“BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER” Retrospect: Who Is To Blame in (7.19) “Empty Places”?
"BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" RETROSPECT: WHO IS TO BLAME IN (7.19) "Empty Places"?
Nearly twenty-one years ago, an episode viewed by many "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" fans as controversial, aired during the show’s final season. The name of that episode was (7.19) "Empty Places".
In this episode, the citizens of Sunnydale, California had finally desert the town in masse after realizing that their chances of surviving the upcoming apocalypse might be non-existent. Even demons like Clem had deserted. Vampire slayer Buffy Summers, the Scoobies, the souled vampire Spike, and fellow vampire slayer Faith Lehane and the Potential vampire slayers were still smarting from their defeat at the hands of a priest named Caleb and the demonic Bringers who followed him in the previous episode, (7.18) "Dirty Girls". To relieve the Potentials of their gloomy moods, Faith took them for one last night of fun at the Bronze, a local nightclub. The fun ended in near disaster, after an encounter with police. But when Buffy suggested that Caleb may be hiding something of great value in the vineyard - the scene of their last defeat - the Scoobies, the Potentials, Giles, Wood and Dawn finally turned their backs on her . . . and kicked her out of her own home.
I had found the general reaction to the characters’ actions in "Empty Places" back in 2003 rather interesting. I realize that I should not have been amazed, considering human nature. Yet, I was. Some fans came to the conclusion that all of the characters had reacted badly to the situation. These fans even managed to pinpoint the characters’ fears and flaws that led to their individual decisions. But the majority of fans seem determined to place the blame of what happened on either Buffy or on those who had rejected her. In regard to the latter, many fans had vented their ire on a handful of characters.
Personally, I believe they were all at fault. To be honest, Buffy had not a good leader throughout Season Seven. This became painfully clear after she had assumed leadership over the Potentials. Instead of resorting to the usual methods she had utilized when leading the Scoobies against the Big Bads at the end of the previous seasons - listening to her friends and considering their suggestions - Buffy resorted to behaving like General von Summers by insisting that should accept her views as correct, ignoring any advice given by others and viewing herself as the law whose word should not be questioned. She painfully reminded me of the Watchers’ Council at their worst. Which should not have surprise me, considering her only guide on how to be a leader came from a Watcher. Namely, her Watcher . . . one Rupert Giles.
Giles’ own actions before this episode had contributed a great deal to the schism between himself and Buffy. He had been the one who had insisted that Buffy lead the Potentials. Also, he had taught her to be a killer, instead of a leader. And when she failed to become an effective leader - no surprise there - Giles had constantly complained about her ineffectiveness. To make matters worse, he had betrayed her by trying to arrange Spike's death behind her back . . . and never expressed any remorse for his actions. Naturally this had pissed off Buffy. But when she finally rejected his role as her authority figure, he became resentful and even more critical . . . and stabbed her in the back, again. Yet, the fans had ended up expressing more hostility toward characters like the Potentials (especially Kennedy and Rona), Robin Wood, Dawn and the Scoobies than toward Giles. I guess as a long established authority figure, they had considered Giles as an exempt from their hostility. Well, from the hostility of most fans. There had been those who kept claiming that Giles had changed during Season Seven. And there had been those who condemned him as much as they condemned the others. By the way, I never thought think Giles had changed. Well . . . not much. I believe that for once, his fear had threatened to overwhelm him. And I believe Buffy's view of him had changed.
