Expressing my opinion on the last scene of "Empty Places", and I fear that I once again, seem to be in the minority on this issue.
First of all, I don't believe that anybody "forced Buffy out" of her home...she did that on her own just fine. Her behaviour in that season and especially in this episode has done nothing, absolutely nothing to earn all the praise given to her by none other than Xander only a week or so before this episode. She had been reckless, callous, hard, cold and unfeeling towards not only the slayers in training, but towards her friends and Giles as well. She has shut everyone out thinking about nothing but the kill, and the mission.
Now maybe it's because she was afraid to grow too close to the slayers in training, lest something happen to them. Perhaps she was cracking under the pressure of having total and absolute leadership being forced upon her the moment Giles walked through the door and declared her a general. Her idea that what they needed was at the vinyard wasn't crazy. In fact, she was right. The problem wasn't her thoughts, it was not only her plan of attack now, but the previous plan that had them all injured so badly.
She was reckless last time. In this, she and Faith seemed to have switched places entirely. Before, it was always Buffy who stopped to think before acting, favouring caution over just jumping in. Now, she seems to be the one wanting to hop into the sewer, throwing caution to the wind as to how many vampires may or may not be down there and Faith ironically has learned too much in her own struggles to believe that to be a viable way to live and fight anymore and she speaks her mind on it.
I have heard others shooting Faith down for voicing her opinions and undermining Buffy's authority, but honestly I don't think she did. Buffy had been undermining her own authority for quite some time. A commander you care about is a commander you are going to fight that much harder and more willingly for. Buffy had barely bothered to learn their names, whereas Faith took the time to not only get to know them, but to help them with their concerns, their fears and to teach them to enjoy what they might be chosen to do one day.
Buffy can't get past what happened between her and Faith however. In this respect Faith is again proving the bigger person, willing to not only forget what happened between them, but to not fight back with Buffy, even when she lashed out and hit her. She denies being worried for the slayer's health and safety to Wood, but it's clear that she does. She is in fact the last one to speak up in favour of Buffy in the room, even when everyone else has basically stated they won't follow her plan. Buffy chooses to ignore this and lashes out at her, bringing up the only thing she can; her past.
Other ways she handled it badly? Tons. Bringing up the "I've done this for seven years and always won" argument is tired and frankly not very true. By saying that she has always won, she is clearly stating that she has never lost and that isn't true. She has lost before....maybe not the battle, but in some cases things far more precious. Her lover, her friends, herself.
Willow turning against her: Well she didn't really. She expressed her thoughts and her concerns quite sympathetically actually. All she said was that she wasn't sure about Buffy's judgement, which I can completely understand. She just watched her best friend since kindergarten get his eye ruthlessly ripped out by a seemingly invincible foe and the only reason it happened is because Buffy told them to 'fall in line' and they listened. Now sheis asking them to do it again and it's only natural that Willow be concerned about the clarity of her judgement. This time it was an eye.....next time it may be something even more permanent.
Xander?: Well personally I think his reason was the most justifiable. I have heard people argue "well he signed on for this and it was only an eye, what's he bitching about" and to that I say EVERYTHING. Buffy has to do this. She was chosen. It is her DUTY. Xander on the other hand offerred his help and risked himself time and time again simply because he was a good person and a good friend. He didn't have to fight for evil....he could have just run and hid. But he didn't...because he is the heart, he stayed and fought. It didn't make him just special...it made him extraordinary. He had risked his life, and so far has remained unscathed, physically at least. Why? Partially because he is a fighter, partially because good is supposed to triumph over evil, partially because of sheer luck, but MOSTLY because he trusted Buffy to lead them and she trusted them to help. That trust had been shattered...not by Caleb or any other villain, but by Buffy herself.
In terms of Xander all I was saying was that he had every, if not the most right to protest Buffy's "plan". He has freely risked his life time and time again because he believed that ultimately Buffy could be the one to protect them and save the day. He once said "no problem, you find them, slay them and we party." Xander may be part of the team, but he is also the most mortal, the most vulernable, the most human. Everyone else seemingly has "superpowers", while he remains simply a good guy trying to help. Those against Xander's actions seem to think he is obligated to follow her simply because he has volunteered his time rather than been chosen for it. He signed on and these are the consequences seem to be the popular theory...I say that's ridiculous! He signed on....yes...voluntarily he risks his life, and gets massively injured in the process because of an incompetantly thought out and executed plan by Buffy. Now she proposes doing it yet again and he is automatically expected to agree with it simply on the basis of the argument of "I've gotten you through things before?" No, THEY as a team have gotten through things before. She is cutting everyone out, relegating them to being inferior to her simply because they aren't the slayer. Her high and mighty attitude of "I have been doing this for seven years and my sacrifices have been more than yours" are totally unfounded. They have all sacrificed, and until now they have gotten through it all right.
Until now. It's on wonder that Xander is hesitant about going into it again. This is the first real injury, the first real physically crippling loss. It's more than just the loss of his eye, it's the loss of his sense of everything working out because they have Buffy on their team. In fact, I don't believe they do have Buffy anymore. All they have is the slayer and although Xander has always been willing to follow Buffy into battle, the slayer is someone he can't trust. No friends. Just the kill. The slayer is alone. Xander knows this. Do I blame him for not wanting to follow Buffy's plan? No. In fact, his side is the one I can most identify with. He gave her
his help and his life willingly and she treated it as callously as she treated the lives of the slayers in training, whose names she never even bothered to learn. Xander should stay put. He doesn't owe her a thing anymore.
Dawn?: Well Dawn acted in my opinion, the most maturely that she has acted in her entire time on the show. Nobody forced Buffy out, but when Buffy finally took her last and very weak attempt to regain her control over the situation, Dawn drove the final and irrefutable point home. If she can't be together with the others no matter who is leading them, SHE CAN'T STAY THERE. The people fighting this battle need to know they can trust and rely on one another and nobody trusts Buffy to do that. It's her fault, she did it to herself and Dawn gently, but firmly tells her that this is her house as well (ignoring the legal issues of the situation, she is entirely right) and that Buffy can't stay if she can't work with them. Leaving was Buffy's choice. It was petty and petulant of her, but it was her choice. Although it killed Dawn, she took her stand and I am incredibly proud of her for it. The last thing she wanted was for Buffy to go, and she drove that home when she turned on Rhona afterwards telling her through tears of heartbreak and fury to "shut her mouth" when she called Buffy a witch.
The final scene in the episode however, redeemed Buffy, at least a little in my eyes. While the stunt she pulled inside reeked of desperation, immaturity and petty jealousies, when Faith exited the house, Buffy was more than willing to put all that aside when she realized that she had lost her will to control the team and luckily their lives were more important to her than who was in control. Instead of screaming and ranting at Faith about how she has "taken yet another thing away from her", Buffy simply pleads with Faith for her not to be afraid to lead them. She asks her to protect them and to keep them safe, warning her that it was only going to get harder and passing the torch that she has been carrying so heavily for seven years by saying "their lives are yours". It was a glimpse back into the old Buffy, the true Buffy, the one who cared only about getting her friends through the fight with no thought for herself. It was the Buffy who sacrificed herself to save her sister and indeed the world. It was the Buffy I loved and it was the Buffy I would have followed in a heartbeat as would the others.
Unfortunately nobody witnessed this act, and Faith, knowing that convincing Buffy to stay would be pointless, opted instead to nod, accept the responsibility, and silently go back into the house. Buffy then walks away, tears running down her face, entirely alone. It's sad, but not as sad as the knowledge that she did this herself...that it was her own fault this occurred.
