Did the gang have a right to judge Buffy on hiding Angel from them?

[Joshua]

In "Revelations", the gang gives Buffy an intervention on why she hid Angel from them for so long, did she need it? Did they have a right to judge her like that?

 

[xfivebyfive]

I don't know about judge but they had every right to be upset.

They were all hurt by Angelus' actions and the loss of Jenny Calendar. For her to keep the fact that Angel was back a secret is kind of a betrayal. I know she was dealing with her own issues but it was selfish and a slap in the face particularly for Giles. He deserved to know. It was selfish to keep Angel to herself.

 

[Ripper666]

Yes, they had the right to judge Buffy. Buffy didn't hide a little secret, she hidded a creature which was one of the most dangerous one in Sunnydale at that time! Of course some of you might say: " Hey, it was still Angel", and they are all right there but there is no Angel without Angelous. Buffy should learned out of the experiences she made with Jenny and her own feelings. She put the others into a new "hell", they had to find out that Buffy trusts a murderer more than her friends and watcher. But I see that some of Buffys fears had it's reasons. But they could treat and solve this problem together. As a team. As Scoobie Gang.

 

[patriot1123]

Heck, yes, they did. Angel, as Angelus, had threatened all of them, murdered Jenny, caused Kendra's death, caused injury to Xander and Willow, and captured and tortured Giles "for hours, for pleasure." They had a right to know he was back, and to judge for themselves what the level of risk was -- not to have Buffy decide for them whether they needed to be concerned about his return or not.

 

[brinkster130]

They had the right to be upset because it was a big deal and she had clearly been lying to all of them. I don't think they should have judged her for it, they all had faults of their own and at this point its easy to see her motivations for keeping it a secret. They had all been hurt and traumatized by Angelus and Buffy never really felt comfortable talking to them about what she was going through after she had to kill Angel.

 

[Kean]

They had the right to be upset because it was a big deal and she had clearly been lying to all of them. I don't think they should have judged her for it, they all had faults of their own and at this point its easy to see her motivations for keeping it a secert. They had all been hurt and traumatized by Angelus and Buffy never really felt comfortable talking to them about what she was going through after she had to kill Angel.

I agree. I think they had every right to be upset or scared, but what always gets me is that Buffy was terrorised by Angelus too. She had to live through everything that they did, and so much more. Ironically, the only person that ever seemed to even come close to considering Buffy and how scared she must have been, was Cordy. And it was the same in Dead Man's Party. The Scoobies pounced on her, but Cordy, in her own Cordy way, tried to have her back.

So yes, they have every right to be upset, scared and whatever else they felt. But they also owed Buffy some compassion too.

 

[EvilWillow]

If I were them, I would have felt like Buffy betrayed me. When it came to Angel, Buffy was always selfish.

 

[Valjavertjinn]

I agree with most of what has been said here. Angel, as Angelus, did some pretty awful things. Buffy should have told all of them, or at least Giles, right away when she found out that he was back.

 

[white avenger]

Did the Scoobies have the right to judge Buffy for trying to hide the fact that Angel had returned from hell in Season 3? Not no, but HELL no. They had the right to be apprehensive, they had the right to demand that she explain her actions, and then pay her the common courtesy of allowing her to do precisely that. They didn't have to agree with one single syllable of her argument, but they should have been willing to at least listen.

But Jenny Calendar's death didn't give either Giles or Xander the right to set in judgement of either Buffy or Angel. The Scoobies were just as wrong in this case as they would be wrong in a quite similar case four years later, and I couldn't with any kind of consistency support Buffy's actions in Season 7 without doing exactly the same thing in Season 3, even if in doing so, I have to (shudder, gag, choke) defend Angel.

It wasn't as if Buffy was the one responsible for bringing Angel back to Sunnydale, and it wasn't as if she had been allowing him to go on any sort of killing spree since he had returned. For the former, Buffy didn't have the skill, and for the latter, Angel didn't have the strength. In truth, she was doing her job precisely. She had, upon discovering that Angel was back, taken him into custody and contained any sort of threat that he might represent by the simple expedient of staying with him during the night and keeping him in the mansion, restrained by sunlight, all day. "The Scoobies didn't know any of that, though," you might say. Precisely my point. They didn't have any valid information beyond the fact that Angel was back on which to base any sort of judgement. In other words, there was no actual case for them to judge in the first place.

 

[PassionBecoming]

I wouldn't say they had a right to "judge", but definitely reason to be upset, maybe angry, and leary of the situation. Not only did Angel turn into a demon that starting picking them off and terrorizing them, the reason he turned into that monster was because of his relationship with Buffy. I have always sided with Buffy on every count except this one: she should have taken the problem to the group, or at least to Giles, right away to figure out what was happening.

