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#btvs meta
disco-tea · 7 months
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I just think it’s crazy that Buffy and Spike—the hero and the villain, representations of light and dark, the girl with the name “Summers” and the guy who can only go out at night—end up co-parenting a kid named Dawn
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silvermars · 6 months
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spike has always needed someone to dote on.. he's just the caretaker type. which is why it's so funny -- and very heartwarming and gratifying -- that buffy is always taking care of him. soothing his wounds, carefully caressing him around cuts and bruises, making sure he's okay... doting on him!! where he reciprocates the emotional strength and support she has long given to everyone else in her life and never received back, buffy cares for spike in a way he has only ever experienced on the giving side. they fill all of those gaps in each other's lives, and needs. i could SCREAAAMMMM!! !!!
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thinking about when Buffy comes back in s6 and something's not quite right with her and that look on Spike's face when he says "clawed her way out of her coffin that's how. done it myself" like. he is seeing her. she's herself but different, a little more like him. THEN when Spike comes back in s7 and something's obviously not right with him, and Buffy's face in the church when she realizes he got his soul back and he did it on purpose. to be more like her.
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^ when your shadow counterpart returns from their identity-altering metaphysical journey looking more like you than they ever have before
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lierdumoa · 11 months
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If I had a nickel for every time I got into a live-action supernatural horror tv franchise where the misogynist writing staff introduced a badass villain-of-the-week with zero intention of making him a series regular, only to have their predominantly queer and/or female fanbase immediately embrace the character as their new blorbo, favoring him over the show’s central cast members, thus putting financial pressure on the writing team to bring the character back despite the writers actively disliking him and resenting the fanbase for liking him, resulting in a vicious cycle in which the writers would go out of their way to emasculate and disempower and even kill off the character in the hopes of making the fanbase lose interest, inadvertently radicalizing the fanbase into even more obsessive devotion towards the character, thus forcing the writers to resurrect the character, after which they’d spitefully kill him again, then panic in the face of tanking ratings and resurrect him again, then kill him again, I’d have two nickels.
Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
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raisedbythetv89 · 2 months
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I genuinely don’t understand how people can watch the body swap episode and enjoy seeing Faith inhabit Buffy’s body and WORSE objectifying (Faith)Buffy being like “omg she’s so hot she slayed so hard I love Buffy in black leather”
Not only is SMG’s FRIGHTENING thinness even more apparent in Faith’s traditional wardrobe showcasing just how much she is practically skin and bone due to her being under immense stress and being so overworked which always just tears at my heart in so many ways but we are witnessing the WORST violation of Buffy’s body and autonomy!!!! I’m genuinely just sick the entire episode.
Bad enough she almost gets Buffy killed and finally gets her wish of (temporarily) stealing Buffy’s life which she has wanted to do since her arrival in season 3 (only to STILL not understand Buffy’s perspective until she does it again in a far less invasive way in season 7 after Buffy allowed her back into her home and she still never properly apologizes she’s like hehe turns our your life is actually pretty miserable and I don’t want it because I can’t handle the stress and constant pressure you’re under…. Oops!🙃) but unlike when Willow takes Buffy’s free will and autonomy away (where she at least still retains all the memories after the fact of everything that happened so she doesn’t have to wonder and can process them when she’s ready) Buffy has ZERO CLUE what all Faith allows to happen to her body while she’s not in it. And Faith isn’t unaware or passive about the power she holds and the things she can do to Buffy’s body in the position she’s in - she literally tells Riley, BEGS HIM - to do all of the nastiest things he’s ever wanted to do “to this body” she WANTS Riley to do things to Buffy’s body Buffy herself WOULD. NOT. ALLOW. it is one of THE MOST insidious lines in the entire series to me because not only is that an absolutely stomach churning, bone-chilling thing to say but then after the fact when angel asks what Faith did to upset Buffy so much she’s like “I slept with her boyfriend” like UMMMM WHAT??? EXCUSE ME???? That is literally the absolute LEAST of your crimes bitch be so fucking for real. This horrific violation is minimized down to oh well Buffy is just insecure about sex and especially sex in comparison to Faith like GROSS GROSSSSSSS. The entire thing is SO DISGUSTING and misogynistic AND it is part of why I genuinely do not give A FUCK about the events of seeing red as far as my love of spuffy goes because while that was absolutely the most traumatizing to watch not only was it so completely out of left field and out of character that it just doesn’t make sense in the narrative and is so obviously joss whedon coming over the loud speaker and going “women who enjoy sex with men I don’t approve of should and always will be punished” but it is the ONLY time someone hurts her in this way and PROPERLY APOLOGIZES AND MAKES THE PROPER AMENDS!!!!
