To be honest I tend to think all the characters are hypocritical including Xander. Buffy and Willow act like they are the law (Buffy states it in season 7, Willow basically acted like it in the first episodes when she resurrected Buffy.) Buffy in S5 reacts in disgust to Spike's crush yet is banging him senseless in S6. Willow refers to Xander as 'my' people after finding out he slept with Faith even when she has Oz (processive much?). Buffy allows Spike to walk around in Wood's mother's leather coat. (If someone dug up her mother's coffin and wore her clothes I think she would react differently...)
Neither Buffy or Willow were ever on board with ever Xander's relationships (Cordelia, Anya). And while they might have good reason (Anya a demon) and true didn't react in the extreme like Xander it still doesn't excuse some of their behaviour. Despite bringing Buffy back to life in S1 Xander is treated like a useless goof by nearly all the group. Yes Spike burned every one of them at the end of season 7 but I regard the Scoobies turning on Buffy as the most out of character moment in the history of the show. Poorly written, plot hole ridden and just plain awkward. Then again Buffy had been treating her friends as her own army and it was only there to bring Spike and Buffy closer.
@darkspook
Buffy stated she was the law ( and not above the law) in season 7 in a specific context, and she applied her law to herself by killing Angel and by killing herself, there’s nothing hypocritical about it.
Willow was drunk with magic early in season 6 and it was actually a foreshadowing of her turning evil later, but I never remembered her saying she was the law. Addiction makes you do weird things I guess.
but I 10000% agree on the point of Willis going like ??? Jealous ??? On Xander sleeping with Faith like wtf ? I understand you love him as a friend but why would that make you cry in the bathroom ? Obsessive much ? That point was indeed weird especially that she was with Oz and that was never addressed again. Go figure.
As to principal Wood’s mother’s coat being worn by Spike; I’m the first to call out how out of character a lot of the characters sometimes get in season 7 ( I wrote it down in the updated review ) including Buffy. I think that like you said , season 7 was scrapped off too quickly and it’s as though writers lost touch with the essence of their characters I don’t really know what they were trying to do or the message they wanted to convey but it failed ...
I never saw Buffy being opposed to Xander’s relationships , on the contrary she was so permissive and mute Over Cordelia’a immaturity and Anya’s utter lack-of-chemistry with her. Plus like you said , she was a demon, so I really don’t see the point of addressing it. And When he left her like a petty mess in the alter , did they console her ? No , none of them did . They all hugged and supported Xander. Anyway, I feel like Joss Whedon has a lot to learn on friendships instead of making his characters so subjective and red-handedly favor their friends over justice. But there was more of this favoritism in Xander because he based the character on himself, so maybe unconsciously he was trying to normalize HIS OWN horribl behavior to he eyes of the world. And did he do some questionable behaviors like cheat on his wife and treat women poorly. The resemblance is uncanny indeed...
