Deaths.

[Tea - Total]

But things like that really happen, thats why i thought this death was splendid because it had a real realistic theme to it.

[tkts]

The emotional impact of the various deaths is an interesting question to think about.

Tara was easily my favorite character outside of the core three -- or maybe even including the core three -- but the moment of her death and the immediate aftermath didn't have the same impact for me as Joyce's or Buffy's.

When Joyce dies, we follow Buffy and the others -- with a sometimes discomfiting closeness -- through their shock and mourning. The arc of the season is put on hold for a few episodes while the characters deal with what happened. And when Buffy dies, it's at the climax of the season. Glory has been defeated and there's no immediate crisis to distract the characters from their grief.

With Tara, on the other hand, there's really no time to dwell. Her death is an instantaneous shock, and immediately after it happens, we're plunged into the season's climax. Unlike with Joyce and Buffy, we don't really follow along as the characters grieve, because they don't have a chance to grieve in any way that we'd recognize. Willow is consumed by rage, and everyone else pretty much has their hands full trying to keep her from destroying the world.

[Darth Rosie]

Those are some interesting observations you are making about Tara's death. For me, the impact was huge, and maybe even more so because everything went so fast on TV. But in the days following my first watching of the scene, I had to think about Tara's death rather often - it followed me around. Kind of like: I can't believe that this has happened and that I have really lost her. Weird.

[Tea - Total]

I personally like Tara death too because this was an highlight to show willow magics abilities, and how powerful she really was. She was connected to the earth and everything and everybody's inner feelings, she definitively became powerful.

[tkts]

Feb 22, 2010 12:09:34 GMT -5 Darth Rosie said:

Those are some interesting observations you are making about Tara's death. For me, the impact was huge, and maybe even more so because everything went so fast on TV. But in the days following my first watching of the scene, I had to think about Tara's death rather often - it followed me around. Kind of like: I can't believe that this has happened and that I have really lost her. Weird.

I probably should have mentioned that I'd seen enough spoilers that I knew Tara was going to die -- and the same for Joyce and Anya, actually -- so the shock factor wasn't quite the same.

(I did get faked out a few times, though. Even though I knew the characters were going to die, I didn't know exactly how or when ... so when Joyce had her first episode, I thought that was it, and when Tara fell down the stairs in "Normal Again," I wondered if that was going to be how she died.)

[Tea - Total]

I thought that episode was a shock to me , i never expected that type of death to the most Innocent character in the entire show, but i think , when i watch it some more i appreciated it because it answered my question on how powerful willow become.

The God ( Osiris) denies Willow request and Willow banished him by her rage, was the most terrific scene i ever watched .Devastated and emtion filled with anger, Willow banishes the god with a violent, powerful scream.

[buffyfan21]

I think all the deaths made me pretty emotional, actually (but then, I am an emotional sort of person ) I really hated Jenny's death as well. I loved her character and thought that she and Giles were so cute together. I really wished the two of them would have gotten back together, but in typical Joss fashion, he kills her before that can happen. Not only does he kill her, but he does it in the most gruesome, savage way possible. I know that she was, in a way, indirectly responsible for Angel being turned again, so maybe Joss saw it as a kind of warped justice that she should be killed at the hands of Angelus. Still, though, I really liked her character and think she deserved a much better death than that. I mean, Angelus didn't even kill her for sustenance, he simply snapped her neck and moved on. Which shows that he was only interested in the pure cruelty and depravity of the act. I do wish that Jenny had been able to stick around. It would have been great to explore and develop her character a little more. Also, I think it would have nice if she had been around in the later seasons. That would have been interesting.

[Tea - Total]

^^ Angelus impact his expressioon on the whole theme of passion.
Angelus: "If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know
some kind of peace. But we would be hollow".
Which is really realistic.
Angelus: "Without passion, we'd be truly dead".

