A storyline for Giles

Wesley Junior

Wesley Junior

Potential
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
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Do you think this could have worked as a storyline for Giles in S7?

At some point in the season, we find out that Giles resumed his relationship with Olivia when he returned to England last season and Olivia is pregnant with Giles' child. Giles doesn't know he's up for being an actual father and finds himself torn between such responsibilities and his responsibilities with Buffy, the other Scoobies, and the Potentials.
 
I think as much as I'd have liked more of a Giles storyline, there was loads going on already. It would have been too convoluted. But yeah, if something was taken out then I could see that working.
 
How appropriate that I just finished watching Restless, in which Giles dreams that he and Olivia do have a child. I agree that there was way too much going on in Season 7 to fit something like this in, but I would hardly mind sacrificing most of that for more Giles. I think it certainly could have worked, but I also feel that, if you're going to have more Giles in season 7, I would have wanted it to go towards him and Buffy reconciling a bit. Their relationship was simply torn to shreds by the end, and that really bothered me.

It's a very interesting concept, though, and I think it could have been done.
 
F
Foamy
i hate how buffy and giles' relationship is so strained at the end. it's so sad
I would have definitely wanted a Giles storyline in S7, and the one you suggested could've been done well. Of course simply adding it would've made the storyline too convulted, but it should have definitely replaced one of the unecessary storylines that distracted from the main Scoobies (Wood/Spike, Andrew, the Potentials, Kennedy, etc.)
 
Some of the best G/J fanfic I've read has been about what if she had stayed alive and her and Giles had gotten married, and had a kid. It's cool, because some fics have spanded the whole 7 seasons so this whole internal conflict Giles is having (family vs duty, blood vs the scoobies) is played with overtime and is slow burning and it hits its peak in season 7. Tensions are already so high and his relationship with Buffy is already so torn, as joansummers pointed out.

So I love the idea! But to have it done all in one season may have felt a little rushed, but honestly, I think it could have worked. I mean, we rarely got to have to have Giles' personal life come into play as the series progressed. I think it would have felt real to have had him move back to England and have something from that life come back to Sunnydale. He wasn't just a watcher living in America - he had a whole life in England that he was trying to get back to when he left.

And heck, maybe it didn't have to be Olivia. She made it pretty clear that she wasn't down for his lifestyle (another reason why Jenny > Olivia IMO =P) but he did make the comment to Buffy when he returned after Willow resurrected Buffy, "Made a new friend, which I thought was impossible for someone at my age." Maybe it could have been a lady friend who could have played this more important role in season 7 as Giles' baby momma!

However they could have done it, I think it would have been cool. Really tie together the theme that Giles struggled with his personal life vs his duty to Buffy, and it coming to blows with Buffy telling him she doesn't need him anymore. In fact, it could have changed that whole dynamic: Maybe Buffy sees how much Giles is concerned for her well being and she tells him he doesn't need to worry about her, but instead focus on his own kid. It could have made that conversation at the end of "Lies My Parents Told Me" a more compassionate one where Buffy tells Giles it's ok not to worry about her anymore, instead of Buffy slamming the door in his face in anger. Am I being too optimistic there? Probably =P
 
Some of the best G/J fanfic I've read has been about what if she had stayed alive and her and Giles had gotten married, and had a kid. It's cool, because some fics have spanded the whole 7 seasons so this whole internal conflict Giles is having (family vs duty, blood vs the scoobies) is played with overtime and is slow burning and it hits its peak in season 7.
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Sort of off-topic but would you be so kind to PM me some links to such fanfics? I never seem to find any decent Giles/Jenny stories and I really want to read some.

As for the topic, sure it would have been better than what we saw in S7. Then again you can say that about not including Giles at all that season. And Olivia had always seemed problematic to me because it doesn't really fit with what we know of Giles. In S1-2 he can barely summon the courage to ask Jenny out, then in S4 he apparently has some "old friend" of his willing to make a long journey across the ocean just to have some sex with him? Really, Joss?
 
