- As we've talked about in the last episode discussion, Willow and Tara are cooking breakfast, one of the benefits of them staying at Buffy's house. It would've helped if the breakfast was eatable, judging by Dawn's expression, she didn't like how it looked.

- It seems that Willow, Tara and Dawn notice Buffy drifting away, they just don't know what to do regarding it, just stand around looking concerned.

- It's disturbing how Xander wants to be friends with Tito, who looks in his 40s… perhaps having Giles as the only male companion around for so long affected his taste in guy friends.

- Xander is helping Buffy by trying to get her house fixed with the lowest prices possible, and fixing her windows/furniture by himself in later episodes.

- So, Buffy has been having money problems for a while, but Willow didn't want to break the news to her until she got better.

- I wonder when Willow and the others realized that Buffy was broke, I expect they needed money at one time and discovered that Joyce's hospital bill sucked all the money.

- Anya has a point about the house, Buffy should have sold the house and lived in an apartment with Dawn. I actually wanted to strangle Buffy when she joked about burning the house… it's obvious that selling is the better solution.

- Why is it okay for Angel to open an investigation agency and Buffy can't? Is it because a slayer saving the innocents is a sacred calling? Or because Buffy doesn't want to reveal her identity? I don't see anything wrong with Anya's suggestion, but poor girl, Buffy and Dawn ridiculed her and Xander appeared embarrassed by her suggestion.

- Xander knows that jumping into marriage is too fast and he did tell Anya that in this episode. But then Anya asks, "Do you wanna get married?" And he says, "Yes." I think deep down he does want to marry her, but not right now. Not when he's just getting used to standing on his feet with a steady paycheck and an apartment. Plus, he's just twenty. That's too young. He should have postponed the whole marriage thing until he was ready.

- BUFFY: (to guard) These things? Never helpful.

I don't know. I thought the rocket launcher was quite helpful with the Judge in S2. Unless she means a mere gun, which is also something established in S8 when Andrew tells his squad that they can't use a gun. I don't see what the big deal about using a gun is.

- Willow notices that Buffy hasn't been big with the emotions and feels good when she sees Buffy expressing rage by hitting her punching bag, so Willow tries to get Buffy angry by telling her she slept with Riley as a cover up for sleeping with Angel ( :D ) but then Willow backs off, leaving Buffy alone. I think Willow is desperately trying to help, she just doesn't know how.

- Xander doesn’t have an excuse delaying telling the news now. Buffy has been back for a while now and everything seems to be normal, it's the perfect time to tell them about the engagement.

- I don't get why Tara doesn't allow Dawn to research. A teenager who had been running away from a god and used to be some sort of key is not your average teen, besides, fifteen is old enough for research. It's not like she's going out by herself killing beasts like her sister when she was HER age.

- And then Buffy grumbles about Dawn doing research. Seriously, what's the big deal? It's as bad as forcing Dawn to be babysat… how humiliating to have someone babysit me when I'm fifteen.

- Awww, Buffy and Giles' reunion! Best reunion ever.

- GILES: Yes. Otherwise, there's, uh, nothing really to report. I, um, I keep a flat in Bath. I, I, uh, met with a few old friends. Almost made a new one, which I think is ... statistically impossible for a man of my age.

Why is it impossible for a man Giles' age to make a new friend? I don't think there's an age where it's possible or impossible.

- Poor Buffy having problems sleeping because she's afraid she'd wake up… after waking up inside a coffin (Buffy's nightmare when she was sixteen was being buried alive) it's understandable that she'll have issues with sleeping.

- LOL, seems that Warren and Andrew were ganging up on Jonathan from the start.

- Andrew wanted Warren to build him Christina Ricci? I guess he was still undecided about his sexuality at this time.

- What's up with Giles sleeping at the Summers' residence? What happened to his apartment?

- Wait a minute, didn't the Scoobies say that the hospital bills were the reason Buffy is broke? How come now she says that the money was lost on food and clothes?

- GILES: Buffy, perhaps you're putting too much pressure on yourself. I mean, to return from some ... unknown level of Hell ... it's only natural that coming back ... will be a process.

GILES: Look, tomorrow morning, you and I will sit down together and we'll go through everything. Every bill, one by one. We'll work it out together.

Giles understands that Buffy is under a lot of pressure, especially considering that she just came back from the dead. I think he doesn't mind helping Buffy out as long as she doesn't dump everything on his shoulders.

