Did Giles change (too much) in season 7?

[Ripper666]

Personality I think that Giles wasn't the same Giles when he returned from his long break in season 6. He has changed. Anybody here felt the same? I didn't liked him as much as I liked him in the earlier seasons. Mainly because he tried to kill Spike together with Wood. That was really not Giles. He didn't even knew much about Spike. What do you think? Same Giles? Has he changed? If yes did he developmed in a positiv or negative way?

 

[LyteHouse]

I think Tony deliberately played Giles a bit 'off' when he first reappeared in Season 7 - at the time a lot of fans were speculating whether or not Giles was actually dead and The First had assumed his form.

But I think Giles had developed quite a lot over the series. In fact all of the core Scooby Gang are pretty much unrecognisable from their 1st season personas.

That was one of the great things about Buffy - it was one of the first TV shows that I remember having genuine character progression. Most of the shows around that time had characters set-in-stone and simply hit the reset button each week.

Scully went for nearly 10 years on the X-Files being sceptical about UFO's even when aliens were jumping up and down in front of her face.

 

[white avenger]

He wasn't the same Giles in Season 7, but I think that the change was more gradual, and it started no later than about the end of Season 1 or the beginning of Season 2. From the pretty much typical librarian/clerk/geek type who slammed the "Vampyres" book down in front of Buffy her first day at school, he began to change into a more aggressive character (or more likely, his Watcher facade began to crumble away, leaving Ripper more fully exposed). "Welcome To The Hellmouth" Giles would never have slammed Snyder up against the wall in the first episode of Season 3, and I doubt seriously if THAT Giles would have suggested killing Dawn in order to keep her from falling into Glory's hands. The comparison between Season 1 and Season 7 Giles is certainly more extreme, but the change had been taking place throughout the entire series. By Season 7, the person that we saw was much more Ripper than Giles, and Ripper, heroic as he might be, and certainly far more useful in a fight, wasn't a particularly nice person to be around if he didn't like or trust you.

 

[Hale Caesar]

In my opinion Giles sucked in Season 7. He just stood around, he used to be such a fun and entertaining character, I would prefer the writers send him to Angel so he could at least have some dialogue and be important to the show. It was sad to see him become what he was in season 7

 

[white avenger]

In my opinion Giles sucked in Season 7. He just stood around, he used to be such a fun and entertaining character, I would prefer the writers send him to Angel so he could at least have some dialogue and be important to the show. It was sad to see him become what he was in season 7

But really, in Season 7, that's about all he had left to do. Whether or not he liked the idea, Buffy was by that time the leader of the group, making the decisions and planning the strategies. About all that Giles had left by way of contributing to what was going on was to do research, fetch new Potentials, and offer advise that Buffy, as leader, was in no real obligation to follow (witness their disagreement about whether Spike should or should not be trusted)

And, just as an aside, I think that he had a very hard time accepting his new role, which almost certainly led to his being neither with nor in particularly in close communication with Buffy and her Slayer army at the beginning of Season 8 up to, during, and after the "No Future For You" arc that he shared with Faith.

 

[SlayerFest]

I think Giles knew quite a bit about Spike (not as much as Buffy, but he knew what he was capable of)...but going behind Buffy's back was a tad screwed up. I don't know, I never stopped liking Giles and I didn't like him any less later in the series. I do sort of feel like the potentials stole the core four's spotlight in season 7, which kind of sucked, but I didn't find the changes to his character to be unrealistic or OOC. I mean if he didn't change at all over the course of 7 years...that would have ticked me off more than him making a few bad decisions haha.

 

[Andrew2080]

I remember one episode in season 7 in which basically the whole gang turn their back and gets upset with Buffy. It turns out Spike is the only one showing her sympathy and he is right in doing so. I was very disappointed Giles sort of gave up on Buffy there. Im on dvd-rerun on season 3 and appart from the incident with the council he's always 100% supporting her in that season. So I also think he does change in the last season.

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[Hale Caesar]

But really, in Season 7, that's about all he had left to do. Whether or not he liked the idea, Buffy was by that time the leader of the group, making the decisions and planning the strategies. About all that Giles had left by way of contributing to what was going on was to do research, fetch new Potentials, and offer advise that Buffy, as leader, was in no real obligation to follow (witness their disagreement about whether Spike should or should not be trusted)

And, just as an aside, I think that he had a very hard time accepting his new role, which almost certainly led to his being neither with nor in particularly in close communication with Buffy and her Slayer army at the beginning of Season 8 up to, during, and after the "No Future For You" arc that he shared with Faith.

I agree with that, but as a viewer and a fan of Giles I felt cheated, Giles used to be one of the highlights of the show, he was funny, complex and had a charisma about him. I watched season 7 and said "Why are these stupid Potentials taking up some much time...shut up and let Giles do something", and I guess that is also why I didn't like Giles in season 7, I thought the Potentials (who basically took all his screen time) just sucked...

I would have preferred Joss to write him off the show, because when you think about it, it was he wasn't in season 7 at all. I think it would have shown more respect to the character, the story and the viewers if they didn't try to push these characters on us