[tkts]

Feb 24, 2010 13:21:48 GMT -5 buffyfan21 said:

I think all the deaths made me pretty emotional, actually (but then, I am an emotional sort of person ) I really hated Jenny's death as well. I loved her character and thought that she and Giles were so cute together. I really wished the two of them would have gotten back together, but in typical Joss fashion, he kills her before that can happen. Not only does he kill her, but he does it in the most gruesome, savage way possible. I know that she was, in a way, indirectly responsible for Angel being turned again, so maybe Joss saw it as a kind of warped justice that she should be killed at the hands of Angelus. Still, though, I really liked her character and think she deserved a much better death than that. I mean, Angelus didn't even kill her for sustenance, he simply snapped her neck and moved on. Which shows that he was only interested in the pure cruelty and depravity of the act. I do wish that Jenny had been able to stick around. It would have been great to explore and develop her character a little more. Also, I think it would have nice if she had been around in the later seasons. That would have been interesting.

I wonder if Willow would have gotten into witchcraft if Jenny hadn't died. She didn't really seem interested in it when Jenny was alive, and started learning after her death from the stuff she left behind. (Unless I'm remembering it wrong.)

[Jaz ♀♀]

^^ She probably would have gotten into witchcraft eventually....If Jenny was still alive, i'm guessing she wouldn't have let Willow see or be involved in all the pegan-y things she was doing...at least not right away. If Willow was still interested (which i bet she would be cuz she's a nerd and loves learning new things) then I could see Jenny teaching Willow more of the rules and basics and overall history of witchcraft/paganism and i think that would have been way more beneficiary for Willow instead of what really happened which was: Willow completely diving right into witchcraft, using dark magiks no less and without regards to the consequences that come with it and what do we see 4 season later?; Willow a "magic junkie". *sigh*

I also think Jenny's death affected Willow the 2nd hardest...after Giles. Like you said, we didn't see Willow become interested into magic till after Jenny's death. I'm guessing that Willow wanted to know and do everything Jenny did to make her proud?...idk, i just wish Jenny was still alive and my above theory of Willow learning about witchcraft with Jenny would have taken place instead of what really happened.

[tkts]

Interesting point. Giles, the gang's main adult mentor figure, seemed oblivious to what Willow was falling into. Maybe Jenny would have been more savvy about that particular aspect of the supernatural.

[Tea - Total]

Why didn't we see Jenny manipulate Giles in season 7 .
That would be interesting form both characters.

[Jaz ♀♀]

^^ Maybe it can be viewed that that plot was already done...sort of. Like in season 2 when Drusilla pretends to be Jenny to manipulate Giles on how to awaken Acathla....I think Giles after that incident (and what took place in "I Only Have Eyes for You") realized that Jenny is completely gone and if the First would have used Jenny's image in season 7, it would have been of no use because Giles would have known that it's not her and that she's in peace.

[Tea - Total]

Feb 26, 2010 3:09:32 GMT -5 Jaz ♀♀ said:

^^ Maybe it can be viewed that that plot was already done...sort of. Like in season 2 when Drusilla pretends to be Jenny to manipulate Giles on how to awaken Acathla....I think Giles after that incident (and what took place in "I Only Have Eyes for You") realized that Jenny is completely gone and if the First would have used Jenny's image in season 7, it would have been of no use because Giles would have known that it's not her and that she's in peace.

But how do we know if Jenny was in peace, Buffy was in peace and look how easily the first made Buffy to manipulate.
I think that Jenny was awesome and seducing as the fisrt evil.
Personally i think her character shined when she was the first her acting was excellent.

[Jaz ♀♀]

^^ oooh i know! Jenny was awesome playing evil!....i just don't think Jenny coming back would have shown much character development for Giles. I just think at that point in time he's already moved on from her and Jenny/First trying to manipulate him wouldn't have worked. However if she did come back, i think it would have been cool to dedicated an entire episode for Giles with Jenny like they did with Andrew and Anya....it's disappointing that we didn't see a lot of Giles that season. ...i would so prefer an episode with Giles and take away a few not so good eps from s7...

[slayerthorn]

Joyce: I hated that she died. I don't know if it was better plot-wise that she did or not. I think they should have let her live though.

Tara: Shouldn't have died *tears* I'm still sad about that. She was the charecter that shouldn't have died the most, she was so wonderful. I don't care if they needed it for the evil Willow plot, they should have found another way.

Anya: For someone who was a main charecter for a few seasons, her death didn't seem to have much impact on anyone and other than Xander's end of Chosen sadness, he doesn't even seem to grieve for long.

Spike: It was poetic but the effect was greatly lessened when he showed up on Angel.