So until EVERY. SINGLE. violation of Buffy’s body is treated with the same level of outcry seeing red is by all the anti-spuffys I genuinely DO NOT CARE. I DONT CARE because I’m just so done with spuffy girlies having that thrown in our faces by the morality police who are listening to the tiny white male puritanical cop in their head.
ALSO the fact that Riley not only doesn’t think ANYTHING is off about Buffy (when Faith is doing an absolutely HORRIFIC JOB of acting like Buffy) so he not only sleeps with her BUT TELLS HER HE LOVES HER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!??!?!?!? WHILE SHE IS LITERALLY PINNED BENEATH HIM?!?!?!?!? AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! RILEY FINN I WILL KILL YOU IF IT IS THE LAST THING THAT I DO.
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chasingfictions · 3 months
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late s3 coffy is so crazy bc at first glance theyre like wow we are simply not going to let these girls interact after helpless because buffy is really busy with her other brunette shadow self right now but in fact cordy's whole pursuit of wesley is like.
okay you've been obsessed with a girl since she moved here three years ago and you wanted to be her best friend but she chose the freaks and weirdos over you. so you mock her for being a freak and a weirdo but in this way where you're always going out of your way to do it, and you always have this baseline awareness and jealousy of her, you are always trying to date the boys she dates, but it's just regular popular girl-weird girl antics right? it's just regular popular girl-weird girl she hates antics to go to her when you're afraid for your life, put your safety in her hands, and tell her i know you share this feeling we have for each other, deep down. and the week after that you become unwittingly aware of her secret identity and it makes sense to you so quickly, you enfold yourself into her world with such ease. but you're still not allowed to be friends with her. you start dating one of her weirdo freak friends though, and admit to yourself later on that you only dated him because of his link to buffy. you detach yourself from your popular girl friends and become totally ensconced in this girl's friend group, you're one of them now, you've thrown in your lot with her. but she still doesn't like you, and you don't like her, but not because you actually even necessarily dislike each other. i know you share this feeling we have for each other, deep down. but your personas are people who don't get along, because you're the popular girl and she's the weird girl. even though you're not popular anymore. even though you're just as weird as her now. even though she was popular too, at her old school. even though you hang out all the time. even though you're dating her best friend. you're still not friends, you're just people who can't stop insulting each other. and then her best friend cheats on you with the other best friend. and the girl tries to make amends with you, tries to tell you she can be there for you, that you're allowed to be friends, for real, you don't need the guise of dating her best friend for you guys to hang out. i know you share this feeling we have for each other, deep down. but you're so angry at her, because she's the reason you became weird in the first place, if she had never moved to town, you would never be like this, you would have everything you used to have, and she did all of this to you, and did it all without even liking you that much, and you didn't like her that much either, except you do, of course, and she likes you. but you guys can't say that to each other at the same time. there always has to be one of you pulling away. even though i know you share this feeling we have for each other, deep down.
and now you don't have a link to her anymore. you're not dating her friend. you've rejected her offer to be friends despite that. but you can't just ... not see each other. right? so you still hang around, to insult her, to trade barbs, to call her a freak, and even though you'll never gain back what you had before she made you lose it, it's okay, because she's still the weird one. not you. even though you still only talk to the weirdos. that's okay though. that's okay, because you still see her sometimes. i know you share this feeling we have for each other, deep down. and then when she's at her weakest, you're there for her, and you protect her, and she's always protected you, and now for one second, for the very first time, you are on equal footing.
and that doesn't mean you have a place in her life. you still don't see one for yourself. trying to be friends is too scary. and she has a whole new girl she's being antagonistic with now. but luckily, her new watcher moves to town just after this happens. so you attach yourself to him, so you can have a reason to stay in the girl's orbit. you're always around, but it's not about her. maybe it could be, but it's not, you just like her watcher, that's all. see, you're not even talking to her. you're just trying to form an emotional bond with the person who, as far as you know from the only other watcher she's ever had, is going to be a huge figure in her life from here on out. and you don't talk about it, but that's okay. because i know you share this feeling we have for each other, deep down.
and then you can't bear to stay in the town where she lives anymore but you also can't bear to not have anything to do with her so even though you don't talk anymore, you move to her hometown, and end up working side by side with her ex boyfriend and that same ex watcher and fighting demons just like she does, forever, for the rest of your life
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filmslore · 7 months
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thinking about how spike had one sex dream about buffy and concluded that he was in love with her.
