What was Buffy's biggest mistake??

[Skeptic]

Definetely, Buffy forgiving Spike at all (IMO) was ill-advised. Though, in retrospect, it was 'a necessary evil' for her own purposes. Still: my feeling at the time was pretty much how Xander told how he felt about it.

We all know Buffy was more than deeply conflicted about it, though. I believe she made a judgment call because she knew he had his soul; she needed his ability as a fighter. I'm not sure she ever got to a place where she was forgiving, though. Confused, definitely. Taking risks with him because of his soul, yes. If he'd come back, but still soulless, I think she eventually would have dusted him.

[The Night Lord]

Honestly, her biggest mistake? Being a vampire slayer (yeah, she can't choose it really), but it led to Angel, which led to Angelus and the follow-on was Spike, whom she should have dusted really, but didn't (I can't believe I just said that). And there's all the other mistakes she's made that you can add to the list, but they've probably already been stated, so there's no point in me stating them again. Plus, I'd be here for another hour

[Midnight Butterfly]

Her biggest mistake was being born... okay maybe that was way too harsh but you know what I mean lol

[Rachster]

Jun 7, 2009 8:09:21 GMT -5 Midnight Butterfly said:

Her biggest mistake was being born... okay maybe that was way too harsh but you know what I mean lol

Wow way harsh.. haha.

I think her biggest mistake was hooking up with vampires. totally messed up her love life, friends, school.. ect.

[The Night Lord]

I tried to point that out....I don't think I did a very successful job....anyhow

[Randi Giles]

Not killing Angel when she had the chance. It always bothered me how she wasn't ready. She's the slayer she should have already been ready. And even as a Spuffy fan she should have killed Spike and Drusilla too. It always bothered me in Crush how Dru got away so easy.

[gumgnome]

If I had to choose an action for which I would criticise Buffy for, I would go for blanking Faith so much at the beginning of Season 3. I understand that she feels like her life is being taken over a little just when she's settled back in but she is far too cold to her Slayer-sister.

Considering that Joyce and Buffy live in a reasonably large house with a spare room while Faith has no-one and lives alone in a scatty little motel room, I'm amazed Joyce never invites her to live with them. I would consider it common courtesy considering that Joyce wants Faith to take over the Slaying from Buffy.

Imagine just how comfortable Faith could have become in Sunnydale had she been treated more as an equal and friend by her compatriot.

[Just Willow]

Jun 14, 2009 9:28:32 GMT -5 gumgnome said:

Considering that Joyce and Buffy live in a reasonably large house with a spare room while Faith has no-one and lives alone in a scatty little motel room, I'm amazed Joyce never invites her to live with them. I would consider it common courtesy considering that Joyce wants Faith to take over the Slaying from Buffy.

Imagine just how comfortable Faith could have become in Sunnydale had she been treated more as an equal and friend by her compatriot.

wow, i never thought of that. you're right! oooh, now i'm just furious with Buffy!

[Midnight Butterfly]

Jun 14, 2009 11:36:45 GMT -5 Just Willow said:

Jun 14, 2009 9:28:32 GMT -5 gumgnome said:

Considering that Joyce and Buffy live in a reasonably large house with a spare room while Faith has no-one and lives alone in a scatty little motel room, I'm amazed Joyce never invites her to live with them. I would consider it common courtesy considering that Joyce wants Faith to take over the Slaying from Buffy.

Imagine just how comfortable Faith could have become in Sunnydale had she been treated more as an equal and friend by her compatriot.

wow, i never thought of that. you're right! oooh, now i'm just furious with Buffy!

Haha. I never noticed this either lol.
Although I dont think there is any mention of a spare room at all until Dawn is introduced. My best guess is that there were none. The writers just decided that there was one in season 5 and it just want mentioned.

But if I am wrong and it was mentioned in 1-3 then I am furious also.

[gumgnome]

Yeah - although we get fewer corridor shots in the previous seasons, the room has always been there, just as storage as Evilwillowrocker says.

[lightandmagic]

I like that Buffy makes mistakes, makes her human, and a much more interesting character. But she definately has made some questionable decisions, here are some that I definitely disagree with (although, always understand why she has done them):

1) Trying to kill her friends in Normal Again. How messed up is that? Man is she ever lucky that her friends can be so understanding (well, most of the time, very understanding), cause I know I'd be booking it out of there never to see her again. I know we see that they still like her, but that had to harm her relationships with each one of these people, and the fact that it's never really bought up again always bothers me.