Icarium said:
Sort of off-topic but would you be so kind to PM me some links to such fanfics? I never seem to find any decent Giles/Jenny stories and I really want to read some.

As for the topic, sure it would have been better than what we saw in S7. Then again you can say that about not including Giles at all that season. And Olivia had always seemed problematic to me because it doesn't really fit with what we know of Giles. In S1-2 he can barely summon the courage to ask Jenny out, then in S4 he apparently has some "old friend" of his willing to make a long journey across the ocean just to have some sex with him? Really, Joss?
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I'll definitely PM you with some good stuff!

Also, I agree. I wish ASH was able to be in season 7 more. Or at least have more for Giles to do then not be evil and then just try to kill Spike.
 
I
Icarium
thanks for the PM!
Any chance I could get PM'd, too? I've read a bit of G/J stuff on ff.net, but I've not come across anything that stretches this far into the series.

And yeah, I do think this would have been an interesting character arc for Giles, to have to choose between his Slayer and some other duty. I'd much rather have had more character development for the "core 4" than half a season of "Look how mean everyone is to poor, misunderstood Buffy" (Note: Exaggerating slightly due to a dislike of Season 7- though it earns points for an almost-Dru appearance in something that isn't a flashback 😛). I think, though, that by Season 7, Giles has already shown that he will leave Buffy alone if he feels its the best course of action (not that I think it's neccesarily a bad thing, I do understand the reasoning behind it), and so I think, had that happened, the question of "Would he stay with his family more and with Buffy less?" might have been answered- Buffy doesn't need him for the fight, neccessarily. I mean, his brains and magical ability are a great help, but he knows, if neccessary, she can do it alone- I think, given this, he would perhaps back off, and be more of a "family man". Though, I guess, it could still be a source of friction, if Buffy saw this as the reason he left, rather than a neccessity for her to handle life without him, or if she and the girlfriend didn't get along.
 
Yeah i agree with posts made already about too much already going on in S7 although I wish there was more Giles time along with the rest of the main cast characters.
 
Some things in S7 could have been removed to make room for a storyline for Giles like the forced relationship between Willow and Kennedy or a number of the Potentials that were unnecessary and more background drappings than actual people.
 
Icarium said:
As for the topic, sure it would have been better than what we saw in S7. Then again you can say that about not including Giles at all that season. And Olivia had always seemed problematic to me because it doesn't really fit with what we know of Giles. In S1-2 he can barely summon the courage to ask Jenny out, then in S4 he apparently has some "old friend" of his willing to make a long journey across the ocean just to have some sex with him? Really, Joss?
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ITA with this, although I think the S1/2 Giles is what really doesn't fit, rather than S4, especially after we know what his background as Ripper is like. I wouldn't have minded some sort of storyline for Giles in s7, but I have to say that I don't like Olivia. Really, at all. She was not a compelling or likeable character in the least for me. Rather forgettable. I loved Jenny though. Her death makes so much sense in the scheme of season 2's Angelus arc, but I hated to see her go, there was soooo much that could've been done with her character. But, she probably wouldn't have lasted long anyway due to Robia La Morte's conversion.
 
It would have definitely been good for Giles to have something of his own going on in season 7, rather than just training the potentials, an episode or two could have focused on it rather than on the potentials as I think they were overplayed later in the season.

I don't think an Olivia relationship would necessarily be the best way to go about it, but maybe something else surfacing from his past or from his connection with the council. Another person from his past like Ethan could have appeared for instance, and had a different take on how to deal with the first evil, or could have tried to get in the way of the training of the potentials. It would have made a good distraction from it just being about training up the potentials for the big final battle that did become a bit too much of a narrow focus later in the season.
 
I didn't really like Olivia so I wouldn't have wanted her for him but I would have liked to see more of Giles. I don't know where it would have fit in to season 7 but it would have been nice.
 
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