thinking about buffy having confirmed sex dreams about spike as early as season 4 and repressing them. thinking about buffy in season 5 delighting in beating the shit out of spike. thinking about buffy also being on the receiving end of spike’s chivalry in season 5 and being repulsed by it. thinking about buffy in season 6 teasing herself by spending her free moments in spike’s company. thinking about buffy pining. thinking about buffy also giving in to her darkest desires finally forcefully kissing spike and then beating him up before they fuck a building down. thinking about buffy cutting off her relationship with spike because she’s done with the self harm. thinking about buffy in season 7 saying she feels for spike. thinking about how she never kills him even when he begs because she’s not ready for him to not be here. thinking about buffy admitting she needs spike. thinking about buffy letting spike treat her tenderly and comfort her in touched. thinking about buffy finally done repressing her feelings for spike and telling him she loves him right before he dies to save the world.
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i’ve seen a lot of takes along the lines of “spuffy only works when buffy is miserable. even in season seven they only connect when she’s at her lowest.”
i’d say this is poor media literacy from people unable to grasp some of the deeper themes of the story, but it’s really a misread of the plot on a very surface level.
it’s true that in season six buffy is in a dark place, and that’s when she goes to spike. there’s way, way more to it, but breaking down season six isn’t really the point when people are saying there’s no change from that in season seven.
in seven, we see buffy and spike together all season, and for much of it she’s scared of the coming apocalypse but she doesn’t go to him out of depression or self hatred. she doesn’t keep him secret; she moves him into her house, in full view of her friends. she tells him to stay when he offers to leave.
empty places is obviously buffy’s lowest point. it’s in this sad space that she and spike connect in a way they haven’t ever before, and it’s beautiful. it gives her strength and pulls her back out, and the next day she wins her weapon.
after she tells spike that it was him who gave her the strength she needed, she easily kills caleb.
they quickly have it out about angel, moving on because it isn’t important, and buffy once again chooses spike, who accepts. she spends another night with him, and it’s this one where she has her “we’re going to win” revelation.
she forms her plan, tells her friends, and they are all ready to go to war with her because she’s right. they are going to win.
her confidence is well deserved, she’s back in the leadership role she earned by being good at it, and she delivers her incredible “are you ready to be strong?” speech to the potentials, who all decide follow her.
she says, “tomorrow morning, i’m opening the seal. i’m going down into the hellmouth and i’m finishing this once and for all.” with such strong conviction on her face, to the entire group captivated by her.
and that night— in her big house full of everyone she loves, strong heart jittery but sure, empowered by her choice, knowing they’re going to win, at her highest moment all year— she quietly makes her way downstairs, and sleeps in spike’s arms one more time.
spike and buffy only work when buffy is in a bad place? what a disrespectful way to look at our confident hero on the eve of her saving the world.
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marilyn-not-monroe · 8 months
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The thing I find interesting about Buffy and Spike getting physical in season 6 is that it’s all initiated by Buffy. The only time Spike ever tries anything with her, like kissing her, is Fool for Love, where he gets swept up in emotion and tries to kiss her. In season 6, Buffy starts singing first in Once More with Feeling, in Tabula Rasa it’s clear she chased after him and began the making out, and in Smashed, she’s the one that hits him first, kisses him first, and initiates the sex. Spike does spend a lot of time trying to seduce her and proposition her, particularly in Smashed (“You, me, cozy little tomb with a view”), but he’s waiting for a signal that it’s truly reciprocated.
Even after they start having sex, it’s Buffy that seeks him out. Spike only shows up and initiates things twice, once in Gone and once in As You Were. At Buffy’s birthday party, he tries to start things, but he came to the house for the party, and spends a great deal of time just hanging out, and he’s partly motivated by jealousy over Richard and wants to check that she’s still into him. I find Buffy’s level of control over this relationship fascinating- when was the last time she got to call the shots in a relationship? It’s so necessary for her attachment issues and depression to decide when and where she wants to be intimate.
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elysianholly · 2 months
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This fucking guy
My villain origin story is people claiming that Riley's biggest crime in the series was being boring. He wasn't just boring. He was a passive-aggressive chauvinist who the show bent over backward to defend. A while back on Reddit, I made a list of reasons why Riley sucks. This is that list, and I'm adding to it.