2) Not trying to reach out to Faith initially. I'm glad that she finally did, and then they were beginning to become friends, but the relationship was weak, and after killing someone it easily broke apart. I think from that point on she did as much as she could to try and reach out to Faith, it's just sad she didn't do it in the first place.
(As a side note, I don't think her killing Faith at the end of Season 3 was a mistake, or well her attempt. Wexina made all the points I wanted to make. Faith was the enemy, she had done horrible things, and had ruined many aspects of Buffy's life. However...)

3) Preaching to Willow and Dawn about how killing Warren is wrong. She's willing to kill Faith cause she was personally angry with her, but as soon as someone else wants to do the same thing it's "no, don't do that, cause it's wrong." I can understand why she said it to Willow, who was clearly becoming consumed by magic, but when she get preachy on Dawn, it bothered me, as she was being so hypocritical. I was in Dawn's camp of letting Warren die.

4) Refusing to kill Spike in season 7. I'm sorry, but she's so hypocritical when dealing with Spike. He was clearly a danger to everyone in the household for a large portion of the season, but she refused to really do anything about it. But Anya goes all demon-y and she goes Miss Hacksaway. I think it might be because Anya's my favourite character, but it really irked me.

5) And obviously, not killing Angelus in Innocence. I can understand why, she still loved him. And if she did, how boring of a season would season 2 be? Haha. But it led to the death of poor Jenny Calendar. =[

6) Her being so cold to Jenny. I'm sorry, I still don't understand why everyone is the Scoobies are so angry at her. She was sent to watch over Angel, and they're calling her a traitor and saying that she betrayed them, but I don't think she did any such thing. She didn't know of the consequences of what would happen if they had sex, nor did she even ONCE attempt to interfere in their relationship and break them apart from one another (minus when she suggested Angel take the Judge's hand to a remote region and in all honesty, that was the best plan, and wasn't all that traitor-y). If anything she betrayed her clan by not attempting to sabotage the relationship between the two of them to ensure that Angel was eternally miserable. It just thoroughly bothers me that Buffy's so angry at her, when Jenny didn't even really do anything other than being related to a gypsy clan. She ruined the time between Giles and Jenny.

[gumgnome]

Jun 15, 2009 18:58:04 GMT -5 lightandmagic said:

I like that Buffy makes mistakes, makes her human, and a much more interesting character. But she definately has made some questionable decisions, here are some that I definitely disagree with (although, always understand why she has done them):

1) Trying to kill her friends in Normal Again. How messed up is that? Man is she ever lucky that her friends can be so understanding (well, most of the time, very understanding), cause I know I'd be booking it out of there never to see her again. I know we see that they still like her, but that had to harm her relationships with each one of these people, and the fact that it's never really bought up again always bothers me.

2) Not trying to reach out to Faith initially. I'm glad that she finally did, and then they were beginning to become friends, but the relationship was weak, and after killing someone it easily broke apart. I think from that point on she did as much as she could to try and reach out to Faith, it's just sad she didn't do it in the first place.
(As a side note, I don't think her killing Faith at the end of Season 3 was a mistake, or well her attempt. Wexina made all the points I wanted to make. Faith was the enemy, she had done horrible things, and had ruined many aspects of Buffy's life. However...)

3) Preaching to Willow and Dawn about how killing Warren is wrong. She's willing to kill Faith cause she was personally angry with her, but as soon as someone else wants to do the same thing it's "no, don't do that, cause it's wrong." I can understand why she said it to Willow, who was clearly becoming consumed by magic, but when she get preachy on Dawn, it bothered me, as she was being so hypocritical. I was in Dawn's camp of letting Warren die.

4) Refusing to kill Spike in season 7. I'm sorry, but she's so hypocritical when dealing with Spike. He was clearly a danger to everyone in the household for a large portion of the season, but she refused to really do anything about it. But Anya goes all demon-y and she goes Miss Hacksaway. I think it might be because Anya's my favourite character, but it really irked me.