 

[SlayerFest]

If I were them, I would have felt like Buffy betrayed me. When it came to Angel, Buffy was always selfish.

Yeah, it was totally selfish of her to stab him in the chest...haha. They had a right to be upset but Xander was just so, annoying about the whole thing. Willow and Cordelia (and I guess Oz, I doubt he said anything in that scene) were the only people who didn't seem to jump all over her. Whenever Xander gets mad or doesn't agree with an action that someone has taken, he never listens to them. He just gets pissed and makes assumptions about why they did what they did and ugh it drives me crazy! Actually, no one ever seems to listen to Buffy. They just assume that she's screwing up again, which is ironic because if she was so irresponsible or whatever, they'd all be dead.

Buffy should have told someone he was alive, like right after it happened. However, I understand why she didn't, she was confused and scared...but she definitely should have told them. What if Angel had still been Angelus when he saved Buffy in Beauty in the Beasts? Instead of saving her, he would have ripped her throat out and then found her friends and done the same thing to them. So while what Buffy did may have been selfish, I don't think that she was always selfish when it came to Angel.

Also, Faith seriously got on my nerves in this episode. Xander had a right to be pissed (well, not really...but he is Xander) but Faith didn't know anything about the situation. I also don't really get why Xander decided to round up the gang and have an intervention, why not approach Buffy about it? It's almost as if he wanted a confrontation. Also, they were all telling her that she "needed help" as if Angel was Angelus...why would they just assume that?

 

[RipperGilesFan]

They had every right to be upset and angry. Buffy assumed angel was no threat to them, but she couldn't know this for sure.

She shouldn't have gone alone here. The very least she could have done was inform Giles, for various reasons.

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[PassionBecoming]

Also, Faith seriously got on my nerves in this episode. Xander had a right to be pissed (well, not really...but he is Xander) but Faith didn't know anything about the situation. I also don't really get why Xander decided to round up the gang and have an intervention, why not approach Buffy about it? It's almost as if he wanted a confrontation. Also, they were all telling her that she "needed help" as if Angel was Angelus...why would they just assume that?

This always annoyed me. In her defense, I think she was just in the usual vampire = bad, so slay mode. I also think this was the beginning of her wanting/taking the good things that Buffy had in her life. She knew Buffy cared for Angel and they had a history, so therefore it should be taken away.

 

[Andrew2080]

Maybe Buffy thought the gang would hate Angel even if his soul had returned and she wanted to wait to see if Angel would calm down and be civil after the hell dimension.

-

 

[xfivebyfive]

This always annoyed me. In her defense, I think she was just in the usual vampire = bad, so slay mode. I also think this was the beginning of her wanting/taking the good things that Buffy had in her life. She knew Buffy cared for Angel and they had a history, so therefore it should be taken away.

Faith wasn't trying to take everything away from Buffy. Especially not in this episode. Once she's with the mayor she does have that attitude of I'm gonna take everything from Buffy to punish her but not before then.

Angel was a vampire. Faith was a slayer. No one told Faith the whole story all she got was a biased rundown from Xander. Buffy had previously shrugged off Faith's attempt to talk with her because she was so wrapped up thinking about Angel. So Faith being Faith is of course going to react that way. He's a vampire, and has killed and hurt a lot of people. That's what she knew.

 

[Willow My Love]

I don't really think that any one person has the right to judge another. But they had the right to be upset. I can understand why she did it; why she hid Angel from them. Especially Giles. I don't agree with what she did, but honestly, I probably would've done the same. Buffy didn't know how to tell them. And it's not like she could ask someone, "Hey, so my vampire boyfriend who I slept with and made him lose his soul, so he terrorized everyone I know and love and killed a friend of mine so I ended up killing him is back from the dead. How do I tell me friends?" I think that's why they forgave her so quickly. Also, she was a teenager in a very confusing situation.

But I can understand them being upset. She should have told them. I don't agree with them blowing up on her, all except Giles. I think Giles had the right to be as angry, if not more so, than he was.

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

Yes and no.

They had a right to be upset. She was hiding something serious from them, the existence of someone who had hurt them and people they love. But I don't believe the way they approached the situation (especially Xander) when they found out, is good. She's been trough a lot, especially when it comes to Angel.

 

[sosa lola]

They had every right to be angry and upset especially when Xander saw Buffy kissing Angel. After everything they had been through? Seeing her kissing him? Giving him another happy? They might have been harsh, but it's very understandable.

I also don't really get why Xander decided to round up the gang and have an intervention, why not approach Buffy about it? It's almost as if he wanted a confrontation.

It wasn't stated that it was Xander's idea. Xander saw Buffy kissing Angel, he went to tell Giles what he saw, then we saw the whole gang waiting for Buffy in the library. We don't know whose idea it was to have an intervention.