Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Headscratchers/Season 6: Difference between revisions

* In "All the Way", how can Dawns classmates; who are vamps, attend school in the day.

** All Dawn ever says is that she recognizes the boys from a couple of (presumably evening) parties. She might assume that they go to her school, but it's never confirmed that they actually do. Alternately, they may have been turned recently enough that Dawn would remember seeing them around the school, even if they're not there anymore.

== Buffy and Dawn Don't Have Wallets ==

* This is probably the tiniest IJBM ever, but here we go: Season Six, "Tabula Rasa". The gang loses their memory, Willow gets the idea of looking in their wallets for ID. But Buffy and Dawn ''don't have wallets''. Seriously? I know it's to set up the Joan/Umad joke, but come on. Dawn maybe, but Buffy's an adult with photo ID and bank-cards.

** Which she didn't necessarily bring with her. She doesn't drive, so she doesn't need to make sure to have her license on her when out and about, and I doubt she was planning to buy anything at the magic shop.

** The real question we should ask ourselves is: If the gang bothered to look through their person for possible locations for a wallet, why did none of them find the black crystal thingie that gave them amnesia in the first place? Sure some of them might've stopped looking after finding their wallets, but I believe Giles' was '''right in his coat pocket'''. How could he miss that?

*** Willow probably did find the black crystal, but having no memory probably thought "Oh, a black cyrstal" and got on with things.

*** What? Willow was the only one carrying a crystal, the spell just got overpowered as too much Lithe's bramble got burned. What made you think they all had a crystal? The only crystal falls out of Willow's pocket and is stepped on by Xander ending the spell.

 

== Joyce's Life Insurance ==

** Xander using the love spell to get back at Anya is also the point at which Giles stops trusting Xander around magic ''period'', remember. He's reluctant to let Xander have anything to do with magic - which is why Xander usually got relegated to snack detail; it's the one thing Giles trusted him not to screw up.

*** This really isn't true. After the love spell, Xander really didn't have much of an interest in magic. Xander using magic was pretty much a nonentity for Giles, except to eye roll when Xander accidentally set a magic book on fire.

**** I agree with some points and disagree with others. The decoration spell was a silly thing for Tara to get upset about, and she didn't really have a good reason against it besides "why do magic when you don't have to?", but Willow attempting to shift most of the Bronze into an alternate dimension for a second was definitely not a very good idea; Tara using a spell to find Willow and Xander was a far different circumstance when the town was under siege by vampires and Willow was drained from using exceptionally powerful magic. I also don't think that Giles should have reacted as he did; if it was any other resurrection, it would have been iffy, but she was resurrecting the Slayer, the girl who's saved the world more than a handful of times. She couldn't have known that Buffy was really at peace, and Giles didn't know that either; he called her stupid for "disrupting the natural cycle", but without Buffy, would the town have survived the ransacking that was taking place? Or any of the emergencies that come up later on? It wasn't just a matter of reviving Buffy, it was also a matter of bringing back the only person who can protect Sunnydale. So I'm siding against Giles on that one.

***** On the other hand, it wasn't like Buffy was the only person who could protect Sunnydale if it came down to it. Faith is a Vampire Slayer, too. At that point, she had more than a year to learn to control her behavior. Willow resurrecting Buffy had more to do with getting Buffy back than it did from protecting Sunnydale. That said, I agree that Willow had no way of knowing that Buffy was in heaven.

** ...The gang are also concerned since Willow is still relatively new to magic; she got very powerful very fast; contrast that with Giles (who knows first-hand how easy it can be to get in over your head from his Ripper days) and Tara who have been practising longer and are more experienced. Willow was fairly arrogant to disregard their warnings, she may have more power than them - but not neccesarily more wisdom or understanding; had she been willing to listen at that point, she could have learnt a lot. Though, likewise - Giles really should have taught her earlier on, when it was clear she was developing a strong interest to properly respect magic. He seemed to want to keep her away from it and protect her (because he knows its dangers), rather than enlighten her on them.

* Tara getting mad about the party does seem silly if taken in isolation, but it's less about the party and more about the bigger picture, especially so soon after the resurrection spell. Tara isn't mad that Willow cast the party spell, she's mad that Willow's abusing magic in general, and the party spell was just a small matchstick that set off the larger flame.

 

== Unsexy House-Smashing ==

**** If they weren't very effective in using guns, it was because they weren't using the /right/ guns. Just because a pistol or SMG doesn't do much, doesn't mean a sniper rifle, combat rifle, or shotgun loaded with incendiary slugs won't work.

**** I tend to think of the "never useful" to also mean that 1) Guns attract attention. Stakings are quieter than gunshots and leave less evidence. 2) Guns cost money. Training costs money. Bullets cost money. Accidentally shooting a bystander or friend (Buffy isn't always fighting vamps in cemeteries, after all) - DEFINITELY going to cost money. Money the Scooby Gang really doesn't have, especially in the earlier seasons. Sure, guns might have their uses against vamps and demons, but they usually aren't practical uses as far as Buffy is concerned.

***** If I remember correctly, the actual quote goes "These things? Never helpful'. I take it to mean that from Buffy's personal experiences, she doesn't see gun use as something beneficial to her, probably due to lack of proper defense against a gun if she loses it in confrontation.

****** While that almost certainly is Buffy's reasoning, it only underlines that her reaction is personal prejudice and not rationally thought through. There are no bulletproof policemen or soldiers IRL, and yet they are all still packing because they have legitimate need to. The 'defense' vs. being shot with your own weapon is ''learning how not to have your weapon taken away from you''. Buffy deserves a point for acknowledging that if she has no interest in training how to use firearms with appropriate skill she should not be carrying any, but is still missing a bet in that she is deliberately spurning an entire category of weapons training when she's in a full-time job that requires her to know how to potentially kill anything with anything.

