"And you've got an inferiority complex about it"

[Scarygothgirl]

Well over in the 'Was Willow and Tara's relationship healthy?' thread we seem to have gone into depth psychoanalysing Willow and Tara. So I though maybe it would be fun to have a go at psychoanalysing our main character.

I'll ask a few questions to start things off:
How do you think Buffy's personalitty was altered between season four and five with the change from being an only child to have always had a sister?
If Buffy hadn't died, would she still have gone on to rely on the violent sexual relationship with Spike?
Do you think that with her previous watcher she had had a simelar father-daughter bond as she has with Giles? And would this then be what influenced her to reject Giles in the first episode, in trying to avoid remaking that bond and having to lose another father figure?
At what point in her 'relationship' with Spike did she start completely emotionally relying on him? And why?

[jtmaster13]

Well I'll kick this off!

First, I think in terms of Buffy's personality between S4 and S5 it changed a lot. In S4 everything revolved around her at some point, she didn't have to think about her home life too much, but in S5 she had to make more accommodations to her home life, with the commuting to classes instead of dorming, trying to be a good role model for Dawn and such.

Second, I think if Buffy hadn't died, she would have in no way gone to Spike for sex. Bringing Buffy back put her into a deeply depressed state, and she felt unworthy, and empty inside. Spike was the only one she could go to because he understood what she was going through. She wanted to feel something, and she could only feel that through Spike.

Third, that is an interesting point to bring up, we never really know what her relationship with Merrick was, but I think mainly the reason why she dismissed Giles in the first episode was because she mostly wanted to get away from the vampires and slaying, she wanted a normal life.

Lastly, I think midway through season 7 is when you start to see Buffy rely on Spike and value his opinion highly. I think she relied on him so much partly because she figured that aside from her, he was the strongest they had in this fight. Willow was probably the most powerful but since Willow was too afraid of her own power she couldn't rely on her as much. I also think that with everything that happened in season 6 between Buffy and Spike, it kind of connected them in a way, I'm not sure how to put it in a way that makes sense.

[Randi Giles]

How do you think Buffy's personalitty was altered between season four and five with the change from being an only child to have always had a sister?

Buffy before was kind of slightly spoiled when it came to her parents and was use to being the center of the universe. So to speak. When Dawn came into the picture she was definitely thrust into the the role of a mother or role model.

If Buffy hadn't died, would she still have gone on to rely on the violent sexual relationship with Spike?

I actually believe that if Buffy hadn't die in The Gift nothing wouldn't have happen between Spike and Buffy in season 6. Their relationship would have been strictly platonic like it was at the end of season 5 and beginning of season 6.

Do you think that with her previous watcher she had had a similar father-daughter bond as she has with Giles? And would this then be what influenced her to reject Giles in the first episode, in trying to avoid remaking that bond and having to lose another father figure?

I agree with above about Buffy just not wanting to deal with slaying anymore, which is why she rejected Giles.

At what point in her 'relationship' with Spike did she start completely emotionally relying on him? And why?

I want to say Showtime. The look she gave him at the end of that episode had me teary eyed. I believe for sure we saw proof that she was emotionally relying on him at the end of First Date.

[tkts]

How do you think Buffy's personality was altered between season four and five with the change from being an only child to have always had a sister?

Honestly, I don't think her personality changed all that much as a result of having a little sister. She may have been an only child before, but she wasn't spoiled or a baby. She was pretty fiercely independent, and the addition of Dawn didn't change that.

I think the biggest changes in Buffy's character from S4 to S5 stem not from the addition of Dawn, but from her mother's illness.

It's interesting to look at the dynamic between Buffy and her mother over time. In a way, it's like an extremely condensed version of the progression many parent/child relationships go through:

• In S1-S3, even after Joyce finds out she's the slayer, Joyce is the mom and Buffy is the child.
  
• In S4, and especially in the beginning of S5, they come off more or less as equals; there's an assumption that Buffy will assume parental responsibility for Dawn when Joyce isn't able to, and most of Joyce and Buffy's interactions come off as adult to adult, not parent to child.
  
