I’ve only really started watching Buffy last season, so maybe someone can clue me in to the rules of the Buffyverse, regarding succession…
Buffy died some 147 days before being resurrected. During that time there was no true slayer. Was Giles, the current watcher, obligated to appoint a new slayer, or is this a deicision made by committee, and a new Watcher would also be appointed?
Also, would the council of watchers not know about Buffy’s death and step in, or were they kept out of the loop, if that’s possible.
Even if it is possible to keep Buffy’s death a secret, I truly wonder if Giles wasn’t causing further difficulty by keeping it covered up. I mean, did Giles believe that the Scooby Gang was an adequate replacement?
Oh, and since I’m on a roll, if they were trying so hard to keep Buffy’s death a secret, wouldn’t it have helped the coverup to maybe, not have had a gravestone erected with her name on it? But then I guess it was a secluded spot, but the gravestone looked like it was constructed by a professional…
Faith is still around and is a true slayer. Granted, she’s atoning for a lot of stuff by being in prison, but I don’t think this affects the Powers That Be.
I also noticed all the number shirts, and wasn’t sure if there was symbolism there or just a clever joke that none of us got.
As Telemark mentioned, Faith is a Slayer. When Buffy “died” at the hands of the Master, a Slayer named Kendra was called. Kendra was killed (by Mr Trick? My memory’s a little hazy) and Faith was called. According to a poster on another Buffy thread here, Joss has decreed that for another Slayer to be called, Faith would have to die.
The Council of Watchers has no role in selecting the Slayer. I don’t know if it’s ever been established how the Council actually locates the Slayers once they are called. Anyone?
Another minor gripe…has this been mentioned in the show? Cause I am not in the mood to watch a show where half of it takes place in interviews or on mailing lists.
The whole slayer things has been cockeyed from the word “Kendra”. It is more than clear that Kendra and Faith both, before their calling, were fighting vampires, having a watcher, and having abilities. How does that differentiate them from the slayer? There’s talk of being “activated” but what does that mean? This is a pretty important detail to just be swinging in the breeze.
Oh and my prediction: Xander is having second thoughts about marrying Anya.
By the way, might want to mark spoilers better. Because UPN isn’t a real network, many people don’t get the show on Tuesday night. The second episode won’t air here until Saturday.
The Watchers have the ability to identify people who have the potential for Slayerhood. They don’t always find everybody, but they make an effort. If they find someone before they are “activated”, they provide whatever training and experience they can in preperation. After all, you don’t have to be an active Slayer to kill a vamp.
“Activation” just means that your super-special Slayer powers kick in after the previous Slayer dies.
Slayers are not appointed by anyone, other than the Powers That Be. A Slayer dies and another woman becomes the new Slayer. The Watchers’ Council has nothing to do with this - their job is to find whoever the new Slayer is as watch over her/guide her;
Though it hasn’t been discussed, it is quite possible that the Watchers’ Council wasn’t informed of the death of Buffy. There is a great deal of animosity between the Council and the Scooby Gang, and last season the relationship was changed to put the Council in a position subservient to Buffy and the gang;
Your third question is answered by #1;
Yeah, the Buffy gravestone is a glaring plot hole, but there are possible explanations - the easiest one being that they got the headstone made out of town.
Yes, it’s just the information is spread over several shows or sometimes a whole season.
There’s a number of sites that have transcripts if you want to get background information without having to read a lot of amateur opinion. Try http://www.psyche.kn-bremen.de/.
As Legomancer so accurately pointed out, I just watched this episode of BTVS, and it blew my socks off. Spike was…unbelievably good. I could have watched his face as he saw Buffy for the first time forever. The possession stuff actually scared me. The admission that Buffy had been in Heaven blew me away. Buffy appearing at the end of their bed scared me. Buffy talking to Spike instead of the Scoobies was very interesting. It feels like we are going to have a chasm developing between Buffy and the Scoobs, with Buffy preferring Spike. The whole episode was one of the best things I’ve ever seen on tv.
and now I am hooked. Great thread, andygirl! I have only been watching for a few months, so this is helpful (although the girls have lots of episodes on tape).
I am hoping for greater things from Anya, Tara, and Xander. The season is young yet.
I screwed up! Friday’s episode was obviously extremely important… I saw the last half, and it was the first appearance of Spike and her MOM saves her from a demon!
So now I’m really annoyed! Grrr!
BTW: my two cents on the new season is just that I did NOT see the heaven thing coming, and I thought it was great! The problem is…is she now going to be morose and depressed until she dies again? (Plot hole, too: why the hell would Buffy be in hell in the first place, and if she was, wouldn’t she go back next time she dies? But of course, we can’t look at these things too closely)
I screwed up! Friday’s episode was obviously extremely important… I saw the last half, and it was the first appearance of Spike and her MOM saves her from a demon!
So now I’m really annoyed! Grrr!
