Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Fridge: Difference between revisions

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** This is ''directly lampshaded on the show'', literally almost as soon as Dawn shows up. From episode 5x02, "Real Me":
** This is ''directly lampshaded on the show'', literally almost as soon as Dawn shows up. From episode 5x02, "Real Me":
{{quote|'''Buffy:''' ''She'' gets to be a kid, and she acts like it's the biggest burden in the world. Sometimes ''I'' would like to just curl up in Mom's lap and not worry about the fate of the world. I'd like to be the one who's protected, who's waited on--}}
{{quote|'''Buffy:''' ''She'' gets to be a kid, and she acts like it's the biggest burden in the world. Sometimes ''I'' would like to just curl up in Mom's lap and not worry about the fate of the world. I'd like to be the one who's protected, who's waited on--}}
** And another [[Fridge Brilliance]] to go along with that: Buffy was tasked with protecting the Key at all costs. If the Key was just a physical object, it'd be a standard protection deal, but she's a 15 year old girl. So Buffy's task of protection goes beyond that of mere physical protection, she's compelled to protect her emotionally too, from things that might hurt her if she found out (such as being the Key, or even just the facts of life).
** And another [[Fridge Brilliance]] to go along with that: Buffy was tasked with protecting the Key at all costs. If the Key was just a physical object, it'd be a standard protection deal, but she's a 15 year old girl. So Buffy's task of protection goes beyond that of mere physical protection, she's compelled to protect her emotionally too, from things that might hurt her if she found out (such as being the Key, or even just the facts of life).
** This is also an artifact of earlier season 5 scripts not having been fully updated to account for Michelle Trachtenberg's being cast; originally Dawn was intended to have been around 10 years old, not 14.
** This is also an artifact of earlier season 5 scripts not having been fully updated to account for Michelle Trachtenberg's being cast; originally Dawn was intended to have been around 10 years old, not 14.
* One thing that was bugging me was magic. It seems like anyone can start picking it up (Dawn cast the resurrection spell in "Forever" and even Buffy used it to enter a trance in "Shadow"), so it was kind of bothering me that for something that seems pretty accessible, only Willow, Tara, Amy, and Jonathan seem to be doing it. And then I realized; of course many more people are using magic, the Magic Box has a steady stream of customers. Some seem to just be buying stuff as novelties, but you do see customers that are clearly buying spell components. And then it also hit me that just because magic is a key component of the show, it doesn't mean that they're gonna show us every single magic user in Sunnydale; even if they know about magic and demons, that doesn't mean they're gonna get involved with slaying, or even use magic all that often outside of their own home. So the magic = homosexuality connection (it was more prevalent before magic = drugs started) makes even more sense when you consider that there might be hundreds or even thousands of magic users in Sunnydale, but you couldn't tell from appearance.
* One thing that was bugging me was magic. It seems like anyone can start picking it up (Dawn cast the resurrection spell in "Forever" and even Buffy used it to enter a trance in "Shadow"), so it was kind of bothering me that for something that seems pretty accessible, only Willow, Tara, Amy, and Jonathan seem to be doing it. And then I realized; of course many more people are using magic, the Magic Box has a steady stream of customers. Some seem to just be buying stuff as novelties, but you do see customers that are clearly buying spell components. And then it also hit me that just because magic is a key component of the show, it doesn't mean that they're gonna show us every single magic user in Sunnydale; even if they know about magic and demons, that doesn't mean they're gonna get involved with slaying, or even use magic all that often outside of their own home. So the magic = homosexuality connection (it was more prevalent before magic = drugs started) makes even more sense when you consider that there might be hundreds or even thousands of magic users in Sunnydale, but you couldn't tell from appearance.