• And finally, when Joyce gets sick, Buffy takes on a parental role with respect to her as well. She acknowledges this fact when ranting to Willow, "She's all over her while I have to be the grown-up and the two of them are like the Giggle Twins and why can't I ever be L'il Punkin' Belly?" Although she does resist it, this is when Buffy becomes the person who bears primary responsibility for the family.
  

If Buffy hadn't died, would she still have gone on to rely on the violent sexual relationship with Spike?

No, I don't think so. Her relationship with Spike seems to stem largely from the deadness she feels inside after her resurrection. She's isolated from her friends, first by her secret ("But why I froze/ Not one among them knows/ And never can be told") and later by the lingering aftereffects. At first, Spike is the only one she can tell ("And you can't tell the ones you love/ You know they couldn't deal/ A whisper in a dead man's ear/ Doesn't make it real"). Even after the secret is revealed, it pushes a wedge between them. Who can she go to? Spike, who bears no responsibility for her resurrection, and later Tara, who does bear some responsibility, but is new enough in Buffy's life that confiding in her doesn't carry the same emotional burden as talking things over with her oldest friends.

The implication seems to be that the violent, conflict-filled nature of her sexual relationship with Spike is the only thing intense enough to penetrate the deadness she feels. And while she was certainly traumatized by the events of S5, it seems to have been the shock of being pulled out of heaven that really damaged her.

Do you think that with her previous watcher she had had a similar father-daughter bond as she has with Giles? And would this then be what influenced her to reject Giles in the first episode, in trying to avoid remaking that bond and having to lose another father figure?

That interpretation certainly makes sense to a degree, but I don't know that her previous watcher was as much a father figure as Giles. First, she didn't know him as long. Second, note that she doesn't truly begin to rely on Giles as a father figure until after her real father begins to withdraw and abandon her. I think Merrick was a teacher, but not a father in the same way that Giles became.

However, the fact that her previous watcher died and she feels responsible (I'm only going off of the filmed version of the movie here; I realize the original screenplay is what's generally viewed as canon, but I've never read it) could make her reluctant to put someone else in the position of possibly ending up dying because of her.

At what point in her 'relationship' with Spike did she start completely emotionally relying on him? And why?

I'm not sure there is a single point that can be isolated. It actually begins all the way back in "Intervention," when she discovers she can trust him, and is solidified more in "After Life" when she confides in him, and him alone, about where she was -- trusting him with a devastating secret that she doesn't want anyone else to know. You could argue that she doesn't really become emotionally reliant on him until S7, but the seeds are definitely there much earlier.

[buffyfan21]

How do you think Buffy's personality was altered between season four and five with the change from being an only child to have always had a sister?

I wouldn't necessarily say Buffy's personality was different or altered, but I definitely think she had to adjust to having a little sister around. Before Buffy was an only child. After Dawn came into the picture, you get the sense that Buffy was, maybe not exactly jealous of Dawn, but I think she was definitely jealous that Dawn got to be "just a kid," while she was out saving the world every night.

If Buffy hadn't died, would she still have gone on to rely on the violent sexual relationship with Spike?

No. If Buffy hadn't died I don't think she would have carried on a sexual relationship with Spike. I think he would have continued to be her ally, and eventually her friend and confidant. It's possible that their relationship would have eventually progressed to a sexual level, but it wouldn't have been anything like what we saw in S6.

Do you think that with her previous watcher she had had a similar father-daughter bond as she has with Giles? And would this then be what influenced her to reject Giles in the first episode, in trying to avoid remaking that bond and having to lose another father figure?

I agree with everyone else in that Buffy's reaction to Giles was simply her desire to reject her destiny as a slayer and start over with a "normal" life.

At what point in her 'relationship' with Spike did she start completely emotionally relying on him? And why?

Definitely in S7 I think. Especially at the point where everyone else started turning their backs on her. You could see that she really relied on him for support because he was the only one truly there for her at that time.