Season Towers

This thesis is based on Lydia the Watcher's line in the episode "Checkpoint" (Buffy season 5). On first meeting Spike she says in awe, "I wrote my thesis on you!"

We submit this collaborative effort as the thesis Lydia wrote. We have given her the last name Chalmers. Since we imagine this thesis to have been completed in May of 1998, any information about Spike or Sunnydale which has appeared since then will not have been available to her.

The key to understanding Darla’s view of relationships is her human life. We are told very little about her, but it’s what we are not told that is every bit as crucial. For example, we have no idea what her name was as a mortal. Angel [see note B] discovers in the episode “Darla” that the name Darla didn’t come into common usage until 100 years after she had died. He assumes the Master must have given her the name

Keep in mind also what it is they have as common ground. They've both got an extremely practical streak, and both tend to pull away from their friends when they could most use them. They both internalize a lot of things, have unresolved parent issues—not to mention the unresolved Angel issues.

many fans do not seem to differentiate between types of souls (i.e. human, vampire, vengeance demon, Mmm Fashnik, etc.).

As long as all of the 'verse demons were evil, the term soul and the definition like-a-conscience, was sufficient. Whistler, Doyle, Lorne and their ilk have muddied the waters, and this is an attempt to filter them. Although some of these terms, definitions and explanations are non-canonical, they draw on canon, don't contradict it, and attempt to fill it in, and wank it a little so that it works.

Where they actually fit lies in where they differ: Faith has a tendency to keep people distant while Xander has a tendency to reach out to people. Faith is a loner while Xander prefers to live in a crowd of people (although the fact he’s working alone in Africa without his Sunnydale friends might be an element to consider when writing post-S7 Xander). Faith is a fairly good judge of character with a strong bullshit detector, but she doesn’t always know how to translate her judgment into good communication skills. Xander’s ability to judge strangers is not as good, but once he gets a bead on someone’s character he can usually find the right words to say to spur them into action or help them through a difficult situation. In the heat of battle, Faith tends to take the lead and fights in the thick of the action; Xander tends to focus on the periphery by backing up the people with the physical power or removing innocent bystanders and the injured from the field of battle.

I wasn’t sure if she was going to work as a major nemesis for Angel in the second season, but then my view of a nemesis was pretty limited. Try imagining the bad guy in the huge black cape, but from the moment I heard Darla (Judgment) say:
"Angel . . . it's been a long time . . . I'd love to see that boy."

I was simply riveted and couldn’t wait to see what tricks Darla had up her sleeves for Angel and crew.

Connor helping Jasmine voluntarily as opposed to everyone else highlights both sides of his nature, again. He finds out she eats people and accepts that, which is on a par with Faith being willing to help the Mayor consume Sunnydale High on his Ascension. The abdication of moral responsibility in trade for affection from a beloved person, or the conviction that anything that beloved person wants makes it right. (The Mayor? Would have loved Jasmine and her idea of how to create world peace.)

Having watched The Wish for the first time in ages the other weekend, I had my usual moment of thinking about nature/nurture in the Slayer world. All is good if the slayer is nurtured, but when too much is left to nature the slayer (Faith or Wish Buffy) becomes a darker character. Is this something to do with who they are in terms of their human character not being able to cope with the loneliness/ work of slaying, or to do with the demon element that gives them their slayerness becoming too dominant because there isn't enough humanity around them to nourish their human side?

Giles has always been willing to do whatever it takes to protect the world and the lives of others, even if that means taking one life to save many more .... at the end of season six, Giles says "... the coven is working on a... way to extract [Willow's] powers without... killing her. And, uh, should she survive..." ("Grave," emphasis mine). He realizes that it may not be possible to let Willow live if she will continue to be a danger, and he accepts this, even though she is one of the people he cares about most. Willow herself even says "When you brought me here, I thought it was to kill me."

Conversely, human life is not automatically sacred for Giles, a position that gives important nuance to the fundamental imperative of Jossverse morality — slay the monster, save the person. Giles is able to perform the most agonizing moral calculation, balancing one life against many. He considers, and insists that Buffy consider, killing Dawn to prevent Glory from breaking down the dimensional walls; he kills Ben to prevent Glory from re-emerging; in "Lies My Parents Told Me," he attempts to kill Spike, whom he believes to be a risk to the whole group. In that case, he sacrifices even his relationship with Buffy (it's not clear if she ever forgives him) to what he sees as his larger obligations.

Giles was ten years old when he was told that he had *no* choice in his future, no say in what he could be or do, that he entire life was laid out for him and that he must follow that plan... I think you underestimate the impact of that.

"This doesn't mean that a character cannot recognize that some emotional reactions/relationships were less deep than they'd presumed at the time. Xander, for example, can go right ahead and reflect on the sweetness of his Cordy relationship while thinking how different that was from what he feels for Anya, or Spike, or Clem, or whoever he's fallen in love with, not that I think he'd do the reflecting. What it means is that if the previous relationship was presented as deep and meaningful to the character even long after it ended, you don't go and make it not meaningful in your story..."

