Buffy 6x6 - full reaction
Added 2022-11-02 16:00:10 +0000 UTCone hell of a halloween
also the thumbnails just keep getting better and better
Comments
Also I have to mention this because I know you're done with the series already. But when Xander is staring in the Magic Box and goes "I'm going to marry that girl." and Buffy goes "Ew, Xander, she's 15 AND my sister!" that was actual foreshadowing in the grossest way. You should look up the Buffy comics if you haven't already LOL
Cory James
2023-11-03 20:33:56 +0000 UTCI don't understand why people think the actress for Dawn needs to be younger. Dawn is 15, Michelle was 16. You don't have to look like a bratty toddler to have a meltdown. Dawn has a really hard time regulating her emotions after ALL the trauma she's been through. Learning she's not real, Losing her mom, being kidnapped, being tortured, losing her sister, living with the buffybot, father figure leaves the country. Dawn is trying to find SOMETHING she can control, because everything else is so out of control for her. It's a pretty typical response to trauma, amplified by being young and having no coping skills. With all the badness that Joss keeps piling on, I'm surprised she didn't go a darker path and I love that about her too. I also think that Dawn's klepto tendencies started after their father abandoned them and Buffy started getting so much attention for her 'bad behavior' that was actually just her being the Slayer. Dawn has been screaming for attention since before she even really existed. I don't really like the turn on Giles' character. I realize it's written for the actor to not be there all the time, but I think they could a chosen a different path than Giles viewing his parental figure role as a job he has completed and can move on from, rather than something he needs to guide Buffy through as always. It's like...he got tired of it all. Which is fair, I guess, he's not actually any of their fathers and they're all adults except Dawn. But the way they portray him it just seems like he stopped caring about being there for the fight. Whether Buffy's death or Ben's death caused that, I don't know, but he got tired and he gave up and staying there just kept reminding him how done he really was at the time.
Cory James
2023-11-03 20:31:04 +0000 UTCoh yeah could have been also
TheLexiCrowd
2022-11-05 12:06:24 +0000 UTCI look at it as Buffy could have a kid at 20 for sure. But not a 15 year old. Teens are an entirely different thing to handle than a baby/toddler is. If Buffy had been a teen mom and got pregnant when she lost her virginity, she would be dealing with a 3 year old right now (and not alone since Angel would be the dad... somehow... and he would help out). Not easy. But not the same. And she'd have 3 years of parenting experience to help deal with her 3 year old. Even if we want to say Granny Joyce would have been primary caregiver to baby Dawn until her death, I am sure Buffy would be more prepared now than she is. Her post heaven depression would effect things still of course, but let's be real, If Dawn was Buffy and Angels child, Angel (the show) would not exist and Angel would still be in Sunnydale and be Dawn's primary care giver. Or we make Dawn younger and Riley is the father. Riley would have stayed even if he and Buffy still broke up and he would be Dawn's primary care giver (although I have a feeling Riley would have been killed by Glory. In my made up scenario Dawn is still the key). Or heaven forbid Parker is the father. Even if he ditched, they'd have nailed him for child support and they'd at least have a bit more money. lol (And I am not sure he would have ditched. He was a jerk, but he may have taken responsibility maybe.) Or worst case scenario, Angel is the father but is still in Hell from season 2. Buffy would at least have the parenting experience and a 3 year old instead of a 15 year old. Virtually any way I can think of, Buffy being Dawn's actual mom would be easier than her current situation... and being a teen mom is NOT easy. But hypotheticals aside, why Hank isn't paying child support I will never know. I know he is a deadbeat dad, but everyone knows where he is... more or less. And he is well off enough to be jet setting around the world with his secretary. It would not be that hard to get some money out of him. Courts even take it directly out of bank accounts sometimes if needed. Oh well.
Chris Peacock
2022-11-04 21:31:27 +0000 UTCI agree that Buffy needs to take on the role of parent to Dawn. Giles could perhaps do it but he doesn't feel like it's his place. So Buffy has to do it. When Dawn started stealing, it could have been after her mother died. Or it could have been a reaction to finding out she was the key.