5) And obviously, not killing Angelus in Innocence. I can understand why, she still loved him. And if she did, how boring of a season would season 2 be? Haha. But it led to the death of poor Jenny Calendar. =[

6) Her being so cold to Jenny. I'm sorry, I still don't understand why everyone is the Scoobies are so angry at her. She was sent to watch over Angel, and they're calling her a traitor and saying that she betrayed them, but I don't think she did any such thing. She didn't know of the consequences of what would happen if they had sex, nor did she even ONCE attempt to interfere in their relationship and break them apart from one another (minus when she suggested Angel take the Judge's hand to a remote region and in all honesty, that was the best plan, and wasn't all that traitor-y). If anything she betrayed her clan by not attempting to sabotage the relationship between the two of them to ensure that Angel was eternally miserable. It just thoroughly bothers me that Buffy's so angry at her, when Jenny didn't even really do anything other than being related to a gypsy clan. She ruined the time between Giles and Jenny.

I have to say, I disagree with a lot of what you've written here:

1) In Normal Again, Buffy goes through one of the worst torments of the whole 7 years we have known her. At a time when she is miserable with existence in general, she suffers from a series of daylight hallucinations which whisk her to a place where she has no responsibilities of any kind, her mother is still alive AND still together with her father and both of them want nothing more than to take Buffy home and love her. The suggestive power of those hallucinations plus the escapist mentality that Buffy must be holding inside would make this practically impossible to resist. I think any of the Scoobies or anyone on this forum would act the same way if placed in Buffy's shoes, so I cannot criticise her for her actions here.

2) I agree with what you say.

3) The fundamental difference between Faith and Warren is that Faith is a Slayer who (when unwilling to cooperate) cannot be dealt with by the usual authorities and human institutions that we have for law and order. Thw Watcher's council have proven themselves inept when trying to deal with the situation, which makes it Buffy's responsibility. I think she has little choice in the position she is in at this point in Season 3 than to take Faith out. However, Warren is a human and when stripped of his gadgets (guns, robots etc.) he would be easily contained by the proper authorities. Buffy and Co. have mentioned many times that their powers do not give them the right to kill humans, so Buffy is right to stop Willow.

4) I pretty much agree with you here. Buffy's mistakes almost always revolve around her lovers, and this is no exception. While it eventually proves to have been a vital decision to keep Spike alive, in mid-season he is, as you say, a threat to all around him. I also think that by this point, unlike with Angel in Season 2, we can expect enough maturity and grit from Buffy to be able to make decisions like this, even with people she loves. Therefore, it is kind of selfish of her to keep Spike around.

5) With Angelus, however, I really can't criticise her. She's only 17 for pity's sake! She's just lost the only love of her life to a demon immediately after becoming truly intimate with him. How can anyone here really expect her to suck it up and slay him immediately, therefore vanquishing any hope she might have of seeing her lover again?

6) Jenny does betray the Scoobies! Simply by getting so close to Giles and never revealing her true identity or motive for being in Sunnydale suggests that she doesn't trust him enough. This for me is a betrayal of trust. They let her in to the inner circle where nothing is with-held and she kept big secrets, and ones which ultimately cost them a lot of pain. I believe Giles and Buffy are perfectly entitled to feel betrayed and angry with Jenny.

[lightandmagic]

Jun 16, 2009 4:54:11 GMT -5 gumgnome said:

I have to say, I disagree with a lot of what you've written here:

1) In Normal Again, Buffy goes through one of the worst torments of the whole 7 years we have known her. At a time when she is miserable with existence in general, she suffers from a series of daylight hallucinations which whisk her to a place where she has no responsibilities of any kind, her mother is still alive AND still together with her father and both of them want nothing more than to take Buffy home and love her. The suggestive power of those hallucinations plus the escapist mentality that Buffy must be holding inside would make this practically impossible to resist. I think any of the Scoobies or anyone on this forum would act the same way if placed in Buffy's shoes, so I cannot criticise her for her actions here.

2) I agree with what you say.

3) The fundamental difference between Faith and Warren is that Faith is a Slayer who (when unwilling to cooperate) cannot be dealt with by the usual authorities and human institutions that we have for law and order. Thw Watcher's council have proven themselves inept when trying to deal with the situation, which makes it Buffy's responsibility. I think she has little choice in the position she is in at this point in Season 3 than to take Faith out. However, Warren is a human and when stripped of his gadgets (guns, robots etc.) he would be easily contained by the proper authorities. Buffy and Co. have mentioned many times that their powers do not give them the right to kill humans, so Buffy is right to stop Willow.

