r/buffy • u/writeitregreddit • 10h ago

Season Two 🫠💀

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566 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

180

u/BananasPineapple05 10h ago

And that, in a nutshell, is the story of Giles's journey as a Watcher.

He came to Sunnydale in full Watcher mode, having been taught the ways to proceed from the Council. And, slowly but surely, through trial and error, he ended up being the Watcher whose Slayer probably ended up being the longest lasting one.

Because he learned that it's not all about theory and, for lack of a better way of putting it, book learning. Emotions put you in danger and mess with your focus, sure. Let's say that's true. Emotions also motivate you to give everything you have and more to save the day, to save someone, to save yourself. And no other Watcher got that till Giles got some skin in the game.

And, by "skin in the game," I mostly mean Buffy, really. But Jenny was absolutely crucial to that, too.

47

u/Gravefullofcum 8h ago

Surprise, if you treat the slayer like a person rather than an expendable pawn who’ll be replaced as soon as she dies, she lives long enough to learn to be more than just a warrior. She grows to be a leader. But then again, maybe that very concept actually scares the shit out of these elitist Brits that make up the Watchers Council.

30

u/Common-Truth9404 8h ago

They clearly didn't want that. Like you said, they even feared an Independent slayer

8

u/M0thM0uth 3h ago

I know the potentials can be a bit controversial but I truly do love that all of their workings to try and keep a single, dependent slayer ended up in hundreds of them across the globe

10

u/Bigeater4595 4h ago

The Council wanted a weapon, but Glies helped Buffy become a person who could change everything.

17

u/Suitable_Community66 10h ago

To my mind only a potential trained from birth would have been able to pass those tests the council gave Buffy in checkpoint. I doubt that was the case for most potentials or many more watchers would have survived the ravagers attacks

62

u/starlit_moon 10h ago

I love how he dips the plank into the fire and swings it around his head

50

u/grubas 9h ago

That, my good person, is a baseball bat.  Giles went FULL AMERICAN.

37

u/abhainn13 9h ago

Giles beating Angelus with a flaming baseball bat will always, always be one of my favorite scenes.

5

u/eating-mermaids 1h ago

I love it, how he never breaks eye contact with angel just dips the bat in the fire and goes to work

47

u/Suitable_Community66 10h ago

Got to say when Giles walks up those stairs I am crying my heart out, consider it to be one of the greatest moments in tv history ever, so well done

35

u/javaper 9h ago

To be honest, I wanted more of impulsive and strong Giles. I wanted to see him beat Angelus more with that flaming stick. Ripper seemed like a character with so much potential.

30

u/scrappybristol 10h ago

I mean...

bit of a difference between Angelus goading Buffy into a fight and Angelus killing Giles' lover and leaving her in his house to find

19

u/International-Let820 10h ago

Peak masculinity is Giles WHACKING Angelus with a weapon on fire

27

u/morguemoss "UNDO IT! UNDO IT!" 8h ago

"you mustnt let angel get to YOU, me on the other hand"

15

u/LastGoodKnee 9h ago

I mean… it was good advice

Also Buddy should have killed him when she had the chance

15

u/SafiraAshai 9h ago

Buffy asked if she should ignore him, and maybe he'll go away, and he says yes. That is TERRIBLE advice. Did the man not read Angelus' history?

11

u/JenningsWigService 9h ago

They had to contrive reasons to keep him around as Angelus for most of the season. The best rationale is that Buffy was so emotionally broken by his turn that he would have had an easier time killing her if she went after him in the immediate aftermath. She had to build up the strength to not be derailed in a fight by his expert button-pushing.

1

u/TeriBarrons 2h ago

Buddy? Sorry, just teasing, I know it’s an autocorrect goof. Just made me think of Buddy, the cat slayer or something 😂.

12

u/mortuusanima 9h ago

One of our first glimpses of Ripper

3

u/Edkm90p 9h ago

"What happened to wooden stakes?"

10

u/FarmRegular4471 10h ago

To be fair, the Slayer is more important then the Watcher in the grand scheme of things.

2

u/Bookslutforsmut 7h ago

Do as he says not as he does.

3

u/Big-Restaurant-2766 That Other One 7h ago

Unfortunately, some struggle to listen to their own advice.
It's so much easier to say it to someone else than to actually follow through with it yourself.

2

u/DAB-9000 5h ago

I almost laughed out loud for real there 😅

1

u/Foreign-Fee-9972 8h ago

Jesus Christ I always forget how the remaster makes everyone look like rubber 🤢🤮

1

u/PrestigiousAd6281 7h ago

I honestly can’t remember the last time I watched the remaster so I immediately thought “why in the hell does it look like this?” to myself. It’s like they went out of their way to remove almost all artistic tone from the cinematography when putting it through whatever upscaler they used

•

u/endodia 45m ago

omg I love the show irony