- Aww, poor Giles, wanting to hug Buffy but she didn't take the hint.

- Willow's enthusiasm about her spell can be annoying, but I understand the pride in accomplishing something so huge. What makes me a little relieved is that Willow notices that Buffy spaces out and appears lacking on the emotion department and tries to get Buffy to feel better.

- Giles being hard on Willow, something she does deserve. Their goodbye scene in episode one is heartbreaking because after Buffy, Willow is his favorite, and he has always been proud of her, not to mention that she has always been the most mature out of Buffy and Xander. I can hear the anger and disappointment in his voice when he told Willow that by bringing Buffy back, she changed the way he thinks of her.

- I don't think telling Willow that she's a rank, arrogant amateur is the best approach Giles took, but I understand losing it when you're angry. However, his words only made Willow more stubborn instead of letting her see the error of her actions.

- Buffy and Spike heard Willow and Giles' fight? I forgot about that. The fight made Buffy feel crappier, what are your thoughts on how she felt regarding both Willow and Giles? I think Buffy should have told Giles she used to be in heaven, I think he would have helped her much better if he knew the whole truth, especially since he's so willing to help at this stage, unlike later when he feels that she's throwing all her responsibilities at him.

- SPIKE: You know watcher-boy doesn't mean anything by it.

What does Spike mean by that? I didn't think Giles came out in a bad light in his fight with Willow, unless by yelling at her that she did a mistake by using dark powers to get Buffy back, he sounded like he's not happy about Buffy being back?

- I loved Buffy's confession that her friends cared so much about her that it makes it impossible for her to tell them the truth. Here lies the reason why Buffy chose to keep the truth from Xander, Willow, Anya and Tara. She didn't want to crush them after they thought they had saved Buffy. Sadly for Buffy even pretending to be fine is making them worry, because they can look past her pretense and know that she's not fine.

- SPIKE: You want me to take them out? Give me a hell of a headache, but I could probably thin the herd a little.

After a moment Buffy smiles a little. Spike looks pleased.

SPIKE: Knew I could get a grin.

Most adorable moment of the episode! Awww.

- BUFFY: Why are you always around when I'm miserable?
SPIKE: 'Cause that's when you're alone, I reckon. I'm not one for crowds myself these days.
BUFFY: Me neither.
SPIKE: That works out nicely then.

I think this exchange shows how these two are detaching themselves from everybody else but each other. It explains why Spike doesn't spend a lot of time with Dawn and the others, with Buffy being back miserable and alone, he prefers spending time with her, instead of anyone else.

- I'm wondering, if Buffy had accepted Jonathan into her group of friends in Superstar, he wouldn't have fell into the wrong crowd. Poor Jonathan, he has the most potential to be a good guy. I think all three reverted to the road of crime and evil because they hadn't been accepted by any group, which is a shame, all these talents being wasted.

- When her house gets crashed, Buffy got the Scoobies to repair the broken pieces. It's also good to have a carpenter around to work for free :D

- BUFFY: Don't know. Now he's way too dead to answer that question. Wish I knew who hired him.

WILLOW: Ooh, I could do a locator spell...

Giles looks up from holding the ice pack against his head, gives Willow a look.
 
WILLOW: (stops smiling) Or not.

Yay for Giles putting his foot down ;)

- Poor Buffy watching her furniture go away. Giles is right and wrong at the same time, while Joyce was able to handle crisis like this (having demons crashing the house down) she doesn't have the fate of the world on her shoulders like Buffy. However, unlike Buffy who has the help of her friends, Joyce did everything alone.

- Why should Dawn quit school to work? She can baby-sit on her free time or work at a fast-food restaurant… but seeing as she's still being baby-sat and treated like a child, I understand why she's useless at this crisis. I can actually picture Dawn asking Buffy to work to help out and Buffy refusing, education is more important.

- Didn't Willow call the LA gang to inform them about Buffy being back? And we saw Angel rushing inside to take the phone call? How it is that now it's him calling Buffy? Here's the exchange from the AtS episode:

Cordy comes hurrying out and Angel and Fred turn their heads to look at her.

Cordy, a bit breathless: "Angel, Willow's on the phone... She's alive! Buffy's alive!"

With that Cordy turns around and hurries back in.

Angel and Fred look at each other for a beat then Angel jumps up and runs into the hotel after Cordy.