4) I pretty much agree with you here. Buffy's mistakes almost always revolve around her lovers, and this is no exception. While it eventually proves to have been a vital decision to keep Spike alive, in mid-season he is, as you say, a threat to all around him. I also think that by this point, unlike with Angel in Season 2, we can expect enough maturity and grit from Buffy to be able to make decisions like this, even with people she loves. Therefore, it is kind of selfish of her to keep Spike around.

5) With Angelus, however, I really can't criticise her. She's only 17 for pity's sake! She's just lost the only love of her life to a demon immediately after becoming truly intimate with him. How can anyone here really expect her to suck it up and slay him immediately, therefore vanquishing any hope she might have of seeing her lover again?

6) Jenny does betray the Scoobies! Simply by getting so close to Giles and never revealing her true identity or motive for being in Sunnydale suggests that she doesn't trust him enough. This for me is a betrayal of trust. They let her in to the inner circle where nothing is with-held and she kept big secrets, and ones which ultimately cost them a lot of pain. I believe Giles and Buffy are perfectly entitled to feel betrayed and angry with Jenny.

I think this comes down to what I originally said, I consider them mistakes but I can understand why she did them.

1) I can understand perfectly why she did what she did, she was at an incredibly crappy place in her life, then was having hallucinations about a better and even more realistic world. I can understand why she would choose this reality over her current one, it was the better alternative. But doing it obviously had to harm the trusts and bonds she had between many people (I mean your best friend trying to kill you? The fact that they never really bring it up again bothers me).

3) Faith is still a human being, and she was willing to kill her to save Angel. Like I've said, I understand why she wants to kill Faith, it was one of her better options, and had Faith had done some terrible things at that point. However, she didn't try and kill Faith because she was a danger, she tried to kill her to save Angel. Sure, killing Faith cause she was a danger was another additional reason, but she decided to kill her when Angel needed saving, which Faith caused. It always struck me as mostly as vengeance deal, which is exactly what Willow wants to do to Warren.
The situations mirror each other, and maybe she's learned, but she gets all preachy about how killing him is wrong. But she was perfectly willing to kill a person as well when they almost killed her boyfriend.
It comes down to once again, I understand why she's preachy, it just bothers me.

5) Oh no definitely, I can't fault Buffy for not killing Angel, she's 17 and in love. Him turning evil came out of nowhere, and she was too shocked and too in love with him to kill him. Doesn't mean not killing him isn't a mistake. A lot of people have said it, it was a mistake not to kill him. But you can't really blame her for it. I was just pointing out mistakes I think she's made.

6) Alright, granted, she doesn't tell him who she is, and why she's there. So in terms of not saying her purpose, I guess you could say she betrayed them. But how on earth did her big secret cause, as you said, a lot of pain?
She doesn't do anything, she never tries to break Angel and Buffy apart, and she didn't know what would happen if they did have sex, otherwise she would have said so. Her job there was to ensure that Angel stayed miserable for her gypsy clan, which she ignored and let Angel and Buffy have their time together. It was only when pressured by her Uncle did she she try and seperate them. It feels like one of those things where the show says she betrayed them, so we're supposed to believe it, but I don't think she ever really did.

[buffyfan21]

Jun 14, 2009 9:28:32 GMT -5 gumgnome said:

Considering that Joyce and Buffy live in a reasonably large house with a spare room while Faith has no-one and lives alone in a scatty little motel room, I'm amazed Joyce never invites her to live with them. I would consider it common courtesy considering that Joyce wants Faith to take over the Slaying from Buffy.

Imagine just how comfortable Faith could have become in Sunnydale had she been treated more as an equal and friend by her compatriot.

Good point!

I think two of Buffy's biggest mistakes were:

- Not killing Angel much sooner after he went bad. It was understandable that she couldn't b/c she was in love with him, but had she managed to kill him much sooner (say, when they were in the mall together at the end of Innocence) it would have prevented the needless and tragic death of Jenny Calender (I always liked her character and was sad to see her story end the way it did ) Plus, who knows how many other helpless Sunnydale residents Angelus killed.

- Never killing Spike. I understand why Buffy had a hard time offing Angel, b/c she loved him. But why keep Spike around? She had no feelings for him (at least in the beginning) and he was nothing but a nuisance to her. He tried to kill her on several occasions, and even put her friends and family in danger numerous times. Willow, Xander, Giles, even Buffy's mom could have been killed at the hands of Spike. I just don't understand why she would take the chance and continue to let him live terrorizing the residents of Sunnydale. She had plenty of opportunities to get rid of him.