** Anya is a woman scorned, not a neglected child. That's Anyankha's territory, the (first potential, then actual) irony of which was never lost on anyone involved in all three years that she was with Xander. Just as Anyankha's a stickler for only casting vengeance spells for scorned women, Halfrek's probably the same with neglected children.

*** Actually, in "Older and Far Away", Halfrek mentions that most vengeance demons "try to be a little more well-rounded", and that only Anya had a specific 'territory'. Although it's kinda vague, as when asked about it, she says "It's not a thing, the children need me". But it's not really a rule as such.

 

== Joyce, Buffy, and Natural vs. Supernatural Death ==

****** The [[Moral Event Horizon]] was when Buffy betrayed Willow and supported rapist murderer Warren. Seeing as how this never came remotely close to happening, though, it's a non-issue.

***** It definitely would have mean a Moral Event Horizon and I suppose that's a decent answer. But up until Giles dosed her she had very specific targets with very specific reasons. We in the audience sympathize because we know these are a bunch of kids playing Super Villian. From Willow's point of view it's two thirds of the group that killed Tara and nearly killed Buffy. We already saw [[Kill Bill]]. As long as your not between the girl on the [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] and whoever she wants dead you're perfectly safe.

* The logic that's used in show is that the human world has human laws to deal with these things. But they don't. We have no idea what materials are needed to summon a demon or become a superstar. Warren is the only one of the Trio that we can safely assume jail could hold and even that's not clear. It's unclear how versed he was in magic or how hard he could [[Mac Guyver]] a cell phone and other electronics you might be able to get into a prison, particularly if you could all but garuantee that you'll get out.

** Jonathan and Andrew were being contained in prison very effectively until the Scoobies had to help bust them out in order to protect them from Willow. Warren, on the other hand, was an expert in robotics and had no qualms about going to demons for upgrades.

** Warren may be a technological genius, but he's no surgeon. At least the guy he got in Season 4 worked at a hospital, and I wouldn't assume Warren was too competent at ''anything'' except mechanics. I mean, just look at him. Spike probably saw it the same way.

** I guess. To me that's just just stupid. Spike knows enough about electronics (at least they have on and off switches) that the idea that it didn't occur to him to have Warren disable, not remove but simply deactivate the chip he was looking at is messy. The only possible reason is he might have had to explain WHAT the chip did before Warren would or could and obviously he doesn't want anybody who doesn't already know to know.

*** EMP blasts aren't exactly easy to come by.

**** Spike, being undead, is immune to death by electrocution even if it still hurts. High voltage would fry the chip long before it would fry him. It would also hurt like an absolute motherfucker, which is probably why he didn't risk it in canon, but if he got somewhat more desperate then that goes back on the menu of options.

*** Besides, Spike really wouldn't want to take the chance of messing the chip up somehow and making things worse. Trying to remove it is one thing, but leaving it in his head while fiddling with the way it works is a much riskier plan. What if he accidentally switches it ''on'' all the time instead?

***** All true, but remember that in season 4 Spike reached the point where he was willing to ''dust himself'' rather than continue to live with the chip. Only the revelation that he was still allowed violence vs. demons pulled him out of that. If Spike ever reaches that point again, deliberately microwaving his head until the chip hopefully breaks is actually a more rational move.

***** Along those same lines, even if the chip can be turned off remotely, the moment Spike reveals to Warren that he wants it turned off, Warren has leverage over him. Warren doesn't have to know what it does, just that Spike can't control it and he can. From there, all he has to do is hold onto the switch and tell Spike "now do what I say or I'll flip whatever that thing is back on again".

***** Especially when the chip's function is that it prevents Spike from hurting any humans. If Warren found that out, he loses all leverage he had. Sure, Spike could still break their possessions, but he couldn't hurt any of the Trio, even if they started attacking him. Even three klutzes like the Trio could do some damage when the person they're attacking can't hurt them back.

== Buffy's Financial Responsibility ==

* So basically, Willow and Tara were taking care of Dawn and living in Buffy's house the whole time Buffy was dead, and neither of them saw fit to get a job so that when the life insurance ran out they wouldn't be screwed? And then once Buffy comes back it's automatically her job to earn money AND save the world, and if she asks for help from Giles she's being immature? Like Buffy says, she was "all dead and frugal," she wasn't the one spending the money. Not that Willow or Tara were reckless with money, but it needs to be replaced when you spend it! Shouldn't they have taken a little responsibility for that?

** It should be Buffy's responsibility. It's her house, and Dawn is her sister. Buffy is trying to play mother with Dawn, and gets all that comes with it. Also, Giles may be a nice guy, help out financially, and play daddy sometimes, but he is of no relation to Buffy, and thus under no obligation to help her out. The only one under any obligation was maybe Willow and Tara for rent money, but still.

*** Giles isn't Buffy's relative, but he ''is'' for all thoughts and purposes her employer, directing her in a hard, dangerous and thankless job, performing a service that everybody needs but nobody wants to acknowledge. Getting a decent steady paycheck for it wouldn't be too much to ask, and Giles is independently wealthy shop owner, and gets a double-pay from the Council of Watcers, to boot.

== Bad Touching ==

* There is a scene in "Wrecked" where Willow is taking what is clearly a [[Shower of Angst]]. Question: Is it a [[Shower of Angst]] because of the dru... dark magic, or is it because Rack found himself lost beneath her Willow tree.

 

== Giles is (Not) Dying ==

 

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[[Category:Headscratchers]]

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