Bud Haven
2022-11-03 04:34:57 +0000 UTCI'm pretty much of the same opinion regarding Dawn and everything. Personally, I feel like this poor writing, and driving Buffy and Giles into this strange dynamic. I don't like it, because Giles had no problem telling Buffy last season, in the aptly named episode "Tough Love" that Buffy was the one who had to have talk to Dawn. Sure, he's had his moments of weakness with Buffy, like when he came running to great comedic effect at the end of the season 4 premiere, eager to help, only to show up too late. But he's otherwise a man of solid resolve and principal; and he's not one to let Buffy off the hook so easily. There are a LOT of things going on with this Dawn situation. I do agree that it seems a little too much to expect Buffy to take on a solo parenting responsibility with Dawn when she's only 20 right now. Sure, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for Buffy to get pregnant and have to raise a child at 20; but nor does that mean she'd necessarily be ready to do that solo; which is of course why there should be many options available in that scenario... In THIS case, I don't think it should strictly be an either or thing. With my family, everyone pitches in, *to the best they can*, when other family members need them; especially it's come to kids. When my sister first had her children, my mom stepped in as practically a full time babysitter, so that both my sister and her then fiancé now husband could work. She might have groused about it being taken for granted at times, but she's also the sort who really wouldn't have it any other way either. Initially at the time my mom was still working, so there were many times I'd be the one to watch them, depending on my schedule; and failing that other plans would be made. Now of course, Dawn's a teenager, it's not a question of changing diapers and making sure she's not drawing on the walls or something (which is only okay if you're Amy Acker...). What she needs now is something different, but the principal is still the same. She needs guidance and boundaries, and of course emotional support. These are things Buffy can offer her, but it's not strictly limited to her either. It's unfair of Buffy to pass the buck to Giles; and as I said, I think it's just flat out bad writing that Giles didn't call her back and make her sit down with Dawn and talk. But that talk didn't need to just be between Dawn and Buffy, just because Buffy happens to be her legal guardian. That distinction in itself doesn't bestow the knowledge needed to be a parent. Likewise, just because Giles isn't Dawn's father or legal guardian, it doesn't preclude him from sharing his concerns or wisdom of his own experiences so Dawn can benefit from them. Buffy and Giles talking to Dawn together could have potentially created a space that would make both Buffy and Dawn more comfortable to have the conversations they needed; with Giles acting as something of a mediator, albeit one with a vested emotional interest in both of them. But Giles seems to be in an odd headspace; and the idea that it has to do with killing Ben is an interesting one, and I don't recall seeing that theorized in past discussions. We don't know what the situation was like while Buffy was dead, but we know that Giles decided to return to England and felt comfortable leaving Dawn in the care of Tara and Willow; a sentiment that on the surface seems reasonable, especially with Tara in the mix, but objectively, and just as in the case with Buffy, both Willow and Tara are still very young and it seems kind of naive of Giles to think that they're both emotionally prepared and mature enough for that responsibility. Tara seems more so ready than Willow; she has a natural motherly quality to her - which, for some reason I feel like that might be more Amber coming through more than anything - maybe her thinking more along the lines of "how would *I* talk to Dawn in this situation, as opposed to how would Tara, who's maybe slightly, relatively closer in age. It always seemed odd for Giles to leave then, when the circumstances seemed precarious without the Slayer, but clearly he had no idea Buffy would ever come back. I mean, the financial situation alone must have been known then. Did no one seriously tell Giles in the first place? I still don't get why no one, not even Giles or Anya, have recommended downgrading to an apartment, at least for Buffy and Dawn. They don't need, and can't afford, a whole fucking house. But I do see Giles going through his own emotional difficulties at the beginning of the season; not just with him killing Ben, but losing Buffy. I feel like they've alluded to it a few times over the years how much of a toll that takes on a Watcher to lose their Slayer; and even talked about it with the Buffy Bot, saying how he "did what every Watcher before him did. Got his Slayer killed". That's how he looks at it. He got her killed. He feels responsible; probably even more so because of the tenseness of the situation going in, telling her how she would have to kill Dawn, but true to her nature, she found another way. He probably felt like he underestimated her resolve to protect Dawn, but at the same time responsible for in some way; like she gave her life to prove him wrong. There might even be a hint of doubt, that if he'd had enough faith in her to stop Glory and save Dawn, maybe he could have helped more somehow and made it so neither would have to jump. I think all of that would reasonably way on him. That, or my theory that Joyce was secretly a smuggler, using her "gallery" as a front; and at some point she recruited Giles as her fence. Then she suddenly died of "natural causes," and her business partner suddenly flees the country a few months later... 🤔
Stargazer1682
2022-11-02 23:42:17 +0000 UTC