* Willow says to Giles "I expected you would kill me and then you went all Dumbledore on me." ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Harry Potter]]'' {{spoiler|shows that DD was '''always''' an evil mentor.}}
* Willow says to Giles "I expected you would kill me and then you went all Dumbledore on me." ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Harry Potter]]'' {{spoiler|shows that DD was '''always''' an evil mentor.}}
** Well, I don't know about ''evil'', but he was certainly morally grey--which Giles is as well.
** Well, I don't know about ''evil'', but he was certainly morally grey--which Giles is as well.
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* Even the optimistic view of the series finale (Slayers will finally get to live relatively normal lives) still means that Buffy and co. still are going to be subjecting thousands of girls to an extremely dangerous lifestyle (although safer than what Buffy went through though) filled with things that will give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.
* Even the optimistic view of the series finale (Slayers will finally get to live relatively normal lives) still means that Buffy and co. still are going to be subjecting thousands of girls to an extremely dangerous lifestyle (although safer than what Buffy went through though) filled with things that will give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.
** But monsters would exist regardless, and by giving them all the power, they could now fight back against the darkness rather than be victims. And if they don't want to, they don't need to, because they don't have the burden of being the only one. What's scary is that there are now hundreds if not thousands of newly minted Slayers with no idea what they have become, so they probably ended up causing a fair amount of damage, not counting that Slayers are still human and their may be dozens of Faith-like girls who'll exploit their newfound powers for evil.
** But monsters would exist regardless, and by giving them all the power, they could now fight back against the darkness rather than be victims. And if they don't want to, they don't need to, because they don't have the burden of being the only one. What's scary is that there are now hundreds if not thousands of newly minted Slayers with no idea what they have become, so they probably ended up causing a fair amount of damage, not counting that Slayers are still human and their may be dozens of Faith-like girls who'll exploit their newfound powers for evil.
** Speaking of nightmares - based on the experience of those Slayers we've seen in the series, we know that Slayers experience the memories of all the slayers who've died. Now think of all of the horrific things that Buffy went through during her time as the Slayer. Now realize that her experience, judging by her advanced survival, was one of the ''least [[Nightmare Fuel|horrifying]]'' histories of any slayer, which means that the other slayers were worse. Now think about it. Every single slayer goes to sleep one night a normal girl and wakes up with the worst [[Nightmare Fuel]] in the world since the ''beginning of time'' has just been [[Mind Raped|crammed into the brains]] of these [[Break the Cutie|utterly unsuspecting young girls.]] Who here thinks Dana's gonna be the [[Go Mad From the Revelation|only one]] in the end, raise your hands?
** Speaking of nightmares - based on the experience of those Slayers we've seen in the series, we know that Slayers experience the memories of all the slayers who've died. Now think of all of the horrific things that Buffy went through during her time as the Slayer. Now realize that her experience, judging by her advanced survival, was one of the ''least [[Nightmare Fuel|horrifying]]'' histories of any slayer, which means that the other slayers were worse. Now think about it. Every single slayer goes to sleep one night a normal girl and wakes up with the worst [[Nightmare Fuel]] in the world since the ''beginning of time'' has just been [[Mind Raped|crammed into the brains]] of these [[Break the Cutie|utterly unsuspecting young girls.]] Who here thinks Dana's gonna be the [[Go Mad from the Revelation|only one]] in the end, raise your hands?
** Then there's the fanon involving Buffy activating all of the Slayers lineage at once resulting in the situation of ''[[Fray]]'' where after Buffy's generation die out, there are no more Slayers because all of the magic was used up.
** Then there's the fanon involving Buffy activating all of the Slayers lineage at once resulting in the situation of ''[[Fray]]'' where after Buffy's generation die out, there are no more Slayers because all of the magic was used up.
** "Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers." And there's one. One. And this one lives in a small town in California. Granted, it's on a Hellmouth, but that's kinda the problem; a Hellmouth. As in, there are more of them (Cleveland is referenced occasionally). So, how is the entire world not overrun if all that's standing between demons and humans is one girl who usually doesn't live past her twenties, the odd reformed demon, and whatever the heck Whistler is? They can be all the kickass they want, it's not possible for someone to cover that much ground.