The only reason he punches Parker is because Parker is mouthing off about a girl Riley likes. Everything about this interaction suggests that Riley has heard him say similar before, and hasn't cared until the woman in question was someone he had a vested interest in.
He calls Buffy stupid for not wanting to date him (if this guy slid into your DMs and called you stupid for turning him down, lbr, this would not lead into a healthy, lasting romance)
He immediately puts himself in competition with Buffy. Even at his most inoffensive, he says things like "I don't even know if I could take you."
He has an inherently chauvinistic view of the world (established in The Initiative)
He is upset that Buffy had a significant relationship before she knew him and assumes Buffy boinked Angel in The Yoko Factor
He uses abuser language to excuse his shitty behavior like, "I love you so much I can't think straight."
He decides that Buffy doesn't love him all by himself
When he decides that Buffy doesn't love him, he confides in Xander and doesn't communicate his relationship issues with Buffy
He wants to help Buffy but only in jobs that are "manly." In No Place Like Home, for instance, he nopes out when Buffy suggests he help with the spell to identify what might be wrong with Joyce. Even if there wasn't a lot for him to do, he could, idk, stick around to be moral support for his partner who is trying to figure out what might be attacking her mother. That seems like a pretty standard partner thing to do.
He gets upset that Buffy "doesn't get all worked up over him" the way she did with Angel when "getting all worked up" in CONTEXT means "isn't constantly miserable."
He is sad boi at Buffy in OoMM for also prioritizing her mother's health after she believes Riley is healed rather than sticking around to play nursemaid
He wants Buffy to show emotion over Joyce at a time when Buffy literally cannot (if you've never had a parent in the hospital with a life-threatening illness, maybe you don't know that there are times/places to break down and "in the hospital" where you're supposed to be strong isn't one of them)
He doesn't care that his girlfriend's mother is sick, possibly with something life-threatening; he cares that he got to be the hero of the piece, the shoulder for Buffy to cry on. His only reaction to any of that was to be hurt that Buffy didn't respond the way he thought she should; no concern for her well-being or Joyce's, just Riley getting his feelings hurt because he wasn't the center of Buffy's universe or the rock for her to lean on when all went to pieces
This is further confirmed by the way he just doesn't mention Joyce's absence at all in As You Were. When he leaves Sunnydale, it's after Joyce has had a successful operation. He returns and she's not there and no questions? No condolences? It's because he doesn't care.
He doesn't ask about Buffy's death when she lets him know she died.
He starts separating himself from the Scoobies and then gets mad for not being included
He literally cheats on Buffy with vampire sex workers (there are people who say they were not sex workers, but in a show where monsters are metaphors, you have to be especially dense or willfully obtuse to not realize this is what they are)
Riley intentionally puts himself in a position where he might be killed or turned specifically to SPITE BUFFY, which demonstrates his lack of consideration for what she might have to do later if things go bad
Riley blames Buffy for being roofied by Dracula (again, monsters as metaphor)
He never apologizes or owns that he was unfaithful
He blames his infidelity on Buffy, actually
The first time Buffy learns Riley isn't happy, she's told she should've seen it, which is classic victim blaming and happens from Xander AND Riley (and a good amount of fans who want to excuse that behavior)
He is fine with torturing sentient creatures, and in fact had a stake made specifically so he could torture vampires without killing them
He goes behind Buffy's back all the time
Riley was not boring. If he were boring, he would be inoffensive. Dull to watch but not rage-inducing. But he is rage-inducing because, despite all the passive-aggressive gaslighting bullshit he gets away with, people in this fandom still believe he was "Buffy's best boyfriend." That she was to blame for the deterioration of this relationship. That he was the healthiest of the Buffyverse men. The show does, too. That's why Xander (Wh*don's mouthpiece) gives that sanctimonious little speech to Buffy (the audience in this case) in Into the Woods to scold us for not treating Riley better. Then they double down in As You Were to make Buffy fawn all over herself to let this gaslighting asshole off the hook for everything he put her through.
Riley's sin is not being boring. It's that he was actually awful. Wh*don himself once called Riley a "healthy relationship" for Buffy, and if that doesn't tell you something, there's no talking to you.
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petpluto · 1 year
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I hate the Xander-Willow cheating plot line in season 3 as much as anyone, but I can’t help but feel like it also makes complete sense.
