Huh. We definately didn’t catch that when we saw it.
Anyway, whether they covered their asses or not isn’t really the point - we remembered him in Willow’s place and were all happy because it was a little bone they threw us - “Hey, remember that?” So the rest of the episode becomes like a little quiz show - “Where else?” When Giles came home we were thinking, “Ha, red herring - they’ve never shown us him there.” In other words, it was distracting and a bit of a letdown. I don’t care if there was a retcon or a script bit or something, that isn’t the point. The show does little things like that to let the fans down all the time - I can’t believe nobody else thinks so.
I somewhat agree with your point (if not your specific example), but it just doesn’t bother me in the overall picture. Buffy has a lot of strengths as a TV show (it’s my favorite TV show ever, really), but tight and consistent plotting isn’t one of them. I think part (though not all) of that is the medium and its time and focus constraints. I mean, there’s a few examples of good foreshadowing where things are mentioned years before they come into play, but there’s also a lot that’s dropped, retconned, or just doesn’t make sense.
For instance, season seven gets somewhat of a bad rap on this issue, IMO. A lot of fans will point at season seven and say there’s dropped plot lines or things that don’t make sense there. I don’t disagree, but I think there’s things like that throughout the series. Kendra’s sudden appearance in season two makes zero sense, IMO. (It may not have been as glaring at the time, I don’t really remember, since we knew almost nothing about the Watchers’ Council at that point in the series, but looking at the series as a whole, it’s just bizarre.)
But, to me, its strengths outweigh that weakness. Others will probably feel differently.
Oh, inconsistencies show up throughout each season (e.g., vampires had souls according to Giles and The Master in The Harvest, but that was quickly thrown aside), but Buffy had a better sense of continuity than any other show I’ve seen before or since. If the writers occasionally screwed up or even sacrificed some continuity to contribute to a better story, and as long as nothing huge was changed, it didn’t bother me much. I don’t consider letting the fans down so much as I see it as a trade-off for something better.
Oh, yeah, the Kendra thing was completely bizzare. I’m just saying that for a show that’s supposed to be all about characters, the characters are often thinly drawn, out of character, or just plain dumb. I think the things that are wrong with Buffy kind of draw us to it, though - the BF and I spend a hell of a lot of time talking about it, at any rate! But keep in mind, we saw Firefly first, so we know Joss can do better.
Like I said, we love the show, but it’s definately not the glistening perfection some would have it, is all.
Don’t get me started on Firefly… :mad: No, seriously, it’s a good show, but I much prefer Buffy to it. But that’s me. Though, when it comes to inconsistencies or out of character issues, I think it’s unfair to compare a show that lasted something like 16 episodes to one that lasted 7 seasons. I’m sure given enough time Firefly would have racked up enough problems to let down its fans too.
