Re: Would Buffy quit?

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

> Buffy's S7 journey was Joss's, based on the 
> things HE had to learn to be able to run the 
> company. 

Haven't seen Joss give this spin (although I've stopped reading his
interviews), but that's not what he said originally.  He said it was
about telling the world that SMG is a bitch&okay, he actually (in his
interview with IGN FilmForce) blathered that it was about illustrating
the difficulties between a star and an ensemble, but given Sarah's
criticism of S6 in "Entertainment Weekly" and the fact that she'd gone
to Joss about it, and Joss's backhanded slaps at her through his praise
of how well the "Fireflop" cast got along, I have very little doubt that
when Joss says he was writing a Buffy-arc based on SMG and then makes
Buffy an unbearable bitch who gets tossed from her own house, that he's
working out some iss-yews with Sarah.

> The main conflict within the group was that 
> Buffy had grown into THE leader, 

Buffy was always the leader.  She made the decisions, from Day 1.

> and the rest of the group ([Spike, 
> Tara-pimping snipped]) had issues with that,

Never.  Not once.  There was an occasional issue with one of Buffy's
decisions

and, IMO, far too little of that.  As Anya points out in "Never Leave
Me", nobody else is even trying to convince Buffy to stake Spike,
despite his being a willing multiple murderer, even with the soul.  (If
he was able to resist the First's urging to drink from Buffy in
"Sleeper", then he was able to not kill the twelve other people.  He
just didn't care enough to try.)  Instead everybody numbly nods and
accepts Buffy's decision to bunk the guy who's being "mind-controlled"
by the very Evil they're fighting among them

but never with Buffy's leadership role.  Heck, the "Everyone Sucks
But Me" speech in "Get It Done" is Buffy chewing people out for relying
on her to make decisions, rather than acting on their own.  To which
Xander properly points out that they're letting her lead because *that's
what she told them to do* (at the end of "Bring on the Night").

Even in "Empty Places", the challenge to Buffy's authority comes from
the Potentials and Wood, not the Scoobs. Their "betrayal" is nothing
larger than abstaining from the fray.

> and there was the added problem of Kennedy 
> constantly egging any tension anyone had >with Buffy on. 

Kennedy snapped at Buffy exactly once  ("Empty Places").  And she told
Buffy not to yell at Willow in "Get it Done".  Oooh, horrors.  It's
generally Rona who was whiny and scared of going into battle, in the
very same eps where Kennedy is gung-ho and ready to follow ("Showtime",
"Potential", "Dirty Girls"). 

> 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?

Well, choose:

a)  Kennedy is upset (rarely) with Buffy because she's being told to
rely on Buffy for leadership and protection, but finds that Buffy is
distant, uncommunicative, pessimistic, capricious, bitchy, a total
hypocrite who'll put Spike above anybody else, and incompetent as a
tactitian.  I think Buffy's deduction that Caleb was trying to distract
her from the vineyard was entirely logical, but I don't blame Kennedy
for not believing in Buffy at that point.

Or

b)  Kennedy is upset (rarely) with Buffy because Buffy spends the year
treating Willow like crap and Kennedy likes Willow.

Either sounds logical to me.

Dan

PSActually, Spike criticized Buffy's decisions more than anyone else
did in S7 ("Selfless", "Him", "Sleeper", "Never Leave Me", "The Killer
in Me", "First Date", "Get it Done", "Storyteller", "Lies Joss Whedon
Told Me", "Touched", and "End of Days", off the top of my head).  They
almost never had a conversation where he didn't think she was wrong, the
entire season.



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

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