Buffy 14 April 03

[dreaded_beast]

this has been bugging me...

if the First really wanted all the Potentials dead, why doesn't he just hire someone to go all kamikaze and run in their with a body bomb?

i mean, he knows where buffy lives and all. and all the Potentials are there. why doesn't he just get one of his lackey to get a bazooka, missile launcher, or whatever and just blow her friggin house up!

 

[John Crichton]

this has been bugging me...

if the First really wanted all the Potentials dead, why doesn't he just hire someone to go all kamikaze and run in their with a body bomb?

i mean, he knows where buffy lives and all. and all the Potentials are there. why doesn't he just get one of his lackey to get a bazooka, missile launcher, or whatever and just blow her friggin house up!

Hmmm...

1.) It's not The First's style.

2.) It's not fair.

3.) The First doesn't just want to hurt the Scoobs. It wants to make them suffer.

4.) Have you ever tried running down the street with a bomb and get into someone's house? It's not as easy as it seems.

5.) Willow, by now, would see it coming.

6.) Missle lanchers only do 5d6 damage to Slayers which isn't nearly enough to kill them.

7.) Pontentials are wiley like Looney Tunes. Nyuck nyuck.

 

[DM_Matt]

this has been bugging me...

if the First really wanted all the Potentials dead, why doesn't he just hire someone to go all kamikaze and run in their with a body bomb?

i mean, he knows where buffy lives and all. and all the Potentials are there. why doesn't he just get one of his lackey to get a bazooka, missile launcher, or whatever and just blow her friggin house up!

You could use that arguement the opposite way: Since Buffy now seems to both be able to contact the Initiative and is again in good stead there, why not just report the farmhouse where the bringers are based along with Caleb and have 'em come blow it up.

The real reason is that it is not the shows style to use extreme military-style violence unless there is a very good reason, and ether of those uses would not be a challenge. Going deeper, it could be said that using massive force and big explosions is too "masculine" for the theme of theshow (I personally couldn't care less about the grl power msg, but the writers do).

 

[WizarDru]

The real reason is that it is not the shows style to use extreme military-style violence unless there is a very good reason, and ether of those uses would not be a challenge. Going deeper, it could be said that using massive force and big explosions is too "masculine" for the theme of theshow (I personally couldn't care less about the grl power msg, but the writers do).

Or, you could drop the sexual politics angle, and look at it from a purely pragmatic storytelling position: it's not good storytelling, period. There would be little entertainment value out of having Buffy call the Initiative (or whatever it calls itself these days) and drop a pony nuke on the farmhouse. It would not only defeat the purpose of the story, it would be terribly unsatisfying, not fit the mileu and introduce a host of production issues.

As for specific reasons, there are tons:

Why doesn't the First just bomb Buffy & the Potentials?

• It can't DO anything, per se. It can threaten, cajole and terrify, but at the end of the day, it needs to convince others to do it's bidding. CALEB blew up the watchers at the First's behest.
• All of the agents that the First has are all patently crazy and obviously not terribly reliable. Caleb destroyed the watcher headquarters months ago, but only just now got to Sunnydale...and he didn't destroy all the watchers, just most of them.
• As John Crichton mentioned, the First Evil wants suffering and pain inflicted on his enemies. Caleb could have done more physical damage, but he's a psychopath, not just a killer. He resembles his mistress.
• The First is somehow tied up with the Slayer and the potentials, and killing them directly may not be an option. Especially since it's obvious that both groups haven't found them all, yet. The First may be waiting until they're all gathered together, and then will kill them all en masse.
• It's not nearly as easy to come at the scoobs as it appears...Warren notwithstanding. The slayer alone has been killed...but keeping her dead isn't nearly as easy.

So why not doesn't Buffy have the Initiative bomb the Winery?

• Buffy has already pulled in one minor favor, and it's questionable that the Initiative is willing to help a second time
• If they WERE to bomb the winery, there's no guarantee that they'd actually get anyone. It was a pretty obvious trap, from start to finish. The bringers let themselves be followed, so that Caleb could wail on the scoobs, bigtime.
• Even if they killed every single servant of the First, that wouldn't bother it in the least
• The initiative has, itself, shown that the solution can be as bad as the problem.
• Conventional weapons have rarely worked against demons or their ilk. Note how the initiative themselves used some freaky 'ghost-busting' equipment to deal even with common vamps, let alone the weirder varieties. It's just the way the Buffyverse works.

 

[dreaded_beast]

good points on the initiative. i forgot that the military has already tried to become involved. that was another question that was bugging me. if the world was filled with all sorts of supernatural baddies, wouldn't the military know of it and try to do something to combat it? and what do you know, there was a whole season with the military as a pseudo-bad-guy.

here is a question that my girlfriend brought up while we were watching the show. isn't it kinda strange how there all this weirdness going on around the summers residence? what do the neighbors think?

my question is that after the winery fight and everyone is in the hospital, who is paying for their medical care? i can assume that xander probably has health insurance, but what about the other girls?

i know this is nitpicky and i try not to worry about this like this in order to enjoy buffy, other shows, movies, etc. however, it would be cool if things like this could be explained within the story.

it's all about consistancy (don't know if this is the right word to use, heh)

 

[myrdden]

here is a question that my girlfriend brought up while we were watching the show. isn't it kinda strange how there all this weirdness going on around the summers residence? what do the neighbors think?

It has been stated in episodes past that Sunnydale has a reputation for "wierd things" going on. People either don't question it or chalk it up to stange Urbane Myths. I believe it was also mentioned last episode that people were leaving Sunnydale in droves after the riot/whatever happened in the school.

Myrdden

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

"And this year, thanks to Buffy Summers, Sunnydale high had its lowest mortality rate in recent memory!"

Or words to that effect, from The Prom, IIRC.

People in Sunnydale have a pretty good idea what goes on in their town, I think. It's not dwelled on, but there's a lot there to back up the idea that its not all that much of a secret.

Principal Snyder in season two had a standard answer to any wierd questions: "PCP, street gangs" I think it was. In Spike's first or second episode it became pretty clear that Snyder knew what was going on, to at least some extent.

"She says she'll speak to the Mayor if she has to."

"Wouldn't that be interesting."

 

[Merlion]

And as for who is paying the medical bills the first thing to spring to mind would be Giles, and/or Watcher Council money...most or all of them may be dead but Giles may still be able to access their resources. And its been intimated that Giles has a bit of a stash himself.
Plus theres that Coven in England..
And I dont think bombing the servants of the first would be very helpful simply becase as has already said it wouldnt care much and would simply replace them or maybe in the case of someone like Caleb, the First would just zap him out if he was in danger from something like that.
Also I tend to think that their are underlying supernatural "rules" the first is operating under.

 

[Jemal]

ARRRRGHHHH!

I turn on the local UPN station after looking forward to the new Buffy & Faith episode and what do I get - the 7th Inning of the Red Sox/Tampa Bay Game! #*@$!# sports station! Wish they'd stayed on WB.

f*ck man, I know what you're saying, Same thing happened to me, and I missed yesterdays episode b/c I was out for a few days.. I don't even know if it was new...
So, anyone know if April 22 was new? I couldn't find anything on it on Google, so I turn to my ever-present buddies here...

Help me, ENWorld posters, you're my only hope.

 

[Jemal]

n/m my question, I've really gotta learn to read the thread before posting silly questions... *L* Apparently it WAS a rerun yesterday so I didn't miss anything. thx peeps.