 
much as 
ANDREW 
(stands right up in Angel's face) 
No. I don't think you... heard me, Angel.
(a group of young women walks out from the shadows to back up 
Andrew) 
Think we're just gonna let you take her back to your evil 
stronghold? 
Well, as they say in Mexico... No. We're not...gonna... let you. 
ANGEL 
She's psychotic, and I'm not turning her over...to you. 
ANDREW 
You don't have a choice. Check the view screen, Uhura. I got 12 
Vampyr 
Slayers behind me, and not one of them has ever dated you. She's 
coming 
with us one way or another. 
ANGEL 
You're way outta your league. I'll just clear this with Buffy. 
ANDREW 
Where do you think my orders came from? 

Angel, of course, is pretty upset that his ex double crossed him.  
Spike thought it was cool, though.

E



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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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