** "Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers." And there's one. One. And this one lives in a small town in California. Granted, it's on a Hellmouth, but that's kinda the problem; a Hellmouth. As in, there are more of them (Cleveland is referenced occasionally). So, how is the entire world not overrun if all that's standing between demons and humans is one girl who usually doesn't live past her twenties, the odd reformed demon, and whatever the heck Whistler is? They can be all the kickass they want, it's not possible for someone to cover that much ground.
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* Buffy's experience with Parker in Season Four just seems like a mundanely unpleasant experience... until you go back and watch "Innocence" again and see how similar Parker's rejection of her after their one-night stand is to the way Angelus toys with her after their first time, taunting her about how it was good but nothing special, expressing surprise that it meant more to her than it did to him, etc. Just think about all the unpleasant, deeply traumatic memories that must have been brought up for Buffy.
* Buffy's experience with Parker in Season Four just seems like a mundanely unpleasant experience... until you go back and watch "Innocence" again and see how similar Parker's rejection of her after their one-night stand is to the way Angelus toys with her after their first time, taunting her about how it was good but nothing special, expressing surprise that it meant more to her than it did to him, etc. Just think about all the unpleasant, deeply traumatic memories that must have been brought up for Buffy.
** Worse yet, Parker looks ''very'' much like Xander. Not only is Buffy living through that nightmare again, yet again its coming from a stranger wearing the face of someone she trusts and cares for. Talk about trigger-y!
** Worse yet, Parker looks ''very'' much like Xander. Not only is Buffy living through that nightmare again, yet again its coming from a stranger wearing the face of someone she trusts and cares for. Talk about trigger-y!
* In season 6, Xander is the most upset with Spike's [[Attempted Rape]] of Buffy. This would just be Xander's concern for his best friend, but it becomes fridge horror when you remember the season 3 episode Consequences in which Faith attempted to rape and choke him.
* In season 6, Xander is the most upset with Spike's [[Attempted Rape]] of Buffy. This would just be Xander's concern for his best friend, but it becomes fridge horror when you remember the season 3 episode Consequences in which Faith attempted to rape and choke him.
** The horror gets deeper (and makes even more sense) when you recall that early in the Season 1 episode The Pack Xander was possessed by a heyena spirit and tried to rape Buffy. Part of his rage at Spike is actually repressed rage at himself because he never faced any consequences for that action.
** The horror gets deeper (and makes even more sense) when you recall that early in the Season 1 episode The Pack Xander was possessed by a heyena spirit and tried to rape Buffy. Part of his rage at Spike is actually repressed rage at himself because he never faced any consequences for that action.
* Then there's the Willow/Tara scene from Once More, With Feeling. It took me a long time to realize it, but then I realized Willow basically magically roofied and then raped her girlfriend--and this was ''after'' Tara had been mindraped horrifically by Glory. No ''wonder'' Tara was horrified when she found out.
* Then there's the Willow/Tara scene from Once More, With Feeling. It took me a long time to realize it, but then I realized Willow basically magically roofied and then raped her girlfriend--and this was ''after'' Tara had been mindraped horrifically by Glory. No ''wonder'' Tara was horrified when she found out.
** This troper had always been under the impression that this wasn't supposed to be fridge at all. I was downright horrified when the memory spell went up, and almost sick when Willow went ahead and had sex with her anyway.
** This troper had always been under the impression that this wasn't supposed to be fridge at all. I was downright horrified when the memory spell went up, and almost sick when Willow went ahead and had sex with her anyway.
* After Faith's [[Face Heel Turn]], Mayor Wilkins basically becomes her substitute father. Then in ''Enemies'', Faith tries to seduce Angel in order to make him turn evil. Afterward, she goes back to the Mayor, sad because she failed. The Mayor acts all motivational, telling her to try again. The conversation pretty much implies that the Mayor was the one who made her do it. In other words, he took in a seventeen-year-old girl, set himself up as a father figure, then ordered her to go have sex with a guy who's 242 years old.
* After Faith's [[Face Heel Turn]], Mayor Wilkins basically becomes her substitute father. Then in ''Enemies'', Faith tries to seduce Angel in order to make him turn evil. Afterward, she goes back to the Mayor, sad because she failed. The Mayor acts all motivational, telling her to try again. The conversation pretty much implies that the Mayor was the one who made her do it. In other words, he took in a seventeen-year-old girl, set himself up as a father figure, then ordered her to go have sex with a guy who's 242 years old.