I understand her hesitance to kill him after he was chipped. Maybe she just felt sorry for him and viewed him as too pathetic to kill, so she figured she would let him live, knowing that he could not inflict anymore damage. But prior to these events what was holding her back?

All this being said, the fact that Buffy does make mistakes, is one of the reasons why I love her so much. Despite being the big hero she is vulnerable, she is fallible. She sometimes thinks with her heart and not her head. She has her faults and she's not perfect. This is what makes Buffy so relatable. Unlike other superheroes she is not perfect, she does make the wrong call sometimes. Despite hero status she is still very much a human being. And I'm glad she's not perfect b/c that would make things boring. Buffy's mistakes keep things interesting.

[Reluctant Hero]

As much as I like Spike/Buffy I'd really have to say she should have either loved Spike or left him alone. She used him and even though Spike could be a major sh*t no one deserves that. I felt that Buffy could always respect herself. Sure she made some mistakes but she always did the right thing in the end... until Spike. She just kept doing it, kept using him to feel better about herself. I know she had her reasons but she never really explained things or made it up to him. Maybe that's the reason she never killed him, an attempt at redemption.

They were both just torturing themselves and it was kind of painful to watch

[Nicholas]

I really think that Buffy making mistakes is what makes her human and makes her character more likeable, and better able to relate to, which in turn makes the show better.

But she has obviously made some mistakes.

1) I personally think that never killing Spike really was a horrible choice. I can understand the fact that she let him go at the end of Season 2 because she had more important things to deal with, but she should have offed him in Season 3. Hell, even in Season 4 she SHOULD have killed him, but I do understand why she doesn't once he has the chip because technically that's what separates Buffy from others...she doesn't kill those who don't have a choice. She gives everyone a choice, even vampires, and with the chip, Spike is basically harmless. It was WRONG to kill him, but once he attempted to rape her, she should have killed him right there. What boggles my mind is the fact that she went to leave Dawn with him after that, knowing that he wasn't in a good state of mind. And having him in the house during Season 7 was a mistake, but I can understand why she didn't kill him, because he had a soul. But she sure as hell shouldn't have had him in the house.

2) Sleeping with Satsu the second time. I can understand why she slept with her the first time, because she wanted to feel that connection, besides her attraction to her and for once, someone truly wanted to connect with her, so I get it. But knowing what she knew, and already making the decision to not have it go any further, I think her sleeping with Satsu the second time was immature and was something she should know that it would make movin on for Satsu even harder.

Buffy has made some obvious mistakes, some which have endangered those around her, but I think she has learned that she has a bigger responsibility of saving everyone. And yes, the girl needs her own life but she seems to have found her healthy medium.

However, Season 8 seems to be touching on Buffy making a lot of mistakes so we can see where that will head.

[gumgnome]

Jun 16, 2009 13:58:58 GMT -5 lightandmagic said:

I think this comes down to what I originally said, I consider them mistakes but I can understand why she did them.

1) I can understand perfectly why she did what she did, she was at an incredibly crappy place in her life, then was having hallucinations about a better and even more realistic world. I can understand why she would choose this reality over her current one, it was the better alternative. But doing it obviously had to harm the trusts and bonds she had between many people (I mean your best friend trying to kill you? The fact that they never really bring it up again bothers me).

3) Faith is still a human being, and she was willing to kill her to save Angel. Like I've said, I understand why she wants to kill Faith, it was one of her better options, and had Faith had done some terrible things at that point. However, she didn't try and kill Faith because she was a danger, she tried to kill her to save Angel. Sure, killing Faith cause she was a danger was another additional reason, but she decided to kill her when Angel needed saving, which Faith caused. It always struck me as mostly as vengeance deal, which is exactly what Willow wants to do to Warren.
The situations mirror each other, and maybe she's learned, but she gets all preachy about how killing him is wrong. But she was perfectly willing to kill a person as well when they almost killed her boyfriend.
It comes down to once again, I understand why she's preachy, it just bothers me.