BTW: my two cents on the new season is just that I did NOT see the heaven thing coming, and I thought it was great! The problem is…is she now going to be morose and depressed until she dies again? (Plot hole, too: why the hell would Buffy be in hell in the first place, and if she was, wouldn’t she go back next time she dies? But of course, we can’t look at these things too closely)
So, you now how sometimes you just kind of check out stuff, see who’s there. So, I’m just kind of looking around, and see Stoid. True Incarnation of the Goddess, Stoid. Tireless warrior for truth and justice Stoid Ever-vigilant agent of the Fourth International Stoid
…watches Buffy, the Vampire Slayer…sitting there in multi-hued curlers, munching bon-bons, copies of People and Cosmopolitan lying on the floor next to her chihuahua…
No, don’t talk to me. I’m too upset. I think I’d better just lie down for a week or so…
I’m expecting something to happen to Tara. It’s odd for Joss to have a character on the show for so long without including her in the opening credits, unless she’s fated for a bad demise. It would be exciting (if not agonizing) for Willow to go dark this season and become a villain, much like Angel did.
Something I’ve noticed, watching the Buffy reruns on FX, is a bit of confusion surrounding Buffy’s year of birth. In an early episode surrounding a demon which rises in a computer, there is a scene showing Buffy’s student record, which shows her year of birth as 1979, then the scene cuts to show another student looking at the record and the year is 1980, yet this season on her tombstone it says 1981.
See, I’m not so sure. If someone were to say, “When Bufyf died before a new slayer was activated. Will this happen now that she has died again?” I’m not sure there is any specific line from the show that will give you the “official” answer that is supposedly based on the almighty word of Joss Whedon. Joss Whedon who, if he’s smart, has a photo of Chris Carter on his wall to remind him of the other television master genius who ultimately drove his show into the ground. Hopefully it will preven Joss from listening to what people call him and believing it.
Ok. I can finally comment, now that the most recent episode (“After Life”) has aired in Canada.
I like dark. I like ambiguous. I like seeing Willow justify her actions, while she goes down a dark path blindly. I love seeing Buffy unable to tell her friends what they inadvertantly did. I have a feeling that when Willow really starts to get obvious in her delusions that her magic is doing nothing but good, Buffy is going to throw this back in her face, and that will have some impact! Willow can tell herself that she’s doing this all for a greater good, and keep lying about it, but it’s all going to come back on her.
I like the kindred feeling that is slowly developing between Buffy and Spike. Much earlier on, when Angel was still on the show, Buffy said that she couldn’t fool him (Angel), or strangely enough, Spike. Both of them could see right through her. I see their relationship, whatever it winds up being, something that has been a long time coming. The look of understanding that Spike gave her when he realized that she had to claw her way out of the grave was incredible. When she went out on the pretense of patrolling, but instead made for Spike’s place - and the fact that he was the only one she could tell about being in heaven, shows that he is the only one that understands her right now. Regardless of whether or not they get physical (although I think they will), their relationship is deep and complex.
I like the fact that the show doesn’t stagnate. They can’t stay in high school forever. Willow can’t be the sweet, naive girl forever (BTW - I think we saw a little of what she was capable of becoming with her alternate vampire self, in The Wish and Doppelgangland). Buffy and Angel can’t be a couple forever. They can’t fight the mayor forever. Everyone has moved on, matured, and changed. In that aspect, the show is, ironic considering the high demon content, more like real life than a lot of other shows out there. It’s not afraid to move on. And it’s never been afraid of pulling the rug right out from under you.
As far as the identification of slayers, the show has left this ambiguous. I feel that the show explaining it to everyone’s satisfaction would be harder than letting us all come up with our own explanations. In the movie, a future slayer was identified by a certain mole. The lag in finding Buffy was explained by Buffy having the mole removed because she thought it was ugly. It seems as though a job of the Watcher’s Councils is to locate these potential slayers and give them some training before they are called. Kendra said that she was turned over the to her Watcher at a very young age (one would assume her parents recognized the mole), while it seems that Faith had only had a short amount of time with her previous Watcher. Buffy was not found until after she had been called. I don’t even want to think about the logistics of checking 3 billion or so females on the planet for suspicious moles. We can only assume they have their resources.
Now, now, bubelah! Not to be concerned… it is merely a manifestation of my endless variety…
and by the way, it’s more like
…watches Buffy, the Vampire Slayer…sitting there in ** the nude ** , munching ** sunflower seeds in the shell** , copies of *** The Progressive ** ** * and *** The American Prospect ** * lying on the floor next to her ** exquisitely brilliant and beautiful Golden Retriever ** …
lolagranola wrote: "(BTW - I think we saw a little of what she was capable of becoming with her alternate vampire self, in The Wish and Doppelgangland). "
When Willow met her evil copy, wasn’t her line something like, “I’m all gross and evil, and I think I’m kinda gay”? Foreshadowing indeed!