The other characters' actions did not serve them very well. Fellow Scoobies Willow Rosenberg and Xander Berkeley seemed resentful of Buffy’s growing distance from them. Despite enjoying their friendship with her, both had occasionally demanded that she live up to her role as "the Slayer" for several years. Willow and Xander had constantly put Buffy on a pedestal. Yet at the same time, they had demanded that she remain as a close friend as long as possible. Buffy's younger sister, Dawn Summers, had harbored insecurities that had originally spawned from her own encounter with the First Evil in (7.07) "Conversations With Dead". Dawn's main fear had led her to wonder if Buffy cared more about being a Slayer than being her sister. This fear eventually led Dawn to finally reject Buffy’s role as authority figure in this episode. I am not saying that Dawn was wrong. She had every right to reject Buffy’s authority. Only, she did it by insisting that Buffy move out of the house . . . her sister’s house. I would not be surprised that Robin Wood still maintained a resentment against Buffy for choosing Spike - the vampire who had killed his mother in 1977 - over him in (7.17) "Lies My Mother Told Me", forgetting that he tried to get revenge against an individual who had changed from the vampire who had killed Nikki Wood. As for Faith . . . well, she had never really rejected Buffy’s authority. She only questioned it.
But the characters who has received the greatest ire from many fans over what happened in this episode were the Potentials - especially Kennedy and Rona. A good number of "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER" seemed to resent Rona for openly expressing doubt toward Buffy’s skills as a leader. Then again, many of the fans had been expressing hostility toward Rona since her first appearance. Why? She was sarcastic, always questioning Buffy's decision and was portrayed by African-American actress, Indigo. Apparently, a black Potential had even less right to question Buffy's authority than a white Potential. Yet, even more fans had resented Kennedy for not being Willow's new lover, following Tara Maclay's death in Season Six.
Unlike Willow, Tara and Willow's previous love interest - Daniel "Oz" Osbourne - Kennedy was an extrovert. Worse, she had an aggressive personality that many found offensive. Which I found a bit hypocritical, considering Willow's tendency to be the dominate partner in her previous romances. But the single biggest criticism that many fans had laid at the Potentials’ feet was their decision to reject Buffy as their leader. For some reason, many seemed to harbor the view that they had no right to reject Buffy, let alone question her decisions. They seemed to believe that the Potentials should have blindly followed Buffy, regardless of how they felt about her.
You know, I never fail to be amazed at how hypocritical people can be. Honestly. Take the relationship between Buffy and the Potentials in Season Seven for example. In the past seasons, Buffy's continuous attempts to maintain a personal life and resist Giles' attempts to turn her into a single-minded Slayer had drawn cheers from the viewers. When she had resisted and finally rejected the Watchers Council’s authority over her in Season Three’s (3.12) "Helpless", the fans cheered. When she had continuously questioned Professor Maggie Walsh and the Initiative’s demon hunting actions and encouraged boyfriend Riley Finn to do the same in Season Four, the fans cheered. And when Buffy had made it clear to the visiting members of the Watchers Council in Season Five’s (5.12) "Checkpoint" that they no longer had any power over her, the fans had erupted into rapture.
Then in Season Seven, Buffy became an authority figure. Actually, she became one following her mother’s death in late Season Five, when she became Dawn’s only guardian. But her interactions with the Potentials led her to become an authority figure on the same scale as Giles, Maggie Walsh, and the Watchers Council. And like those before her, Buffy made some very questionable judgment calls - including her decision to attack Caleb at the local vineyard without any real reconnaissance in "Dirty Girls". As Buffy had done so in the past, the Potentials rejected her as their authority figure. But since their authority figure happened to be Buffy . . . many fans had condemned them for not blindly following her.
Apparently, it was okay for Buffy to resist or reject the authority figures she had faced. But when she became an authority figure herself - and not a very good one at that, many fans decided that "no one" - especially the hated Potentials - had the right to resist or reject her. I hate to say this, but this could easily be construed as a bad case of double standards by those fans. They had no problems with Buffy rejecting authority figures. But they had refused to accept the Scoobies and especially the Potentials' rejection of Buffy as a leader. The fandom's waffling reeked of hypocrisy to me. What I found even more offensive is that after twenty years or so, many willing to condemn those who would do the same to Buffy after she became an authority figure reeked of hypocrisy to me. Although there are many fans who are beginning to understand that the Potentials and the Scoobies had every right to reject Buffy as their leader, there are still a good number of fans who believe otherwise. From their view, the main protagonist is always right.