Nobody died when Xander lied...wait, scratch that...

[gabrielleabelle]

Oh, Becoming....

Joss, you toy with my emotions! Why? Why must you make me cry? WHY, Joss??

I could gush about the episode. I love it. The Buffy/Spike alliance. Willow's spell. Buffy, Buffy, all of Buffy! The big fight at the end. Sarah McLachlan (I blame you as well, Sarah, for making me cry. You and your song of angst

Comments

[penny_lane_42]

No, Xander wasn't making a tactical decision. He wasn't even making a tactically sound decision. He was making an emotionally-based decision because he thought Angel should be killed. And that emotion overruled his common sense in giving Buffy some essential knowledge for the fight.

Amen. And amen to the whole post, actually. You've laid it out much more clearly than I could have, but I agree completely!

[gabrielleabelle]

Thanks. I imagine I'll get lots of disagreement. :)

[ms_scarletibis]

I don't think that's why he lied, though.

Buffy had come to terms that Angel wasn't coming back, and that Willow couldn't do the spell. I think if she did have that hope? I don't think she would have fought as hard. Not because she's a woman, but because she was still in love with Angel. And having the thought He may not be gone for good may have made her hesitate during the actual fight (as opposed to when he's re-ensouled and the portal opens).

Has Buffy failed to avert an apocalypse at any point because of her pesky emotional attachments?Well, instead of letting Dawn die, she takes the plunge instead. Apocalypse averted, sure, but she only does it because of her emotional (monk infused) emotions for Dawn. And all of the melodrama angst between her and Angel in "The Zeppo." Well, scratch that last one--her emotions didn't seem to have affected her very much during the actual battle

[gabrielleabelle]

I think if she did have that hope? I don't think she would have fought as hard.

She had fought Angelus in Part 1 with that hope and didn't hesitate at all. In fact, she'd asked Willow to do the curse. What's the basis for thinking she wouldn't have fought as hard?

Well, instead of letting Dawn die, she takes the plunge instead.

So...she ends up saving the world, right?

Anywho, why bother giving Buffy that hope, whether he thought it was bad hope to have or not, when he wasn't fully sure Willow, just recently out of her coma (right?) could even pull it off?

Because there's the possibility that Willow could pull it off, and Buffy needs to know if the guy she's gonna be fighting to the death might get his soul back.

Again, is it preferable that Angel get his soul back while Buffy's not prepared for that eventuality? That's what actually happened, and as noted, there was a significant time delay for Buffy to actually kill him because she was caught unprepared.

And let's face it--Xander gave a pretty bad lie. "Kick his ass." Does

[ms_scarletibis]

I know she believed him--I just personally don't understand why she would ;)

Yes, she saved the world, but as she tells Giles in LMPTM, if she could go back and do it differently, she wouldn't have let her emotions get in the way, and let Dawn die instead.

At any rate, I don't think he was trying to protect Buffy cause he thought she was too weak to handle the info or something--she was his hero, and he admired her strength a great deal. I think Xander...basically I just don't think his intent was of the nefarious variety. I'll probably end up writing a drabble on it or something, which will explain my thoughts a helluva lot better than this ramble :P

[gabrielleabelle]

It's hard to not read less-than-noble intent on Xander's part after the fight in Part 1.

Xander: Way I see it you want to forget all about Ms Calendar's murder so you can have your boyfriend back.

The fight in Part 1 is the set-up for Xander's motivation. He feels very strongly that Angel should pay for Jenny's death. There's no way this feeling doesn't factor into his actions in Part 2. Hell, it factors into his response to Angel's return in S3.

[deird1]

Excellent post. And you're absolutely correct.

*looks sternly at Xander*

[gabrielleabelle]

Clearly, we should spank him. *nods*

[gabrielleabelle]

Very true. Given that Buffy brings that up in a fight five years later, it's obviously something she held onto and resented for quite a while.

[gabrielleabelle]

Heh, I like how this was a serious post and I felt very serious reading it until the last line in which I fell into giggles.

I'm literally incapable of being serious for too long. I have to balance srsnss with liberal amounts of humor.