Bricker and Sua… I realise that only Faith’s death will bring about a new slayer. However, Buffy has been making a big deal (especially last night) about the fact that her death will activate one of the SITs. Which is where my question comes in, and which should actually have been broken down into two parts…
Either Buffy et al actually believe this despite what Joss says, which leads to the question why hasn’t anyone- not even the Scoobies, who were there for Buffy’s first death and know it would have activated another Slayer- scratched their collective heads and said “Hey, Buffy died! There’s another Slayer out there now, and we can enlist her to fight TFE!!”
The writers are morons and/or haven’t heard any of the interviews with Joss where he says Faith’s death activates the next slayer. Or, possibly, they are trying to deceive us.
Dinsdale… I can answer the “how did they know they were in the school” thing. When Anya, Willow, and Xander went to Dawn’s bedroom and found her missing, then noted the open window, Willow said “I’ll do a locator spell, but we have to hurry” and quickly left the room. We just didn’t see her do the actual spell, since we were busy with the whole dual vamp slayage.
I used to read spoilers… and then, I realized that for me, it ruined the show. I just kind of stopped watching when I knew what was going to happen. So to keep my enjoyment, I don’t read them anymore. YMMV
While on the one hand, I liked his speech, on the other, was I the only one thinking that Dawn is the Key. She’s not ordinary, she’s not common, she’s not in the same position as Xander at all. She’s a freaking ball of energy. Hundreds were slaughtered for her. People died trying to protect and/or get hold of her. No, she’s not a SIW (which is what is getting the attention in the house at the moment), but she is the KEY that opens and closes the lock between dimensions. Which yes, puts her more on par with the Witch and the Demon and the Werewolf and the Slayer than the Guy who fixes the Windows. (Though they do need fixing an awful lot)
It’s buyable that the Scoobies have not realized that Buffy’s death won’t activate another Slayer.
It’s also possible that there are elements to the picture that we don’t know. For example, Willow was unable to bring Tara back from the dead, supposedly because it was a human death caused by purely human agency. She was able to bring Buffy back, because her death was based at least in part on a supernatural event. Right?
From this we may conclude that different deaths carry with them different rules. It’s possible that Buffy’s second death didn’t trigger the Slayer Activation System for a reason that is unclear to us at present.
The essence of developing laws of nature is experimentation under controlled circumstances. Unfortunately, we are privvy only to the events that unfold around the gang; we don’t get to see detailed history of each Slayer. Indeed, as even Giles pointed out, the specifics of each Slayer’s deaths are seldom known to the Council; it’s what prompted Buffy to ask Spike how he killed two Slayers.
In short, it’s folly to declare confidently that we know how the system works, and to declare that events not in keeping with our preferred framework are continuity errors. We simply don’t have enough data to form rock-solid perceptions. For example, we tend to take, as canon, pronouncements from characters such as the one I mention above: Tara can’t be revived, says Osiris. But for all we know, Osiris was having bad cramps that day and didn’t want to go through the bother of a death-reversal. If that were so, then the distinction about death by human means is a crock.
We just don’t know.
Rather than grumble about continuity, I prefer to accept what happens as it happens, and strive mightily to devise a rule or scheme that permits it to coexist with events of the past. This served me well, in fact, when Dawn popped up out of nowhere. There turned out to be a very good reason that everyone in Sunnydale remembered a little sister I had never heard of before.
But as of yet, being the Key has only proven useful when she is bleeding to death. She’s as frail a human as they come in the Buffyverse, and that puts her actually below Xander on the totem pole. At least he knows not to chase a vamp without something wooden and pointy.
I’ve actually been hoping that being the Key would mean some supernatural powers for Dawn. I’m envisioning a moment when she’s been run down by a few vamps, is about to get eaten, and in a desperate moment unleashes some kind of energy blast that nukes the area around her for about five feet.
Of course the writers would still find a way to have her bemoan the fact that she could now instantly take out half of the characters on the show.
p.s. - I can’t look at the one urban SIT without thinking MC Lyte. She looks just like her.
Yeah, bobkitty, after I answered your last post, I realized that you were making a different point. From the episode, it appears that the Scooby Gang is unaware that Faith, not Buffy is the Slayer line now, and that Buffy’s death will not cause a Slayer to be activated.
BTW, have they even thought about Faith? (I only watch Angel sporadically, but I understand she’s in jail somewhere? Is there anywhere I can get a summary of the appropriate episodes?) Has it occured to them that they might want to alert someone that it might be a good idea to tighten security around her, as something might happen?
The First seems to know something about how Slayers work. The eye in the cage that Anya and Giles went to consult said that TFE was attacking the Slayer and slayerettes now because it knew that there was a bobble in the line. Some kind of imbalance that’s leaving them vulnerable. I bet TFE knows whether or not killing Buffy will activate a new Slayer.
Faith is probably the safest of all in the Slayer line at the moment, because she’s in prison. Sure, TFE can mimic anyone dead, and thus could probably saunter in to the prison. But it can’t physically affect anything. And trying to sneak some eyeless minions in there to do battle with Faith would surely get noticed. And Faith is a notorious buttkicker. So, not only is she in an access-restricted location, but she’s a full-fledged Slayer.
If I were The First, I would leave Faith the hell alone, and concentrate on killing the Slayer that’s accessible and will (maybe or maybe not, but my presumption is) NOT activate a new Slayer when she kicks the bucket. Meaning Buffy. Then it will be free to pick off the slayerettes while Faith is out of action. Faith can rot in prison as long as TFE is concerned, because as long as she’s in there, she can’t prevent an Apocalypse. When she finally dies of old age, in prison, there will be no potentials left to be activated. End of Slayer problem, once and for all.
When does one become a potential? So far, all the ones we’ve seen are teenage girls. There should be pre-teen and adolescent girls in the mix as well. Obviously they would still be with their parents, but so should the current SITs.
So does one not become recognized as a potential until approx. 13? This way, they are still given enough time train with Watchers, but not so young that they would be crowding Buffy’s house. The downfall to this idea is that as much as TFE eliminates potentials, more could step into the role.
Or is one recognized as a potential at birth? This way, they are given the full lifetime(in theory) to train. And would make more sense if you’re eliminating potentials because there is only a set few to kill. Then any future Slayer’s would be babies and easily identifiable by their disproportinate strength. The drawback to this is that we haven’t seen any young potentials.
I’m sorry but this is going to be really vague until I can check my DVD.
I recently purchased the season three DVD’s and have been rewatching them. The point being that I just saw an episode which ended with Buffy and two Scoobies standing on the steps of the school. I believe it was the first episode with Faith but I’d have to check that, anyway Buffy tells the Scoobies that when she died Kendra was called and since Kendra died Faith was called.
I remember this clearly because at that point I may have yelled at the screen “see they do know!”. As with all of you I can get a little emotion watching Buffy.
As I said sorry I can’t remember the episode or who she was talking to but someone else must remember this?
Help?
There was definite Spuffiness afoot in this ep. That means a starting point of 9.5 on the Stoid scale automatically.
However, major points were lost for Whiney Self Involved Stupid Dawn Doing Stupid Things.
Then points were gained for Wise and Wonderful Xander.
But points were lost again for Lame Ass Plot Holes and Continuity Drops, like Buffy referencing her death as activating a new slayer. No, Buff, that would be Faith.
But then…more Spuffitude in the form of Buffy being confused about just how “over” they are…giving the ep a 7.9 overall.