Xander and Willow (and Jesse, forever ignored by the narrative) were friends long before Buffy showed up in Sunnydale. Willow talks about how they haven’t always been as close in The Pack, but they have been a distinct and present part of each other’s lives since close to when they began forming memories they would take to adulthood. Xander stole Willow’s Barbie when they were five. Xander thought Willow set a fire to get him fire trucks when he turned seven. These are people who were as enmeshed in each other’s lives as people can be. And they both feel it slipping away. I think Xander is conscious of it in a way Willow isn’t, what with his “who am I going to call every night, and talk about what we did all day” revelation in Becoming. Willow, his Willow, wakes up and calls for Oz.
And Willow? She gets mad Xander is with Cordelia, and a large part of it is her crush and a part of it is their We Hate Cordelia Club. But part of it is, I think, the fact that they are no longer the people who call each other every night to talk about what they did all day. They used to be the kind of inseparable friends who had (almost) no secrets between them, crushes and abuse not withstanding. And now, there is a space between them. And that space comes from growing up, but I can see where growing up in this way, for these two characters in particular, is painful. And that particular pain of this particular loss can be interpreted by teenagers as romantic affection.
I ache for you now that you’re not around - it must be love. I see you in formalware, and I remember you’re going to be with someone who isn’t me. The space that used to be mine now belongs to that someone else. And instead of recognizing it as the normal pangs when your relationship is no longer the *most* important, Xander and Willow assume it’s attraction.
It also explains how (and why) their dalliance disappears the second they’re caught. Because they love each other, and they want that closeness back; but the loss of their partners - the people they actually romantically love - throws those feelings into sharp relief. They know they don’t love each other in the way they assumed, but only when it’s too late (for Xander, anyway).
And I hate to bring it back to their families, but I do think a huge part of what makes Willow “Willow”, and Xander “Xander”, and Willow and Xander a “Willow and Xander” is the fact that Willow is neglected by her parents and Xander is abused by his. It must be that much more frightening to feel like you’re losing the person who loves you unconditionally, who pays attention to you, who stands up for you and checks on you and constantly makes space for you in their life. Xander depends on Willow’s care, and Willow depends on Xander’s attention and protection. Losing that, for these potentially ephemeral high school relationships, would be it’s own kind of horror.
Like I said, I do hate this development, and I do think there are more reasons than just the above (Willow has wanted Xander for so long; Willow has felt overlooked for the Cordelias (and Buffys) of the world and now she is being chosen; Xander is jealous of Oz and possessive of Willow). But the above makes sense to me, character-wise. It’s not what I would have done to make room for Cordelia to leave, but it’s not outside the bounds of who Xander and Willow are, in these moments.
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disco-tea · 10 months
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I know this isn’t intentional, but there’s something about the way when Spike is first introduced to the audience and introduces himself to the other vampires, he’s in game face. Then Drusilla shows up and we see that brings out his humanity/human visage. Now that being said…I think it’s very interesting how when he first introduces himself to Buffy, it’s exclusively not in game face. The first thing she ever sees from is his human side.
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silvermars · 1 year
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something i love about spike being a part of buffy's domestic space and her family is that, well, he does it even when she's not there. he has a chat with her mom just to talk to her (not buffy) and gets advice. he hangs out and looks after dawn behind buffy's back and when buffy is gone. in s4 the domestic place for everybody is giles' apartment, and spike is having his own interactions and familiarization with that space. HE LIVES THERE! he lives with her friend, xander. he spends time with her family and friends -- in the home -- without her. he comes over to chat and have a cuppa and eats peoples snacks and steals shit from the people around her (her non-physical home) even when he "hates her". he still comes round. NOT to be around her. just the people she loves. because i think even just laterally he values her, sees worthiness and importance and has an emotional connection to anything attached to her (because she herself is unfathomably important and correct and special). and that is something spike feels, knows, from the moment he set eyes on her. he never underestimates her. he always understood intrinsically who she was and what she was capable of. and the value of her trust and faith and love. the warmth of her home and at her side. (even indirectly.)
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herinsectreflection · 8 months
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But You're Just A Girl (Helpless)
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The test that Buffy undergoes in this episode – in which she is stripped of her powers, locked inside a house, and forced to fight a mentally unstable vampire – is named in the script as The Cruciamentum. Giles describes it as “an archaic exercise in cruelty”, and it’s difficult to think of a description that could be more accurate.