5) Oh no definitely, I can't fault Buffy for not killing Angel, she's 17 and in love. Him turning evil came out of nowhere, and she was too shocked and too in love with him to kill him. Doesn't mean not killing him isn't a mistake. A lot of people have said it, it was a mistake not to kill him. But you can't really blame her for it. I was just pointing out mistakes I think she's made.

6) Alright, granted, she doesn't tell him who she is, and why she's there. So in terms of not saying her purpose, I guess you could say she betrayed them. But how on earth did her big secret cause, as you said, a lot of pain?
She doesn't do anything, she never tries to break Angel and Buffy apart, and she didn't know what would happen if they did have sex, otherwise she would have said so. Her job there was to ensure that Angel stayed miserable for her gypsy clan, which she ignored and let Angel and Buffy have their time together. It was only when pressured by her Uncle did she she try and seperate them. It feels like one of those things where the show says she betrayed them, so we're supposed to believe it, but I don't think she ever really did.

I agree with you generally that trying to kill her friends in Normal Again and not killing Angelus in Innocence was technically a mistake. I guess they are just never mistakes that I would assign much blame to her for, because I couldn't honestly say that in her shoes I wouldn't act in the same manner. For me that lessens her culpability greatly.

With regards to Warren/Faith, I still think that the Slayer/human distinction is worthy. There are other ways to deal with Warren, not with Faith. However, I do take your point that Buffy's timing suggests that she is thinking more about Angel than the general threat Faith represents, so I think her actions there are kind of selfish. But I still totally back her in trying to stop Willow from killing Warren - I don't think the two cases are analagous.

With Jenny, I guess the pain she causes is mostly to Giles. He trusted her and opened up to her and she had been lying to him and with-holding important info from him throughout their entire relationship. I think that would be painful. For Buffy, perhaps she lays too much blame on Jenny for the events that occurred. I agree that had Jenny not been one of the Kalderash people (a gypsy!) the events of Season 2 would have unfolded anyway.

[lightandmagic]

Jun 17, 2009 12:37:35 GMT -5 gumgnome said:

I agree with you generally that trying to kill her friends in Normal Again and not killing Angelus in Innocence was technically a mistake. I guess they are just never mistakes that I would assign much blame to her for, because I couldn't honestly say that in her shoes I wouldn't act in the same manner. For me that lessens her culpability greatly.

With regards to Warren/Faith, I still think that the Slayer/human distinction is worthy. There are other ways to deal with Warren, not with Faith. However, I do take your point that Buffy's timing suggests that she is thinking more about Angel than the general threat Faith represents, so I think her actions there are kind of selfish. But I still totally back her in trying to stop Willow from killing Warren - I don't think the two cases are analagous.

With Jenny, I guess the pain she causes is mostly to Giles. He trusted her and opened up to her and she had been lying to him and with-holding important info from him throughout their entire relationship. I think that would be painful. For Buffy, perhaps she lays too much blame on Jenny for the events that occurred. I agree that had Jenny not been one of the Kalderash people (a gypsy!) the events of Season 2 would have unfolded anyway.

Yeah, like I said, I consider some of her mistakes well, mistakes, but with obvious understanding to them. I think in the same shoes as her, like you said, I would probably do the same actions.

Hrm. I get what you mean by the fact that Faith is a slayer, so it kind of lends leniency to her attempts to murder Faith. I think I said in my first post I understand why she doesn't want Willow to kill Warren, as she's clearly gone off the bandwagon and she needs help immediately. I was more irked when she went preachy on Dawn about how Warren shouldn't be killed, when she attempted to do the same thing to Faith for a very similar reason. Although, like you said, the fact that Faith's a slayer kind of makes it more acceptable as she is something that the general populace can't necessarily handle.
I think I just kind of noted this more as a grievance rather as an actual mistake, as it always bothered me how she was being kind of hypocritical in this situation. Especially when I think that confronted with the exact same situation now, she would still attempt to kill Faith.

And on Jenny, I think you said my point better than I tried to, haha. She essentially attacks Jenny and then is incredibly cold to her, when really, Jenny didn't do anything to her. I think she was just looking for a person to blame for the situation other than herself (not that she deserves blame for sleeping with Angel, she clearly doesn't, but she was heavily blaming herself for what happened). I can understand to a point why Giles would be angry with her, but he didn't even seem all that angry with her, and was really only neglectful of her in support of Buffy.

These posts make me sound all Buffy-hateful. When I don't! I love Buffy! Haha. Just wanted to clarify.