Anonymous: i wonder how buffy s6 would have looked like if ASH hadn't requested a break. esp with the willow magic/spuffy storyline

Yeah, anon, I wonder that too. I find it hard to imagine that those stories would be able to go on in the way they ended up being had Giles been present for the bulk of the season. One thought is that the Spuffy storyline, at least, was supposed to be shorter, iirc - but what that would have looked like, who knows. It might have wrapped up the breakup in a less messy way, but it might also have cut some great moments (like “Dead Things”).

But it’s hard to picture the “everything falling apart” aspect of S6 with Giles being there, unless he was somehow removed of his own volition. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen what S6 ended up being (and enjoyed most of it), but I wonder if maybe they would have had him have his own sort of plots and stood at a distance from the Scoobies. After all, in S6 as it stands, most of the plots are fairly disconnected - they’re all screwing things up in different ways, and while they’re brought together for slaying and parties and such, they’re not really directly influencing each other nearly as much as in earlier seasons. That, to me, is one thing that makes the Willow/Xander part of the finale work. There really is that distance that’s needed for me as a viewer to not just go “Okay but he was there the whole time she was going evil” - they all had their own stuff to deal with. So maybe this S6 Giles would be like S4 Giles, standing apart. In this case, not to try and find himself, but simply to avoid the pain of involving himself after Buffy’s death. 

But you know, Dawn didn’t get much to do in S6, and I can’t imagine Giles effectively standing apart from her (after all, in OMWF he realizes he made the wrong call because “Am I leaving Dawn in danger?”). He can tell himself that the Scoobies are adults and don’t need him, but he can’t do that with Dawn, nor could he ignore Buffy’s distracted guardianship when he’s right there with her, as we saw in the early episodes of S6. I would love to have seen a Giles/Dawn storyline in S6, especially since Spike was off with Buffy (whether he made any time for Dawn offscreen is a matter of debate, of course). Giles training Dawn in some form could drive a wedge between him and Buffy, since she was concerned with Dawn’s safety during that season and still treating her like a child, and it would also keep his attention off of Buffy and Spike. I feel like he would know about Buffy and Spike on some level, but in typical Giles fashion, he might choose to pretend he doesn’t (even to himself). 

If Dawn learned Watcher-y stuff from Giles, there could be a cool storyline (maybe even part of the episodes leading up to the finale) where he’s in danger for some reason and she decides she has the tools to go it alone and save him, since everybody else is involved with their own stuff. She’d fail somehow and have to go to Buffy, which would be her big moment of realizing sometimes she does need to depend on others and that she isn’t done growing up yet. Over the course of the story, Giles would realize he can’t try to stay stoic and uninvolved even if it hurts him. Plus, it could give some closure and perspective on Giles being willing to sacrifice Dawn in S5 - give her a chance to express her opinion on that. I think Giles cares about Dawn, but he doesn’t have much of a chance to really see her and respect her, and that would be really cool to see. And Dawn’s persistent, so if he tried to withdraw, realizing that he was setting himself up for more pain, he wouldn’t be able to hide from her.

womanaction

Yeah, anon, I wonder that too. I find it hard to imagine that those stories would be able to go on in the way they ended up being had Giles been present for the bulk of the season. One thought is that the Spuffy storyline, at least, was supposed to be shorter, iirc - but what that would have looked like, who knows. It might have wrapped up the breakup in a less messy way, but it might also have cut some great moments (like “Dead Things”).

But it’s hard to picture the “everything falling apart” aspect of S6 with Giles being there, unless he was somehow removed of his own volition. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen what S6 ended up being (and enjoyed most of it), but I wonder if maybe they would have had him have his own sort of plots and stood at a distance from the Scoobies. After all, in S6 as it stands, most of the plots are fairly disconnected - they’re all screwing things up in different ways, and while they’re brought together for slaying and parties and such, they’re not really directly influencing each other nearly as much as in earlier seasons. That, to me, is one thing that makes the Willow/Xander part of the finale work. There really is that distance that’s needed for me as a viewer to not just go “Okay but he was there the whole time she was going evil” - they all had their own stuff to deal with. So maybe this S6 Giles would be like S4 Giles, standing apart. In this case, not to try and find himself, but simply to avoid the pain of involving himself after Buffy’s death. 

But you know, Dawn didn’t get much to do in S6, and I can’t imagine Giles effectively standing apart from her (after all, in OMWF he realizes he made the wrong call because “Am I leaving Dawn in danger?”). He can tell himself that the Scoobies are adults and don’t need him, but he can’t do that with Dawn, nor could he ignore Buffy’s distracted guardianship when he’s right there with her, as we saw in the early episodes of S6. I would love to have seen a Giles/Dawn storyline in S6, especially since Spike was off with Buffy (whether he made any time for Dawn offscreen is a matter of debate, of course). Giles training Dawn in some form could drive a wedge between him and Buffy, since she was concerned with Dawn’s safety during that season and still treating her like a child, and it would also keep his attention off of Buffy and Spike. I feel like he would know about Buffy and Spike on some level, but in typical Giles fashion, he might choose to pretend he doesn’t (even to himself). 

If Dawn learned Watcher-y stuff from Giles, there could be a cool storyline (maybe even part of the episodes leading up to the finale) where he’s in danger for some reason and she decides she has the tools to go it alone and save him, since everybody else is involved with their own stuff. She’d fail somehow and have to go to Buffy, which would be her big moment of realizing sometimes she does need to depend on others and that she isn’t done growing up yet. Over the course of the story, Giles would realize he can’t try to stay stoic and uninvolved even if it hurts him. Plus, it could give some closure and perspective on Giles being willing to sacrifice Dawn in S5 - give her a chance to express her opinion on that. I think Giles cares about Dawn, but he doesn’t have much of a chance to really see her and respect her, and that would be really cool to see. And Dawn’s persistent, so if he tried to withdraw, realizing that he was setting himself up for more pain, he wouldn’t be able to hide from her.

  1. getbacktofandomlife reblogged this from keysmashehly
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  7. womanaction reblogged this from bespangeled and added:
    IMO, Giles was already destroyed at the end of S5. His Slayer was dead. He was willing to do just about anything to save...
  8. onceuponaslayer reblogged this from womanaction and added:
    Yeah, I think the Dark Willow arc would have still happened but it would have been even sadder… Throughout s6 it’s...
  9. wolveswithhats reblogged this from womanaction
  10. onceuponaslayer said: also: this is a great meta!!