The word Cruciamentum is an invented declension that roughly translates from Latin as “result of torture”. Quentin Travers – making his first appearance here as the Head of the Watcher’s Council – defends the practice as a necessary rite of passage, meant to make a Slayer stronger, but this reasoning falls apart under scrutiny The scenario is so heavily weighted against the Slayer, robbing her not only of her powers but the knowledge that she is being robbed at all, that it makes more sense to view the Cruciamentum not as a test, but as a method of control, designed to kill off Slayers that reach adulthood and so gain more independence from the Council. At the very least, it demonstrates the Council’s control over the Slayer, holding the implicit threat of taking away her powers again over her head for the rest of her life. As is the case with many unjust systems, the cruelty is the point.
The Cruciamentum is the Council’s most clear and obvious cruelty, but it is not by any means their only one. Cruelty is their origin story, as we see in Get It Done how they forcibly created the first Slayer through metaphorical rape. It is baked into the central idea of One Girl In All The World – a system which relies on the deaths of an infinite chain of young women. Its current setup, with one Watcher in the field and apparently dozens sitting safely away in England, leads to an inevitable cruelty of indifference that Giles calls out in this episode. There are cruelties of incompetence – failing to alert the field about the firing of Gwendolyn Post, sending the underqualified Wesley to Sunnydale. But perhaps their most impactful cruelty is also their most subtle. It came the moment that Buffy Summers, sitting outside her school in 1997, was called to be a Slayer. This act not only changed Buffy’s life, but caused an irreparable crack in her psyche. It splits her perceived self into two component parts – The Girl and The Slayer – twin selves that she spends seven seasons trying to reconcile.
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taylorsversion22 · 1 month
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This is my Roman Empire! They are my Roman Empire ❤️😭
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lesbianabril · 2 months
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My S6 BTVS rewrite
I know this season has a lot of haters but I actually love season 6, I don't mind the depressing parts (meaning: most of the season) because I think it all makes sense for where the characters are at, and I think that after fighting a literal God having a season where the villain is Life really works storytelling-wise.
Having said that, though, I think that a lot of things could have been handled better and since all I have are correct opinions I'm gonna tell you what those are.
1. Willow's magic addiction
Basically I think they went too far when the magic became drugs in the most basic sense, when they start acting like she's "taking a hit" every time she uses it.
I think all of the important plot points could have been kept while making willow's addiction to magic about her need to be in control of everything (and everyone). Up to Tabula Rasa I wouldn't change anything, her use of magic is wrong because she starts using it to bend the world at her will, empowered by having successfully brought Buffy back to life.
After Tara leaves her she starts using even more magic while being reckless with it, she injures Dawn and she commits to stop using it because she realizes it wasn't healthy for her or for the people she loves.
I would eliminate Rack and his stupid crack house hide out, and everything that has to do with the physical withdrawal of going "cold turkey".
I think this also makes Willow responsible for her actions, while making magic = literal heroin absolves her of the blame, in the end. The fallout of having to deal with her dependence of it would also be way more compelling.
2. Spike's attempted r4pe
I would keep their toxic relationship and everything that led up to that god-awful bathroom scene, my only change is that I would make it so Spike is trying to turn her instead.
Hear me out. It would make a lot of narrative sense because all through the season he's trying to convince her she's a dark being just like him, he wants them to be equals because he doesn't think himself worthy of her so he's trying to lower her to his level. So, after Buffy rejects him again he's not thinking clearly and, in his desperation, tries the only thing he swore himself he wouldn't do since he loves Buffy because of her goodness.
After it happens, Buffy feels betrayed, Spike leaves and decides to try to get to her level, to truly change himself instead of trying to change her.
This is a minor thing too but in this rewrite after Spike leaves we don't know where he went and we don't see him again until the start of s7 when he already has his soul. I know this couldn't be done because of James Marsters' contract but in my dream s6 we don't know what happened to him so when we see him again everything about his sudden disappearence and current mental state is a mystery and we find out along with Buffy.
3. Xander dies instead of Tara
Ok maybe this one is based on my dislike of Xander and my love of Tara but I think this would work really well:
Willow and Tara haven't gotten together yet, Willow is working on her more controlling tendencies and they're just friends right now. When Warren shows up Buffy is in the garden with Dawn and Xander went up to Willow's room to talk to her, so both Buffy and Xander get shot, Dawn takes Buffy to the hospital and dark Willow is born after she's not able to revive Xander.
After that things are mostly the same, only this time we get a grieving Buffy trying to deal with the sudden loss of both of her best friends. She's devastated and a part of her says that yes, Warren deserves to die.
After everything happens and Willow is close to destroying the world, Tara is the one who shows up, she appeals to Willow's humanity and, through her love and compassion, saves the world.
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