And to lecture Buffy on being a general while at the same time taking her power to lead away from her seems - at best not well thought out.
Not thought out by the writers or by Giles? I think a case could be made for a bit of both.
Someone on an AV Club convo thread summed up S7 thusly: "Brilliant ideas, shoddy execution". I think that later part is actually a bit harsh in some respects: a lot of it is clumsily mishandled but there are some real high points that get overlooked. And that scene in LMPTM and the entire Giles/Buffy dynamic in S7 fascinates me enough that I'm willing to overlook (most, not all) of the flaws in delivery. He's come back to town after a long absence, having abandoned his duty as her Watcher in S6 without any awareness that she's changed since he left in S6. He dumps more responsibility in her lap, then lectures her that she's not responsible enough; tells her she needs to be a real leader, a general when he himself has very little idea what that means. He's a tutor, a teacher and guide, not a warrior; he can't teach her how to be a military commander. In some ways Spike is right that she's "surpassed" him, although I interpret that a bit differently than I think Spike meant (or at least the statement is vague enough for a little wiggle room); I see it as the simple fact that he no longer is equipped to help and serve Buffy in the ways she really needs him to now; he only has his old patterns and training to fall back on. It goes right back to Buffy's dismissal of him in WTTH, except she actually needed him then and didn't know it yet; now she wants him there but not in the ways he thinks she should need him.
It then makes sense to me on one level that he then choses (the theme of the season) Faith over Buffy, and I'll ignore the mishandling of it because we all know about that. The scene between Faith and Giles in which he tells her she's doing a good job as the new leader is a mirror of the Buffy/Giles scene in First Date. Suddenly Faith is the one who is inexperienced and insecure as "The Slayer/General" who looks to Giles' approval as both a father-figure and a Watcher. Buffy had rebuffed his advice in the matching scene in First Date confident that her instincts were correct.
And not to say that Giles' argument in First Date was without merit; he had cause to be concerned but the weight of their shared and individual histories charges the air in the room (and how much do I love that scene in First Date? A whole hell of a lot.) Their "ghost lovers" Jenny and Angel, the events of S2 are just "there" without either one of them having to mention it; he lays out rational, intellectual arguments and she tries to match him in the same vein, proving how much she actually has learned from him.
And I hope I'm sounding like I'm Giles-bashing because I don't mean to do that at all. The Buffy/Giles dynamic is just so fascinationg to me. YOu just me going on all sorts of thinky-thoughts.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2013-02-08 05:32 pm (UTC)Not thought out by the writers or by Giles? I think a case could be made for a bit of both.
Someone on an AV Club convo thread summed up S7 thusly: "Brilliant ideas, shoddy execution". I think that later part is actually a bit harsh in some respects: a lot of it is clumsily mishandled but there are some real high points that get overlooked. And that scene in LMPTM and the entire Giles/Buffy dynamic in S7 fascinates me enough that I'm willing to overlook (most, not all) of the flaws in delivery. He's come back to town after a long absence, having abandoned his duty as her Watcher in S6 without any awareness that she's changed since he left in S6. He dumps more responsibility in her lap, then lectures her that she's not responsible enough; tells her she needs to be a real leader, a general when he himself has very little idea what that means. He's a tutor, a teacher and guide, not a warrior; he can't teach her how to be a military commander. In some ways Spike is right that she's "surpassed" him, although I interpret that a bit differently than I think Spike meant (or at least the statement is vague enough for a little wiggle room); I see it as the simple fact that he no longer is equipped to help and serve Buffy in the ways she really needs him to now; he only has his old patterns and training to fall back on. It goes right back to Buffy's dismissal of him in WTTH, except she actually needed him then and didn't know it yet; now she wants him there but not in the ways he thinks she should need him.
It then makes sense to me on one level that he then choses (the theme of the season) Faith over Buffy, and I'll ignore the mishandling of it because we all know about that. The scene between Faith and Giles in which he tells her she's doing a good job as the new leader is a mirror of the Buffy/Giles scene in First Date. Suddenly Faith is the one who is inexperienced and insecure as "The Slayer/General" who looks to Giles' approval as both a father-figure and a Watcher. Buffy had rebuffed his advice in the matching scene in First Date confident that her instincts were correct.
And not to say that Giles' argument in First Date was without merit; he had cause to be concerned but the weight of their shared and individual histories charges the air in the room (and how much do I love that scene in First Date? A whole hell of a lot.) Their "ghost lovers" Jenny and Angel, the events of S2 are just "there" without either one of them having to mention it; he lays out rational, intellectual arguments and she tries to match him in the same vein, proving how much she actually has learned from him.
And I hope I'm sounding like I'm Giles-bashing because I don't mean to do that at all. The Buffy/Giles dynamic is just so fascinationg to me. YOu just me going on all sorts of thinky-thoughts.