Angel: I think it needed to be done for dramatic effect and I thought he was cooler in Season three than in the first two seasons so it did him some good.

Jenny: I didn't really feel bad about it since she was in the fight too and not just an innocent bystandard that fell in with Buffy's crowd.

Buffy: Her second death just made her legacy even cooler, but I felt bad for her when she was brought back to life because her life was even worse off then before she died.

[hellmouth]

Joyce: I think that Joyce's death was the most difficult to absorb because it was so natural. It didn't come about from any supernatural means, it just showed that there are some things you can't fight or defeat, even if you are the slayer.

Jenny: For me, the first time through the series I found Jenny's death very shocking. Especially the brutality of the way she died. I didn't really miss her character I just didn't see it coming.

Anya: I think that Anya's death was very quick, with little leading up to it but I think that was the intent to show that in the midst of this huge battle horrible things happen with little fanfare.

Buffy: Buffy's death is never really all that suspenseful because you know that somehow she is going to come back.

[PJ]

The only deaths that really got me sad were...
Joyce, Tara, Anya, Buffy, and Jenny.

[AngelFaith]

Joyce
I loved that they deliberately made her death a natural death, I think if she had died from a demon attack it would have lost emotional depth and meaning.

I also think that she had to die in order for Buffy to really feel the full weight of what was put on her shoulders during Season 6. If her mother had still been around she would have leant on her too much and Season 6 would have lost its impact.

Tara:
I get that they needed to kill off Tara in order to have a catalyst for Willow's magic rampage but I hated that they did. Tara was one of my favourite characters and I found her death really distressing. The scene that always breaks my heart is when Buffy finds Tara's body and you just hear Dawn's little voice coming out of the dark "I didn't want to leave her alone."

Anya:
Others have said this, Anya's death was put in mainly because they had to kill someone in the final battle and they weren't about to kill off one of the core four. We wouldn't really care about Robin if he died and to kill Faith would have been blasphemy!

I actually loved the way they did Anya's death. The quickness and brutality of it left me speechless and I liked Xander and Andrew's little moment concerning it. I like that they didn't make a huge deal out of it, it would have been too cliched if they had.

Spike:
Meh, I didn't really care one way or another with Spike. I knew he was coming back for Angel, and I never really saw his death as some heroic sacrifice, because he actually didn't know what the amulet did when he wore it. For all he knew it was going to give him uber-powers.

Angel:
I always find the "Close your eyes" scene heartbreaking, but beyond that I don't really find this one sad because a) Angel comes back and b) he's not technically dead.

Jenny:
I was horrified by Jenny's death scene. The snapping of her neck is horrific! I also feel so so sorry for Giles when he comes home and finds her lying on his bed.

I wasn't exactly sad to see her go, however, she was never one of my favourite characters. I mostly just cry because of poor Giles.

Buffy:
Never felt sad when Buffy dies (either time) because you know she's coming back. I did feel sorry for her in Prophesy Girl when she found out she was destined to die.

With The Gift I don't feel sad. I cry during that episode mainly because of the music and also the poor Scoobies left to grieve. Plus, I always wonder if her death was more of a suicide than a sacrifice?

[rufio]

Yeah if Jenny hadn't died-- she probably would've become more of a mother-figure to the scooby gang. She probably would teach & practice magic with Willow & Tara alike. I can see Jenny & Anya clashing too-they never met!

Joyces death was so sad but beautiful in the end--so it's worth it. In order for buffy's character to grow- I understand why it was done from the writing perspective. But Joyce as a character was so lovely. I cant imagine what would've happened if Joyce never died...Would seasons 6, 7, & 8 play out the same???

Kendra was obviously interesting b/c she was the first slayer to see other than buffy. But as a character-- faith wins & we would never have faith w/o the death of kendra.

Anyas death was unfortunate. Did it fit her character? Short & Brash--I suppose... but still sad to see such a beloved character go out so fast and unexpected.

Taras death was sad... but I do believe it was needed for the Dark Willow plot. What else could've been done to turn Willow Dark other than senselessly losing the love of her life and not be able to bring her back to life. I love tara but she wasn't THAT interesting. Honestly, I find Kennedy to be a bit more interesting... but that's another issue.