- I wonder where Buffy and Angel met and what they talked about… it sucks we didn't get to see that.

- GILES: I see. Well, we should get all these ... bills and things out of the way before-

BUFFY: I gotta go now.

She starts to leave, pauses and turns back again.

BUFFY: Um, thanks for taking care of this for me.

And from here Buffy starts dumping her problems on Giles and the others for a romantic meeting with Angel.

What were Willow and Tara (and everyone, but since they were the ones living there) planning on doing for money?  They had to know they were broke.  And "they" were broke when Buffy was dead.  When Buffy comes back, it's "you're" broke.  Or were they planning on Buffy coming back and fixing it somehow?

Also, I know life is the big bad, but seriously, what about Hank?  It's hardly realistic, if we're trying to play up real life as the obstacle.  Okay, so he doesn't know Buffy's dead, so there's a good reason not to contact him because Dawn could be taken by the state.  But once Buffy's alive, how about a little child support?  Maybe someone who knows a little more about this could clear a few things up for me.  Can you sue for support, if you're an elder sibling?  I suppose there was the chance that Hank could insist on taking Dawn himself, but it doesn't seem likely.  As for a lawsuit raising the possbility that social services would step in, well, they will be stepping in anyway a few eps from now.  Even if Buffy doesn't have Hank's number, there are ways to find people.  Would suing have been to expensive?  And if you have assets, can't the court order you to cough it up?  I know he's mentioned as being in Spain, but did he move there permanently?  What about assets that are still here?

What were Willow and Tara (and everyone, but since they were the ones living there) planning on doing for money? They had to know they were broke. And "they" were broke when Buffy was dead. When Buffy comes back, it's "you're" broke. Or were they planning on Buffy coming back and fixing it somehow?

Yeah, they knew Dawn was broke, but I guess they managed to survive somehow with the money they have, which probably isn't enough to cover up a whole house. I don't know why they didn't sell the house already and move into a smaller apartment. Maybe have Dawn live with Xander or Giles while Tara and Willow return to their paid-for dorm rooms.

Maybe since Willow had put in mind she was bringing Buffy back, she didn't want to do anything major, and preferred to wait until Buffy was back, seeing as it's her house and her choice to decide. But then, Buffy also didn't sell the house.

I think if we're gonna play the realistic card, Buffy's job at the Doublemeat Palace isn't enough to pay all the bills, so it's obvious she gets money-help from her friends. Perhaps the writers forgot to mention it or assumed it was too obvious.

Buffy could have had the police search for Hank and force him to pay for Dawn's living. Maybe she was afraid if they didn't see her fit to be Dawn's legal guardian, they'd take her away.
 

- SPIKE: You know watcher-boy doesn't mean anything by it. What does Spike mean by that? I didn't think Giles came out in a bad light in his fight with Willow, unless by yelling at her that she did a mistake by using dark powers to get Buffy back, he sounded like he's not happy about Buffy being back?
It probably did sound as if Giles didn't think Willow should have done the spell at all, and Spike wanted Buffy to know that Giles didn't mean that he didn't want Buffy back, or that he wasn't happy that she was.

It explains why Spike doesn't spend a lot of time with Dawn and the others, with Buffy being back miserable and alone, he prefers spending time with her, instead of anyone else. 
Spike spent less time around the Scoobies I'm sure, beyond research or patrol, but when Dawn sees him in SR, she let's the audience know that Spike had not in fact stopped seeing her regularly.  The Spike arc of this season is heavily intertwined with Buffy, so it's only natural that when we see him, he's only with her.  That doesn't make it 24/7 though.

Poor Jonathan, he has the most potential to be a good guy. I think all three reverted to the road of crime and evil because they hadn't been accepted by any group, which is a shame, all these talents being wasted.
Jonathan enters the life of crime, sure, but he doesn't become "evil."  In fact, after "Dead Things," it appeared as if he only stuck around to keep an eye on the other two.  Buffy wouldn't have known how to stop Warren without Jonathan's help after all.  Or at the very least, no where near as quickly.

Didn't Willow call the LA gang to inform them about Buffy being back?
Well, we don't which day it was.  Assuming Willow called the night of the resurrection, or the night after, she more than likely told him Buffy needs a little time to adjust.  Angel waits a few days, and then gives her a call.

- I wonder where Buffy and Angel met and what they talked about… it sucks we didn't get to see that.  And from here Buffy starts dumping her problems on Giles and the others for a romantic meeting with Angel.