"The reason it works is because the characters are true to their known personalities. Take away their most common traits and you have just a couple of vampires getting it on, and though that may be lovely, it's not fanfic. If you just want to put people together - change their names and make it original fic - don't kill my favourite people..."

"....He's not really evolving from one type to another, we're just seeing what lies under that carefully controlled exterior as we get to know him better. The Lost Soul was there all along, but his rigid control in Sunnydale kept it from showing too much (except in his desperate need for belonging and approval). He's definitely shown himself to be devoted, vulnerable and discerning. He doesn't brood quite like Angel does, but showing himself to be brooding would be revealing too much about himself to others. He can be unforgiving of himself and others. While Angel is the Wandering type of Lost Soul who can't find commitment and who has trouble attaching, Wes is more of the Outcast who isolated himself from the outside world and who doesn't let anyone close to him. Wes and Cordy may criticize Angel for not talking about his feelings or connecting with others, but Wes is even worse. At least they can tell Angel is having feelings. Wesley's generally placid exterior keeps others from knowing that anything's going on inside...."

".... Even "Surprise" (BtVS, 2x13) can be seen in this light. I hope we can all agree Angel doesn't lose his soul there due to sex, but love. But one could argue it's not just the act of love, or even Buffy herself, or anything but again, a confluence of events that leads up to that moment. At this point, it seemed to me as though Angel believed he could love and have some measure of happiness, even if he also knew it was a foolish belief. Also, (and I think this was a2zmom's argument, correct me if I'm wrong) he thinks he might be able to achieve some kind of atonement or forgiveness...perhaps not completely, but to some point where he can live with himself. He never seems to really believe either of those things again, but if he does then it makes sense that he loses his soul not due to just Buffy but some belief that in some way he's kinda forgiven.

Thus, it would seem logical to argue that so much has happened with Angel, particularly the loss of his son, etc, that perfect happiness would never really be possible.

On the other hand, I think it's possible that "perfect happiness" may not be everything at a certain time going right, or even most things. Look at the other side of the coin: many people have experienced despair so great they feel like ending their lives, but a lot of those people have a bunch of wonderful things going for them. Everything is not going wrong, but a few things or even just one big thing has made them feel their lives are not worth living. Is that "perfect despair"? I guess I would say so, though I can see arguments against it...."

"When we do stupid things, (and Buffy had been doing incredibly stupid things in playing with Spike, since the only thing that we know kept him in check was the chip) we suffer the consequences, even when those consequences shouldn't happen. Play with fire, get burned, etc. She forgot Spike was fire, and she got burned.

I've seen people object to the attempted rape, or indicate that it wasn't so bad, on the grounds that Buffy was strong enough to get away at any time. It played entirely realistically to me, having been in a situation where you freeze because you simply can't believe what's happening. I'm not talking rape, exactly, but a situation where physical strength isn't really an issue in the moment because you can't really believe what's happening to you. Where the games you play suddenly take a frightening turn and things are real. That's what I read from Buffy, and ultimately, she did stop him, but that doesn't mitigate the fact that Spike was attempting it, and we really don't know if he would have stopped. Ultimately, responsibility isn't a zero sum, where if I accord Buffy any responsibility in the events leading up to that, it somehow reduces the responsibility of her attacker, or makes the whole frightening thing any better. I really can't wrap my mind around how liking Spike can change that, but then, as I said, the attack didn't seem at all out of character to me, given what I'd seen and thought all season. This is another of those areas where I just have to face that fact that I'm watching a different show than many other people....."

"In this podcast, we break down season 1 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, giving our reviews and ratings of each episodes, and discussing character growth, theme elements, and the best one-liners. Also, the occasional factoid is also thrown in..."

"The most adventurous and enterprising young Irish went abroad to make their fortunes and to get out from under the thumb of the oppressive government that made them pay for a church and state they detested. Could Liam have wanted to go to the Continent or even farther? Would his father stop him? That would explain Liam's sad comment to Darla about how he had never been anywhere...."

"In support of this notion, some of Buffy’s most memorable successes are associated with an atypical use of arms. In Innocence she commandeers a rocket launcher to take out the Judge and in Graduation Day 2 uses Faith’s knife not as a weapon, but to lure “Dick” into a library full of explosives, thus exploiting his human weakness for the memory of his protégé. An example of the problems that arise from a more conventional approach can be seen in Prophecy Girl. Trying to follow the Codex to the letter she goes armed with a crossbow that proves completely ineffective against the Master...."

"Angelus defines himself as a creature of passions, but claims it in an intellectual sense; the hunt and kill as an art (in opposition to Spike, of course). Now Darla sees right through him, as creators are prone to do - at least in the beginning: sees that every action Angelus calls the detached gesture of an artist-thinker is in fact essentially affective...."

"In SHELLS, Wesley stabbed Gunn. Calmly. Without remorse.

And yet, nobody was really all that surprised about this, were they? I wasn't. Shocked and saddened, yes, but not truly surprised. But, taking a step back, I have to wonder why that is. Why aren't we surprised? How is it that a character can be that brutal to former friend and comrade-in-arms without a huge outcry from fans?...."