* During Buffy's stay in LA in the episode Anne, someone tells her this about LA - "This isn't a good place for a kid to be. You get old fast here. The thing that does it, that drains the life out of them: despair. Kids come here, they got nothing to go home to and this is the last stop for a lot of them. Shouldn't have to be that way." A description which perfectly matches and foreshadows....Cordelia Chase. Barring the despair, a lot of this is true for her journey in LA. She has no home in Sunnydale after her parents lose all their money, she's living in a horrible apartment as her last stop, she is forced to grow up because of the trauma of life in Angel Investigations, her brain starts to deteriorate because of her visions, literally getting old fast and even becoming a demon doesnt help because she still dies regardless.
* During Buffy's stay in LA in the episode Anne, someone tells her this about LA - "This isn't a good place for a kid to be. You get old fast here. The thing that does it, that drains the life out of them: despair. Kids come here, they got nothing to go home to and this is the last stop for a lot of them. Shouldn't have to be that way." A description which perfectly matches and foreshadows....Cordelia Chase. Barring the despair, a lot of this is true for her journey in LA. She has no home in Sunnydale after her parents lose all their money, she's living in a horrible apartment as her last stop, she is forced to grow up because of the trauma of life in Angel Investigations, her brain starts to deteriorate because of her visions, literally getting old fast and even becoming a demon doesnt help because she still dies regardless.
* The brief bit with the Warrenbot in ''Villains'' became just slightly more unsettling after I thought about it for a while: the scoobies' treatment of Buffybot raised the [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] thing enough, but Warren created an arguably sentient being specifically ''for'' the purposes of being a decoy that would most likely get destroyed within moments of its existence...at least, since we never heard anything about there being a Warrenbot before, I assume he either put it together really quickly while on the run, or else was [[Crazy Prepared]] enough to just have an already completed but not activated robot double hidden someplace in case of emergency.
* The brief bit with the Warrenbot in ''Villains'' became just slightly more unsettling after I thought about it for a while: the scoobies' treatment of Buffybot raised the [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] thing enough, but Warren created an arguably sentient being specifically ''for'' the purposes of being a decoy that would most likely get destroyed within moments of its existence...at least, since we never heard anything about there being a Warrenbot before, I assume he either put it together really quickly while on the run, or else was [[Crazy Prepared]] enough to just have an already completed but not activated robot double hidden someplace in case of emergency.
** Warren's a genre nerd who was spending that season trying to be a comic-book supervillain. Of ''course'' he'd build himself a Doombot. He was probably intending to let it get arrested and sit in jail if the cops ever came for him, while he himself caught a fast bus to Mexico.
** Warren's a genre nerd who was spending that season trying to be a comic-book supervillain. Of ''course'' he'd build himself a Doombot. He was probably intending to let it get arrested and sit in jail if the cops ever came for him, while he himself caught a fast bus to Mexico.
* As shown in "The Body", Anya's been a demon so long that she doesn't really understand death any more. She doesn't understant why Joyce died, and why she's no longer with them. Now think of all the men that she's killed. Hell, she basically caused the Russian Revolution. Anya's probably just realizing how many people she's killed and maimed over the years, and how many families and lives that she's destroyed. It's touched upon a bit in the season 7 episode "Selfless", but still, she's killed so many people and is only just realizing now what death really is.
* As shown in "The Body", Anya's been a demon so long that she doesn't really understand death any more. She doesn't understant why Joyce died, and why she's no longer with them. Now think of all the men that she's killed. Hell, she basically caused the Russian Revolution. Anya's probably just realizing how many people she's killed and maimed over the years, and how many families and lives that she's destroyed. It's touched upon a bit in the season 7 episode "Selfless", but still, she's killed so many people and is only just realizing now what death really is.
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[[Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]
[[Category:Fridge]]
[[Category:Fridge]]
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