I actually don't mind the Cordy/Wes interpretation myself :D  And...I wouldn't say it was or had to be a romantic encounter.  Angel probably offered her his help, all "hey, I've been to Hell too.  Actually, I just got back from a hell dimension a week ago.  A mild one, but still," and Buffy would probably look shamefaced and not tell him about heaven, and that she would be okay.  "Giles and the gang are helping--I'll be all right" and so forth.  Angel has his own reasons for meeting up--closure of some kind, maybe.  He did go to a monastery when she died after all.  But Buffy, I think she was looking for any reason to escape, and Angel was one most excellent reason where her friends would not question her running off.  And they don't (they look uncomfortable, but keep mum).

Buffy could have had the police search for Hank and force him to pay for Dawn's living. Maybe she was afraid if they didn't see her fit to be Dawn's legal guardian, they'd take her away.
Really, if Buffy was on social services radar, Hank should have been too.  That made no sense whatsoever.  Joyce with her gallery and moving to an entirely new city...It's doubtful she didn't receive alimony and child support.  I don't think she'd be that irresponsible (especially when she got sick--she'd have to have called Hank to tell him to man up).  I think that was just crappy writing not explaining any of that.

By the time Hank and Joyce divorced, it's practically automatic that the court will make Hank pay at least the minimum in child support for each child. And the court would make him pay if he stopped sending checks. Matter of fact, a lot of times now, the check doesn't go parent to parent, but parent to court to parent, so if it's missed or late, he's in big doodoo. Buffy's support would stop at 18, but the negotiation is always for each child, so Hank has to pay on Dawn unltil she is 18.

In 1984 the California Legislature enacted the Agnos Minimum Child Support Standards Act. This law established minimum levels of child support and required the courts to establish guidelines for awards of child support above the statutory minimums.

This is known as the "Child Support Guideline", which was recently amended, effective July 1, 1992.

To calculate the minimum amount of child support to be paid by a parent, the law directs the judge to first add up the total net monthly incomes of both parents. Then, the judge has to compute the percentage of that income that is being earned by the non- custodial parent.

Then that percentage is multiplied by the applicable level of welfare payments for the number of children in the household. The result of this calculation is the minimum child support.

It should be understood that in the vast majority of cases, the court orders child support above the minimum level, as determined by local support guidelines.

The vast majority of child support is paid under the Child Support Guideline. The guideline is based on a complicated mathematical formula. In fact, computer programs must be used to calculate child support under the guideline.

Child support must be paid until the child becomes 18, unless the child has not graduated from high school, in which case the child support continues until the child has graduated high school or becomes 19, which ever occurs first.

Dang it....continued...

Unless the custodial parent agrees otherwise, all child support is to be paid by a wage assignment. This means that the child support payments are to be deducted from the wages of the parent who is obligated to pay child support.

The wage assignment is part of the amendment in '92, I believe. They didn't go for the father's earnings by default back when unless he had to be forced to pay. My parents divorced in '82, so since my mother made more than my father at the time, and she didn't want him to have a lengthy bitch fit, they went with the minimum monthly payment at that time, handed over by check. It was more of a principle of his participation than something my mother actually needed for me.

CM

 

she let's the audience know that Spike had not in fact stopped seeing her regularly.

I don't think Spike had arrived to the Summers' home for Dawn, the times Dawn had mentioned are probably his visit on Buffy's birthday party and the Magic Box when Dawn was around. They just seemed to think less of each other ever since Buffy came back. Dawn more concerned about school and needing attention from Buffy and her friends and Spike was more concerned about Buffy and their time together.

Jonathan enters the life of crime, sure, but he doesn't become "evil." In fact, after "Dead Things," it appeared as if he only stuck around to keep an eye on the other two. Buffy wouldn't have known how to stop Warren without Jonathan's help after all. Or at the very least, no where near as quickly.

I know Jonathan can be redeemed the easiest of the two. I was just thinking that if someone had accepted him to their group (like the Scoobies) he wouldn't have chosen the wrong crowd.
 

It would've helped if the breakfast was eatable, judging by Dawn's expression, she didn't like how it looked.
I think that's just Dawn being a brat, and not a reflection on the food. I mean, I don't know what Tara's making, but Willow's pouring cereal. What exactly could she do to cereal to make it inedible?

