As I said before, Buffy is using her actions in season 2 as a justification for killing Anya right away, but upon closer inspection the argument fails utterly and completely.
I agree with this statement 100% emphatically, because I always believed there could have been another way of dealing with Anya, rather than just Buffy deciding she had to kill her because she was the Slayer and she was "the one" who had to do this. She was "the law."
It's funny to me, that so often people are willing to overlook certain hypocricies, when it comes to their favorite character's, instead of looking at the bigger picture. I know that I've been guilty of it a time or two and I don't like the idea of subscribing to that, but I've been making more of a conscious effort to look beyond and to look at the over-all picture instead of just one point.
---------- Post added at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 PM ----------
If Xander really wanted Angel -not Angelus- to die, then he'd have cheered Kendra on when she suggested killing Angel, except he said, "Angel is our friend. Except I don't like him."
He didn't like Angel, but that didn't mean he wanted him dead. That scene shows that Xander's reasons for wanting Angelus dead were NOT about jealousy and pettiness.
So, accusing Xander of being selfish and jealous about it is completely unfair.
Yes, this. And often times, I find the reasons people do accuse Xander of being selfish and jealous, is because they're trying to justify Buffy a greater portion of the time and they're trying to make it seem like Xander was heartless when it came to Buffy/Angel. Like he's still harboring jealousy issues when it comes to the two of them, because she gave Angel a shot and sort of shot him down.
Buffy's behavior in this episode when she makes the decision that she has to kill Anya and it doesn't matter how Xander feels about it or what he has to say, she's going to do what she thinks needs to be done, yet she's going to hold what Xander said and to her "kick his ass" and the fact that he didn't tell her that Willow was trying the spell again against him...that's just crap in my humble opinion.
I mean, there is always another way. People may not like to hear that, but there's always a choice and always another way. Granted the choices may not be likable ones and they may not be ones that people want to make and they're hard and mean for the most part, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist. Buffy was just being a hypocrite in this sense and overlooking the fact that Xander cared deeply for Anya the way that she cared for Angel.
I hate double standards and this one of them. We'll hold Xander responsible for S2, but we won't hold Buffy responsible for S7. Whatever. Phhbbtt!