I actually wanted to strangle Buffy when she joked about burning the house… it's obvious that selling is the better solution.
Er... depending on the housing market in Sunnydale, that may not actually be true, lol. I mean, would you want to buy a house in a town with an astronomical death rate?

Why is it okay for Angel to open an investigation agency and Buffy can't? Is it because a slayer saving the innocents is a sacred calling?
I really don't know. Clearly, the Council didn't think being a Slayer was worthy of monetary compensation, but it's not like Buffy's still following the Council's rules, so she could pretty much do whatever she wanted. The one problem I could see, though - Los Angeles is a LOT bigger than Sunnydale, so Buffy's much smaller clientele might not be enough to sustain her the way Angel's does. Also, Buffy would have to restructure her entire method of slaying. She spends most of her time just going out and patrolling, regardless of whether there's a particular threat or not. You can't charge that to a client, and it's pretty callous (as even Angel points out) to demand money after you've saved some random person on the street. You can only get paid if you have a prearranged job with a client. Presumably, Buffy could do more of that - advertise the way Angel does to bring in clients - but it would mean a significant change in how she does things.

I don't see what the big deal about using a gun is.
I don't, either. To be honest, I think they just avoided them because it would've made things too easy. Of course you can shoot a vampire - it won't kill them, but it might slow them down, which would certainly be helpful to the Scoobies who don't have slayer strength or speed.

What's up with Giles sleeping at the Summers' residence? What happened to his apartment?
Well, he figured he was moving back to England permanently, right? Not moving back for a short visit and then being called back to Sunnydale. So he probably either sold it, sublet it, or ended his lease. If he sold it or ended his lease, he can't just move back in, and if he's subletting to someone, it'd be rude to just kick them out after about a week.

I don't think telling Willow that she's a rank, arrogant amateur is the best approach Giles took, but I understand losing it when you're angry. However, his words only made Willow more stubborn instead of letting her see the error of her actions.
Yeah... I think this is the same problem I was bringing up on the other thread about Tara. Willow doesn't do well with confrontation, and she chafes against being told she's wrong. Her immediate instinct is to get defensive, and then there's no way you can get through to her. If Giles could've controlled his temper, he'd have been much better off being sneaky about getting information from Willow, and giving her advice on how to use magic properly.

The fight made Buffy feel crappier, what are your thoughts on how she felt regarding both Willow and Giles?
I was a little surprised that both Buffy and Spike focus on what Giles was saying, as though Willow didn't say anything hurtful or worrisome in that conversation. Giles is clearly just concerned about Buffy, and trying to do what's in her best interest (if he can figure out what her best interest is). Willow, on the other hand, is only thinking of herself, and is incredibly proud of herself - which, if I were Buffy, I would find kind of insulting, considering Willow apparently hasn't really stopped to check how this actually is affecting Buffy. (But on the other hand, it is sort of Buffy's fault for not correcting her about heaven, and letting her think she did a good thing.)

I'm not one for crowds myself these days.
I wonder if this is really true, or if Spike is just saying that as an excuse to spend time with Buffy when she's alone. He seemed to get along with "the crowd" just fine before Buffy came back - is he mad at the Scoobies because of the spell and doesn't want to spend time with them? Or is he just sacrificing his newfound role with them in order to be there to comfort Buffy?

Didn't Willow call the LA gang to inform them about Buffy being back? And we saw Angel rushing inside to take the phone call? How it is that now it's him calling Buffy?
Yeah... I was puzzling over that recently in betaing a fic. I figure Willow called him when Buffy wasn't around, so Angel had to call her house later to speak to Buffy directly. (And if you're interested in one perspective of where they met and what they did, the fic I was betaing is ClawofCat's "Off Route 17.")

What were Willow and Tara (and everyone, but since they were the ones living there) planning on doing for money? They had to know they were broke. And "they" were broke when Buffy was dead. When Buffy comes back, it's "you're" broke. Or were they planning on Buffy coming back and fixing it somehow?
Yeah, I had that same question. I wonder what they would've done if Buffy hadn't come back. It's not like Willow or Tara have shown any indication of getting a job, so if Buffy hadn't returned for them to heap the money problems on, what would they have done? Send the Buffybot to apply for loans?

I don't know why they didn't sell the house already and move into a smaller apartment.
That, at least, I can understand. If they were planning to bring Buffy back, they wouldn't want to make big changes like selling the house until she was there to make the decisions (since it is her house, after all). Maybe if they'd failed, they would've gone ahead and sold it, since there doesn't seem to be any way for them to afford the mortgage. I can also understand Buffy not wanting to sell for nostalgia reasons, but practicality really should've won out. (Then again, if she'd sold the house, where on earth would they have put all those Potentials in season seven? lol)

If they were planning to bring Buffy back, they wouldn't want to make big changes like selling the house until she was there to make the decisions (since it is her house, after all).

What I find weird is that if they had discovered the money issue before bringing Buffy back, then Giles would have known about it. He didn't know about the plan to bring Buffy back, so it seemed weird that he would just leave without offering help. I guess they discovered the problem after Buffy was brought back.

BUFFY: Why are you always around when I'm miserable?
SPIKE: 'Cause that's when you're alone, I reckon. I'm not one for crowds myself these days.
BUFFY: Me neither.
SPIKE: That works out nicely then.

Further thought--

In "Afterlife," Spike is alone in his crypt.  He's not patrolling, he's not doing anything--he's still pissed and upset.  Buffy, under the guise of patrolling, goes to seek him out for whatever reason--not just to escape the gang, but to go see him for...?  Later in the same ep, Spike does venture out into the daylight to the Magic Box where clearly the Scoobies would be--that was a moment where he was not intentionally trying to wait for her to be alone.  He only doesn't go in because he would have felt out of place in the "soggy group hug," and did not expect Buffy to come out to the alley.  Who knows--maybe he would have entered in eventually when all the mushy stuff had passed.  But that's also when Buffy tells him her secret, so if she ever needed to talk, to vent, it clearly can't be in front of a crowd because no one knows what's really going on with her but him.  So he comes, when she's alone, as a shoulder to lean on, so to speak.  He knows she's unhappy, and that she can't be honest with the rest of them, so he's there to help.

Also, he's not shocked at Giles' being back, so he had to have talked to Giles at some point...he knows what's going on with the rest of the Scoobies, even though we don't see it.

What I find weird is that if they had discovered the money issue before bringing Buffy back, then Giles would have known about it.
Maybe, like the resurrection spell, they didn't tell Giles about it? Maybe they figured telling Giles would bring up unwanted questions - like, "Why not sell the house?" - which they can't answer without admitting that they expect Buffy to come back. It seems rather convenient that they just happened to discover there was no money right after Buffy came back... particularly since both Willow and Tara seem like intelligent, responsible women when it comes to things like that. I mean, Willow's a huge nerd - she's probably the type that balances their checkbook for fun. It's hard to imagine them not noticing something like all the money running out.

It's really a shame they didn't tell Anya sooner. She probably could've prevented the whole problem if they'd let her handle the finances from the beginning. She'd probably have invested whatever they had in online trading and tripled their money by now. :)

I really hated most the the series treatment for Anya - they could have had a really interesting character instead of the superficial side character she became.  Anya is intelligent, passionate, has lived through incredible experiences for a very very long time - to not have used her history and experience to create a super interesting woman counter part to Giles; have a mature woman living in this young body, I think would added much to the series instead of her lame character.  After a while, all the blunt, not socially appropriate lines and jokes became tiresome.  

Anya and her understanding of how to make money could have had very reasonable ideas on the financial problems - fact is, Anya would have known exactly how to sell the artwork and artifacts from the gallery. 

I am always amazed at how much the writers ignored some very obvious points in the story lines.  Even knowing that most of the series is metaphor, I think it is important to pay attention to continuity and details. 

Why is it impossible for a man Giles' age to make a new friend? I don't think there's an age where it's possible or impossible.
It's funny--I was just watching Sex and the City, and Big says, "We're middle aged men--we don't make friends."   Maybe it's a general perception among middle aged men?

I really hated most the the series treatment for Anya - they could have had a really interesting character instead of the superficial side character she became. Anya is intelligent, passionate, has lived through incredible experiences for a very very long time - to not have used her history and experience to create a super interesting woman counter part to Giles; have a mature woman living in this young body, I think would added much to the series instead of her lame character. After a while, all the blunt, not socially appropriate lines and jokes became tiresome.

Word!

I feel so bad whenever I thought of Anya's character and her romantic story with Xander. So many possibilities and ideas to use. Sadly both of them were treated like clowns to make us laugh and interesting aspects of their characters and relationship are ignored.